REVENGE OF THE SITH ANALYSIS

    

      When you have a film as good as Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, it really becomes a great challenge to provide a rebuttal to arguments against it when there virtually aren't a whole lot of arguments to begin with. Most critcs and casual audiences alike, seem to think this was an excellent Star Wars movie, and are now even starting to see that the prequels really were always good. They just needed Revenge of the Sith to make things clear, which is what I've been saying all along. Many are now even considering Revenge to be the best of all six films.

     However, there are a few things I'd like to address. Things like continuity, plot progression, etc. I've run into people who seem to think that Anakin's downfall was too fast, or that the film doesn't quite line up with the original trilogy - although it's only been one or two people, and most I've been able to convince after presenting my rebuttal. For about every one person who's said it didn't work for them, ten others say it did. But for the people who don't get it and say that there are errors, these errors lie with the people themselves, not the film - since they simply don't remember all that has happened in the prequels before it or the sequels after it. It's all there, but one has to be willing to examine every important piece of dialogue from each of the films and be willing to remember it all for one to really understand. Many movie-goers these days have a 0% attention-span, but act like they have 100% - which is why so many heated debates occur among film fans.

     While Lucas may not be subtle with dialogue, he is subtle in his story telling. So let's take a look at this masterpiece of Revenge and see what we can come up with.

     1) Anakin's turn to the darkside was too fast and ultimately unbelievable.

     I sort of felt this way at first as well. But then again, I was not taking the film into the broader context of the last two films before it, nor truly contemplating what really went on in Episode III. So let's first take a look at each film and track every step of Anakin's downfall, since it really does not begin in Episode III, but rather Episode I.

     Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace: Anakin is only a small 9 year old boy in this film. Jedi are not supposed to have any emotional attachments, but he's very attached to his mother. When one becomes a Jedi, one must leave his family behind when he's very young (probably anywhere from infancy to 3 years old) so as not to develop any attachment to them.

     And yet, Anakin, being the Chosen One, is taken from his mother when he's "too old" (according to the Council) and he has this emotional attachment to her. When he is brought before the Jedi Council to get approval for training, his first slap in the face from the Jedi is when Mace Windu says, "No, he will not be trained." Despite Qui-Gon pointing out that Anakin IS the chosen one, and that they "must see it," they still deny Anakin training at first because of his age and other factors.

     Also pay attention to this exchange of dialogue in the Jedi Council Chamber:

Jedi Ki Adi Mundi: "Your thoughts dwell on your mother."
Anakin: "I miss her."
Yoda: "Afraid to lose her, are you?"
Anakin: "What does that got to do with anything?"
Yoda: "Everything! Fear is the path to the darkside. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate, leads to suffering."

     Yoda has clearly told the audience that this is exactly where Anakin is headed. Fear IS the path. It practically spells out Anakin's darkside descent. It starts with Anakin's fear of losing his mother. Already, Anakin has started down the dark path because he never lets go of this fear, as we see in Episode II.

     Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones: In the end of Episode I, the Jedi Council eventually (and reluctantly) gave in and decided to train Anakin since he did display amazing skills and Jedi intuition. After all, by all appearances it does seem like he's the Chosen One, being conceived by the Midichlorians and all. "Nevertheless," Yoda says, "Grave danger I fear in his training."

     So this brings us to Episode II, and we're ten years past Episode I. Obi-Wan and Anakin have become good friends, but Obi-Wan is not letting Anakin move on to face the Jedi Trials to become a Jedi Knight. "He's overly critical, he lever listens, he doesn't understand," as Anakin points out. Obi-Wan thinks he's "too unpredictable." This is Anakin's next observable slap in the face by the Jedi.

     Yet at the same time, we see a scene with Chancellor Palpatine that lets us know that he is still observing Anakin's career "with great interest" as he said in Episode I. In this scene in Episode II he tells Anakin:

"You don't need guidance, Anakin. In time, you will learn to trust your feelings. Then, you will be invincible. I have said it many times: You are the most gifted Jedi I have ever met. I see you are becoming the greatest of all the Jedi, even more powerful than Master Yoda."

