Originally posted by: Darth-Adroit
2004- DVD released and like CO I was hoping it would include both versions (OOT & SE) of the films. The replacement of SS by HC in the force ghost scene reminds me that George doesn’t have a fucking clue what his own story is. If the OT is supposed to be about the redemption of Anakin Skywalker shouldn’t the ghost that appears be the old Anakin? I mean if the ghost is HC was Anakin ever truly redeemed? Was I wrong in thinking that the Jedi in ROTJ was plural? Why do evil people get greater rewards (young, virile 23-year-old Anakin spirit) than loyal Jedi (old, broken down Yoda/Ben spirits) from the living force?

I just had a thought...

To start off with, I've never been in favor of the change to Hayden in ROTJ. It hasn't bothered me as much as many other, but maybe that's because I'd already written off the "new" versions of the trilogy after the 1997 editions. Anything George did after that was nothing more than a curiosity to me.

But here's my take on force ghosts: as I understand it, the spirits of Anakin, Ben Kenobi and Yoda were only being seen by Luke. No one else from the celebration could see them. Even Leia did not seem to see them. Hence, they would likely be seen as only Luke would visualize them. Ben would appear as his old self, as Luke had last seen him. Same with Yoda. Anakin would logically appear as the Anakin that Luke knew--the old, Uncle Fester one. Luke had never seen young Anakin Skywalker, so he wouldn't know who that was. So this makes the change to Hayden's Anakin even more wrong.

My theory says that force ghosts don't have a real form (why would they need one?), and that their appearance is dictated by the person who is able to see them. By that same token, I'm betting that when spectral Ben Kenobi appeared before Luke and Yoda on Dagobah, Luke saw him as old Ben (which was our viewpoint as well), but Yoda saw him young Obi-Wan, as he was when they parted.

Just my two cents.

--SKot