Why make Anakin a 10 year old?

But sometimes the strong disciplinary coaches go too far with their strictness, that they wind up turning their players into homicidal madmen. In Full Metal Jacket, the drill sargent was a strong disciplinary coach to his troops but when he went overboard in his job description with Vincent D'onofrio's character(Private Pile), P.P. went nuts and killed the drill sargent along with himself and in a Soldier's story, it was revealed that it was Denzel Washington's character who killed his drill sargeant for the same reason.

As we watch the prequals, we see Obi-wan as the strong disciplinary coach and Palpatine as the player coach and we see Anakin killing people because he felt cheated out of getting what he wants and he blames Obi-wan for it. Anakin even tries to kill Obi-wan because he harbored so much resentment towards him from years of having to put up with Obi-wan being tough on him. Obi-wan, on the other hand, felt that he failed Anakin because he was too much of a S.D.C. towards Anakin which is why he changed his tune and became a player coach to Luke so the whole point of the prequals is to show where Obi-wan went wrong with Anakin.

But Anakin will NOT fight Qui-Gon because he looks up to him like he's Superman due to everything that Qui-Gon has done for him...freeing him from slavery, defending him when the Council rejected him, and having complete faith in Anakin. Obi-wan hasn't done that for Anakin so it's easy for Ani to turn against him and side with Palpatine but if Qui-Gon were alive, then Palpatine would never be able to win Anakin's trust because he'll have Qui-Gon to support him.

But Anakin's seperation from his mother was unhealthy because he wasn't ready to let her go and that's the reason why he's prone to attachments and if her death was irrelevent, then Anakin would have no reason to slaughter the Tuskens. His opinions on Naboo are similar to the dinner table scene in TPM because Anakin is living his childhood dream of being a Jedi and helping people which shows that he's suffering from an immature development stemming from being apart from his mom.

 

About Anakins age in TPM,

I can see the reasons why Lucas made him young, the mother, unhealthy obsession with Padme etc. and these are his films so I respect his choice.

But I do feel that having a young Anakin in TPM had several drawbacks. Mostly to do with character growth and relations but also with the plausability of the story.

First problem, about Anakins own character and his relations with others. Having him 9 years old forces Lucas to recast him for AotC with another actor and so he essentially have to reintroduce the character. Most nine year old changes alot when growing up so when he is 18 he will seem quite different. So, to me, the Anakin in AotC feels rather different from the TPM one. Also I feel that the important relationship with Obi-Wan was not developed enough and so we never see the friendship start and by AotC this friendship is very strained and again Lucas has to play catch up and he insterted the elevator scene quite late as he realised that we have not seen much of the friendship between Obi-Wan and Anakin.
To me, those scenes do not fully work but RotS actually does a better job of showing their friendship.
So I feel that the relationship with Obi-Wan suffered as consequence of having a young Anakin in TPM.

Second problem, movie plausability. Having a nine year old following a group of adults can sometimes be a problem in that how do you explain why the kid is there and is it plausible. The Tatooine scenes work, Anakin lives there, the podracing mostly works, it is something that Anakin knows how to do and the Jedi and the other adults, while not really liking the idea, have no choice. But the problem starts when they return to Naboo, why would Qui-Gon bring a nine year kid to a planet under occupation and where there would be alot of fighting? And even worse, why bring him to the palace? A nine year kid have no place in a war and Qui-Gon told him to stay in the cockpit, that he would be safe there. Wouldn't Anakin have been even safer back at the Gungan safe place or better still, back on Coruscant?
So to me, the inclusion of Anakin in the battle of Naboo is not very plausible and it gets worse when Anakin starts to push buttons randomly and we get oops, wrong button, oops, oops, wow I blew up the ship! If Anakin had stowed away or snuck after the Jedi then that might work but now it seems that Qui-Gon does not think twice about brining a kid into battle.

