That staff according to the Art of Revenge of the Sith was able to fire a blue like ball of energy. I think there was two small pictures of it. Good concept that never was used in the actual movie

Maybe he was lying and didn't want Anakin to save Padme and was putting off teaching him anything worthwhile until Padme was gone.

Padme would be a massive distraction to a good Sith, after all.

*
Oh, true. Good point. Kind of evidence in the other direction though, is what Palps told Anakin right after he joined him, about how he didn't actually know yet how to stop death, even though he said earlier that Plagueis did. I guess he might have just been exaggerating in that particular area though.*
Yeah I caught that too, unless Palpatine wasn't Plagueis's apprentice, but rather Plagueis's Apprentice's apprentice.

Well, the final script does include Palpatine saying something along the lines of Plagueis having taught his apprentice everything he knew...

Oh, true. Good point. Kind of evidence in the other direction though, is what Palps told Anakin right after he joined him, about how he didn't actually know yet how to stop death, even though he said earlier that Plagueis did. I guess he might have just been exaggerating in that particular area though.

I'm pretty sure he was created by one or the other - and if by Plagueis then well and truly with Palpatine's knowledge and complicity (and maybe not not long before Palps killed Plags?)

That's kind of the impression I had.

Well, the final script does include Palpatine saying something along the lines of Plagueis having taught his apprentice everything he knew...

Did you see what Tasty Taste and Sith Scribe had to say about it on the previous page?

I'm pretty sure he was created by one or the other - and if by Plagueis then well and truly with Palpatine's knowledge and complicity (and maybe not not long before Palps killed Plags?)

edit: actually, how does this sit with what we know about when Palps took on Maul? Didn't he take him on as a baby? In which case doesn't this mean that Plagueis died way before he could have caused the midichlorians to create Anakin (unless it was one helluva long gestation period).

Hm, interesting. Yeah, that's what I was asking about. Do you think the final intention was the same? I kind of got the impression from the movie that it was Plagueis and not Palpatine himself who did it.

What exactly does the Making of book have to say regarding the midi-chlorians and Anakin's conception?

Nice. Thanks!

The early scripts give you an idea of different ways Palpatine was planning on manipulating Anakin, using statements that may or may not be true--but one thing is pretty definite: Palpatine is Anakin's metaphorical if not biological father.

By metaphorical, do you mean "father-figure" metaphorical, or "created him through the Force" metaphorical?

This is quite interesting, because it's quite a big plot point if it's true - will George ever reveal an answer about Anakin's creation? The only thing he's said is that he left it deliberately ambiguous and left it up to the audience to decide whether it was the Sith or the will of the Force - but do you think will he ever give us a canon answer? He said back in February in Vanity Fair that "Ultimately, I would say the Force itself created Anakin" - so would that be the official canon answer?

...mentions of the Journal of the Whills... and I was wondering if either of these has any effect on the official continuity?
The term "Journal of the Whills" has been around since the original novelization of Star Wars and it is also mentioned in the The Annotated Screenplays. With the ROTS screenplay, we learn that the "Shaman of the Whills" are involved with how the Jedi learn to come back from the dead. All this is considered in-continuity, though details about the Whills remain a mystery.

With regard to George's comments to Rob Coleman, we try to glean whatever tidbits of information we can in instances like this but we also have to take these statements with a grain of salt. Sometimes George may have been joking or he may have just been speaking off the cuff. He also reserves the right to change his mind. Sometimes we get to explore these ideas further in the EU, and sometimes we don't. In this case we don't.