document_title: Vitaphone

question_text: what was the first feature-length film to use vitaphone technology

text: Vitaphone

text: Early history[edit]

text: In the early 1920s, Western Electric was developing both sound-on-film and sound-on-disc systems, aided by the purchase of Lee De Forest's Audion amplifier tube in 1913, consequent advances in public address systems, and the first practical condenser microphone, which Western Electric engineer E.C. Wente had created in 1916 and greatly improved in 1922. De Forest debuted his own Phonofilm sound-on-film system in New York City on April 15, 1923, but due to the relatively poor sound quality of Phonofilm and the impressive state-of-the-art sound heard in Western Electric's private demonstrations, the Warner Brothers decided to go forward with the industrial giant and the more familiar disc technology.

text: The business was established at Western Electric's Bell Laboratories in New York City and acquired by Warner Bros. in April 1925.[2] Warner Bros. introduced Vitaphone on August 6, 1926 with the release of their silent feature Don Juan, which had been retrofitted with a symphonic musical score and sound effects. There was no spoken dialog. The feature was preceded by a program of short subjects with live-recorded sound, nearly all featuring classical instrumentalists and opera stars. The only "pop music" artist was guitarist Roy Smeck and the only actual "talkie" was the short film that opened the program: four minutes of introductory remarks by motion picture industry spokesman Will Hays.

text: Don Juan was able to draw huge sums of money at the box office,[2] but was not able to match the expensive budget Warner Bros. put into the film's production.[3] After its financial failure, Paramount head Adolph Zukor offered Sam Warner a deal as an executive producer for Paramount if he brought Vitaphone with him.[4] Sam, not wanting to take any more of Harry Warner's refusal to move forward with using sound in future Warner films, agreed to accept Zukor's offer,[4] but the deal died after Paramount lost money in the wake of Rudolph Valentino's death.[4] Harry eventually agreed to accept Sam's demands.[5] Sam then pushed ahead with a new Vitaphone feature starring Al Jolson, the Broadway dynamo who had already scored a big hit with early Vitaphone audiences in A Plantation Act, a musical short released on October 7, 1926. On October 6, 1927, The Jazz Singer premiered at the Warner Theater in New York City, broke box-office records, established Warner Bros. as a major player in Hollywood, and is traditionally credited with single-handedly launching the talkie revolution.

text: At first, the production of Vitaphone shorts and the recording of orchestral scores was strictly a New York phenomenon, taking advantage of the bountiful supply of stage and concert hall talent there, but the Warners soon migrated some of this activity to their more spacious facilities on the West Coast. Dance band leader Henry Halstead is given credit for starring in the first Vitaphone short subject filmed in Hollywood instead of New York. Carnival Night in Paris (1927) featured the Henry Halstead Orchestra and a cast of hundreds of costumed dancers in a Carnival atmosphere.

text: Process[edit]

text: From the perspective of the cast and crew on the sound stage, there was little difference between filming with Vitaphone and a sound-on-film system. In the early years of sound, the noisy cameras and their operators were enclosed in soundproofed booths with small windows made of thick glass. Cables suspended the microphones in fixed positions just above camera range, and sometimes they were hidden behind objects in the scene. The recording machines were usually located in a separate building to completely isolate them from sound stage floor vibrations and other undesirable influences. The audio signal was sent from an on-stage monitoring and control booth to the recording room over a heavy shielded cable. Synchronization was maintained by driving all the cameras and recorders with synchronous electric motors powered from a common source. When music and sound effects were being recorded to accompany existing film footage, the film was projected so that the conductor could synchronize the music with the visual cues and it was the projector, rather than a camera, that was electrically interlocked with the recording machine.

text: Except for the unusual disc size and speed, the physical record-making process was the same one employed by contemporary record companies to make smaller discs for home use. The recording lathe cut an audio-signal-modulated spiral groove into the polished surface of a thick round slab of wax-like material rotating on a turntable. The wax was much too soft to be played in the usual way, but a specially supported and guided pickup could be used to play it back immediately in order to detect any sound problems that might have gone unnoticed during the filming. If problems were found, the scene could then be re-shot while everything was still in place, minimizing additional expense. Even the lightest playback caused some damage to the wax master, so it was customary to employ two recorders and simultaneously record two waxes, one to play and the other to be sent for processing if that "take" of the scene was approved. At the processing plant, the surface of the wax was rendered electrically conductive and electroplated to produce a metal mold or "stamper" with a ridge instead of a groove, and this was used to press hard shellac discs from molten "biscuits" of the raw material.

text: Because of the universal desirability of an immediate playback capability, even studios using sound-on-film systems employed a wax disc "playback machine" in tandem with their film recorders, as it was impossible to play an optical recording until it had made the round trip to the film processing laboratory.

text: A Vitaphone-equipped theater had normal projectors which had been furnished with special phonograph turntables and pickups; a fader; an amplifier; and a loudspeaker system. The projectors operated just as motorized silent projectors did, but at a fixed speed of 24 frames per second and mechanically interlocked with the attached turntables. When each projector was threaded, the projectionist would align a start mark on the film with the film gate, then cue up the corresponding soundtrack disc on the turntable, being careful to place the phonograph needle at a point indicated by an arrow scribed on the record's surface. When the projector was started, it rotated the linked turntable and (in theory) automatically kept the record "in sync" (correctly synchronized) with the projected image.

text: The Vitaphone process made several improvements over previous systems:

text:
Amplification – The Vitaphone system used electronic amplification based on Lee De Forest's Audion tube. This allowed the sound to be played to a large audience at a comfortable volume. Vitaphone was far from the first sound film system to use this technology, but it had amplifiers and loudspeakers, developed by Western Electric, which were state-of-the-art. Their performance was greatly superior to anything else of the kind then available, including the equipment used by De Forest to present his own Phonofilm sound-on-film exhibitions.
Fidelity – Contrary to conventional wisdom, neither Vitaphone's ability to fill a theater with an adequate volume of sound nor its success in maintaining synchronization was unprecedented. Léon Gaumont's sound-on-disc films, which were being shown twenty years earlier, were successfully synchronized by the use of electrically interlinked multi-pole synchronous motors, and a pneumatic amplification system more than sufficed to fill Gaumont's 3,400-seat flagship theater in Paris with the recorded sound.[6] That sound, however, had to be recorded by the same insensitive non-electronic method introduced by Thomas Edison in 1877, or alternatively by a very crude microphone-based variant which had logistical advantages but did not offer improved fidelity. The resulting sound, however greatly amplified it might be, was tinny and unclear and speech was difficult to understand. The footsteps and other incidental sounds that audiences instinctively expected to hear were missing. It did not sound "natural". The Vitaphone system derived from extensive work on electronically recording and reproducing sound that had been carried out at Western Electric during the first half of the 1920s. Western Electric's engineers had developed a highly sensitive full-frequency-range condenser microphone, capable of capturing a whisper from several feet away, along with the electronic and mechanical equipment necessary to adequately record the audio signal it produced. As a result, the quality of Vitaphone sound in the theater came as a revelation to the audience at its public debut in 1926. It easily and dramatically surpassed anything previously achieved. It even surpassed the sound quality of Western Electric's own sound-on-film system, developed concurrently with the sound-on-disc system but still in the laboratory at that time, because at first the discs yielded better fidelity than an optical sound track.

