Bingowings said:Then came TPM and not only was it a not very good film but it largely ignored all the little titbits of the story that we were fed for the past twenty odd years.
This is why I'm so protective of the background elements that matter most (Obi Wan is the cause of Vader's need of a breath screen, Vader is THE Dark Lord Of The Sith, Boba Fett is somehow connected to the Shocktroopers of the Clone Wars which fought against the Jedi. Leia was old enough to remember her real mother before she died).
I totally agree that these little tidbits should be included if possible, and they shouldn't be too tough.
The hardest thing about keeping Vader's identity a secret is that ObiWan KNOWS that Vader is Anakin. "What I told you was true, from a certain point of view." is an admission of that. Otherwise he would have said, "I genuinly thought Vader was not your dad!" How to let Obi know, and keep the audience is suspence is a challenge.
Random Thoughts-
We have no reason in the OT to have preconceptions about cloning technology. I'm not opposed to human clones replacing people(I like the witchunt/paranoia concepts), but what if the Clone Wars were wars against a culture, perhaps the Mandalorians, that reproduced by cloning certain castes. All warriors were the same, all officers were the same. Maybe only the noble class were individuals.
We need some villains. And we need some with lightsabers. An obvious choice is Mandalore himself, head of the Mandalorians, maybe some of his captains. One or two rogue Jedi in league with the various baddies could help cast suspicion on the entire order. On the subject of lightsabers, I propose (based on someone elses ideas in some re-edit thread) that all Jedi wield blue sabers. That makes Luke's green saber a symbolic symbol of his new jedi order. Perhaps a couple Mandalorians could wield white sabers ( I just think that would look neat). We could really use some cool minor villains like Maul or Grievous (maybe even use Grevious... thoguh I may be the only person alive who actually thought he was cool). Perhaps Palpy has a dark side apprentice he uses as a spy/assassin that Anakin or Obi can encounter, without ever truly understanding what they baddie is up to.
Here's my POSSIBLE OVER-ARCING PLOT-
Liberally taking from, altering, and combing many many neat ideas from this thread, a very loose outline. If anyones ideas are presented here without citation, my apology. If anyone elses ideas are presented here and look dumb, I take responsibility for not incorporating or explaining them well.
EPISODE ONE-
"Good Times with Some Foreshadowing!"
Extending from ErickStormtroopers swashbuckling synopsis of a young spice freighter pilot (Anakin) who helps a Jedi Knight (Obi) and a reluctant prince (Bail Oranga) to overcome a coup attemp and invasion from the wicked Mandalorians, and save the day. Anakin is encouraged to have an adventure by his sister Beru. The leader of the Mandalorians is a bad dude named Jango. During the day-saving, we meet the reluctant prince's betrothed (Notpadme) and she shares a moment with Anakin (dramatic foreshadowing). Anakin decides to stay with Obi and see what this Jedi business is all about and Bail decides his people need a good king. Obi mentions that his master, Yoda, has renounced the world and gone to live as a hermit, the final stage in the spiritual life of a Jedi, but that not having Yoda around shouldn't be a problem. It's a real happy ending.
EPISODE TWO-
"The Clone War"
Building on Blackhawks ideas, some time later, Anakin (who was never anyone's apprentice), Obi, and Obi's new apprentice (young Deak) are on a mission to battle Pirates in the outer rim. Lot's of bad things are happening in the years since the attack on Alderaan. The Mandalorians keep attacking, nonhuman pirates torment the outer rim, the economy is in chaos, crime lords have unprecedented power, and people are starving. It's a bad time.
By now Bail is a young king trying to hold things together. He appoints Obi and Anakin as his generals. As Bail tries to unify the crumbling republic with words of hope, Palpatine, an aged but charasmatic figure from Naboo preaches dissent and vengeance against those who have done this to use (aliens, clones, pirates, jews, whatever). During all of this, Anakin begins an affair with Notpadme, the woman who was promised to Bail Organa as a child.
Some kind of sequence of events leads to a confrontation between our heroes and the Mandalorian mothership. Mandalore kills Deak in one on one combat. Obi and Anikin subdue Mandalore, (Anakin perhaps losing his arm in the conflic) and Anakin uses FORCECHOKE for the first time, to squeeze the life out of him. Wracked with grief, Obi disaproved of Anakin's brutal vengeance, and Anakin scoffs at him, the start of their rift.
The war against the Mandalorians is over, but the war for the sould of the Repubic is only beginning. As hundreds are arrested and deported as clones, sympathisers, enemy combatants, or whatever, Palpatine gains enough support that he and his private army of Stormtroopers are appointed to defend the repubic against all enemies, the start of the New Order.
EPISODE THREE
"The Sith hits the fan. "
The New Order has deposed the senate. People rejoice as the ineffectual politicans are removed from office. But that's not the end of it. Brutal purges of aliens, loyalist sympathisers, and suspected clones leave thousands of peple 'vanished.'
Anakin throws himself into this enforcement with a vengeance. Palpatine gives Anakin what he always wanted, power. Obi tells Anakin that he can't serve two masters, and Anakin renounces the Jedi to serve the New Order. He gives Obi his lightsaber, saying it has no meaning to him, and he consturcts a new red one. He is awarded by Palpatine with the ancient title Lord of the Sith, and becomes head of the Stormtroopers, Palpy's elite guard. Anakin, with extreme cruelty, breaks off his affair with Notpadme. Notpadme never tells Anakin she's pregnant. She marries Bail Organa, who has always loved her, in spite of everything.
The New Order begins executing people. Bail Organa meets in secret with a few remaing Jedi to discuss open rebellion. The Storm Troopers, led by handsome Anakin in his white armor, now Darth Vader in all but name, attack. Obi pleads with Anakin, insisting theirs still good in him until Anakin cuts down one of Obi's jedi friends in cold blood. The two do battle, during the battle the right side of Anakin's head is burned by hot steam, making him fight even more vicously. Finally, Obi stabs Anakin in the chest, destroying his lungs and severing his spinal chord at the neck. (I think this could account for all of Vader's apparent injuries.) But it's too little too late. The Stormtroopers have taken Bail and killed the last few Jedi except for Obi. Obi flees.
The final scene has a new figure, a black cloaked monstrocity, as of yet unnamed, performs the execution of Bail Organa. Obi watches it happen from the shadows, and even though it is unsaid... he knows who it is.
Notpadme Organa flees to Alderaan with her daughter, as Alderaan is disarmed as punishment for their king's treachery.
and Obi takes baby Luke and flies to Tatoine.
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It's very rough, but I think it rolls with a lot of the strength of many ideas presented here. Obviously none of the stories have a middle act, good characterization, or interesting villains yet. I don't really have a role for Notpadme, and it could use lots and lots of nuances.