[cough]Shinzon[cough]
More Star Wars films announced
- Thread starter Candlelight
- Start date
[cough]Shinzon[cough]
Just imagine how unbelievable awesome Ian McDiarmid would have been had he actually been given some kind of backstory that didn't involve one brief, vague tale about Darth Plageuis.
According to Ian McDiarmond he played Palpatine as Lucifer.
I think the best idea is that Palpatine is the physical embodiment of the darkside of the Force.
I think the best idea is that Palpatine is the physical embodiment of the darkside of the Force.
No, it's a perfectly legitimate storytelling technique. Does the lack of any kind of characterization whatsoever for Sauron hurt the LotR movies?
Thing is, to pull it off, you have to balance such ciphers with interesting characters. The Fellowship, Gollum: yes. Luke, Vader: yes. Pre-Vader Anakin, Padme, Tyrannus: no.
In the books, Sauron isn't depicted as a character who directly interacts with other characters, so there's not really a parallel. Sauron is, on the other hand, called the Dark Lord. All we need to know about him is told in the book. In contrast, the information about Palps, that we don't need to know any more about him, comes not from within the films, but from an interview with the author. I stand my ground.
James Luceno did a very commendable and even outstanding job with Sidious/Palpatine in his recent Darth Plagueis novel, which is one of my three favorite SW books since the conclusion of the Prequel Trilogy in theaters. Palpatine in the Luceno book is considerably more fleshed-out and three-dimensional than he is in any of the prequel films, and while evil and even sadistic and craving more and more power he ends up a more rounded and textured character in the hands of Luceno than he ever stood a chance of being under the pen of Lucas.
Grievous cooler than Darth Maul? Seriously?? I admit he has a pretty decent design, but I've never found him remotely threatening or intimidating as a villain. He's just a CG robot with a long face who wheezes a lot.
And what's up with all this "character" talk? This is SW. Nobody was particularly deep or complex in the OT (even in the moodier ESB), and yet that didn't stop us from loving the heck out of them. I just want characters who are fun and cool and dynamic like that again.
I don't need to know the life story of these characters, or the entire boring history of their planet and culture.
Honestly I didn't find Maul to be "cooler". I just found Grievous to be more interesting.
Palpatine's aims in the films are pretty transparent and honestly do not need further clarification. He's a politician who wants power because power is a cool thing to have. He's also a member of essentially a religious cult that values selfishness and has a blood feud with the Jedi. Most of his behaviour can be attributed to one or both of these facts.
And whether or not Grevious is 'cooler', he's unquestionably more developed than Darth Maul because Darth Maul is a cipher who has all of five lines. Grevious has actual conversations with other characters, and a fair bit about him is established - a key Separatist general, a guy known as a Jedi-killer, and so on. Maul is simply the Apprentice.
What he shares with Maul however is that he's a filler villain. Once Tyrannus is ignominiously dispatched, the Separatists need a figurehead to represent them until that thread of the movie's plot has been resolved.
And whether or not Grevious is 'cooler', he's unquestionably more developed than Darth Maul because Darth Maul is a cipher who has all of five lines. Grevious has actual conversations with other characters, and a fair bit about him is established - a key Separatist general, a guy known as a Jedi-killer, and so on. Maul is simply the Apprentice.
What he shares with Maul however is that he's a filler villain. Once Tyrannus is ignominiously dispatched, the Separatists need a figurehead to represent them until that thread of the movie's plot has been resolved.
If there's a silver lining to the Palpatine character's depth or lack thereof it's that the Prequels for all their flaws fleshed him out a whole lot more than the OT ever did or even intended to. In Empire he's a towering blue hologram issuing instructions to Darth Vader. End of story. In Jedi we finally see him in the flesh but he doesn't do a whole lot more than cackle, taunt Luke and throw Sith lightning bolts. He's creepy and effective as hell, but you don't use the OT Emperor as your basis for any sort of comprehensive bio on the guy.