text: These innovations notwithstanding, the Vitaphone process lost the early format war with sound-on-film processes for many reasons:

text:
Distribution – Vitaphone records had to be distributed along with film prints, and shipping the records required a whole infrastructure apart from the already-existing film distribution system. The records would start to suffer from audible wear after an estimated 20 playings (a check box system on the label was used to keep count) and were then supposed to be replaced with a fresh set. Damage and breakage were inherent dangers, so a spare set of discs was usually kept on hand, further adding to the costs.
Synchronization – Vitaphone was vulnerable to severe synchronization problems, famously spoofed in MGM's 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain.[7] If a record was improperly cued up, it would start out of sync with the picture and the projectionist would have to try to manually acquire sync. If the wrong record had been cued up there was no realistic option but to pause the show for a few minutes while swapping in the correct disc, resetting everything and starting that reel again. If the film print became damaged and was not precisely repaired, the relationship between the record and the print would be thrown off, also causing a loss of sync. Vitaphone projectors had special levers and linkages to advance and retard sync, but only within certain limits. Scrupulous care and attention were demanded from the projectionist. In the absence of human error and the occasional malfunction that can befall any complicated machine, the Vitaphone system worked as intended, but when a problem did occur it could be an embarrassing disaster.
Editing – A phonograph record cannot be physically edited, and this significantly limited the creative potential of Vitaphone films. Warner Bros. went to great expense to develop a highly complex phonograph-based dubbing system, using synchronous motors and Strowger switch-triggered playback phonographs. Multiple source discs would be carefully cued up, then parts of each in turn were dubbed to a new master disc. The cutting of the new wax master could not be paused, so each playback turntable had to be started at just the right moment and each signal switched to the recorder at just the right moment. The system worked, but imprecisely enough that the reel of film often required some adjustment, by adding or removing one or more film frames at imperfectly matched edit points, to conform it to the disc of edited sound. This discouraged frequent changes of scene in the film and the lively pace that they created. Editing sound on disc was a nightmare for the editor, and it was increasingly obvious to everyone that while the system sufficed for musical shorts and a synchronized musical accompaniment for otherwise silent films (the only applications originally planned), it was a clumsy way to make a feature-length film with "live" sound. By the middle of 1931, Warner Bros.-First National had thrown in the towel and was recording and editing optical sound on film, like all the other studios, and only then dubbing the completed soundtrack to discs for use with the Vitaphone projection system.
Fidelity versus Sound-on-Film – The fidelity of sound-on-film processes was improved considerably after the early work by Lee De Forest on his Phonofilm system and that of his former associate Theodore Case on what eventually became the Fox Movietone system, introduced in 1927. The De Forest and Case-Fox systems used variable-density soundtracks, but the variable-area soundtrack used by RCA Photophone, introduced in 1928, eventually predominated. Although the fidelity of optical sound never quite caught up with ongoing improvements in disc recording technology, for practical purposes the early quality advantage of discs had been overcome within a few years.

text: After the improvement of the competing sound-on-film systems, Vitaphone's disadvantages led to its retirement early in the sound era. Warner Bros. and First National stopped recording directly to disc and switched to Photophone sound-on-film recording. Warner Bros. had to publicly concede that Vitaphone was being retired, but put a positive spin on it by announcing that Warner films would now be available in both sound-on-film and sound-on-disc versions. Thus, instead of making a grudging admission that its technology had become obsolete, Warner Bros. purported to be doing the entire movie industry a favor.

text: A significant number of theater owners, who had invested heavily in Vitaphone equipment only a short time before, were financially unable or unwilling to replace their sound-on-disc-only equipment. Their continuing need for discs compelled most Hollywood studios to prepare sets of soundtrack discs for their new films, made by dubbing from the optical soundtracks, and supply them as required. This practice continued, although on an ever-dwindling scale, into the mid-1930s.

text: Vitaphone soundtrack discs[edit]

text: In 1924–1925, when Western Electric established the format of the system which would eventually be named Vitaphone, they settled on a 16-inch (41 cm) diameter disc rotating at  33 1⁄3 rpm as a good practical compromise of disc size and speed. The slow speed permitted the 11-minute playing time needed to match the maximum running time of a then-standard 1000 foot (300 meter) reel of film projected at 24 fps, yet the increased diameter preserved the average effective groove velocity, and therefore the sound quality, of a smaller, shorter-playing record rotating at the then-standard speed of about 78 rpm.

text: Like ordinary pre-vinyl records, Vitaphone discs were made of a shellac compound rendered lightly abrasive by its major constituent, finely pulverized rock. Such records were played with a very inexpensive, imprecisely mass-produced steel needle with a point that quickly wore to fit the contour of the groove, but then went on to wear out in the course of playing one disc side, after which it was meant to be discarded and replaced. Unlike ordinary records, Vitaphone discs were recorded inside out, so that the groove started near the synchronization arrow scribed in the blank area around the label and proceeded outward. During playback, the needle would therefore be fresh where the groove's undulations were most closely packed and needed the most accurate tracing, and suffering from wear only as the much more widely spaced and easily traced undulations toward the edge of the disc were encountered.

text: Initially, Vitaphone discs had a recording on one side only, each reel of film having its own disc. As the sound-on-disc method was slowly relegated to second-class status, cost-cutting changes were instituted, first by making use of both sides of each disc for non-consecutive reels of film, then by reducing the discs to 14 or 12 inches (36 or 30 cm) in diameter. The use of RCA Victor's new "Victrolac", a lightweight, flexible and less abrasive vinyl-based compound, made it possible to downsize the discs while actually improving their sound quality.[8]

text: There were exceptions to the 16-inch (41 cm) standard size of 1920s Vitaphone discs. In the case of very short films, such as trailers and some of the earliest musical shorts, the recording, still cut at  33 1⁄3 rpm and working outward from a minimum diameter of about 7 1⁄2 inches (19 cm), was pressed on a 12-or-10-inch (30 or 25 cm) disc when the smaller size sufficed.

text: The Vitaphone Project[edit]

text: A coalition of hobbyists, collectors and professional archivists, founded in 1991 and known as "The Vitaphone Project", has been working to restore long-unseen Vitaphone productions. Its members track down mute picture elements and their corresponding Vitaphone discs, often found in widely separated locations, then use the latest image and sound transfer technology to produce new 35 mm sound-on-film prints that can be shown with ordinary modern projectors.

text: In the case of some titles that already existed as sound-on-film prints, those prints, many in the inferior 16 mm format, were made long ago using source elements that were incomplete or in poor condition, primitive transfer equipment, and often a minimum of care, so that new restorations have been warranted. When in good condition and played correctly, original Vitaphone discs commonly yield much better audio than the optical soundtracks of old transfers. In some instances superior picture elements are also now available.

text: To date, the Project has restored more than 50 Vitaphone shorts and films from the sound-on-disc era, featuring many stars of vaudeville, radio, and the concert stage.

text: Legacy[edit]

text: Warner Bros. kept the "Vitaphone" trademark alive in the name of its short subjects division, The Vitaphone Corporation (officially dissolved at the end of 1959), most famous for releasing the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. In the 1950s, the Warner Bros. record label boasted "Vitaphonic" high-fidelity recording. In the 1960s, the end titles of Merrie Melodies cartoons (beginning with From Hare to Heir (1960)) carried the legend "A Vitaphone Release". Looney Tunes of the same period (beginning with that same year's Hopalong Casualty) were credited as "A Vitagraph Release", making further use of the name of the venerable Vitagraph Studios in Brooklyn, which the Warners had bought in 1925, used as a facility for working out practical sound film production techniques and filming some early musical shorts, and from which a name for the previously nameless Western Electric sound-on-disc system had been derived.

text: Vitaphone was among the first 25 inductees into the TECnology Hall of Fame at its establishment in 2004, an honor given to "products and innovations that have had an enduring impact on the development of audio technology." The award notes that Vitaphone, though short-lived, helped in popularizing theater sound and was critical in stimulating the development of the modern sound reinforcement system.[9]

text: Though operating on principles so different as to make it unrecognizable to a Vitaphone engineer, DTS is a sound-on-disc system, the first to gain wide adoption since the abandonment of Vitaphone.


