Bingowings said:
brash_stryker said:
Bingowings said:
Drop in a line about Kenobi already having pupil before he takes on Anakin and remove the Skywalker name from the PT and you have all the cover story you need to keep the OT surprises and still tell much of the same story only better.
Except, you still have Ben describing Luke's father to him in ANH as a great pilot, an old friend etc. If we never meet anyone else who could match this description in the Prequels, and instead the closest we have is "Anakin" Christensen, then the game is up. The solution to not mention the name Skywalker only works if there's another character Ben's description could concievably pertain to. Otherwise the audience will never buy it.
His old friend and pilot could be the chap Mace tells Obi-Wan he can't train Anakin because of (by shifting the line from Qui-Gon about Obi-Wan to Obi-Wan about his other student). You could even insert a shot of that surly looking kid playing Boba Fett excised from AOTC to represent the other pupil or anyone to be honest.
You don't have to have some chap with a deep voice walk by Ewan and say "Hey buddy...I'm just off to fly my spaceship through a difficult to maneuver obstacle course while reading this catalogue of dark clothes and gas masks. Good luck with my replacement".
The stupid potential audience are already enjoying the PT for what it is.
Any reworking is to appeal to people with enough brains to fill in at least some of the gaps themselves.
I think you've missed my point a bit. It doesn't matter how much you hint at, or even show another apprentice (which I'm all for, by the way!). It still doesn't give us an actor that can pertain to this line "starpilot, cunning warrior, good friend". This indicates a comrade, a brother in arms, who would be around for at least one of the prequels. Are the audience supposed to challenge their suspension of disbelief by assuming this character was entirely off screen? Or is it in fact far easier, and far more logical for them to point to Anakin? I don't think anyone would ever listen to Obi's line in ANH and think "Oh he must mean someone we've never seen". Does the line really sound like it's about a bit part?
Contrary to your assertion, it's the "stupid" audience that would watch the movie and just not question who this info pertains to. If he was that prominent for Obi Wan to have reflected on fondly with a big nostalgic grin on his face, it couldn't have possibly been an off-screen character, therefore the only person left to vaguely match the description is Anakin - even if George got it all wrong and Prequel Anakin never acts like much of a friend. But short of inserting a new adult actor alongside Anakin and Obi Wan, and calling all 3 of them to Ady's green screen hut for reshoots, this isn't going to happen.