The Empire Strikes Back First Draft by Leigh Brackett (1978) [pdf]

Post by geor9e » Sun, Feb 11, 2024, 9:38 PM UTC

Post by mmustapic » Sun, Feb 11, 2024, 9:42 PM UTC

bluejekyll wrote: post #10

PotatoPancakes wrote: post #4

Look on page 117 of the PDF (the paper says 113): > Vader: You're very good, Luke. But I'm twenty years older and stronger than you in the use of the Force. You haven't a chance with me... any more than your father had. This draft was written before they came up with the idea that Vader could actually be Luke's father!

What was the relationship then? In a New Hope, it’s known that Anakin was Vader, right? And they knew Luke was Anakin’s his son. Obi wan mentions Anakin being corrupted by Vader. And the fight at the end, Vader now the master, etc. Was it really still a question of Vader and Anakin were different people until the second movie came out?

Post by ethbr1 » Sun, Feb 11, 2024, 9:48 PM UTC

canjobear wrote: post #15

bluejekyll wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was the relationship then? In a New Hope, it’s known that Anakin was Vader, right? And they knew Luke was Anakin’s his son. Obi wan mentions Anakin being corrupted by Vader. And the fight at the end, Vader now the master, etc. Was it really still a question of Vader and Anakin were different people until the second movie came out?

Lucas only came up with the idea that Anakin = Vader after the original Star Wars was out, when he was revising the script for Empire. Before that we were supposed to take Ben Kenobi at face value when he said that Darth Vader betrayed and murdered Luke's father.

Post by ethbr1 » Sun, Feb 11, 2024, 9:52 PM UTC

jjulius wrote: post #23

ethbr1 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Wow. So, "stringing people along = murderable offense". Got it.

Post by nyrath » Sun, Feb 11, 2024, 9:53 PM UTC

caslon wrote: post #8

saghm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, what strikes me about this line isn't even that Vader isn't Luke's father, but how wordy he is. I imagine they didn't spend too much time on phrasing and instead just tried to capture the gist with the expectation of polishing later, but even with the James Earl Jones's trademark slow, menacing Vader drawl, this just feels like it would sound weirdly verbose coming from Vader, especially in the middle of a…

Much of what you actually see in Empire is written by entirely different people. > George Lucas initially hired Leigh Brackett, the sci-fi novelist who also wrote screenplays for Howard Hawks—including The Big Sleep (1946)—to write the sequel to Star Wars (1977). Brackett died in March 1978 while the film was still in pre-production, though, and Lucas wasn't satisfied with her script. Lucas wrote the next draft himse…