document_title: Darth Vader

question_text: when did anakin skywalker turn to the dark side

root

text: Darth Vader

text: Creation and development

text: Concept and writing

text: In the first draft of The Star Wars, tall, grim general "Darth Vader" was already close in line with his final depiction,[10] and the protagonist "Anikin Starkiller" had a role similar to Luke Skywalker's as the 16-year-old son of a respected warrior.[11]

tag: p

text: After the success of the original Star Wars (1977), series creator George Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write the sequel with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment. The treatment is similar to the final film, except that Vader does not reveal he is Luke's father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this, Luke's father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke.[12] Lucas was disappointed with the script, but Brackett died of cancer before he could discuss it with her.[13] With no writer available, Lucas had to write the next draft himself. In this draft, he made use of a new plot twist: Vader claiming to be Luke's father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the year-long struggles writing the first film.[14]

text: The new plot element of Luke's parentage had drastic effects on the series. Author Michael Kaminski claims and argues in his book that it is unlikely that the plot point had ever seriously been considered or even conceived of before 1978, and that the first film was clearly operating under an alternate storyline where Vader was a separate character from Luke's father.[15] After writing the second and third drafts in which the plot point was introduced, Lucas reviewed the new backstory he had created: Anakin had been Obi-Wan Kenobi's brilliant student and had a child named Luke, but was swayed to the dark side by Palpatine. Anakin battled Kenobi on the site of a volcano and was badly wounded, but was then reborn as Vader. Meanwhile, Kenobi hid Luke on Tatooine while the Galactic Republic became the tyrannical Galactic Empire and Vader systematically hunted down and killed the Jedi.[16] This change in character would provide a springboard to the "Tragedy of Darth Vader" storyline that underlies the prequel trilogy.[17]

text: After deciding to create the prequel trilogy, Lucas indicated the series would be a tragic one depicting Anakin's fall to the dark side. He also saw that the prequels could form the beginning of one long story that started with Anakin's childhood and ended with his death. This was the final step towards turning the film series into a "saga".[18]

text: For the first prequel, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Lucas made Anakin nine years old to make the character's separation from his mother more poignant.[11] Movie trailers focused on Anakin and a one-sheet poster showing him casting Vader's shadow informed otherwise unknowing audiences of the character's eventual fate.[19] The movie ultimately achieved a primary goal of introducing audiences to Anakin.[1]

text: Author Michael Kaminski, in The Secret History of Star Wars, offers evidence that issues in Anakin's fall to the dark side prompted Lucas to make massive story changes, first revising the opening sequence of the third prequel, Revenge of the Sith (2005), to have Palpatine kidnapped and his apprentice, Count Dooku, killed by Anakin as the first act in the latter's turn towards the dark side.[20] After principal photography was complete in 2003, Lucas made even more massive changes in Anakin's character, re-writing his entire turn to the dark side; Anakin's fall from grace would now be motivated by a desire to save his wife, Padmé Amidala, rather than the previous version in which that reason was one of several, including that he genuinely believed that the Jedi were plotting to take over the Republic. This fundamental re-write was accomplished both through editing the principal footage, and new and revised scenes filmed during pick-ups in 2004.[21]

text: During production of the Clone Wars TV series, Ahsoka Tano was developed to illustrate how Anakin develops from the brash, undisciplined Padawan apprentice in Attack of the Clones (2002) to the more reserved Jedi Knight in Revenge of the Sith.[22] Clone Wars supervising director and Rebels co-creator Dave Filoni said that giving Anakin responsibility for a Padawan was meant to place the character in a role that forced him to become more cautious and responsible. It would also give him insight into his relationship with Obi-Wan and depict how their relationship matured. Ahsoka and Anakin's relationship was seen as an essential story arc spanning both the animated film and Clone Wars television series.[23] Filoni began thinking about the final confrontation between Ahsoka and Vader ever since he created Ahsoka;[24] different iterations had different endings,[25] including one in which Vader kills Ahsoka just as she slashes open his helmet to reveal Anakin's scarred face.[26]

text: Ahsoka's presence in Star Wars Rebels was necessary to allow Darth Vader to encounter the show's lead characters without the latter being "destroyed"; Ahsoka can "stand toe-to-toe" with Vader.[27]

text: Design

text: The original design of Darth Vader's costume did not originally include a helmet. The idea that Vader should wear a breathing apparatus was first proposed by concept artist Ralph McQuarrie during preproduction discussions for Star Wars with George Lucas in 1975. In an interview with Star Wars Insider Magazine, McQuarrie stated that Lucas's artistic direction was to portray a malevolent figure in a cape with Samurai armour. "For Darth Vader, George [Lucas] just said he would like to have a very tall, dark fluttering figure that had a spooky feeling like it came in on the wind." McQuarrie noted that the script indicated that Vader would travel between spaceships and needed to survive in the vacuum of space, and he proposed that Vader should wear some sort of space suit. Lucas agreed, and McQuarrie combined a full-face breathing mask with a Samurai helmet, thus creating one of the most iconic designs of space fantasy cinema.[28][29] McQuarrie's 1975 production painting of Darth Vader engaged in a lightsaber duel with Deak Starkiller (a character prototype for Luke Skywalker) depicts Vader wearing black armour, a flowing cape and an elongated, skull-like mask and helmet. Its similarity to the final design of Vader's costume demonstrates that McQuarrie's earliest conception of Vader was so successful that very little needed to be changed for production.[30]

text: Working from McQuarrie's designs, the costume designer John Mollo devised a costume that could be worn by an actor on-screen using a combination of clerical robes, a motorcycle suit, a German military helmet and a gas mask.[31] The prop sculptor Brian Muir created the helmet and armour used in the film.[32][33]

text: The sound of the respirator function of Vader's mask was created by Ben Burtt using modified recordings of scuba breathing apparatus used by divers.[34] The sound effect is trademarked in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office under Trademark #77419252 and is officially described in the documentation as "The sound of rhythmic mechanical human breathing created by breathing through a scuba tank regulator."[35]

text: Commentators have often pointed to the influence of Akira Kurosawa’s films such as The Hidden Fortress (1958) on George Lucas, and Vader's Samurai-inspired costume design is held up as a significant example of the Japanese influences on Star Wars.[36]

text: Portrayals

text: Darth Vader was portrayed by bodybuilder David Prowse in the original film trilogy, and by stunt performer Bob Anderson during the character's intense lightsaber fight scenes.[10][37] Lucas originally intended for Orson Welles to voice Vader (after dismissing using Prowse's own voice due to his English West Country accent, leading to the rest of the cast nicknaming him "Darth Farmer").[38] After deciding that Welles's voice would be too recognizable, he cast the lesser-known James Earl Jones instead.[39][40] Jones initially felt his contributions to the films were too small to warrant recognition and his role was uncredited at his request until the release of Return of the Jedi (1983).[10] When Jones was specifically asked if he had supplied Vader's voice for Revenge of the Sith—either newly or from a previous recording—Jones answered, "You'd have to ask Lucas about that. I don't know".[41] Hayden Christensen and Gene Bryant alternately portray Vader in Revenge of the Sith.[42][43][44] During the production of Revenge of the Sith, Christensen asked Lucas if a special Vader suit could be constructed to fit his own body, rather than have a different actor don one of the original sets of Vader armor worn by Prowse.[45] Brock Peters provided the voice of Darth Vader in the NPR/USC radio series. Both Spencer Wilding[46] and Daniel Naprous portrayed Vader in Rogue One (2016), with Jones reprising his role as the character's voice.[47]

text: Vader's character has also been portrayed in several video games; in games such as Star Wars: Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire and Star Wars: Dark Forces, visual effects artist C. Andrew Nelson appears in short sequences in the Vader costume, voiced by Scott Lawrence. Matt Sloan, who appeared in the YouTube parody Chad Vader, provided the voice of Darth Vader in The Force Unleashed .[48] As a result of his video game appearances, Nelson was cast to appear as Vader in brief sequences inserted into the 1998 special edition of The Empire Strikes Back, in which Vader is seen boarding his shuttle.[44]

