Dr. DVD

Obi-Wan went from living in a city with every convenience available all his life to a desert where everything was about half a day's journey away. Add that to the fact that he was in the blistering sun most likely fending off Tusken Raiders a lot makes him older.

In terms of Owen and Beru, I guess raising Luke was quite a challenge considering who his father was!

fujishig

Crap, Yoda looked like he aged 100 years between trilogies, and somehow turned back into a muppet, but nobody complains about that. And don't get me started about Chewy...

Granted, growing up I always imagined Anakin to be middle-aged when he turned into Darth Vader, and for him and Obi Wan to be just a few years apart. And I imagined Darth Vader and his storm troopers going personally throughout the galaxy exterminating Jedi.

I guarantee, however, that if Lucas redid the original trilogy to have a younger Owen and Beru, and redid scenes so that Obi Wan did recognize R2D2 at first and under Vader's mask was a CGI'd in Hayden Christensen, MORE people would complain. Heck, maybe he could throw in some scenes of R2D2 flying around, Vader recognizing C3PO, and replace Guiness with an aged McGregor all together. Yoda could break out his lightsaber in Dagobah to spar with young Luke.

Did these same people complain about Anakin's sudden aging between Ep 1 and 2?

RoboDad

Perhaps to the young, untrained eye he does. To those of us who have lived enough years to be able tell the difference, he looks like a man in his sixties.

RoboDad

Then I'm afraid I don't have a clue what it is you are complaining about. If it isn't the fact that the actors appear older to you in ANH than you think they should, then what is the problem?

Toad

You're right, you don't have a clue.

My original post is a question - not a complaint.

And it centered around the fact that everyone seemed to have aged much more than 20 years. I don't care how old the actors are. They could be 5 year olds made up to look like 25 year olds. It doesn't matter.

In my opinion, Lucas originally intended to have the 4 characters in their mid-60s in ANH (as they look). Then he started the prequel story and realized that wasn't very compelling, so he started young. By the time he got to Ep.III he didn't want them to be old.

It's certainly not a big deal - some of you are very annoyed by my comment on it and I think that's hilarious. I should have known better than to question Star Wars!

My only point is this: Lucas could solve everything by stating that in fact 30 years passed between ROTS and ANH, and I'd buy it a hell of a lot more.

In fact...that being said...how are we so sure it's only 20 years?

Class316

On earth people age differently. It’s likely the same for humans in Star Wars. I know people that are 40 but don’t look a day over 30. Likewise there are 25 year olds that could pass for 30+.

Alec Guiness is a good example. He looks 75 in ANH but was much younger (and in fact his age is close to what Obi Wan should be in ANH).

Similarly, there’s nothing wrong with the way Owen and Beru look in ANH. They may look a little older than they should be, but raising Anakin’s child in a farm in a desert while worrying about Tusken Raiders takes life out of anyone (similary why Obi Wan looks a little older than he is).

As for Vader, the only inconsistency was in the pre 2004 DVD. But that was fixed. Otherwise there's nothing wrong with Vader.

Toad

Have you seen ROTJ when the mask is taken off to reveal Sebastian Shaw??

wmansir

Luke and Leia are only 18 in AHN according to StarWars.com.

Toad

Excellent, thanks for the post and link.

Class316

So? The guy's face was burnt and he aged more than 20 years from ROTS to ROTJ. Between the burns, the 20+ years aging, and the 20+ years of natural healing, he's not going to look different?

Toad

chanster

Its an inconsistency. I don't care how old Alec Guinness was in 1977, Obi-Wan looked a hell of a lot older than 58 in ANH.

Class316

Obi Wan, like Alec Guinness, looks older than they should in ANH. So? People can age a lot both in Star Wars and in real life.

bboisvert

No, then we'd just have threads saying "Why do Luke and Leia look so young if they're supposed to be 30?"

Ketamine

I thought he looked pretty old just thinking back on this movie without seeing it for a while but after watching it last weekend, I think he looks his stated age. Even if you don't agree, it is medical fact that the sun causes premature aging of the skin. End of discussion.

jekbrown

ditto. Do you nitpicky yahoos sit there watching Back to the Future III and yell at the screen... "Michael J Fox is like 35!!! why is he playing an 18 year old kid!!!! aaaaarrrrrhhhggggg"?? No, you sit there, shut up, and enjoy the flick. Try to do the same with a Lucasfilm production.

j

jekbrown

it doesn't fit in 'reality USA'... but in a galaxy far far away, for a guy near burned to death and consumed by the dark side for 20 years, it fits just fine. We see the Emporer "degrade" physically when he uses his dark force powers... no doubt 20 years of Sith Lordship aged Anakin quite a bit too.

