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Originally posted by: jimboQuote
Originally posted by: Enji
If Anakin shows up as a younger person, why the heck doesn't Yoda or Ben do the same thing? I don't believe ANYTHING they can tell us in Episode 3 can explain this (I don't know anything about it since I'm spoiler free, but...).
Well, I'm just glad I've got the OOT in widescreen on VHS.
Lucas explains why in the commentary. Anakin Skywalker died when he became Darth Vader. "The good man who was your father was destroyed" His spirit appears young because it was his last true form. Obi-Wan and Yoda were good there who lives so them as old people was there last true form. If you think about it this change makes sense. Logically if his spirit was the way he died in the end he would not have hair, skin, or limbs.
The change may make sense but the explanation actually doesnt. Let me explain.
1) If Anakin was dead when he turned to the dark side and became Vader then Anakin and Vader are 2 different people (because if Anakin=Vader than Vader should be dead as well)
by this reasoning, Anakin should have then been able to appear as a ghost throughout any point in the trilogy, seeing as you become a ghost when you die, and according to you Anakin has been dead since the end of Episode III.
2) So at the end of ROTJ when Vader saves Luke (well by your reasoning above Vader died at this point because he was no longer evil, just as Anakin died when he was no longer good). This gets complicated now, because on the one hand we have this 'new Anakin' that is good again, at which point his current body is the last form he had, so I guess he should have appeared as the hairless (though some of his hair wasnt removed until this release), skinless (pretty sure he had skin though), limbless (and you're assuming that all his limbs are gone) But how do we have this good Anakin, because Anakin died according to you, so he must have risen from the dead, or didnt come back at all which leaves us with Anakin now filling three roles (pre vader, vader, post vader - and these are all different people). Or maybe Anakin came back from the dead and borrowed vaders body to communicate to his son in person before he 'fully passed on'. though if he wasnt already fully passed on he was never dead to begin with. (I seriously dont think lucas was trying to imply the philisophical depth that this explanation can have, seeing as Im pretty sure he's at a diminished mental capacity and probably not capable of such thoughts)
3) As you implied, Lucas' explation is based on something that Obi-Wan said (the whole point of view thing) well now thats actually a good idea in principle to use that to explain it, but unfortunatly I dont think it works here because he contridicts it with the Whole "There is good in you father I have felt it" from Luke when he is first captured and the "Tell your sister you were right" from Vader/Anakin (who ever he is at this point, the guy has died so many times im loosing track) at the end of jedi. Well if Luke is in fact right (which we have to assume he is, because Vader should know if there was still some good left in him, and he's the one telling luke he's right) then the whole 'good man who was your father' being destroyed thing wouldnt have happened cause he wasnt fully destroyed, so he would have lived on in the same body that Vader did and aged along with Vader. At this point i can see that as a ghost his body is restored to its unmutilated form, which is basically how i looked at it and thats why he isnt exactly the hairless, skinless, limbless ghost that you think would be logical...Personally I find his current mutilated body being de-mutilated being more logical (plenty of tv shows/movies that involve ghosts and the afterlife do things such as give paralyzed people that ability to walk in their spirit form)
4) this one is more simple, and someone (dont remember who) mentioned it once before, but why does Anakin get rewarded with his youthful self in death for turning to the darkside and killing thousands of people.
5) Lucas defends many of his changes by saying thats how he wanted the movie originally just didnt have the technology to do so, well he did have the technology to higher a YOUNGER actor to play Anakin's Ghost if thats what he wanted, then the change of actors now wouldnt be as big of a deal.
6)He also uses the continuity defense quite often. Well news flash, back in 1999 before Episode I came out you had the following existing trilogy, non existing prequals. So why didnt he just make the prequals fit in with the movies that already existed, If he really did have this whole story laid out to flow from the current prequals to the original trilogy why didnt the original story follow the flow it does now?
7) not related to the ghost, but he's also changing the movie to appeal to the current generation or to be more pc, WHY???? I dont know where I read it, but I read someones opinion that Lucas is afraid of his movies...he's afraid at how big of a success they became and doesnt have enough faith in what he originally created to believe that it will stand the test of time, so he's trying to modernize thinking it will extend its life. Honestly i think, as im sure most people on this bored due, that its actually shortening the life of the movies. They are becomming just another cgi filled special effects fest. When it comes down to it, I kind of pity George Lucas if he thinks this little of his work.
***LESS CONFUSING SUMMARY***
Basically, Lucas change/explanation brings up more (at least in my opinion) unanswered questions that are also more prominent than the fact that Sebastian Shaw played the ghost of Anakin Skywalker.
Darth Simon