Great things from ANH that just disappeared

[Mean Obiwan]

The weathered/distressed/lived-in look of almost everything was a huge deal for me when I saw SW, and the glaring absence of same from the sequels cheesed me off.

Same here, that was a very big deal to me as well. It wasn't all flashy, and overdose on the sci-fi space thing. To me, it just actually looks like what living in a time period such as that would look like.
Also, I think we can come up with list of stuff that wasn't as great as ANH because ANH was just so spectacular within itself. It had a certain element to it that just can't be matched. The reason I think it has that element is because it IS the original. By time Lucas got to the other two, Star Wars was already established. Beforehand, Lucas even said himself that he was sort of flying by the seat of his pants. So it had that raw edge to it, that experimental quality, and new innovations, where they didn't know if they could pull it off or not, and they did. And all these things just pulled together so well to make one incredible film. The uncertainty in making it is a big aspect too, I think.
So when he got to the others, everything was already set. He knew how he wanted things to be done, and I also thing he was just more story orientated. However, all of this is just my own opinion.

 

[TheRealMe]

One reason the others are a little different is also because Lucas didn't direct them.

 

[Hedjii72]

The sabers in ANH were coated with a highly reflective material that visibly scraped off when they rubbed against each other.

Ah, of course. That makes sense, thank you. Well, accident or not, it made the sabers look more alive and deadly, along with the random flickering and human like quality that rotoscoping adds.

They should've figured a way to powder the blades for the sequels or something.

 

[JD]

Folks mentioned the saber visuals in a ANH, but the sounds of the lightsabers also seemed a little more raw and dangerous, too. Could just be my imagination...

 

[Laspector]

What about the whole "human spirit over technology" theme that was so prevalent in the first one? Never used again....

 

[HanSolo2187]

I do remember how vader was not respected the same in ANH as he was in the following films. People were just sitting there making fun of him. Telling him how his sad devotion his ancent religion has not helped him conjour up the stolen data tapes, or given him clairvoyance enough to discover the location of the hidden rebal base. Granted he did force choke him right after that

Agreed. After the destruction of the Death Star, now all of the Imperial officers feared and respected Vader. What did he do different for them to change their outlook/attitude? He luckily survived, but that's it.

Like I said before, I liked the shift in ESB but never understood why.

 

[rodneyfaile]

Alderan sure disappeared.

Would have been cool if they visited Alderan in the prequels, may have added something to seeing it blown up.

 

[JD]

After ANH, Vader stopped being a robot and became a man in a suit...

Well, that's the way it seemed to quite a few of us!!

 

[Riceball]

Agreed. After the destruction of the Death Star, now all of the Imperial officers feared and respected Vader. What did he do different for them to change their outlook/attitude? He luckily survived, but that's it.

Like I said before, I liked the shift in ESB but never understood why.

I think part of that may have been that he was probably promoted after ANH, in ANH I got the feeling that while a senior officer onboard the Death Star he definitely wasn't in command, Tarkin was, and as long as Tarkin was in command the officers in the briefing room had little to fear from Vader. But by the time that we see him in ESB he's in full command of the task force assigned to hunting down the Rebels, he no longer answered to anybody except for the Emperor and the Emperor clearly allowed Vader free reign to conduct the search as he pleased. It could probably be said that with the death of Tarkin and Vader taking greater charge of the Imperial Navy things changed and discipline probably got much stricter as Vader clearly was not a stickler for military protocol or likely regs for that matter.

 

[HanSolo2187]

I think part of that may have been that he was probably promoted after ANH, in ANH I got the feeling that while a senior officer onboard the Death Star he definitely wasn't in command, Tarkin was, and as long as Tarkin was in command the officers in the briefing room had little to fear from Vader. But by the time that we see him in ESB he's in full command of the task force assigned to hunting down the Rebels, he no longer answered to anybody except for the Emperor and the Emperor clearly allowed Vader free reign to conduct the search as he pleased. It could probably be said that with the death of Tarkin and Vader taking greater charge of the Imperial Navy things changed and discipline probably got much stricter as Vader clearly was not a stickler for military protocol or likely regs for that matter.

Does open up the idea of a conspiracy theory (like the one brought up in the YouTube video "Luke's Change") where Vader purposely let the plans get into the Rebel's hands and made sure to be off of the Death Star when it was blown up. It would ensure the death of Tarkin and set his rise to second in command.

