PT So Anakin was suppose to be in Palpatine's office during the showdown

This is kind of interesting scenario to say the least. If anakin was in Sidious office before the duel and Sidious instigated the fight from the start forcing Anakin to fight the 3 masters while Mace had a 1 on 1 with Sidious. I think it would of made for a much better choreograph and really show Anakin being forced to make the decision of falling to the dark side and look at the jedi as evil.

Do you think the original choreograph of having 3 masters die within 5 seconds would have been better than having Anakin kill them out of self defense ?

 

In the original version Anakin didn't fight any Jedi until he cut Mace's hand.

 

^^^ Yeah.

Off-the-top of my head, my understanding is it went like this.

Originally, Palpatine reveals to Anakin that he is the one who started the cell process that created Anakin.
Mace and co get word of Palpatine's true identity independently, without Anakin informing them.
Anakin joins Palpatine before Mace arrives. It was originally more about his greed for power rather than just saving Padme (in this version Anakin was actually granted Mastership but was still not satisfied). If my understanding of versions is accurate, more of the political dialogue that was still prevalent in the final available version of the script was left in. Anakin was originally far more on board with Palpatine's ideology when he joins him, and apparently the Jedi looked a little less innocent and a little more eager to get rid of Palpatine.
Mace and his posse show up, Mace tells Anakin to stand down, but Anakin refuses to leave Palpatine's side. As is my understanding at first Anakin plays more of a double agent - the Jedi aren't yet aware he is already siding with the Sith. Palpatine force-grabs Anakin's saber from him and fights the Jedi. Anakin follows this fight (of course which ends up just Palpatine and Mace) as the three argue.
Eventually we end up again with Palpatine shooting lightning at Mace and Mace blocking. However, Palpatine doesn't feign weakness in this version.
There is kind of a stalemate between Mace and Palpatine, the intensity builds up until finally Anakin chops off Mace's hand and Palpatine kills him.


I love the final cut of the film as is, but this would have been really cool to see.

 

No its better the way it is.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the issue of Anakin's parenthood was never shot. It only appears in the rough draft of January 2003.

And I never knew about Anakin being a Master but not satisfied -are you sure about that? I'm fairly sure that the Council scene was shot during the main shooting and wasn't changed. (I'm assuming we are talking about the version that was in the final script and was shot in 2003,right?)

It's a shame that we haven't got the original script to know more about the scene. All that about Anakin's motives to turn being more political is just deduction based on the novelization and The Secret History of Star Wars.

 

Huh. I've heard more than one variation of what that original scene was meant to be

The first time I learned about the original shoot having Anakin there was that he had not yet made his choice but was there anyway. They decided to reshoot it and have him walk in at the end of the duel so it wouldn't be him just awkwardly watching the duel

I know for fact his turn originally did have more of a political/ideological motive rather than a tragic undertone. I personally prefer it as is in the final cut

 

Obi-wan was to ease drop on Darth Sidious telling the Separatist Council that they're going to Mustafar and rather than dropping down, he backs off and informs Yoda and Mace that he knows who Darth Sidious is and that is what leads to the Jedi Posse going to Palpatine's office.

Evidence is in the film as if you look closely, Ian is using Anakin's saber in most of the shots.

 

I definitely prefer the current version. If makes Anakin seem more conflicted and we get an awesome Ruminations scene.

 

The current version works better, I think the other version makes his fall seem even more abrupt.

 

was this actually shot??

 

I like it how it is in the final cut as well.

 

I read that here, don't know the actual source. It may have been an earlier version of the script.

 

It was shot, as in some shots of the Mace/Palpatine duel you can see that Palpatine is holding Anakin's saber.

 

The original version of the duel was definitely shot and used. Basically starting with when Mace and Palpatine head to the outer office, right up to when Mace knocks Palpatine down. That was the original footage that's in the final film. When Palpatine initially attacks the Jedi is a mix of the two, I believe. Anakin and Palpatine in the hallway where the former learns the truth was re-shot. At least the ending of it was. When Anakin enters Palpatine's office, that is re-shot footage. Now, where it is tricky is the lightning scene and then when Anakin makes his choice. The sequence was originally scripted as being the same in the final film, but there's no, "The Jedi are taking over" and "I'm too weak, I can't hold on." It just goes from Palpatine ceasing his attack to Mace going for the kill and Anakin interfering.

 

I like the version in the movie. I think they really "pushed Anakin to the edge" in terms of an emergency situation where he was forced to make an immediate decision, and that makes it more understandable why he did what he did.

From what I can tell, in earlier versions the "danger level" was lower.

 

This would have been more in line with what we expected with what we knew about Anakin from the original trilogy. I wish the greed and power aspect of Anakin's desire would have been developed more rather than it simply being about saving Padme.

 

I think with this version it would have been far harder to believe that Anakin could have been taken in by Palpatine's "innocence" and good intentions and turned on the Jedi. He would have seen what was really happening and would have had to ignore/condone a lot of Palpatine's actions in order to side with him.

It's a good idea to have Anakin only walk in at the end and see the defenceless old man, who just wanted to be left alone by the Jedi, being held at saberpoint by the autocratic Jedi Master that Anakin already hates. It's believable that Anakin would turn on Mace under those circumstances. Not so much when he sees that Palpatine is by no means defenseless and is happy to murder Jedi without them attacking first.

I admit that the original version is more interesting in terms of Anakin's character - his intentions are more clear and more decisive and thought out; right from the start it's clear that he's going to throw the Jedi under the bus to save Padme and it's not a rash moment of impulse. It could have been the case in this version that Anakin knows exactly what Palpatine's deal is and is willing to go along with anyway to save Padme, which would be very dark and interesting and would erase the problems of my earlier points.

But I still think it's important that Anakin remains at least slightly sympathetic throughout the last act so that he is redeemable in ROTJ when he's learnt to understand what happened that night. It's a better character arc for him to be coerced into nightmarish deeds and then gradually realise what a mess he's made of his life and that he wishes to start again, than for him to deliberately side with the bad guys for selfish reasons, then realise that was wrong. The former is more tragic and raw, and relatable.

So long story short - I prefer it how it is.

 

I imagine a 3 hour length ROTS with the original cut of Anakin's turn would allow for a deeper, more complex, but arguably less emotional finished movie.

Anakin is more sympathetic in the official version of the scene we got, so the original style of the turn would have meant Anakin arguably would be harder to see as redeemable, perhaps.

I'm guessing my favourite detail of this lost cut would have been that Mace has no idea Anakin has pledged to Palpatine already when Mace gets there. So his turn would have been a little more similar to the PT George described long before writing ROTS. Originally before the PT was made, Anakin wasn't known by the Jedi to be a Sith for a period after he had turned. Vader would be secretly cutting down Jedi on missions with them.
Mace arriving to see an on the surface seemingly familiar, yet still hidden Sith Lord in Vader would have increased the sense of dark and betrayal significantly, and would be a little closer to the original vision.