text: During production of Return of the Jedi, the casting crew sought an experienced actor for the role of Anakin Skywalker since his death was unquestionably the emotional climax of the film, and Sebastian Shaw was selected for the role.[49] When Shaw arrived at the set for filming, he ran into his friend Ian McDiarmid, the actor playing the Emperor. When McDiarmid asked him what he was doing there, Shaw responded, "I don't know, dear boy, I think it's something to do with science-fiction."[50] His presence during the filming was kept secret from all but the minimum cast and crew, and Shaw was contractually obliged not to discuss any film secrets with anyone, even his family. The unmasking scene, directed by Richard Marquand, was filmed in one day and required only a few takes, with no alteration from the original dialogue.[49] Lucas personally directed Shaw for his appearance in the final scene of the film, in which he is a Force Ghost of Anakin. Shaw's image in this scene was replaced with that of Christensen in the 2004 DVD release. This last attempt to tie the prequel and original trilogies together proved to be possibly the most controversial change in the Star Wars re-releases.[51][52] Shaw received more fan mail and autograph requests from Return of the Jedi than he had for any role in the rest of his career. He later reflected that he very much enjoyed his experience filming for Return of the Jedi and expressed particular surprise that an action figure was made of him from the film.[49]

text: When The Phantom Menace was being produced, hundreds of actors were tested for the role of young Anakin[53] before the producers settled on Jake Lloyd, who Lucas considered met his requirements of "a good actor, enthusiastic and very energetic". Producer Rick McCallum said that Lloyd was "smart, mischievous and loves anything mechanical—just like Anakin."[54][55] During production of Attack of the Clones, casting director Robin Gurland reviewed about 1,500 other candidates for the role of the young Anakin before Lucas eventually selected Hayden Christensen for the role.[56] When Revenge of the Sith was being produced, Christensen and Ewan McGregor began rehearsing their climactic lightsaber duel long before Lucas would shoot it. They trained extensively with stunt coordinator Nick Gillard to memorize and perform their duel together. As in the previous prequel film, McGregor and Christensen performed their own lightsaber fighting scenes without the use of stunt doubles.[57]

text: Anakin has also been voiced by Mat Lucas for the 2003 micro-series Star Wars: Clone Wars, and by Matt Lanter in the CGI animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the television series of the same name and for Anakin's cameos in Star Wars Rebels. For Vader's appearances in the Star Wars Rebels animated series, James Earl Jones has reprised the voice role.[58][59] Both Lanter and Jones contributed their voices for the second-season finale of Rebels, at times with identical dialogue spoken by both actors blended together in different ways.[60]

text: Appearances

text: Darth Vader appears in seven of the live-action Star Wars films, The Clone Wars animated film and spinoff televison series. He also has a recurring role in Star Wars expanded universe material.

text: Featured films

text: Original trilogy

text: Darth Vader first appears in Star Wars (later retitled as A New Hope) as a ruthless villain serving the Galactic Empire. He is tasked, along with Imperial Governor Grand Moff Tarkin, with recovering the secret technical plans for the Death Star, which were stolen by the Rebel Alliance. Vader captures and tortures Princess Leia Organa, who has hidden the plans inside the droid R2-D2 and sent it to find Vader's former Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on the planet Tatooine. During Leia's rescue, Vader kills Obi-Wan in a lightsaber duel. Having placed a tracking device aboard the Millennium Falcon, Vader is able to track down the Rebels' base on the planet Yavin 4.[61] During the Rebels' attack on the Death Star, Vader in his TIE fighter attempts to shoot down Luke Skywalker's X-wing fighter, but Han Solo intervenes and sends Vader's ship spiraling off course, allowing Luke to destroy the Death Star.

text: In The Empire Strikes Back, Vader becomes obsessed with finding Luke[61] and leads the Imperial attack on the Rebel base on Hoth, but the Rebels escape. While conversing with Emperor Palpatine (a.k.a. Darth Sidious) via hologram, Vader convinces him that Luke would be valuable to the Empire if he could be turned to the dark side of the Force. Vader hires a group of bounty hunters (including Boba Fett) to follow Luke's friends, and negotiates with Bespin administrator Lando Calrissian to set a trap for them so that Luke will follow them.[61] After Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO arrive, Vader tortures Han, freezes him in carbonite and gives him to bounty hunter Boba Fett.[61] When Luke arrives, Vader defeats Luke in a lightsaber duel, severing his opponent's hand. Vader then says to Luke the famous Star Wars quote: "I am your father."[61] He also asks Luke to help him overthrow the Emperor so they can rule the galaxy together. Horrified, Luke escapes through an air shaft. Vader telepathically tells Luke that it is his destiny to join the dark side.

text: In Return of the Jedi, Vader and the Emperor are supervising the second Death Star's construction. Unknown to Vader, the Emperor intends to replace him with Luke as his apprentice.[61] Thinking that there is still good in his father, Luke surrenders to Vader in hopes that he can be redeemed. Vader brings Luke to the Emperor on board the Death Star. While there, Palpatine tempts Luke to join the dark side by appealing to the young Jedi's fear for his friends, which leads to Vader dueling with Luke once again.[61] Realizing that Leia is Luke's twin sister, Vader threatens to turn her to the dark side if Luke will not submit. Furious, Luke overpowers Vader and severs his father's robotic hand. The Emperor orders Luke to kill Vader and take his place. Luke refuses, however, and Sidious tortures him with Force lightning. Moved by Luke's pleas for help, the redeemed Anakin Skywalker throws Palpatine down an air shaft to his death; he is mortally wounded by the Emperor's lightning in the process.[61][62] After asking Luke to remove his mask, Anakin tells his son that there was good in him after all before he dies.[62] Luke escapes the Death Star with his father's body, and ceremonially burns it in a pyre. Anakin's spirit reunites with those of Obi-Wan and Yoda to watch over Luke and his friends as the Rebels celebrate the Death Star's destruction and the fall of the Empire.[62]

text: Prequel trilogy

text: Anakin first appears in the prequel trilogy in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which takes place 32 years before the original Star Wars, as a nine-year-old slave[63] living on the planet Tatooine with his mother Shmi. Anakin was conceived without a father and he can foresee the future. Also a gifted pilot and mechanic, Anakin has built his own protocol droid, C-3PO. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn meets Anakin after making an emergency landing on Tatooine. Qui-Gon senses Anakin's strong connection to the Force and becomes convinced that the boy is the "Chosen One" of Jedi prophecy who will bring balance to the Force. After winning his freedom in a podrace, Anakin leaves for Coruscant to be trained as a Jedi, but is forced to leave Shmi behind. During the journey, Anakin forms a bond with Padmé Amidala, the young queen of Naboo. Qui-Gon asks the Jedi Council for permission to train Anakin, but they sense fear in the boy and refuse. Eventually, Anakin helps thwart the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo by destroying their command ship. After Qui-Gon is killed in a lightsaber duel with Sith Lord Darth Maul, Obi-Wan promises to train Anakin, with the Council's reluctant approval.[62] Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (the future Emperor) later befriends Anakin and tells him that he will watch the boy's career "with great interest".

text: Anakin is Obi-Wan's Padawan apprentice in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, which takes place 10 years after The Phantom Menace. Having rescued Padmé, who is now a senator, from an assassination attempt, Anakin travels with her to Naboo, where they fall in love. Sensing that Shmi is in pain, Anakin travels to Tatooine to rescue her. While there, Anakin learns she was kidnapped by the hostile Tusken Raiders, native to Tatooine. Anakin locates Shmi at the Tusken campsite, where she dies in his arms. Anakin, enraged, massacres the Tuskens and returns to the Lars homestead to bury Shmi.[62] Anakin travels with Padmé to Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan from Sith Lord Count Dooku, Qui-Gon's old master and leader of the Separatists, a conspiracy of star systems bent on seceding from the Galactic Republic. Dooku captures them, however, and sentences them to death. However, a cadre of Jedi arrives with the Kaminoan clone army to halt their executions. Obi-Wan and Anakin confront Dooku during the ensuing battle, but the Sith Lord beats them both in a lightsaber duel and severs Anakin's arm. Master Yoda intervenes and rescues the Jedi. By the end of the film, Anakin is fitted with a robotic arm and marries Padmé in secret.

