Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

20 yr ago , the bestStar Warsstory I ’ve ever study totally ruinedStar warfare : Episode III - Revenge of the Sithfor me . EveryStar Warsfan has their own taradiddle , their own narration of how they fall in love with the public that Lucas build up . Mine began in 1991 , when I watched the firstStar Warsmovie on television , and quickly started collecting every al-Qur’an and comic I could come across . Looking back , it was actually something of a mistake;I learned aboutThe Empire Strikes Back ’s big spin long before watching the motion-picture show , utterly spoiled for " I am your father . "

At the sentence , the prognosis ofStar Warsever regress to the liberal screen seemed bleak . I did n’t really mind , because the oldStar WarsExpanded Universewas continuing apace , and I ’ve always been as much a reader as a viewer . All that alter by the end of the decade , though , with Lucas kick off the prequel trilogy . I became heavily involved in theStar Warsfandom , hooked to the Jedi Council forum . And then , in 2005 , the prequels come to an remainder … and I was utterly spoiled .

George Lucas Didn’t Care About Spoilers For Revenge Of The Sith

modernistic movies tend to focus on unexpected twists and lurid graphic symbol turns . I ’ve always loved this kind of moving picture ; it ’s why I have such fun with sports fan hypothesis , and I love endeavor to figure out what ’s going on well before I ’m conjecture to . But … back in 2005 , we were living in a dissimilar world . George Lucas did n’t care about raider forRevenge of the Sith , probable because he understood this was a tragedy , and we all cognise how the story was going to end anyway .

As a reader , my big spoiler came 20 years ago today . Matt Stover ’s novelization forRevenge of the Sithwas released , and I could n’t jib plunk it up . I ’d already become a fan of Stover ’s works ; I adore hisStar WarsnovelsTraitorandShatterpoint , and I ’d even confab with him a petty on the Jedi Council forum . I knew I ’d be spoiled … but I could n’t help myself . I had a newStar Warsstory in my hands , and I only did n’t care that it was the novelization of a story I was yet to see on screen .

Matt Stover’s Revenge Of The Sith Is The Best Star Wars Story Ever Told

Five years ago , ScreenRant ’s own Alex Leadbeater write a powerful op ed in which he insisted " Revenge of the Sith Is The Best Star Wars Story Ever Told . " There ’s just one problem;he was n’t referring to the movie . He was spill about Matt Stover ’s epic novelization . Alex ’s clause is a rhapsody of extolment for the book , focusing on Stover ’s sweeping prose and phenomenal characterization . Here ’s what he has to say about Anakin Skywalker himself :

" Hayden Christensen ’s interchangeably whiny and wooden performance can be defended in all way of ways - it ’s the dialog , it was deliberately call forth Mark Hamill from the originalStar Wars- but what he and Lucas were really get going for becomes achingly clear with Stover ’s words . Anakin is a warfare hero abut on celebrity , single - handledly warding off Separatist advances in the outer rim and becoming a caption after saving Palptine . And yet that conceal a thick - seated reverence , one that ’s been with him ever since leaving his mother and personified by the image of a firedrake at the heart of a drained star topology : as he keeps remind himself in the intelligence of a perhaps - too - distant Obi - Wan , " finally , even wizard burn out . " By the time Palpatine start out whispering in his ear , the Jedi in their plot to withdraw out Sidious thrust him apart and dreams of Padmé ’s death haunt his night , he embraces that deep - invest veneration to become another being entirely .

I remember say that article and passing on my praise to Alex , because I agreed completely . retaliation of the Sithis indeed the bestStar Warsstory ever told - just not Lucas ' version . I did n’t mention it at the time , but here ’s the thing ; that really proved to be a major problem for me . Because I fell in honey with that novelization … and then , a few weeks afterwards , I went to the motion picture .

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Revenge Of The SIth Could Never Live Up To Stover’s Novelization

Now , please do n’t get me unseasonable here;I’m not knock Lucas . I have the utmost respect for him , even if I have n’t always agreed with his decisions ( back in 2005 , I admit that I had n’t forgive him for reportedly tug for the death of Anakin Solo , a Legends type I bet most hoi polloi read this article have never even hear of ) . Butfor me , Stover ’s novelization was simplytoo goodfor the movie to compare .

novelisation have always been important toStar Wars . The first novelization , ghost - written by Alan Dean Foster , was published a yr beforeA New Hopecame out ; the prequel era novelizations added wonderful depth to the news report , especially Terry Brooks’The Phantom Menace . Even the Disney era has paid ( inconsistent ) homage to this ; Alexander Freed’sRogue One : A Star Wars Storyis utterly unmissable , and I consider it another of the bestStar Warsbooks . But none have twin Stover’sRevenge of the Sith .

Star Wars is far more than just a pic phenomenon , with a staggering number of books published over the geezerhood . Here are the pickaxe of the harvest .

Anakin Skywalker and Revenge of the Sith

Custom image by Yeider Chacon

Just take a flavour at the gap musical passage :

This story materialise a long time ago in a wandflower far , far away . It is already over . Nothing can be done to change it .

It is a level of love and exit , brotherhood and betrayal , courage and forfeit and the death of dreams . It is a story of the fuzzy line between our good and our forged .

Obi-Wan Kenobi flies his Eta-2 Actis Jedi Starfighter Interceptor during the Battle of Coruscant in Star Wars Revenge of the Sith

It is the taradiddle of the end of an long time .

A strange thing about stories —

Though this all find so long ago and so far away that words can not describe the time or the length , it is also happening right now . flop here .

Star Wars book covers for Revenge of the Sith, Kenobi, and Bloodline

It is happening as you read these words .

This is how twenty - five millennium number to a close . Corruption and perfidiousness have crush a thousand years of repose . This is not just the destruction of a commonwealth ; night is falling on civilization itself .

This is the fall of the Jedi .

Headshot Of Ewan McGregor In The New York premiere of ‘A Gentleman In Moscow’

The end starts now .

Do you feel a chill ? I certainly did when I first read those words . I ca n’t say for indisputable - it was 20 class ago , after all - butI seem to remember rereading the book at least three times before I guide to the picture show . I settled down at my local theatre with some admirer , and I watched with surprisal as some of the most dramatic moments … did n’t quite land . In fact , some of my favorite bit were n’t even there ; Lucas had cut them in favour of more time on Kashyyyk .

Here ’s a tip : never read the novelisation before you go to see the moving picture . You ’ll have your own estimate of what thing should look like , and the realness will never live up to your imagination . For years afterward , I find myself really struggling withRevenge of the Sith ; I could enjoy the other films , but the flaws in this one stood out too clearly . It took quite some sentence for me to be able to face past my first belief , and to see the diamond in the rough - a flawed infield , not so shining as the one I ’d fall in love with , but a diamond nonetheless .

Headshot Of Hayden Christensen In The 2006 MTV Movie Awards held at Sony Pictures Studios

I accommodate , retention had blurred all this over the years . I remembered that I found the moving picture dissatisfactory because I ’d read the book of account first , but I ’d forgotten there was a understanding ; it was n’t until one of my writer , David Miller , mentioned the book ’s spillage date that I remembered how it all played out . 20 years on , celebrating the twentieth day of remembrance ofStar warfare : Episode III - Revenge of the Sith , I ca n’t help find myself rather amuse at the recollection .

Whatever you do , do n’t make my mistake ; enjoy the movie . And then check this record out , and thrill to it .

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