Re: Star Wars EPIII: Could the Jedi Order have defeated Palpatine/Sidi
I watched Episode III this past weekend when they were showing it on Spike and was wondering if anybody else thought that Mace acted too rashly against Palpatine/Sidious, seemingly against Yoda's earlier advice about approaching the crisis over Palpatine's willingness to give up his "emergency powers" more cautiously? Leaving aside for the moment, of course, the fact that the outcome had to remain the same for the sake of continuity (of course), how might the Jedi Council have handled the crisis differently in order to create a better outcome for the Order? They were arguably in a difficult if not impossible situation to begin with but was there *anything* that could've been done to neutralize Palpatine/Sidious and/or prevent the activation of Order 66? Is there an "Infinities" story that addresses this?
I wish they would do a lot more 'Infinities', but either they didn't sell or perhaps Lucas withdrew permission out of fear of confusing casual viewers/readers, which I don't agree with, but I can see how he'd arrive at that.
The situation with confronting Palpatine reminded me a lot of Angel and the gang confronting Jasmine-possessed Cordelia. If you don't take into account where Anakin/Connor are, the plan can only go south.
Add to that, I think Mace's own method may have played against him. His saber technique, I believe, 'skirted' the edges of the dark side, and that may have made him especially vulnerable to Palpatine's manipulation. He never questioned why a Sith Lord would simply up and confess his position. By that point, all were dancing to Palpatine's tune. Ironically, Anakin was left with the greatest amount of free will, but by this point, he had been so shaped and molded by Palpatine's treachery, he had tunnel vision regarding that choice. If Palps plans had a chance of being thwarted, it was in 1 or 2. Perhaps Qui-Gon survives instead of Obi-Wan, or both do. Perhaps Jar-Jar is killed by the assasin out to kill Padme, and no other Senator/Rep is naive/bold enough to be tricked into that pivotal speech.
I'm among those that believes that Palps gambled a
lot during his rise to power. The games were largely rigged, but he did take chances. His ultimate rise occurred when he gambled on whether he really had Anakin in his grip when facing Mace. His ultimate fall occurred when he just assumed that Luke's entreaties to his father would fall on deaf ears. He rose when he carefully played both sides of the chessboard. He fell when he just assumed his position to be unassailable--just like the Jedi Order before him.
So in their minds, it was "we'll take all the Jedi Council members on Coruscant to confront him. We'll have a nice honorable duel, take away his lightsaber without killing him, and convince him to surrender like a nice Sith Lord".