     He's telling Anakin exactly what he wants, and arguably needs to hear. We see that Anakin trusts Palpatine here, as well as earlier in the film where Anakin is debating with Obi-Wan if Palaptine is to be trusted. "The Chancellor doesn't appear to be corrupt...I think he's a good man," Anakin says.

     Meanwhile, Anakin keeps having dreams of his mother in danger. He decides to go and help her, only to have her die in his arms. It appears that Anakin's original fear was legit. So this justifies Anakin's actions in his eyes when he kills all the Tusken Raiders who killed his mother, including the women and children. Not only did Anakin have frustration from Obi-Wan before this, but Anakin was detached from his mother for ten years - and only to have her die in his arms the next time he sees her.

     "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate, leads to suffering." He was fearful of losing his mother. He was angry at the Tuskens for killing her. He yells "I HATE THEM!" to Padme when he confesses his actions. Anakin went through all the steps Yoda mentioned in Episode I. He was fearful, which lead to anger, which then lead to hate. And we see that Anakin's mom was suffering, and now Anakin himself is suffering.

     Also, a little premature romance occurs between Anakin and Padme - one that they must keep secret if they are both to continue in their careers. Anakin lost one emotional attachment that he's not supposed to have, and gained another that he's not supposed to have. We can see clearly that this is destined to fail.

     All of these darkside steps occur BEFORE Episode III. And already, Anakin looks like he could go dark right then and there. But it's not over yet.

     Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith: Once again, we see that the Jedi Council is not trusting Anakin. They don't allow him to go on missions because they still feel he's not ready. "A Master should go," as Yoda arrogantly exclaims, not too long after the Council denied Anakin the rank of Master when Palpatine appointed him. This is the first time this has ever happened in the Jedi Order, and Anakin finds it insulting. Heck, I'd find that insulting if I were the Chosen One, only let on the Council because he's friends with Palpatine, and not given Master status. Slap, slap SLAP!! Even after thirteen years, they feel Anakin can't handle things. Maybe they're right, but Anakin still knows that he's the Chosen One and this, as well as Palpatine's mentoring, leads him to believe that he's just as good, if not better, than everyone else. After all, he's more powerful than Yoda, according to Palpatine. So Anakin is extremely frustrated here. He's been humiliated.

     We then find out that the Council doesn't trust Palpatine, but Palpatine doesn't trust the Council. Palpatine asks Anakin to represent him on the Council, but at the same time, the Council assigns Anakin to spy on Palpatine since he's good friends with him. They've just asked him to commit treason.

     Who is he going to obey? Who's really on the right side here? By now, Anakin really doesn't have any reason to do anything the Jedi tell him to do since they never show him any respect, and now they've commanded Anakin to commit treason against the Chancellor and the Republic. And yet, Palpatine shows him all the respect Anakin ever wanted - like a good father figure. He kindly compliments him, always acknowledging Anakin's abilities and his "true" high rank among the Jedi. Palpatine then points out:

"They don't trust you, Anakin." "They asked you to do something that made you feel dishonest, didn't they? They asked you to spy on me, didn't they?"

By this point, Palpatine has a very convincing case that the Jedi are not to be trusted, and that they really don't give Anakin the recognition he deserves and has deserved since the very beginning of his training.

     Palpatine then says that "good is a point of view" and that "the Sith and the Jedi are similar in almost every way, including their quest for power." By all appearances, the Jedi ARE evil and they DO plan to take over the Republic. The reason why it appears this way is because that's exactly what's happening! They want to overthrow the Chancellor! It's just that while we all know Palpatine's evil, by all appearances to Anakin, Palpatine is not evil at all. Palpatine is the only person in Anakin's life that's always been there for him and told Anakin what he wanted to hear. And now Palpatine really is stating exactly what's happening. Palpatine, despite being a liar, appears to be telling the truth.

     Meanwhile, Anakin is having dreams about Padme dying, in a similar manner like his mother. In Episode II, we saw Anakin "promise" his dead mother that he'd learn to stop people from dying, and that he "won't fail again." So once again, Anakin is afraid of losing someone he's very attached to - someone he shouldn't be attached to in the first place. Anakin has fear once again, and we already know that this IS the path to the dark side according to Yoda. And Anakin has already gone semi-dark before.

