Early drafts of Revenge of the Sith Differences

So I read, probably the 2nd or 3rd draft, before the final shooting script, of Revenge of the Sith. Stuck at home on lockdown besides going to work, so I just been reading screenplays in my down time. There are some interesting changes they made for the final shooting script from the early drafts. Warning, this is a little long winded, but this board has been a little slow lately, so figured this give you guys something to talk about. But here are some notable details I found intriguing.

Overall, the narrative of the film is still the same, from the opening space battle, rescuing the Chancellor, hunting Grievous, Palpatine exposed, and Anakin fall to the dark side and his climatic duel with Obi-Wan, and Yoda against Palpatine. Some of the narrative is just shifted around but some of the characters arcs are also swapped out for a different ones and I'll get to that. But it definitely pushes the political elements more, which arguably was a problem with Phantom and Clones because it was largely boring and tedious with the trades talk. But it's actually far more interesting in Sith because it's primarily about how to end the war.

What it does well is really sets up a three-way battle for authoritative power between the Jedi, the Senate and Chancellor Palpatine and how to end the Clone Wars, which actually really helps flesh out Anakin's own journey and his path to the dark side. The Jedi don't like taking orders from the Senate and prefer to deal with Palpatine, but they also don't trust Palpatine either with the emergency power the Senate gave him, while the Senate (such as Bail Organa and Padme) worry Palpatine will dismantle them and has become too power-hungry and a dictator. There's a lot of interactions between Padme and the Senators and Palpatine debating how to end the war and who should control the Jedi. This also leads to the early development of the Rebellion by the Senate. When Palpatine does declare the Republic a Galactic Empire later in the film, Bail Organa and Mon Motha meet up with other senators in the streets of Coruscant and discuss setting up a Rebellion against the Empire.

I'd say it's strength is really fleshing out Anakin's desires and motives and his ultimate fall to the dark side whereas the film really condenses and rushes it. The power struggle between the Jedi, the Senate and Palpatine really gives Anakin more reason to sympathize and defend Palpatine because he's being ragged on by both the Jedi and the Senate, and Anakin sees him as a close friend and mentor. It also puts the Jedi in a more grey area in Anakin's eyes, especially when he's asked to spy.

In terms of desires and what he wants, the whole notion that he is Chosen One has made him prideful and he feels he earned his power and the position he's in as a Jedi and deserves to be on the Jedi Council and really deserves more power as well. And even Yoda and Windu both make a comment about this and how it's dangerous. It lends well to his path to the Dark side because the Sith desire and crave power. He grew up wanting nothing more than to be the greatest Jedi and he feels left out and that there are secrets the council is deliberately not telling him. And once the Jedi really step into the more grey area (such as asking him to spy on Palpatine) he really begins to question what they stand for. There's just more interactions with Anakin confiding to Palpatine that help you understand where his character stands. He also begins to feel Padme isn't being faithful, but that's largely just because of the stress of the situation he's in while Padme wants him to leave the Jedi Order so their marriage and her pregnancy doesn't have to be a secret anymore. But Anakin doesn't want to give up everything he's been training his entire life for. It's good stuff, little details in the dialogue that help you understand what pushed him to the dark side. Oddly, his visions of losing Padme aren't present. That must have been included later. I'd say my only criticism is with the dialogue itself. Still kinda cringey in areas and he still presented as sullen and petulant child when he's angry and doesn't get his way, which I never liked in the movie itself. Lucas was really never a master of good dialogue.

Now here are some of the bigger changes in the early draft that got changed for the final shooting script. Mace Windu is all-and-all more of a dick to Anakin. He definitely doesn't hide his distrust of him or Palpatine. His distrust really starts early when Anakin killed Dooku who could have helped end the war if he was taken alive and even though Obi-Wan commends Anakin for killing him, Windu is all around just a dick to him about it. Palpatine almost slipped up too when he addressed Dooku as his Sith title, Darth Tyranus in a conversation with the Jedi Masters. They generally shrug it off but it's definitely implied Windu is the most suspicious because where would Chancellor would hear that name, when they only ever addressed that name so few times.

