Revenge of the Sith

The last scenes of Revenge of the Sith show the four members of the Skywalker family.

Padmé at her funeral procession:

Anakin, now Darth Vader, watching the construction of the Death Star:

Leia on Alderaan:

Luke on Tatooine:

Various aspects of these scenes highlight how Vader now differs from the others.

Padmé, Leia, and Luke are each accompanied by family, but Vader joins the Emperor and Tarkin, powerful figures in the new Empire.  Since Padmé's dead and Leia and Luke are infants, they're mostly passive in these scenes (Luke seems to be asleep), but Vader strides down the bridge of the Star Destroyer.  In contrast to the natural locations the others are shown in, Vader's environment is completely artificial (as if to match Obi-Wan's "more machine now than man" comment in Return of the Jedi), and while the colors on Naboo, Alderaan, and Tatooine may not be particularly vivid, there's a greater variety in each than on the Star Destroyer bridge, which is primarily grayscale.

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During Anakin and Obi-Wan's duel over the lava on Mustafar, Anakin uses the Force to control a mining droid* so that, standing on top of it, he can move closer to the platform where Obi-Wan is and continue the fight.  In a small way, this imposition of his will upon the droid demonstrates a quality that's part of his character now that he's turned to the dark side (his "lust for power" as Obi-Wan calls it).  As Anakin told Padmé shortly before this, they can now "make things the way we want them to be."

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*I have to credit LEGO Star Wars in 100 Scenes (p. 94) for pointing this out to me.  In the movie, what Anakin is doing isn't as obvious, but when he leaps from the droid's head to the other side of Obi-Wan's platform, the droid zooms off on its own again, suddenly released from Anakin's hold.

Revenge of the Sith

After the crawl, the first shot of the movie pans down to reveal the top of a Jedi cruiser:

This is nearly the opposite of the shots from underneath Star Destroyers that start the movies in the original trilogy.  Instead of the oppression of the Empire, this seems to give the impression of the stability of the Republic, although when the camera follows Obi-Wan and Anakin's ships beyond the cruiser, the battle raging beneath it is revealed.

Later in the movie, there's a shot that's closer to the opening of the original trilogy movies.  A Jedi cruiser flies overhead, but in the opposite direction of the Star Destroyer in A New Hope:

That the shots are becoming more similar illustrates that the events of Revenge of the Sith are leading into those of A New Hope.  There's still a difference, though, because the Jedi are working towards peace and justice in the Republic; they're not yet "all but extinct" in the "dark times" of the Empire, as Obi-Wan tells Luke.

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When Palpatine tells Obi-Wan and Anakin, "Get help.  You're no match for him [Count Dooku]; he's a Sith Lord!" he's still maintaining his façade as chancellor (they don't know that he too is a Sith Lord), but his comment may illustrate his hubris.  As the chancellor, at least, he thinks that a single Sith Lord (and the apprentice, at that) is more powerful than two Jedi.  Luke points out his flaw in Return of the Jedi when he tells him, "Your overconfidence is your weakness."

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When Anakin says, "I'm not the Jedi I should be.  I want more, and I know I shouldn't" in his conversation with Padmé, he turns away while saying, "I know I shouldn't," as if he can't bear to maintain eye contact with her while admitting this fault.

In the featurette titled "The Chosen One" on the bonus DVD, there's even behind the scenes footage of George Lucas directing this scene, and he specifically tells Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin, to turn away during that line.

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Most of the names of the Sith lords come ultimately from Latin.  Maul is from molere, which means to grind.  Tyrannus is the Latin word for tyrant.  Sidious seems to come from insidious, which is from the Latin insidiae, which means ambush or trickery.  Even Plagueis, who is only mentioned, has a Latinate name; it's similar to plague, which comes from plangere, to beat or to strike.  Vader is the exception.  While it's pronounced differently, vader is the Dutch word for father.

In the same way that Vader's name comes from a different language family, his motivation for becoming a Sith lord is different from the others'.  Sidious's goal is clearly the acquisition and maintaining of power.  ("Unlimited power!")  The motivations of Maul and Tyrannus really aren't explored to a great degree, but they seem similar to Sidious's.

