Full Series The *Official* Anakin Skywalker in the Clone Wars Discussion Thread

The TCW Anakin is very likable. While mostly, the PT Anakin is not...It's like these characters aren't even the same person.

Why is this important?

If Anakin was a "good character" in the prequels, I think it would have made his fall more stunning and his redemption more realistic. I also believe that the prequels would have been held in higher esteem if the main protagonist had the qualites that the TCW Anakin carries (such as leadership, heroism, selflessness, etc.)

Was this a failure of Lucas that he didn't develop a good and likeable Anakin in the prequels?

Is there any comparison at all, that the TCW Anakin is greater than the PT Anakin?

 

I was just thinking about this:

When I watch TCW, It doesn't feel like Anakin. The Anakin we knew is very different from this new one. Why is this new one so nice and good? I wish I knew...

 

This is Anakin in a part of his life we haven't seen yet. When he was a hero, when he was loved and he was at his happiest. It's a part of his life Lucas skipped, something he might have regretted later. Now we get to see it.

Besides, last couple of episodes we've started to see a little more of his darker, un-Jedi like side..

 

Yes, TCW Anakin is more likable, but I have no problem seeing them as the same person. We see some of the hero in the beginning of ROTS, and we likewise see the darkness in Anakin in TCW. The prequels were telling a specific story, and that story required showing Anakin at his darkest points. I don't think Anakin being dark is a flaw of the prequels, it's jst a different kind of story.

 

Very true.

 

I thought Anakin was likable in all three movies. And his heroism is present from the beginning. His immediate willingness, even eagerness to help the stranded Qui-Gon and Co. in 'Menace, his reckless, but determined, and courageous, protection of Padme and his attempts to capture her attacker in 'Clones, and his self-assured, fearless, if headstrong rescuing of the Chancellor while keeping Obi-Wan safe, both during the approach to the Invisible Hand and later when he has to carry his one-time Master on his back. Never mind his piloting of a crashing starship to a "happy landing".

Yes, Anakin had flaws. In 'Clones he's a young man bristling at the strictures imposed on him by the Jedi, and when this finds voice he can seem petulant and yes... even whiny. But that isn't the extent of Anakin's character. When he's with Padme the rough edges seem to soften and while his anxiousness to get with the Naboo Senator can run too intense on occasion, this in itself can be endearing. In 'Sith he appears as very much the heroic Jedi Knight, at least until his character flaws rear-up again and he begins to spiral into emotional entropy, but of course that's the story.

The Clone Wars production would seem, appropriately, to have taken its version of Anakin from the early stages of ROTS. The Jedi leader. Hero of the Clone Wars. A young man who has come into his own during this massive galactic conflict. Anakin's able to forget himself in the Wars. His reckless impulses are almost an asset here and his insecurites can be burried, rearing their head only occasionally, because all that matters is the mission.

In truth, I would imagine that the lure of spending more time with this Anakin was largely what compelled George Lucas to produce the show in the first place.

I don't know, the character seems consistent to me...

 

We get a bit of this Anakin at the beginning of ROTS, don't forget. IMO, they should have made Episode II's Anakin like this and less whiny. Doesn't mean he couldn't have been conflicted... but I guess Lucas was trying to make him darker and edgier after the Annie we got in Episode One -- who, ironically, I like better than the one in Episode II.

 

Labyrinth of Evil and the second half of the old Clone Wars series had a pretty heroic Anakin also.

 

I don't see a huge difference between the two takes on the character. They're merely portrayals which emphasize different aspects. The TCW emphasizes his virtues while the films emphasize his flaws.

 

Yes, they're obviously going out of their way to show the Heroic Anakin.

But I agree with those who are enjoying this incarnation better than the PT version, he's kind of a cross between Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. The PT was really lacking in these daring, cocky, rogue-type characters.

I always thought Hayden Christensen really nailed Anakin/Vader in a physical sense, but there was something about his intonation that always bothered me.

 

Bingo... I totally agree.

 

Thank you!

 

I guess this is about the adult Anakin? I think TCW Anakin is more likeable.. but also more boring. I guess many people want to see this good side of Anakin more, which is cool and all, but I'd still like to see some dark foreshadowing moments with him too.

 

If i had to sum his whole character arc up the best i can it would be like this-

In TPM anakin is a gifted pilot and good-hearted boy to spite being born into a hard life of slavery because his only family and positive figure in the world (his mother) raised him right and with lots of love and emotion(the kinds of things a jedi raised from birth shouldn't know) and then later he fulfills his dream of going off and becoming a powerful jedi to make a difference in the galaxy.

Then in AOTC he is still very eager to become the great jedi he always wanted to be but influenced A LOT by palpatine so he feels held back and now deals with ambition and arrogance while at the same time being deeply in love and not knowing how to deal with it. He realizes first hand how hard jedi life is and goes through the worst, most conflicting time in his life, the brutal murder of the only family he ever had in his life (his mother) at the hands of "viscous,mindless monsters" and so he reacts by making a terrible mistake of committing the act of sweet revenge, finally starting him down the dark path. After confessing he then gos through a big turning point in his life by committing himself to become a better,more focused jedi from then on. This is the turning point where he grows up and matures in a big way. witch brings us to the next movie.