text: In Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, set three years after Attack of the Clones, Anakin is now a Jedi Knight and a hero of the Clone Wars. He and Obi-Wan lead a mission to rescue Palpatine from Separatist commander General Grievous on board his starship. The Jedi battle Dooku, whom Anakin eventually executes on Palpatine's command. They rescue Palpatine and return to Coruscant. Anakin reunites with Padmé, who tells him she is pregnant. Anakin has visions of Padmé dying in childbirth and becomes determined to prevent them from coming true.[62] Palpatine tells Anakin that the dark side holds the power to cheat death, and eventually reveals that he is the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the mastermind of the war. Although Anakin informs Jedi Master Mace Windu of Palpatine's treachery, he follows Windu to make sure Palpatine is captured alive. When he realizes that Windu is going to kill Palpatine, Anakin intervenes on the Sith Lord's behalf, allowing Palpatine to kill Windu. Desperate to save Padmé, Anakin pledges himself to the dark side and becomes Palpatine's new Sith apprentice, Darth Vader.[62] On Palpatine's command, Vader leads a legion of clones to murder everyone at the Jedi Temple and slaughters the remaining Separatist leaders hiding on the volcanic planet Mustafar. After doing so, Padmé arrives, confronts Vader and implores him to abandon the dark side, but Vader refuses and abandons her instead. Upon witnessing Obi-Wan invited to intervene, Vader accuses his wife of conspiring against him and uses the Force to choke her into unconsciousness. Obi-Wan duels and defeats Vader, severing both of his legs, and leaving him at the bank of a lava river, where he is horribly burned. Palpatine later finds Vader still alive and takes him back to Coruscant, where his apprentice's mutilated body is covered in the black armored suit first depicted in the original trilogy. Palpatine explains to Vader that he killed Padmé in his rage; Vader screams in agony, his spirit broken. As the film concludes, Vader supervises the construction of the first Death Star alongside Palpatine and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.

text: The Clone Wars (film)

text: In the 2008 film The Clone Wars, Yoda assigns Ahsoka Tano as Anakin's Padawan apprentice to teach him a greater sense of responsibility, and Anakin is initially frustrated by this decision. Their early interactions are "playfully contentious", with Anakin calling her "Snips" for her "snippy" attitude and Ahsoka calling him "Skyguy" as a pun on his surname.[62] After earning Anakin's respect during a dangerous mission, Ahsoka joins him on a quest to rescue Jabba the Hutt's infant son, Rotta. Her impetuousness both annoys and endears her to her master, and, by the end of the film, Anakin reveals a newfound affection for his apprentice.

text: Anthology films

text: Vader appears in the first anthology film Rogue One, played by Spencer Wilding[64] and Daniel Naprous,[65] with James Earl Jones once again voicing the character.[66] In this film, Vader meets with Imperial weapons engineer Orson Krennic, who asks him for an audience with the Emperor regarding the Death Star which Krennic lost command of to Tarkin. Vader refuses, however, and uses the Force to choke him as a way of putting him in his place and orders him to ensure the Death Star project has not been compromised. At the end of the film, Vader boards the disabled Rebel flagship Profundity with a cadre of Imperial stormtroopers and kills several Rebel soldiers as he attempts to recover the plans. However, the Alderaanian blockade runner Tantive IV (which was docked with the Profundity) escapes with the plans, setting the stage for the events of A New Hope.

text: Prior to the hallway scene being filmed, during the finale for Rogue One it was planned that Orson Krennic would survive the Death Star's assault on Scariff and Vader would then murder him for failing to stop the theft of the Death Star plans. However this scene was cut from Rogue One due to the difficulty of explaining how Krennic survived the explosion the Death Star caused.[67]

text: Television series

text: The Clone Wars (2008–2014)

text: Anakin is a lead character in all seasons of The Clone Wars. As a Jedi Knight, he goes on several missions with both Obi-Wan and Ahsoka throughout the war. While continuing to teach Ahsoka the ways of the Jedi, Anakin has developed a close bond with her and they take risks to protect or save one another. Some of Anakin's actions taken out of concern for Ahsoka violate the Jedi code, such as torturing prisoners who may know her location when she goes missing.[68] During the third season, Anakin experiences a vision of his future as Darth Vader.[69]

text: Rebels (2014)

text: Darth Vader is a recurring character in the first season of Star Wars Rebels, which takes place 14 years[70] after The Clone Wars concludes. Vader leads a squadron of Force-sensitive Imperial Inquisitors who are actively searching for and killing any remaining Jedi and Force-sensitive children. In the second-season premiere, Vader discovers that Ahsoka has joined the Rebel Alliance, and the Emperor orders him to hunt her down.

text: During their first confrontation in which Vader wipes out most of Phoenix Squadron's troops, Ahsoka is overwhelmed when she recognizes Anakin under "a layer of hate" in Darth Vader.[25] Later in the season, Ahsoka has a vision in which Anakin blames her for allowing him to fall to the dark side. Vader makes a brief cameo at the end of "Shroud of Darkness" in which he is brought to the Jedi temple on Lothal. In the season finale, Ahsoka duels with her former master inside a Sith Temple, allowing her friends to escape Vader and the temple's destruction. As the episode concludes, Vader escapes from the temple's ruins. Filoni said that it was "an elected decision" not to feature Vader for the third season.[71] Vader makes a final voiceless cameo in the late fourth season episode “A World Between Worlds”, as Ezra looks back in time to see the conclusion of his duel with Ahsoka before rescuing her from him. Shortly afterward, quotes from Vader are heard echoing in the void after Ezra says his name.

text: Forces of Destiny (2017)

text: For the cartoon series Star Wars: Forces of Destny, Anakin appears in the episode "The Padawan Path". He is voiced again by Matt Lanter.[72]

text: In "The Padawan Path", Anakin is waiting along with Yoda in the Jedi Temple for Ahsoka, for her ceremony.

text: Comics

text: In 2015, Marvel released a 25-issue series called Darth Vader (2015),[73] which focused on the title character in the aftermath of the destruction of the Death Star, as well as his life after learning about the existence of his son,[74] the series happens parallel to the comic series Star Wars (2015) and has a cross-over with it titled Vader Down.[75]

text: The Obi-Wan & Anakin 5-issue mini-series written by Charles Soule, depicts the lives of both Jedi between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. At New York Comic Con 2015, Dan Brooks of StarWars.com held an interview with Soule, who described the story as "pretty unexplored territory."[76]

text: A second series named exactly as the previous series Darth Vader (2017), is also written by Charles Soule. It begins moments after Vader wakes up for the first time in his black suit at the end of the film Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The series will focus on exploring the title character's reaction to Padme's death, his adjustment to his mechanical suit, how he creates his red lightsaber, as well as how he hunts Jedi, and the beginning of the Inquisitor program shown in the animated series Star Wars Rebels.[77]

text: Star Wars canon literature

text: Star Wars: Lords of the Sith was one of the first four canon novels to be released in 2014 and 2015.[78] In Lords of the Sith, Vader and Palpatine find themselves hunted by revolutionaries on the Twi'lek planet Ryloth.[79][80]

text: Virtual reality game

text: In the 2015 Star Wars Celebration, it was announced David S. Goyer is helping to develop a virtual reality game based on Darth Vader. It is said that the audience as "visitor" will be able to walk, pick up, push and open things, and might even have some effect in the story.[81]

text: Legends

text: In April 2014, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film Star Wars were rebranded by Lucasfilm as "Star Wars: Legends" and declared non-canon to the franchise.[78][82][83]

text: Clone Wars (2003–2005)

text: Anakin is a lead character in all three seasons of the Clone Wars microseries, which takes place four months after the conclusion of Attack of the Clones. Anakin becomes a Jedi Knight and is quickly promoted to a General of the Republic's Clone Army, due in part to Palpatine's influence. Among other missions, he fights a duel with Dark Jedi Asajj Ventress, helps Obi-Wan capture a Separatist-controlled fortress and rescues Jedi Master Saesee Tiin during a space battle. During the third season, Anakin frees the planet Nelvaan from Separatist control and sees a cryptic vision of his future as Darth Vader. In the season finale, Anakin and Obi-Wan go on a mission to rescue Palpatine from General Grievous, leading to the opening of Revenge of the Sith. Series creator and director Genndy Tartakovsky admitted that he was bothered that Lucasfilm declared Clone Wars non-canon, but said that he was proud of what he did and how much the microseries and the characters influenced later works.[84]

text: Literature

text: Vader is featured prominently in novels set in the Star Wars universe. In the 1978 novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster, Vader meets Luke Skywalker for the first time and engages him in a lightsaber duel that ends with Luke cutting off Vader's arm and Vader falling into a deep pit.[10] (In 1999's Vader's Quest, however, Vader encounters Luke for the first time after hiring a bounty hunter to find the pilot who destroyed the Death Star.) Shadows of the Empire (1996) reveals that Vader is conflicted about trying to turn his son to the dark side of the Force, and knows deep down that there is still some good in him.

