1. Get Lost Sebastian Shaw, Theres A New Anakin In Town
Right, this is the hardest thing to admit, but please bear with. The actual fact of removing Sebastian Shaw and subbing in Hayden Christensen was regarded with complete revulsion by a lot of people, and instinctively it does feel like a final boot in the groin of the original series. Sebastian Shaw? Hes yesterdays Anakin! What a loser, get rid of him - Haydens an actor with some real staying power, it seems to say. However, if were to go along with the idea that this is an internally consistent universe which knits together into one big Bayeux Tapestry-style storyline, then it makes total sense that the new Anakin would be digitally dubbed in to make the whole thing hang together as one extended piece of work. Hayden Christensen is the Anakin which people might actually recognise, seeing as Sebastian Shaw only turns up once throughout all of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi, and even then the bottom half of his heads covered in plastic gubbins and the top half looks like a big pink boiled egg with the top smashed in. As a child, I had absolutely no idea who the bloke next to Yoda and Obi Wan was meant to be. Had I drifted off for half an hour in the middle of the film? Was I losing my mind? Was he the guy who got blown up in an X-wing in A New Hope? No, he was just some guy who I'd never seen in that costume before and yet was expected to just know was meant to be Anakin. It was necessary. Im not saying it was right, or proper, or even that it enhances anyones enjoyment of Return of the Jedi even slightly. It just had to happen. Do you agree? Share your responses below in the comments thread.