All that said, the point I'm making is that the movies contradict themselves. At the end of ROTS, Vader is clearly the Emperor's right-hand-man. In Star Wars, Vader is below Tarkin and not well respected by the Imperial officers around him. In ESB, he is back to being the second in command and feared by all.

 

[Riceball]

All that said, the point I'm making is that the movies contradict themselves. At the end of ROTS, Vader is clearly the Emperor's right-hand-man. In Star Wars, Vader is below Tarkin and not well respected by the Imperial officers around him. In ESB, he is back to being the second in command and feared by all.

Was he? He certainly was instrumental in getting rid of the Jedi but beyond that RotS never went far enough to show us just how much Vader figured in the early days of the Empire. I got the impression that up until his assignment to the Death Star in ANH Vader was more occupied with hunting down the remainder of the Jedi than being actively involved with the military. That would easily explain why the officers on the Death Star don't think too much of Vader, sure he's scary looking and probably has something of a rep but prior to this he probably hasn't been around the military high command or at least high level commands much and they probably feel that while Vader was off chasing what was left of the Jedi they were responsible for building up the Imperial military and the Empire as whole into what it is now. Sure he's close to the Emperor but what else does he bring to the table, is he some sort of military genius (they probably don't know about his past as General Skywalker during the Clone Wars), where was he during this battle or that battle, what has he done to restructure and build up the Imperial military?

In short, we haven't been shown anything that would give us any reason to really think that he would/should be held in high esteem by the military during ANH. We've never seen the early days of Darth Vader so we really don't know just how high he figured in the Imperial hierarchy much less what he did (aside from hunting Jedi) during the time between RotS and ANH.

 

[HanSolo2187]

That's probably the right way to look at it. Granted, the time between ROTS and ANH is, what, 18 years? Hard to believe that Vader didn't build some level of esteem after that long of a period.

 

[Cadeian]

That's probably the right way to look at it. Granted, the time between ROTS and ANH is, what, 18 years? Hard to believe that Vader didn't build some level of esteem after that long of a period.

18 years sound about right for prequel-Vader to start to earn some respect...

 

[SofaKing01]

We never saw the targeting screens in the X-wIngs or Tie fighters after the first movie.

I thought about that too... I think it would have been unecessary. As farns, we already know how the target screens work. I would rather see a good chase scene with an XWing and Tie than focus on a screen - we did however see Slave 1's targeting screen during AotC...

- - - Updated - - -

Alderan sure disappeared.

Would have been cool if they visited Alderan in the prequels, may have added something to seeing it blown up.

A bloackade runner landed on Alderaan when Leia was given to Bail Organa. It was a really quick shot... but at least we did see it.

 

[Riceball]

18 years sound about right for prequel-Vader to start to earn some respect...

Start is the key word here, especially since we don't know much about what he was doing during those 18 years. All we know for certain is that he was hunting down the last of the Jedi but we don't know whether that was a full time thing or just something he did in between Starbucks runs for the Emperor. Was he doing it by himself? Was he using bounty hunters to do the dirty work or gather intel for him or did he have a fleet and use Imperial resources? When was he assigned to the Death Star and had he worked closely with the Imperial military prior to the assignment?

For all we know, during those 18 years Vader spent most of that time on a small ship with a small crew or maybe not even that chasing down Jedi and when he was done with that he spent the before serving aboard the Death Star standing by the Emperor's side simply looking menacing. You also have to figure that it probably took him a while, I'd say a year or two, to get used to the new suit and cybernetic limbs; he did suffer some pretty serious physical and psychological damage on Mustafar after all and it's not the kind of damage, esp. the psych, that you bounce right back from.

 

[madmikeee]

One reason the others are a little different is also because Lucas didn't direct them.

Which was a BLESSING

 

[Riceball]

One reason the others are a little different is also because Lucas didn't direct them.

Which was one thing that disappeared (which was a good thing) and didn't reappear until the prequels (which was a bad thing): Lucas as a director.

 

[TheRealMe]

Well I agree LOL

 

[steveo]

Lucas was in his prime for SW, we could have gotten something equally as good as SW in ESB & ROTJ if he directed, but we'll never know. 20 years of not directing anything and growing up, he lost his touch.

 

[HanSolo2187]

Another great thing from ANH that disappeared - sideburns!