Regards
Nordom

 

Anakin "won't" fight Qui-gon but will fight Obi-wan? Anakin was a selfish Jedi, he clearly showed that nothing mattered to him when it came to power. With Palpatine's lies fueling his ego, he would have struck down anyone who stood in his way, and tried to. He turned on Padme in a moment of thoughtlessness, and you're saying he wouldn't attack Qui-gon because he views him as "Superman?" Padme believed in Anakin, stood by him, told him she loved him, and look what happened to her.

Padme clearly knew Kenobi was still an important figure in Anakin's life, so when she asked Anakin about Obi-wan, do you remember his answer? He said he hoped Obi-wan remained loyal to the Chancellor. To Anakin, anyone who didn't ally with Palpatine was his enemy. The Jedi were all traitors in his eyes, so the only way Qui-gon would have been spared would be if he joined with the Sith. It's rather ridiculous to say he wouldn't have attacked Qui-gon especially seeing Anakin turned on the woman he loved, the man who he considered a father, the institution that took him in, and the Republic he swore to protect.

He "wasn't ready to go?" He wasn't abducted. His mother left it up to him, and he made the choice himself to leave; he could have stayed if he wanted to, Qui-gon didn't force anything on him. That entire excuse is weak just for that reason.

 

Anakin attacked Padme because he assumed that she betrayed him by bringing Obi-wan to kill him, not because he had a lust for power and he fought Obi-wan because he doesn't support him or his "new empire". The 2 primary reasons Anakin believed everything Palpatine told him is because 1) when it came to his emotional crisis, he believed that Palpatine was the only person who supported him while none of the Jedi gave a rats' ass about Anakin's problems and 2) He foolishly believed that Palps knew a holy grail-like power that can help Padme survive childbirth and he couldn't allow the Mace Windu gang to kill him which is why he did what he did in ROTS and he only wants power to save both Padme and his unborn child. If Qui-Gon were alive, Anakin would turn to him for help instead of Palpatine because he was a real father figure to the boy while Obi-wan was more like a brother which he said so himself and brothers are always competitive towards each other.

Anakin wouldn't be listening to Palpatine if Qui-Gon were around because Qui would've told Anakin about the corruption in the Republic. Anakin would've been well educated in how government officials can manipulate their way into power so Anakin would have no reason to trust anyone in the senate, especially it's Supreme Chancellor.

But Anakin's freedom was NOT his choice because he never expected that winning a podrace would free him from slavery and once he found out that he was free, he was excited to leave home for awhile until he found out his mother wasn't free so technically, Qui-Gon did force Anakin to go with him. Plus, it wasn't really Anakin's choice to leave because he never asked to leave and it was Shmi who asked Qui-Gon to take her son with him.

 

"If you are not with me, you are my enemy!"
-Anakin Skywalker
Revenge of the Sith

He saw Palpatine as a "real father figure?" Is that why he was already plotting the take over of the Empire by ROTS' end? Anakin went with whoever it was that gave him the best deal, and had no qualms in stabbing them in the back. He did it with the Jedi, and when the time was right, he was going to do it to the Sith. You're telling me he wouldn't have done that to Qui-gon because he would have been "supportive?" Unless Qui-gon agreed with everything Palpatine told Anakin, it would have been the same. As it is, you've thrown out your own point in a single paragraph since you say Palpatine was supportive of the boy, but Anakin was saying he could defeat the Emperor. He was claiming it as "his" empire. So he could turn on Padme, Obi-wan, Yoda, and Palpatine without blinking an eye, but hesitate in turning on Qui-gon, who displays all the same traits as the other people? Please.

Anakin was well aware of the corruption of politicians by AOTC. What difference would it make if that discussion were between him and Obi-wan or him and Qui-gon? Anakin still wouldn't believe anything except that the Chancellor was a "good man."

Anakin had the ability to say "no" at any time and stay behind if he wanted; the circumstances were set for him, but he didn't have to take it. So, if Qui-gon were "forcing" Anakin, what would he have done if the kid chose to stay?