Vader, on the other hand, throws in his lot with Sidious and becomes a Sith lord primarily to save Padmé from his premonitions of her death.  He does want power (over death), but his desire for power isn't a selfish one like Sidious's is.

The Original Star Wars Trilogies

Here are some more general comments about the original Star Wars trilogies; in the coming weeks, I'll have posts about each movie individually (with the exception of A New Hope, for which I don't have any significant comments yet).

In "The Beginning: Making Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" (at ~3:08), George Lucas comments on the parallelism between The Phantom Menace and A New Hope:  "with Anakin, you know, kind of duplicating the Luke Skywalker role, but you see the echo of where it all's gonna go:  instead of destroying the Death Star, he destroys the ship that controls the robots.  Again, it's like poetry, sort of; they rhyme.  Every stanza kind of rhymes with the last one."  This parallelism extends even to the grammatical structure of the titles.  The Phantom Menace parallels A New Hope ([article][adjective][noun]), and Revenge of the Sith parallels Return of the Jedi ([noun][preposition][article][noun]).  Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes Back are the exception here, but both titles describe a military conflict, so they're similar in a more general way.  There's also an echo between Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes Back in that both feature a scene where R2-D2 reconstructs C-3PO.

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Near the beginning of each movie in the original trilogy, there's a shot of a Star Destroyer overhead:

Visually, this illustrates the dominance that the Empire has over the galaxy.

Revenge of the Sith

The title parallels Return of the Jedi.

3:32 - Clone pilot:  "Set S-foils in attack position."  Red Leader gives a similar instruction in A New Hope ("Lock S-foils in attack position" [1:45:38]), and so does Wedge in Return of the Jedi ("Lock S-foils in attack positions" [1:34:20]).

3:47 - Anakin:  "This is where the fun begins."  Han Solo has a similar line in A New Hope:  "Here's where the fun begins" [56:26].

4:32 - Anakin (after a Vulture droid launches missiles at him and Obi-Wan):  "Pull up!"  Obi-Wan says this to Anakin during the speeder chase in Attack of the Clones ("Pull up, Anakin, pull up!" [17:08]); Biggs gives this instruction to Luke and to Porkins in A New Hope ("Luke, pull up!" [1:46:42] and "Pull up!" [1:47:22]); and Lando says it in Return of the Jedi ("Pull up!  All craft, pull up!" [1:34:48]).

5:23 - Obi-Wan (after buzz droids land on his starfighter):  "I'm hit!"  In A New Hope, this is said by a Rebel pilot ("I'm hit!" [1:48:06]), Luke ("I'm hit, but not bad" [1:48:48]), and Wedge ("I'm hit!" [1:54:32]).  A rebel pilot also says, "I'm hit!" in Return of the Jedi [1:44:16].

6:03 - Obi-Wan (to Anakin, as he tries to shoot the buzz droids):  "Hold your fire!  You're not helping here!" [6:03]  Upon seeing that the escape pod jettisoned from the Tantive IV has no life forms, an Imperial officer commands, "Hold your fire" in A New Hope [7:08].

6:13 - Obi-Wan (after his cockpit window fogs over):  "I can't see a thing."  Luke says the same thing in A New Hope about his stormtrooper disguise ("I can't see a thing in this helmet!" [1:13:17]) and in The Empire Strikes Back while entering Dagobah's atmosphere in his X-wing ("All the scopes are dead; I can't see a thing" [41:09]).

6:26 - Obi-Wan (to Anakin):  "You're gonna get us both killed!"  Anakin says something similar to R2-D2 in The Phantom Menace:  "R2, get us off this auto-pilot; it's gonna get us both killed!" [1:53:55], and Leia says something similar to Han in A New Hope, after he tries to shoot his way out of the trash compactor:  "Put that thing away; you're gonna get us all killed!" [1:19:32]

6:30 - Obi-Wan (to Anakin):  "Get out of here; there's nothing more you can do."  Luke says something similar to Wedge in A New Hope:  "Get clear, Wedge; you can't do any more good back there" [1:54:34].

7:24 - Obi-Wan:  "Oh, I have a bad feeling about this."