     So what does he do? He listens to the one person who has always listened to him - Palpatine. Palpatine has now convinced Anakin that the Jedi plan to take over, and that they really aren't all that different from the Sith. This leads him to reveal to Anakin that he's a Sith Lord, but that the Sith are the only ones who can stop Padme from dying. Anakin swore not to let that happen again, and so this is the only way he feels he can do it.

     Palpatine and Mace end up getting into a brawl and he damages Palpatine's face. Anakin walks in right at the moment where Mace is holding his lightsaber up to Palpatine's throat, execution style. This doesn't make the Jedi look innocent at all. Now there's no doubt that the Jedi are trying to overthrow the Chancellor and take over. Also, Palpatine exclaims, "I have the power to save the one you love. You much choose!" So it's either betray the Republic and let Mace slaughter the one man who's ever really been on Anakin's side and who can save Padme - or stop Mace and gain everything he desires and save the Republic. So Anakin slices Mace's hand off (just as easily as he killed the Sand People and Count Dooku) and Palpatine zaps him out the window. From all appearances, the Jedi had no mercy on the innocent and were about to take over. Palpatine is now disfigured, so this makes Anakin gain empathy towards him. The dark side is "easily more seductive" as Yoda says in The Empire Strikes Back, and we can easily see that here. The Sith are geniuses, and the Jedi are clouded by the power of the dark side long enough to seal their fate.

     While there is still good in him, Anakin sees only one option: To join the Sith. By this point, why not? The Jedi DO look evil. They DO treat Anakin like crap and underestimate his abilities. They have done nothing for the past thirteen years to earn Anakin's respect since they don't respect him, and it appears that Palpatine was right about the Jedi. Last, but not least, Palpatine can save Padme's life supposedly. So Palpatine, the one person Anakin can trust, tells Anakin to "kill all the Jedi in the temple...Only then, will you be strong enough with the dark side to save Padme." He exclaims that if they don't kill them all, "it'll be civil war without end." The Jedi would kill both Palpatine and Anakin, "and all the other senators," if they learned about what happened between Mace, Palpatine and Anakin.

     But wait, Anakin still has good in him, doesn't he? Of course he does. But the Jedi are evil to him now, and thus he has to "do what must be done." He cannot hesitate or show any mercy, as Palpatine points out, otherwise Padme will die. Even so, if one observes Anakin's face when he's slaughtering the Jedi, he still isn't entirely cool with it. And by the time he gets to Mustafar and is slaughtering all the separatists, it's very clear that he's not liking what he's doing, but feels it "must be done" - for the sake of bringing "peace" to the Republic and to save Padme. At the end of all the slaughtering, we see a tear streaming down his face as he looks off into the Mustafar sunset. Anakin may be using the dark side, but he's not entirely evil. He believes he's doing what's right, but is just not used to all the killing. It's only when he finds out that Padme is dead that he buries any memory from his good years deep within, clouding him from sensing or doing any good at all.

     Lastly, we see through dialogue between Padme and Anakin that Anakin secretly does want to overthrow the Chancellor so that Padme and him can rule the galaxy. Of course this is exactly how a Sith thinks, but it almost seems justified. Is the dark side really all that bad? At this point, the audience's only reasoning to think it's bad is because they KNOW it's bad. We only think the Jedi are good because we KNOW they're good. But from Anakin's point of view, the dark side doesn't look any better or worse than the good side.

     All Anakin ever wanted was to do good throughout the prequels. But the Jedi never displayed anything that convinced him that he was serving the right side, whereas Palpatine did everything to convince him that the dark side wasn't so bad at all. Fear has everything to do with his turn. That's why his son Luke didn't turn, because he conquered his fear to begin with. "Fear IS the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate, leads to suffering." Throughout the entire prequel trilogy, Anakin was subjected to fear, as we saw with his mother and Padme. He had anger towards the people who killed his mother as well as towards the Jedi Order. "I HATE YOU!" Anakin exclaims to Obi-Wan. And the hate consumed him, causing him to to suffer greatly, with the loss of his mother, his wife and ultimately his own humanity.

