Poor Sebastian Shaw. The actor had one of the most poignant roles in all of the Star Wars movies: he portrayed Darth Vader when Luke removes his mask shortly before Vader dies. Minutes later Shaw portrayed the Force ghost of Anakin Skywalker, looking fondly at Luke during the celebration on Endor. Too bad his performance couldnt stay the way it was. For the 2004 DVD edition of Return of the Jedi, Shaw's eyebrows were digitally removed and the color of his eyes was changed to match those of Hayden Christensen. Even more controversially, the Force ghost of Shaw was replaced with a Force ghost of a scowling Hayden Christensen, who certainly doesn't look like a kindly, proud father and who Luke wouldn't recognize. The fact that a large number of fans hated Christensen's portrayal of Anakin in the Prequel Trilogy didn't make them any more receptive to these changes. Shoehorning Christensen into this sequence still doesn't feel right and seems to change the rules on becoming a Force ghost. One can come up with all kinds of Jedi arguments to explain why Anakin gets to look like his younger self as a ghost but Obi-Wan and Yoda are stuck looking like senior citizens. Fans have argued Anakin looks that way because it was how he looked before he was corrupted, but he looks older than the Sand People-slaying whiner who already was on a dark path in Attack of the Clones . Regardless, that still doesnt change the fact that Christensen doesnt really belong in Return of the Jedi, especially considering he was only two years old when Return of the Jedi was first released in 1983.
Chris McKittrick is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and has spoken about film and comic books at conferences across the United States. In addition to his work at WhatCulture!, he is a regular contributor to CreativeScreenwriting.com, MovieBuzzers.com, and DailyActor.com, a website focused on acting in all media. For more information, visit his website at http://www.chrismckit.com.
