Star Wars prequel questions

[Morrus]

I'll take these one at a time:

1. Padme's subterfuge: she went with her own name because Glup Shitto was taken.
2. The giant room: Due to the lethal and destructive nature of lightsabers, Galactic Republic building codes mandate a designated "Lightsaber Dueling Chamber" to prevent collateral damage and general disruption of day-to-day activities. See also Cloud City.
3. Palpatine's plan. True, but he doesn't subscribe to the old adage: "Given the opportunity, tyrants will optimize the fun out of taking over the Galaxy." In other words, it's the journey, not the destination. Let him fly free!
4. Windows XP background fight. The gungans got into Microsoft at $1 a share.
5. Droid factory hurting eyes/brain/soul. Yes, but your earlobes, elbows and toes are fine! With just a little more effort Lucas could have gotten a clean sweep.
6. Jedi saber techniques. Their efforts might seem uncoordinated and lackluster to the untrained eye, but they are practicing a highly-advanced lightsaber form wherein they defend against attacks and opponents many months before they are added in post-production. Truly, the Force is strong with these Jedi!
7. Long-necked Jedi. Disadvantage at swords and starfighters, to be sure, but a 100% advantage with those alien ladies, which as a Jedi he can't take advantage of, so uhh...yeah, bummer dude.

My questions are all answered!

 

[trappedslider]

I mean, I'm joking. I don't really care. I thought that was an amusing observation. YMMV.

This whole thread summed up in one sentence

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

2. What IS that giant room next to the hangar where they fight Darth Maul? Is it the spare walkway storage area for excess walkways? It's in the stone palace/hangar complex, just through a door, and it's this cavernous metal room, clearly bigger on the inside, filled with precarious walkways and some random laser doors which turn on and off sequentially for... reasons? And then a room with a giant hole in it because why wouldn't you have a room with a giant hole in it? Seriously, what IS this room?
4. Why do the Gungans and the droids fight on the Windows XP desktop background?
5. Oh my god that endless droid building factory video game level sequence in Clones hurts my eyes and my brain and my very soul.

The answer to all that is probably the CGI environments. No longer constrained by real places or physical artifacts (matte paintings, miniatures, sets), people just free jazzed on their digital sets. There's a distinct untethering from reality.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

It is his house.

I AM the Forum!

 

[djotaku]

To borrow from Rick and Morty - the most real answer is "don't think about it":

1. George Lucas based Star Wars on the old Flash Gordan serials. It's supposed to be modern hokey - like the original Indiana Jones trilogy.
2. Just like TTRPGs - Star Wars operates on rule of cool, not logic - ergo the fight scene with Darth Maul.
3. Lucas is not a good writer. all the best Star Wars from Empire Strikes Back to the Clone Wars cartoon to Andor were not written by him.

 

[billd91]

He is Chancellor, but to actively command the army’s creation and deployment, he has to get the Senate to yield him emergency powers. This is a subplot in Attack of the Clones and we see this happening onscreen.

Then, by Revenge of the Sith, it is mentioned that he has gotten more extensions of term and even greater emergency powers via dialogue.

Dooku is courting the big trade conglomerates, who actually own the droids. One of their factories is indeed in Geonosis, but they manufacture all over and in separate plants, one would imagine. We see them pledging their armies to him onscreen in Atrack of the Clones.

One would imagine that taking the galaxy by force would unite people against the Sith, and that the Jedi would notice. Better to slowly get people to yield away their freedoms willingly. Besides, it’s not a one-off switch, we see that the Senate is still inconvenient to the Empire many years later in ANH.

It's a common enough playbook. You gin up a controversy of some sort, raise an army of thugs/clones, send them into sensitive areas where they will meet opposition, then declare martial law as the situation deteriorates. Boom - you're Emperor!

 

[djotaku]

The answer to all that is probably the CGI environments. No longer constrained by real places or physical artifacts (matte paintings, miniatures, sets), people just free jazzed on their digital sets. There's a distinct untethering from reality.

And I think that stuff works awesome if you're Luc Besson doing Fifth Element or something. Not so much Star Wars given what it's become.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It's generally wise not to think too hard about Star Wars. Deep analysis generates more SAN loss than a Call of Cthulhu campaign.

 

[Brainwatch]

4. Why do the Gungans and the droids fight on the Windows XP desktop background?

To be fair, The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, Windows XP came out in 2001. So, Microsoft stole from Star Wars, not the other way around.

​

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In a way, the whole CLone Wars exist to create a huge kill zone for Jedi, Ruin Explorer? Might work.

But it seems the whole spiel was also about giving his rule more legitimacy then just "I have more troops". Having this legitimacy stifles his opposition from mounting a resistance. The "people" chose him as their leader, so even if he's a terrible being and turns everything to sh*t, doesn't he belong there? Even if I think he needs to go, can I convince my peers of that?
And we know that resistance against his rule - even if he controls the military - is possible, it happens in the OT! But if might have started sooner if he had appeared as conqueror.
Of course, all that rationalization isn't really presented on screen...