This idea actually comes from James Earle Jones, the voice of Darth Vader himself. In one of the "making-of" documentaries for the Star Wars saga, Jones says that on originally receiving the line "Luke, I am your father," he thought it was trick. He thought Vader was lying to young Luke in order to confuse and manipulate him. This would have highlighted the sinister nature of the dark side, and foreshadowed the possibility that Luke would be betrayed and murdered by Vader just as his father had been. Brilliant!
So let's think about how things would have changed had Jones been right:
- There would have been no need to change the title of the third movie from Revenge of the Jedi. Luke would have clearly been seeking revenge.
- Darth Vader would actually be evil.
- Luke and Leia would not have been brother and sister and therefore their kiss would not be icky.
- They would not have had to retrofit Ben's dialog from Star Wars so that it was only true from a "certain point of view".
- ROTJ could have focused more on the actual return of the Jedi and not on redeeming Anakin Skywalker.
- No Ewoks?
- No need to rebrand Star Wars as Episode IV: A New Hope (bleech!)?
- Opportunity to go back and repair the whole "rescue of Han Solo" set piece. Why does Jabba live on Tatooine? Why is there a song and dance number? Why does Boba Fett have to die so stupidly?
- There is no need for a prequel trilogy about the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker.
- But if you want to do one anyway, you would see the story of how Anakin was actually betrayed by a young hotshot called Darth Vader.
- The contentious relationship between Uncle Owen and Anakin could be better explained.
- There would have been more time to see General Kenobi fighting along side Leia's father in the Clone Wars.
- We would see that Anakin was indeed the best pilot in the galaxy (and not just an annoyingly mopey teenager).
- Padme is a much cooler character for Natalie Portman to play if she's not burdened with the whole "I love an evil Jedi" storyline.
- Darth Vader would not be confusingly from the same planet where the droids escape to (Tatooine).
- C-3p0 would not be confusingly from the same planet where he escaped to (Tatooine).
- C-3po would not be coincidentally from the very house and the very owners where he escaped to (The Lars Homestead -- even though he doesn't recognize Owen, and Owen doesn't recognize him).
- Nor would he have been the invention of the villain of the story (The Maker!?!).
- No Jar Jar?
- No trade disputes?
- No midi-chlorians?
Happy Anniversary Star Wars! You godawful screwed up masterpiece, you. Now let's watch Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back and pretend like the rest of it was all a horrible mistake.
