Glen's Star Wars Prequels

[MerryPrankster]

Thanks for the support. It definitely was not referenced in the movies I checked. Breathing superheated air should do nicely for the lung searing. I have Darth Maul hack one limb off already. The others could easily have required amputation or even been fried off as his force bubble collapsed slowly ever so slowly.

Oh wow, that's a nasty image there. The bubble slowly recedes to the point he can't keep all of his arms and legs inside it, no matter how much he tries to curl up. Bit by bit, they start to burn off, starting at the ends.

As the bubble shrinks, the air within it gets hotter and hotter and slowly his lung function begins to degrade. I imagine by the time he's offering allegiance to the Sith, he's rasping and gasping and generally a mess.

If you want to generate sympathy for Vader in TTL, you're going to get it--all he did was experiment a little bit with the Dark Side (using it to kill a dangerous, evil Sith Lord no less) and kill Jar Jar in quasi-self-defense.

In the movies, Vader killed a bunch of kids and then choked his very pregnant wife into unconsciousness. Hard to get sympathy for him after THAT.

 

[Glen]

You'd have to move to a midichlorian-level pile of handwavium to explain how Obi-wan shrunk five inches between the prequels and the original trilogy.

Not my suggestion but osteoporosis can in fact take off a few inches in men.

 

[Count Dearborn]

Oh wow, that's a nasty image there. The bubble slowly recedes to the point he can't keep all of his arms and legs inside it, no matter how much he tries to curl up. Bit by bit, they start to burn off, starting at the ends.

As the bubble shrinks, the air within it gets hotter and hotter and slowly his lung function begins to degrade. I imagine by the time he's offering allegiance to the Sith, he's rasping and gasping and generally a mess.

If you want to generate sympathy for Vader in TTL, you're going to get it--all he did was experiment a little bit with the Dark Side (using it to kill a dangerous, evil Sith Lord no less) and kill Jar Jar in quasi-self-defense.

In the movies, Vader killed a bunch of kids and then choked his very pregnant wife into unconsciousness. Hard to get sympathy for him after THAT.

Damaging her trachea in the process, which leads to her death.

 

[Glen]

Oh wow, that's a nasty image there. The bubble slowly recedes to the point he can't keep all of his arms and legs inside it, no matter how much he tries to curl up. Bit by bit, they start to burn off, starting at the ends.

As the bubble shrinks, the air within it gets hotter and hotter and slowly his lung function begins to degrade. I imagine by the time he's offering allegiance to the Sith, he's rasping and gasping and generally a mess.

If you want to generate sympathy for Vader in TTL, you're going to get it--all he did was experiment a little bit with the Dark Side (using it to kill a dangerous, evil Sith Lord no less) and kill Jar Jar in quasi-self-defense.

In the movies, Vader killed a bunch of kids and then choked his very pregnant wife into unconsciousness. Hard to get sympathy for him after THAT.

Yes here Anakin is only on the edge but it is his own hunger to be the most powerful and his fear of failure while at the same time not quite believing he can fail that is his downfall. You want a feel of there but for the Grace of God from that tipping point.

As to Vader after the fall I will make this point - he is The Black Knight,The Dark Paladin. He is not a child killer. That is beneath his dignity. Vader kills the greatest and strongest Good has to offer. And heck he killed a lot more failed imperial officers than anyone else in the original movies. This is where Vader needs to be shown in my version. He's the Big Bad that you almost admire (this also makes his redemption in RoTJ more believable).

 

[Glen]

Oh wow, that's a nasty image there. The bubble slowly recedes to the point he can't keep all of his arms and legs inside it, no matter how much he tries to curl up. Bit by bit, they start to burn off, starting at the ends.

As the bubble shrinks, the air within it gets hotter and hotter and slowly his lung function begins to degrade. I imagine by the time he's offering allegiance to the Sith, he's rasping and gasping and generally a mess.

If you want to generate sympathy for Vader in TTL, you're going to get it--all he did was experiment a little bit with the Dark Side (using it to kill a dangerous, evil Sith Lord no less) and kill Jar Jar in quasi-self-defense.

