Or perhaps they were all blinded and manipulated by a cunning individual with magical powers.

Maybe when the Jedi suspected he may have something to do with it, a quick blood test (as Qui-Gon did with Anakin) to test his midichlorian (wince. Hate typing that word) count would've been revealing? My, his count is just as high as Yoda's. Hmm now there's a thing. No they was all too dumb to even think of it.

As a writer, your smartest character can never be smarter than you are.

generalfrevious said:

That means George Lucas has the same intelligence level as Palpatine. This was just a left-handed explanation of the PT. 

False. Writing the actions of a fictional character in a fictional world is not the same as being able to achieve those same goals were you in that position.

It gets to me when I hear 'Palpatine cleverly manipulated the Senate and fooled the Jedi'. No he didnt. Anyone with half a brain cell can see that. This civilisation is so clever they've mastered space travel, built fantastic planet sized cities, numerous species harmoniously interact with one another. But noone amongst them was savvy enough to studiously watch the increasingly and openly suspicious Palpatine? Corruption is rife amongst the Senate. Is it really? And how do you know this? Why are you not reporting who is corrupt and allowing the Jedi to investigate and deal with these corrupt senators? You obviously seem to know a lot, so come on, give us the full SP. 

Corruption usually comes down to one thing. Money. At least in our reality it does. The pursuit of riches, for those after it, usually means morals and ethics are the last things on their minds. Was this the ideal behind the 'supposed' corruption in the PT? An advanced Galactic civilisation and yet all everyone gave two shits about was how much cash they had in their back pocket? I'm richer than you!! (While sticking 2 fingers up). 

Different point but similar idea:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/10/most-citizens-of-the-star-wars-galaxy-are-probably-totally-illiterate

none said:

Different point but similar idea:

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/10/most-citizens-of-the-star-wars-galaxy-are-probably-totally-illiterate

Intriguing link. 

I really do think that the innocent and naive "idiocracy" was a theme that George really tried to pull off in the PT without being too heavy-handed with it, but it just came off as really bad acting in the end. I think I remember GL at some point even commenting on it yet I can't recall where I saw it. I seem to remember him saying something about how the Jedi of the PT (along with everyone who looked up to them) were ignorant in the ways they taught about love, empathy, compassion, and attachment. It turns out that while some attachments are bad, especially the forbidden kind, that the right kind of attachments are in fact a good thing and that passion is fuel for a hero so long as it isn't out of control.

Luke, Leia, and Han are proof of the concept of how without the love they shared for each other they wouldn't have as much passion and drive to save the galaxy. This is why I believe that while Luke wasn't the chose one, he was in fact the greatest Jedi ever because he was the first one to say "Fuck you Ben, Yoda and all Jedi ever, I'm going to save my friends on Bespin because I love them!" And it turns out that while Yoda's foresights were correct about it being a trap and his FEAR about it came out in his speech to Luke before he leaves, in the end Luke's confrontation (and failure) with Vader actually turned him into a much greater Jedi in the end and could have never matched the experience he would have had if he'd listened to Yoda and stayed on Dagobah for more rock lifting and vine climbing. This is why I feel that a huge percentage of fans consider Empire the greatest movie of the three because we get to see how Luke's passionate failure at Bespin is actually the reason why he becomes the greatest of all Jedi. It's the most accurate depiction of real life struggle told in the most exotic way.

The PT, with it's idiocracy or bad acting, for me has always been a good representation of the dark side and honestly based on some people's attitude's about their quality I really do think that these movies have succesfully turned a large portion of Star Wars fans to the dark side of fandom aka pissed-off purist critics who don't realize what's really happened here. It's the most genius thing GL probably never planned on doing: give them something to hate to test how much they really love SW. It's like he's inadvertently testing us to see if we remember what he'd taught us in the OT "hate is the path to the dark side" and most people failed hard at that. It's the ultimate ruse! He turned us to the dark side instead of Anakin!

generalfrevious said:

The obvious answer is that the script was being written as the movie went along. 

If true, then no wonder it culminated in being a mess. I mean, who in their right mind makes the script up as they go along? Surely if your doing a trilogy the meat and bones of the production (story, script) are meticulously fleshed out before the director says 'Action' for the 1st time? You need to get those fundamental requirements set in stone before anything else. Not just wing it. How amateurish is that? And I know the famous, 'I love you' 'I know' scene was ad-libbed but that's because Ford had the balls to say 'hang on,' and Kerschner let him run with it because they both knew the original response 'I love you too' didnt fit with Solos character.