     Anakin's dark side turn is entirely plausible, and anyone who doesn't think so just really has to watch the prequels over again and pay attention. Everyone has a tendency to forget details. Every line of dialogue and every plot element is important, and one cannot possibly catch all the details with one viewing of each film. One has to make an effort to peel away the layers to get to the core.

     2) Why in the world couldn't the Jedi figure out that Palpatine was the Sith Lord?

     This is a much simpler question to answer, and it's an imperative plot point to understand. In Episode I, when Darth Maul reveals himself to the Jedi, this exchange of dialogue occurs:

Ki Adi Mundi: "That's impossible. The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."
Mace Windu: "I do not think the Sith could've returned without us knowing."
Yoda: "Ah, hard to see the dark side is."

     What's being revealed here is that since the Jedi won against the Sith (when the rule of two didn't exist) approximately 1,000 years ago and supposedly got rid of them all, for 1,000 years the Jedi have had no contact with any Sith Lord. Either the Sith really were extinct for a millennium and have recently re-emerged, or two survived all those years ago and the Sith kept replacing Masters and Apprentices right up to the time frame of Episode I. The main thing is that the Jedi in the time period of the prequels are out of practice with Sith Lords. They've studied how to fight and perhaps counter the dark side to some degree, but have never encountered an actual Sith Lord for an entire millennium. Thus they've become arrogant of their power and blinded to the coming storm. The Sith Lords have been secretly plotting for years (and possibly centuries), while remaining in hiding until the time was right. The Sith have great power that the Jedi don't know how to counter. They used to know, long ago. But that time has long since past.

     This point is also addressed in Episode II, when Dooku interrogates Obi-Wan:

Count Dooku: "What if I told you that the Republic is now under the control of a Dark Lord of the Sith?" Obi-Wan: "No, that's not possible. The Jedi would be aware of it."

Once again, we see how the Jedi have been blinded by being out of practice for 1,000 years. The Sith have been working in secret against the Jedi Knights for quite some time to "cloud their vision," as Dooku says.

     And remember, in the very beginning of the film, Palpatine asks Yoda if he thinks the Separatist movement will really come to war. Yoda replies and says, "The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is." Also, Yoda and Mace acknowledge it when meditating:

Yoda: "Blind we are, if creation of this clone army we could not see."
Mace Windu: "I think it's time we inform the Senate that our ability to use the force has diminished."

     So the films themselves address this issue of why the Jedi don't sense the presence of the Sith. They know they're out there, but don't have any idea how to counter them or prepare for anything. It's simply because they've been out of practice for a millennium, and the dark side has the ability to cloud vision. So the Jedi can't recognize a true Sith Lord clouding their vision any more than I could identify an ancient language spoken right in front of me. At best, I can recognize that the language is foreign, but that's all I'm going to see. Well, the Jedi did suspect Palpatine of being fishy. But, so is most every other politician, according to Obi-Wan.

     The dark side now has a strong advantage over the Jedi, in that it now has the ability to put a mental wall in front of them, making it so that they couldn't see what's right in front of them. The Jedi in the time period of the prequels are not the brightest because of their arrogance and lack of practice, which is what this whole thing is about in the first place, and why the Jedi succeed in the classic trilogy. They learned from their previous mistakes.

     3) This movie doesn't tie up with the original trilogy very well.

     I'll be the first to admit that not 100% of everything in the prequels aligns smoothly with the classic trilogy. However, I think it still aligns.

     Sticking to this movie, we do now understand Leia's statement in Episode IV when she says, "General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars." We see that Kenobi is in fact a General. We see that Leia is referring to Bail Organa as her father, since Bail adopted her as his daughter at the end of Episode III. In fact, Leia's full name has always been "Princess Leia Organa" in all the literature from way back then. Lastly, referring to this statement, we've been shown plenty of the Clone Wars and how it all came to be with Episodes II and III.