In the movies, Vader killed a bunch of kids and then choked his very pregnant wife into unconsciousness. Hard to get sympathy for him after THAT.

Yes here Anakin is only on the edge but it is his own hunger to be the most powerful and his fear of failure while at the same time not quite believing he can fail that is his downfall. You want a feel of there but for the Grace of God from that tipping point.

As to Vader after the fall I will make this point - he is The Black Knight,The Dark Paladin. He is not a child killer. That is beneath his dignity. Vader kills the greatest and strongest Good has to offer. And heck he killed a lot more failed imperial officers than anyone else in the original movies. This is where Vader needs to be shown in my version. He's the Big Bad that you almost admire (this also makes his redemption in RoTJ more believable).

 

[Glen]

Damaging her trachea in the process, which leads to her death.

And thus completely negating his main reason supposedly for going over to the Dark Side in the first place. I know they were going for ironic - instead they landed on moronic, at least for me.

No, in my version all the things that cause him to first be entangled with the Dark Side continue to drive his further descent.

 

[MerryPrankster]

Padme seems able to scream in childbirth and talk just fine. The unmasked Vader actually sounds like someone with a damaged respiratory system.

It would have been better if it was a stress-induced heart attack.

 

[Glen]

Padme seems able to scream in childbirth and talk just fine.

A fair point - my version avoids the problem entirely.

The unmasked Vader actually sounds like someone with a damaged respiratory system.

A bit, doesn't he?

It would have been better if it was a stress-induced heart attack.

If it must be there at all, yes, I suppose - I found her death particularly contrived.

 

[Garrison]

Yes here Anakin is only on the edge but it is his own hunger to be the most powerful and his fear of failure while at the same time not quite believing he can fail that is his downfall. You want a feel of there but for the Grace of God from that tipping point.

As to Vader after the fall I will make this point - he is The Black Knight,The Dark Paladin. He is not a child killer. That is beneath his dignity. Vader kills the greatest and strongest Good has to offer. And heck he killed a lot more failed imperial officers than anyone else in the original movies. This is where Vader needs to be shown in my version. He's the Big Bad that you almost admire (this also makes his redemption in RoTJ more believable).

It's more credible if he slides into the dark side because he's trying to save the Republic and help end the war, the tragic fallen hero rather the unfathomable monster the OTL prequels make him into. I really could never credit why he was suddenly willing to wipe out all those children, and as you say it seems to contradict the character from the original trilogy.

 

[Glen]

Okay, given how I want to change the ages of Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan in the movies, I have been searching high and low for people to play these three pivotal roles. And I think I have come up with a tentative cast list:

Obi-Wan Kenobi - Gary Oldman
Padme Amidala - Ashley Judd
Anakin Skywalker - Heath Ledger

 

[Glen]

It's more credible if he slides into the dark side because he's trying to save the Republic and help end the war, the tragic fallen hero

Possibly, though then you would think he would come to his senses at some point. Personally, I like having his fall come out of his personal flaws, with overweaning pride being among them (how utterly Greek of me).

rather the unfathomable monster the OTL prequels make him into. I really could never credit why he was suddenly willing to wipe out all those children, and as you say it seems to contradict the character from the original trilogy.

I agree wholeheartedly.

 

[Glen]

I think as part of the changes to lead to my version of the prequels, Lawrence Kasdan probably accepts co-writing/directing Episode I. I also think he will be inspired by being stuck someplace and catching a rerun on TV of Top Gun. I can see it going something like this.

Kasdan couldn't believe he had accepted Lucas' offer to help launch his prequel trilogy. His first instinct had been to tell George that this should be his movie to direct. But he had held back, instead getting slowly sucked into writing for Star Wars again. The first draft script that George had presented him had some promise, but somehow the whole bit with a kid Anakin and Tatooine again did not ring true to him. First, he just didn't trust that he could direct a child through such a pivotal role for the series. Second, he just didn't see why in a whole Galactic Republic, they were back on Tatooine, where the series had started! The whole Anakin role needed rethinking.

His layover was extending into hours, late into the night. Kasdan tried sleeping, reading, but he was restless. He glanced idly at the waiting area television. Usually these things were on some news station, but someone had got it tuned into a movie, Tony Scott's Top Gun. Something caught his eye about it this time. The banter of the pilots, the cockiness - wasn't Luke's father supposed to be the best pilot in the galaxy when Kenobi first met him?

