Originally posted by: Scruffy
I don't care for Yoda with a lightsaber. Besides being the mentor, he was also the most mystical of the Jedi. He thought of his body (well, Luke's body) as "crude matter," did not believe that size made any difference to the Force, he used the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack. He should not have engaged in a lightsaber duel. He should not have engaged in a throwing things duel, either. That's simply a lightsaber duel with a different weapon. Yoda should've fought with his voice, with persuasion, with illusion, even through manipulation of space and time. In my interpretation, Yoda would not have concerned himself with the material plane at all.
Palpatine, on the other hand, had none of Yoda's transcendental conceits. He was all about power; acquiring it, brandishing it, and wielding it against his enemies. For that reason, I have no problem with him whipping out a lightsaber and going to town with it. What did disappoint me, however, is how easily he fell into the Jedi pattern of ritualistic dueling. I would've expected a Sith to get right to business without the repartee. Especially after Maul.
I don't care for Yoda with a lightsaber. Besides being the mentor, he was also the most mystical of the Jedi. He thought of his body (well, Luke's body) as "crude matter," did not believe that size made any difference to the Force, he used the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack. He should not have engaged in a lightsaber duel. He should not have engaged in a throwing things duel, either. That's simply a lightsaber duel with a different weapon. Yoda should've fought with his voice, with persuasion, with illusion, even through manipulation of space and time. In my interpretation, Yoda would not have concerned himself with the material plane at all.
Palpatine, on the other hand, had none of Yoda's transcendental conceits. He was all about power; acquiring it, brandishing it, and wielding it against his enemies. For that reason, I have no problem with him whipping out a lightsaber and going to town with it. What did disappoint me, however, is how easily he fell into the Jedi pattern of ritualistic dueling. I would've expected a Sith to get right to business without the repartee. Especially after Maul.
I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying here. If Yoda didn't do anything physical at all to win the battle... how would he have won? Palps needed to be stopped. Without lightsabers or the occasional stray Senate hover-thingy, how would he have accomplished this? Harsh language?
Yoda: Evil, you are... stopped, you must be.
Palps: ** Ignites saber ** You're gonna die, frog-boy!
Yoda: Can't we talk this over?
** Palps slashes at Yoda **
Yoda: Out, you must cut that!
** Palps slashes at Yoda again **
Yoda: Stop that, I said!
** Yoda does some weird space/time manipulation thing **
** Palps checks his watch **
Palps: You set the clocks back 5 seconds? You do realize I'm trying to kill you, right?
Yoda: The Force is my ally! Use it for attack, I do not!
** Yoda creates an illusion of a half-naked twi'lek slave girl in an attempt to pacify Palps **
Palps: Look man, if you're not gonna take this whole thing seriously...
Without some sort of physical confrontation going on there, we would have been left with the main boss-man fight from Dark City, without all the Strangers flying around in the background... that is to say, it would have been two people standing there staring at each other with some weird squiggly effects in the middle. Diplomacy was pretty much out of the question at this point.
And I think you're confusing the Jedi for Buddist Monks. The Jedi were not pacifists, they just believed that martial prowess was to be called upon as a last resort, not neccassarily ruled out entirely.
As for the Sith getting right down to business in a lightsaber fight... ask Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar how they feel about Sidious dilly-dallying around.
(Congrats, by the way... we've pretty much completely hijacked the thread at this point... remake the OT indeed!)