How you pictured Anakin pre-PT — Page 3

I was either too young (in the time before the prequels came out) to have bothered to imagine what Anakin would look like or remember what I had imagined.

I guess I probably imagined Anakin as the Sebastian Shaw ghost we see. But, at the same time, I knew he must have been a lot younger when he became Vader so he never actually looked like that (why does he look like that? it's dumb, but of course that's a different conversation). Also I've never known what young Sebastian Shaw looked like, and I've never bothered to Google it. Who is that dude anyway? I've seen a lot of old movies and he was in none of them.

It's interesting that so many pictured him with dark hair. Is that because he turned bad? What are you saying about people with dark hair? As someone with pretty dark hair myself, I have to say I'm offended.

I never had a problem with Hayden as Anakin, looks-wise (though I think showing a child age version of him might have been Lucas's biggest mistake). That acting though...

DominicCobb said:

It's interesting that so many pictured him with dark hair. Is that because he turned bad?

Actually, I considered black hair the default hair colour of heroes as a kid (Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent probably had something to do with that), so I just automatically assumed a heroic Anakin would have had that hair colour.

Anything other than how he was portrayed by Jake Lloyd. I would've liked to have seen a gifted young child, who was semi-cognizant of his force abilities and then drafted into the Jedi order. I would've kept his mothers death and what not as well

In a universe where the PT is made in the earlier 70s/late 60s, maybe an infallible Adam West type?

How I pictured Anakin pre-PT:

As a wise, pragmatic, passionate starfighter pilot and Jedi Knight who was seduced by the Dark Side by a force more powerful than himself

How I would not have pictured Anakin, EVER, pre PT:

As a pre-teen (or twenty-something) empty-headed idiot of low birth and low character who was "drafted" into the Jedi based on a "hunch" by a malcontent who was himself not highly regarded

sunglassesatnite said:

As a pre-teen (or twenty-something) empty-headed idiot of low birth and low character who was "drafted" into the Jedi based on a "hunch" by a malcontent who was himself not highly regarded

Say what you will about TPM but I appreciate these aspects. Who did you want Anakin to be, some prodigy from a noble family who is recruited by the most respected master ever or some bullshit? The fact that he came from nothing and the person who brought him in had to fight for it are compelling narrative choices (whether they lived up to their potential is another matter). Luke comes from nothing and is brought into the fold by an old hermit well past his prime. That's the charm of SW's heroes - they're underdogs. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I had the thought watching Star Wars tonight going from halfway to more or less completely drunk over the span of the film (so if I'm missing a flat-out contradiction in the dialogue, forgive me) that it would be interesting if Owen was Luke's biological uncle on his mother's side rather than being connected to his father. I initially thought that Anakin might've come to Tatooine as a Jedi already and knocked up some farmer's daughter, leading to social complications (if you want to keep the Jedi celibacy thing from the PT, that works; if not, it's still a baby out of wedlock in a rural community, so that making waves isn't much of a leap), but then I hit that line from Obi-Wan about how Owen "thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved" and figured that probably meant Anakin was a native. Still, A.) Obi-Wan proves himself to be a damned liar on multiple occasions, and B.) even if we are having Anakin born on Tatooine, this setup could still certainly be made interesting if one were to put the time into thinking it through (which is something I'm not willing to do at the moment but will probably take a crack at in the morning). Anyway, am I totally off base? Anyone else think this might've worked if they'd ran with it back in the day?

ATMachine said:

sunglassesatnite said:

How I pictured Anakin pre-PT:

As a wise, pragmatic, passionate starfighter pilot and Jedi Knight who was seduced by the Dark Side by a force more powerful than himself

How I would not have pictured Anakin, EVER, pre PT:

As a pre-teen (or twenty-something) empty-headed idiot of low birth and low character who was "drafted" into the Jedi based on a "hunch" by a malcontent who was himself not highly regarded

 "Low birth"? I didn't realize that heroes born into poverty weren't really heroes somehow. :P

This is the problem when you apply a fable code to a modern film series. Most fables were formulated in Feudal times so being of an aristocratic background was essential, even if that origin is hidden. The folk hero Robin Hood becomes the displaced noble Robert of Locksley. Arthur is the hidden King that will unite the land raised as the squire of a minor Knight. Cinderella is the true inheritor of her father's fortune. Perseus and Jesus are sons of Gods.

This doesn't chime well with a modern audience raised to believe in the myth of meritocracy. That anyone can if they apply the effort achieve remarkable things. The American Dream.

Arguably the pre-ROTJ Force was such a merit based power. The reason we don't have Jedi is we don't have Jedi masters to school us in the Force. Even a farm boy on a planet in the middle of nowhere can become a Jedi.

In ROTJ the power of inheritance is introduced and Luke's sister is a Princess but she is an adopted Princess so she might be still 'low born'.

In the PT Luke and Leia are the offspring of royalty and a demi-God.We have gone from the age of Aquarius back to the age of Dragons. Luke is no longer Uri Geller with Kung-Fu moves, now he's a royal prince with magic blood.

From an audience perspective everyone having the potential to wield the Force is more attractive.

These films were designed to appeal to children of all ages so gifting that audience with that potential (albeit fictional) is an aid to making an empathic bond with the protagonist.

We aren't meant to relate to nobility but look up to them. We are meant to relate to boy and girl next door characters.

Having it a skill that only a bloodline of mutants can do is sort of half there because the little kid in the audience may be able to imagine themselves a potential mutant lacking a Jedi Master.

It'll be interesting to see how TFA deals with the force inheritance, and it obviously will as it's right upfront in the second teaser with Luke's VO. I don't think that line from ROTJ is necessarily saying that it solely comes down to genetics. I think there's still room for everyone to have that potential, but the Force just happens to be stronger than usual in that bloodline. It's a little ambiguous, but so is the nature of the Force, in and out of universe.

Oddly enough while the PT solidified the fact that not everyone has the same potential it also solidified the fact that Force ability is not passed down through generations as Jedi did not have offspring, so youth with Force abilities have been granted such at random and are always born to those (presumably) without Force abilities.

I have to disagree with you. Star Wars was the title, however the subtitle is “The Tragedy of Darth Vader”. So I believe it needed to be told.

gwarguy66 said:

I have to disagree with you. Star Wars was the title, however the subtitle is “The Tragedy of Darth Vader”. So I believe it needed to be told.

Actually the subtitle was “The Adventures of Luke Skywalker (as taken from the Journal of the Whills)”. “The Tragedy of Darth Vader” is something Lucas came up with 20 or so years after the fact.

^This. A million times THIS.

Okay, okay. A thousand times, then.

imperialscum said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

^This. A million times THIS.

A million times? That’s a paddlin!

How about division?