CT The official Anakin's Spirit poll

For a young fellow like me, it has to be Hayden every time. I honestly saw ROTJ one time with the Sebastian Shaw ghost, and every time since then it was the Special Edition with Hayden.The only adult Anakin Skywalker that I've ever seen is the one portrayed by Hayden Christensen so it makes perfect sense to me that Anakin's Force Ghost should like the like good man he was before he fell to the Dark Side. Although I do acknowledge that he retained his good looks for a short time as Darth Vader.

 

The poll is 85-58. Reversed numbers. Just had to post that.

 

I also remember it being 23, 32 at one point in this thread's nascence lol

 

Shaw has to be Shaw I hate most of the changes made to the original trilogy this one especially irritates me

 

Hayden. I think I've only seen the Shaw ghost once or twice. Ever since I got the DVDs, it's been Hayden. Also, ROTS was my first (and only, besides TPM 3D) Star Wars movie in theaters, so I'm a prequel kid.

 

I think Sebastian Shaw makes the most sense in my opinion. If we take Return of the Jedi on it's own, it is somewhat confusing to see younger Anakin as a force ghost. I can understand why some people feel he should revert back to his younger "true" self, but while I understand the reasoning behind it, I think it is somewhat conflicted by the fact Anakin looks the same during revenge of the Sith when he is doing everything wrong.

If he had turned to the dark side and immediately worn the suit, then maybe it would make more sense visually, as we would not associate "younger" Anakin with Vader's crimes. As it is presented, I think most viewers see Anakin having already turned to the dark side regardless of rather he would have had the suit or not. Furthermore, as others have mentioned, it is not younger Anakin which returns to the light side of the force, it is the older Anakin who finally redeems himself.

As an alternative, and an attempt to bring the fans together, I would propose the following compromise:
Why not have Anakin, Yoda, and Obi-wan, all gradually transform into their younger selves, as the Ewok celebration ends. Anakin can start out as Shaw and then slowly transform into Hayden(as Obi-wan would slowly transform into Ewan McGregor). I don't think it's a perfect solution, but it is probably the best way to make everyone at least somewhat content.

 

Another compromise may be an aged Hayden. Personally I prefer Shaw, but I can see the arguments in favour of Hayden.

 

Matt Lanter in old age makeup.

 

Aged Hayden would be a perfect compromise.
To me Shaw makes sense from a story perspective. Luke finally finds his dad.
The Hayden change is just a continuity change/fan grab and takes away from the scene imo.
Though a scene where we pan away from Luke and then see younger Obi-Wan and Anakin and Qui-Gon might work.

 

has to be Sebastian shaw. every aspect of the original ending is better

 

Jake Lloyd.

 

I voted for Shaw, but honestly, that was mostly because he was the first, so that's who I think of. However, to be honest, I do get a kick out of seeing Hayden, and I like the visual connection to the prequels.

 

Yes! I actually thought about that. No disrespect meant to Alec Guinness, but if they had replaced him with Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan, I would've bought the change a little more. Or even better would be aged Hayden.

 

Hayden.

 

Hayden makes more sense emotionally to me as a viewer.
I'm not exactly opposed to the idea of an aged Hayden ghost, but I really dig the feeling of Anakin's soul returning from its 23 year hiatus on the dark side.

 

Definitely Shaw. Anakin was redeemed by Luke from the Dark Side so that's the last time he was a good man, hence looking like Shaw.

 

I'm the opposite - I don't think a young Obi-Wan would have made sense, as there's a) no reason for Obi-Wan to perceive himself as anything other than what he looked like when he died, and b) no reason for him to present himself to Luke as looking differently than he had when Luke knew him. Anakin, on the other hand, could remember looking either young or pale and scarred in a way that he probably associated with Darth Vader; he probably wouldn't want to present to Luke as the latter, and even though he was spent some time as Vader while still young and unscarred, I still think he would associate that face with Anakin Skywalker.

I don't know how I feel about aged Hayden. It would be more consistent with the prequels, but it would have the same issues I have with Shaw plus the fact that neither he nor Luke had ever seen him look like that, as there would be an added disconnect between his appearance that scene and his death scene. Hmm, I'll have to think about it.

 

I'm surprised they havent shot an aged Hayden in prosthetics for the Vader unmasking scene in ROTJ yet.

