I also don’t think the Original Trilogy works very well as a sequel to the prequel trilogy, if you know what I mean. You might have questions like - why does Luke only have to train for a few weeks, or a year at the absolute most, to become a Jedi? Why doesn’t Obi-Wan mention that Luke and Leia are related so they don’t keep kissing one another? How come no one can jump anymore, and fight like geriatrics? What happened to Sidious’ lightsaber skills? Why does Vader never mention Padme? How on Earth does Leia remember a mother who died thirty seconds after she was born? Why does Obi-Wan continue to wear Jedi robes on Tatooine? Why doesn’t it occur to Obi-Wan and Yoda that some of the ten thousand other Jedi might have survived? I mean, all of these little nitpicks exist anyway, but watching in release order makes them less apparent unless you’re being deliberately anal.
- I would say that looking at the movies alone, Luke wasn’t at the level of most of the prequel Jedi even by the end of ROTJ. The only reason he won against Vader is because Vader is pretty much half Anakin at that point. He was heavily conflicted and he didn’t want to kill his son. Also Yoda does say Luke is too old to begin. I’d also argue that a long time of training is also a good retcon. I just feel like it makes more sense for something as complex as learning to wield the Force would take time.
- That’s a problem with ROTJ, that was the one that introduced the retcon of Luke and Leia being brother and sister. But I guess you could say that he didn’t want to drop that ball too early.
- Bruh I think you need to watch ESB and ROTJ again. Luke jumps up out of the Carbon freezing thing in ESB, he literally jumps right over Vader in that same fight, and he jumps up onto the guard rail in ROTJ. Vader also does a big jump in ESB too. And I’d argue that the Vader and Luke duels weren’t like geriatrics, that was just the Vader vs. Ben duel and that was because of the limitations of the time.
- He didn’t need to use a lightsaber in that situation. The whole point of the climax of ROTJ is that the Emperor and Vader are both trying to get Luke on their side. The Emperor is trying to get Vader and Luke to fight (so Luke will kill his father or Vader will kill his son) and Vader is trying to do the same thing he did in ESB.
- Why would he? In what situation would he mention his wife? Also I don’t get your reasoning for why that’s an inconsistency, it’s not like when the OT was being made Vader never had a wife, unless you’re saying the OT implied Luke and Leia were the result of a one night stand.
- I will give it to you that that is a legitimate inconsistency but IMO Padme dying was a good retcon. If she survived she would go and try and redeem Vader, and I’m sure the sight of his babies would immediately turn him to the light and completely invalidate the OT. Or if she didn’t, I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to completely obscure herself from the public eye and any sightings of her would probably immediately be reported to Sidious and Vader. She isn’t like Luke and Leia, she has a widespread public image. And I feel like Vader would be able to sense her presence.
- The Jedi just wore normal robes. Everyone on Tatooine wears robes. It isn’t specifically a Jedi outfit. Yoda wears the same stuff.
- Because the others didn’t survive. They were wiped out by Order 66, and any survivors were hunted down by Vader and the Inquisitors, which is consistent with what the OT says.
I won’t deny that they definitely didn’t follow the continuity of the OT to the letter but I don’t think these were the best examples. 1 & 6 are the only ones I feel like you could really hold against the prequels but I feel like they were done for the better.