Hell, he started out life as a woman in a hood with chimpanzee eyes superimposed over her darkened sockets. He's come a long way since 1980 no matter how you look at the character.
Hell, he started out life as a woman in a hood with chimpanzee eyes superimposed over her darkened sockets. He's come a long way since 1980 no matter how you look at the character.
I just flagged a request for it at my public library; I'll be checking it out.
Cool...I hope you enjoy it. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
The PT movies sure didn't. Heck, arguably the most distinctive thing we learn about him in the OT - his implied anti-nonhuman racism, as evidenced by the composition of his Navy - is nowhere referenced or implied in the PT. Even when he declares himself Emperor, he's flanked by nonhuman aides.
I think killing Maul right away was the was the single biggest mistake (and there were plenty) the PT did.
The three movies were severely lacking some kind of cohesion. If they had a single primary villain out front, with Palps mostly in the background, I think the narrative would have been better for it.
More importantly however, had the film ended with Maul slaying Qui-Gon, facerolling Obi-Wan, and finishing with a bad-ass walk-off, I think the film would have been accepted (perceptually) more positively. The ending would have become the focus and, even with everything else being equal, the other "annoying" aspects of the film would have been overlooked to some degree.
I also think the "unknown" factor would only have helped here because instead of the interwebz lashing out against Jar-Jar for three years, it would be aflutter with discussion on who the fuck was this guy who just showed up out of nowhere and smacked the heroes around.
And the whole idea of butthurt Obi spending the ten year interim chasing down this "phantom" would have made for a much more interesting starting point for Clones.
And I really don't know why Lucas felt the need to get rid of him. Tyranus was pointless, and Grevious was just silly. It was like he was worried people wouldn't have accepted the ten year aging, but then gave us an ancient Lee anyway.
I wonder if he had noticed Maul's overwhelming popularity sooner, if he would have made some last minute changes.
The three movies were severely lacking some kind of cohesion. If they had a single primary villain out front, with Palps mostly in the background, I think the narrative would have been better for it.
More importantly however, had the film ended with Maul slaying Qui-Gon, facerolling Obi-Wan, and finishing with a bad-ass walk-off, I think the film would have been accepted (perceptually) more positively. The ending would have become the focus and, even with everything else being equal, the other "annoying" aspects of the film would have been overlooked to some degree.
I also think the "unknown" factor would only have helped here because instead of the interwebz lashing out against Jar-Jar for three years, it would be aflutter with discussion on who the fuck was this guy who just showed up out of nowhere and smacked the heroes around.
And the whole idea of butthurt Obi spending the ten year interim chasing down this "phantom" would have made for a much more interesting starting point for Clones.
And I really don't know why Lucas felt the need to get rid of him. Tyranus was pointless, and Grevious was just silly. It was like he was worried people wouldn't have accepted the ten year aging, but then gave us an ancient Lee anyway.
I wonder if he had noticed Maul's overwhelming popularity sooner, if he would have made some last minute changes.
Yes.
Having just read this: http://www.geektyrant.com/news/2013/2/6/han-solo-and-boba-fett-stand-alone-star-wars-films.html
It would seem Disney are going to be spamming us with Star Wars movies.
It would seem Disney are going to be spamming us with Star Wars movies.
It would have been TEN or more had they gone ahead with rereleasing the other films in 3-D. It's probably a very, very good thing in retrospect that they cancelled those plans so they can focus all their energies on the new stories.
We're going to be swamped enough as is.
We're going to be swamped enough as is.
I don't get the bellyaching about these announcements. If I were a die hard Star Wars fan (I'm more og a Trek guy, though I do love Star Wars, including 2/3 of the P.T.), I would be ecstatic. I would be even happier with them being made by Disney, who have done a fantastic job with the Marvel movies.
Some of us do love to complain, don't we.
Some of us do love to complain, don't we.
I don't care how many Star Wars movies they make; I'll just ignore the ones that don't interest me. The young Han Solo flick might be okay, depending on who they cast. Not a big fan of Boba Fett.
