Rhikter said:

C3PX said:
...I chalked it up to typical bad CG, when in reality it is was bad makeup job.

I personally don't have any problem with Tarkin's appearance in RotS. I felt like they successfully managed to portray him as younger, and even more built.

Yeah, that portrait shot of Wayne Pygram in his Tarkin make-up is pretty messy, but in RotS, since he's only in a wide shot, all I see is a Tarkin that's 20 years younger with broad shoulders and a chiseled jaw.

I am wondering if we saw the same film?

This is what I remember,

Which I think looks absolutely awful. I couldn't find a larger resolution image than this one, but in higher resolution he looks even more awful than this. He just looks fake, even more so when the shot is in motion.

Vaderisnothayden said:

It most definitely does detract. It increases the ridiculous end of ROTS = start of ANH factor, making the universe yet smaller. So nothing changes in 20 years. Tarkin goes with the Death Star, which should never have been in the prequels.

Nor is Tarkin's appearance merely an easter egg like those things you mentioned, because it's an awful lot more conspicuous and part of the central story.

True story. We end ROTS with Luke and Obi-Wan on Tantooine, Artoo and Threepio on the Tantive IV, Vader and Tarkin on the Death Star (okay, they were not ON it yet at the end of ROTS but they were standing outside of it waiting for it to get finished... which appearantly took 20 years lol), and Yoda on Dagobah. Twenty years later and none of these characters move so much as a muscle. Leia is the only one who actual moves, going from Alderaan to the Tantive IV.

Erikstormtrooper said:

I think Tarkin should have been in the PT more. Regardless of the quality of the makeup, it would have bridged the trilogies better. Does anyone complain about Obi-Wan's character because he didn't look enough like Alec Guiness?

No, but Obi-Wan wasn't portrayed by Ewan McGregor in bad makeup made to look like Alec Guiness. Had that been the case, you'd likely have heard me complain about it a time or two by now.

But yeah, I agree with you that Tarkin's character would have made a nice addition to the series, he was a fantastic villian, one of my favorite SW characters actually, way more interesting than wasted and empty villians like poor Dooku and Grevious. I would have liked to see Tarkin's character play a much bigger role in the PT, but as I said before, I am not so sure they could have filled Cushing's shoes (though once I may have said the same about Alec Guiness' shoes, yet I feel Ewan was beyond perfect for that role which makes it all the more ashame he was given nothing but crap to work with).