Has this been a great week for Episode 3 spoilers and preproduction details? Absolutely, and we'll get off to a good start on Monday as well, even if things cool off a bit (hint for the JCers). Up this hour is more details on just when and where these original rumors showed up that we're playing with currently. Some would consider these old references spoilers, so we'll cover them up for the purists:

Matt sends this quote straight from GWL's mouth in Rolling Stone Magazine - Aug. 25, 1977, pg. 40 "The Force behind George Lucas" by Paul Scanlon

Rolling Stone: Why does Darth Vader breathe so heavily?

George Lucas: I had wanted to do that and tie it in with the dialogue.

RS: It was a nice touch, because it adds to the bogyman quality of the character.

GL: Ben [Burtt] had a lot of work in that too. He did about 18 different kinds of breathing, through aqualungs and through tubes, trying to find the one that had the right sort of mechanical sound, and then decide whether it would be totally rhythmical and like an iron lung. That's the idea. It was a whole part of he plot that essentially got cut out. It may be in one of the sequels.

RS: What's the story?

GL: It's about Ben and Luke's father and Vader when they are young Jedi knights. But Vader kills Luke's father, then Ben and Vader have a confrontation, just like they have in "Star Wars", and Ben almost kills Vader. As a matter of fact, he falls into a volcanic pit and gets fried and is one destroyed being. That's why he has a breathing mask. It's like a walking iron lung. His face is all horrible inside. I was going to shoot a close-up of Vader where you could see the inside of his face, but then we sad, no, no, it would destroy the mystique of the whole thing.

Dave Holl reminds us that the novelization of Return of the Jedi has Ben telling Luke about Anakin falling into the pit. It also says Uncle Owen is Obi-Wans brother which we now know is not true. Daniel sent it to us:

You should not think of that machine as your father." It was the teacher speaking again. When I saw what had become of him, Itried to dissuade him, to draw him back from the dark side. We fought ... your father fell into a molten pit. When your father clawed his way out of that fiery pool, the change had been burned into him forever - he was Darth Vader, without a trace of Anakin Skywalker. Iredeemably dark. Scarred. Kept alive only by machinery and his own black will..."

And J. tells us that in the old Star Wars: Guide To Characters, they told the story of Anakin's duel with Obi Wan and him falling into the "fiery pit". It's been canon forever.

Richard mentioned The Annotated Screenplays also talking about the descion to have Anakin fall into a volcano and become Vader, and Craig told us that years ago he purchased a Darth Vader Key-ring (die cast) and on the back of the box was a blurb which stated that Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker, but following an altercation with Obi-wan in a volcano, Anakin was dropped into lava. The emperor then revived him to make the man who was Darth Vader.

So while this is nothing new at all, it sure is fun to see it realized with recent rumors like SPY REPORT: Hot Tamale and the James Earl Jones MP3.