OB3X, you follow a similar thought pattern to me. You remind me of the pacing I was anticipating - Anakin falling partway through thre trilogy, or at least definitively dabbling on the border, to the point where he was an enemy of the Jedi. By the end of 3 he would be an established bad guy, rather than a new-born one. I thought the Jedi hunt would be a slow, one on one, personal thing that slowly spanned the trilogy rather than one that filled 15 minutes of Star Wars time, 2 minutes of cinema time.

AFTER seeing Phantom Menace, I did envision Anakin's first steps to the dark side being an act of revenge for his Mother. However, I imagined him murdering Watto for something (like failing to take care of her or working her to death or something), having the first real act be much more personal and heinous than just killing a bunch of bad guys.

Last thing, and perhaps this was just my Star Wars ignorance, but I expected Anakin to get his injuries from the Emporer. I expected a similar scene to Luke V. Emporer, but Anakin would give in. Having already turned to the dark side and being an established bad guy, the Emporer would do something like kill Anakin's wife. They would fight and Anakin would lose, in essence finally submitting to his master. However, he would do so just with the desire to gain enough power to kill the emporer, driven by hate. In time, he would get lost in the seductiveness of power, losing sight of his original hatred until Luke brings it out in him in the end. It would provide another layer of emotion in that final ROTJ battle and provide context to his redemption.

Trying to remember what I thought and how I felt back then is actually kind of exciting. It makes me remember what growing up with Star Wars felt like