melannen: Commander Valentine of Alpha Squad Seven, a red-haired female Nick Fury in space, smoking contemplatively (Default)
melannen ([personal profile] melannen) wrote2005-05-23 09:59 pm

(no subject)

Just back from the new Star Wars movie with [livejournal.com profile] dreamsquirrel. Two short thoughts while I do a longer write-up:

No, seriously: did I really hear Palpatine tell Anakin that he was his father? Seriously??? They actually figured out a way to make Anakin's parentage *make sense*??

I want to see somebody explaining that to Leia. q-:

Also, I told Mom this afternoon that there had *better* not be a freaking *Death Star* in that movie. Bah. *smite*. Smite, smite, smite.
ext_1512: (SW - grumpy)

[identity profile] stellar-dust.livejournal.com 2005-05-23 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
No no no, you heard Palpatine tell Anakin that *Palpatine's *master** was his father.

Or, well, that's how *I* interpreted it - an evil plan set up by Palpatine's Master, possibly Sifer-Dyas, and usurped by Palpy when he killed the guy. Alternatively it could all have been set into motion by Palpy *after* he killed his master. Hmm. One or the other.

yeah, I know, Death Star, ick. I can live with the tiny cameo though. d-:
ext_193: (Default)

[identity profile] melannen.livejournal.com 2005-05-23 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Am I supposed to know who Sifer-Dyas is?

There are less than ten total Google results for him. I don't need to know who he is.

It's possible it was put into play by his master and usurped by Palpatine, I suppose, but in the original scene where he told the story, I got the definite impression that he meant to imply that it was him, and I see no reason why it wouldn't have been. Plus it's just so much more *elegant* that way. q-:
ext_1512: (SW - yoda green)

[identity profile] stellar-dust.livejournal.com 2005-05-23 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
I could be spelling it wrong. That's the Jedi who ordered the clone army ten years before AotC, and died under unknown circumstances. *looks up* Ok, it's "Sifo-Dyas," at least according to random online AotC script (http://www.scenebyscene.net/ii/aotcscript.txt).

But if it was Palpatine's *master* that started it all .. it would be just so much more evilly convoluted and full of poetic justice! Eh, elegance in the eye of the beholder. Anyway, that's the impression I got, but it's concievable (heheheh) I could change my mind after I see it again. d-:
ext_193: (Default)

[identity profile] melannen.livejournal.com 2005-05-23 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
If the whole thing is just Palpatine playing out a plan that was begun by his Master-- begun by his master less than ten years before TPM-- nope, doesn't work. Palpatine needs to be the prime mover, the ultimate villain-lurking-in-the-shadows, or the whole story loses most of its impact. In my opinion.

And you can't get much more poetic justice than Vader being the Emperor's son. "The son will kill the father." It's myffic. q-:
ext_1512: (BtVS - XF)

[identity profile] stellar-dust.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
You mean "the father will kill the son." Or is that "the child is father to the man"? Well now I'm all fandom-confuzzled. d-;

The poetic justice that I see is that perhaps Palpatine's master wouldn't have had the two fatal flaws of Palpy, overconfidence and lack of love or compassion, and the Empire might have lived on in glory for centuries (in fact, an Empire run by a loving and compassionate Sith might have been closer to the ideal Annie never stopped looking for). But nooo, he had to get all evil and power-hungry and kill the guy and take over.

Palpy's still the prime mover, he's just not .. the *ultimate* original prime mover. But what villian ever is?
ext_193: (lily)

[identity profile] melannen.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
No, see, if all he's doing is perverting somebody else's grand plan, then he's no better than the Warlords who followed him. He's just, eh, nasty and pitiful. Not worthy.

Palpatine's master had a fatal flaw: he didn't outlive Palpatine. q-: If he couldn't even rule one ambitious apprentice, I can't believe that he would have done any better at ruling the galaxy. If he was blind enough to teach Palpatine how to kill him, I can't believe he would have been any better at ruling the galaxy. q-:
ext_1512: (SW - vader cutie)

[identity profile] stellar-dust.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 06:14 am (UTC)(link)
I don't think Palpatine is worthy. d-: He's nasty and pitiful. Just writ large.

Maybe he wouldn't hve been better. If Palpatine actually wasn't lying to Anakin, and he *was* a loving and compassionate Sith, then that may of been his downfall; and it could have been those qualities that would have made a Master that Vader would have been proud to serve. Who knows. Someday, the fic will come. d-:

[identity profile] enemy-anime.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
Palpatine was pretty vague on that whole thing..'cuz he made it very clear that Plagues taught his "apprentice" everything he knew. So Palpatine very well could be the father which could add a little more depth into why he took such an interest in Anakin (you didn't see him jumping through hoops to save Maul, did ya'?).

My problem with the Death Star thing is that if it was allready under construction duing E-III, then it took 17+ years to build the damn thing, so how the hell did they get another one built so quickly by "Jedi"...unless they REALLY cut some corners. Non-union labor perhaps? Hired some goddmamn Gungans and Ewoks to do the grunt work?

Either way, I thought it was pretty pointless. Loved the Tarkin cameo though.

On a side note, if either of you guys get the oppurtunity, pick up a copy of Star Wars Tales Vol 1 and read "A Death Star is Born". Freakin' hilarious!
ext_1512: (SW - vader cutie)

[identity profile] stellar-dust.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Maul wasn't the Chosen One, conceived by the Force. d-:

Sidious sacrificed Dooku to get Anakin ... and then in the end, would have sacrificed Vader to get Luke. Hmm.

I *guess* that if most of the 20ish that it took them to build the Death Star were spent dealing with design issues, it COULD have gone much faster the second time around, if the saved the plans .. or maybe the Death Star in ROTJ was never meant to become a true mobile space station, just a huge mocked-up weapons platform to lure the rebels in. Hmm, again.

Tarkin cameo *rocked*.

[identity profile] enemy-anime.livejournal.com 2005-05-24 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't think the idea was to sacrifice Vader. I honestly believe Palpatine and Vader pretty much agreed that one of 3 things were gonna happen. Either (A) Luke was gonna kill Vader and rule at the Emperor's side, (b) Luke was gonna kill Palpatine and rule by Vader's side, or (C) Luke wasn't gonna kill anybody and they'd both have to eliminate him.

I don't think the Emperor would keep Vader out of the loop on this. It's just not good tactics and there'd be too much of a chance Vader would survive the betrayal and kill him (which ironically, he did anyway but out of love of his son not any sort of betrayal).

On the Death Star, it occured to me that they had allready begun a good deal of construction on the Death Star by the end of Episode III, so not only did it take the 17 or so years leading up to New Hope to complete it, but a good deal of time before that. Palpatine must have pulled some MEAN strings to get that thing designed and for construction to begin without the Senate raising a stink. "Oh...it's not a massive planet-destroying battle station...it's...um...a mobile peace unit...of love....and understanding......CHEESE IT!!" *ZOOM!!*