Some totally useless thoughts on what the PT shoulda been like

[Gaith]

No one asked for it, but since PT rehashing never seems to go out of style around here, I thought I'd offer five specific*, constructive tips for GL circa 1996.

*As opposed to legit but generic stuff, like "hire actual writers" and "include recognizably human emotion".


So, without further ado... Five Ways to Fix the PT!


1. Anakin should be a child soldier on a war-torn planet
I don't buy that anyone with as loving a mother as Shmi (and with as non-traumatic a childhood as she seemed to provide) could turn evil. Anakin should have been an orphan child soldier and a killer before the Jedi even found him. And please, no Tatooine. Seeing it again in ROTJ was regressive enough, but it had no place in the prequels before the last shot of Ep. III.


2. More than two Sith
GL seems to have figured this out, though I'm not sure how Ventress and Starkilller fit into the "only two" rule. (The latter may have been hidden, but surely not the former.) How awesome would it have been to see massive red-on-other-blade saber fights? I know, there's the whole backstabbing issue, but Palps could have his Sith addicted to a drug only he controlled, or made clones of himself with very limited life-spans; there are ways around the problem. The "only two" rule is just lame. Two Sith alone can't wipe out a generation of Jedi no matter how many clones they command.


3. No damn battle droids
GL obviously didn't want kids to see Jedi dismembering living beings right and left. Shoulda thought of that before you gave them laser swords, hombre. The battle droids were obviously more advanced than any seen in the OT, and for that reason alone, never mind the awkward comic relief, should not have been included.

Not to mention that Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, I believe, made it pretty clear that clones were used by both/all sides of the conflict.


4. Far fewer OT connections
Self-explanatory. Vader didn't build Threepio. Yoda didn't ride on Chewie's back. I don't necessarily mind Palps creating Anakin but for Pete's sake let's keep it at that.


5. More/better women
There isn't a single speaking female Jedi in the PT, though RotS had a deleted scene in which one such character uses her only line to apologize to a guy for failing. Hey, George: if you show us female Jedi, and I might even support you didn't, it makes no sense not to hear from them. And no, Ashoka does not make up for lost ground in this regard.

Also, the whole Padme thing. Even before her meaningless death, does she really do anything significant throughout the PT except briefly get her planet back? Leia's leading role throughout the OT gave it a valuable dimension the PT lacked.

 

[Fel]

"Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody the power, the other to crave it." - Darth Bane

 

[zenophite]

I have been suggesting that the two sith rule was one of the single stupidest storypoints in the PT since the Phantom Menace.

 

[Aragorn]

Padme did nothing in the third movie except to give birth and die. Her entire rebel alliance formation subplot was cut out.

How Anakin turned to the darkside was also pretty bad. Something like that is right out of grade school creative writing. Why not have Palpantine influencing him more during the second movie? Give Anakin some seeds of doubt about the Jedi way instead of, "You didn't promote me to Jedi Master! I'm going to my room to throw a temper tantrum while I read Tiger Beat!"

When a filmmaker has too little power, the big studio heads meddle and change everything to the point of being unrecognizable. When a filmmaker has too much power, there's no one to check and balance him.

 

[zenophite]

^especially lord Lucas who doesn't seem like the type to invite friendly criticism. All the behind the scenes featurettes had at least a few people who had some doubtful looks on their faces when Lucas chimed in. Nobody said anything though except the usual line that Lucas is a genius.

 

[Skywalker]

Anakin and Padmé should have been older, particularly Anakin.

Naboo should have been Alderaan.

Padmé should have been Queen of Alderaan, and then abdicated after TPM to take on a more active role in the Republic Senate, leaving the throne to her cousin, Bail Organa.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Neeson should've Obi-Wan, face it. Qui Gon was an unnecessary character.

Grievous needed to be introduced a movie earlier or dumped entirely. Same for Dooku.

And the rest...blah, blah, Jar-Jar sucks, battle droid designs and voices blow, Jake Lloyd can't act well...

 

[davejames]

1. Anakin should be a child soldier on a war-torn planet
I don't buy that anyone with as loving a mother as Shmi (and with as non-traumatic a childhood as she seemed to provide) could turn evil. Anakin should have been an orphan child soldier and a killer before the Jedi even found him. And please, no Tatooine. Seeing it again in ROTJ was regressive enough, but it had no place in the prequels before the last shot of Ep. III.