When next he saw George, he waved his new notes excitedly, "Anakin is Maverick! He's Han Solo! It's perfect, George. We get rid of the whole child Anakin showing up in the middle of the movie. We start it like Top Gun in space! Obi-Wan needs the best pilot he can get to get him through to Padme. We make the first movie about these guys meeting, about them rescuing the Queen. This is an adventure, George, like what you first wrote for Star Wars. It's perfect!

Lucas wasn't as excited at first, but Kasdan's revised script, his enthusiasm, eventually win him over. George begins to remember his early versions of Star Wars, and it is as if it was always meant to be this way....

 

[High Plains Drifter]

Okay, given how I want to change the ages of Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan in the movies, I have been searching high and low for people to play these three pivotal roles. And I think I have come up with a tentative cast list:

Obi-Wan Kenobi - Gary Oldman
Padme Amidala - Ashley Judd
Anakin Skywalker - Heath Ledger

Good choices. But Ledger is a little too young, born in 79.

Maybe Paul Bettany instead. Though don't know if he could pull off the attitude you'd want with a cocky pilot.

 

[Glen]

Good choices. But Ledger is a little too young, born in 79.

Maybe Paul Bettany instead. Though don't know if he could pull off the attitude you'd want with a cocky pilot.

For the first episode, he's a bit on the young side, agreed, but I think he'd work all the same. Actually, George will probably love finding someone that young for the role.

Paul Bettany would be interesting, true....

 

[Brady Kj]

I like the idea of Heath Ledger as Anakin. I'd rather have an actor who can talk like a young James Earl Jones, but since that's a difficult feat, I'll go with Ledger.
I'm of the opinion that Liam Neeson would have been awesome in the role of Obi Wan, but I will admit that Gary Oldman is a competent actor and should be in it.

 

[Johnrankins]

I like the idea of Heath Ledger as Anakin. I'd rather have an actor who can talk like a young James Earl Jones, but since that's a difficult feat, I'll go with Ledger.
I'm of the opinion that Liam Neeson would have been awesome in the role of Obi Wan, but I will admit that Gary Oldman is a competent actor and should be in it.

I'm with that as that would mean his character would live past the first movie. The worst thing about Qui Gon is that he died in the first movie.

 

[Brady Kj]

And Liam Neeson was born to be a Jedi master. If he can't be Obi Wan, I certainly hope there'd be a role for him. Perhaps Mace Windu, and then Samuel Jackson can play Jango Fett and all the clones, or Lando's uncle. Or you could think outside the box and make Liam Neeson Palpatine. I wasn't impressed by OTL's Palpatine.

 

[Readman]

Corny as it sounds I like the idea of having a Padme-Obi-Ani Triangle, it could add a lot of depth to the relationships off all three--and it would add also a lot more emotion and drama in the final battle "I Loved you Anakin, as you and I both loved Padme, but your hatred and blindess to your own greed and power have taken her from both of us!"

"I..HATE you!!" etc, etc

 

[Glen]

I like the idea of Heath Ledger as Anakin. I'd rather have an actor who can talk like a young James Earl Jones, but since that's a difficult feat, I'll go with Ledger.
I'm of the opinion that Liam Neeson would have been awesome in the role of Obi Wan, but I will admit that Gary Oldman is a competent actor and should be in it.

Yeah,at least Ledger has some resonance to his voice. Hard to find tall and deep voiced actors of that age in the 1990s. I think Ledger would do a reasonable job of at least trying to catch some of the cadence of Vader's voice.

People noted that Liam Neeson is way taller than Alec Guinness. Never fear, he shall still be cast as Qui-gon who has a substantial role in the last of my prequels.

Out of the Brit Pack who are of the right age and stature for my Obi-wan I think him the best fit for a younger Guinness though Paul McGann was also a contender.

 

[Glen]

I'm with that as that would mean his character would live past the first movie. The worst thing about Qui Gon is that he died in the first movie.

In my version he makes it into all three though only prominant in the last one.