Your favorite Star Wars villain who dies in the same episode he's introduced

Kai Lord · Jul 23, 2005

John Crichton said:
The anyone was more referring to the creators rather than any person/actor/shmo off the street. Just about any decent director can put together a good action sequence where the bad guy looks cool and does lots of bad-ass manuvers(especially with CGI the way it is these days) but it's much, much harder to have a villain REALLY make you love to hate him.

I don't think you need to "love to hate" villains for them to work, or work well. That is definitely a respectable judging criteria, but I think some villains just draw you into their performance whether or not you empathize with them, hate them, or are amused/entertained by them.

I too love all the Star Wars villains and don't want to knock anyone else's pick. Tarkin is a great villain, and serves the story incredibly well, but I feel he needs the rest of the story more than some of the others on the list. If you distill ANH to *just* the scenes where Tarkin is onscreen (meaning no footage of Alderaan blowing up, etc.) and do the same for ROTS with regard to General Grievous, I'm going to have *way* more fun watching Grievous. He's just a fun villain with great character traits whether he's fighting, insulting or threatening heroes, running for his life, etc. Tarkin is icy, refined, and appears utterly fearless. But in and of themselves those traits don't translate to as much entertainment for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm making a specific point to highlight what *I* enjoy in a good Star Wars villain, not suggesting that villains should exist in a vacuum.

I also like it when villains get up close and personal with the heroes. Save for the back and forth between Princess Leia (which was great) in the middle of the movie, Tarkin is somewhat detached from the principal characters, particularly the primary hero. I'm not suggesting that Tarkin would have been better off fighting the characters in close quarters combat since that not only wouldn't have served the story but it isn't even necessary for a good villain (Jabba is a good example of having personal issues with the heroes but still letting others do his dirty work), it was just a by-product of his character that makes me appreciate most of the others more.

So Tarkin was great and very necessary to the story, just not the most entertaining for me. And I still think you're selling Lucas and his cast and crew short for their amazing work at creating memorable villains. If any decent director could create such villains by making them badass and good fighters, how come the Star Wars baddies are such icons as opposed to merely par for the course? Why isn't Lurtz, the Uruk-hai captain from FOTR a household name? He looks cool, had a sweet fighting style, and had about as much screen time as Darth Maul and was in a much better movie that has been watched and rewatched the world over.

But Darth Maul is the one people remember. Why? I'd say its just that certain "X" factor that the really top tier villains either have or don't. Lucas somehow seems to know how to capture that lightning in a bottle whether he's making the great ESB or the much maligned TPM. The same can't be said for, well, probably any other filmmaker, let alone any "decent" one.

Lord Pendragon · Jul 23, 2005

Kai Lord said:
"At least as well as Dooku" doesn't quite measure up to Maul or Grievous when it comes to fighting styles. And Christopher Lee doesn't do a sinister flare? As if.

Dooku's got about as much sinister flair as my grandpa. Which is to say none at all. And Grievous' fighting style consisted of him getting his rear handed to him by a guy with one lightsaber compared to his four.

Admittedly, I'm not counting the cartoon here, because at the end of the day, it's a cartoon, not one of the movies.

Still, I agree with you that this is all opinion. Tarkin makes a more entertaining villain for me, moreso than Maul or Grievous (especially Grievous), but I respect that your tastes are different.

Regarding why Lucas' villains are so well-remembered, I think a large part of the reason is that the Star Wars villains are iconic. They have bold, symbolic designs, like superheroes (or villains

) and as a result, they stick in your mind. Maul, like Vader, has a wonderful design. Too bad Lucas never gave him the plot to go with it.

demiurge1138 · Jul 23, 2005

Kai Lord said:
I Why isn't Lurtz, the Uruk-hai captain from FOTR a household name? He looks cool, had a sweet fighting style, and had about as much screen time as Darth Maul and was in a much better movie that has been watched and rewatched the world over.

Well, for one reason, his name isn't actually spoken in the movie.

/tangent
Demiurge out.

TheAuldGrump · Jul 24, 2005

Lord Pendragon said:
Dooku's got about as much sinister flair as my grandpa. Which is to say none at all.

Well, ya gotta admit that it is hard to be menacing when your name's Dooku. (*Slaps Lucas across the face for that one... then continues beating on him for oh so many other reasons... starting with Jar Jar.*)

The Auld Grump - Cushing, on the other hand, could be menacing while wearing fuzzy slippers.

wingsandsword · Jul 24, 2005

TheAuldGrump said:
Well, ya gotta admit that it is hard to be menacing when your name's Dooku.

His name comes from the Japanese word for "Poison", actually, a reference to the subtle poisoning he spread with his ideas, being the element who fractured the Republic and paved the way for the Clone Wars. Much like Palpatine is a reference to Palatine, the hill where Roman Emperors built their palaces (and thus the name was supposed to sound Imperial and powerful).

Welverin · Jul 24, 2005

wingsandsword said:
His name comes from the Japanese word for "Poison", actually, a reference to the subtle poisoning he spread with his ideas, being the element who fractured the Republic and paved the way for the Clone Wars.

Still too close to dookie.

demiurge1138 · Jul 24, 2005

Welverin said:
Still too close to dookie.

Yeah, Dooku is a great name... if you don't speak English. Unfortunately, English is blessed with the word dookie.

Demiurge out.

S'mon · Jul 24, 2005

Tarkin is by far the best of this bunch; the only SW villain comparable to Vader in coolness.

Klaus · Jul 24, 2005

"Dooku" sounds exactly like "From the Ass" in Portuguese.

So down here he was renamed Dookan.

Same thing with Jedi Master Sypho Dias ("Gets f****d"), who became Zypho Vias.