Actually I think making Schmi and Anakin slaves was a really inspired idea by Lucas. Unfortunately you never got the sense they had it all that hard on Tattooine-- certainly not to the point where Anakin would have all this pent up anger and resentment about it later, or would be so susceptible to the Dark Side.

Hell, he had his own robot and got to go pod-racing whenever he wanted! I don't know about you guys, but that's a MUCH more exciting childhood than I had growing up!

 

[jonnyskywatcher]

1. Anakin should be a child soldier on a war-torn planet
I don't buy that anyone with as loving a mother as Shmi (and with as non-traumatic a childhood as she seemed to provide) could turn evil. Anakin should have been an orphan child soldier and a killer before the Jedi even found him. And please, no Tatooine. Seeing it again in ROTJ was regressive enough, but it had no place in the prequels before the last shot of Ep. III.

I think way too obvious if Anakin had had that bad of a childhood that he would turn to the dark side, not to mention it would basically be saying that he's not responsible for his downfall because he never had a chance. And it would be ridiculous that the Jedi would train or allow Obi-wan to train him if he had this kind of history. They were worried because of his fear, and you're suggesting he should already be a min-Vader? Should he also have a little Vader suit? It's not a tragedy if there is no hero.

I prefer an Anakin that falls to the dark side because of his own choices not because of a crummy childhood.

2. More than two Sith
GL seems to have figured this out, though I'm not sure how Ventress and Starkilller fit into the "only two" rule. (The latter may have been hidden, but surely not the former.) How awesome would it have been to see massive red-on-other-blade saber fights? I know, there's the whole backstabbing issue, but Palps could have his Sith addicted to a drug only he controlled, or made clones of himself with very limited life-spans; there are ways around the problem. The "only two" rule is just lame. Two Sith alone can't wipe out a generation of Jedi no matter how many clones they command.

Sure it might have been more cool to see more Sith (and I don't acknowledge any additional semi-Sith outside of the movies), but I think it's much cooler that Palpatine beat the Jedi with cunning not with numbers (though he did have lot and lots of clone soldiers.) And the way Sith are presented, it isn't very reasonable to have many of them together, because why don't they kill each other?

3. No damn battle droids
GL obviously didn't want kids to see Jedi dismembering living beings right and left. Shoulda thought of that before you gave them laser swords, hombre. The battle droids were obviously more advanced than any seen in the OT, and for that reason alone, never mind the awkward comic relief, should not have been included.

I don't think it was so much an issue of Lucas not wanting to see Jedi dismembering living beings, but that if you put that in it raises the rating. Using battle droids allowed them to show Jedi using lightsabers to their true potential while keeping the rating low.

Not to mention that Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, I believe, made it pretty clear that clones were used by both/all sides of the conflict.

Which was written before the PT, which Lucas obviously ignored.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

-I always got the impression from the OT and some tie-in works that by the time of the the prequels, the Jedi Order was pretty obscure. It would have been cooler to see them as sort of secretive peacekeepers, working silently to bring justice to the galaxy. So have them as a secretive organization that meets on backwater planets. Maybe the Jedi Temple would be some cool Maccu Piccu style ruins.
-Drop the whole taxation dispute/EP1 plot. Make EP 1 about the events that trigger the Clone Wars, with the end of the movie being the very first battle of them.
-Built actual sets so that the actors don't look like akward wooden puppets and hire better actors.
-On that note, cut back on the excessive OMG KEWL CGI. It was pretty annoying to have your immersion broken by VFX that try too hard to be cool.
-Better writing. As an actor and an aspiring writer, the dialogue made me cringe terribly.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Before I delve deeper into this issue, I think that Qui Gon and Obi Wan should have been one character.

 

[Cicero]

1. Anakin should be a child soldier on a war-torn planet
I don't buy that anyone with as loving a mother as Shmi (and with as non-traumatic a childhood as she seemed to provide) could turn evil. Anakin should have been an orphan child soldier and a killer before the Jedi even found him. And please, no Tatooine. Seeing it again in ROTJ was regressive enough, but it had no place in the prequels before the last shot of Ep. III.

