Thanks for the link, nightstalkerpoet. Kasdan certainly speaks for me on this issue but I don't think he has any more authority than the so-called purists when they claim to speak for "most" of the fans (even though I'm sure he's probably right).
I don't know where you get off in saying that I'm victimising myself, georgec. Am I to take this condecension as further provocation? God knows enough of you are trying.
No, you're quite alright. I can more than hold my own against any of you - I've seen enough of your posts to know that - but I doubt many of you would be able to respond to my bucking the trend here in a civil fashion - this is an internet forum after all - so in the interest of keeping the peace I have chosen not to argue about the subject.
It's quite sad to see the collective responses to my decision not to be drawn on the issue. Quite pathetic, really.
Sorry to resurrect an old debate with my previous post but I just had to get it off my chest!
As someone who has to wait for each season to come out on Blu-ray, I need to be careful which posts I read here as I haven't even seen Season 4 yet (that's being saved for Christmas Day).
You know the fella who quoted Yoda's "judge me by my size do you?" - sorry, I didn't register who it was who said it - is that not simply a variant on "your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them"? And I think the person who said that used a ightsbare quite a bit.
If you deny the prequels (which is pretty outlandish, a bit like those three monkeys with their hands over their eyes, mouth and ears) then by extension you have to deny The Clone Wars - and, I imagine, anything else that doesn't meet your specific standards of what Star Wars is and should be (again, pretty outlandish). Funny, though, how some will practically give themselves a hernia pointing out how "flawed" the more recent parts of the Star Wars story are while completely ignoring how your limb can be severed by a lightsabre and yet still bleed. "Sigh" indeed.
As for Anakin killing all those Tuskens, he never told the Jedi, only Palpatine, and I'm sure he approved.
Padawan Menace is great fun and really, really funny. My son became sensitive over the films for a while and asked for his Darth Vader poster to be taken down and returned the Star Wars DVDs that he inherited from me when I got the Blu-rays. For films that are aimed at a younger age group, there's an awful lot of darkness there, too - but then, we read children Hansel And Gretel and expect them to have a good night's sleep - and Anakin's journey is hardly a barrel of laughs (at least my age group got a happy ending with the Star Wars films we grew up with).
Anyway, a big deal wasn't made of him not wanting to watch Star Wars anymore and, consequently, he's back into it again.
I'm fine with my kids making their own choices what they watch (as long as it's age appropriate) and don't burden them with my prejudices - it only ends up biting you on the bum in later life anyway.
Knowing John Williams as you do, of course!
I don't know how many times I've seen the newly edited A New Hope but that take-off of The Falcon has never interrupted the flow for me. Although it probably will now that you've pointed it out!
Yes, Lucas has certainly made some odd and wilful decisions. And it does support the argument that he doesn't know - or care? - about his own creation. It's a mindset against which I've resisted but when he resurrects dead characters and says that small ships can have cloaking devices you do have to wonder sometimes...
But yes, in The Clone Wars I can finally believe in Obi-wan's reference to Anakin in A New Hope as being "a good friend".
Isn't it supposed to be how Anakin sees himself? That's what I always thought and it's never upset me. Saying that the so-called apologists will go to any lengths to rationalise it, well it's no different (and certainly no worse) than folk rationalising their hatred for the fact that George Lucas dares to continue to draw breath - and to think, all of us here probably once thought the fella was the best thing since sliced bread. Ah well, let's not get bogged down on that note, I just find it a little depressing.
My son - who has never seen the scene with Sebastian Shaw as Anakin's ghost - pointed out to me this morning that Anakin never worse those clothes when he was alive. Ashamed to say I never noticed it when I first saw the so-called Special Edition and I was considerably older than he is when I first saw it. How could I explain this to him? I couldn't and didn't even try. "They messed up" was all I could offer by way of explanation.