     We see in this movie that Obi-Wan and Yoda are forced into exile. We don't need to know where they're going exactly. We do see where Obi-Wan goes, and we know Yoda must go somewhere. He happens to pick Degobah since he feels that the Sith will not sense his presence there. We just don't find out where until Episode V. We don't need to know where he goes at the moment. A little mystery doesn't hurt the saga, and actually makes audiences that view the saga in numerical order wait in anticipation to see whatever became of Yoda.

     The Skywalker twins are born and taken to their appropriate places. Luke ends up with Owen and Beru, and Leia with Bail Organa and his wife. Perfectly aligned with the old trilogy.

     Leia is in the genetic line of the Chosen One, thus she has heightened force abilities. So when she says she remembers her mother in Episode VI, she says, "Just images, really. Feelings. She was very beautiful. Kind, but sad." Being a gifted baby from the start, probably with tons of midichlorians within her because the Chosen One is her father, she may be able to remember her mother at birth. She was, after all, in the birthing room with Obi-Wan and Padme longer than Luke was. Another thing to keep in mind is that we don't know if she was also having future premonitions prior to her birth. This is an issue that's hasn't really been brought up, but it's also a possibility. But even without that, it's still very possible for her to remember her mother, given who she is in the realm of the force. Or, for all we know, she just had those images in her mind, but needed clarity from Bail as to who she was envisioning. She did know that she was adopted because Luke asks, "Do you remember your mother - your REAL mother?"

     We see the Jedi Knights hunted down by Vader. Enough said.

     Padme dies. Enough said.

     Anakin is consumed by hatred and becomes Darth Vader. He was a great pilot, and a good friend to Obi-Wan. We saw all of this.

     We understand why the Jedi disappear in the old trilogy and not in the prequels. Obi-Wan and Yoda are in contact with each other in their solitude, and also with Qui-Gon - who has learned how to come back from the netherworld somewhat. Obviously Qui-Gon didn't master it fully before he died since his body never disappeared, nor did he ever become a force ghost. He only revealed himself to Yoda once on screen vocally in Episode II when he was meditating while Anakin slaughtered the Sand people. "Anakin! Anakin! NOOOOOO!!" was Qui-Gon's voice. But one must master this ability fully prior to death in order to disappear and come back as a ghost. Qui-Gon does live on in a way in the old trilogy because we see his teachings revealed in Yoda and Obi-Wan disappearing and coming back as ghosts. I'll admit that they never mentioned Qui-Gon, but that was only on screen. While I think that they should've mentioned him at least once on screen, we never saw every single minute of Luke's training with Obi-Wan or Yoda. So it's entirely possible, from a story-telling point of view, that he could've been mentioned then. The cynical, stuck up point of view is that George Lucas probably didn't think of Qui-Gon back then. But hey, if you're going to make a saga the way Lucas did (out of order), the way it ties in is pretty darn good.

     Palpatine manipulated his way up through slow plotting and political manipulation through the dark side of the force and became Emperor. At this point he still needs the Senate, but by Episode IV he finally dissolves it. He took his time with it just like he did with everything else in his plot. In this case, it was because if the Senate was not on his side from the start, they'd all revolt and overthrow him and the Empire would die right then and there. He gained their trust for a couple decades and then got rid of them when his dictatorship was in full power. Smart move. What's cool is that this has all been in Star Wars literature from the start as well.

     The Death Star. Some people suggest that it wouldn't take 16-20 years to build. But George Lucas offers a logical spin on it on the Revenge of the Sith DVD commentary:

"Obviously, there's a little bit of a stretch with the Death Star being started in this one, and then 20 years later gets finished. But you know, they had supply problems, and union disputes, and a few design problems they had to work out. So it took longer than you would think, even for the Empire."

     This is what I've always thought since I found out the Death Star would be in the movie. We have no idea if construction of the Death Star was constant. And let's not forget that it's an EXTREMELY BIG thing to build! Also if one is comparing it to the fast construction of Death Star II in Return of the Jedi, one must take into account that DSII still had a third of the way to go before it was done, and the Emperor was adamant on getting it finished quickly. They could've hired more hands before, and eventually probably hired even more after Vader arrived on the Death Star in the beginning of the film. They probably had more advanced technology, and perhaps they learned from their mistakes with the first Death Star. How many times have you had to make something, and did it better and faster the next time around because you learned from the mistakes you made the first time? Same thing here. There are lots of reasons why the first Death Star could've taken as long as it did to be built. When you have a huge time gap like that, it allows for plenty of things that could happen in between. That's the beauty of Star Wars: We can be creative in putting the pieces together as long as it works.

