@ Farlander

Regarding the PT handling the turn to the dark side better than the OT, I'm not sure I understand where you're coming from. First of all, in the OT, I always thought that the difference between the light and dark side of the force was pretty clear: the light side uses the force to achieve a sense of connectedness, understanding, patience, and faith, while the dark side uses the force for physical domination and self-aggrandizement.

As for Vader and Palpatine turning Luke, I don't think there's anything unbelievable about what they're doing. As Yoda cautioned, the dark side is alluring: it promises seemingly more power than the light side, and does so more quickly. As an analogy, think of some D&D type game: a spell that allows you to cast a fireball may look more powerful than, say, a spell that allows you to heal, but ultimately the latter spell might prove more beneficial than the former (wow, a fantasy RPG example to explain Star Wars... doubly geeky). Anywho, taking that into consideration, it's not hard to see why Luke (or anyone for that matter) may be tempted to venture down the dark path. As for how believable it would be for someone to side with someone who has hurt them?... ever heard of Stockholm syndrome, or read 1984?