10:22 - Battle droid (to Anakin):  "Hands up, Jedi."  A battle droid also says, "Hands up!" to Jar Jar and Captain Tarpals in The Phantom Menace [2:00:19], and storm trooper says, "Hands up!" to Han and Leia in Return of the Jedi [1:48:07].

11:49 - Anakin (to the Chancellor):  "Are you alright?"  In The Phantom Menace, Anakin asks Qui-Gon, "Are you alright?" [1:17:31] and Padmé asks Anakin, "You alright?" [1:19:06].  In Attack of the Clones, Padmé asks Anakin, "Ani, are you alright?" [50:02], and later a clone trooper asks Padmé, "Are you alright?" [2:05:54].  In A New Hope, Luke asks Obi-Wan this [59:16] and Biggs asks Luke [1:46:44], and in The Empire Strikes Back, Luke asks, "Rogue Two, are you alright?" [30:31].  Twice in The Empire Strikes Back, Han asks this with a shortened "You alright?" once to Luke [22:12] and once to Leia [31:39].  Luke also asks Han, "Are you alright?" when they're captured by Jabba in Return of the Jedi [28:31].

15:42 - Wilehlm scream (clone trooper)

18:43 - General Grievous:  "General Kenobi, we've been waiting for you."  Vader greets him similarly in A New Hope:  "I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan" [1:30:09].

19:12 - Grievous (to Anakin):  "Jedi scum."  Insults involving scum also appear in The Phantom Menace (before the podrace, Sebulba tells Anakin in Huttese, "You won't walk away from this one, you slave scum" [57:20]), The Empire Strikes Back (Admiral Piett remarks, "Bounty hunters!?  We don't need their scum." [1:05:52]), and Return of the Jedi (an Imperial officer says, "You rebel scum" [1:33:51]).

21:40 - Anakin (to Obi-Wan and Palpatine):  "Strap yourselves in."  Han Solo uses this same expression in A New Hope:  "Go strap yourselves in; I'm gonna make the jump to lightspeed" [56:46].

24:38 - Anakin (to Obi-Wan):  "Alright, but you owe me one, and not for saving your skin for the tenth time."  Leia uses the same expression in A New Hope:  "Somebody has to save our skins" [1:18:22].

24:53 - Mace Windu:  "Chancellor Palpatine, are you alright?"  See above, 11:49.

25:12 - Palpatine (to Windu):  "And I assure you, the senate will vote to continue the war as long as Grievous is alive."  As Emperor, he uses this same expression while talking to Luke in Return of the Jedi:  "I assure you we are quite safe from your friends here" [1:32:08].  Qui-Gon also uses the expression in The Phantom Menace; after Queen Amidala says that Senator Palpatine fears the Trade Federation wants to destroy her, he replies, "I assure you I will not allow that to happen" [1:36:33].

26:12 - Anakin (after Padmé says, "There were whispers that you'd been killed"):  "I'm alright."  The circumstances are quite different, but Luke also says, "I'm alright" in A New Hope, after the scuffle in the cantina [47:21].

40:32 - Obi-Wan (to Mace, referring to Anakin):  "With all due respect, Master, is he not the chosen one?"  In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's pilot uses the same expression:  "With all due respect, the ambassadors for the Supreme Chancellor wish to board immediately" [2:06].

41:35 - Anakin (after Padmé asks, "Have you ever considered that we may be on the wrong side [of the war]?"):  "What do you mean?"  Although the context is quite different, Vader also says, "What do you mean?" in A New Hope [51:32], after Tarkin suggests "an alternative form of persuasion."

42:19 - Padmé (to Anakin):  "Hold me."  Leia also says this to Han in Return of the Jedi [1:22:17].

43:44 - Palpatine (to his entourage at the opera):  "Leave us."  As Emperor, he also says this in Return of the Jedi:  "Guards, leave us" [1:30:55].

44:28 - Palpatine (to Anakin):  "Search your feelings.  You know, don't you?"  Vader says the same thing to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back:  "Search your feelings.  You know it to be true." [1:51:26].

50:03 - As he jumps onto a Separatist tank, one of the Wookiees gives a Tarzan-like yell, which Chewbacca also does while swinging onto an AT-ST in Return of the Jedi [1:45:39].

