I still think that Darth Vader is one of the greatest movie villians created over the past 30 years. Sadly, ole Vader has suffered a bit at the hands of the prequels that came out in the past decade. But they will never take away from the impact the character made when he first came striding out of the smoke on board the captured Rebel cruiser in Star Wars and becoming even more of a bad ass mentally choking anyone who mere looked at him cockeyed in The Empire Strikes Back.
I refuse to watch the remastered, reworked and rehashed versions of the original trilogy. I bought copies of unedited versions of the original trilogy when they came out on DVD several years back. Which most fans were outraged when they discovered that they were just copied from laserdisc versions of the movie and they were pulled from circulation shortly thereafter.
I couldn't care less where the source material was from. I'm not one of those technology buffs and whinges whenever the picture quality isn't in 110% pristine condition and whatever else. The version of Star Wars I grew up with was on DVD and that's what mattered.
Still, I couldn't help feeling like ole George Lucas did that knowing fans would cry foul so he could justify pulling the original versions of the trilogy off the market because he's got this insane obsession that the "new" version of the original triliogy is the real version...
...well... until he decides to change things again.
Okay!! I just went way off the subject.
As much as I like the costume design that was ultimately used in the film. I'm always fascinated when I see people make props based on on the late great Ralph McQuarrie's original concept for Darth Vader.
When the character was created, he was somewhat different from the hideously scarred, heavy wheezing and force strangling deadbeat Dad we all came to know and loathe.
Quite different.
As a matter of fact, the original concept for Darth was more in line with the Flash Gordon, Buck Roger and Commando Cody movie serials from a bygone era. The helmet wasn't meant to be a form of life support, but part of his space suit he used to fly around space from ship to ship. Very much like Commado Cody for those of you familiar with that movie serial. For you who are not, think the Rocketeer. For those of you unfamiliar with the Rocketeer... um... I can't help you.
I'm not sure if Darth was hideously scarred in his original version. They released a figure set based on McQuarrie's artwork for various characters in their embryonic stage of development. I know the Vader figure actually had a removable helmet. But I never got a hold of the figure to check that out.
However!! Dark Horse has decided to do an adaptation of George Lucas's orginal script for THE STAR WARS in October 2013.
The series will feature some really great artwork by Mike Mayhew as seen below.
Personally, I always thought it would be great if they just did a film based on the original script and McQuarrie's original concept art for the character. I'll be very interested in seeing how it translates visually.
Sometimes, first drafts don't always turn out to be the best source material for a finished work. Doctor Who writer and producer Steven Moffat mentioned in an issue of Doctor Who Magazine about the "mythical bottom drawer, full of untold wonders." and how "there's a reason you dump a story and a reason that it should stay dumped".
However, this might not be the case for George Lucas's orignal vision of Star Wars. So much has been told about the characters and so much has been done, both good and bad, that maybe it's time to head in another direction for a new audience.
I have a feeling that the current production team lined up for episodes seven through nine will probably continue where RETURN OF THE JEDI left off. I think it might be high time for Star Wars to go in a new direction from the mystical nature of the old series and a more flat out Flash Gordon style science-ficiton adventure of a new series.
Maybe it's time to follow the adventures of Anakin Starkiller, General Luke Skywalker and the evil General Darth Vader on the silver screen.
Already the same team has established a parallel universe with Star Trek. Maybe the same can be done with Star Wars.
Doubt that will ever happen. So, I'll be happy to pick up my copy of THE STAR WARS issue #1 in October.
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