Wasn't Anakin established as having been from Tatooine in the original Star Wars (Episode IV)?

 

[The Evil Dead]

Qui-Gon should've died under mysterious circumstances and returned as the... siiigh... Count "Dooku" character in the second two films.

The entire trilogy should have spanned 3 or 4 years, similar to the original films. Anakin should have been around Luke's age when we met him. He should've actually been a great pilot, as Ben Kenobi mentions.

I would've liked to see Obi-Wan and Anakin be much closer, they tried to ram a bit of "They're real comrades!" in the first act of Episode III, but too little, too late. I would've liked to see them be more like buddies, a lot of mutual respect, etc. in the first film.

More Clone War stuff on screen. The series stars, the Clone Wars have already begun. I don't want to have to watch cartoons or play video games or read books to learn about the conflict.

I'd have expanded the basic plot of Revenge of the Sith, basically have that "downfall of Anakin" span two films. Maybe have the Anakin/Obi-Wan lava battle occur at the end of the second film or at the midway point of the third. I'd have been very interesed to see Darth Vader, armor and all, for a chunk of screen time in the final film, with Obi-Wan and Yoda on the run from the Sith Lord.

 

[sojourner]

1. Anakin should be a child soldier on a war-torn planet
I don't buy that anyone with as loving a mother as Shmi (and with as non-traumatic a childhood as she seemed to provide) could turn evil. Anakin should have been an orphan child soldier and a killer before the Jedi even found him. And please, no Tatooine. Seeing it again in ROTJ was regressive enough, but it had no place in the prequels before the last shot of Ep. III.

Wasn't Anakin established as having been from Tatooine in the original Star Wars (Episode IV)?

Not even a hint.

 

[JD]

I have to agree that there should have been more to Anakin's fall to the dark side. Sure we saw that he could get pissed in AoTC, but I would have preferred it if Anakin's fall to the Dark Side was alot slower. I would have rather seen it be a slow slide that took place over several years, instead of just suddenly deciding that he needed Dark Side powers to save Padme. I also think it would have been more interesting if as he was going dark he started working as a spy in the Order. That really would have made it that much more painful for the Jedi when they found out he was a Sith.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Before I delve deeper into this issue, I think that Qui Gon and Obi Wan should have been one character.

Personally, I think it would have been cooler if it would have been revealed in Episode II that Darth Tyranus was actually Qui-Gon. If the Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul fight was cool, imagine the Obi-Wan and Anakin vs. Qui-Gon fight

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

No, I don't like that at all. Qui-Gon's character, how he was portrayed and what he was like never hinted at any dark side motives.

 

[Gaith]

Please, no slams on the writing or acting here... we know of the generic faults. I'm trying to be specific at the conceptual level.

It's not a tragedy if there is no hero.

I'm no expert on historical dictators/mass murderers, but I can't imagine that any of them had the kind of mothers Anakin had. Maybe the child solider direction is going a bit far, but I think it's closer to a credible story. Besides, what isn't tragic about trying to overcome childhood trauma and failing? Isn't stuff like alcoholism all the more tragic for being in significant part inheritable? As long as Anakin and his Jedi teachers made real efforts to make him noble, there's plenty of room for a tragic fall. GL, on the other hand, insisted that everything be as hunky-dory as possible until it absolutely couldn't remain so, thus giving us Anakin's near-total fall in five minutes.

I think it's much cooler that Palpatine beat the Jedi with cunning not with numbers... . And the way Sith are presented, it isn't very reasonable to have many of them together, because why don't they kill each other?

Like I said, I didn't buy that only two Sith could wipe out the Jedi. And having two Sith isn't any more stable than having more, given all the backstabbing we've seen. So why not have more?

I don't think it was so much an issue of Lucas not wanting to see Jedi dismembering living beings, but that if you put that in it raises the rating. Using battle droids allowed them to show Jedi using lightsabers to their true potential while keeping the rating low.

That sort of amounts to the same thing, IMO.

Which was written before the PT, which Lucas obviously ignored.

Doesn't mean I have to like it.

