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Saw Sith on Thursday. Best of the 1st three but no where close to TESB. Lots of interesting commentary on the web, especially by Gary Farber discussing scenes dropped form the movie.
Lucas made some fatal errors, in my opinion, dropping several of these scenes. It follows his general tendency, though. He loves technology. It is, frankly, the use of technology in making movies tat has really provided him the most acclaim and influence in the business. So it is no wonder that he liked saber battles much more than character development. So when he needs to cut stuff, out goes the dialog. A real shame.
I have read a lot of discussion comparing the Jedi and the Sith, as though one was better than the other. The point really is that NEITHER fully embodies all aspects of the Force. The Sith approach (emotionalism) has its good points, but it leads them to the assumption of power for its own sake and is ultimately pretty selfish. The Jedi attempt to be effetes, removing their emotions from decisions (no love or feelings, something humans can never really attain). Their path is also ultimately a dead end, although not as destructive as the Sith way.
Anakin is supposed to bring balance to the Force. Naturally, the Jedi think that means their side will win. He follows the Sith way, resulting in the death of all Jedi but 2. However, in ROTJ, Vader turns back and kills his master and then dies himself. The Sith line is now dead. So all the Jedi Knights of old are dead and so are all the Sith. The two dysfunctional ways are gone. And Anakin was responsible for both. By destroying both branches that attempted to use the force, Anakin restored balance, where the emotional use of the force cold be harnessed without the need to grab power. A much more balanced and full view of the Force existed, in Luke. The first of the new breed.
Because it is obvious that Luke was a master of the Force, even while he could display strong emotions (well, for a Lucas movie). In many ways, Obi-Wan caught some of this, since he could display emotions also. But things could not be balanced until both Sith and Jedi were gone. People seem to feel that if the good side wins, it must be because they are Jedi. No, the Jedi are as out of balance as the Sith. They just seem more benign. As viewed by the Force, the Jedi are no more good than the Sith. Both sides represent only fragments of the Force. Balance is attained by removing both branches.
So, people who think that the Jedi are the real heroes and that they should be running things, may have it wrong. In some ways, the Jedi misuse and misunderstand the Force as much as the Sith. Only by removing both branches does balance return. Perhaps only Yoda and Obi Wan (maybe Quin Gon) saw glimpses of that, which would explain why, of all the Jedi, they were the only ones who could continue to influence things after they died. One of the cut scenes from ROTS is a conversation between Yoda and Qui-Gon on this very subject. A shame that Lucas diminished his mythic arc of these 6 movies by removing scenes like that in order to have just one more light saber battle. One of those instances where even the creator of art loses sight of its possible impact. 11:17:22 AM 
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