How should have the Empire Strikes Back Plot Twist have been kept a secret in the prequel trilogy??? — Page 2

Now that the weirdo is gone, I can give my opinion on this.

Basically, in my ideal version of prequels, Anakin and Obi-Wan meet in episode I, but when Anakin becomes his apprentice, the focus gradually shifts to other characters established in the first episode. In the following two films, Anakin and Obi-Wan would only make brief appearances. Perhaps the third episode could have included a sub-plot in which Obi-Wan tracks down Anakin's familly on Tatooine to place Anakin's son into their care.

SilverWook said:

I used to think perhaps Anakin would live a double life as Vader for a time. (Perhaps undermining the Jedi from within?) The sith(?) armor and voice being his disguise. After the lava planet duel, it becomes his full identity, as Palpatine would need Vader's established reputation to get things done.

 

I think something like this would be awesome.  I think I had a similar, though not quite so extensive idea in the radical redux thread.  But it seems like references could be made to a rumored assassin called Darth Vader in Episode III.  Ideally Kenobi would also have another apprentice who turned to the Dark Side as well.  All references to Anakin as Vader would be removed (and perhaps additional material introduced where Palpatine orders the mysterious Vader to hunt down the Jedi).  In the end we imply that Anakin dies of course, and the mystery is preserved.

I'd have used a mixture of techniques.

One not having Anakin a main character (he could have been a major secondary character like Lando or Yoda) that way you don't have to focus on him all the time.

Bear in mind that Anakin is only referred to by his first name (in the OT) half way into ROTJ so if they avoided calling him Skywalker they could have called the fallen Jedi Anakin until they were blue in the face and still keep the surprise for ESB.

It would also have given the PT a chance to focus on a totally new set of characters we don't know the fate of in the OT which would ramp up the drama as even people who had already seen the OT wouldn't know were the story was going with them.

Another would be obscuration, have several other possible Vader candidates including one that fits Obi-Wan description in ANH (a former pupil of Obi-Wan who becomes a Jedi and looks like he could turn on them all at some point).

Providing a more open ended 'death' scene for Anakin would have helped too.

I'd also would have had Yoda mentioned with awe but never seen so when he appears in ESB as a funny little gnome he is a surprise.

Errrm.

Wouldn't it make more sense to have Beru's maiden name Skywalker.

That way Owen Lars is still Luke's uncle but not a Skywalker.

As I said it makes more sense not to mention Anakin and Skywalker in the same sentence until ROTJ,

If Obi-Wan has a previous pupil when people refer to Obi-Wan's pupil Skywalker they may think they are referring to the other one not Anakin.

The same trick could be done in reverse with Darth Vader.

That way first time viewers would assume Anakin's surname was Vader.

It shouldn't have. Simple as that really. The entire premise of the prequel story is that anakin becomes darth vader.



They are prequels, that is, sequels set prior, chronologically only.

IV is the beginning, III is the end. This whole I-VI chronology nonsense is the problem, not spoilers.

No they are episode 1 to 3 in a series where 4 to 6 are pre-existing as underlined by the text of the poster above.

So the wise move would be to make them work both as prequels and as earlier episodes.

They work as neither.

It would have been better if Anakin went insane because of his oddly shaped shadow though.

I must admit it would have been nice with a little more ambiguity about what was going to happen in the PT. Even if you come right out of the OT, it's still nice if you have to keep guessing as to whos who.

Unfortunately AOTC is the extent of George's ability to write mystery.

Bingowings said:

No they are episode 1 to 3 in a series where 4 to 6 are pre-existing as underlined by the text of the poster above.

So the wise move would be to make them work both as prequels and as earlier episodes.

They work as neither.

It would have been better if Anakin went insane because of his oddly shaped shadow though.

Never noticed that shadow before

J

It's mysterious how he thought he could get away with it :-D