nightstalkerpoet said:
This isn’t really radical, but I was curious what people would think about not having Anakin kill the Sandpeople in Episode 2 (or if there’s an edit where he doesn’t).
You can even leave in the Anakin/Padme talk later, heavily condensed (here’s a brief mockup):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0By9sWLF9s-s6NG1IZWdsa05Wcmc
Even better if you could get the line “Sometimes there’s things no one can fix” in there. Changes the whole scene to a serious, emotional interaction. Especially without the ‘he just killed people and now he’s telling her’ vibe of the original, or even the ‘he just killed people and now he’s hiding it from her’ vibe of most fanedits.
AotC really had a missed opportunity in that rather than build Anakin up to have a huge fall in Ep 3, they chose to say “oops, his backpack split open and he lost most of his supplies”. Pretty much guaranteeing that even if he reached the top, he’d never survive. Yes, we knew the ending. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have walked away from Ep 2 loving Anakin as a character. (Sadly, the metaphorical backpack only had a small split in it and we had to watch his supplies slip through 1 by 1 the whole damn film)
Well, I think thats a fine idea. Anakin was portrayed to be a whiny, shallow and stupid kid and that didn’t change into the adulthood, he sounds like a brat even as an adult (except the anime series, there she somewhat acts and sounds adult like). From the very first movie, he always seemed like he is waiting just a tiny push to go to the dark side, like he was searching a little excuse or something. So, defying the Jedi code and murdering all those Sand people along with women and children was the first straw, but it was far from the first sign of how little he tried to be a proper Jedi. I mean, he didn’t even try to stick with the Jedi way, like ever.
So, if I would have to suggest something, it would be this, mostly remove him from the first movie.
Movie starts with Tattoine, the engine of their spaceship is damaged, so the Jedi lands on Tattoine, where they buy a new engine and meet the young Anakin. No pod racing, no miracle child bullshit. He is just a regular brat who is extremely strong with the force and Qui-Gon just feels it. No blood tests. Their engine is replaced with some regular credits (no “we don’t accept republic credits here” bullshit) and the go of to the Jedi temple, where they leave the young Anakin until the next movie. They don’t sense anything dark about him, they are cautious but they take him in, he is just a child after all. (Also, it would be easier to replace young Anakin if he appears in less scenes. I would replace him with a teenager about same age as Padme, so it is not creepy anymore)
The second movie should be where Anakin truely shows that he is a proper Jedi and deeply connected to both the force and the Jedi code. He doesn’t slaughter Sand people and whine a lot. He is sad and angry about what happened to his mother, but doesn’t seek revenge. This should be the first of the several events that pushes him to dark side, but he should resist like a proper Jedi.
The third movie should be about his transformation, he tries to fight the dark side, but since the republic is already corrupted and some Jedi are simply dicks (like Windu, who was close to turning to the dark side himself) along with manipulation of the Emperor. (there should be several reasons why he turned to the dark side and it shouldn’t be as simple as “oh noes, I saw a dream and I am afraid of losing my girlfriend and this shady dude offered me immortality”, it should be more like, he was trying to uphold justice and just pushed to the other side, he lost faith in the Jedi ways) Also, he doesn’t kill children (storm troopers might have killed those kids though, also Anakin might have killed some senate members, but thats about it) That way it is more believable when Padme says there is still good in him.
What do you guys think?