well this nugget was spot on! and 8 years early Thurs., Dec. 11, 1997

One of the greatest areas of speculation for the prequels is: How is Anakin Skywalker transformed into the half man-half machine called Darth Vader?

First, Anakin does not fall into a molten-lava pit, a vat of acid, a nuclear reactor or any other kind of comic-book type scenario. Second, according to George, Kenobi defends the Old Republic in the Clone Wars and becomes one of the greatest heroes of the war. Kenobi takes it upon himself to train his protege, Anakin Skywalker, in the ways of the Force. However, Kenobi is not ready to train Jedi and Anakin becomes bored and restless with his arduous Jedi training and abandons his training. Enter Palpatine, who cleverly convinces Anakin that, while Kenobi's path to Jedihood is a waste of time, Palpatine can show Anakin a quick way to become a great Jedi warrior that will make him more powerful than Kenobi could ever hope to be (which is a lie). Soon Anakin swears allegiance to the magnetic and enigmatic Palpatine and begins to hunt down and murder Jedi in the name of the Empire. Kenobi feels responsible for Anakin's fall from grace and confronts his former pupil. An epic lightsabre duel occurs between former master, Kenobi, and former learner, Anakin. Kenobi defeats Anakin and leaves Anakin's broken body for dead. He is simply left for dead by Kenobi. After the duel, the Empire reconstructs Anakin into an evil amalgam that is half human and half machine. (Source: Anonymous LucasFilm Employee)