Originally posted by: C3PX
If Anakin had offered to protect Palpatine when he first revealed himself, there would have been more time for Anakin to have second guest himself. It would have made the turn slower, not faster. He could have still been asking himself if he was doing the right thing or not, then when it got down to the Mace Windu fight it wouldn't have seemed like such a quick turn.
buddy-x-wing is right that the turn being more convincing had Anakin been expelled or given a better reason to fall. George played around with the idea of Anakin suspecting that Obi-Wan and Padme were having an affair. There was a scripted scene were Palpatine mentions to Anakin that he had heard rumors of Obi-Wan having some sort of love affair with some young female senator. Had he gone with that idea more fully, it really could have made a huge difference. I think for Anakin to have convincingly turned to the dark side he really needed to have a reason to hate Padme. The idea of him becoming evil for her sake, then killing her, then later trying to turn her son evil or kill him is kind of silly.
Let's say she really did have an affair (kind of heavy subject matter for a movie aimed at preteen audiences) or at least Palpatine truely convinced Anakin that she was cheating on him with his best friend, even though she wasn't, after all these years of being pushed toward the dark side by his close friendship with Palpatine he comes home after finding some pretty convincing evidence and is in a fit of rage. Padme tries to convince him that he doesn't know what he is talking about and that she loves him and would never do anything to hurt him, but he is so enraged that he doesn't listen to any of it. He starts kicking over furniture and squashing things with the force and Padme flees fearing for her life, and runs to their mutual friend Obi-Wan for help. Obi-Wan and the Jedi take her in to protect her and hide her someplace. The fact that she ran to Obi-Wan only makes him more suspicious, Palpatine adds in a few more facts and rumors he has heard in order to gently rub salt on the wound and to confirm to Anakin that what really has not happened has happened. No killing children, no order 66. Padme has disappeared, Anakin goes to Obi-Wan and attacks him, the two have their first fight, Obi-Wan is heart broken and tries to confince his friend that he could never do anything to hurt him, that he was like his brother. This could have been the point where Anakin looses an arm. Obi-Wan only tries to defend himself, but in the process accidently takes off Anakin's hand. Obi-Wan stares on dumbstruck at what he has just done, and Anakin escapes clutching his stump to fight again another day. Anakin is suspended from the Jedi order for his violent attack against another Jedi. Anakin goes to the Jedi to demand information on his wife's location, they refuse to tell him, this confirms to him that there is something up with Obi-Wan and that the Jedi are helping him hide his misdeeds. Anakin looses his temper and maybe kills a few Jedi at this point. And so on.
That is a much slower turn, with much more convincing motives. I don't think Anakin should have known about Padme being pregnant. Neither should the audience. Padme goes off to live on Alderan, fearing that if her husband should ever find her he will kill her. There she discovers she is pregnant, and Obi-Wan decides that it is better that not all three of them should be in the same place in the event that they are found, Padme reluctantly hands her son off to Obi-Wan so he can hid him and raise him to be a Jedi. This part doesn't have to happen on screen, it is implied well enough in the first movie. If we had Padme still living at the end of episode three, what more is there to explain in episodes four, five, and six. It becomes obvious Anakin is the father of them and easy enough for us to put two and two together and figure out that she was pregnant when she left him. Obi-Wan clearly explains the separation of the twins and the hiding of Luke. Leia remembered her real mother, so it would all make a lot more sense. We don't even have to have Anakin hunting down and killing all of the Jedi in episode three. It would be a lot better if we knew that was what Palpatine intended for him to do and see him start to do it. Then when episode four comes along we see, ah, Obi-Wan made it! Then when episode five rolls along and we hear Obi-Wan mention meeting Yoda we will realize he survived the purge as well.
This would have definitely made for a much better and more rewarding story!