After Anakin is given the assignment to spy on the Chancellor by the Jedi Council, Windu still doesn't like it and I think it's implied he's been spying on Anakin as well. Later on when he says he sense a plot destroy the Jedi, Yoda instructs him to shadow Anakin and Palpatine, but I think it is definitely implied he has already been doing that. And the first big change, comes to head when Windu spies on a conversation between Anakin and Padme and learns of his marriage with her and her pregnancy and he confronts Anakin about it to turn him over to the Jedi Council. This really show's how much Windu hated Anakin when he says he'll be expelled from the Jedi Order and Windu's line was "Oh I know they will. I'm counting on it." They end up dueling briefly in a tunnel leading to a landing platform above the city and Anakin uses the force and his lightsaber to basically collapse the tunnel and platform while Mace Windu clings to a support beam, and he ends up falling to his death when the platform gives out.

Anakin goes to Palpatine after to tell him what happened and Palpatine tells him he was just defending himself and he's obviously happy Windu is dead and then this is where the scene in the movie Palpatine reveals his true identity as Sidious to Anakin, happens and he basically reveals how he manipulated both sides of the war. And instead of wanting to turn Palpatine in to the Jedi Order, he's intrigued by the Dark Side. Palpatine basically seduces Anakin to the Dark Side.

The next change is that Obi-Wan and Kit Fisto and the two other Jedi Masters are the ones who confront Palpatine to arrest him. Basically after everything on Utapah and Grievous is killed, which is pretty much unchanged, Obi-Wan actually flies back to Coruscant. It's not totally clear as to how they figured it out that Palpatine was a Sith Lord, but during an exchange with Yoda thru a hologram (He's still in Kashykke, which remains unchanged as well from the movie) that he felt Mace Windu force energy extinguish in the Chancellor office and can't feel it anymore. The scene and dialogue is pretty much the same as the movie, except it's Obi-Wan instead of Mace Windu. And the initial fight is the same, Palpatine does the spin and kills the first Jedi. But Anakin basically ambushes Kit Fisto and the other Jedi and kills them both while Palpatine and Obi-Wan fight. As with the movie, it ends on the edge of the window, and Obi-Wan is deflecting the lightning. Anakin is hesitant to help Palpatine at first because Obi-Wan is his friend and master and this is where the conflict for Anakin kicks in, whether to kill Palpatine or kill Obi-Wan. But Anakin force pushes Obi-Wan, causing him to drop his lightsaber out the window and Palpatine begins electrocuting him. And at the last moment, Anakin drops his own Lightsaber and Obi-Wan uses the force to grab it before Anakin force pushes him out the window. Obi-Wan survives the fall. It's just to show at the last second, he didn't want to kill Obi-Wan and give him a chance to run, even though to Palpatine, it looks like Anakin just killed his master.

From here, it's generally the same as the rest of the film. Palpatine does gives Anakin a red kyber crystal to create his Red Lightsaber. But then there's storming the Jedi Temple, Order 66. Obi-Wan gets away with Bail Organa and Yoda escapes Kashykkke and is rescued. There are extended duels between some of the Jedi Masters and Anakin in the temple. Obi-Wan, Bail and Yoda confront Padme together to find Anakin. Yoda then goes to fight Palpatine and the exchange between Anakin and Padme and Obi-Wan is generally the same as well. Anakin makes a comment that he gave his master a chance to get away. I think it's meant to show he has just a little bit of good still in him. But overall, both fights with Yoda and Palpatine and Anakin and Obi-Wan are generally the same. Though how Anakin lost his limbs is actually far more brutal than the film. After they both end up on that little hillside, they both jumped onto it, but Anakin didn't try to jump over Obi-Wan. And Obi-Wan is shown to be exhausted from the duel. And as Anakin goes for the killing stroke, magma from the river of lava explodes and lands on Anakin's head and body, while Obi-Wan then proceeds to cut off his one good arm and then cuts off Anakin's legs as he falls to the ground on fire.[/span]