text: Anakin Skywalker's redeemed spirit appears in The Truce at Bakura (1993), set a few days after the end of Return of the Jedi. He appears to Leia, imploring her forgiveness. Leia condemns him for his crimes and exiles him from her life. He promises that he will be there for her when she needs him, and disappears. In Tatooine Ghost (2003), Leia learns to forgive her father after learning about his childhood as a slave and his mother's traumatic death. In The Unifying Force (2003), Anakin tells his grandson Jacen Solo to "stand firm" in his battle with the Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong.

text: Upon the release of the prequel films, the Expanded Universe grew to include novels about Vader's former life as Anakin Skywalker. Greg Bear's 2000 novel Rogue Planet and Jude Watson's Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest series chronicle Anakin's early missions with Obi-Wan, while James Luceno's 2005 novel Labyrinth of Evil, set during the Clone Wars, depicts Anakin battling Separatist commander General Grievous. In Luceno's Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (2005), set a few months after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Vader disavows his identity as Anakin Skywalker as he systematically pursues and kills the surviving Jedi and cements his position in the Empire. The novel reveals that Vader plans to eventually overthrow Palpatine and that he betrayed the Jedi because he resented their supposed failure to recognize his power.

text: In the Dark Nest trilogy (2005), Luke and Leia uncover old recordings of their parents in R2-D2's memory drive; for the first time, they see their own birth and their mother's death, as well as their father's corruption to the dark side. In Bloodlines (2006), Han and Leia's son Jacen – who has himself turned to the dark side – uses the Force to "watch" Darth Vader slaughter the children at the Jedi Temple.

text: Vader also appears in a series of tongue-in-cheek children's books by Jeffrey Brown.[85] In Brown's series, a somewhat hapless Vader sets out to be a father to a young Luke and Leia, with some scenes directly based on their darker film counterparts (for example, one scene shows Vader, Luke and Leia at the carbonite freezing chamber on Bespin, with Vader pronouncing the freezer adequate for making ice cream).

text: Comics

text: Vader appears in several comic books such as Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars Tales and Marvel Comics' Star Wars (1977–1986) series.

text: Anakin Skywalker is a major character in Dark Horse's Star Wars: Republic series (1998–2006).

text: Video games

text: Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker appear in a variety of video games such as the Lego Star Wars series and the Battlefront series. Vader plays a central role in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008). He is a playable character in the first level of the game, where he and his armies invade Kashyyyk to hunt down a Jedi who had survived the Order's destruction. Vader kills the Jedi and kidnaps the man's young Force-sensitive son, whom he raises as his secret apprentice, Starkiller. Vader sends Starkiller on various missions throughout the galaxy, with an ultimate goal to assassinate Palpatine so that Vader can rule the galaxy himself. Toward the end of the game, however, it is revealed that Vader isn't planning to overthrow Palpatine at all; he is merely using his apprentice to expose the Empire's enemies. At the game's climax, the player chooses between attacking Palpatine to help his Rebel friends escape the Death Star or killing Vader to become the Emperor's new apprentice. He also appears in the sequel Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II as the final boss.

text: Other

text: In the Star Wars Holiday Special, a television special broadcast by CBS in 1978, features a brief appearance by Darth Vader, who appears on-screen speaking with Imperial officer "Chief Bast" in footage cut from the original 1977 film. The sequence is dubbed with new dialogue, performed by James Earl Jones. In the story, Vader colludes with Boba Fett to entrap the Rebels.[86]

text: Darth Vader features in the 1981 radio drama adaptation of Star Wars, voiced by the actor Brock Peters. Vader makes his first appearance on the planet Ralltiir, where he treats Princess Leia Organa with suspicion. In later extended scenes, he is heard interrogating and torturing Leia on board his Star Destroyer and aboard the Death Star.[87][88][89]

text: Vader appears in Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, where he is voiced by Jones. Vader is featured as a combatant in the popular series Death Battle, in which he is pitted against Marvel Comics villain Doctor Doom. He loses the fight due to Doom's superior weaponry and abilities.

text: Characteristics

text: In Attack of the Clones, Anakin Skywalker feels "smothered" by Obi-Wan Kenobi and is incapable of controlling his own life.[90] By Revenge of the Sith, however, his "father-son" friction with his master has matured into a more equal, brotherly relationship.[91] Once he becomes Darth Vader, each evil act he commits shatters any hope or connection towards his previous life, which makes it harder for him to return to the light,[92] but he ultimately escapes the dark side and redeems himself by sacrificing his life to save his son, Luke Skywalker, and kill the Emperor in Return of the Jedi.[93]

text: Eric Bui, a psychiatrist at University of Toulouse Hospital, argued at the 2007 American Psychiatric Association convention that Anakin Skywalker meets six of the nine diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD), one more than necessary for a diagnosis. He and a colleague, Rachel Rodgers, published their findings in a 2010 letter to the editor of the journal Psychiatry Research. Bui says he found Anakin Skywalker a useful example to explain BPD to medical students.[94] In particular, Bui points to Anakin's abandonment issues and uncertainty over his identity. Anakin's mass murders of the Tusken Raiders in Attack of the Clones and the young Jedi in Revenge of the Sith count as two dissociative episodes, fulfilling another criterion. Bui hoped his paper would help raise awareness of the disorder, especially among teens.[94]

text: Cultural impact

text: Darth Vader's iconic status has made the character a synonym for evil in popular culture.  For example, a three part series of episodes of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History has Darth Vader facing off against Adolf Hitler.[95]  Psychiatrists have considered Vader to be a useful example for explaining borderline personality disorder to medical students.[94] Anakin's origin story in The Phantom Menace has been compared to signifiers of African American racial identity,[96] and his dissatisfaction with his life has been compared to Siddartha's before he became Gautama Buddha.[97] A Mexican church advised Christians against seeing The Phantom Menace because it portrays Anakin as a Christ figure.[98] The slime-mold beetle Agathidium vaderi is named after Vader,[99] and several buildings across the globe are regularly compared to him.[100][101][102][103][104][105] A grotesque of Darth Vader looms over the east face of the Washington National Cathedral's northwest tower.[106] During the 2007–08 NHL season, Ottawa Senators goaltender Martin Gerber performed so well in an all-black mask that fans endearingly termed him "Darth Gerber".[107] In 2015, a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Odessa, Ukraine, was converted into one of Darth Vader due to a law on decommunization.[108]

text: Many commentators and comedians have also evoked his visage to satirize politicians and other public figures, and several American political figures have been unflatteringly compared to the character, including General George Custer, the subject of the acrylic painting Darth Custer by Native American artist Bunky Echohawk.[109] In 2005, Al Gore referred to Tele-Communications Inc.'s John C. Malone as the "Darth Vader of cable",[110] and political strategist Lee Atwater was known by his political enemies as "the Darth Vader of the Republican Party".[111]

