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Who's gonna read "Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader?"

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I'm interested in reading this, as it is considered the sequel to ROTS, and will supposedly get into the mind of Anakin/Vader. And it will be cool to get a first glimpse into that 19 year time period between ROTS and ANH.
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I agree- I'll probobly pick it up..................if I don't pick up the Jack Ryan Trillogy
Mabe after Christmas when I have some expendable cash
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w00t! That means it gets shipped for me tomorrow! lol. This should hold me over till my 360 gets shipped.
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I'll probably read it. Even though I haven't read much Star Wars EU since the Jedi Academy Trilogy.
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10 years ago this would have appealed to me, but I'm not interested in anything pre-ANH anymore.

War does not make one great.

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YIYF, don't be afraid, it's not written by Lucas. It's by James Luceno, someone who is more talented as a writer.
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Originally posted by: Adamwankenobi
YIYF, don't be afraid, it's not written by Lucas. It's by James Luceno, someone who is more talented as a writer.
Yeah, but it's based on the Anakin from the prequels, his thoughts about the death of Padme, and all that other crap that never happened. Not interested.

War does not make one great.

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Why on earth do you hate the PT that bad? They're just movies. None of this happened. It is all an excellent, excellent story. So Anakin turned to Vader because of his love for someone? That shows the human side of him, which is supposed to be the whole point of the story. The OT is absolutely no better than the PT. Nothing makes it superior. No offense YIYF, but what you're saying seems to me as silly as if I said "The OT and all that crap didn't happen. Not interested." It's part of the story, so I enjoy it.
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I understand and respect your viewpoint Adam, but the thing is that I and many others were given a version of these films by George Lucas many years ago. We absorbed these versions. Then, 20 odd years later these version are taken away and altered, and new chapters are added which contradict the original story that we had been absorbing for 2 decades. It is very hard, if not impossible, to forget the originals because we had them for much longer than we have had these new 'visions'. Imagine if tomorrow the Walt Disney Company made an official statement that Mickey Mouse is, in fact, a rat and not a mouse at all. His new name is Mickey Rat. They then go back and digitally alter Mickey's appearence in every cartoon and movie to look more ratlike (longer snout, brown fur, etc). Future generations will embrace Mickey Rat, but how the hell are you and I ever going to forget the mouse? Or what if in 10 years Lucas decides to make some pre-prequels, in which he shows Jar-Jar's youth, and reveals that Jar Jar is actually the master of the Sith, and the whole thing was his idea, and palpatine was just a pawn. He then reedits the original prequels to elude to this, and when we hear the Gungan at the end of Jedi shouting 'weesa free!' it zooms in to show Jar Jar watching on and saying 'or so you think...HAHAHAH!!", leaving it open for episodes 7, 8, and 9 featuring the story of Luke fighting the Evil Darth Jar Jar, with the help of the ghost of his dead dad and the mother he never met, Padme (Padme's ability to come back as a force ghost despite having no force abilitys in life will be explained by some convoluted reasoning). If anybody mentions to George the fact that he stated he was never going to make episodes 7, 8 and 9, he would deny ever making that statement and mumble something about an original vision. What would you make of that? Would you accept that as part of the story? As you point out, for those that want the O-OT, it's out there on VHS and laserdisc, and luckily I have both, so I choose to watch the versions I am used to. I tried to work the prequels and changes into my vision of star wars (which, BTW, is a vision given to me by George Lucas. It's not like I made it up) but it just doesn't fit right so all I can do know is try to forget the newer versions and prequels and revert to my old memories, because that will be easier to do than forgetting my old memories and taking on new ones. Plus the fact that the prequels and all this storyline tweaking just hasn't been executed too well.

Originally posted by: Adamwankenobi
So Anakin turned to Vader because of his love for someone? That shows the human side of him, which is supposed to be the whole point of the story.
No, that is not the point of the story. The original point was that even a good man can turn to evil if he gives into temptation, greed, anger etc. It's a very real danger that each of us faces throughout our life and we must be careful to not to fall into that trap. Lucas gave all us kids growing up in the 80s a message, a moral, a code to follow - be good, good things will happen, and you will ultimately be a much stronger person than those who take the quick and easy road to crime, etc. He also opened many of our young minds to the idea of spirituality, a force or higher being, a purpose, some kind of rhyme or reason to the workings of the universe. But then he took that away and gave us some shit about a dying wife and midichlorians. I'm not saying I actually believe in the force and if I practise I can be a jedi, but, metaphorically, the original star wars had so much to offer. But not anymore (the closest we got was some of the stuff Qui-Gon said in the phantom menace, but then he was killed in favour of CGI clone troopers and cackling, lightsabre wielding Emperors). I am currently reading the Original Star Wars Novel, written before ANH was released in the seventies, and although it is quite inaccurate, it captures the general feeling of Star Wars much better than any of this new stuff. That novel is Lucas' original vision because it is based on original scripts and drafts, and unlike a movie a book does not have budget or effects limitations.


War does not make one great.

