To Mustafar and Back

Much like Tatooine, Mustafar was a seemingly insignificant planet, yet it would become the location of galaxy-defining events. Drenched in deep reds and molten imagery, it provided the rich, hell-like backdrop needed for Anakin’s final fall into darkness.

LOOSE ENDS

Near the end of the film, Anakin/Vader arrives on Mustafar to tie up a few loose ends That means the killing off of the Separatist Council at Sidious/Palpatine’s command. There’s a quick shot in the Episode III trailer that shows a grim Anakin walking down the hallway of the Mustafar complex, presumably on his way to end the lives of the Separatist council. When the film came out, this shot was nowhere to be seen. Later on it was made known that this shot might have also taken place in the Jedi Temple, during the attack on the Jedi. You can see the animatic version of Anakin’s walk in what’s called the “Animatic Trailer” which is a special feature for paying members of the site/fan club. It’s basically the Episode III trailer, just with pre-visualization footage instead of final shots. Vader’s original murderous run through the rooms where the Separatists are hiding out appears to have been much more gruesome in print. There were heads rolling everywhere and lots of chaos. Here are two excerpts from the published screenplay:

178 INT. MUSTAFAR-MAIN CONTROL CENTER-DAY
ANAKIN ignites his lightsaber, NUTE and the OTHERS panic. The DROIDS at the controls and the GUARDS grab their weapons, but it is too late. They are cut down in a flash. The Separatists bang on the doors, and NUTE and RUNE HAAKO flee under a table. ANAKIN, stone-faced, moves through the room like the grim reaper. Bodies drop everywhere. SCREAMS are cut short as the head of the Banking Clan dies.

Then POGGLE THE LESSER loses his head; WAT TAMBOR, SHU MAI, and the REST OF THE SEPARATISTS run into the conference room.

 

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182 INT. MUSTAFAR-MAIN CONTROL CENTER-CONFERENCE ROOM-DAY
After everyone in the Main Control Room is dead, ANAKIN moves to the small conference room where WAT TAMBOR. SHU MAI, and some OTHER SEPARATISTS are hiding. RUNE HAAKO tries to run but is trapped by a dead-end as ANAKIN advances.

RUNE HAAKO
Stop! Enough, this is
not right!

RUNE is cut down. NUTE GUNRAY crawls out from under the table and opens the Main Door, allowing DESTROYER DROIDS to enter. WAT TAMBOR is cut down, along with SHU MAI. DESTROYER DROIDS appear in the doorway and blast away, causing total destruction. When the firing is over, ANAKIN is gone. Blown away? No. ANAKIN drops from the ceiling behind the TWO DROIDS and cuts them to pieces before they know what hit them.

I feel bad for poor Rune Haako. He was always a bit skeptical of this deal with the Sith, and in the end he knew he was right. His line of dialogue never made it into the film, however. The scripted version mentions specific members of the council, but in the finished film, we don’t see special attention given to any of them. There’s some photo evidence, however, that Wat Tambor did have a special death, originally meant to be seen on screen. Take note of the slight differences in the dialogue from the Episode III Comic Adaptation which was based on early versions of the script. The part where Sidious asks Gunray if he’s shut down his droid armies never made it into the film and as you may have noticed, Anakin and Sidious have a similar conversation after the slaughter-fest. You can catch a quick shot of Sidious and Gunray being filmed in the Starwars.com web documentary series #15 – The Creatures of Episode III. This is also available on the Revenge of the Sith DVD. The characters are reciting the lines from the comic about shutting down the droid armies.

 

FIGHTING WORDS

The scenes in Episode III that take place on Mustafar are loaded with fighting words. Padmé and Anakin have a domestic spat, and then Obi-Wan joins in and takes the floor for a while. As to be expected, there are a few lines of dialogue from the climactic lightsaber duel that got lost in the editing room. Thankfully, they can be found in the novel, comic, script and other versions of the story. We’ll begin with the Anakin/Padmé argument on the landing platform. Here’s the scripted version of Anakin and Padmé’s spat as it appears in the published script:

195 EXT. MUSTAFAR-LANDING PLATFORM-DAY
The sleek NABOO SKIFF lands on the Mustafar landing platform near Anakin’s GREEN STARFIGHTER. ANAKIN runs up to the SKIFF as the ramp lowers. PADME runs to him.

