[CptSeaMonkey]

I'm sure no one cares, but since I wrote these I figure I might as well put them out there. This is what I would have done if Lucas handed me the scripts for the prequels and said "don't change it too much but make it not suck."

Great site, BTW.

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_Attack of the Clones_, major differences:

Final scene: Padme has been captured by Maul and Dooku. Anakin starts to go to rescue her alone, but Obi-wan tells him to that he needs him to fight the droid army. "Control your feelings, Anakin. Remember the Code!" Anakin, remembering what happened to his mother, replies, "To hell with the code! I'm going my own way." He grabs a lightsabre off of a fallen Jedi and jumps into the fray with two sabres. Obi-wan leads a hopeless battle against the droid army and Jango Fett. Eventually Anakin ends up on a Separatist cruiser in the low atmosphere that is bombarding the surface, where he meets Darth Maul in the hangar bay.

Anakin fights with two sabres against Maul's lightstaff. Maul clearly has the upper hand throughout the fight, being quicker and much more skilled, but Anakin is physically stronger and stronger with the Force, and it becomes a stalemate. As the fight marches on, both Maul and Anakin become visibly furious that they cannot seem to win -- it is a first for both. Without Maul guarding her, Padme is able to escape and slowly makes her way to the hangar bay. Meanwhile Obi-wan manages to defeat Jango in a crazy battle that features all of Jango's gadgets and all of Obi-wan's Jedi abilities and cunning.

In the end, Anakin gives into his anger, lets out a roar and calls upon the full fury of the Dark Side to defeat Maul with a tornado of attacks. Padme arrives in the hangar bay just to see the end of the fight. They do the "forbidden love" kiss. However, Count Dooku arrives and interrupts them with a Force lightning attack that stuns them both.

Anakin tries to deflect Dooku's lightning but is not strong enough. The scene is similar to the end of ROTJ as Anakin lies on the ground getting fried. Finally, Padme distracts Dooku long enough to give Anakin a second. Too weak to use the Force, he reaches his right arm down a hatch to turn an emergency decompression switch. When he does, all of the doors and hatches in the hangar shut, and his right arm is crushed. The hangar bay decompresses and Dooku goes flying out into the atmosphere.

Padme is crying when she goes to help Anakin, who tells her "I will never leave you." She cuts his crushed arm off just below the shoulder and helps him off the ship. The movie ends with their secret marriage.

Other changes:

* Anakin is more of a Han Solo-type character -- he has a cockiness that comes with things coming so easily to him, and also a sharp wit. He gets along with Obi-wan well and there is a running gag between the two of them who "owes" the other one.

* When Anakin is assigned to "a babysitting mission" (later to be revealed guarding Padme), he remarks, "Can't be any worse than babysitting Obi-wan."

* I would COMPLETELY rewrite the "love scene" dialogue.

* Increase the length of the Palpatine/Anakin scene to increase it's meaning later.

[Thracozaag]

In the novelization of ROTJ (which was very well done, btw), Anakin, after he is unmasked by Luke recalls when he was a handsome young jedi, with a "wry grin" and a sense of pleasant cockiness (ala Solo). Instead we get a barely pubescent whiny Hayden C. glowering and pouting his way to the dark side; lame.

koji

[CptSeaMonkey]

_The Phantom Menace_, major differences:

Anakin is closer to 12, and destroys the droid ship ON PURPOSE. The droids don't just shut off but suddenly become disorganized. Darth Maul kicks Obi-wan off that ledge during the fight and then kills Qui-Gon alone, and lives for the next movie. Count Dooku replaces the Emperor as the guy who appears to be behind the scenes of everything.

Qui-Gon is not Obi-wan's master (Yoda was), but rather a fellow Jedi assigned to the mission. He tells a trigger-happy Obi-wan early in the movie "Some battles cannot be won with a lightsabre Obi-wan. If you learn that one lesson you will become a truly powerful Jedi." Yoda makes a cameo but does not appear again until ESB, it's assumed he retired or died.

Anakin is not considered "too old" to join the Jedi, but rather "too young" -- it's an incredible responsibility that you must be mature enough to agree to. Not to mention you're agreeing to die a virgin.

