We'll agree to disagree on CLONES being better, but both have some really great moments. Even with his clunky directing skills Lucas was able to pull off some good or even terrific scenes in both Episodes I and II.
The Phantom Menace 3D Release
- Thread starter Candlelight
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I like TPM more than AOTC too. TPM is very childish and Jar Jar is silly, but I'll take that over the dull romance in AOTC. TPM also has the best lightsaber duel in the saga while AOTC has the worst.
CGI Yoda: Wonderful idea.
CGI Yoda in lightsaber duel with Christopher Lee: Interesting idea.
Actual lightsaber duel: Nowhere near as good as we hoped.
CGI Yoda in lightsaber duel with Christopher Lee: Interesting idea.
Actual lightsaber duel: Nowhere near as good as we hoped.
It wasn't the Yoda fight that was the problem. It was everything before that with Obi-Wan and Dooku.
We got the amazing Duel of the Fates in TPM and then in AOTC, Obi got destroyed in seconds.
Obi-Wan was so awesome fighting Maul in TPM, but he somehow lost all his skills between TPM and AOTC. Obi is still being played by the same actor too.
Anakin? Don't really have a problem with him getting beaten so badly. Chosen One or not, he was still an unexperienced apprentice.
You make good points, and I think I recognized all that as well. Obi-Wan's combat performance in CLONES is just downright crappy. He gave as good as he got when he fought Darth Maul and the battle would have been his had Maul not Force-pushed him into that plasma vent/pit. The fight with Dooku was just pitiful. Dooku pwned his ass in less time than it takes a Jedi to swing his weapon. I suppose Obi-Wan got rusty in the ten years between Episodes I and II. There weren't a lot of chances for heated combat during that period and his skills declined. Obi-Wan wasn't even that impressive in the Geonosis Arena battle. Most of the other Jedi had more impressive moves and attacks than he did.
I think Obi-Wan was a great duelist except when he fought Dooku. Kind of like Joe Frazier. Great fighter who beat Ali but got his ass kicked twice when he fought George Foreman.
That being said, they could have had Obi-Wan acquit himself better in the Dooku duels. With the way he fought, Palpatine would have ripped through him in less time.
That being said, they could have had Obi-Wan acquit himself better in the Dooku duels. With the way he fought, Palpatine would have ripped through him in less time.
^
Oh, Palpatine/Sidious would have killed Obi-Wan in minutes...if not seconds. Look how quickly he disposed of Agen Kolar, Kit Fisto and Saesee Tiin...three of the most experienced and talented swordsmen in the entire Jedi Order. The only Jedi powerful and skilled enough to (almost) defeat Palpatine were Yoda and Mace Windu, and Mace would have killed him had Anakin not stepped in at the last second.
Oh, Palpatine/Sidious would have killed Obi-Wan in minutes...if not seconds. Look how quickly he disposed of Agen Kolar, Kit Fisto and Saesee Tiin...three of the most experienced and talented swordsmen in the entire Jedi Order. The only Jedi powerful and skilled enough to (almost) defeat Palpatine were Yoda and Mace Windu, and Mace would have killed him had Anakin not stepped in at the last second.
The prequel trilogy is a lot like getting smaller and smaller pineapples shoved up your ass, sure each successive pineapple is smaller but it's still a pineapple being shoved up your ass.
I imagine the movie would have avoided mentioning the formal names of each fighting style since they'd never been mentioned before ROTS or in any of the later films of the OT. But most of that dialogue could have remained in a scene of the movie and helped flesh out Obi-Wan's status as a reluctant warrior with certain skills. Establishing Obi-Wan as a master of a certain style of combat would have helped explain all his acrobatic flips and movements during his battle with Anakin/Vader on Mustafar. Without any on-screen explanation you wonder how the hell Obi-Wan could perform all those physical feats near and above molten lava and not only survive, but defeat his former apprentice.
In the book and I think script, after Grievous says he's been trained in the Jedi Arts by Count Dooku, Obi-Wan tells him he trained the man who defeated Dooku.
Yes! You're correct. That line is in both.
I really loved that line. So badass. Too bad it wasn't in the movie.
The best parts of the movie novelizations always get left out of the actual films. A movie's usually about speeding a scene along to get to the next thrilling/tender/funny/etc. moment, whereas a book can take its sweet time with exposition and getting to the point. It's not restricted by any barriers unless the publisher demands it come in under a certain number of pages. Movies are instant gratification. Books take a while to build sometimes, but when they pay off they make up for all the time it took to read.
Totally agreed. But most while movie novelizations are very rushed, I thought all three PT novels were very good.
All the CGI in the PT also got a little overwhelming/distracting at times so it is nice to sometimes to read the story on a page instead of watching it. I also enjoyed reading what was going on in the characters' heads, especially with Anakin in the ROTS novelization.
I now see that I posted "Too bad it wasn't in the movie" in my last two posts...
That lightsaber fight is just ridiculous. Instead of showing how badass Palpatine is by taking out three Jedi masters so quickly, you're left wondering why two of them just stand there and get stabbed. Very poor fight design.
Yeah, it was pretty bad. It was like something a couple of kids would do the middle of their backyard. I can't believe it was thought up by same stunt coordinator who help create the brilliant Duel of the Fates fight scene in TPM. Maybe he was just overwhelmed with how many lightsaber duels there already were in the movie?
The ROTS novel did the entire scene much better. It was written like an intense horror scene, and there was an actual reason Palpatine let that conversation go on for so long instead of attacking immediately when the four Jedi walked in.
Everybody under estmates Palpatine, Luke threw away his lightsaber and got hit by Force lightning, even Yoda took a blast while just standing there monologuing.
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