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That's an excellent explanation of your point. And I too can respect that. The problem is, I see it from the exact opposite. The very first things I saw in star wars, the very first things which made me interested, were the story of the jedi and the story of Anakin. I saw episode I, and wanted to episodes 4-6. I was not diapponted, because to me, it provided a fitting conclusion to what I had first saw in TPM. I could already see the connections between people, what was going to happen, etc. Then, when AOTC and ROTS came along, they filled in the gaps between the story I already knew, and even greater enhanced how I felt about them. The PT even enhanced the OT. The problem I've always had with the OT and OT fans is that Vader was never the villain in the first place, as seen in ROTJ. ROTJ was evidence enough, before the PT came along, that he was a very human character, and that he was not the true evil, Emperor Palpatine was. As Lucas put it, you got a hint through his words and actions that he was: "The victim, not the villain." So you may have saw him as the epitome of all evil at first, but ROTJ showed the truth. I find it strange that Vader is on the top 10 villains, yet Palpatine is nowhere close. Is it becuase of the black armor and meacing voice? Hmm...

But, as Lucas says (and you can dispute this all you want, but this is what he claims, so we must take his word) the original story was never meant to portray him as the true villain, but, Vader became such an icon, that it took the PT to allow people to see him the way Lucas intended. I mean, my mom grew up in the 70's and 80's, watched all three films of the OT in theaters, enjoyed them, but now years later tells me ROTS is the one where the most interesting story lies. And this was from the point of view of someone who is not a fan, but who greatly enjoys all of the films. She did not watch them repeatedly as many have, but merely enjoyed them a few memorable times since they came out. This proves that different people see the saga in a different way. She's from your generation, saw the OT growing up, yet still equally enjoyed the PT. She was not a critic. She didn't go in expecting anything, she just went in and enjoyed it. The only reason critics and everyone for that matter gave TPM and AOTC bad reviews is becuase they went in expecting it to be the way THEY wanted it to all these years, rather than the way HE wanted them to be. They had grown up, expecting the films to grow up with them. And when the films stayed as they were, it had a jarring effect on some people. I remember those guys on MTV on the "Best Week Ever" show back in May. When that week's show came around that talked about ROTS's release, they said, "Oh, finally, a Star Wars prequel movie that actually doesn't suck!"
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OK, so you see the whole saga as the story of Anakin. So, what if Lucas change the prequels and even added new chapters so that it was no longer the story of Anakin?

BTW, I also see it as the story of Anakin (in addition to it being the story of Luke, Leia, Han, Ben, Yoda, etc) and I think that the OT did a perfectly good job of putting across the point that Anakin was a good man who fell to evil, and was a human, twisted by the dark side. I sympathised with Vader, and did indeed see him as somewhat of a victim, not just of Palpatine but also of himself. But IMO the PT did nothing to build on that. If anything, it made me care less for Anakin than I originally did because far from being the kind, brave friend Obi-Wan describes, he is an angsty teen with a bad 'I want' attitude. It would have been far more powerful if he was an obi-wan (as played by Ewan) type character who fell to the dark side, showing that even the greatest, kindest among us can fall to darkness if we are not careful.

The prequeals are very good action sci-fi films and compared to a lot of other stuff, I rate them highly, but the Star Wars 'feel' is lacking. Star Wars is not about spaceships and clones, it is about mythology and magic, but this has been lost, and I really feel sorry for young fans like you who have been robbed of that. The story could work in medieval England, Ancient Japan, or outer space.

War does not make one great.

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Imagine if tomorrow the Walt Disney Company made an official statement that Mickey Mouse is, in fact, a rat and not a mouse at all. His new name is Mickey Rat. They then go back and digitally alter Mickey's appearence in every cartoon and movie to look more ratlike (longer snout, brown fur, etc). Future generations will embrace Mickey Rat, but how the hell are you and I ever going to forget the mouse?


Nice analogy!

There would probably be t-shirts reading, "Don't Forget the Mouse!"
We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
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LOL

"Why on earth do you hate the PT that bad? They're just movies. None of this happened. It is all an excellent, excellent story."

Why on earth do you hate the OT effects that bad? They're just movies. None of this happened. It is all an excellent, excellent story.

Oh yeah...you keep harping on continuity - the very thing that Lucas changed for people older than you. I guess the "excellent, excellent story" just isn't good enough to keep you from getting hung up on the effects as well.

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: Sadly, I believe the prequels are beyond repair.
<span class=“Bold”>JediRandy: They’re certainly beyond any repair you’re capable of making.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>MeBeJedi: You aren’t one of us.
<span class=“Bold”>Go-Mer-Tonic: I can’t say I find that very disappointing.</span></span>

<span class=“Italics”>JediRandy: I won’t suck as much as a fan edit.</span>

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I don't "hate" the OT effects. They're great, but it would be nice in my opinion if he could do a little work on them. And I'm sure he agrees with me. I don't have a major problem with the effects, I only feel they could possibly be improved. They in no way effect the "excellent, excellent" story. In order to tell a good story, however, you need a good continuity within that story to make it a beliveable story. And effects at times are part of that continuity, like it or not. And the OT takew place after the PT, so no, the PT should not be made to match the OT, the OT, taking place after the PT, needs to be altered for continuity's sake.
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“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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Originally posted by: skyjedi2005


adam by the way the better version of the prequel trilogy is the novelizations


That I can definately agree with. Matthew Stover's novelization was a great book period.