Anthony Renaud wrote: "So George says that he wants to maintain the surprises in Ep. 4-6 for those who will be watching the series for the first time, in order.  How will that be possible? 

Luke is Leia's sister.  Well, perhaps he won't actually show the birth of the twins, and no one will actually mention the second child.  Or, the fate of the second child will be unspecified, simply that it 'was hidden with others'.  Both are easy enough. 

Vader is Luke's father.  At first I thought that they simply wouldn' show Anakin being Vader.  The big duel between Ben and Anakin comes at the end of Ep. 3, and during the denoument,  Palpatine announces his plans to eliminate all the jedi, and introduces his new servant who will help do that, Darth Vader.  Fine, seems to conserves the surprise, BUT Ben specifically mentions to Luke in ANH that Vader was his pupil, and  that would be a dead give away that Anakin=Vader, ruining the surprise in ESB.  Okay, so I thought, maybe Luke's parentage is not clearly revealed, or the prequels lead us to believe that Obi-wan is actually Luke's father.  An affair between Padme and Ben would give sufficient cause for Anakin to turn, Ben to feel quilty, and maintain the surprise that Anakin is actually the father.  In fact, the entire speech Ben gives Luke in ANH could easily be reinterpreted as Ben surreptitiously talking about himself (from a certain point of view), because he never mentions the name Anakin.  Mind you he does say that Vader betrayed and murdered Luke's father, and that would be hard to reconcile.  Also, the Emperor specifically mentions "The son of Skywalker" in ESB, and that would give it away before the big surprise scene. 
    So the only way for Lucas to maintain the surprise, I think, would be by not showing who Darth Vader is, AND letting Ben have more than one pupil.  That way when Ben says that Vader was a pupil of his, first time viewers of ANH still won't know that Vader is Anakin.  All they will know is that Ben was lying when he says that Vader murdered and betrayed Luke's father, because everyone will know that Ben did it. 
    Anyone else have any suggestions on how Lucas plans to maintain the surprises?"

JOM wrote: "To Anthony:  I don't know how GL is going to do this.  But in my opinion, hiding the fact Anakin is Vader ruins the whole prequels.  Why bother with them at all if the ultimate tradgedy is not shown?  This is the story of Anakin Skywalker, his destiny must be shown or we don't get the full impact.  Now that is not to say the "I am your father" scene can't be hidden but it's going to have to be done a different way."

If the prequels are a tragic trilogy in the Milton/Aristotelian tradition, the surprises  will come in  the events the characters will face and not the identity or nature of the characters themselves.  The audience already knows what's going to happen.  It's been foretold by any number of plot devices (oracles for Sophlecles, witches for Shakespeare, propheses for Euripedes) and everyone know that the hero is heading for a fall.  the only suspense is how he will fall.  He must be built up to superhuman proportions, to be a man for all men, a hero.  Thus, when he falls we all experience loss.   

For example, we know that Anakin's fall from grace hurts himself, his family, his friends.  But he will also be the living allegory for the fall of the Republic.  He turns away from the lightside just as the universe loses its civic virtue.   And as darkness descends over the galaxy, so too does Darth Vader emerge a man physically separated from the outside world and emotionally separated from all that is dear to him.  For almost 25 years, he stubbornly clings to life in his own personal hell. 

IMO, the story will lose a great deal of its dignity and resonance if the audience does not fully comprehend the significance of Anakin's rise and fall. This is a man who's conscious actions changed the lives of millions.  We need to feel the frustrated sense of waste--of a man who squandered his gifts and ultimately suffered greatly for it.   When we witness his eleventh hour redemption in ROJ, it is bittersweet. "

'Deepthroat' wrote: "Just a few ideas on how this may be accomplished without compromising the story development of the prequel trilogy. First, let's assume that Lucas wants to maintain the surprise of the "I am your father" revelation in ESB.  Of course, in order for the prequel trilogy to have any gravity, we must see the tragedy of Anakin's fall.  But this can be done without revealing that he is Darth Vader.  First, the hard evidence from the mouth of GL himself (albeit secondhand):  James Earl Jones was quoted as saying that GL had told him that his services would only be needed at the end of episode 3, when Vader "goes bionic."  It also seems that very few people in the galaxy know Vader's true identity other than Kenobi, Yoda, and the Emperor.  (Wouldn't someone have mentioned to Luke that his last name was the same as Vader's real last name?)  We are also fairly sure that there is at least one other Dark Lord in the prequel trilogy ("Darth Maul"), possibly another ("Darth Sideous," but I'll deal with this rumor later), and rumors persist about an entire council of Dark Lords.  In George Lucas' supposed contact with AICN, he also mentioned that "there will be many dark jedi" running around.  And yet they are mysteriously absent in SW4-6.  It might be fair to assume that the Emperor wipes out these dark lords just as he does the Jedi, and just as he would have wanted to wipe out Anakin's offspring--eliminating all major threats to his power.  So let's assume that we see Anakin's fall, his break with Kenobi, etc.  But at some point toward the end of ep. 3, a new figure is introduced (Vader) and it is established that he is responsible for wiping out the ranks of the dark lords, giving the impression that Anakin was among them.  Only Kenobi, Anakin's wife, Yoda, and maybe Bail Organa and the Lars know the truth, or at least suspect it.  In any case, we still have the tragedy of Anakin's fall,  and the added tragic (though false) implication that he died for his sins, so to speak--sort of teaching that crime doesn't pay.  In this manner, not only is the ESB surprise maintained, but also the believability of the story Kenobi tells Luke in ANH about his father dying at the hands of Darth Vader (it shouldn't be too hard to imply in the new movies that Kenobi had multiple "pupils," sort of an independent Jedi academy, and that Vader was one of them).  His keeping Anakin's fall from grace a secret from Luke would be pretty understandable, and it wouldn't be obvious that he was lying. 