 

AndyLGR, don't post such things! GL might read it and think its a good idea!

 

They've fixed the eye colour at least

 

At first I said Hayden since I actually didn't see Star Wars until '04, so that's all I knew. However, thinking back on it, an elder Anakin spirit implies wisdom that the younger Anakin did not have. He's lived and he's learned and he's ready to help teach the next generation how to avoid his mistakes. I think Shaw's spirit says that better than Hayden's ever could. Since Shaw is now dead though, I would say that they should go with a new actor to portray Anakin's ghost in the ST (if it will appear). Someone who resembles Shaw in ROTJ. Then, when the next OT rerelease comes around, they should replace Hayden with the new ghost for consistency purposes.

And while we're at it, I do NOT want Ewan to return. Time to retire the Obi-Wan character. Having an older ghost, then a younger one? What?

 

If you're saying Palpatine didn't say the name 'Anakin Skywalker' to Vader in the original ESB version, he actually did - that's the version I grew up with and watched a million times. If that's not what you were saying then please disregard! Although, I do agree with your intent.

MY VOTE: As for who comes to mind first as Anakin's Ghost - Shaw. If I were to express who I prefer - Shaw! For all the reasons mentioned: that's how Luke saw him and would recognize him, that's how old he was when he turned back to the good side. Yes the scalp, scar, and bags under the eyes made him look too old, but they were effects from wearing his suit all the time and the dark side of the force, but the ghost version of him with hair and no scars or bags made him easily look like he's in his 40s or early 50s and it made me so happy to see what he looked like as a normal looking guy and happy! And that Obi-wan and Yoda were as they looked when they died but not Anakin just didn't make sense!

Thank God I was able to find the original version of the OT on DVD! They were bonus disks! I'm still regretting and crying over giving away my VHS copies though! Should have kept them!! :'(

 

In the original dialogue of ESB (OOT & the 1997 SE), The Emperor does not refer to 'Anakin' Skywalker, the name Anakin was first mentioned in ROTJ. He talks about 'the Son of Skywalker':

The new dialogue, which includes the line about "the offspring of Anakin Skywalker" was added for the 2004 DVDs with Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine.

 

The one I grew up watching was the OOT - the others didn't exist until after I was an adult (I was 18 in 1997). But I may have been thinking of the dialog from ROTJ between them. If so I apologize and thanks for mentioning it. I may need to pull them out.

 

I can't remember if I replied in this thread or not...

In any case, I'm one of those rare people who grew up with the Shaw version, but actually PREFERS the Hayden version. (wait, wait... don't shoot! I'll explain!)

I have a few problems with the Shaw version:

First, he looks too happy, and it's too soon for that. Some have said that Hayden looks a bit creepy, but to me, he looks a bit awkward, and I think that's a more appropriate look. Keep in mind all of the bad things he's done, and now he's standing next to the Kenobi (the guy he killed), and Yoda (killed a bunch of his students.) Seeing Shaw with a big happy smile on his face didn't really work for me. I prefer Hayden's "Um, hi guys... heh heh... well, this is awkward" expression. I don't know if that expression was intended (probably not), but at least it looks that way to me.

Second, the Shaw ghost represents an Anakin who never existed, so to me, it makes less sense. At no point in Anakin's life did he look like the unscathed Shaw. Since we know force ghosts don't come back with their injuries (Obi-Wan's ghost wasn't cut in half), then Anakin's ghost needs to revert back to before he was injured, and in that sense, Hayden is the best choice.

Third, I have no attachment whatsoever to the unscathed Shaw. I've never seen him before. That was fine before the prequels existed, but now that the prequels do exist, for me, it has more emotional resonance to see a ghost that represents the character as I've seen him.

Now, you could argue that it must look odd to Luke to see young Anakin. I don't know. I don't think the ghosts as we see them are necessarily meant to be a literal interpretation of what Luke sees. And even if they are meant to be literal, then I think Luke would simply understand that this young ghost is the man Obi-Wan told Luke about in ANH, the "good friend."

I do understand the arguments against the Hayden ghost, but this is just how I see it, and so it works for me.
Having said all that, I still don't understand why Anakin comes back as a ghost at all. When did he learn that little trick? (I'm sure some book will come along to tell us, if it hasn't already.)