Random Star Wars Thoughts

[Noctis]

The duel at the end of ep1 was my favourite of the prequels.

They did some really good things with the sword work, too.  I've never done choreography, but I've done sword fighting and my belief was definitely suspended.  I'm not nearly as good with a staff as Maul is, but I'd sure like to try some choreography like that one day, if I had the right people.

[Darth Logos]

I heard the success of the fight choreography in Ep I was due mostly to it being done by Mr. Ray Park himself.

What threw me was why there was a Voice credit for Darth Maul. But then I saw X-Men and found out.

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

I think I finally remembered what I was going to say.

Recalling key lines of dialogue from Ep I while also reading Darth Plagueis, I started to realize the huge story telling error in the SW universe.

In the Council Chamber Ki Adi Mundi states, "The Sith have been extinct for a millenium." This is true and doesn't bug me.

But later on at Qui-Gon's funeral, between Mace and Yoda, Yoda says, "Always two there are. No more, no less. A master, and an apprentice."

At this time, Yoda is just over 860 years old. So he would be the oldest living Jedi in the galaxy at this time. Bane reformatted the Sith Order under the Rule of Two almost 150 years before Yoda was born, and opted to keep his little operation a secret.

SO HOW THE HELL CAN THE JEDI KNOW ABOUT THE RULE OF TWO WHEN THEY THINK THAT THE SITH ARE EXTINCT?

The fekkin Chewbacca Defence makes more sense.

I am going to assume here, pure conjecture, that Yoda knows because he is Yoda and there usually aren't more than two of his species existing at the same time. (which is eerily similar to the rule of two)

Add to that, Yoda's species uniquely powerful connection to the force, you could then assume again, that they are able to feel the most minute of changes in said force.

Even if a video on YouTube has 100,000,000 likes, the two dislikes will be noticeable.

Yoda may have also been privy to information that confirmed his suspicions of remnants of the Sith still existing, but not enough to convince the Jedi order that this could indeed be a problem and only shares this with his closest allies aka Mace.

Yoda has to play this one close to the chest and swing a double edged sword: Telling the council could alert a possible traitor among them, at the same time withholding this important information from the order only increases their unpreparedness in the coming conflict.

[Darth Logos]

o¿ô heh?

[JinhamKlyean]

I also think there are a lot of things to like about the prequels. (And a few of the things that were bad show signs that they could have been good if handled a little differently.) However, if it weren't for the Maul+Jinn+Kenobi fight I'd probably dismiss Episode I.

Here's something I don't think gets addressed enough: people constantly comment on what a whiny brat Anakin turned into, blah blah blah, but to be honest, how much of that can be attributed to Obi-Wan being, well, a crappy master? Compared to Qui-Gon Jinn, who instructs Obi-Wan in a respectful way, Obi-Wan disses Anakin at every turn in Episode II. And then we wonder why Ani falls for Palpatine's charms.

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

Here's something I don't think gets addressed enough: people constantly comment on what a whiny brat Anakin turned into, blah blah blah, but to be honest, how much of that can be attributed to Obi-Wan being, well, a crappy master? Compared to Qui-Gon Jinn, who instructs Obi-Wan in a respectful way, Obi-Wan disses Anakin at every turn in Episode II. And then we wonder why Ani falls for Palpatine's charms.

That is most likely because Obi-Wan is closer to Anakin's age than, Qui-Gon was to Obi-Wan. (Qui-Gon was 60 in TPM. Obi was 25 in TPM and had been with Qui-Gon for 20 years. Ani is 9 in TPM and 23 in AoTC.)

I would be remiss to not posit that Obi-Wan looked at Anakin as more of a younger brother, than a student.

[Darth Logos]

I also think there are a lot of things to like about the prequels. (And a few of the things that were bad show signs that they could have been good if handled a little differently.) However, if it weren't for the Maul+Jinn+Kenobi fight I'd probably dismiss Episode I.

Podraces. That is all.

Here's something I don't think gets addressed enough: people constantly comment on what a whiny brat Anakin turned into, blah blah blah, but to be honest, how much of that can be attributed to Obi-Wan being, well, a crappy master? Compared to Qui-Gon Jinn, who instructs Obi-Wan in a respectful way, Obi-Wan disses Anakin at every turn in Episode II. And then we wonder why Ani falls for Palpatine's charms.

It was actually terrible direction. Hayden is not a bad actor, but a good actor cannot trump bad direction or worse a bad script. It was revealed that Lucas wanted the character to be a whiny brat of a teen, so Hayden actually nailed it. If you notice, his best lines are the ones where he doesn't speak. His actions are doing the talking. Like in that scene after he kills off the CIS leaders, you definitely get the gist that he is truly suffering inside. Or watch the anger rise in him after watching his mother die. I never want to see the OT touched again, but I wouldn't lose sleep over the prequels being redone as far as the movies go. And get rid of all that "m'lady" crap. <cringes>

Ani is 9 in TPM and 23 in AoTC.

I hate to call you out on this, but Ani is 19 in AOTC. Referencing their entrance in the turbolift when Ani says "It's been 10 years since I've seen her, Master." Although, they are a little vague on when the exact "when" would be, but one can only assume that he last saw her shortly after the battle of Naboo.

[JinhamKlyean]

Podraces. That is all.

You know, I really want to like the pod-races, but the whole thing sort of gets undone for me by the bit towards the end where Ani's pod gets shot way up in the air, with engines temporarily offline, and yet when he comes down he's so close to Sebulba. The only I way I see that happening is if Ani cut across part of the track and wasn't penalized - and if that's the case, why doesn't everyone just do the same?

It was actually terrible direction. Hayden is not a bad actor, but a good actor cannot trump bad direction or worse a bad script. It was revealed that Lucas wanted the character to be a whiny brat of a teen, so Hayden actually nailed it. If you notice, his best lines are the ones where he doesn't speak. His actions are doing the talking. Like in that scene after he kills off the CIS leaders, you definitely get the gist that he is truly suffering inside. Or watch the anger rise in him after watching his mother die. I never want to see the OT touched again, but I wouldn't lose sleep over the prequels being redone as far as the movies go. And get rid of all that "m'lady" crap. <cringes>

Yeah, Hayden takes a lot of crap he doesn't deserve.

The prequels are a prime example of the difference between a good story (which they had) and a good script (which they didn't, at least not consistently). I often say the same thing about the original TRON.

[Noctis]

FYI, Liam Neeson actually called Lucas out on Qui-Gon's age and said it wasn't realistic for the character.  He pretty much told Lucas that he would be playing Qui-Gon closer to his own age (at the time, which was closer to 50) and Lucas didn't argue. 

[Darth Logos]

You know, I really want to like the pod-races, but the whole thing sort of gets undone for me by the bit towards the end where Ani's pod gets shot way up in the air, with engines temporarily offline, and yet when he comes down he's so close to Sebulba. The only I way I see that happening is if Ani cut across part of the track and wasn't penalized - and if that's the case, why doesn't everyone just do the same?

There are rules in podracing? That whole scene was a bit choppy in the edits, but the concept only made me cream my shorts. What I loved most though was the way they stuck to the general nature of racing...crazy $#!% can and often does happen in high speed races.

FYI, Liam Neeson actually called Lucas out on Qui-Gon's age and said it wasn't realistic for the character.  He pretty much told Lucas that he would be playing Qui-Gon closer to his own age (at the time, which was closer to 50) and Lucas didn't argue. 

But do you honestly see QG being any different at 60 other than being a little more grey?

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

But do you honestly see QG being any different at 60 other than being a little more grey?

Nope, comparing Yoda and Qui-Gon's ages to their respective species, both characters possessed an incredible amount of vitality.

[Noctis]

But do you honestly see QG being any different at 60 other than being a little more grey?

I think Liam Neeson was 46 at the time of filming, so there's a pretty big difference in physical ability between 46 and 60 for a human.  Having trained men of both ages myself, many of which were in VERY good shape, I can say that it's a huge factor for the average person.  Now, as Force users, some of that might be obscured to some degree.  Still,  if we're talking suspension of disbelief from the audience standpoint when it's not outright explained in that way, I have to agree with Neeson's reasoning. 

Doesn't really matter, though.  I just enjoyed Neeson telling Lucas "no."

[Inzane]

You know, I really want to like the pod-races, but the whole thing sort of gets undone for me by the bit towards the end where Ani's pod gets shot way up in the air, with engines temporarily offline, and yet when he comes down he's so close to Sebulba. The only I way I see that happening is if Ani cut across part of the track and wasn't penalized - and if that's the case, why doesn't everyone just do the same?

It got undone for me right at the start.   The way Anakin completely stalls out and then magically catches up to the pack.   The only way to do that in a race is a raw speed advantage.   (The whole race was 3 laps and no indication of a pit stop type activity to mix it up and provide leap frogging strategies).  And if he really had that kind of raw speed advantage than the race shouldn't have been a nail biter in the first place.   He would've easily smoked the entire field including Sebulba.

[Darth Logos]

It got undone for me right at the start.   The way Anakin completely stalls out and then magically catches up to the pack.   The only way to do that in a race is a raw speed advantage.   (The whole race was 3 laps and no indication of a pit stop type activity to mix it up and provide leap frogging strategies).  And if he really had that kind of raw speed advantage than the race shouldn't have been a nail biter in the first place.   He would've easily smoked the entire field including Sebulba.

Anakin did (stupidly) claim that his pod was the fastest ever, but I think that was a little boy talking. However, any race fan can tell you that a race is actually won in the turns. How fast you can take them as well as accellerate out of them. Sebulba has raw speed yes, but according to the games (if you hold them as canon) he severely lacks acceleration and turning, which are both things that Anakin has in leux of top speed. But there were a lot of winding turns in between Arch Canyon and the Hutt Flats, despite bad movie making showing Anakin catching up right after the arches and entering the Whip. Theoretically, Ani should have been able to easily smoke Seb in between the arches and the flats, but being close quarters and the lighter craft would have made for a very one sided fight. So I will concede to why he didn't opt to try passing until he was on open ground. But when they exited the Corkscrew, they were neck and neck. This scene actually makes sense to me in that Seb's top speed would be kept pace with by Ani's faster accelleration up to the point when they locked up, and you know the rest. [I looked up the map for the Boonta Eve Classic to get the names of the various track sectors.]

I think Liam Neeson was 46 at the time of filming, so there's a pretty big difference in physical ability between 46 and 60 for a human.  Having trained men of both ages myself, many of which were in VERY good shape, I can say that it's a huge factor for the average person.  Now, as Force users, some of that might be obscured to some degree.  Still,  if we're talking suspension of disbelief from the audience standpoint when it's not outright explained in that way, I have to agree with Neeson's reasoning. 

Doesn't really matter, though.  I just enjoyed Neeson telling Lucas "no."

Ok then, explain Sidious. Even Dooku was more than a match for 2 Jedi, one of them "the chosen one". It was already established that Obi was a very gifted duelist. I don't think (in the course of the story) that age has any bearing on the ability of a Force user.

I've seen Kendo matches between old Kenshi (70-80yr range). I couldn't even see what they did on the slo-mo replay half the time.

"Did you call me old?...I prefer the word 'EXPERIENCED'." - Vetruvious

[Noctis]

Dude, I don't write the script.  I'm only saying what Neeson said and I still agree with him.  You can point out 50 million exceptions to every rule out there.   Perhaps Lucas wanted to show just how formidable the Sith truly are and how the Jedi grossly underestimated this because Dooku and Gollum Face totally kicked their collective asses.  In "Jedi Apprentice," they make a point of talking about how Qui-Gon's age had slowed his abilities as a fighter and those were supposed to be pre-Episode I.  It's just one of those inconsistencies, I suppose.