ANAKIN
Padmé, I saw your ship…

They embrace.

PADME
Oh, Anakin!

ANAKIN
It’s all right, you’re safe now.
What are you doing out here?

PADME
I was so worried about you.
Obi-Wan told me terrible things.

ANAKIN
What things?

PADME
He said you have turned to the
dark side… that you killed
younglings.

ANAKIN
Obi-Wan is trying to turn
you against me.

PADME
He cares about us.

ANAKIN
Us??!

PADME
He knows…He wants
to help you.

ANAKIN
Is Obi-Wan going to protect you?
He can’t … he can’t help you.
He’s not strong enough.

PADME
Anakin, all I want is your love.

ANAKIN
Love won’t save you, Padmé
Only my new powers can do that.

PADME
At what cost? You are a good
person. Don’t do this.

ANAKIN
I won’t lose you the way I
lost my mother! I’ve become
more powerful than any Jedi
has ever dreamed of and
I’ve done it for you.
To protect you.

PADME
Come away with me.
Help me raise our child.
Leave everything else
behind while we still can.

ANAKIN
Don’t you see, we don’t have
to run away anymore. I have
brought peace to the Republic. I
am more powerful than the Chancellor.
I can overthrow him, and together
you and I can rule the galaxy.
Make things the way we want
them to be.

PADME
I don’t believe what I’m hearing…
Obi-Wan was right. You’ve changed.

ANAKIN
I don’t want to hear any more
about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned
against me. Don’t you turn against me.

PADME
I don’t know you anymore.
Anakin, you’re breaking my
heart. I’ll never stop loving
you, but you are going down
a path I can’t follow.

ANAKIN
Because of Obi-Wan?

PADME
Because of what you’ve done…
what you plan to do. Stop,
stop now. Come back!
I love you.

ANAKIN
(seeing Obi-Wan)
Liar!

PADME turns around and. sees OBI-WAN standing in the doorway of the Naboo Cruiser.

PADME
No!

ANAKIN
You’re with him. You’ve betrayed
me! You brought him here to kill me!

PADME
NO! Anakin. I swear… I…

ANAKIN reaches out, and PADME grabs her throat as she starts to choke.

OBI-WAN
Let her go, Anakin.

ANAKIN
What have you and she been up to?

OBI-WAN
Let her go!

ANAKIN releases his grip on the unconscious PADME and she crumples to the ground.

If you look at the novel and the comic, you’ll see similar variations. The key thing that’s not mentioned here is the fact that originally Anakin flung Padmé up against a wall when he let her go. This was changed later on. and Padmé’s body was moved to a different location. In the image included here from Starwars.com, you can see Padmé in her original position near the wall. If you look at the comic version of this scene, you’ll see the artistic rendering.

200 INT. MUSTAFAR-MAIN CONTROL CENTER-DAY
View screens EXPLODE around ANAKIN and OBI-WAN as they work their way into the Control Room. The fighting is intense. OBI-WAN is on the defensive as he jumps up on the table view screen in the center of the room.

ANAKIN
Don’t make me destroy you,
Master. You’re no match for
the dark side.

OBI-WAN
I’ve heard that before,
Anakin… but I never
thought I’d hear it from
you.

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202 INT. MUSTAFAR-MAIN CONTROL CENTER-DAY
The battle intensifies.

OBI-WAN
(continuing)
The flaw of power
is arrogance.

OBI-WAN stands looking at his former apprentice for a moment.

ANAKIN
You hesitate…
the flaw of compassion.

There’s a callback to Episode V in the first set of dialogue above. “Don’t make me destroy you,” is one of my favorite Vader lines. This line made its way into other publications like the comic. As for the second passage, it’s nice but mundane. Pointing out each other’s weaknesses is a common thing when two enemies are duking it out in Star Wars. These little lines are missing in the final film, but their absence doesn’t ruin the scenes or destroy the flow at all.

OBI-WAN and ANAKIN continue the swordfight. They battle away, balancing on the tiny platform and puzzled DROID. ANAKIN, standing on the Droid, approaches OBI-WAN on the work platform.

OBI-WAN
I have failed you, Anakin.
I was never able to teach
you to think.

ANAKIN and OBI-WAN confront each other on the lava river.

