Frequently Asked Star Wars Questions
Serious Answer
It is very doubtful that George Lucas originally intended C3PO to have been built by Anakin Skywalker when he made the original films.
Fictional Answer
Droids are as common as any electrical appliance is in our galaxy. Would you recognise a kettle you owned 20 years ago? Also C3PO had gold plating in Episode 4 and was a very dirty grey in Episode 2. Plus he never actually mentioned his name to Owen.
Serious Answer
It is doubtful that Leia was originally meant to be Vader's daughter. Rumours are that this plot point was only introduced after Episode 5. There are a lot of people who doubt that Luke was originally intended to be Vader's son and Obi-wan Kenobi's tale of Vader killing Luke's father was the original story line.
Fictional Answer
Err... George?
Serious Answer
George Lucas probably changed his mind in the 22 years between Return of the Jedi and Revenge of the Sith; And why not? It's his creation!
Fictional Answer
It could be a hint that Leia had experienced visions through the force.
Serious Answer
How do we know they weren't building then simultaniously? All the opening scroll of Episode VI says is "the Galactic Empire has secretly begun construction on a new armored space station even more powerful than the first dreaded Death Star." It never mentions when they started construction...
Fictional Answer
Some of these questions might be revealed in the upcoming novel, Deathstar. They could have had labour difficulties during constructrion of the first one. Also having the plans from the first one could have sped up development of the second one. Technological advancements almost certainly happened during the 20 year gap, which would help with speeding up construction.
No. After the success of the first film when George Lucas annoiunced plans for sequels, he originally stated that the story would need to be told over several films, maybe a "trilogy of trilogies". However, Episode 6 is the end of the story. The evil empire is defeated, Anakin is redeemed by Luke and fulfils the prophecy of bringing balance to the force by distroying the Sith, and everybody lives happily ever after!
The story does continue in the form of the EU (Expanded Universe). Literally hundreds of novels, comics and computer games have been released, which cronicle events before, during and after the films.
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is a multimedia project created by Lucasfilm Ltd. in 1996. The original idea was to create an interquel, a story set between the movies The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (a time no Star Wars novel had explored before), and to explore all commercial possibilities of a full motion picture release, without actually making the film. The venture paved the way for the theatrical release of the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition in the following year, and the later releases of the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy.
Several products were released, including a novel, a junior novelization, comic series, video games, trading cards, a soundtrack, role-playing games, toy figurines, vinyl dolls, a series of Micro Machines toys, statuettes, model kits, a line of new action figures and vehicles, and so on. The entire Shadows of the Empire project, though not technically a film, can be collectively considered the closest project to a film in the Star Wars official continuity, without actually being a film. This story is significant in the fact that Lucas reportedly said he would have made a story like this into a movie if he had had the time and effort to do so back in the early 1980s.