Did Lucas change the focus of the Saga to make the Prequels?

You expected the PT to be about Luke?

I don't believe anyone is saying that. What we're saying is the OT is about Luke and that means the entire saga is not about Anakin as claimed by GL.

 

Lucas never said that Luke is not the main protagonist of the OT. Anakin's fate, however, is the core of the story. Luke and Vader are the central characters of the trilogy.



Darth Vader - he is important
/LM

 

The OT is about Luke, the Saga is about Vader. There is no contradiction, both statements are correct, and the only "problem" I see here is the luxury of choice.

 

I don't agree at all. They DO contradict each other. For the entire saga to be about Anakin/Vader, he had to be the focus of both the OT and PT. He wasn't. The OT was clearly Luke's story and Vader was just a secondary character. Even Vader's "redemption" at the end of ROTJ wasn't about him. It was about Luke redeeming his father. The OT was never about Vader and how he felt or how he lived. It was all about Luke and Vader only mattered in relation to him.

 

Vader is the most important person to Luke in the OT, even though Luke doesn't realize that until the end of TESB. That makes Luke and Vader the central characters of the OT.



Realizing - it's important
/LM

 

Are you deaf? I just said that the OT is about Luke. The SAGA is about Vader, whether you agree or not, and I don't need Lucas' quotes to see that.

 

I'll go one step further, the true character arc is Palpatine/Emperor. You see him as a senator, chancellor, and the Emperor of the Galaxy. I now see it as the story of Palpatine, with the exception that George forgot to put in him ANH.

 

The change actually happens before ESB was released- when the original Star Wars was re-released in 1979 (or 1980, depending on who you ask...), the "Episode IV- A New Hope" sub title was added to the opening crawl. As there's no way the first three episodes could revolve in a meaningful way around Luke, the only other character remaining who could possibly be the central character for the whole saga (including sequels) was Darth Vader.

Who is claiming that the OT wasn't Luke's story? Nobody as far as I can see...

The OT is only a part of the saga. It's primarily about Luke, but that doesn't mean that the whole saga is primarily about Luke.

I mean, you couldn't say that the first half hour of the original film is Luke's story, because he doesn't even appear in it. That half hour is very clearly all about the droids, but you wouldn't say that the whole film is their story.

 

The OT is only a part of the saga. It's primarily about Luke, but that doesn't mean that the whole saga is primarily about Luke.

I mean, you couldn't say that the first half hour of the original film is Luke's story, because he doesn't even appear in it. That half hour is very clearly all about the droids, but you wouldn't say that the whole film is their story.[/quote]


Lucas said in an interview in Vanity Fair last March leading up to ROTS, that he didn't see it as the saga about Anakin until 1998, a year before TPM came out. He changed the focus to Anakin to sell the prequels, and you know what that is fine with me, but the OT when it came out was always about Luke, and then after ESB, it changed again to him redeeming his father. Remember Lucas always changing things, hence the OT SE.

 

Again, nobody is saying that the OT isn't about Luke.

I find it odd that Lucas apparently claimed not to realise that the saga was about Anakin until after he had written and shot TPM... I'd be interested if someone can post a quote. (Although I think I've got the issue at home.)

Anyway, it might be that he didn't see it as about Anakin, but that doesn't change my point. I mean, he might not have seen that making Greedo shoot first transformed Han Solo's character arc...

 

Not that it matters to me, or that I need his confirmation, but Lucas quotes that the saga is about Vader date back to 1995.

 

I remember reading the article in March, and I think it was a misprint, I think he didn't realized it was the story of Anakin til 1988, instead they put 1998. That would be a good 5 years after ROTJ, and 5-6 years before announcing the Prequel Trilogy. But this is a true quote from the Vanity Fair article.

 

I started this thread to express my disappointment over Lucas discrediting Luke in the OT by saying that Vader was the main character of the Saga. I can even admit that I started to watch ANH last night and found that for the first time, my thoughts of the movie have shifted now that I have seen the PT and know how things got the way they were. I guess I am unsure about the end result of watching the saga from EP1 to EP6 in order and coming away with a different feeling about the OT than I did when I was a kid. Again, now that I know how things got the way they did, my perception of the OT is changing! Help me I am losing my childhood! (ha ha ha)

 

READ CAREFULLY: we're talking about the Star Wars SAGA, all 6 episodes:

Vader IS the main character of the saga, and always has been.

Luke IS NOT the main character of the saga, and never has been.

 

Are you deaf? I just said that the OT is about Luke. The SAGA is about Vader, whether you agree or not, and I don't need Lucas' quotes to see that.

Am I deaf? How about a better insult since hearing has nothing to do with READING at a messageboard.

I do not get what is so hard to understand. The ENTIRE saga is NOT about ONE person. The PT is about how Anakin fell to the darkside (and about how the Republic fell, the Jedi were almost wiped out and how the Empire came to be- really it's about more than JUST Anakin). The OT is about Luke. Therefore, three movies focus on one character and three focus on another. Which means all 6 movies do NOT focus on ONE character. Which means that the ENTIRE saga CANNOT be about Anakin/Vader. If anything, it can be said that the entire saga is about the Skywalker family. That is a heck of lot more correct than GL's claim that it's about Anakin.