ANAKIN
I should have known the Jedi
were plotting to take over…

OBI-WAN
From the Sith!!! Anakin,
Chancellor Palpatine is evil.

ANAKIN
From the Jedi point of view!
From my point of view, the Jedi
are evil.

OBI-WAN
Well, then you are lost!

ANAKIN
This is the end for you, My
Master. I wish it were
otherwise.

ANAKIN jumps and flips onto OBI- WAN’s platform. The fighting continues again until OBI-WAN jumps toward the safety of the black sandy edge of the lava river. He yells at Anakin.

One of the more surprising aspects of Episode III was that while Obi-Wan defeated and disfigured Anakin/Vader on Mustafar, he didn’t show a hint of trying to redeem him afterwards. He never tried to gather him and bring him back to the ship as he was lying there burning. There was never that cliché “take my hand” moment. There was a line of dialogue (present in the comic version) that even drives this point home further. Obi-Wan tells Anakin he loved him, but he won’t help him. In the finished film, the second half of that phrase is not heard. It’s clear that Obi-Wan has given up on his friend, and leaves him to die horribly, smoldering on the surface of the planet. Now that’s some grim stuff.

Included with the images below is a small scan from The Making of Revenge of the Sith that shows what might be the ADR (dialogue overdubbing) sheet or some kind of document that tracks dialogue, and you can see the full line is in there. In fact, the book mentions that this line was purposely changed from present tense to past tense to convey the idea that Obi-Wan was talking to a dead person. It’s worth mentioning that at a book signing, artist Iain McCaig mentioned that originally Anakin was supposed to fall into the lava, and then was pulled out by droids. This never made it past the concept stage, however.

 

BROTHER ON BROTHER

With a duel as large as the Obi-Wan/Anakin duel at the end of Episode III, there are bound to be countless bits and pieces that got lost in the editing room. Much of the following consists of small bits and pieces from the published script:

ANAKIN ignites his lightsaber. ANAKIN lashes out at OBI-WAN, and they begin a ferocious sword fight. ANAKIN throws CONTAINERS at OBI-WAN using the Force.

They work their way off the landing platform and into the main entry hallway. ANAKIN kicks OBI-WAN, and OBI-WAN drops to a lower level.

ARTOO BEEPS his concern and rushes to the unconscious PADME’s aid.

There are two things to note in the above passage. One is the hurling of containers at Obi-Wan. This directly mirrors Vader’s hurling of objects at Luke in Episode V. It would have been a nice visual link. The other is the mention of R2-D2 coming to Padmé’s aid. There are a small series of shots that were deleted from the film that involve C-3PO and R2-D2 taking the injured Padmé to her ship while she’s unconscious.

ANAKIN forces OBI-WAN back into the Conference Room where the quarters are much closer. Sparks fly everywhere. ANAKIN jumps onto the conference table. OBI-WAN slides across the table, knocking ANAKIN over. OBI-WAN grabs ANAKIN’s lightsaber as he falls. OBI-WAN uses the Force to summon his dropped lightsaber. ANAKIN does the same.

Many fans noticed a few odd editing moments during the fight on top of the conference table. This duel is inter-cut with the Palpatine/Yoda fight. This is an advantage for the editor because you can jump to a different point in time quite easily by changing location. Before the conference table fight shots, the two duelists have just made their way into the room where the hologram table is. This is called the “Control Room” in the screenplay. In fact, at one point, Obi-Wan was supposed to jump up onto the hologram table. The action is described: View screens EXPLODE around ANAKIN and OBI-WAN as they work their way into the Control Room. The fighting is intense. OBI-WAN is on the defensive as he jumps up on the table view screen in the center of the room. After that is the above passage where they’re in the conference room. The odd parts, for those who look closely, involve lightsabers and who’s holding whose in different parts of the scene. When we last saw Anakin and Obi-Wan, they were in the control room fighting. Then we cut to some Palpatine/Yoda stuff, and when we return to Mustafar, Anakin is grabbing Obi-Wan by the throat on top of the conference table in the conference room. Anakin has no lightsaber at this point. If you look even closer, Obi-Wan is holding his saber for the first few shots, then magically he’s holding Anakin’s. So in the time between the edits, some of the above script passage must have taken place. They made their way into the conference room and continued fighting, Anakin lost his lightsaber and Obi-Wan used it for a while. In fact, the confusing text above gives us the impression that Obi-Wan grabs two sabers for a brief moment. It looks like they dropped some of the lightsaber switching but didn’t bother trying to swap out the sabers from the original shoot. These are quick shots so most people wouldn’t notice the differences, but keen-eyed fans will.