text: On June 22, 2006, US Vice President Dick Cheney referred to himself as the Darth Vader of the Bush administration. Discussing the administration's philosophy on gathering intelligence, he said to CNN's John King, "It means we need to be able to go after and capture or kill those people who are trying to kill Americans. That's not a pleasant business. It's a very serious business. And I suppose, sometimes, people look at my demeanor and say, 'Well, he's the Darth Vader of the administration.'"[112] Jon Stewart put on a Darth Vader helmet to address Dick Cheney as a "kindred spirit" on The Daily Show on January 25, 2007.[113] Cheney's wife, Lynne, presented Stewart with a Darth Vader action figure on her appearance on the show on October 10, 2007. Both Stewart and Stephen Colbert have occasionally referred to Cheney as "Darth Cheney". In the satirical cartoon show Lil' Bush, Dick Cheney's father is portrayed as being Darth Vader. At her presidential campaign event on September 19, 2007, Hillary Clinton also referred to Cheney as Darth Vader. At the 2008 Washington Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner, Cheney joked that his wife Lynne told him that the Vader comparison "humanizes" him. George Lucas told The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, however, that Cheney is more akin to Emperor Palpatine, and that a better stand-in for Vader would be George W. Bush.[114] An issue of Newsweek referenced this quote, and compared Bush and Cheney to Vader and Palpatine, respectively, in a satirical article comparing politicians to various Star Wars and Star Trek characters.[115]

text: Many films and television series have paid homage to Darth Vader. The 1982 compilation movie Cosmic Princess, compiled from parts of Space: 1999 episodes, contains several Star Wars references including a character named "Vader".[116] Marty McFly in Back to the Future (1985), dressed in a radiation suit, calls himself "Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan" to convince the past version of his father to ask his mother to a dance. Rick Moranis plays "Dark Helmet" in the Star Wars parody Spaceballs (1987). In Chasing Amy (1997), Hooper X speaks at a comic convention about Darth Vader being a metaphor for how poorly the science fiction genre treats black people; he is especially offended that Vader, the "blackest brother in the galaxy", reveals himself to be a "feeble, crusty old white man" at the end of Return of the Jedi. The character was also parodied in the Nickelodeon cartoon Rocko's Modern Life in the episode "Teed Off".[117][better source needed] On another Nickelodeon cartoon, Jimmy Neutron, Darth Vader's infamous line, "I am your father", was interpolated in the mini-episode "New Dog, Old Tricks".[118] The line was also alluded to in Toy Story 2, which also introduces Emperor Zurg (a parody of Vader) to the Disney media franchise.[119] The character of Dark Mayhem in The Thundermans is also a parody of Vader, especially in his original depiction, while his later appearences changed the character to a comical supervillain usually working with incompetent henchmen.

text: The character has gained much positive reception as a classic film villain. Darth Vader ranked number two on Empire magazine's 2008 list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters.[120] Premiere magazine also ranked Vader on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.[121] On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Vader at number 6.[122] Darth Vader was also the No. 1 supervillain on the Bravo series Ultimate Super Heroes, Vixens and Villains.[123] Darth Vader was also ranked as No. 1 in IGN's list of top 100 Star Wars characters.[124] Furthermore, Darth Vader's quote in The Empire Strikes Back – "No, I am your father" (often misquoted as "Luke, I am your father"),[125] – is one of the most well known quotes in cinema history. The line was selected as one of the 400 nominees for the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, a list of the greatest American movie quotes.[126] Vader received the Ultimate Villain recognition at the 2011 Scream Awards.[127]

text: In 2009, Vader (or, more precisely, a reproduction of him conserved at the Smithsonian Institution) had a brief cameo in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, as he, along with an Oscar the Grouch prop replica, tries to join the army formed by (the reproductions of) Ivan the Terrible, Napoleon, Al Capone and the fictional Pharaoh Kahmunrah, but they judge him only a futile robot, as he does not speak, but tries to Force-choke them, with a gesture they interpret as a sort of salute.

text: In 2010, IGN ranked Darth Vader 25th in the "Top 100 Videogames Villains".[128]

text: In Ukraine, the Internet Party of Ukraine regularly lets people named Darth Vader take part in elections.[129][nb 1]

text: Family tree

text:
hide

vteSkywalker family tree

   AikaLars[a]   ClieggLars[b] ShmiSkywalker[c]  JobalNaberrie[d]   RuweeNaberrie[d]

BeruWhitesun[e]   OwenLars[f]    AnakinSkywalker[g][h]     PadméAmidala[i]   BailOrgana[j][k] BrehaOrgana[l]

                 LukeSkywalker[m][n] LeiaOrgana[o]   HanSolo[p]

                        BenSolo[p][q]

References:

Jump up ^ Hidalgo, Pablo (2016). Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded.

Jump up ^ "Cliegg Lars". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 3, 2015.

Jump up ^ "Shmi Skywalker Lars". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 3, 2015.

^ Jump up to: a b Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Jump up ^ "Beru Lars". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 3, 2015.

Jump up ^ "Owen Lars". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 3, 2015.

Jump up ^ "Anakin Skywalker". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015.

Jump up ^ "Darth Vader". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015.

Jump up ^ "Padmé Amidala". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015.

Jump up ^ Adopted father of Leia Organa, as established in Revenge of the Sith (2005).

Jump up ^ "Bail Organa". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 3, 2015.

Jump up ^ Adopted mother of Leia Organa, as established in Revenge of the Sith (2005).

Jump up ^ "Luke Skywalker". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015.

Jump up ^ In the alternate Star Wars expanded universe (Legends), Luke is married to Mara Jade and has a son, Ben Skywalker.

Jump up ^ "Princess Leia Organa". StarWars.com. Retrieved December 4, 2015.

^ Jump up to: a b The Force Awakens. 2015.

Jump up ^ In the alternate Star Wars expanded universe (Legends) continuity, Han and Leia have three children: Jaina, Jacen and Anakin Solo.

tag: table

text: Notes

text: Jump up ^  Two men named Darth Vader were candidates at the 25 May 2014 Kiev mayoral election and the Odessa mayoral election of the same day.[130][131][132] A man named Darth Vader earlier had submitted documents to be registered as a presidential candidate in the 25 May 2014 Ukrainian presidential election; but his registration was refused because his real identity could not be verified.[133][134][135] In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election Darth Vader and Star Wars characters such as Chewbacca, Princess Amidala and Yoda ran for seats in the Ukrainian parliament.[129] Candidates named Darth Vader reappeared in the 2015 Ukrainian local elections.[136]

tag: ol


document_title: Insulin shock therapy

question_text: what was the treatment in a beautiful mind

text: Insulin shock therapy

text: Origins[edit]

text: In 1927 Sakel, who had recently qualified as a doctor in Vienna and was working in a psychiatric clinic in Berlin, began to use low (sub-coma) doses of insulin to treat drug addicts and psychopaths and after one of the patients experienced improved mental clarity after having slipped into an accidental coma, Sakel reasoned the treatment might work for mentally ill patients.[3] Having returned to Vienna, he treated schizophrenic patients with larger doses of insulin in order to deliberately produce coma and sometimes convulsions.[3] Sakel made public his results in 1933 and his methods were soon taken up by other psychiatrists.[3]

text: Joseph Wortis, after seeing Sakel practice it in 1935, introduced it to the US. British psychiatrists from the Board of Control visited Vienna in 1935 and 1936, and by 1938 31 hospitals in England and Wales had insulin treatment units.[2] In 1936 Sakel moved to New York and promoted the use of insulin coma treatment in US psychiatric hospitals.[3] By the late 1940s the majority of psychiatric hospitals in the US were using insulin coma treatment.[4]

text: Technique[edit]

text: Insulin coma therapy was a labour-intensive treatment that required trained staff and a special unit.[2] Patients, who were almost invariably diagnosed with schizophrenia, were selected on the basis of having a good prognosis and the physical strength to withstand an arduous treatment.[5] There were no standard guidelines for treatment. Different hospitals and psychiatrists developed their own protocols.[5] Typically, injections were administered six days a week for about two months.[1]

text: The daily insulin dose was gradually increased to 100–150 units until comas were produced, at which point the dose would be levelled out.[1] Occasionally doses of up to 450 units were used.[6] After about 50 or 60 comas, or earlier if the psychiatrist thought that maximum benefit had been achieved, the dose of insulin was rapidly reduced before treatment was stopped.[5][7] Courses of up to 2 years have been documented.[7]

text: After the insulin injection patients would experience various symptoms of decreased blood glucose: flushing, pallor, perspiration, salivation, drowsiness or restlessness.[7] Sopor and coma—if the dose was high enough—would follow.[7] Each coma would last for up to an hour and be terminated by intravenous glucose or via naso-gastric tube.[1] Seizures sometimes occurred before or during the coma.[8] Many would be tossing, rolling, moaning, twitching, spasming or thrashing around.[5]