     The Rebellion in the Senate mentioned in A New Hope is technically started in Episode III, with the Jedi rebelling against Palpatine, Bail Organa not going along with the Emperor's wishes and siding with the Jedi, and Padme saying, "So this is how liberty dies - with thunderous applause." She eventually dies, but it's clear that Bail is against the new Empire and agrees with Padme and the Jedi, which is why he takes Leia into his keeping and why we see him helping out the remaining Jedi in the end. He simply takes over where the Jedi and Padme left off after they were eliminated. After almost two decades of time passing between III and IV, we see his ship in Episode IV being chased by the Star Destroyer at the beginning. We assume from this that Bail eventually gained support by other fellow senators to follow in the Jedi Order's footsteps and rebel, since not everyone agreed with the Emperor or the Empire. Originally there was a scene in Revenge with him, Padme, Mon Mothma (rebel from Return of the Jedi) and others talking about this. Too bad it was cut, because it would've made this more clear. But if one is smart, they can easily put the pieces together.

     Some people say that since Anakin never told Obi-Wan that he wanted his son to have his lightsaber in Ep. III, that it doesn't line up with the scene in A New Hope where Obi-Wan gives Luke Anakin's lightsaber. But remember, Obi-Wan has told a tall tale before in the old trilogy: He didn't tell Luke the truth about his father. So what's stopping him from not telling the truth about the lightsaber? We have to remember Obi-Wan's motives here: He's trying to get Luke to come with him to Alderaan and become a Jedi and correct the mistakes his father made.

     Lucas has not ignored or forgot about this plot element. In Ep. III, there's a close-up shot of Obi-Wan picking up Anakin's lightsaber on the lava planet. So what does this mean? We see later on in the film that Obi-Wan and Yoda are going to wait for the right time to bring Luke and Leia into the mix and train them to correct the mistakes of their father. So in A New Hope, the dialogue about Luke's father wanting him to have his lightsaber has been revealed as a false statement meant to instigate Luke to come with him to Alderaan. Here's what I mean: Obi-Wan wants Luke to correct Anakin's mistakes and become a Jedi, so he'll use whatever means necessary to do achieve that goal. By saying that his father wanted him to have his lightsaber, it's saying to Luke that Anakin wanted him to follow in his footsteps. It was his father's wish. Luke has always wanted to know more about his father, and now he finds out he was a Jedi, a guardian of peace and justice in the galaxy. Now that's something to persue. Obi-Wan was simply using friendly forms of persuasion to instigate Luke to fulfill his destiny. Sure, as the saga stands now, Ob-Wan is B-S-ing when he said this. But it was for a noble cause. Luke was stubborn, and Obi-Wan had to do whatever was necessary to try and convince him to go to Alderaan. This may or may not have been Lucas's original intention with this dialogue, but it does fit. And it puts an interesting spin on Obi-Wan's character, which is something that we've come to suspect ever since we found out that he lied about Luke's father. It works.

     Some people say Obi-Wan is too old in A New Hope. He should be in his mid 50s or early 60s. Even though Alec Guiness was older than that back then, I think he looked like he could be in his 50s or 60s when he played Obi-Wan. Many actors play the part of a younger character just so long as they look that age. I've known many guys that age who have white hair and/or white beards. Take that, plus about two decades of living in a desert with TWO suns, and you're bound to look older that you really are. We could see in Episode III that Obi-Wan was already getting gray hair, so this is perfectly plausible.

     

     Lastly, our favorite droids, R2-D2 and C-3P0 end up with Captain Antillies. It's a brief moment, but at least we find out why 3P0 cannot remember anything in Episode IV.

