Full Series Am I the only one who thinks Matt Lanter instead of Hayden when I think of Anakin?

TheAvengerButton

All valid points, and I never meant to imply that we didn't get to see any positive aspects of the movie-Anakin, only that all the examples we did see were marred by some kind of tragedy.

He goes to rescue his mother? She dies and he ends up giving in to his anger against the Tuskens.
Attempts to save Obi-Wan on Geonosis? Cue a classic adventure run through a droid factory and arena battle, only for him to end up less an arm and needing to be bailed out by Yoda.
Rescuing the Chancellor? Marred by his murder of Dooku.

There were no outright, untainted heroics for the poor guy. We should have seen that stuff before we began to see the grip of corruption creep up. Now, technically we did get an example of that with TPM-Anakin, and the podracing/Trade Federation ship destroying. But...well, there are obvious reasons why this doesn't gel so well with the AOTC/ROTS Anakin.

Movie-Anakin had some nice character moments, absolutely, but the ratio between them and the tragic stuff the character went through was a out of balance to provide us with the right narrative foundation for a "Rise And Fall"-style storyline. But that's just my opinion, different courses for different horses as they say.

 

Matt Lanter is the one true Anakin.

That said, the best thing in this thread, on this forum, and maybe on the whole internet is...


Askley Eckstein in that skirt...

 

Yeah... I honestly think of the clone wars verisons of all the SW characters when thinking of them. Anakin, Obiwan, Yoda, anyone. most of the time lol

 

Pffft... well then... just green screen Lanter into the PT. He'd rock those topless scenes. =D

 

I have to admit, when re-reading some of the Clone Wars era novels (particularly Labyrinth of Evil), my "mental image" of the book's events now appear as if it was an episode of TCW rather than the live action characters. Including the character voices.

 

Obi Wan and Yoda are pretty much the same in both, IMO in both character and in presentation.

Mace is a little less openly hostile to Anakin, at least part of the time. I don't have any issues with Padme, Threepio or R2 either.

Palpatine remains strong in character in both, but in his case the animated voice actors just can't hold a candle to Ian.

I want to make it clear (again) that I'm not "bashing" Hayden. He did a good job with what he was given. The problems with his Anakin are entirely beyond his control (voice, writing, etc).

 

I think of TCW versions of characters too when I see or hear their name, especially Darth Maul.

 

I think of Christensen.

 

IMO, Hayden is the real Anakin, Matt did a great job of Anakin but Hayden was better

 

Matt Lucas had the best balance. Micro-Anakin ftw.

 

Yeah when I watch the PT the voices sound kinda weird. =b

 

Lanter has been a lot more involved for those who consume TCW. All his episodes are more than Hayden's two movies.
I'd add that Hayden hasn't really been iconic as Anakin, so I could see people replacing him with Lanter.

 

To answer the question stated in the title of the thread...yes. Matt Lanter is the definitive Anakin for me.

 

When I hear the name Anakin I think of TCW Anakin and Lanter's voice. Nothing against Hayden but Lanter is Anakin to me. I would've actually prefered Lanter in the role of Anakin in the PT, he just looks more the part.

 

Actually I think Hayden's got the right look, but Lanter's got the right voice, just mix them together and you'd have a great Anakin. I'd love to see TCW cast do a couple of non-animated episodes and see how they all do their roles compared to the originals, it'd be really interesting.

 

^I would caveat that by saying give Anakin the CW writers and directors instead of Lucas.

 

Yes. Matt's Anakin is the Anakin in my head.

 

Speaking of all this, why hasn't there been any fandub videos of Hayden as Anakin with Matt's Anakin voice dubbed over him on YouTube yet? It would be interesting to hear.

 

Hayden, he was of the prequel's better actors because he shows more emotion. And TCW is just ridiculous. (LOE is better than TCW)!

 

When it comes to the heroic lighthearted bits, I mainly think of Lanter, but when it comes to the really tragic character changing stuff I think of Christensen. However, I can picture Christensen when watching TCW most of the time. The connection isn't perfect in my mind, but it is far stronger than Jake Lloyd to Christensen or Christensen compared to Shaw.

 

Really? Matt's Anakin choking out Poggle the Lesser in Brain Invaders or his scene in the tunnel with Ahsoka in The Jedi Who Knew Too Much was way more affecting than anything Hayden ever did with the character, I thought.

 

Honestly, when I think of star wars now, I think of TCW. So, yeah, Matt's Anakin is Anakin, basically because I can't even watch the other guy in the movies. Do I blame the actor? No, Lucas hired the actor, and wrote for him, and directed him, so I blame Lucas. TCW is more star wars then the prequels have ever been.

 

I've definitely liked Matt Lanter's portrayal and the look of Anakin on the Clone Wars more since I started watching the show.

 

Hayden only struggled to show the emotions that Anakin was suppose to have during each of his scenes and you could tell how forced it was. His portrayal of Anakin was mediocre at best.

 

Our choices are emo Hayden, emo-less Blander, or voice break Mat Lucas.

I try not to think of Anakin.