204 EXT. MUSTAFAR – MAIN CONTROL CENTER BALCONY – DAY
ANAKIN forces OBI-WAN down a narrow balcony outside the Control Room. He rips objects off the wall and throws them at OBI-WAN as he pushes him further and further along the walkway.The balcony ends, and OBI-WAN is trapped. He looks over the balcony and into a river of lava.ANAKIN cuts apiece of the balcony railing off, along with a control panel. ALARMS SOUND, and a protective ray shield around the superstructure disappears. It tumbles into the molten abyss, disappearing in a puff of smoke. A small pipe connects the Control Center to the Main Collection Plant. OBI-WAN has no choice but to tightrope-walk out across the lava river while fighting ANAKIN.

205 EXT. MUSTAFAR – MAIN CONTROL CENTER BALCONY, PIPE ACROSS LAVA RIVER, MAIN COLLECTION PLANT – DAY
ANAKIN, following OBI-WAN, jumps down onto the flexing pipe, lands, and resumes fighting.

206 INT. MUSTAFAR – PIPE ACROSS LAVA RIVER – DAY
OBI-WAN and ANAKIN work their way across the small pipe, fighting ferociously as they go. OBI-WAN slips, throws his lightsaber up in the air, grabs on to the pipe, swings around, grabs on to an upper pipe, retrieves his lightsaber, and lands back on the original pipe. They continue to fight across the pipe until they reach the Main Collection Plant.

The images here are just stills from the DVD to illustrate the lightsaber switching described above.

See also: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs4e1v

 

THOUGHTFUL DROIDS

After Anakin and Obi-Wan are done duking it out, Obi-Wan returns to Padmé’s vessel to find a nervous C-3PO alerting him to the fact that he and R2-D2 have Padmé on board and would really like to leave. We never get to see how two odd and clumsy droids are able to bring a pregnant human back to her ship, however. There were originally a series of quick cutaways from the big lightsaber duel that showed the droids trying to bring Padmé back to her ship. It all starts with R2-D2, who waits for an opening during the fight, and then heads over to help the fallen Padmé. He drags her back to her ship and tries to get her up the ramp. That’s when C-3PO sees him and comes down to help. He picks her up and brings her into the ship, bickering with R2 the whole time.

ANAKIN lashes out at OBI-WAN, and they begin a ferocious sword fight. ANAKIN throws CONTAINERS at OBI-WAN using the Force.

They work their way off the landing platform and into the main entry hallway. ANAKIN kicks OBI-WAN, and OBI-WAN drops to a lower level.

ARTOO BEEPS his concern and rushes to the unconscious PADME’s aid.

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198 EXT. MUSTAFAR-LANDING PLATFORM-NABOO CRUISER-DAY
R2-D2, tries to drag PADME on board the Naboo Cruiser. C-3PO pokes his head out of the ship’s doorway.

C-3PO
What are you doing?
You’re going to hurt her.
Wait!!

C-3PO starts down the ramp.

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213 EXT. MUSTAFAR-LANDING PLATFORM-NABOO SKIFF-DAY
C-3PO carefully lifts PADME into his arms. R2-D2 nervously looks on. BEEPING.

C-3PO
I am being careful. I’ve got
a good hold on her, but… I’m
worried about my back. I hope
it’s able to hold up under
this weight.

C-3PO carries PADME into the Naboo Skiff.

 

 

LEAVING MUSTAFAR

There was a brief shot in the original teaser trailer for Episode III that showed Padmé’s silver ship flying away from Mustafar. It’s a beautiful shot indeed, and at that time we didn’t know who was in the ship or where they were going. Now we know that the ship contains Padmé (who is dying) and a post-duel Obi-Wan, along with the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, the latter of whom happens to be flying the vessel. At the same time, another shuttle was landing, albeit with a different purpose: to rescue a fallen, young Sith Lord. Unfortunately, this wonderful shot of Padmé’s gleaming spacecraft didn’t make it into the final version of the film.