JawsTDS said:
Pardon my ignorance, but can someone explain the significance of the changes to the Emperor scene in ESB?
I’ve watched the original and the '04 version – I just now noticed the “the young rebel who destroyed the Death Star” line, but I’m not really getting what the issue with the changes are. From what I gathered, Palpy mentioning that Luke is Anakin’s offspring works just as well as just saying “the son of Skywalker”, in the modern world. In 1980, the scene made sense as is – we didn’t know yet that Vader is Anakin.
Granted, for those who will never watch the prequels, this change ruins the big twist that everyone and their mother knows by now…
Can someone dumb it down?
I think people’s issue with it includes not just what you quoted, but Vader’s following line, “How is that possible?”. He has been hunting around for a kid with his own last name. Some defenders of the line will claim that it is a farce to fool Palpatine, but I don’t think that much more believable. Whether one likes it or not, this is where the difference is. In the original, they both know what they’re talking about without the viewer cluing in. In the new one, we’re supposed to be witnessing the moment where either Vader finds out, or Palpatine reveals that he has found out, and it’s a bit crap.