I've never understood why people have a problem with Anakin being changed from Sebastian Shaw to Hayden Christensen. I think by having him appear as the person we knew as in the prequels was a nice way of showing the character come full circle. From a purely emotional standpoint it's also a lot more satisfying to see the face we saw in pretty much every appearance of the character after Attack of the Clones than some random guy we'd never seen before. We had no prior emotional attachment to Sebastian Shaw as Anakin, so I never saw any reason to get upset that he was replaced.
It's rather telling that nobody complains about Jeremy Bulloch's voice having been replaced by that of Temura Morrison or Clive Revill and an elderly female body double having been replaced by Ian McDiarmid in TESB yet are quick to jump on the "Hayden as Anakin in RotJ sucks" train.
Luke had no emotional attachment to Hayden's features; all he ever saw of Anakin's face was Shaw's. And many of us would prefer to never be reminded of the PT again, thank you very much. Not everyone who thinks the change is a cheap fan service moment is "upset" over it; some of us just consider it an objectively illogical and pointless alteration that yanks us out of the closing moments of a pretty good three-film story.
It doesn’t make any sense considering we didn’t get rejuvenated versions of Yoda or Obi-Wan. Lesson? The Force rewards one for being a monster but being “saved” just before death versus trying to lead a good, productive life. Besides, it comes off as change for the sake of change, not something that adds artistically to the movie.
Who is this "nobody" that you speak of? I MIGHT have a different opinion if McDiarmid's performance was as good as Revill's or even his own in ROTJ. Maybe. But probably not. As it is, no, I want the original versions because THAT'S the film. I want the original Emperor. I want the original Boba Fett. (And that's not Bulloch's voice as far as I know.) If I had my druthers I want the mono sound mix. It's rather telling that all the people saying they can't handle the "horribly dated" FX from the original don't complain about the large percentage of shots that weren't changed. Or the fact that the SE's are now older than when the originals were when they were determined to be horribly dated.
The change I probably disliked the most was changing Vader's line at the end of ESB. Vader's just faced up to a truth he's been repressing for years to get through to his son, who flung himself down a bottomless pit in response. This was the first time we've ever seen Vader emotionally rattled. The way he delivers that line "bring my shuttle" exposes his humanity a little in a way we haven't seen much until this point.
You're right. My point still stands, though, because up until you just did, I have never heard a single person complain about the changes I singled out.
Today I learned. I did not know the differences, and my ignorance on film resolution clearly is showing. Thanks for letting me know Sorry, I'm one of the few people who doesn't give a crap about HD/24K/ or whatever. I don't need intense graphics to enjoy a film. Hence my confusion and curiosity as to what these updates would bring forward. So far, many, including yourself, have made points I had not considered.
Luke doesn't, but the audience does. As the end of Anakin's story, I find it more satisfying seeing the version of Anakin that we knew before he became Anakin than some random dude we'd never seen before. That is the one point against it I will admit to, but I still like it enough that I'm willing to overlook that. It also it feel like a more cohesive six movie series.
Not if they've been blessed with never having seen the PT. Not a change that jumps out to non-obsessives, whereas if I were to show the RotJ blu-ray to my mother, she'd know at once Hayden had been added. Not only does that change make objective sense in a way Hayden doesn't, again, show my mother the ESB blu-ray, and she'd probably not guess it was a change. In fact, that's a useful metric for OT changes: would my mother notice it? If she would, don't do it. (Or at the very least make both SE and original cuts available.) It does.
The change to Christensen's face reminded me that Anakin Skywalker was only around 45 years old when he died on the Second Death Star.
Obi-Wan was in his 50s when he died, being a Force user is like smoking a carton of cigarettes a day.
I actually don't have a problem with any of those, especially Ian McDiarmid's replacing the original Emperor, because McDiarmid rules! My big beef with the Hayden Christensen change isn't the change itself, but the fact he's wearing white Jedi robes (which we NEVER see him wear in Episodes II and III!)
I loved the bit in the Kenobi novel, where just after settling on Tatooine, one of his new neighbors mentions that Ben should be more careful about sun protection, and that there was this actor who moved to Tatooine to reconnect with nature or something and when he went back into society, no one recognized him because he'd gotten so leathery and aged in only a few years. The scene ends with the neighbor glancing back after leaving, and noticing to their confusion that Kenobi had taken down his hood and was staring directly at the suns. Also, for some mysterious reason, he has Sebastian Shaw's posture and build.
All that tells us is that your mother isn't very knowledgeable about TESB. If only there were some crucial difference between Anakin and those others, then it might make sense. What kind of character would see the appearance of one's Force ghost as any kind of "reward"? Only an exceedingly vain and superficial one.
Then you havent been around too many star wars forums, because Ive been reading about those type of gripes ever since the first DVD release.