With Star Wars Episode VII just around the corner, I thought it would be a nice idea to look back over the original classics, as well as the hugely debated prequel trilogy!
Rather than just reviewing the individual episodes, (We have reviews coming very soon, in fact, these reviews may already be up by the time this hits the site) I thought we could go over the story as a whole, and look at just how much damage the prequels have done to the overall saga.
I enjoyed the Prequel Trilogy, and as such, this is in no way a PT bashing.
So here it is…
Episode IV, A New Hope (AKA Star Wars way back when)
Introduces us to the key players in the Star Wars saga. We are introduced to a young Luke Skywalker, who, along with his “Uncle” Owen purchases 2 droids that set the events of the series in motion.
When Luke finally meets with Obi Wan, he is told all about his father, Anakin Skywalker. But before all of that, there is an exchange between Luke and “Ben” regarding the droid R2-D2.
Luke informs Ben, that his reason for being there is to reunite R2 with his former “Master” Obi Wan. Ben then explains that he is in fact Obi Wan, but that he hadn’t gone by that name since before Luke was born… At the end of Revenge of The Sith, Obi wan is still referred to as Obi Wan. He wasn’t Ben, or Steve or James; he was Obi Wan, so to say that he hadn’t been called that since before Luke’s birth is incorrect. Ben is presumably a false name he selected to hide his identity, not his true birth name, so why would he of ever been referred to as Ben before the Jedi went into hiding at all?
Obi Wan also mentions to Luke that he doesn’t recall owning a droid. Now, while R2 wasn’t ever really his, he did own a droid of some sort… his Astromech droid R4-G9. And why didn’t he recognise R2!? Obi Wan is seen communicating with R2 a fair few times over the course of the PT. This also applies to his not recognising C3-PO.
Another thing to note is that Obi Wan’s robes were originally designed to look like a typical Tatooine fashion, part of his blending in so to speak. Luke’s clothing, Owens clothing etc are all very similar for example. However, George Lucas, when making the prequels, decided to base the Jedi robes on these original designs, and so, what we really end up getting is Obi Wan walking around in traditional Jedi uniform in A New Hope. Not hiding very well when you think about it that way is he?
Once inside, Obi Wan tells Luke about his father.
What was originally meant to be a little bit of back story has now been reduced to a whole bunch of nonsense thanks to the PT. Obi Wan tells Luke that his uncle Owen had not wanted Anakin to leave to fight in the Clone Wars, and had always thought he should of remained on Tatooine. The problem with this however, is that now we have Episodes I and II we find out Anakin was a single child. Owen was simply his mothers stepchild, who in fact, Anakin had very little to do with, meeting him for the first and last time in Episode II. Anakin went on to fight in the Clone Wars yes, but somehow I doubt his stepbrother really knew about it at all! Or cared to be fair…
Obi Wan then informs him that his father had wanted Luke to have his lightsaber which he had been keeping for him until the time had come for him to have it. This was all due to the fact that Luke’s Uncle Owen had forbidden Ben from giving it to him in case Luke had decided to follow Ben on some “damn fool idealistic crusade like his father had”… WHAT?! Thanks to Episode III, how can any of this be true? Obi Wan simply picked up Anakin’s lightsaber after their final fight, and as seen in Episode I, Anakin was appointed Obi Wan’s Padawan after the death of Qui Gon Jinn. He hadn’t simply decided to follow Obi Wan despite his brother’s refusal.
I’m also guessing that at this point in time George Lucas had no idea that Vader was Luke’s father himself, as Darth Vader is simply given as the name of Obi Wan’s Padawan who had turned to the dark side and killed Anakin… This is obviously cleared up in the two sequels Empire and Jedi, but it’s still an interesting idea. Who knows? Also, when Obi Wan confronts Vader later, he calls him Darth to his face. Why would you simply call him Darth? This is a suffix used by the Sith… It would be like calling your police officer friend “Sergeant” etc.
Finally in this scene, Ben manages to play Leia’s message. In it she reveals that Obi Wan had once served her father (Later to be revealed as her adoptive father) in the clone wars, and that now he was requesting his help again…. Surely following the events of Revenge of The Sith, Senator Bail would never want to put Obi Wan in danger. He was present when Yoda and Obi Wan told him of their plan to hide from the Empire/ Protect the children, and also, he knew of Luke’s existence too. Asking Obi Wan to leave to help would surely leave Luke open to danger, and would also reveal to the Sith/ Empire that the Jedi were still out there hiding.
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