 

[DarKush]

1. A pretty good idea. I thought GL did a terrible job casting Jake Lloyd as Anakin, and making Anakin so young and innocent. The one scene that showed more of a flash of anger, a fight with a kid on Tatoonine was cut out of the film. Dumb. Though I did love Lloyd's expression when Mace told him he would not be a Jedi. However, that "Yipee" stuff totally destroyed it. I think the PT made a mistake in trying to make Anakin a genuine hero and making him the central character of the PT. Obi Wan should've been the true blue hero of the PT.

GL just doesn't have the skills to take a hero and slowly corrode him into the monstrous Darth Vader. It would've been easier to make Anakin an anti-hero right off, and show his struggling with the dark side. Perhaps, he was in the Separtist camp as a child soldier or allied to the Republic or something when he was found. Cut out the "One" concept, just make him exceptionally strong in the Force, and there you go.

But I've often thought it would've been better to just start Anakin out as a Jedi who wanted to be 'more' than a Jedi, who felt constricted by the rules of the Jedi Order, a reversal of Luke.

2. Though I think it would've been awesome to see other Sith too, I do like how the Rule of Two forced the Sith to use manipulation, cunning, etc. to overcome the Jedi. Now perhaps a way to have both would've been if Sidious and not Darth Bane had instituted the Rule of Two. The PT could've started with a Sith Order, but after their infighting and betrayals, Sidious instituted the Rule of Two.

3. I didn't care for the Battle Droids either, they had way too much 'personality'. It works better on the Clone Wars show than on film. I also thought the droids were too easy to kill and their destruction lacks emotional resonance. Though I love the rolling droidekas. Perhaps, it would've been cool to see Clones on both sides fighting. The Seps started out with Clone armies and then the Republic gets their own.

4. I don't mind OT connections, just the kind GL chose to use. For example, setting TPM on Alderaan instead of Naboo would've been cool. Though I agree with you that Anakin creating 3PO was dumb. The two droids were not needed in the PT.

5. I agree that women characters got short shrift in the PT, though they created nice visuals: Shaak Ti, Aayla Secura, Luminaria Unduli (sp), Barris Offee, Yaddle, Stass Allie and Adi Gallia, I wanted to know more about these characters. I also think they should've made Padme a Jedi.

I think they did a real disservice to Padme in the OT, esp. in ROTS. In TPM she was a very strong, risk taking leader. By the time of ROTS they had reduced her to a dithering, hand wringing person that pretty much lost the will to live. The Padme of TPM would never have died of a broken heart. She wouldn't have left her children alone in a world in which their father was a madman and Palpatine was a dictator. I think the TPM would've held on, so that she could change Anakin back herself and not live it in the hands of others. I think GL punked out by not having Anakin really kill Padme, with force lightning, a lightsaber stab, or a crushed larnyx. Her death made her look weak, not a legitimate victim of an abusive husband.

I think GL was conflicted about portraying Anakin too harshly and it hampered his handling of the character. In the PT, Anakin goes from being an outright monster from ANH and ESB to the more tragic, misguided figure of ROTJ. There's a lot of poignancy in the character's arc, but in GL's desire to really show Anakin as a tragic hero, he's somewhat took the sting out of the terrible things this man did, regardless of his 'reasons'. I mean, Grevious is portrayed as an unrepetent monster, Dooku isn't given a pass, neither is Sidious, so why should Vader? His eleventh hour save in ROTJ should be seen in the light of all the horror he had unleashed on the universe. I think GL put himself through unnecessary contortions by insisting on making Anakin the Chosen One instead of Luke. Making Luke the Chosen One instead perhaps would've freed GL not to make excuses for Vader.

One more thing...I've been reading some of the post about Qui Gon being Count Dooku. That's an interesting idea as well. I personally thought Qui Gonn was a redundant character in TPM, though I liked Liam Neeson's performance. I would've merged the two characters into Obi Wan, because I felt TPM wasted time establishing Obi Wan. That being said, the idea of turning Qui Gonn into the leader of the Seps might've been cool. Of course, they would have to tweak the character a bit. Make him a little more defiant of the Jedi Council and skeptical of the Republic. Qui Gonn was already established as bucking the Council, but we never learned why he was a maverick. Could it have been for ideological reasons? His belief in the Living Force? Was that heretical?

