I enjoyed the opera scene because Palpatine made it sound like I was right. Back in 2000, I was sitting around thinking about TPM, when it hit me: What if Palpatine cloned midiclorians and put them inside a slave girl on a backwater planet so he could have an all-powerful apprentice he could pick up whenever he pleased? Why else would Lucas have introduced a scientific aspect to the force if it can't be manipulated? Then the Jedi found the boy and Palpatine thinks "This is even better, they found my experiment, and they're going to teach him all of the basic Force usage stuff he would need. I just need to get close to him and turn him when he gets powerful enough." Of course, I thought that was odd, and something Palpatine would have said in RotJ trying to sway Luke. "You can't redeem your father. He is mine. I created him. In a way... I am your grandfather!"

I raised a fist in the air in triumph during that scene. Of course, he doesn't just come out and say it. And it may not even be a true statement on Palpatine's part. But one day when I was 16, my mind worked the same as Lucas'. I wrote it all down, I know I still have it somewhere...