51:13 - Obi-Wan (to Anakin, as Obi-Wan leaves for Utapau):  "Goodbye, old friend."  The phrase "old friend" is also used in Attack of the Clones (where Palpatine suggests "an old friend, like Master Kenobi" to protect Padmé [6:34] and Count Dooku calls Mace Windu "my old Jedi friend" [1:50:24] and just "old friend" [1:56:05]), in A New Hope (where Leia sarcastically says, "We, uh, ran into some old friends" when Han asks her and Luke where they've been [1:31:33]), in The Empire Strikes Back (where Yoda says that through the Force, Luke will see "Old friends long gone" [1:17:05]), and in Return of the Jedi (where Luke says, "I have a promise to keep to an old friend" [37:37] and Han calls C-3PO "an old friend of mine" [1:11:53]).

53:46 - Padmé:  "I'm not gonna die in childbirth, Ani; I promise you."

Anakin:  "No, I promise you."

In The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan also makes a promise to Anakin:  "You will be a Jedi, I promise" [2:07:43]

53:55 - This shot of Obi-Wan's starfighter exiting hyperspace, detaching from the hyperspace ring, and then flying to Utapau has the same basic composition and dynamic as the shot of his starfighter exiting hyperspace, detaching from the hyperspace ring, and then flying to Kamino in Attack of the Clones [40:54]:

57:30 - Obi-Wan (to Grievous):  "Hello there."  He greets R2 the same way in A New Hope [30:07].

1:07:28 - Obi-Wan (referring to the blaster he used to kill Grievous):  "So uncivilized."  It seems like this is meant to contrast with what he says about the lightsaber in A New Hope:  "An elegant weapon for a more civilized age" [33:47].

1:16:32 - Palpatine (to Anakin):  "The Force is strong with you."  In a Jedi counsel meeting in The Phantom Menace, Ki-Adi Mundi says, "The Force is strong with him," referring to Anakin [1:33:06].  In A New Hope, Vader also says this about Luke (although he doesn't know it's Luke specifically, just a rebel pilot):  "The Force is strong with this one" [1:55:41], and while talking to Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, Palpatine says, "The Force is strong with him," referring to Luke [53:46].

1:20:06 - The markings on the back of this battle droid bear a passing resemblance to 1138:

1:20:53 - Commander Cody (to a clone gunner, referring to Obi-Wan):  "Blast him!"  In A New Hope, Luke also yells this to Han, referring to the dianoga in the trash compactor:  "Blast it, will you!?" [1:20:38]

1:23:40 - Jedi youngling (referring to the clones executing Order 66 at the Jedi temple):  "Master Skywalker, there are too many of them."  In The Phantom Menace, Captain Panaka says this about battle droids ("There are too many of them" [23:25]), and in Return of the Jedi, a rebel pilot says this about TIE fighters ("There's too many of them" [1:35:13]).

1:24:00 - C-3PO (to Padmé, about Anakin):  "Don't worry; I'm sure he'll be alright."  This is similar to what Obi-Wan says to R2 about Luke in A New Hope ("Oh, don't worry; he'll be alright" [30:17]) and what C-3PO says to R2 in The Empire Strikes Back ("Of course we'll see Master Luke again, and he'll be quite alright; you'll see!" [10:43] and "Don't worry about Master Luke; I'm sure he'll be alright" [12:45]).  Additionally, "Don't worry" also appears in Attack of the Clones (Anakin tells Padmé, "Don't worry; I've given up trying to argue with you" [1:36:02]), A New Hope (Han tells Chewbacca, "Don't worry, Chewie; I think I know what he [Luke] has in mind" [1:12:12], and he tells Leia, "Don't worry; she'll hold together," referring to the Millennium Falcon [1:34:57]), The Empire Strikes Back (Luke tells R2, "Don't worry, R2.  We're going!  We're going!" [36:07], and Han tells Leia, "Don't worry" [1:20:04]), and Return of the Jedi (Lando, referring to Han, tells Nien Nunb, "Don't worry; my friend's down there; he'll have that shield down on time" [1:27:18]).

1:24:35 - Clone trooper (to Bail Organa):  "Don't worry; the situation is under control."  For "don't worry" see above, 1:24:00.  Additionally, Han makes this same claim twice, once to an Imperial officer ("Uh, everything's under control, situation normal" [1:15:18]) and once to Leia ("I had everything under control till you led us down here" [1:19:37]).

