SPOILER Maybe don't read this if you want a big surprise

I figured any and everyone could tell that only that Hayden's head was pasted onto Shaw's body, and that it wasn't a full shoot. Why? Because Anakin Skywalker never once wears the traditional "Obi-Wan" Jedi tunic & robes. In AOTC, he wears brown, accentuated with black. In ROTS, I believe he's in all black (maybe he had dark brown pants, can't quite remember right now). And that was what always bothered me about the change, after I saw Revenge of The Sith. You figure for continuity's sake, that George would place Anakin in the traditional Jedi robes at some point in the trilogy, but then again, we all know keeping in line with established continuity isn't exactly George's stength.

I actually like the change from Shaw to Hayden, if only for the concept of the change. It makes perfect sense that it would be Anakin, in his prime, as the audience knew him. I just find it hilarious that George couldn't put Hayden in the actual costume, in front of a green screen, and shoot him doing a happy/celebration pose. Instead, George took some cut footage from ROTS, with Anakin making somewhat of a "Dark-Side seduction smirk" lol. It just goes to show you the lengths George was willing to go, to show off his new computer technology in the prequels. There were many times they could've done things in a practical and tactile way, and they chose to do it in the machine, instead.

I had long hoped that George would do a "Special Edition" of the prequels, with updated CGI, digital mattes, digital set backgrounds, and a few other changes. He could've really spruced the prequels up, and I think, instead of converting all of the Star Wars saga films into 3D, as he was doing before the sale, he should've focused on a prequel trilogy special edition, and used that to usher in the sequel trilogy. But I guess it's too late for that now.

The Phantom Menace holds up the best out of the 3 films due to its reliance on practicality and being shot on 35mm. Even though I feel it's the worst of the 3 films overall, it is the best looking visually. AOTC is the worst looking film of the 3. I believe it's the first ever movie of that magnitude shot on digital, and they really pushed the technology to the limit. I think AOTC could be a whole lot better if the effects were re-worked with today's technology. And ROTS, which has the best CGI effects of the 3 films, and I think is the best overall film, would be considered by fans to be on par with the OT, if only it didn't look so damn much like a PS3 game. I love all 3 of the prequels, but the more and more I watch those films, the more flaws I see in the CGI. They could really flourish with a CGI overhaul, and I imagine it wouldn't be TOO costly to do, if they have all of the old files in storage somewhere.

 

Excellent! Thank you for the detailed information! Any thoughts if Luke is the only one who CAN see a force ghost? Perhaps Anikin couldn't because he wasn't pure enough at the time? As far as the yoda/qui-gon stuff, I'm just not familiar enough with that. It sounds as though maybe qui-gon was the first to figure out how to do it.

Oooooo....wouldn't it be cool if Leia could see force ghosts? As Luke's twin, the possibility should be there.

So if I could make something up out of thin air: force ghost Obi-wan visits Leia to convince her to find Luke because his pupil, her son, Kylo, has fallen in league with Plagueis. Oh snap! How about that one!

 

Qui-Gon teaches it to Yoda, Yoda teaches Obi-Wan how to commune with Qui-Gon, and I assume Qui-Gon instructs Obi-Wan. It's never stated or shown anywhere how Anakin became a Force Ghost, but I assume once he died, and was redeemed, The Force decided to shine some good will his way, and allowed him to partake in the "Force Ghost Trials", and after his redemption, he was able to become a Force Ghost.

If we're going based off real time, it would seem unlikely that Anakin could learn this power in the time between his death and the celebration on Endor, but I can only assume that the perception of time is much different in the netherrealm of the Force, as opposed to the physical realm.

 

Anakin was mid 20's at end of ROTS, hardly a teenager.
At his death he was mid 40's. Yet Sebastian Shaw was 78 when filmed ROTJ.. How does that make sense? They had an actor who was older than Alec Guiness play his student. It was a poor choice of casting from the beginning. I have more issues with Shaw as Anakin than I do with them removing him and replacing him with Hayden.

 

This x1000!!!

 

Shaw was brought in as a favor because he had fallen on hard times

 

Eyebrows removed was what struck me the most

Will we finally have that Blu-Ray edition with the Eyebrows back? lol

 

With all this hullaballo with Anakin's force ghost they should just replace him with the all white Vader Armor.

 

Well, for me, it always worked and made sense because I watched the film and the thought never even crossed my mind, until someone took the time to do the math and point it out.
Because Sebastian Shaw is an actor, like, y'know - acting. Like a 30-year-old Dustin Hoffman playing a 21-year-old being seduced by a woman "twice his age", played by a 35-year-old Anne Bancroft in The Graduate... Or Stockard Channing playing an 18-year-old in Grease, at the age of 34...

The thought that Sebastian Shaw was "too old" to be Anakin Skywalker didn't leap out at me whenever I watched ROTJ, because what is more important is that he plays his scenes with Mark Hamill as his son and the tone is right. He's acting with a father's warmth, and it works. That is what films are all about, because none of it is real. I mean, we all know that C-3PO is not really a droid, it is just a guy in a fibreglass suit, but that doesn't matter, because he is acting, and that is what makes it believable.

Hayden is without a doubt 100% better at playing a 20-something Anakin Skywalker than Sebastian Shaw... I just happen to think that isn't what that scene needs or is all about. Luke is seeing his father redeemed after all that happened to him. Because his son had the belief in him that no-one else had, and saw the humanity in him. Shaw looks 100% more like the father figure Luke needs to see in that scene than Hayden could.

 

Its come up before to which I say . . . Death to Darth Baratheon!!!!!

 

When has it come up? To be fair, I'm half joking, Star Wars is dark, but not that dark!!!! hahaha

 

2 or 3 times since December but that's okay . . . there is nothing new under the sun. That is just part of post GOT pop culture.

 

Excellent post.

 

Ha, well it was kind of there in the OT before GOT existed..but again half joking...do you know where I can find the previous posts?

 

The issue isn't with the acting nor is it with the Death Star scene because he's disfigured and pale and you don't think much about it until you see him as a force ghost and then you're like wait a minute. Why is he older looking than Obi-Wan??? It stands out.

 

Well, IMHO, he doesn't really look older than Obi-Wan for those few seconds at all, so there was never really anything to stand out to me in that way to begin with. It just always looked like two old guys and a little green dude to me. I mean, as I got older I learned the actor who plays Anakin is nine years older than Guinness was, but I don't think that comes across onscreen. Just never been an issue for me.
I guess for me, in 1982 and ever since, what was more important was that Anakin and Obi-Wan were established as friends, allies and peers, and that a guy in his early-20s could quite easily have a father who looked in his 70s.
Maybe the PT shifted the emphasis away from those salient points... but not for me.

For me it actually is all about acting - not "the acting in that scene" specifically, more the very nature of the business in general. If you believe in the story, and the story is told well, then things like that don't "jump out". You believe that that person is the character he or she is supposed to be. Just like Michael Caine playing - for example - a nazi officer with a Cockney accent speaking English can work. Films are all about suspending your disbelief about everything being presented to you.
In your case, I guess seeing Shaw pops you out of the movie experience - but it never has and never will for me.

 

It would make sense to have the eyebrows removed, since they got burned on Mustafar.

 

I did a search for Baratheon to find everywhere I made the Darth Baratheon joke. Found this.

http://thecantina.starwars7news.com/index.php?search/456351/&q=baratheon&o=date&c[node]=28