     Continuity errors? I have yet to be shown any. I won't say that the saga is free of error, or that Lucas had every detail planned from the start. But I have watched it in order, one right after the other, and I can't find any real continuity errors. The saga really does fit together quite nicely. It's just that people had preconceived notions about how it would tie together, and Lucas didn't necessarily go that way. But that doesn't change the fact that it DOES work. It just may not work in the way some people would have it work. But that fault doesn't lie with Lucas. People need everything spelled out for them, and they don't bother trying to come up with plausible explanations themselves. Just take the time to examine every piece of dialogue and put the pieces together.

     4) Why would you hide Luke with Anakin's family? Wouldn't Anakin easily find him there?

     One must take into careful account the events of Episode III. First of all, Anakin did not know he had twins coming, only one child. Secondly, he probably believes with the rest of the people that knew Padme that the kid(s) died when Padme died. Anakin doesn't know she delivered the kids, and Padme still does look pregnant on her death bed. They probably faked it so that no one would go looking for any kids, including the Emperor and Vader.

     Also, once Anakin became Vader, he completely buried any good in him to the point where he cannot sense any good at all unless it's near. The dark side is his way of life now, and that's all he sees. We know that it's only when Obi-Wan was near, or when Luke was near that Vader could sense him. And it's only when Vader found out that he had a child and slowly started turning good again that he started communicating with Luke over long distances.

     The main proof of that is in Return of the Jedi when Vader says to the Emperor that his son is with the Rebels on Endor:

Emperor: "Are you sure?"
Vader: "I have felt him, my Master."
Emperor: "Strange that I have not. I wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear?"

Why can't the Emperor sense Luke, but Vader can? It's because not only is Luke connected with Vader, but also because Vader is starting to turn good again which allows him to have a greater sense of good in the universe. The Emperor has a black heart with no good in him whatsoever, so he's not going to sense it.

     This should clarify that at first, since Vader buried the good within him, that he cannot sense good over great distances. Since he thinks that his kid died with Padme, he's not looking. The dark side not only clouds the vision of others, but also of oneself. Once he finds out about Luke, he starts turning good and sensing Luke everywhere he goes.

     5) Obi-Wan should've put Anakin out of his misery when he caught on fire.

     Perhaps. But then again, he said, "I cannot do it" to Yoda before. It's clear that Obi-Wan did not want to kill Anakin, and that he's still allowing the will of the force to guide his actions. One would think that of all things, the Force would make sure that its "Chosen One" would survive long enough to bring balance. So if Anakin truly is the Chosen One, there's no way Obi-Wan could've killed him. And he didn't. The Force guided him. Obi-Wan simply needed to stop him, and continue to obey the will of the force. This shows us that Obi-Wan is faithful to the Jedi and the force, no matter how hard times get.

     Obviously the stuck up, cynical answer is that Lucas needed a way for Anakin to survive to be put into the Vader suit for continuity purposes. Ok fine. But concerning the story, the theme of the will of the force is constantly repeated throughout the saga, so this gives Lucas that liberty - through a certain realism, of course. In this case, I thought it was very real.

     6) Now that I've seen all three prequels, it's clear Lucas didn't have everything planned out from the beginning.

     I won't deny this statement at all. I'm sure that Lucas didn't have every single detail worked out in his head. Qui-Gon Jinn was never mentioned in the classic trilogy on screen, so I think it's safe to say that Lucas hadn't thought of him yet (although I bet he may have had that name in mind at the time for later use, like the Wookie planet fight, which was originally going to be what turned into the Ewok planet fight in Return of the Jedi). I haven't found any early literature stating his name and his relation to the saga. Same thing with Jar Jar Binks, or the droid factory scene in Attack of the Clones. It was stated by Lucas himself that he thought that up late in the process of making the film. Or why in the world didn't Owen and Beru change Luke's name? Sure, the name "Skywalker" could be just another last name like "Antillies" that's used quite commonly (like "Smith" is on Earth), thus perhaps it wouldn't make much of a difference. But I know that if something as huge as the incident with Vader and his kids happened, that I would try and cover up Luke's existence as much as possible. Why keep the same last name as Anakin's, if you're going to hide him with Anakin's family? Why not change his last name to "Lars" like Owen and Beru's last names, making it look like it's their kid? Well, probably because Lucas wanted his name to always be "Luke" for the sake of the audience, and "Luke Lars" didn't sound as good. These are just a few of probably many details that Lucas worked out as he went along. However, I still believe Lucas had the major plot elements worked out, simply because there are original 1970s publications (prior to 1977) that state almost exactly what happens in the prequels and the old trilogy.

