Official Star Wars Thread

Jar Jar is interesting because it's obvious that he was the key to all this. I wonder what Lucas had in mind for him initially. Seeing him get buried in later movies is maybe the only example I can think of where Lucas let external forces/feedback affect the course of the prequels.
 
It's actually hilarious that Jar Jar screwed everything up. I don't mind Jar Jar. There's a long tradition of fluffy silliness in the whole SW package aimed 100% at amusing the younger kids while other characters pine for missing family members and babble about light and dark and midichlorians.

Mosh said:
Add General Grievous and even Boba Fett to that list. I think it’s just tradition to waste characters in Star Wars.
Click to expand...
I'll give Grievous a miss. I found him faceless and forgettable, much like Dooku, who you forgot to mention. ;) Maul, though, he was a really good (bad?) Sith. I just rewatched the Qui Gon, Obi-Wan and Maul saber battle for fun. He's just pure malice.
 
Jar Jar is the least of the movie's problems.

Dooku should've been Maul imo. Can you imagine an opening sequence in Revenge of the Sith where Obi Wan shows restraint by not killing the one who killed his master, but Anakin breaks? So much tension there.
 
Maul was amazing. He got a shitty death, but Duel of the Fates is the only reason I rewatch Episode I. It's like, pop it in, select scence, Duel of the Fates, turn it off.
 
Maul was a cracking villain, he just oozed menace.

Additionally, it may be noted that
He lives on in The Clone Wars with some bitchin' robo-legs
 
I'm going to separate myself from the "Maul was a good villain" thing. Maul wasn't a particularly good villain. He was a good mini-boss, the heavy. If they wanted him to be a good villain he needed to have a character, and some development. The Phantom Menace, as a film, fails on almost every level, and this level is no further away than that.

What Maul had was a good look and a good stunt performer.

Full stop.
 
I agree with that. I think the fact it was a stuntman as the actor playing Maul, meant he was a great character in action sequences, but meant they couldn’t do much with him in a heavy character story.



I was very put off the Clone Wars when they brought back Maul. To me it tarnished, The Phantom Menace by undoing the resolution of the great fight sequence at the end. The film already had, to me, its issues, but the Jedi v Sith battle at the end was a definite highlight, and to have Maul not actually dying, kind of detracts from it for me.
 
I think that was an attempt to build on the fan legacy. Much like Firefly being a "great series", the concept of Darth Maul as a "great villain" existed only in the mind of fans who extrapolated what could have been far past what actually was.
 
LooseCannon said:
I think that was an attempt to build on the fan legacy. Much like Firefly being a "great series", the concept of Darth Maul as a "great villain" existed only in the mind of fans who extrapolated what could have been far past what actually was.
Click to expand...

Whoa. There’s no need to bring Firefly down to Phantom Menace level.
 
It’s the Boba Fett effect. Darth Maul looks cool and has an aura of mystery around him that makes him more intriguing than he probably deserves to be. That being said, letting him survive through the trilogy and developing his character a bit would have improved things.
 
Mosh said:
It’s the Boba Fett effect. Darth Maul looks cool and has an aura of mystery around him that makes him more intriguing than he probably deserves to be. That being said, letting him survive through the trilogy and developing his character a bit would have improved things.
Click to expand...


Oh man, an Obi Wan, Anakin, Yoda vs. Doku, Maul and General Grievous fight while Palpatine cackles in the background would've been pretty cool.
 
Mosh said:
It’s the Boba Fett effect. Darth Maul looks cool and has an aura of mystery around him that makes him more intriguing than he probably deserves to be. That being said, letting him survive through the trilogy and developing his character a bit would have improved things.
Click to expand...
Yes, would have been real cool, but it didn't happen. Same with Boba Fett. Boba Fett isn't interesting as a character, which is why a show called The Mandalorian, starring someone that is a visual clone but isn't Boba Fett, is equally as cool, if not way, way, way more cool.
 
LooseCannon said:
What Maul had was a good look
Click to expand...
But that's crucial in the Star Wars universe, isn't it?
I mean, Vader, stormtroopers (Death Troopers even more so), Maul, Phasma, etc., even some of the good guys I was never particularly interested in (R2-D2, K-2SO, Han and Chewbacca excluded) - isn't it, eventually, what all them movies are about?
#CoolVillains
 
Magnus said:
But that's crucial in the Star Wars universe, isn't it?
I mean, Vader, stormtroopers (Death Troopers even more so), Maul, Phasma, etc., even some of the good guys I was never particularly interested in (R2-D2, K-2SO, Han and Chewbacca excluded) - isn't it, eventually, what all them movies are about?
#CoolVillains
Click to expand...
Darth Vader has a hell of a personality, guy. In the first movie we see him murder his way through good guys, torture a young woman, but yet is oddly subservient to the local general, even when he tries to choke another. There's a ton going on there. Look is important - I won't deny that - but every character you care about has a...well...a character.

Darth Maul is a guy in a robe with a cool lightsaber who dancefights good.
 
I really do hate to repeat myself, but in Clone Wars and bits of Rebels Maul *does* get a properly developed character that *does* deliver on what was hinted at in TPM

On an unrelated note, it was pointed out to me recently that Vader doesn't actually do much killing in the OT
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top