CT What is wrong with Hayden as Anakin in the end scene of Return of the Jedi

He sold it to Disney knowing full well that they’d continue the story without him. If he wanted it so that only his six films would be considered the “real” story, he wouldn’t have sold it.

Clearly, he wanted others to continue the story, so that it could go on without him.

 

I used to be really anti-Special Edition, but over the years there are certain changes I have less of a problem with, because for the most part they are still the movies I always loved.

The Anakin ghost change is one that I still really dislike. I prefer the kind looking older man that smiles at Luke as opposed to the look that the Hayden Christensen version is giving Luke. I don't even dislike Hayden Christensen as Anakin all that much. I think he did his best with the script he was given. I just miss the happier looking Anakin ghost.

 

Might have already said this earlier, but I like both versions.

I've still got two different, officially released, ROTJ VHS tapes that I occasionally watch that have SS at the end, plus Yub Nub and all that.

I also like the 2011 blu ray version with HC at the end of Jedi.

It's fun to watch all of GL's different versions of the OT, imo.

Still, it would be nice to get an official release of the OOT on blu ray. The next time it is released on 3D, HD, blu ray, or whatever is next, they ought to include a state of the art, high quality version of the OOT as well.

At the minimum, a lot of people would be happy and it just might nullify future debates about this topic lol.

For example, even though I prefer Ian McDiarmid playing Sidious in the SE version of TESB, it would be cool to see the original version, with the original actor playing Sidious on blu ray.

 

I like both versions for different reasons, but side with the canon version these days. I think it's sad to think Anakin reverted to the last time he was truly happy, as a young man with his whole life ahead of him. He could've lived with Padme and raised the twins. But that all went to hell.

 

I like the change to Hayden's version of Anakin as it ties the first 6 films together visually. I also like that it represents his redemption to a degree- that his pre Vader self is what we see in the FG.

This coming from someone who grew up with the OT.

 

I can understand why the change annoys alot of people because people want the original and not 2 decades later change to the original copy.

Personally i am fine with it but then i didn't grow up with the origiinals.

 

I find it more bittersweet having Hayden as the Force ghost. Obi-Wan looks at his old friend the way he remembered him, but obviously also remembering that fateful duel on Mustafar at the same time.

 

I'm OK with it and I get what they're trying to achieve with it. I can understand how it could annoy the heck out of some fans who grew up with the OT though.

 

I grew up on the OT but I don't mind the idea as much as the execution. At least the footage of the Shaw and the others are looking towards the direction that Luke is standing. Hayden's is kind of just staring right into the camera, almost breaking the fourth wall with the audience. It looks weird and he doesn't come off as "Anakin" in that scene but more like Hayden just playing dress-up and just randomly looking around.

 

The issue, for me, isn't so much that Hayden is there at the end, more that he wasn't there in the end originally. It misrepresents the original movie, and as someone who loves the history of cinema, the fact we can only get the new versions with the changes is a bit upsetting.

 

In my humble opinion, the opening crawls of the films already tied them together visually.

 

My opinion regarding visually was in reference to the actor who I most identify with Anakin Skywalker. Sebastian Shaw, to me, is not Anakin Skywalker. The bulk of the part was played by HC so that is who I picture if we are discussing AS or pre suit Vader.

 

I agree. They should just release the OOT and be done with it. That way everyone wins.

 

I have probably said this before in this thread, apologies if so, I am not going to go and look, but at the risk of repeating myself, the decision to change Sebastian Shaw's image to Hayden Christensen's was a bad one. Bad for continuity, and bad artistically.