     But before we get to that, let's take a look at whether or not Lucas had the whole Skywalker family tree worked out from the beginning. He recently said in "The Characters of Star Wars" documentary on the classic trilogy DVD box set that it's always been about these two twins and their father, that that's always been a constant throughout the whole writing process. People say, "There's nothing in the first Star Wars (Episode IV) to indicate that Luke and Leia are anything but friends, and that Vader is actually Luke's father." While this is true, Lucas has stated that he had the whole trilogy written (at least in rough form) from the beginning, but decided to split it into three parts. What happened was, no one knew just how successful Episode IV was going to be. 20th Century Fox, Lucas, and just about everyone else thought it was going to bomb at the box office, hence it did not originally say Episode IV or A New Hope when it was first released.

     So, since Lucas says that it's always been about the twins and their father, and yet we don't see anything in Episode IV that hints at it, this must mean that Lucas wrote the story planning for two scenarios (there's no valid reason that would hold up in a court of law that would indicate that he's lying). One, that if the film was not successful, that the film's plot could still stand on its own. And two, if it was successful, he could use what was written in Episode IV and expand upon it. Think about it. If Lucas introduced any sort of clues in Episode IV that Vader could be Luke's father, or that Leia could be his sister, you'd have a story that can't stand on its own if it bombed at the box office. He'd never be able to tie up those plot points. Lucas had to keep everything so that it could conclude as one story if he couldn't make his sequels, hence the reason you see no real indication of a family tree with Vader, Luke and Leia until Episode V.

     One could easily interpret Episode IV as a stand alone movie if it never had any sequels. You'd simply take it that Vader and Anakin are two separate people when Obi-Wan says, "Vader betrayed and murdered your father." Owen and Beru's hesitation to let Luke go off and do what he wanted can be interpreted that they simply didn't want him to end up like his father and be killed. "He's got too much of his father in him," said Beru. And the end is a perfect ending for a stand alone movie: The Death Star getting blown up can be interpreted to be the end of the Empire, leaving Vader powerless and causing that huge celebration in the end. But Lucas wrote various bits of dialogue in A New Hope so that it would be possible to expand upon what was written if it was successful. Since it was, the dialogue's double meanings were revealed in the sequels. And it made the saga so much more interesting.

     Other various plot elements have been around since the beginning. The "Journal of the Whills" publication in 1976 talks about much of the stuff that happens in the prequels and the old trilogy in a nutshell. Leia was always "Leia Organa." The lava planet and the fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan has been in Star Wars lore for the last 25 years. Same with Palpatine and his whole deal. Click here to read more about it, and take a look in particular at the sections entiled "Prologue: There Is No Why," and "Only What You Take With You." This should give people a good idea that Lucas did have the majority of the story planned from the get go. Not every single detail, but the major plot elements. (Pay no attention to the author's obsession with weird women).

     And really, does it matter? Lucas tied the saga together just fine, whether he had it all planned out or not. Like I said, since seeing Revenge of the Sith, I've gone through the saga in numerical order one right after the other over the course of a few days and didn't really find any loop holes or plot inconsistencies that couldn't be explained easily through what's shown on screen or through common sense. One just has to sit back, take a deep breath, and think - instead of jumping to premature conclusions. The Star Wars saga is brilliant. Not perfect, but nevertheless it does not fail in lining up great and telling a captivating story.

     I don't think there are really any more major complaints or misunderstandings about this film or how it ties in with the old trilogy. This movie is the most well-received prequel, and so many are considering it the best of the entire saga. Even I, who loved the prequels from the get-go, always hailed The Empire Strikes Back as the best episode. Now, all that has changed. Revenge of the Sith is king.