Or perhaps replacing Qui Gonn with Dooku in TPM as Obi's master would've worked too.

Anyway, I've long thought that TPM erred in not having Dooku as a member of the Jedi Council in TPM. He perhaps could've been the lone voice of dissent in their decision not to train Anakin initially. I also thought it might have been nice to have a foreshadowing scene after the vote where Dooku comforts Qui Gonn or Obi Wan and expresses his distaste for the Council's decisions as well as the corruption of the Republic.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

My gigantic reply that might trail off in the end:

I think that GL had some fundamental principals down right. I think he got carried away with the CGI and the cartoonish feel that the movies had. So what would I do?

First and foremost, I would keep Qui Gon and Obi-Wan together as master and padawan. I think that there is something there that resonated throughout the entire series with Obi-Wan.

But mostly, I would change the Separatists to the Mandalorians and their Confederacy.

So to begin:

Obi - Wan and Qui Gon are sent to the planet Naboo on the fringes of Known Space. They are apart of the Old Republic and one of their outposts before Unknown Space. The planet has been invaded and blockaided by an unknown force that has come out of nowhere. Obi - Wan and Qui Gon are sent to open up diplomatic talks with these mysterious new people. The talks go south and Obi Wan and Qui Gon fight for their lives, smuggling onboard a few vessels destined to the planet side because their ship was destroyed.

On the surface, they notice a vast robotic army, battle droids. Qui Gon doesn't like the looks of this because through the Force, he knows that this is just a small part of a larger invasion force. Before he can find Obi - Wan, a group of Gunguns abduct him and take him to a prison under Naboo's shoreline. In prison, he finds Obi - Wan and a renegade gungun named Jar - Jar. Jar - Jar is young, a bit naive, and a little ignornant of aliens. They talk. They are summoned to Boss Nass, who they talk with about the incoming invasion. Boss Nass could care less because the alien invaders don't know they are there and that the Nabooians can fight for themselves. Qui Gon counters that the invaders will eventually find them and possibly destroy their cities. He mentions that these invaders don't look peaceful. A few gunguns side with Qui Gon but Boss Nass throws them back in prison.

While in prison, a few more open-minded gunguns help break them out noting that the guerilla war that they have been fighting off and on with the Nabooians will be nothing compared to the invaders. As they sneak out, another gungun watches them depart before going to his chambers.

Inside his chambers, the gungun contacts someone onboard the invaders ship, saying that a few 'Jedi' have been sighted, broken out of prison, and are on their way to the Naboo capital. The man dismisses the gungun, saying that he will take care of it.

The man, Mandalore, overseeing the entire operation, turns to Darth Sidious, who is conducting the entire operation from Coruscant. Darth Sidious says, he will send his apprentice to Naboo but Mandalore warns him that the Jedi will be gone by then. Darth Sidious counters they better not be before shutting off the comm.

On Naboo, Qui Gon and Obi Wan fight their way to the capital as the invaders have already begun a long siege of the city. With their gungun allies and Jar - Jar, they rush to meet the Queen, a young, mid 20s elected leader name Padme. She has a quartet of handmaidens with her along with her bodyguards. They fight to their ship, which blasts off into space. A group of fighters tries to intercept, going as far as damaging their engine. R2-D2 saves the day .

But with their engines damaged, they have to find a neutral planet nearby. Tatooine.

Landing there, they find that the Old Republic's firm grasp on the government has withered away to a corrupt beaucracy being so far from the core. Slaves are still owned, sold, traded and it's a hard life.

Crashing their ship into a sanddune, a few local hydrofarmers (also slaves to a mighty Hutt lord that controls part of the government) rush out to see if there are any survivors. The crash isn't bad but they are now stuck on Tatooine. As the farmers take the battered refugees to their home, Padme sees a young, rugged handsome man trailing in the back. He is quiet, silently observing the group, noting that they are Jedi.

While in the home, Qui Gon asks if they have a comm link to Coruscant or any kind of communication to Coruscant. They inform him they do not but Mos Eisly might. Qui Gon declines, knowing that if he is seen that might bring suspicion to their party. He asks if they have any sort of communication array or device, and they nod. They can get slightly past the system by not any further.

