Your first reaction to Hayden is ROTJ — Page 8

My thought was why couldn't they have tried to make him look like he was 45ish instead of 23.  It was a half-assed change.

DuracellEnergizer said:

From my reading of his post, he thought Hayden in ROTJ wasn't actually Hayden, but an actor cast way back in '83 who looked like Hayden, since he wasn't aware that Lucas had tampered with the OT prior to his watching of it.

 Admittedly, I also half-assumed that. All I needed, of course, was a refreshing of my memory.

lovelikewinter said:

My thought was why couldn't they have tried to make him look like he was 45ish instead of 23.  It was a half-assed change.

Anakin should have been a free-floating, full-torso, vaporous apparition.

My first reaction was meh. Then again, I was 9 at the time and didn't mind the changes as much as I do now...

One of the changes that truly gets under my skin.

My first reaction was to hit eject on the DVD player because I thought the disc was scratched. You know how when a disc gets scratched it goes all... pixel-y I guess? That's what I thought... I had no idea at that point that they had changed him in. I was... not disappointed (at the time, I didn't notice the difference in quality between the two trilogies, if I may show my unfortunate youth)... but confused. Not to mention at that time I hadn't seen any promotional photos or video from ROTS so I didn't even recognize him as Anakin... he really did look quite different (imo) from his appearance in AOTC.

EDIT: Also, I really like that the title of this topic is Hayden is ROTJ instead of in. It's almost like some crappy direct-to-video Steven Seagal Movie.

"Coming this summer to DVD... The sequel to Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back! Hayden Christianson IS Return of the Jedi!"

MaximRecoil said:

Easterhay said:

Spare a thought for my boy. Since watching ROTJ the other day and questioning why Anakin's spirit was wearing clothes he never wore in life, last night he saw a picture from the original ROTJ with Sebastian Shaw as the ghost.

Questions such as "Why has he got hair? Where are his scars? Why has he got both arms? Why has he got both legs?" What could I do but shrug and say - once again - "They messed up."

They didn't "mess up". It is pretty standard in mythology and religion that people are "made whole" in the afterlife. The only precedent I know of for the idea of people retaining infirmities and/or wounds in the afterlife is from works of fiction in the "horror" or "thriller" genre.

The main reason that the concept of an afterlife has had such a long-term and widespead appeal is the hope that things will be better there, which obviously includes getting back lost limbs or otherwise rectifying other forms of disfigurement/impairment/infirmities. Who would dream up an afterlife for "good" or "redeemed" people where things suck just as bad as they did during the natural life, you know, other than people like Stephen King? That would be great for people who e.g. died in a fire or a high-speed car accident; they'd get to spend eternity looking like a charred corpse or a piece of hamburger.

Easterhay said:

45-ish with no hair, no arms or legs. Just a floating torso, really.

See above.

Also, why should he look "45-ish"? I never got the impression from SW, TESB, or ROTJ that he was supposed to be a generation younger than Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi described him as having been a "good friend", and people's good friends tend to be in the same age range as they are. Darth Vader does say to Obi-Wan Kenobi, "Your powers are weak, old man," but "old man" is often used ironically/sarcastically, and if I had a dollar for every time I've heard an old man call another old man "old man", I'd be rich.

In many accounts of Near Death Experiences or OBEs, deceased loved ones are often seen as in the prime of their life, even if the OBE-er couldn't ever recall seeing them that way. So actually, having a young Anakin Skywalker ghost makes more sense than seeing the image of an old man who could have only appeared that way if he was not horribly mutilated decades ago. Of course, that would mean that the ghost of Obi-wan would need to be played by Ewan McGregor, and they would need to make a CGI version of Yoda of him in his vigorous tadpole years.

*Shudder*

MaximRecoil said:

NeverarGreat said:

In many accounts of Near Death Experiences or OBEs, deceased loved ones are often seen as in the prime of their life, even if the OBE-er couldn't ever recall seeing them that way. So actually, having a young Anakin Skywalker ghost makes more sense than seeing the image of an old man who could have only appeared that way if he was not horribly mutilated decades ago. Of course, that would mean that the ghost of Obi-wan would need to be played by Ewan McGregor, and they would need to make a CGI version of Yoda of him in his vigorous tadpole years.

Those sort of anecdotes vary wildly, and of course there isn't any proof that the stories are true. However, mythology and religion are both well-documented with regard to the claims, and the hope to be "made whole" again in the afterlife is pretty much universal among people who believe in an afterlife.

In any event, the specific requirements of the movie need to be taken into account as well, i.e., the audience needs to recognize the ghostly characters, so it follows that the same actors who portrayed the characters in their natural life would portray them in their afterlife appearance.

Agree with all the above. My point was that I would find younger ghosted forms reasonable in theory, but I certainly wouldn't want it to be in the movie for the reasons you say. And obviously because the originals shouldn't be changed.

NeverarGreat said:

In many accounts of Near Death Experiences or OBEs, deceased loved ones are often seen as in the prime of their life, even if the OBE-er couldn't ever recall seeing them that way. So actually, having a young Anakin Skywalker ghost makes more sense than seeing the image of an old man who could have only appeared that way if he was not horribly mutilated decades ago. Of course, that would mean that the ghost of Obi-wan would need to be played by Ewan McGregor, and they would need to make a CGI version of Yoda of him in his vigorous tadpole years.

Also, in NDEs or OBEs, subjects (almost exactly 100% of the time) see experiences related to whatever religion/tradition they were raised in (because their brain is randomly firing neurons as it dies). So I guess we'd have to determine the religious tradition Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru raised Luke in, if any.

unamochilla2 said:

http://www.starwars.com/video/the-lost-missions-q-and-a-force-ghosts

Anakin appearing young as a force ghost is "explained."  I guess this guy doesn't realize that Anakin didn't die as a "wicked old man" considering he just saved his son from death.

 Dave Filoni had to be tactful in expressing opinion about the altered force ghost in ROTJ. It's no secret it's loathed by most. Filoni is the cartoon version of Rick McCallum.