text: Some psychiatrists regarded seizures as therapeutic and patients were sometimes also given electroconvulsive therapy or cardiazol/metrazol convulsive therapy during the coma, or on the day of the week when they didn’t have insulin treatment.[7][8] When they were not in a coma, insulin coma patients were kept together in a group and given special treatment and attention. One handbook for psychiatric nurses, written by British psychiatrist Eric Cunningham Dax, instructs nurses to take their insulin patients out walking and occupy them with games and competitions, flower-picking and map-reading, etc.[9] Patients required continuous supervision as there was a danger of hypoglycemic aftershocks after the coma.[2]

text: In "modified insulin therapy", used in the treatment of neurosis, patients were given lower (sub-coma) doses of insulin.[7]

text: Effects[edit]

text: A few psychiatrists (including Sakel) claimed success rates for insulin coma therapy of over 80% in the treatment of schizophrenia. A few others argued that it merely accelerated remission in those patients who would undergo remission anyway. The consensus at the time was somewhere in between, claiming a success rate of about 50% in patients who had been ill for less than a year (about double the spontaneous remission rate) with no influence on relapse.[3][10]

text: Sakel suggested the therapy worked by "causing an intensification of the tonus of the parasympathetic end of the autonomic nervous system, by blockading the nerve cell, and by strengthening the anabolic force which induces the restoration of the normal function of the nerve cell and the recovery of the patient."[3] The shock therapies in general had developed on the erroneous premise that epilepsy and schizophrenia rarely occurred in the same patient. Another theory was that patients were somehow "jolted" out of their mental illness.[11]

text: The hypoglycemia (pathologically low glucose levels) that resulted from ICT made patients extremely restless, sweaty, and liable to further convulsions and "after-shocks". In addition, patients invariably emerged from the long course of treatment "grossly obese".[5] The most severe risks of insulin coma therapy were death and brain damage, resulting from irreversible or prolonged coma respectively.[1][6] A study at the time claimed that many of the cases of brain damage were actually therapeutic improvement because they showed "loss of tension and hostility".[12] Mortality risk estimates varied from about one percent[2] to 4.9 percent.[13]

text: Decline[edit]

text: Insulin coma therapy was used in most hospitals in the US and the UK during the 1940s and 1950s. The numbers of patients were restricted by the requirement for intensive medical and nursing supervision and the length of time it took to complete a course of treatment. For example, at one typical large British psychiatric hospital, Severalls Hospital in Essex, insulin coma treatment was given to 39 patients in 1956. In the same year, 18 patients received modified insulin treatment, while 432 patients were given electroconvulsive treatment.[14]

text: In 1953, British psychiatrist Harold Bourne published a paper entitled "The insulin myth" in the Lancet, in which he argued that there was no sound basis for believing that insulin coma therapy counteracted the schizophrenic process in a specific way. If treatment worked, he said, it was because patients were chosen for their good prognosis and were given special treatment: "insulin patients tend to be an elite group sharing common privileges and perils".[15] Prior to publishing "The insulin myth" in The Lancet, Bourne had tried to submit the article to the Journal of Mental Science; after a 12-month delay, the Journal informed Bourne they had rejected the article, telling him to "get more experience".[16]

text: In 1957, when insulin coma treatment use was declining, the Lancet published the results of a randomized, controlled trial where patients were either given insulin coma treatment or identical treatment but with unconsciousness produced by barbiturates. There was no difference in outcome between the groups and the authors concluded that, whatever the benefits of the coma regimen, insulin was not the specific therapeutic agent.[17]

text: In 1958, Bourne published a paper on increasing disillusionment in the psychiatric literature about insulin coma therapy for schizophrenia. He suggested there were several reasons why it had received almost universal uncritical acceptance by reviews and textbooks for several decades despite the occasional disquieting negative finding, including that by the 1930s when it all started schizophrenics were considered inherently unable to engage in psychotherapy, and ICT "provided a personal approach to the schizophrenic, suitably disguised as a physical treatment so as to slip past the prejudices of the age."[18]

text: Although coma therapy had largely fallen out of use in the US by the 1970s, it was still being practiced and researched in some hospitals,[19] and may have continued for longer in countries such as China and the Soviet Union.[16][20]

text: Recent writing[edit]

text: Recent articles about insulin coma treatment have attempted to explain why it was given such uncritical acceptance. In the US, Deborah Doroshow wrote that insulin coma therapy secured its foothold in psychiatry not because of scientific evidence or knowledge of any mechanism of therapeutic action, but due to the impressions it made on the minds of the medical practitioners within the local world in which it was administered and the dramatic recoveries observed in some patients. Today, she writes, those who were involved are often ashamed, recalling it as unscientific and inhumane. Administering insulin coma therapy made psychiatry seem a more legitimate medical field. Harold Bourne, who questioned the treatment at the time, said: "It meant that psychiatrists had something to do. It made them feel like real doctors instead of just institutional attendants".[5]

text: One retired psychiatrist who was interviewed by Doroshow "described being won over because his patients were so sick and alternative treatments did not exist".[5] Doroshow argues that "psychiatrists used complications to exert their practical and intellectual expertise in a hospital setting" and that collective risk-taking established "especially tight bonds among unit staff members".[5] She finds it ironic that psychiatrists "who were willing to take large therapeutic risks were extremely careful in their handling of adverse effects". Psychiatrists interviewed by Doroshow recalled how insulin coma patients were provided with various routines and recreational and group-therapeutic activities, to a much greater extent than most psychiatric patients. Insulin coma specialists often chose patients whose problems were the most recent and who had the best prognosis; in one case discussed by Doroshow a patient had already started to show improvement before insulin coma treatment, and after the treatment denied that it had helped, but the psychiatrists nevertheless argued that it had.[5]

text: In the UK, psychiatrist Kingsley Jones sees the support of the Board of Control as important in persuading psychiatrists to use insulin coma therapy. The treatment then acquired the privileged status of a standard procedure, protected by professional organizational interests. He also notes that it has been suggested that the Mental Treatment Act 1930 encouraged psychiatrists to experiment with physical treatments.[2]

text: British lawyer Phil Fennell notes that patients "must have been terrified" by the insulin shock procedures and the effects of the massive overdoses of insulin, and were often rendered more compliant and easier to manage after a course.[11]

text: Leonard Roy Frank, an American human rights activist and survivor of 50 forced insulin coma treatments combined with ECT has described the treatment as "the most devastating, painful and humiliating experience of my life", a "flat-out atrocity" glossed over by psychiatric euphemism, and a violation of basic human rights.[21]

text: In 2013, French physician-and-novelist Laurent Seksik wrote an historical novel about the tragic life of Eduard Einstein: Le cas Eduard Einstein. He related the encounter between Dr Sakel and Mileva Maric, Albert Einstein's first wife (and Eduard’s mother), and the way Sakel’s therapy had been given to Eduard, who was afflicted with schizophrenia.[22]

text: Representation in media[edit]

text: Like many new medical treatments for diseases previously considered incurable, depictions of insulin shock therapy in the media were initially favorable. In the 1940 film Dr. Kildare's Strange Case, young Kildare uses the new "insulin shock cure for schizophrenia" to bring a man back from insanity to prove that the surgeon who removed a brain tumor from the patient wasn't at fault for the patient's condition. The film dramatically shows a five-hour treatment that ends with a patient eating jelly sandwiches and reconnecting with his wife. Other films of the era began to show a more sinister approach, beginning with the 1946 film Shock, in which actor Vincent Price plays a doctor who plots to murder a patient using an overdose of insulin in order to keep the fact that he was a murderer the secret. More recent films include Frances (1982) in which actress Frances Farmer undergoes insulin shock treatment, and A Beautiful Mind, which depicted genius John Nash undergoing insulin treatment. In an episode of the medical drama House_M.D., Dr. House puts himself in an insulin shock to try to make his hallucinations disappear.