Ok, we’re not going to go into what went wrong (or right) with acting jobs (although the majority of what I’ve heard is that Ian McDiarmid and Ewan McGregor were incredible and that Hayden was either good or bad (people are polarized about him)…frankly, I enjoyed him (but I enjoyed the whole prequel trilogy, so there)), but rather what went wrong with the prequel and classic melding. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of it went right, but I’ve found…well I don’t know what to call them…
Lucas may have had the broad story arc of Anakin Skywalker down by the time he finished The Empire Strikes Back, but there are still some curious questions. Or at least two of them. Actually I think I succeeded in answering both of them. Oh well…it’s still a good read.
1) When Yoda comments that Luke is too much like his father, “much anger I sense in him,” and Obi-Wan replies, “Was I any different when you trained me? Obviously, Qui-Gon was Obi-Wan’s master, and the moment in time Obi-wan references cannot be Yoda training the younglings (although there is the same training device in A New Hope) or Yoda training Obi-wan at the end of Episode 3. So it has to reference unseen training between Episodes 1 and 2. This is hinted at by the conclusion of Phantom Menace where Yoda does not approve of Obi-Wan’s taking on of Anakin as his Padawan learner (Obi-wan acts all defiant and says he’ll go against the Jedi council if he must). Yoda must have aided in Obi-Wan’s transition from Padawan learner to Anakin’s master. That’s the only real thing that makes sense about what in the classic trilogy was a throw away line meant merely to demonstrate that flawed people (people with too much anger) can become Jedi. I think this argument can be enhanced by the next Yoda/Obi-wan interaction in the same scene where Yoda calls Luke restless and Obi-wan says “so was i, if you remember”…of course you can flip the whole thing on it’s ear and say that it looks more like Yoda was Obi-Wan’s master…the key concept to gather from this whole thing is that the training Yoda gives Obi-wan occurs sometime before Phantom Menace or between Menace and Attack of the Clones…and maybe it’s got something to do with the chain-o-training that occurred: Yoda – Count Dooku – Qui-Gon Jinn – Obi-Wan…we’re not really given much insight into how the passing of master to Padawan really works…hopefully Lucas will explain it in the TV show.
*UPDATE* This question has been obliterated. There is an EU (expanded universe) answer. The Jedi Apprentice Series.
Synopsis of the first book, “The Force Rising”:
Just before his 13th birthday, Obi-Wan Kenobi left Yoda and the other teachers at the Jedi Temple. But he wasn’t supposed to become a Padawan, a future Jedi Knight, he was assigned to be a farmer! Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force joins the headstrong Obi-Wan a few weeks before he’s to turn 13, when he’ll be too old to begin training as a Jedi Knight. Trying too hard to become Qui-Gon Jinn’s Padawan, Obi-Wan shows his lack of discipline, and that–in addition to Qui-Gon’s mysterious past–keeps them apart. But the Force keeps pulling the two together: Obi-Wan resigns himself to the Jedi Agricultural Corps on barren Bandomeer, only to find that Qui-Gon is on a mission to the same planet. Traveling there on a mining ship, the two must work together to forge a truce between the warring Hutt, Whiphid, and Arconan miners on board. The inexperienced Obi-Wan stirs up trouble but gets plenty of chances to redeem himself later–after the pirates attack and after the ship crash-lands on a hostile planet with the crew still at each other’s throats.
The series actually details a series of adventures that Obi-Wan and Qui Gon have that creates the Master-Padawan relationship we see in The Phantom Menace.
2) How are the Sith (Palpatine and Vader) able to sense Luke’s presence in ESB and yet they can’t figure out that Padme is pregnant with twin’s? Let alone pregnant at all (just in Anakin’s case, because Palpatine knew about the pregnancy because the doctor on Naboo that treated Padme ratted out her little secret to the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic…I guess the job comes with some perks)! How can they sense one thing and not the other? You can’t just say plot device because that’s a cop-out…I want a genuine reason…well maybe there isn’t one. But the way the scene is set up…
The Emperor commands Lord Vader to contact him
The Emperor comments on a “great disturbance” in the Force (obviously a reference to Luke’s training as a Jedi) that both he and Vader have sensed.
The source of this great disturbance is the Sith’s new enemy…the young rebel who destroyed the Death Star
The Emperor has “no doubt” that this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker
Spoiler Alert! (place and hold your mouse over the bar to see)
Vader doesn't understand that because he thought his child died with Padme (the funeral on Naboo has her stuffed to simulate a dead child to hide the offspring that could destroy the Empire)
So they sense a great disturbance because they are force users…and any use of the force is like…the gold coin in Pirates of the Caribbean…it sends out this giganto pulse wave…but instead of informing people of it’s location and acting as a homing beacon (“the gold calls to us”) it rather alerts them to the fact that something is happening. This can be justified with the Vader/Luke duel in Return of the Jedi…Luke reveals the existence of his sister because he is hiding in the Force and Vader’s comments cause Luke to think of Leia and Vader can sense that Leia is Luke’s sister and his daughter, but he can’t find Luke physically. Or by all the Jedi in the prequel trilogy being unable to find the dark lord of the Sith but sensing his machinations. So in Episode 3, the children are obviously not using the Force, so they can’t be sensed. Now on to the matter of how the Emperor knows that the “young rebel” is the offspring of Skywalker…it’s actually relatively simple because it’s the only possible place a force user of such power could have come from. The Jedi were all confirmed as wiped out (minus Obi-wan and Yoda and I guess they don’t count because they weren’t physically able to reproduce (doesn’t senility suck) or something)…except for the children of Anakin and Padme…it all ties into that Star Wars adage…if you don’t see a body, it isn’t dead…(and unfortunately for a lot of Episode 1 haters (not me!), we never see Jar Jar’s body). So those are the problems that I’ve found in the Saga of Anakin Skywalker…comments?
*UPDATE* Ok, this is just a general apology for this article…it has no real point and the questions answer themselves…the first one’s answer lies in the Jedi Apprentice Series and I completely forgot about it since I only borrowed it and read it in 2001 and subsequently forgot about it…and I answer the other one right away with obvious points Lucas makes throughout the saga of how the force works and how force users interact with the force. I only really wrote this out after watching the Original Trilogy after seeing Revenge of the Sith because this is what stuck out…not half a dozen other obvious issues that 7-year olds could spot* but I just ignore…so yeah…thanks for reading nothing important and also for reading this little note.
*Also check out some of Ghent’s exegesis’…they’re pretty good.
