General star wars talk/discussion/complaining

[pukunui]

I always liked the idea (from the novels) that while Luke went on and on to his sister about the good in Dad and his redemption, Leia never really believed it. She wasn't there, after all, and she remembers her father forcing her to watch her homeworld be destroyed and her adopted parents be killed.

Is that in the RotJ novel?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Is that in the RotJ novel?

I don't remember. It's been about 30 years since I've read it. I believe I saw it in the excellent novel Bloodline, by Claudia Gray.

 

[pukunui]

I don't remember. It's been about 30 years since I've read it. I believe I saw it in the excellent novel Bloodline, by Claudia Gray.

Cool. I've only read a handful of Star Wars novels over the years. The RotS novelization is the only one I own. (The rest I borrowed from the library.)

 

[payn]

Nice. Thanks for sharing.

One thing I find interesting is his omission of GL’s swapping out of middle-aged Anakin’s Force ghost for young Anakin’s Force ghost at the end of RotJ. That’s evidence that GL views Anakin and Vader as different people. (And yet Vader telling Luke that he is his father says the opposite.)

While I agree that the scene where Luke removes his father’s helmet is a powerful one, Anakin’s deathbed repentance has never sat well with me. Him getting to manifest as a Force ghost with his old masters feels unearned (especially since GL established in the prequels that Force ghost manifestation has to be learned, and there’s no evidence that Anakin ever learned it.)

I’ll start by saying I’ve only seen the Skywalker Saga films not read any novels. The swapping Christiansen’s ghost always bugged me. I asked a friend once and he said GL wanted to do it because he thought it completed Anakins redemption. Not sure if that’s right or not but it still bugs me. Then again, almost every GL go back and change bugs me.

 

[pukunui]

I’ll start by saying I’ve only seen the Skywalker Saga films not read any novels. The swapping Christiansen’s ghost always bugged me. I asked a friend once and he said GL wanted to do it because he thought it completed Anakins redemption. Not sure if that’s right or not but it still bugs me.

Yes. IIRC GL's argument was that's how Anakin sees himself - as the young man he was before he got put in the suit. But I still think it was an unnecessary change. And I'm sure Anakin gets to have a Force ghost because he's the "Chosen One" and so didn't have to learn how to do it, but I still think that's unearned. Chucking the Emperor down the shaft doesn't make up for all the evil things Anakin did as Vader. Especially since he then up and dies without doing anything further to atone for all his evil deeds.

For all that Star Wars toyed with Taoism and other eastern philosophies, Anakin's deathbed repentance was very ... western.

Then again, almost every GL go back and change bugs me.

I prefer to watch the originals of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, but oddly enough,* I am happy to watch the special edition of The Empire Strikes Back. I think that's because GL's fiddling is mostly in the background in that film (a few extra moons or planets in space scenes, some actual windows on Cloud City, and so on). He didn't paste glaringly CGI aliens into that movie or make Han Solo's head move in unnatural ways and so on.

I think the last time I watched the SE of Return is when I was showing my children the Star Wars movies in the semi-machete order of 4-5-1-2-3-6. That's the only time the SE of Return is warranted, I feel. If you just want to watch it on its own, or as part of an OT-only series, then the original is superior in every way.



*I say oddly because Empire is my favorite of the OT so you'd think I'd be more particular about GL's fiddling with it but I actually approve of most of the changes he made to it, unlike the changes he made to Hope and Return.

 

[Zardnaar]

Cool. I've only read a handful of Star Wars novels over the years. The RotS novelization is the only one I own. (The rest I borrowed from the library.)

RotS one is well regarded.

 

[Zardnaar]

Yes. IIRC GL's argument was that's how Anakin sees himself - as the young man he was before he got put in the suit. But I still think it was an unnecessary change. And I'm sure Anakin gets to have a Force ghost because he's the "Chosen One" and so didn't have to learn how to do it, but I still think that's unearned. Chucking the Emperor down the shaft doesn't make up for all the evil things Anakin did as Vader. Especially since he then up and dies without doing anything further to atone for all his evil deeds.

For all that Star Wars toyed with Taoism and other eastern philosophies, Anakin's deathbed repentance was very ... western.


I prefer to watch the originals of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi, but oddly enough,* I am happy to watch the special edition of The Empire Strikes Back. I think that's because GL's fiddling is mostly in the background in that film (a few extra moons or planets in space scenes, some actual windows on Cloud City, and so on). He didn't paste glaringly CGI aliens into that movie or make Han Solo's head move in unnatural ways and so on.

I think the last time I watched the SE of Return is when I was showing my children the Star Wars movies in the semi-machete order of 4-5-1-2-3-6. That's the only time the SE of Return is warranted, I feel. If you just want to watch it on its own, or as part of an OT-only series, then the original is superior in every way.



*I say oddly because Empire is my favorite of the OT so you'd think I'd be more particular about GL's fiddling with it but I actually approve of most of the changes he made to it, unlike the changes he made to Hope and Return.

ESB was about the only one improved by the SE.

That being said a lot of people cant remember the originals very well.

They recently screened it in UK and its kinda "dirty" and the SE did clean them up as well.