Basically, the Gary Kurtz quote shows that I was wrong. Lucas did NOT merge Vader and Anakin until Empire (ESB), and it was with Empire, not Jedi (ROTJ) that he did this. The earlier ‘father Vader twist’ idea that Lucas had during the writing stage/pre-production of SW (ANH) was dropped before the final version of the script was done.
Fair play to you, TS. Not many would admit that. 👍
Gary Kurtz: “When we made Star Wars, Vader and Anakin were two separate people. The idea that Vader was Luke’s father didn’t exist. I remember Lucas talked about Anakin having killed Vader and then taking his identity, but that was dropped early on. The whole twist in Empire was new and unexpected.”
Star Wars Insider #138, 2011
Unfortunately the above quote found online by TS (via a google search) does not exist in ‘Star Wars Insider #138, 2011’.
Both TS and myself have had a thorough look through Issue #138 (which is actually the issue for January 2013) - and there is no quote or mention of Gary Kurtz in that issue.
I’ve had a look through adjoining issues, the 2011 issues - and also in general online - and cannot find such a quote from Gary Kurtz.
If anyone knows of this quote - and where is originates from - please post it up in here. Thanks, as always. 👍