The Original Star Wars Trilogy With a Twist

[Captain Clark Terrell]

"Darth Tyranus knew what he risked, Lord Vader. If he had been stronger in the Force, you would be dead, and he would be my right hand." --Darth Sidious, Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

Suppose this had happened; would the original trilogy have worked with Dooku as the films' primary villain, as opposed to Vader? Obviously, the matter of Luke and Leia's heritage would have been handled differently, but what of the rest of the OT's plot. Would fans have responded to Dooku as they did Vader?

Edit: For the sake of argument, we'll assume that Dooku's approximate age of 102 at the time of ANH would not have limited his effectiveness.

--Sran

 

[The Doctor]

Nope.

 

[Marc]

Nope.

Dooku would never have had the presence and menance that Vader gave off and probably not quite the type to force choke uppity flag officers and and incompetent Star Destroyer capitains.

 

[Gaith]

Edit: For the sake of argument, we'll assume that Dooku's approximate age of 102 at the time of ANH would not have limited his effectiveness.

No, we - as in I - won't, and here's why: I refuse to believe any Sith Lord played by Christopher Lee doesn't have a sex drive. What's the point of conquering entire systems and civilizations, I ask, if you can't get a date?

Maybe Palps is some kind of secret alien or some crap, and is genuinely asexual. Maybe. But Dooku? Nah, no way. Ergo, he simply wouldn't have survived into the ANH era. He would have... used himself up, if you follow.

 

[General_Phoenix]

Palpatine was just insane by ROTJ. I don't think he would want off spring anyway, as they would be an immediate threat to him.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Dooku I think was sort of foreshadowing Vader-the whole fallen Jedi aspect, at least. I think in earlier versions of the story Dooku was sort of more of a Tarkin stlye character, with the Sith Lord being another character, if the concept art is anything to go by. (One of the concepts for AOTC's Sith actually ended up becoming Clone Wars villain Asajj Ventress).





I think Dark Horse when they still had the license revealed that Dooku had successors of some kind. Plus there's a few EU characters out there who claimed to be sons of Palpatine I think. But of course that's non-canon now.

 

[Gaith]

Palpatine was just insane by ROTJ. I don't think he would want offspring anyway, as they would be an immediate threat to him.

Who said anything about offspring?

 

[Ithekro]

I'm trying to picture Christopher Lee back in 1977 dueling Alec Guinness on the big screen. Lee is only eight years younger that Guinness which is oddly about what I pictured the difference between Obi-wan and Vader before TMP came out.

What would be difficult would, how do you make Lee look younger in 1999 verse 1977?

 

[Melakon]

As someone who saw Star Wars on opening night, before it was subtitled as Episode IV: A New Hope-- no. A big part of Vader's appeal was being a mystery man in a cool costume. You didn't know if he was a man or a robot, though David Prowse's eyes were briefly visible through the helmet lenses during the trench run.

The only set-up that suggested a possible sequel was that he wasn't killed off.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I think Grand Moff Tarkin might have staked him as he slept.

 

[Ithekro]

What if they had Lee in the suit as well as doing the voice? Lee is tall, only an inch shorter than Prowse, and has a commanding voice, that Prowse does not have.

 

[Melakon]

Why would they spend the money on Christopher Lee and then not show his face? People who showed up specifically to see Lee would feel cheated.

 

[EnriqueH]

Why would they spend the money on Christopher Lee and then not show his face? People who showed up specifically to see Lee would feel cheated.

That sounds suspiciously like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King...

 

[Melakon]

Why would they spend the money on Christopher Lee and then not show his face? People who showed up specifically to see Lee would feel cheated.

That sounds suspiciously like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King...

RotK was a high dollar production in an already established franchise. Star Wars was an unknown property with a relatively low budget at the time, that the studio wasn't sure what to do with. Even Lucas feared his career was over.

 

[EnriqueH]

Why would they spend the money on Christopher Lee and then not show his face? People who showed up specifically to see Lee would feel cheated.

That sounds suspiciously like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King...

RotK was a high dollar production in an already established franchise. Star Wars was an unknown property with a relatively low budget at the time, that the studio wasn't sure what to do with. Even Lucas feared his career was over.

I don't think you're following me.

I'm knocking ROTK because they deleted Christopher Lee's scenes.

 

[Dude111]

I would LOVE finding all 3 Star wars movies IN THIER ORIGINAL ANALOG STATES!!! (UN-Altered,etc)

Nothing wrong with that is there guys???? (Wanting purity)

I have the first one on VHS (NOTHING DIGITAL) but the other 2 have been DIGITALLY MASTERED... Looks like Ill have to get a VIDEODISC copy of the other 2 (I believe parts 2 and 3 are unaltered on Videodisc)


The problem is finding them!!!!!

 

[Melakon]

I'm knocking ROTK because they deleted Christopher Lee's scenes.

It wasn't the first time an actor had billing for a picture and didn't appear. But LotR has nothing to do with the topic.

 

[EnriqueH]

I'm knocking ROTK because they deleted Christopher Lee's scenes.

It wasn't the first time an actor had billing for a picture and didn't appear. But LotR has nothing to do with the topic.

No, but Christopher Lee does...

 

[Melakon]

I'm knocking ROTK because they deleted Christopher Lee's scenes.

It wasn't the first time an actor had billing for a picture and didn't appear. But LotR has nothing to do with the topic.

No, but Christopher Lee does...

After checking IMDB's "Crazy Credits" for the film I have to question your premise, because it says:

Christopher Lee, who played Saruman in the film was not originally credited at the end of the film as all the other main characters were because he did not appear in the theatrical version. For the Extended DVD however, he does appear in the film and justly gets his drawn character and name credit with the other actors.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

In the Revenge of the Sith novel we get some input into Dooku's thoughts (This actually replaced the elevator shenanigans that were seen in the movie). Basically, Dooku thinks Palpatine will do away with the rule of two, and have Anakin join them as rulers of a new Sith army. However, Palpatine of course betrays Dooku, and the rest is history. Not sure if the novelizations are still really canon though as they often had a lot of changes from the film.


It actually sort of mirrors the OT in that regard-Vader and Palpatine told each other Luke could be an ally, but secretly Vader wanted to overthrow the Emperor and rule with Luke (as he told Luke in ESB, and also Padme in ROTS), and Palpatine wanted a new apprentice to replace Vader once he outlived his usefulnesss (In ROTJ).