Originally posted by: Jumpman
The story is not as linear...this is true. But, it doesn't have to be perfectly linear for the Saga to work.
Look, the end of Episode III made a serioius point of emphasis to focus on the twins and how they represent hope. This continues into the Original Trilogy. Luke Skywalker is the main character of the Original Trilogy but it does come full circle to Anakin at the end when he finally fulfills his destiny, which was his original purpose in the Prequels. So in the end, because of his son, the story of Anakin comes full circle.
And Episode V is all about Luke and Vader. The entire story is driven by Vader's obsession with finding Luke. Han and Leia are window dressing. If Episode V would've had a better plot to keep Han and Leia busy, then I would agree with your assessment. But, it doesn't. It's driven by one character; Vader.
The story is not as linear...this is true. But, it doesn't have to be perfectly linear for the Saga to work.
Look, the end of Episode III made a serioius point of emphasis to focus on the twins and how they represent hope. This continues into the Original Trilogy. Luke Skywalker is the main character of the Original Trilogy but it does come full circle to Anakin at the end when he finally fulfills his destiny, which was his original purpose in the Prequels. So in the end, because of his son, the story of Anakin comes full circle.
And Episode V is all about Luke and Vader. The entire story is driven by Vader's obsession with finding Luke. Han and Leia are window dressing. If Episode V would've had a better plot to keep Han and Leia busy, then I would agree with your assessment. But, it doesn't. It's driven by one character; Vader.
No, it has to be linear to work 1-6, and that is my point. The whole reason Lucas chose Anakin to be a young kid, is he wanted to have a character arc for 6 movies, which is totally different then Lukes in the OT. The OT was a small part of Lukes life, about 3-5 years, and there is a story before and after about him, but that wasn't the point of the OT.
The Saga now as Lucas sees it is to see the young kid in Anakin, the teenage Jedi in Anakin, the bad guy in Vader, and then the death of Vader, which is a true character arc. Now as a story, that is very cool, but the problem was the OT was Never written that way, Vader was always the antagonist, not the main story, and that is why it is so jarring when you get to the OT, especially ANH, the story doesn't have much to do with him when compared to the PT movies. The last hour of ROTJ is the only time Vader takes center stage as 3-Dimensional Character with his feelings, his struggles, and his conflicts. In ESB, he is still one-dimensional, he is still an antagonist to Luke, and that is it. In ROTJ, the Emperor becomes the antagonist, as Vader character has much more depth as compared to ESB, and alot more than ANH.
Episode III shows the twins born, and brought to the foster parents, but you are looking at that scene in the context of seeing the OT already, and that is why it works for you and me. There is nothing that gets into the nitty gritty as to how these kids will affect the future of the Galaxy, other than showing it on screen, CAUSE WE ALREADY KNOW IT!!! The last 10 minutes of ROTS works well only for the viewer who has seen the OT, and I guarantee if Lucas wrote the story 1-6, you wouldn't know about Darth Vader, he would have left off with Anakin burning, and the crowd would think he was dead, just like ObiWan.
As for giving something to do for Han & Leia, those are some of the great parts of the movie? They subtetly fall in love through the movie, and it all comes out when Han is about to be frozen, and they know that they may never see each other again, so they profess their love, which is 100 times more dramatic than Anakin/Padme doing the same exact thing in AOTC before being brought out in the Geonosis Arena. The main story of ESB is Luke and his training on and finding out about his father, but the heart of the movie is Han/Leia, and that is why it is so great, it has two compelling stories going on at once.
But as I have said, many fans of the saga only want to see stuff in the OT about Vader/Luke, and that is why they miss the great parts of Han, Leia, and Luke which is why everyone fell in love with it from 77-83. That is why the OT is watched out of context by many saga fans.