As for the Emperor's identity, we have no hard evidence that GL intends to keep it a surprise (this well-travelled rumor orginated over a year ago at the Corona Coming Attractions site), and the casting of Ian McDiarmid casts some major doubt on this possible plot twist, but there is a way it can be done.  We have multiple rumors about a Darth Sideous character who appears as a holo-projection just as the Emperor did in ESB.  The Emperor is shrouded in mystery in both ESB and ANH.  The prologue to the ANH novelization indicates that the Emperor was very secluded.  Perhaps to keep this sense of awe and mystery around the Emperor throughout both trilogies up until ROTJ, McDiarmid will only provide the voice of the Emperor/Darth Sideous, while another actor portrays one of several unassuming senators who are not named.  We don't actually have to see the Emperor for the story of his rise to power or that of Anakin's fall to be told.  GL has said that a conspiratorial tone will inform the whole story of the Republic subtly being  ransformed into the Empire--suggesting that there will be questions as 
to who is responsible for what, clues and revelations which point in different directions but don't conclusively reveal the higher power that is guiding these events (think Godfathers I & II or JFK), and by the end of Ep. 3, the damge is done.  The prequels might even suggest that the emperor or senator whom we do see is indeed a figurehead like the novelization describes, while the greater evil power remains a mystery. In any case, the whole saga would be connected really well by not showing the Emperor in person until ROTJ, tying together his story (the political angle), Vader's story (finally showing his corruptor), and Luke's--giving the whole thing even more of a dramatic oomph, a sense of complete resolution in one climactic confrontation."

I think that maybe George Lucas uses the specific wording of certain things for a reason; example, the talking to Ben gives Luke about "Vader killed your father etc..." What if "Ben Kenobi" IS actually Luke's father? What if he meant, "Vader killed BEN KENOBI (your father)"? This would explain why the Ben Kenobi we see in episodes 4-6 is named OB-1 (a code-name)...because he is a clone of the real Ben Kenobi that was killed years ago (in episode 3 perhaps)? And maybe that is also a reason why he allows himself to be sacrificed at the end of Episode 4; because he knows he is a clone and has come to grips with it (along with the fact that he knows he can help out Luke better from his ethereal form)...and this sets up a better plot twist; Vader doesn't REALIZE that he is not Luke's father!!! (Vader has never actually been the father all along!!) And we are meant to believe that he is (for those of us who have seen 4-6)...but maybe I am just an idiot =)"

JOM wrote: "Hiding the fact that Anakin falls to the dark side AND becomes Darth Vader is a mistake.  Several of the messages here discuss this already so I won't go into detail again why I think this.  But I have a better question to ask:  The reason most people believe GL will try to hide Vader's indentity is to keep the ESB surprise of "I am your father".  Right?  What purpose does this really serve?  Just so someone in the future can watch the movies in order and be surprised?  This "surprise" only happens one time.  Once you've seen it that's it!  NO MORE SUPRISE!  To possibly sacrifice a great story line in the prequels just so future generations can watch the movies and be "surprised" one time is a mistake.  Frankly, I still get chills up my back when I hear "I am your father" in ESB.  Why is it this scene still great?  Because I still feel Luke's own "surprise" and anguish when he finds out this guy is actually his dad.  The REAL impact is to see Luke's response NOT he viewers.  This scene is a clssic and always will be regardless if you know the truth beforehand."

The only 'surprise' I could (grudgingly) see would be concerning Leia: the "No, there's another" line is persuading me that Ben is ignorant, at that point in time, of Leia's existence. IF we accept the extra 'padding' in the novels as canon, Ben later says that *he* took young Luke to his brother Owen, and Leia was 'placed in the care' of the Organa Household - not necessarily by himself. 

A secondary point : "A young pupil of mine ..." - Did Obi-Wan definately have a school, or was Anakin the one and only student ? If he taught more than one Jedi apprentice, then what's to say there were more than one failure - though Anakin's was the only one to be so spectacular, who of course later betrayed his fellow students.  

I agree that we need to see Anakin become Vader, to appreciate the enormity of his own personal tragedy ; which echoes the 'tragedy' of the Glorious Republic, as pointed out by Sinead R. The 'Hero' of the Saga is Darth Vader : the link with his former self *must* be clear. In fact, when one first sees TESB, the shock of the revelation is complete ; when it's viewed again (or following the first trilogy), there is a different 'shock', derived from the dramatic tension of the knowledge of the relationship between these two adversaries. As someon had said earlier, spines *still* tingle and geese bump all over the place !"