Vader: The man behind the mask

Grab Star Wars and stick it in the VCR or Laserdisc player (I personally have a laserdisc . . . sweet old-school high-res). I'm talking about Star Wars, by the way, not Empire, or Jedi, or Phantom, or Clones. The real Star Wars.

If you've got the laserdisc, you'll want to put in side 3, because what I'm going to show you comes during the death star canyon run.

Have you ever wanted to see the real Darth Vader, the real man behind the mask? Not that pudgy dying dude you see in Jedi, but the real man who was the body of Vader for the three movies that form a major core of my storytelling background. Be forewarned, this might disappoint you, because it diminishes something of the ominous facelessness of the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Watch, as Vader and his TIE-pilots chase after Luke and the rest of his squadron. Whenever the scene cuts to within Vader's cockpit, it's usually quite dark, but in one two-second long moment, you'll see a large amount of light, that overcomes the opacity of Vader's eyepieces. And then, for just an instant, you can see Darth Vader's face, behind the mask.

Creepy.
 

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