 

I don't think that Lucas intended to change the focus of the Saga by releasing the Prequels... In the original trilogy we become identified with Luke Skywalker as the hero, but we also get to know that Darth Vader did not only betrayed his father, but is in fact Luke's father, which turns out to be a major plot in the Saga.

As the end of the OT approaches with the release of ROTJ, we get to know how Vader/Anakin Skywalker is redeemed by his son, Luke Skywalker. Also, we know from word that Anakin was a powerful Jedi Knight and a candling warrior, who was trained by Obi Wan Kenobi and fought along with him in the Clone Wars, to protect the Old Republic.

The story of the Prequels is set for the viewers in order to realised who was Anakin Skywalker before he became Darth Vader, and why he turned to the dark side, which is not revealed in the original trilogy. The only thing we know at that point is that Anakin was consumed by the dark side... But the answer to how was he consumed by the dark side is revealed on the prequel trilogy...

 

Wouldn't that be around the time he started working on the PT (since TPM came out in 1999)? Even if not, it's clear that he made that claim YEARS after the OT and most likely when he had decided to make the PT. I'm sorry, but GL seems to like to re-write things to suit his current thinking, doesn't he?

 

You got a point there, allow me to rephrase:

Are you blind?

This question also relates to the saga: I can see with my own eyes that Vader is the main character of the saga, and I don't need Lucas' quotes to tell me what I already know.

 

I don't get what's so hard to understand. The ENTIRE saga is ALL about ONE person.

(Do those capitalised words somehow make my opinion any more meaningful?)

Ooh- I like these logic games. Let me try one; (italicised to emphasise that this is NOT my opinion!)

The first half hour of the original film does NOT focus on Luke. Which means that the ENTIRE film CANNOT be about Luke. Which means the ENTIRE OT CANNOT be about Luke.

Works well, doesn't it? Of course, unless I've activated some sort of "ignore poster" option, there's still nobody saying that any or all of the OT isn't about Luke. That straw man argument is getting so old it's actually starting to smell.

But the only relevance that the Skywalkers other than Anakin have to the story is defined by their relationship to Anakin.

 

We are simply not going to agree.

Vader is a SUPPORTING character in the OT. He's not the main character and the OT is not his story. This disqualifies the entire saga being his story. I don't care what GL claims. And I stand by my theory that some fans only believe that because GL claimed it. I don't personally know anyone who thinks the entire saga is Anakin's/Vader's story. Everyone I know who have seen all the movies think as I do. Perhaps if the PT had been made before the OT and Vader would have been more than just the Emperor's henchman , it would be true (since there would have been an established backstory of the character).

Think of it this way. What if someone took a supporting character from a series of movies like LOTR and decided to make 3 more movies that centered on this character's life before LOTR. Would that then make the entire "saga" of six films about that character? Hardly.

 

"We"? I don't know who you're referring to- I'm pretty sure it's not me, because it's clear that you're not reading my posts. I can't see anyone putting forward the point of view that you are still arguing with.

Yes- we've all agreed on this. Several times.

Again, agreed. (There's still nobody disagreeing with this...)

Wrong.

In the same way that a scene in which the main character doesn't appear doesn't disqualify them from being teh main character of a film, the first half an hour on ANH focussing on the droids doesn't disqualify Luke from being the focus of the original film, and the OT focussing on Luke doesn't disqualify the saga from focussing on Anakin/Vader.

Particularly when Luke's relevance and role in the story is purely due to his relationship with Anakin.

Wow! Me too! Both of my friends agree with me.[/sarcasm]

It seems that a great many truths depend on our own point of view...

 

Finally you're catching my drift. When Lucas said that "Star Wars" is about Luke, THERE WAS NO SAGA! "Star Wars" was only the OT, and the OT is about Luke, so this quote was correct.

When the saga was conceived ca. 1994 with the writing of the prequels, Lucas said that Vader is the main character of the saga, and this fact has remained unchanged.

Nothing's been changed in the focus of the saga.

 

The fact that Vader is the main character of the Star Wars saga doesn't require your agreement.

 

I guess I am unsure about the end result of watching the saga from EP1 to EP6 in order and coming away with a different feeling about the OT than I did when I was a kid. Again, now that I know how things got the way they did, my perception of the OT is changing! Help me I am losing my childhood! (ha ha ha)

I don't think you have to change your perception of the OT. The OT is still the same (with the exception of Special Edition changes) and Luke is the main character, even if we have three other films that focus on his father. Anakin is the protagonist of the PT, while Luke is the protagonist of the OT.

If you had to choose one person to be the overall main character of the saga, it would be Anakin because he's the leading man in three films and a major supporting character in another three films. Luke is only the leading man in three films and has a cameo appearance in a fourth film, so he doesn't have as much screen time as Anakin. However, people have brought up a valid point that Anakin is not the main character of all 6 films, so from a certain point of view, he isn't the main character of the entire saga. If you want, you can think of Anakin as the main character of the PT and Luke as the main character of the OT. But as I said, Anakin having more screentime over the course of six films is a good reason to name him as the overall main character of the saga.

 

ok here is the answer.

Think about it, the MAIN character and what character the STORY is about can be completly different.

Yes, Luke is the main character of half of the saga, but the STORY that is being told is Vader's.

You know what...whatever.
Its about the Skywalker family.
Yes...including Padme, she gets her own movie remember!
Episode I.