Originally posted by: Commander Courage
I see where you're both going with this, and I remember in Lucas' commentary he talks about editing the ending several different ways until he decided the lightsaber duel worked best as the final ending. Of course, it SHOULDN'T be that way, but of course in the actual film it turned out to be TPM's best aspect. When you think about it, Anakin destroying the ship and shutting down the army is the appropriate finale, as it was the real focus of the final battle (and as Sluggo points out was the way it was in the script). Does this mean we lose "Always be mindul of your surroundings," because I really liked that. And if you're going to try to add Qui-Gon's spirit to Obi-Wan's last scene, you should at least experiment with him looking down on Anakin's immolation in silence. I do much prefer this downplayed explanation, but we can delve into that more next year around this time.
3. I'm not sure about cutting the communication, because I do think Qui-Gon is an important character and needs to be somewhat more involved, if he has retained his identity. But that's a VERY interesting idea, showing the ghost of Qui-Gon at the end of the film, almost like the end of ROTJ. That would tie things up very, very nicely. So what we would have in my PT is: Qui-Gon dies. Then, he helps Anakin destroy the Control Ship (like Obi-Wan in original SW). Qui-Gon doesn't have any contact with Obi-Wan (until the very end, when Obi-Wan sees his master at the end of the film), but Qui-Gon continues to be in touch with Anakin, through dreams and whatnot. This would make sense because he did this immediately after dying in Ep. I. Then, Yoda does NOT make the casual comment about communing with Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon simply appears to Obi-Wan at the end, kind of de-emphasizing the "learning" part of becoming a ghost and still retaining some mystery. What do you guys think? I'm very happy with this particular solution.
I see where you're both going with this, and I remember in Lucas' commentary he talks about editing the ending several different ways until he decided the lightsaber duel worked best as the final ending. Of course, it SHOULDN'T be that way, but of course in the actual film it turned out to be TPM's best aspect. When you think about it, Anakin destroying the ship and shutting down the army is the appropriate finale, as it was the real focus of the final battle (and as Sluggo points out was the way it was in the script). Does this mean we lose "Always be mindul of your surroundings," because I really liked that. And if you're going to try to add Qui-Gon's spirit to Obi-Wan's last scene, you should at least experiment with him looking down on Anakin's immolation in silence. I do much prefer this downplayed explanation, but we can delve into that more next year around this time.
I'd have to agree with all of you here, if we're all on the same page with this. I really believe the PT did too much to take away the mystery of the Force by giving too many explanations (ie. midichlorians... *shudders, trying not to wretch*) and leaving it as you've described here would fit the mythos far better, IMHO. Using Qui-Gon in this way is sort of like giving another parallel to the OT, as Qui-Gon dies before giving Anakin his complete training and then he is trained by another, just as Luke loses Obi-Wan before much training can be done, only to have his training passed off to another (Yoda in this case). The continued edits would really would drive home not only the similarities of the two generations of Skywalkers, but also the differences, as we see Luke resist the Emperor where Anakin couldn't. They seem so much on the same path in ANH/TPM and ESB/AOTC, only to find their ultimate failings or victories in ROTJ/ROTS. Giving Anakin the same guidance as Luke had will surely underline the fact that they can and should have been done as two sides of the same coin instead of the vastly different characters shown in the OT and PT. Shame on Lucas for not seeing this the way we do. lol
Okay I'll put my ego away again for now....
Seriously though, I'm really looking forward to how all of this turns out. Great stuff here and I'll gladly stand in line to receive this one when you have it finished, Trooperman.