After being taken to the device, Qui Gon asks Obi Wan if there is anyway he could boost the signal a little bit more. Obi Wan looks at it, shrugs, and says probably. Qui Gon tells him to get on it. The young man steps into the room and notices what they are doing. He tells Obi Wan that he can make the modifications better than he can. The young man is a bit arrogant but also withdrawn. Qui Gon notices something peculiar and odd about the young man but dismisses it for now.

Salvaging pieces from their downed and broken ship, they eventually get a communication out to a passing Jedi starship that was checking in on them when they didn't respond. On board is the Jedi Master Dooku. Qui Gon and Dooku speak briefly and Dooku agrees something is amiss. Qui Gon tells Dooku to go further and go out beyond the Unknown Region to figure out this mystery.

While on Tatooine, Padme and the young man began to talk and he is revealed to be Anakin Skywalker. He is an orphan, having no knowledge of his parents. They continue some talking as Obi Wan and Qui Gon discuss what has been happening. A ship from the Republic is coming to get them in the mean time.

On Naboo, Mandalore greets Darth Sidious' apprentice and hesistently tells him that they gotten away. Pulling back his hood of his robes, we are introduced to Darth Maul from a new species we've never seen before. Growing his disproval, he slices Mandalore in half and points to one of Mandalore's lieutenants. He tells him that he is in charge now and to see to the matter. The Mandalore nods, telling Darth Maul that they had calculated where the ship has gone. Tatooine. Darth Maul smiles his approval and leaves.

On Tatooine, Obi Wan and Qui Gon are about to leave when they see an ominious ship streaking across the sky. They both feel the presence of something they haven't felt in years. The ship lands, they fight. They are losing because Darth Maul is vicious, strong, and has a two-bladed lightsaber that easily fends off the two Jedi. But before Darth Maul can deliver a killing blow, the young mechanic Anakin hurls a piece of farm equipment at Darth Maul, throwing him into the wall. Obi Wan and Qui Gon both look at Anakin and the power he just showed. They are stunned. Turning back to Darth Maul, they notice he has disappeared.

Meeting with the Hutt that owns Anakin, they try to deal for his release but the Hutt doesn't want to give up the young man. Qui Gon knows that a Jedi Mind trick won't work so he offers a deal. He has heard Anakin talk about racing his T-16 Skyhopper (or whatever) in Beggar's Canyon. There is a tournament coming up but Anakin isn't the favorite. He bets the Hutt for Anakin's freedom. If Anakin loses, then he will give Hutt money and technology he wants. If Anakin wins, Anakin is to go free. The Hutt agrees, knowing full well that Anakin will lose.

The race begins and in the end Anakin wins despite the Hutt disabling his ship through a sabotour. Anakin goes free. He is reluctant because his friends are still behind but Qui Gon tells Anakin, that he could become a Jedi. Anakin looks at Qui Gon, and decides to go, knowing full well as a Jedi, he could free his friends.

Long story short, they are about to jump into hyperspace when Coruscant tells them to go back to Naboo. They have sent an army there to repel the invaders but they need the Queen back. Obi Wan and Qui Gon nod and they go back. While on Naboo, the gunguns have joined the invaders and have attacked the Nabooians. Fighting all around. Fighting again with Darth Maul, Qui Gon is killed and Obi Wan nearly gives into his hatred but he finds comfort and release in Qui Gon's death and eventually uses that strength to kill Darth Maul. Anakin doesn't fly but helps on the ground fighting off the invaders.

The gunguns in the end overthrow their government and make peace with the Nabooians. The invaders fall back to Unknown Space. While sifting through the dead and the broken battle droids, Obi Wan finds a mask. He turns to Anakin and tells him that they are going to Coruscant.

While on Coruscant, Obi Wan reveals who is behind the invasion. The Mandalorians. As he annouces this, there is a rush of news as systems fall or back the new invaders as they swarm out of the Unknown Region.

And in the Unknown Region, Dooku finds evidence of a lost Sith culture. While poking around, he is corrupted by the Dark Side spirits of some Sith Lords. In the background, he can hear Darth Sidious cackling and then saying, "Darth Tyrannus, rise..."