- Time
- Post link
If we just view IV without context of the other films, and as stand-alone film, then the story is over at that, and it's no longer the tragedy of Darth Vader, but becomes the heroics of the unlikely trio we find in Luke, Leia, and Han. There is nothing wrong with that at all.
But if we are to expand beyond that, we need more characters and arcs than just with those three people. Beyond IV, we need a deeper storyline, or the heroics of the trio quickly get worn-out, milked for all they are worth, and become meaningless. Do you see where I'm coming from?
Beejay, you make good points, but I think you misunderstood my statement towards Vaders revelation. In the context of the OOT of SW, ESB, ROTJ, I love 'I am your father.' In context of the OOT, I enjoy the redemption of Vader in ROTJ, as it gives the OOT much depth that few movie sagas have. The bottom line is in the context of the OOT, Darth Vader is NEVER the main character, even when the movie focuses on Luke & Vader in the final hour of ROTJ, it was always about Luke.
What I meant by Lucas going Vader crazy was with the PT, and how he literally made 3 movies to answer why Darth Vader reacted the way he did in the last hour of ROTJ. My point is there is SO much story in the PT that just didn't have to be about Anakin Skywalker, that could have been a plot point.
I agree with you on the characters, the drama of any movie is through the characters, but Lucas put all his eggs in Darth Vaders story in the PT, and now in the saga 1-6, that if you don't LOVE it, it won't be as powerful as the OOT story of just Luke, Leia, and Han.
The PT had so many possibilties storywise that Lucas just touched on. I would have loved for TPM to be about Anakin/Kenobi and essentially that movie tells a story of 2 hours of their friendship set to the backdrop of how Palpatine is planning to become Chancellor. Roughly the same plot as TPM in 1999, yet there is no QuiGon, and there is a 20 year old Anakin is best friends with Kenobi, and IT IS SHOWN ON SCREEN!!!!!! That would have made the duel so much more tragic in ROTS.
There is so much more story about the Clone Wars, that got shifted to a cartoon. There is another subplot in the deleted scenes with Padme and the birth of the rebellion. If you don't read EU, you wont know any of the Jedi that died in Order 66, so that whole scene lacks the drama.
My point is Lucas did not have to make the PT about Anakin, and it is about Anakin, as Lucas said in an old interview, "This trilogy is a character study of how a person goes bad." When marrying the trilogies now, it is so jarring cause that is not what the OT was about. The one great thing about the SW universe is there is always a story to tell, it isn't like other movies series where there just isn't much story beyond the main story, but Lucas is living and dying with the story of Darth Vader, and that is why there is this huge division now of fans.