1:27:59 - Padmé (to Anakin):  "Are you alright?"  See above, 11:49.

1:29:13 - Anakin (to Padmé):  "Things will be different; I promise."  See above 53:46.

1:31:44 - Captain Colton (to Senator Organa):  "We're receiving a message from the Chancellor's office, sir."  In The Phantom Menace, a Naboo crewman tells Captain Panaka via comlink, "Receiving a message from home" [37:23].

1:35:06 - Palpatine (addressing the senate):  "The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed, but I assure you my resolve has never been stronger!"  See above, 25:12.

1:36:59 - Obi-Wan (to Yoda, as they're leaving the Jedi temple):  "Wait, Master, there is something I must know."  Luke says something similar in Return of the Jedi when he asks Yoda about Vader:  "Yoda, I must know" [42:09].

1:38:44 - Obi-Wan (referring to Anakin):  "Padmé, I need your help.  He's in grave danger."  First, Queen Amidala says the same thing to Jar Jar in The Phantom Menace ("I need your help" [1:37:55]), and Obi-Wan says this to Luke in A New Hope ("I need your help, Luke.  She [Leia] needs your help." [36:03]).  Second, Yoda uses the same phrase in The Phantom Menace when he tells Obi-Wan:  "The chosen one the boy may be; nevertheless, grave danger I fear in his training" [2:06:38].

1:41:23 - Captain Typho (to Padmé):  "As you wish, my lady."  The phrase "As you wish" occurs a number of times in the original trilogy:  in A New Hope, Vader says it after Tarkin asks him to release General Motti from his Force choke [38:45]; in The Empire Strikes Back, Boba Fett says it after Vader warns the bounty hunters against disintegrations [1:06:22]; in Return of the Jedi, Vader says it twice more in conversations with the Emperor [39:16 and 1:07:38], and Admiral Piett says it to Vader ("As you wish, my lord") [56:13].  In The Phantom Menace, Nute Gunray says, "As you wish" at the end of a conversation with Darth Sidious [5:04].

1:44:39 - Anakin:  "I'm becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of."  In Attack of the Clones, Count Dooku says something similar:  "I've become more powerful than any Jedi" [2:08:30].

1:45:09 - Anakin (to Padmé):  "And together, you and I can rule the galaxy."  As Vader, he says something similar to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back:  "Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son" [1:51:45].

1:46:02 - Padmé (to Anakin):  "I love you!"  Leia says this to Han in The Empire Strikes Back [1:35:54], and Han says it to Leia in Return of the Jedi [1:48:03].

1:47:23 - Anakin (to Obi-Wan):  "Don't make me kill you."  In The Empire Strikes Back, Vader says almost the same thing (to Luke):  "Don't make me destroy you" [1:50:27].

1:55:11 - Clone trooper (speaking to the Emperor and referring to Yoda):  "There's no sign of the body, sir."  Luke also uses this expression during the Battle of Yavin at the end of A New Hope; after Red Ten asks Luke if he sees any fighters, Luke replies, "No sign of any- wait, comin' in point three five" [1:51:59].

1:59:23 - Anakin (to Obi-Wan):  "You underestimate my power."  In Return of the Jedi, as Vader, he says almost the same thing to Luke:  "You underestimate the power of the dark side" [1:50:07].

2:07:03 - Padmé (to Obi-Wan, about Anakin):  "There's good in him.  I know.  I know there's still-"  Luke says the same thing about him to Obi-Wan in Return of the Jedi:  "There is still good in him" [46:57].

2:09:21 - Obi-Wan (asking about Luke's future):  "And what of the boy?"  There are similarly constructed questions in A New Hope (General Tagge asks Tarkin, "And what of the rebellion?" [37:42]) and Return of the Jedi (Vader asks Palpatine, "What of the reports of the rebel fleet massing near Sullust?" [53:57]).

2:09:56 - Yoda (to Obi-Wan):  "An old friend has learned the path to immortality."  See above, 51:13.

2:13:33 - This shot of Owen, Beru, and Luke watching the sunset matches the shot of Luke watching the sunset in A New Hope [25:31]: