AHC: Star Wars Episode I is Good
- Thread starter John Fredrick Parker
- Start date
John Fredrick Parker
Donor
I could only endure the first 2 minutes. George Lucas really seemed to have no idea of reality. Even the Casting Lady pretty much admitted (without getting fired) that the character had too much built in to it and would be beyond the ability of a child actor to deliver.
Lucas said he needed someone wise beyond their years and so he chose Jake Lloyd.
The good thing is that if someone as obviously clueless as George Lucas can make a blockbuster movie then maybe we all can
.John Fredrick Parker
Donor
One more note on casting Anakin -- for Episodes II and III, if Lucas goes the route of emphasizing the oedipal relationship with Padme (which, in my mind's eye, is how I'm seeing them play out TTL), then Michael Pitt, who'd be about the right age, would be perfect...
I find myself agreeing with this as I think about it -- since the duels with Maul are still in the rough draft, and function as key plot points, I'd say those still happen at least, and they may just be likely to figure in the true battle scenes -- but if you cut the opening on the Trade Federation ship, and combine the final duel with the final battle, that streamlines the incidents pretty well right there.
Also, is it just me, or should the prequels at one point shown Anakin using the force to choke/heart-crush somebody...?
I find myself agreeing with this as I think about it -- since the duels with Maul are still in the rough draft, and function as key plot points, I'd say those still happen at least, and they may just be likely to figure in the true battle scenes -- but if you cut the opening on the Trade Federation ship, and combine the final duel with the final battle, that streamlines the incidents pretty well right there.
Also, is it just me, or should the prequels at one point shown Anakin using the force to choke/heart-crush somebody...?
Excellent, Your Imperial Majesty. Plinkett has brought so much joy and insight to Star Wars criticism
Looking at his criticism of the trilogy as a whole, what really sticks out the most strongly are the following points:
Emperor Norton I said:
Along with his profound laziness, his desperation to ape the innovations of other directors to appear "current", and his incompetent staging and shooting style (and poor editing, lacking the collaborators he had during the original trilogy - including his ex-wife, Marcia Lucas.)
Agreed. Certainly he had the most natural ability of the final three; though ironically enough, he was the only one to not have any kind of professional career. I can't find his name anywhere on IMDb. I'm sure it's no skin off his back, though.
Though I agree here as well - Pitt has both charisma and intensity, essential for Anakin Skywalker - we have to remember that actors tend to be only as good as the direction they're given. Look at how awful so many fine actors' performances are in the prequel trilogy. Natalie Portman especially, if you compare her work there to what she's done since. (Apparently, this is also true, to a lesser extent, of Hayden Christensen, though I've heard conflicting reports.)
Another problem with the prequel trilogy is that the sense of wonder and mystery that made the original trilogy so compelling is totally absent. Everything has become commonplace and mundane. This totally ruins the flow of watching the six movies chronologically (as Lucas recommends), because the tone of two trilogies are basically the reverse of what they should be, relative to each other.
The problem, of course, is that all the new things Lucas added were somehow even worse.
They do. He Force chokes Padme on Mustafar at the end of Ep. III.
Yes!
I'd have Dooku be a contemporary and best friend of Obi-wan. They were the top two students of their day, but with Dooku always being just a little bit better than Obi-wan.
Episode 1 can open with an action scene where Dooku and Obi-wan are on a mission. Something goes tragically wrong based on them following the tenets of the Jedi, but they survive. So when they get back to Coruscant and are given the mission to Naboo, Dooku resigns his Jedi membership out of frustration with the Jedi Council. Obi-wan agrees to go on the mission to Naboo alone.
This way Dooku is clearly set up to be susceptible to becoming Sidious' apprentice and seeing him in Episode 2 is not a surprise to the viewer.
This Dooku would be a role that screams Sean Bean at me.
And as other posters have indicated, the Clone Wars should more obviously be starting or already started. I'd have the Trade Federation be the one who uses Clones. Sure they can have droids and battle bots and what not, but their primary forces should be clones.
Vivisfugue
Banned
It's a Trap
In general, I agree with the older-Anakin/no-midichlorians/kill Jar-jar consensus; the following are just some ideas I've had kicking around since RotS came out and I realized that this would, in fact, be it. I don't care anything about pre-existing canon, but just with the movies as movies, and the interrelation of the two trilogies.
In my mind, a lot of hanging threads in Episode I and the prequels might have been tied off in one knot by replacing JarJar with a young Ackbar (the Rebel Admiral from Episode VI), the Gungans with the Calamari generally, and Naboo with Alderaan. Sure, the Mon Cals and Alderaan have their own backstory in the EU, but since movie canon trumps the novels, let's roll with it for a minute:
You have a character and race existing in the original trilogy, who are semi-aquatic like the Gungans (so you can keep the basic structure of the Gungan underwater cities, if you happen to like those), and who had a disappointingly stiff original realization that could have been improved upon, thereby quenching Lucas' boner to create an all-CGI character. Now ROTJ established the Mon Cals as important-most of the rebel capital ships were of Mon Cal design; therefore, one of the themes of the prequels could have been how this important starship-building race was disaffected from the Empire, thus providing a minor narrative through-line from the prequels to the original trilogy.
Think of how JarJar was used in Episode II (as a useful idiot who hastens the rise of Palpatine). Now imagine if that same useful idiot comes to repent of his misstep in Episode III-IV, and then "returns" in Episode VI to save the day? Instead of a character who disappears at the end of the prequels (and not soon enough!) you have a mini-arc of redemption, and Ackbar's sigh of relief at the end of RotJ is a much bigger payoff when you know what he and his people have been through.
This is why Naboo should have been scrapped as a setting and replaced with Alderaan. You can keep the divided-planet tension between Amidala's people and the Calamari and basically play out the existing Trade Federation plot if you want to, with the Calamari coming to the rescue at the end, while whenever Alderaan was visited in the ensuing sequels the knowledge of the planet's eventual fate would add an aura of dread to the proceedings, explain away Leia jumping from one royal family into another at birth, and also give Bail Organa something more to do (as well as a possible romantic rivalry angle with Anakin over Amidala, perhaps never knowing whose daughter Leia actually is), thereby explicating the birth of the Rebel Alliance better than Lucas ever tried to do in Episode III.
Thus, when Alderaan is destroyed in A New Hope, what we'll be watching is the Empire ambiguously killing a character (Organa) that audiences would have come to care about over the course of the prequel trilogy,as well as the genocide of most of the Mon Calamari race. Seeing more of the planet than a little blue ball in Episode IV would illuminate something of the barbarity of the Imperials and provide motivation for Ackbar in Jedi.
In both cases these easy substitutions would add resonance with the original trilogy to the prequels that more C3PO and nigh-omnipotent R2D2 never could. It made no sense to introduce the origin story of the droids in the first prequel-that could be a cameo in Episode III, where it would make sense and eliminate the problem of Vader not recognizing the droid he built with his own hands. (My apologies to Anthony Daniels, it's nothing personal.)
In general, I agree with the older-Anakin/no-midichlorians/kill Jar-jar consensus; the following are just some ideas I've had kicking around since RotS came out and I realized that this would, in fact, be it. I don't care anything about pre-existing canon, but just with the movies as movies, and the interrelation of the two trilogies.
In my mind, a lot of hanging threads in Episode I and the prequels might have been tied off in one knot by replacing JarJar with a young Ackbar (the Rebel Admiral from Episode VI), the Gungans with the Calamari generally, and Naboo with Alderaan. Sure, the Mon Cals and Alderaan have their own backstory in the EU, but since movie canon trumps the novels, let's roll with it for a minute:
You have a character and race existing in the original trilogy, who are semi-aquatic like the Gungans (so you can keep the basic structure of the Gungan underwater cities, if you happen to like those), and who had a disappointingly stiff original realization that could have been improved upon, thereby quenching Lucas' boner to create an all-CGI character. Now ROTJ established the Mon Cals as important-most of the rebel capital ships were of Mon Cal design; therefore, one of the themes of the prequels could have been how this important starship-building race was disaffected from the Empire, thus providing a minor narrative through-line from the prequels to the original trilogy.
Think of how JarJar was used in Episode II (as a useful idiot who hastens the rise of Palpatine). Now imagine if that same useful idiot comes to repent of his misstep in Episode III-IV, and then "returns" in Episode VI to save the day? Instead of a character who disappears at the end of the prequels (and not soon enough!) you have a mini-arc of redemption, and Ackbar's sigh of relief at the end of RotJ is a much bigger payoff when you know what he and his people have been through.
This is why Naboo should have been scrapped as a setting and replaced with Alderaan. You can keep the divided-planet tension between Amidala's people and the Calamari and basically play out the existing Trade Federation plot if you want to, with the Calamari coming to the rescue at the end, while whenever Alderaan was visited in the ensuing sequels the knowledge of the planet's eventual fate would add an aura of dread to the proceedings, explain away Leia jumping from one royal family into another at birth, and also give Bail Organa something more to do (as well as a possible romantic rivalry angle with Anakin over Amidala, perhaps never knowing whose daughter Leia actually is), thereby explicating the birth of the Rebel Alliance better than Lucas ever tried to do in Episode III.
Thus, when Alderaan is destroyed in A New Hope, what we'll be watching is the Empire ambiguously killing a character (Organa) that audiences would have come to care about over the course of the prequel trilogy,as well as the genocide of most of the Mon Calamari race. Seeing more of the planet than a little blue ball in Episode IV would illuminate something of the barbarity of the Imperials and provide motivation for Ackbar in Jedi.
In both cases these easy substitutions would add resonance with the original trilogy to the prequels that more C3PO and nigh-omnipotent R2D2 never could. It made no sense to introduce the origin story of the droids in the first prequel-that could be a cameo in Episode III, where it would make sense and eliminate the problem of Vader not recognizing the droid he built with his own hands. (My apologies to Anthony Daniels, it's nothing personal.)
Last edited:
John Fredrick Parker
Donor
Normally, I'd say at this point that major change in the galactic backstory is beyond the OP perameters of building off the rough draft of OTL -- but this (1) is actually a pretty awesome idea, and (2) may actually work in this respect, since the rough outline of the plot stays the same.* That said, when I try to think of how Lucas would react if someone he had read his script made this kind of bold suggestion, I can't help but think he likely wouldn't run with it -- and seeing as that's how TTL is improving the screenplay in the first place...
*One small thought -- would a calimari even be able to walk the desert surface of Tatooine without drying out and dying? If not, then I'm afraid it is outside the OP after all...
Vivisfugue
Banned
Well, doing things George Lucas wouldn't do sort of seems to be the point of this thread. As far as Calamari sunburn goes you could have Obi-Wan offer him some drawn butter in place of sunscreen , or you could have them go to a non-desert planet (Ord Mantell? It's just a name in Empire, so you have the tie-in with the original trilogy without spending a long time on a planet we've "already" seen in Episode IV) that happens to be Anakin's place of birth.
, or you could have them go to a non-desert planet (Ord Mantell? It's just a name in Empire, so you have the tie-in with the original trilogy without spending a long time on a planet we've "already" seen in Episode IV) that happens to be Anakin's place of birth.
Just a few things from the original script, since that is where John boy wants us to start.
- Obi Wan is the only Jedi for the beginning of the movie
- Nute Gunray is an extremely skilled politician, and tries deception more often than not. It is generally Sidious who pushes him to act "evilly".
- Jar Jar Binks is a skilled Gungan pilot, and quite a bit less clumsy. He is also very skeptical of the force. (Anyone getting Han Solo vibes?)
- The people are Naboo are clearly prejudiced against Gungans. They tell Jar Jar to "wait outside".
- Amidala and Panaka argue over whether the people should keep their heads down or fight, respectively.
- The Trade Fed army has a much better MO, thanks to Nute's maneuvering. Basically, it looks like the people are rebelling against the uncompromising Queen Amidala, and the Trade Federation is helping settle a dispute. As their army enters the town, they sound off this : "Do not resist. We will not harm you. We have only come to help you. We bring you peace"
- A lot of Panaka's group that wishes to fight go off to face the Trade Federation Army... and get wiped out. Meanwhile, the Queen, Obi Wan, and Jar Jar escape
- After landing on Tatooine, Obi Wan, R2, Padme, and Jar Jar (who is "smelling up the ship" according to Panaka) go into town to get the needed parts to fix their ship.
- There is some sexual tension between Padme and Obi Wan, which makes the celibate Obi Wan extremely nervous.
- When they enter town, Padme kicks a chauvinistic alien's butt, causing the other people to clear the way for them. Obi Wan tells her to save the ass kickery for later.
- Anakin shows up to help Jar Jar from the mean alien, and has quite a few more wise lines than before. Mostly Jedi axioms. "Kindness is a joy, why would you reward me for that?" And his fear speech, to which Obi Wan asks who taught him that, and he replies, "No one, that's just the way it is."
- At the mechanic shop, Anakin insists rather childishly to Padme that he will one day marry her.
- In this draft, Obi Wan is apparently suspicious of the Republic, and thinks that it may have some connection to the Naboo Incident.
- C3PO was built from rejected parts and doesn't have a voice box when they first meet him.
- Shmi wonders aloud if the Jedi was sent to free Anakin, something that Obi Wan denies. In response, she tells him to clear his mind and reflect upon it all.
- Padme is clearly upset over Obi Wan risking the whole mission on the fate of Anakin's podrace, and leaves the dinner table in frustration to give the boy some food, because he's outside working on his podracer while the adults are eating.
- In a conversation with Padme, Anakin has even more wise Jedi axioms, which actually comes off pretty nicely when they are discussing the morality of slavery, to which Anakin announces that "the stupidity of many creatures is" a certain factor.
- Anakin and Padme watch the sunset together. [Cute!]
- Anakin and Obi Wan sit around and talk. Anakin says he saw Obi Wan i his dreams, and Obi Wan also asks if he hates or fears Sebulba. Anakin answers no to both, and says that he senses that the alien fears Anakin.
- Obi Wan gives some more foreshadowing when Padme comments that he seems like he is "trying to solve the problems of the universe", and he gives the insight that maybe this entire thing will eventually affect the whole universe.
- Shmi skips the race, and Obi Wan wins a bet with Watto w/o the chance cube, only securing the freedom of Anakin. Shmi is "not for sale".
- Jabba announces the Pod Race. When listing off the planets of the racers, Lucas sneaks in a little shout out to New Cov from Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy.
- Watto tries to get out of giving up Anakin, and Obi Wan threatens to complain to the Hutts about him.
- C3PO, still mute and unfinished, is left behind on Tatooine.
- In the duel with Maul, the two combatants exhibit almost as much, if not more, Force prowess (kind of like the duel in TESB) as they do lightsaber skill.
- Panaka, Padme, and Obi Wan talk about the Sith, and Panaka asks why the Sith would work for the Federation, to which Obi Wan states that it is most likely the inverse : The Federation working for the Sith.
- The Queen (presumably the decoy) is NOT happy that the Jedi picked up "another stray", to which Obi Wan says that Anakin is now under the same protection that she is. She drops the subject.
- Another scene is given to show the Naboo distaste for Gungans when, standing the Senate, the Queen, Padme, and Panaka stand at least ten feet from Jar Jar, and look at him disgustedly.
- The Jedi Council only has three members - Yoda, Mace, and Ki Adi
- Apart of the Senate's complicated bureaucracy is shown off, to explain why the request to help Naboo is pushed to a different Committee.
- Amidala wishes to take back the planet by force. She and Jar Jar also have a conversation about where the prejudice between the two races came from.
- After Palpatine tells him of this, Valorum goes to the Senate to force them to talk about the issue... and this gets him removed from power, letting Palpatine take his place.
- Anakin gets to show off some space skills by using the force to pull them out of lightspeed right above the planet, past the blockade.
- Jar Jar and Amidala double team Boss Nass, and convince him to bring the Gungans out of isolation and to assist the Naboo people in defending the planet.
- The heroes then plan strategy with at least twenty Gungan generals.
- Jar Jar gets promoted to General.
- R2D2 and Anakin sneak away on their own little mini adventure, which involves a lot of infiltration and hacking of Federation systems. They face off with a group of battle droids, meanwhile, Obi Wan realizes his ward has run off but is told by Qui Gon that they need to focus on more important things.
- Jar Jar is a more active hero in the final battle.
- Obi Wan scolds Anakin upon finding him, but also recognizes his prowess and agrees to have him participate in the final battle. Anakin and Padme fly off in a two person star fighter (with R2) to take down the Trade Federation ship.
- Another pilot refers to Anakin/Padme's ship as "Rouge Two".cool
- There are no laser gates in the Maul duel, and Maul only has one saber.
- Battle droids come to Maul's aid, and Obi Wan must immediately go after them as well, after he finishes Maul.
- Anakin and Padme take down the control ship. Gunray tries to activate the back up, which Anakin sabotaged in his earlier adventure w/ R2.
- The Jedi approve of Anakin's training, and each take a turn to touch his forehead, to symbolize their approval.
And that's what I got from this explanation of the original script. This is what we're STARTING from, and frankly it's already pretty good.
- Obi Wan is the only Jedi for the beginning of the movie
- Nute Gunray is an extremely skilled politician, and tries deception more often than not. It is generally Sidious who pushes him to act "evilly".
- Jar Jar Binks is a skilled Gungan pilot, and quite a bit less clumsy. He is also very skeptical of the force. (Anyone getting Han Solo vibes?)
- The people are Naboo are clearly prejudiced against Gungans. They tell Jar Jar to "wait outside".
- Amidala and Panaka argue over whether the people should keep their heads down or fight, respectively.
- The Trade Fed army has a much better MO, thanks to Nute's maneuvering. Basically, it looks like the people are rebelling against the uncompromising Queen Amidala, and the Trade Federation is helping settle a dispute. As their army enters the town, they sound off this : "Do not resist. We will not harm you. We have only come to help you. We bring you peace"
- A lot of Panaka's group that wishes to fight go off to face the Trade Federation Army... and get wiped out. Meanwhile, the Queen, Obi Wan, and Jar Jar escape
- After landing on Tatooine, Obi Wan, R2, Padme, and Jar Jar (who is "smelling up the ship" according to Panaka) go into town to get the needed parts to fix their ship.
- There is some sexual tension between Padme and Obi Wan, which makes the celibate Obi Wan extremely nervous.
- When they enter town, Padme kicks a chauvinistic alien's butt, causing the other people to clear the way for them. Obi Wan tells her to save the ass kickery for later.
- Anakin shows up to help Jar Jar from the mean alien, and has quite a few more wise lines than before. Mostly Jedi axioms. "Kindness is a joy, why would you reward me for that?" And his fear speech, to which Obi Wan asks who taught him that, and he replies, "No one, that's just the way it is."
- At the mechanic shop, Anakin insists rather childishly to Padme that he will one day marry her.
- In this draft, Obi Wan is apparently suspicious of the Republic, and thinks that it may have some connection to the Naboo Incident.
- C3PO was built from rejected parts and doesn't have a voice box when they first meet him.
- Shmi wonders aloud if the Jedi was sent to free Anakin, something that Obi Wan denies. In response, she tells him to clear his mind and reflect upon it all.
- Padme is clearly upset over Obi Wan risking the whole mission on the fate of Anakin's podrace, and leaves the dinner table in frustration to give the boy some food, because he's outside working on his podracer while the adults are eating.
- In a conversation with Padme, Anakin has even more wise Jedi axioms, which actually comes off pretty nicely when they are discussing the morality of slavery, to which Anakin announces that "the stupidity of many creatures is" a certain factor.
- Anakin and Padme watch the sunset together. [Cute!]
- Anakin and Obi Wan sit around and talk. Anakin says he saw Obi Wan i his dreams, and Obi Wan also asks if he hates or fears Sebulba. Anakin answers no to both, and says that he senses that the alien fears Anakin.
- Obi Wan gives some more foreshadowing when Padme comments that he seems like he is "trying to solve the problems of the universe", and he gives the insight that maybe this entire thing will eventually affect the whole universe.
- Shmi skips the race, and Obi Wan wins a bet with Watto w/o the chance cube, only securing the freedom of Anakin. Shmi is "not for sale".
- Jabba announces the Pod Race. When listing off the planets of the racers, Lucas sneaks in a little shout out to New Cov from Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy.
- Watto tries to get out of giving up Anakin, and Obi Wan threatens to complain to the Hutts about him.
- C3PO, still mute and unfinished, is left behind on Tatooine.
- In the duel with Maul, the two combatants exhibit almost as much, if not more, Force prowess (kind of like the duel in TESB) as they do lightsaber skill.
- Panaka, Padme, and Obi Wan talk about the Sith, and Panaka asks why the Sith would work for the Federation, to which Obi Wan states that it is most likely the inverse : The Federation working for the Sith.
- The Queen (presumably the decoy) is NOT happy that the Jedi picked up "another stray", to which Obi Wan says that Anakin is now under the same protection that she is. She drops the subject.
- Another scene is given to show the Naboo distaste for Gungans when, standing the Senate, the Queen, Padme, and Panaka stand at least ten feet from Jar Jar, and look at him disgustedly.
- The Jedi Council only has three members - Yoda, Mace, and Ki Adi
- Apart of the Senate's complicated bureaucracy is shown off, to explain why the request to help Naboo is pushed to a different Committee.
- Amidala wishes to take back the planet by force. She and Jar Jar also have a conversation about where the prejudice between the two races came from.
- After Palpatine tells him of this, Valorum goes to the Senate to force them to talk about the issue... and this gets him removed from power, letting Palpatine take his place.
- Anakin gets to show off some space skills by using the force to pull them out of lightspeed right above the planet, past the blockade.
- Jar Jar and Amidala double team Boss Nass, and convince him to bring the Gungans out of isolation and to assist the Naboo people in defending the planet.
- The heroes then plan strategy with at least twenty Gungan generals.
- Jar Jar gets promoted to General.
- R2D2 and Anakin sneak away on their own little mini adventure, which involves a lot of infiltration and hacking of Federation systems. They face off with a group of battle droids, meanwhile, Obi Wan realizes his ward has run off but is told by Qui Gon that they need to focus on more important things.
- Jar Jar is a more active hero in the final battle.
- Obi Wan scolds Anakin upon finding him, but also recognizes his prowess and agrees to have him participate in the final battle. Anakin and Padme fly off in a two person star fighter (with R2) to take down the Trade Federation ship.
- Another pilot refers to Anakin/Padme's ship as "Rouge Two".
cool- There are no laser gates in the Maul duel, and Maul only has one saber.
- Battle droids come to Maul's aid, and Obi Wan must immediately go after them as well, after he finishes Maul.
- Anakin and Padme take down the control ship. Gunray tries to activate the back up, which Anakin sabotaged in his earlier adventure w/ R2.
- The Jedi approve of Anakin's training, and each take a turn to touch his forehead, to symbolize their approval.
And that's what I got from this explanation of the original script. This is what we're STARTING from, and frankly it's already pretty good.
John Fredrick Parker
Donor
Thank you so much Random! This is really going to help...
This, I'd say, is mostly useful in that it shows that Lucas' original intent was to have Obi-wan as the clear protagonist of the film. The problem is, Lucas also wanted, from the beginning, to have Kenobi see his master, Qui Gon, killed in front of him by Darth Maul at the climactic end -- which, I'm guessing he soon realized OTL, doesn't pack any kind of emotional punch if we've only just met Qui-gon more than halfway through the movie. So his choices are, either make Obi-wan and Qui-gon a pair from the beginning, or cut Kenobi's master entirely.
And I actually think, in this limited framework, Lucas made the right call OTL in making him a larger character -- though, to remain true to his plan of a Kenobi protagonist, it needs to be Qiu Gon who stays behind with the ship on Tatooine.
This actually begs the question -- why not just cut 3PO entirely from the episode, then? I can easily see, with a little nudge, George going in that direction instead of taking the time to come up with dialogue for the well known character.
While I'm on droids though -- I actually don't have a problem with having R2D2 still playing a central role in the prequels (well, aside from having him fly and blow stuff up, but crap like that can easily be fixed TTL). Hell, C3PO can still show up in the one or both of the next two episodes, but without the bullshit backstory of being built by Darth Vader.
I'd say Obi-wan being this smart to Sidius' plans this early is likely to get problematic as the trilogy moves on -- though, if Qui-Gon was the one expressing these concerns, I'd have no issue with it, since he's dead at the end anyway (though even then I'm neutral).
While I can appreciate Lucas' desire to see Anakin as a child wise beyond his years, I also think to something else I liked about OTL's version: Yoda's speech that "Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering". See, I think Lucas was on to something is trying (though imperfectly) to show Anakin as a boy with "great fear", of which losing his mother is a big element, which in later life plants the seeds for the Dark Side to take root.
In the prequel trilogy that's forming in my mind, the first episode deals with Anakin as a scared boy, the second shows him struggling with anger (but not the whiny, arrogant douche variety), and the third shows him with holding such hatred that, by the film's end, he is Darth Vader, the cold, cruel badass audiences have come to know. All that said...
That should definitely stay.
OK, I will admit, that scene would be pretty badass. That said, I'm not entirely convinced Anakin should be at the final battle on Naboo, if only to streamline the battle, and keep the focus on Obi-wan as the protagonist. Which brings me finally to...
See on this much, I agree absolutely with the belatedmedia youtube clip -- Darth Maul, after killing Qui Gon, absolutely should survive, albeit disfigured by Kenobi. In the original version, he talks a lot more, and is cocky as hell (when challenged "You don't bother to learn", Maul replies
"I don't have to") -- and that should also remain.
-----
So those, roughly, are the changes to the original script (at least as Random summarized it) that I'd make. Thoughts? Anyone else want to take a whack at it?
Stick some time on Coruscant on the front end, with Dooku. Drop Dooku's antecedent expulsion from the jedi. Dooku greets Qui-gon, is introduced to Obi-wan.
Qui-gon and Obi-wan are ambushed by the sith onboard the Trade Federation flagship; fast forward the first part of the two-on-one duel at the end of the movie to here. Qui-gon is killed; Obi-wan escapes.
Qui-gon gets some additional screentime (as compared to a version where he gets one scene before death), relationships are established, and there's still an emotional reverse punch with Qui-gon's death and the revenge fight at the end. Add blueghost appearances if necessary.
As for my actual thoughts on any changes -
I'm not sure if it is a good idea to keep Maul alive, for the sole reason that Dooku is a very powerful (if a bit underused) villain in II and III. Personally, I'd like to keep Dooku around, but a living Maul would prevent that.
Maybe a fun little background thing could have a non-metallic General Grevious as one of Nute Gunray's lackeys?
I'm not sure if it is a good idea to keep Maul alive, for the sole reason that Dooku is a very powerful (if a bit underused) villain in II and III. Personally, I'd like to keep Dooku around, but a living Maul would prevent that.
Maybe a fun little background thing could have a non-metallic General Grevious as one of Nute Gunray's lackeys?
You know, I didnt mind Episode 1, I hated 2 because of the whiny bugger Anakin became, 3 was ok, but turning Grievous into a bitch after he held up against Ki-Adi-Mundi and 3 Jedi knights in the Cartoon Clone Wars, was NOT COOL.
Not sure how we could pull it off, but I think the trilogy would be better served with having a single actor for Anakin, like Obi Wan has. Whether this involves [de]aging Ep I/Ep II-III Anakin, I cannot say for sure. This would also most likely involve an older episode one Anakin.
The hardest part would be lining up the schedules, and having someone look very young in one movie and then age significantly for the next.
Spitballing here -
1997 : Filming for Episode One takes place. The Anakin actor is about 16, and could fairly reasonably play a 14-15ish Anakin.
2000 : Filimg for Episode Two. The actor is now around 19, and make up could help portray him as roughly 22-23ish Anakin.
2003 : Filming for Episode Three. The actor's about 22 now, and could pretty much play anything up from that age. Probably have Anakin be 26 or 27 in this one.
John Fredrick Parker
Donor
Let me ask -- when was Dooku first mentioned in Star Wars expanded cannon? Or was he picked up from non-cannon work?
I ask because if he was not established in universe before Phantom, it's quite possible TTL doesn't create him at all...