In ROTS he is now finally the great jedi hero he has committed himself to become,(what the audience has always wanted him to be but we had to go through the first two movies to get to this point) He is also now like this because of how much he matured in the clone wars by being a leader and haveing ashoka as his padawan exc. But then he is threatened with terrible visions of his wife and unborn children dieing an untimely death and so he passionately and desperately does everything he can to prevent it. Palpatine gos to work on him and through very powerful seduction,lies,promises of ultimate power and revelations that not even the audience was prepared for he turns anakins world upside down and forces him to question everything he has been told to believe and by at first seemingly good intentions he slowly transitions to the dark side by thinking that the ONLY way to become the great, powerful jedi that can make a difference he has always dreamed to become is by choosing the dark side. It is then by doing palpatines dark bidding that he starts to fall in love with the power more & more and becomes seduced by the power of the dark side until he is then totally consumed by darth vader.

Witch brings us up to the person he was in episode 4, ANH.


It is the things that happen in AOTC that really start off his change and the "turning point" in his arc to commit himself to becoming the great jedi he always wanted to be. A big part of his change is his guilt over how he gave in to revenge with the tuskens so his promise to his mothers grave is what really starts off his change. Let me explain --

When he made that promise to his mother in AOTC people like to demonize him by saying he just wanted more power to control things but thats not what he meant! He meant he wanted more power to be a better person/jedi with because he felt so terrible and ashamed of what he had done to the sand people after confessing to padme and to not let what happened to him ever happen to any innocent person again so that he could one day be a great jedi like his mentors yoda,mace and obi-wan -and he DID. But the ironic part is what the audience knows while they watch him make that promise, witch is that palpatine takes his good intentions and that power that he gets and uses it to benefit the sith.

Add all that to the things he went through in the clone wars like training ashoka, being a leader exc. and there you have it.

Thats the explanation and i think it works great.

 

That's certainly an interesting way to look at things, and I'm not saying it's entirely wrong, but I think that that qoute was meant to show the darker side of Anakin, because of the reaction we see on Padme's face. She's scared by what he is saying, and she knows that that line of thought can lead to a dangerous place, and it does. Anakin may of wanted to be a better Jedi, but the best way he thought he could do that, would be to have control over everything.

 

The TCW Anakin is very animated, the PT Anakin is hot.

Also, Anakin's small humour lines don't feel forced like TCW's Anakin. Plus, they kinda made him a softie in TCW with the whole "Lol Snipz<3" stuff.

I want TCW's Anakin to be a hero, but also show his stuck up EDITED side.


You can't just block out half of a swear word to make it okay. G_M.

 

I like both Anakins also and im betting he will get moody later on in the series when something happens to Ahsoka and not be so cheerful anymore.

 

Thanks but no thanks. I do not want TCW's Anakin to be anything like that annoying, spoiled brat we saw in the movies. Nothing at all.

Pre-vader Anakin is suppose to be likable, caring, and a hero. He's not suppose to be a spoiled brat. Obi Wan once told Luke that his father was a good man. Well, this series is meant to show what was not shown much in the movies, which is Anakin being that good man Obi Wan talked about, and that famous, selfless hero we heard about in the OT.

Basically, Lucas has a chance to show Anakin as a good guy, and he's taking full advantage of that. We don't need to see Anakin's darkside at all. We've had enough of that in the movies. Let the movies deal with Anakin's dark side. The animated CGI cartoon should deal with the best moments in Anakin's life, period.

All of this is suppose to make Anakin's eventual fall from grace in Rots, that much more traegic. If Anakin is not shown as good and heroic, than his fall doesn't mean much at all. Remember, all of this is suppose to be a total shock to characters like Obi Wan and Padme. We are suppose to feel Obi Wan's pain and disbelief, as far as how a good man turns bad. In order for that to happen, Anakin has to be shown as a good guy and not bad at all. We the audience, are suppose to feel Obi Wan's pain, as he's the protagonist. So Anakin being shown as a likable, cheery guy is a must in order for the entire SW saga to feel complete.

 

We already dealt with Anakin's darkside in the movies, and the other cartoon. We don't need to see it, again.

We need to see more of Anakin being a hero, which is what we are being shown, now. Just have an open mind.

 

tcw anakin is far superior to the prequels anakin. in the prequels he was really annoying. he was very whiny. i don't know if lucas or christensen were to blame for that but thankfully in tcw that's gone. i think somebody wrote that he's like a mix of han and luke in the tcw and i agree with that. he's actually likeable this time around and makes his fall from grace mean a little more.

 

"Pre-vader Anakin is suppose to be likable, caring, and a hero. He's not suppose to be a spoiled brat. Obi Wan once told Luke that his father was a good man. Well, this series is meant to show what was not shown much in the movies, which is Anakin being that good man Obi Wan talked about, and that famous, selfless hero we heard about in the OT."


John Crichton: Can I get a, "Hell, yeah."?
Imaginary crowd: Hell, yeah.

 

Actually, I think the delivery of his quips for the most part is better in TCW than in the PT.

 

The main problem with Anakin's prequel development was AOTC. He was fine as a kid in TPM and even early on in ROTS, he was very likeable. In AOTC he was creepy, cranky, whiny, arrogant, and weak.

 

I do think it has a lot to do with performance. TCW Anakin just has more personality. He's someone that you can connect to more. You don't have to stretch yourself in order to like him since he just comes off more natural. I definitely like TCW Anakin better than PT Anakin.

Of course, the movies had to deal with a more linear storyline. With TCW, they can go more in-depth so therefore we frequently find Anakin in situations that highlight his goodness. In the movies, there was little time for that.

 

We can see both? It would be odd if Anakin never gets a little dark in this series. It's not exactly a peaceful time in his life, is it?