Darth Vader's suit — Page 4

The “magnificent jewel box” bit is LOL-worthy.

Anchorhead said:

Lucas said it himself when he wrote a letter to the producers of Lost:

“Don’t tell anyone … but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories – let’s call them homages – and you’ve got a series.”

Wow, I had no idea this happened but that’s hysterical. Kind of confirms that he’s been lying about everything for years.

Anchorhead said:

For any newer members who may not be familiar with me, I haven’t seen the last two prequel films. With that in mind, this may have been addressed in-universe or on this board somewhere. In the few screen-grabs and pics I’ve seen from the prequels, it looks like his helmet is a significant redesign from the original films. To echo a few others on here, I never noticed the differences from film to film on the OT. However, even for someone like me who isn’t terribly interested in the character, I immediately noticed a difference in the prequel version.

In Star Wars his helmet seemed to have more mass. It had much more visual weight. It was the helmet of a military general and had a used universe look consistent with the film. That seemed a little less so in Empire and Return, but the helmet still had weight.

In the pictures from the prequels, it looks to have less substance and appears more polished. I don’t mean polished as in shiny (it’s that as well), but polished as in being more of a stylized take on Vader as opposed to the actual mask. Maybe it works in motion or on film, but it just looks off to me.

And again, maybe this has been addressed and I’m just missing it. If he does make an appearance in Rogue One, I hope he looks period-correct.

Well, obviously. The helmet in ROTS is like version 0.8.5 and it’s like 10 minutes old.

CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

HansiG said:

Maybe it works in motion or on film

It doesn’t. Trust me.

Wrong user bro

Yep. The symmetry is part of it but I think the main reason it looks off is because the head is much to small for the helmet. Now, I don’t necessarily mind the smaller head, given it’s not supposed to be the same suit as in SW, but they could have at least changed the helmet too (could have been narrower - might have been a cool look). As is, it just looks kind of silly.

Anchorhead said:

Just looks like ol’ Vadie filled out a bit in the jowls over the years. Those years of a steady diet of Jedi brains and Force Juice Dark will add pounds to the space-armor, you betcha!

I don’t know if this was mentioned already, but does anybody think that Anakin should have turned to the darkside in Episode II? That way we could have gotten more Darth Vader in Episode III. I also think that it would have been better to suggest to the audience in Episode II that Anakin died at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi, with just a hint of him still being alive. That way people who watch the movies in sequential order rather than chronological order will still be surprised by the “I am your father” in Episode V.

@Anchorhead

Yeah, the ROTS Vader is crap. And most Vader obsessives (like on the propden forum) feel that way too. As mentioned, the original helmet was VERY wonky and lopsided. Check out the real deal, and mirrored version below (ignore the third one, it’s a fan made photoshop)

The ROTS helmet is a 3D mirror image of half of the original that was then HEAVILY cleaned up and sanitized. The mask seems smaller in proportion to the helmet and the helmet itself is wonky. On the original, the transition from the upper dome part to the lower flared portion is a very crisp and sharply defined line. On the ROTS helmet it’s much more blended and less defined.

The paint is also different. The ROTS is uniformly black and, again, very clean. The original was supposed to be black, but they found it too hard to light properly so they changed it to a two toned black and gun-metal gray checkerboard pattern that actually looks much more menacing. And, as you say, the original is very weathered, beaten, and used looking which also lends to its menace.

Finally, the eye lenses are changed. The original had Amber (NOT red!) lenses with a bubble curvature. The ROTS has flat lenses that give him a look like a state trooper wearing mirrored sunglasses.

As for the OT helmets… The original is by far the best. The ESB is a slightly cleaner (in both sculpt and paint) vesrion of the original that still retains a lot of the original’s menacing presence. The ROTJ version is a much more sanitized version of the original with softer details, much shinier paint, and a far less menacing appearance and is easily the weakest of the three but still light years better than the prequel junk.

I can’t say what they were going for, but the way I take it is that in ROTS, the helmet is new and perfect. By the time 19 years pass, Vader has been active, doing things. From what we see of how things go for him in the PT, he likely has done plenty to get his armor and helmet all beat up, maybe even replaced, a few times. Maybe in ANH, things have been too quite for a while and his armor is looking worn and then when he comes back in TESB, it is freshened up. A single outfit is not going to last someone like Vader for 23 years without some maintenance, upkeep, and the occasional replacement. I think making the outfit look new and pristine in ROTS was a logical choice. No, it doesn’t look as menacing as in the OT, but it isn’t supposed to.

yotsuya said:

I can’t say what they were going for, but the way I take it is that in ROTS, the helmet is new and perfect. By the time 19 years pass, Vader has been active, doing things. From what we see of how things go for him in the PT, he likely has done plenty to get his armor and helmet all beat up, maybe even replaced, a few times. Maybe in ANH, things have been too quite for a while and his armor is looking worn and then when he comes back in TESB, it is freshened up. A single outfit is not going to last someone like Vader for 23 years without some maintenance, upkeep, and the occasional replacement. I think making the outfit look new and pristine in ROTS was a logical choice. No, it doesn’t look as menacing as in the OT, but it isn’t supposed to.

Yeah, I actually agree with that idea in general, and I’m pretty sure I even mentioned the idea of Vader having to replace parts of his suit over time from wear and tear or battle damage in a thread somewhere on here recently as being my personal way of explaining the minor differences in each suit from film to film.

However, for ROTS i think they hit this weird no man’s land. They made a suit that’s clearly intended to be the “same” as the OT suit but cleaned up and changed so many details that the final result looks like a crappy knockoff. They should have either stayed truer to the OT shapes, proportions, and details. Or they should’ve gone much further with the changes and gone with some kind of proto suit that is quite clearly an earlier generation that would eventually evolve into what we see in the OT. Going with something based on McQuarrie’s early concept art would’ve been awesome.

Knock-off is a good word for it. Wrinkly face fits that description too.

Weird when you think how if the film was in practically anyone’s hands except Lucas it would have looked more like the real deal.

I agree, I think Darth Vader is cooler playing a different role in each film. I like the idea of getting promoted throughout the 3 films.