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In the audio commentary to the DVD, Lucas says that when Anakin bursts into flames, he wanted to make the scene such that Obi-wan thinks he's killed Anakin.

That's the way it always looked to me when I saw it in the theater.

I'm thinking there might be a connection to Obi-wan's line in episode VI, when Luke says that he can't kill his own father: "Then the Emperor has already won." Is Obi-wan recalling his own reluctance to kill Anakin and his own failure to "finish the job," so to speak?

A while back, I stumbled across a truly wonderful essay on AOTC that I just glanced through again tonight. I thought I would share it with the group:

http://www. lardbiscu...ard/shroud.html

The author has also written an essay on TPM (discussed in another thread in here) and will be eventually writing another long piece on ROTS.

Check out especially "Episode IV" of the essay (i.e. the first part), which is a broad overview of the symbolism of the movie. It's really fantastic. To give one quick example, the essay points out two references to problems with Anakin's breathing that are mentioned in connection to his relationship to Padme.

Very insightful and not to be missed!

"I don't like sand," is probably the most infamous Anakin line from Episode II.

After he gets his arms and legs cut off in Episode III, look where he lands....



***
(I wasn't sure if it was sand or not -- I never really thought that sand surrounds a molten river...but someone suggested this, and I really like it. At the very least, it is a rough, dirty element that strongly recalls the texture of sand -- and the temperature)

George Lucas had a chance to create an incredible series of six Star Wars movies -- all the pieces were in front of him. Producing great films was entirely in his grasp. However, thanks entirely to his ineptitude and greed, what so easily could have been has been transformed into a mockery of everything that Star Wars was originally intended to stand for.

We know a great deal about the ideas Lucas had for his saga in the beginning, many great concepts. But his unforgivable mistakes along the way -- and his outright refusal to stick to the original story -- tarnished the legendary tale he was creating. He fell away from the true plotline of Star Wars and altered the story until it became the shoddy film series we have today. Lucas admits that his original idea for the series was to focus on the adventures of a midget hero. In fact, in interviews he even went as far as to say that he did screen tests to see if it would have been possible to make the main character a "little person." Imagine how great Star Wars would have been if only Lucas had stuck to his original story of a young midget facing adversity, adventure, and even prejudice in a galaxy far, far away (that turns out to be too much like our own). The movies that could have been crafted around this original idea would have been stupendous.

Instead, Lucas was blinded by greed -- he knew that casting a full-sized young man to play the lead role would be a more popular choice and would draw more viewers to the film. In his lust for money and popularity, Lucas rejected the glory of his original vision and decided to make Star Wars a ho-hum "coming of age" tale set in space. Furthermore, Lucas greedily chose to add special effects to the movie in order to salvage the film, which his weak, wooden dialogue and boring story (completely bereft of human midgets) nearly destroyed. Instead of simply *releasing* the movie and getting it over with, the evil George Lucas wasted nearly a year in post-production -- all because he knew that he could make more money (and garner more popularity) if he helped create special effects that would revolutionize the motion picture industry. How selfish.

And what happened to the tale of a plucky young midget galavanting around the galaxy seeking adventure? Left on the cutting room floor in lieu of a series of slightly above-average action films that have been overrated and overanalyzed for more than thirty years.

I know what you damn gushers are gonna say -- "oh, Star Wars belongs to George Lucas, he can do whatever he wants with it. He shouldn't be forced to commit himself to his first idea before he has a chance to revise it." That is a weak argument, although I admit Star Wars does belong to George Lucas. So, I guess, technically, he was in his rights to change the original story and do whatever he wanted...but that doesn't make it a good thing, and it doesn't make it a good movie series. I'll tell you what it makes Lucas -- a sellout. A total and complete sellout. And all of you Lucas cronies who lap up his non-midget tales and defend his greedy, selfish choices...you should be ashamed of yourselves.

I'm tired of hearing you gushers talk about how great the OT is. And I'm really tired of hearing gushers talk about how terrible the PT is compared to the OT. Give me a break! The vicious attempts to suppress the original midget plotline have reached their height, and now everyone has completely forgotten the true roots of Star Wars. Now the gushers spend their time debating over whether the PT was a good idea or not -- while the biggest gusher of them all (he calls himself "Chefelf"...yeah, I'd use an alias, too, if I were as much of a Lucas cronie as he is) spends time nitpicking the new Star Wars films....all of it is a smokescreen for the real issue! The fact that Lucas turned his back on true fans of Star Wars -- the fans who just wanted to see the adventures of a kickass midget -- and completely sold out.

While you gushers are wasting your time saying, "oh, look, another inconsistency," you don't realize the biggest inconsistency of all -- Luke was never supposed to be a normal-sized person. Star Wars was going to be GREAT!! But Lucas ruined it! All for fortune and fame! And you damn gushers support him all the way!

Man, Lucas is an idiot. Well, he's not an idiot, he's got you gushers eating out of his hand, eager to validate his non-midget stories. Everytime you criticize the PT (on the grounds that the OT was "better"), you play right into his prejudiced, anti-midget plans.

For a few us, the *real* Star Wars fans, the *real* bashers, the Real Star Wars -- a hypothetical yet incredible six movie series -- will always exist in our hearts, an eternal tale that Lucas will never be able to screw up with his greed...the story of a young, adventurous midget named Dirk Starkiller. May the Force be with you, Dirk.

I hadn't seen ROTJ for several years, and I just watched the ending of it last night on dvd. During the final duel, Vader tells Luke that joining the dark side is the "only way to save your friends." And he succeeds in goading Luke into being aggressive by threatening to turn Leia.

The whole scene carries a hell of alot more weight after seeing ROTS; Vader is tempting Luke with the possibility of saving those he loves, which is exactly how Vader himself originally fell from grace. Luke does partially give in to the dark side, but he ultimately throws away his weapon and refuses to attack or even defend himself. Imagine how Vader feels when he sees this. His son has a strength that he never had at that age.

I was surprised how much more powerful Vader's redemption felt after ROTS. In fact, I didn't even mind seeing Hayden at the end. It seemed...appropriate. (I had always loathed screen shots I had seen of him standing there, but I actually liked it when I saw it in context)

Has anyone else seen ROTJ since watching all the prequels?