In the context of the series, the idea is that you can't tell at the end of SITH whether Anakin or Vader is taken out of the lava. When he is put into The Suit (meaning what we consider the Darth Vader suit), he identifies himself to Palpatine as Darth Vader, and that is how the name and the suit come to be associated.

What a first-time viewer watching sequentially would then discover in Empire, is that it's actually Anakin in the suit. It would be up for interpretation as to what motivated Anakin to do so -- most likely a desire to leave his former self, his "weaker" self, behind. In fact I'd probably throw a line about taking on a "Darth" title and leaving your old life behind somewhere in the big confrontation at the end of CLONES, just to make it resonate a little more.

(In Jedi, Palpatine has clearly known the truth the entire time, but I think it's within his character to play along -- as long as Vader does his bidding, he doesn't really care what he used to call himself.)

If your first exposure to the films is 4,5,6,1,2,3, then you'd know who is in the Vader suit at the end of SITH -- as you do with the current prequels. But, if you watched them 1-6 sequentially, the big shock of Vader's true identity would remain intact, which is something the current prequels don't accomplish.

Wanting to find a way to preserve that is, in fact, what initially compelled me to develop the alternate storyline.

I think I talked about this in the "Revenge" commentary, but I for one would have liked to have seen a story that explored the idea of how messed up you could get when everyone around you believed you were the savior of the universe.

Matrix had the opportunity and dropped the ball as well, it's kind of an implied part of Harry's character in Harry Potter (at least in the films, I haven't read the books) but not as central part of the story as I think it deserves to be and certainly not explored to its fullest.

It actually examines the question from the Jedi perspective: if you had this kid that you thought the whole future of everything rested on, would you tell him that's what you thought? Would you keep it from him, hoping things will play out naturally and you won't screw it up by making him self conscious? Or would you feel compelled to be honest about a truth of that magnitude and tell him?

Imagine the Jedi choose the former and we see Anakin growing up in the Jedi Order, training and otherwise living the life of a Jedi. But for all his life he can sense that he's treated just a little differently than the other Jedi. The other Jedi and the Masters and the Council in particular have some kind of feeling about him that he can sense, but which they hide too well for him to pinpoint. We, through the course of the story, know that this is the result of the Jedi believing he's "The Chosen One."

Over time, Anakin becomes more and more suspicious, knowing that his family is withholding something important from him but unable to find out what it is. Along comes Palpatine, who takes advantage of this already existing suspicion, preying on it to drive a wedge between them (Obi Wan in particular) and Anakin.

Eventually, Anakin discovers this belief of the Jedi, is seemingly saved from the precipice of falling to the Dark Side, but now has to deal with the burden of being the savior of the galaxy. Is he up to the task? Is he strong enough? Powerful enough? Wise enough? Will he know what to do in that one crucial moment? Will he be able to do what's necessary or will he choke? How does he know what he should do? How can he be sure that what he does is right?

It's very much the Oedipus story (at least from the Jedi's point of view): trying to avoid a situation ends up causing the very situation you were avoiding in the first place. And it's definitely a recipe for screwing a guy up, even a very noble good guy with the best of intentions. And it justifies his start down a very slippery slope from noble and good to uncomfortable means justify good ends to Force choking people for the fun of it. And it gives the Jedi a way to be wrong without being complete blind fools about the whole thing.

And ultimately, it's a much more interesting and compelling story. I admit, I don't have answers to all these questions the way Dorkman has worked up his, but these are the questions I would like to have seen asked.

Brian, I feel like that'd be an alright plot for a book, but way too boring for a Star Wars movie. (Had you asked in 1998, anyway.)