I am 43, so I remember watching Return of the Jedi at the cinema. Sebastian Shaw's image is important in my opinion because we see Anakin as a scarred, sad, dying, middle-aged man when Luke removes the Vader helmet. The poignancy then is when Anakin (Shaw) appears at the end as a Force apparition, and Luke is presented with the image of his father as he would have been had he lived his life as a Jedi and not become Darth Vader. Luke sees a father, a middle-aged man with a kind face and smile. Obi-Wan looks over and smiles at his old friend, and former apprentice, and the ages of them as they appear are all consistent. There is also the implication that through the Force, Luke going forward will be able to communicate with, and build and have a relationship with this entity who was his father as he does with Obi-Wan, another clue to the Force's incredible power and potential. You realise that Obi-Wan wasn't kidding when he said in Episode 4 "If you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine" It was the Jedi who had found the way to cheat death, not the Sith.

Replacing this image with Hayden, especially with his sinister stare makes no sense. The likeness has regressed and thus bears no relation to the scarred face Luke saw only hours before on the Death Star.

 

I am 42 and remember watching the films in theater as well. Personally I don't see the stare from Hayden/Anakin as being sinister. Did they pick a bad shot? Yes. He had no idea he was being filmed at the time and no one felt they needed to tell him for whatever reason. Bad move there obviously but that is on the director not the actor.

I saw Anakin as a burnt up miserable being struggling for a hold on the bank of the lava river on Mustafar. Sebastian Shaw's likeness doesn't affect me in the final moments of that scene the way the Mustafar shot does or as the force ghost does. Anakin Skywalker was redeemed and the force ghost reflects the Anakin that was already a Jedi at one point, not what he WOULD have been. He did cheat death, as a Jedi, not as a Sith.

 

That to me is what made Shaw's version the most emotionally satisfying. He told Luke before he died, "you were right about me", proving that Obi Wan and Yoda were wrong about him being too far gone and he was able to show his son a physical representation of who his father was on the inside.

 

He was no longer a Sith at the point of his death, with the likeness of Sebastian Shaw. Therefore it was consistent I thought to use the Shaw likeness for the Force Ghost Anakin. It gives all three deceased Jedi their appropriate appearances in relation to one another. The use of Shaw also underpins the hopeful ending whereby Luke has his father back, even if only as a Force Ghost. The implication is that he will be able to see and speak to his father, which seems a nonsense when presented with a vision of his father who is younger than he himself is. There is a poignancy when you see Anakin as he would have, or could have been. It reinforces what has been lost, or a whole life wasted.

I understand that some people like the link back to the prequels, and to many, the image of Hayden ties in with the concept that "this is Anakin before he "died" i.e. went to the Dark Side" however, as already said, he was a Jedi again at the time of his actual death.

 

Is there a reason to justify Anakin achieving the ghost state at the end of the ROTJ at all? Didn't it take years for Yoda and Obi Wan to learn this technique (and they were far more attuned with the Force)?

For me this is the biggest flaw, more than switching actors. Both for me are creative licenses from GL, but wondering if someone has a made up/rational explanation.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Oh Georgie came up with plenty of wishy-washy explanations. Wouldn't exactly describe them as "rational" though.

 

The most important reason why I dislike Hayden as Anakin's force ghost in ROTJ is because Luke wouldn't recognize him. And neither will first-time viewers who watch the films in Release Order.

 

I agree with the second part, which is really why Lucas put him in there. He wanted to find a way to prevent anyone from ignoring the prequels and try to force everyone to give them the same respect that the originals had. The latter certainly didn't work.

But storywise, Luke would sense it was him through the force. If the Jedi can sense when someone is near without seeing them at all, then they can sense their presence despite seeing them in a different form.

 

Like they couldn't figure out that it is his father as a younger man.

 

What's strange is if Lucas had a plan to do this why the heck didn't he TELL Hayden he was going to shoot an important moment in cinema history and explain to him what was going on in the scene? Hayden has this sinister sort of grimace he gives that is very flat and off putting, I sense no DEPTH, no NUANCE and no sense of joy and bittersweet happiness that Sebastion Shaw emoted. This is no fault of Hayden's because George simply stole a behind the scenes wardrobe test and stuck it into the scene, very unprofessional move by Lucas.

 

Why didn't he or Marquand tell Shaw? He was just as clueless and thought it was a publicity photo shoot. The emotions that came across in Shaw were just happenstance.