j

Michael Ballack

Good point. Look how bad Christopher Reeve got with his spinal cord injury. Something about not getting enough oxygen caused him to go bald and various other side effects. About the desert. Anyone see pictures of people that live in very hot and sun heavy places like africa. Some tribesmen that are only 30 or 40 can look 70. I do buy the fact that living in a desert planet with 2 suns for 20 years can do murder on your skin like Jar Jar would say. Also, back in the 70's and beyond, people aged a lot quicker. Nowadays people look a lot younger, 50 today is not what 50 was like 30 years ago. It doesn't bother me one bit. I find it silly that I have to defend it. It's just common sense really. There are bigger discrepencies in Star Wars then the ages, much bigger.

wlmowery

And its not just the sun, that sand is rough and coarse and it gets everywhere.... It will do a number on your pores!

(not to mention I doubt Owen, Beru and Ben have ready access to deep-cleansing, moisterizing facial soap way out in the boonies)....

IanH

Just like the explanations made for the transition between technologies and Jedi Skills either this age difference is gonna work for some people or it ain't. I'm with the people who just feel that it was either simple inconsistency, lack of planning, or the difficulties of making 2 seperate Trilogies so far apart that has caused these difficulties. It simply isn't as smooth as some people claim and even after a lot of rationalization it just still feels a little off.

But whatever, I try not to hold the SW movies under too much scrutiny. Its something to think about but it takes some of the fun out of the whole thing.


Why hasn't anyone started a thread that asked why only white humans (British) managed to join the Officer Corp for Imperial Military Service. Was Emperor Palpatine a white human supremacist? (Darth Maul wasn't human) Wasn't the Empire comprised of the entire galaxy made up of thousands of species? What happened to them? How did these white humans manage to subjugate all of them? Not even the Emperor could have been that powerful.


Again. SW just doesn't stand up to intense scrutiny.

RoyalTea

all this makes the wait for episode 4.5 seem that much more unbearable.

it'll take place in between ANH and ESB, it won't advance the story of the Rebellion any, but it will have stuff about how R2 can't fly anymore.

Coral

I thought that Christopher Reeve was bald before the spinal cord injury.
It always looked like he was wearing a tupee.

Cusm

If you read the EU stuff, the Emperor was a human supremacist. And as far as only white, I am sure it had to do with the climate of 1977. It is too bad Lucas did not go for more ethnic diversity in the prequels and special editions. Look at Robert Townsend's Hollywood Shuffle for a great satirical commentary of Hollywood and minorities.

Michael Ballack

I don't know, could be. I'm very bad at spotting tupee's. All I know, is that somewhere I heard that the spinal cord injury caused lack of oxygen and parts of his body died like skin and hair. I don't know. I'm no doctor. Anyone else know about spinal cord inuries and lack of oxygen?

IanH

I'm one of those people who only like to deal with the SW canon (6 movies). I'm sure Lucas "approves" of the stuff in the EU universe but its questionable how much of an influence he has in it or how much he himself wants to be influenced by what others do; since he seems to want as much control over the movies as possible. And there's nothing in the Prequels that even hinted at the possiblity that he was a "human supremacist" It comes off as just another explanation made up after the fact and not something Lucas planned out ahead of time. People just have to face the fact Lucas is no Tolkien.


Which is exactly my point. There are other factors that have nothing to do with SW that went into making these movies. But I wouldn't lay it all on Hollywood for racism. 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm is mainly concerned with churning out a product that makes a profit. The general audience wasn't ready for a diverse cast in 1977 nor are they really ready now. Only recently in the last 10 years have we started to see a significant shift and still most roles go to white actors. Sam Jackson's minor (and dispensable) role was kind of added on and most of the major players in the Prequels are still pretty much "white".

It wasn't until the Star Trek movies and TV shows that kinda showed that in a place of intergalactic travel and distant planets with similar technologies that this "whites only" cast seemed a bit implausible.

Lucas is also playing with our perceptions with stereotypes and history. For most Americans, the Nazi's of WWII, the British in the Revolutionary War, Imperial Japan of WWII, and the KKK have been our archetypical enemies. Hence, the SS type Imperial uniforms, the KKK inspired SnowTrooper uniform, Samurai influenced helmets, and British accents. And perhaps, the Trade Federation were made to seem "Asian" to play on American fears of the "Asian Threat" from China and Japan. As much as Lucas may want to deny it there is something to this since these "enemies" are from another galaxy far far away, but somehow very familiar.

But its because Lucas relied on our perceptions of history and stereotypes that the creatures and characters are somewhat more believable. Because they are based on things we are familiar with and not something completely alien to us.