Darth Sidious question - **RotS Spoilers**

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Actually, I believe Luke got a bigger dose of the stuff than that, even. Not like I sat there with a stopwatch or anything, but that was my impression.

I'm fairly sure it was shorter...and it also had breaks here and there for the Emperor to due his "I'm evil, I win; You're good, you die" speech. With Sith, we see the whole lightning thing straight, and it doesn't stop at all.

Obviously, my impression is that what we see in Sith was the longest, and its definitely the only non-stop lightning use that actually hits. Of course, this'll be one of those things that may be answered on the RotS DVD commentary...

 

[Desdichado]

I'm fairly sure it was shorter...and it also had breaks here and there for the Emperor to due his "I'm evil, I win; You're good, you die" speech. With Sith, we see the whole lightning thing straight, and it doesn't stop at all.

Obviously, my impression is that what we see in Sith was the longest, and its definitely the only non-stop lightning use that actually hits. Of course, this'll be one of those things that may be answered on the RotS DVD commentary...

I'm pretty sure that just the last, non-stop dose of Luke was even longer than that, and that doesn't even count the earlier doses the Emperor gave him in between gloating, "look how dark I am!" speeches.

I might just time them after all! Also, you didn't respond to what I thought was actually the more interesting part of my post, though...

 

[The_Universe]

How do we not know that its the longest we've seen someone being Force Lightninged?

And if it wasn't deforming him...why was he smoking afterwards just like Luke was after he got lightninged? It HAD to be the lightning. He didn't look THAT bad before, as shown in the screencaps above. But I guess people would rather have their own explanations than what's fairly clearly shown on screen.

There's no doubt he got hit by lightning for a long time. Lightning making a person smoke makes some sense, and is well within the established range of consequences for being hit by force lighting. Is it really longer than Luke's bout with it, though? I don't think so, but I didn't time it, either.

Is it really logical to assume that a certain amount of lightning makes a face wrinkly? 15 seconds will do it, but 10 seconds won't? The onset seems nearly instantaneous in the film (though the wrinkles do get worse over time), which would make one wonder why Luke and Mace aren't wrinkle-machines, or at least sort of wrinkly.

Does it only make Dark Sider's faces' wrinkly? That can't be the case, because Vader himself takes a decent dose in Jedi - and he's just pasty, not really wrinkly at all.

In all, I'll buy that the lightning is the proximate cause for the Emperor's wrinkles. But it just doesn't make sense for it to be the sole cause. Something else was happening - and a mask coming down seems as logical as anything (though hardly the only sensical answer).

 

[Eosin the Red]

I'd like to see the article if you can find it, with context to make sure what he is talking about. I could easily see him saying "Palpatine is a mask worn by Sidious" and meaning just that - Palpie is a persona created and tweaked to gain position in the senate and take over.

 

[Jdvn1]

If it was such a logical move, and he had the senate eating out of his palm, why try to arrest him in the first place?

His control over the senate hadn’t fluctuated at all from the beginning of the scene to the end…

That's where 'kill or be killed' comes in. It didn't have to do with power in the senate, but power to kill Mace.

And since people are more inclined to give into their emotions after/during combat I think its safe to assume that Mace’s attempt to execute Palpatine weren’t logical but emotional and therefore unJedi like.

Possibly true, but a Jedi aren't supposed to give into their emotions like that. Mace did say, "He's too dangerous to live!" or whatever. Not necessarily emotional, but I can see it going either way. Maybe it was against the Jedi Code of Conduct, but I still think any Jedi in his right mind would've done the same.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Also, you didn't respond to what I thought was actually the more interesting part of my post, though...

I seem to vaguely remember the interview...however I don't remember him litereally saying it was a mask. Almost more of a metaphorical "I'm evil but no one can tell" kind of mask rather than a physical one.

In all, I'll buy that the lightning is the proximate cause for the Emperor's wrinkles. But it just doesn't make sense for it to be the sole cause. Something else was happening - and a mask coming down seems as logical as anything (though hardly the only sensical answer).

Well, from the looks of it, Mace put his lightsaber down extremely close so that all of it was reflecting back to the Emperor. So, he was definitely getting it. However, its possible that burning from the lightning coupled with his expending all his energy to do it(or at least a good amount of it...its impossible to say if he was faking the tiredness when he stopped or not).

A case could be made that using so much energy to keep up that Force Lightning drained him physically as well as the burning from it. However, it definitely had to do with the lightning, as he wasn't anywhere near looking like that before the lightning.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't think the D20 Star Wars system can really capture the Jedi based on this flick, at least as of the RCR, I think we may need a new core rule book.

Too true! Without some mechanism for actual parrying in lightsabre duels RCR ones would last all of about 5 rounds...

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Too true! Without some mechanism for actual parrying in lightsabre duels RCR ones would last all of about 5 rounds...

Its all in the flavor. Parry = not being hit OR Parry = Near Misss = Vitality damage.

I've run far too many lightsaber duels in the Revised system, and all the lightsaber combats last a good amount of time if there's movement going on instead of just standing and fighting...which is pretty much the same as the movies. They last a long time because they cover a large amount of ground.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Originally Posted by Darth K'Trava
Those were badass. I liked Baron Soontir Fel outta those!

Is that the Bothan? Or Merrix's father?

Nope. He's human. A former TIE fighter pilot ace who turned to the Rebellion. Also the father of Jag Fel who's courtin' Jaina Solo in the novels.

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Some else mentioned this before as well. But after seeing it the 2nd time I got the other impression. Once Mace goes out the window Paplpatine stands up like nothing is bothering him. I thing that the whole I am weak thing was a ploy to get Anikan to act and to make him think the Jedi had become the evil ones.

I wholeheartedly agree that it was a ploy to get Anakin to turn on Mace. To make Mace look the monster, about to strike down a "completely helpless" man can do wonders for tugging at the "heartstrings" of a young Jedi out to prove himself.