[CptSeaMonkey]

_Revenge of the Sith_, major changes:

First scene remains the same in concept, very minor edits here. The opening crawls makes it clear that the Republic is LOSING the war. Anakin is clearly different early on, although still good friends with Obi-wan, he is darker and more serious. Whether it's due to the war, his mother, his secret marriage, or his use of the Dark Side, his character has clearly changed. More time is devoted to showing how effective Obi-wan and Anakin are working together -- they are a legendary team and the audience is watching them in their prime.

Dooku now looks like a part cyborg, after his fall from the atmosphere in _Attack of the Clones_. Dooku uses lightning against Obi-wan and Anakin instead of a "Force push" (I'd eliminate the Force push completely from the trilogy, it makes no sense.) Obi-wan is unable to deflect it and falls unconscious, but Anakin is much stronger now and deflects it (with his *hands*, NOT his lightsabre). The rest of the fight is the same.

When Anakin hears he's about to be a dad and says "This is the happiest day of my life", he looks like he means it.

Anakin reveals his marriage to the Jedi council and they kick him out of the order. Anakin is furious. Mace replies, "Anakin, the way of the Jedi is the way of selflessness, of compassion, and of peace. You have chosen to be a man of passion. Even if we were to allow you to remain in the Order, you would not truly be a Jedi. ... Go in peace my brother."

Anakin isn't tricked into turning to the Dark Side, but rather it is a calculated move. He clearly believes the Dark Side is stronger, and Palpatine appeals to this bringing up the Darth Maul fight. Anakin basically believes Palpatine is more or less a good person, and sees things the way he does -- that sometimes you just have to force things to be the way they should be. He believes if he works together with Palpatine, they can turn the war around and defeat the Separatists. Moreover, he DOES NOT know that Dooku was Palpatine's apprentice. When asked about the influence of the Dark Side on one's mind, Palpatine remarks, "It is true, that the use of the Dark Side comes with some cost. The power of death has a strange effect when wielded by the living. But it cannot change what is ultimately in your heart Anakin. And like anything worthwhile, there is a price to pay. What is in your heart, Anakin?"

In the final battle between Obi-wan and Anakin, Anakin pushes Obi-wan back to the end of a broken walkway over a molten pit and says, "This is the end for you, Master." Obi-wan replies, "I have failed you Anakin, I have failed you." Anakin swings, but at that moment Obi-wan causes the motors in his mechanical right hand to short out, making him drop his lightsabre, while he swings his own killing blow. Anakin tries to jump away at the last second but Obi-wan cuts off his legs, which land next to his lightsabre. Anakin plummets into the molten pit and breaks his neck on impact. Obi-wan hears him scream but otherwise assumes he is dead, and leaves (taking his lightsabre on the way out).

(ASIDE: That move is in the book and part of it is in movie, I thought it was WAYYY better than "I have the high ground" -- someone tell that to the two halves of Darth Maul at the bottom of a power shaft somewhere -- and also explains why Vader is fighting left-handed in ANH.)

Darth Vader, at no point in the series, says "NOOOoooooOOOOOOooooooOOOOO!"

(ANOTHER ASIDE: I don't mind Obi-wan knowingly leaving Vader alive -- it reminds me of Gandalf explaining to Frodo why he didn't kill Gollum, who in the end is the one who saves the day -- but the context here is different and I can't see how to make it work.)

This post has been edited by CptSeaMonkey: 19 June 2005 - 01:03 PM

[SithAvenger]

Your changes are good CptSeaMonkey.

[CptSeaMonkey]

"In the novelization of ROTJ (which was very well done, btw), Anakin, after he is unmasked by Luke recalls when he was a handsome young jedi, with a "wry grin" and a sense of pleasant cockiness (ala Solo). Instead we get a barely pubescent whiny Hayden C. glowering and pouting his way to the dark side; lame."

I actually forgot about that, but that is cool. I agree, I really liked the ROTJ novel, pretty sure Kasdan wrote it himself.

[Lord Melkor]

With changes such as those PT would be better than OT. Beides this Vader-Luke twist there wasn`t anything special in OT storywise.

But PT still doesn`t suck.

[PhotoWan Kenobi]

Ugh!