Diego said:
The whole thing is somewhat ridiculous, so whether it is implicit or it needs more explanation makes little difference.
We're introduced to a Trade Federation that for some reason has a huge army, apparently bigger than anything the Republic has, at least until they get the clones. They also have a senator for whatever reason. That makes no sense.
They blockade a planet to stop trade, even though their business is trade and they're going to lose money. But ok, they're making a point, give us a tax cut or there's no trade, I could see that.
The Republic then sends Jedi to negotiate, because not only are they the guardians of peace and justice, it seems they're also tax collectors. What makes them experts on trade? Do they teach Intergalactic Trade at the Jedi temple? I don't remember Yoda teaching that to Luke. Maybe that's why he wanted Luke not to leave Dagobah: "Luke you must complete the training, you haven't even taken Intergalactic Trade 101 yet!
Anyway, Qui-Gon says the Federation are cowards and the negotiations would be short. So what was Qui-Gon's plan? "Pay your taxes or I'll cut you in half with my lightsaber".
The whole situation is strange, the basics are iffy and it's a very boring way to start the saga.
The comparison with the "Long nose guy" however is not very good. He's merely a spy or whatever that has 2 seconds of screen time. We're told that Mos Eisley is filled with scum and villany, so we can expect characters like him. The problem with the Trade Federation is that they are a mayor part of the film and they're presented as a very well organized group (as I mentioned, they even have a senator) so the risk of invading a planet is huge. It's hard to imagine what could Sidious have promised to them that was worth taking such a risk. Perhaps Sidious had a sex tape of Nute Gunray and he was going to make it public.
But again the whole Trade Federation plot is lame, even if it had been explained it would still suck
With all due respect, you're mostly just aping RLM there.
I was going to post some problems I have with some of their points at some point, but I'm gonna address a few issues here:
We're introduced to a Trade Federation that for some reason has a huge army, apparently bigger than anything the Republic has, at least until they get the clones. They also have a senator for whatever reason. That makes no sense.
None of that explicitely "doesn't make sense", it's just the films do a piss-poor job of throwing all these major political players into the pot and not doing a bit of establishing them to make the plot stand on its feet.
The Trade Federation apparently can afford robots and factories - rich corporations sometimes hire mercenaries. By all that's implied in the film, the actual robot army wasn't known to the senate. Or maybe it was :D
The Republic has no army because they have laws against it, or something. Why, or whether the Traders are "allowed" to have one, is unclear.
Them having a senator... well, from all I can gather from the films, with all those "systems" joining the Separatists, and the cartoons presented as "separatist leaders" in II, apparently the senate has representatives of both good ol' "nations" as well as companies and corporations (like, uh, the "techno union" or whatever). So I have no problem with that bit.
They blockade a planet to stop trade, even though their business is trade and they're going to lose money. But ok, they're making a point, give us a tax cut or there's no trade, I could see that.
That, and they're probably still providing the rest of the universe with... trade.
Anyway, Qui-Gon says the Federation are cowards and the negotiations would be short. So what was Qui-Gon's plan? "Pay your taxes or I'll cut you in half with my lightsaber".
Uhh, maybe some kind of pressure, yea. Or... or, you know, like the Troi thing. Since the Jedi are apparently part of the government in the prequels (or even according to the OT), them knowing about law isn't far-fetched, and being engaged in diplomatic missions among others (again, due to their empathy skills, apparent self-control or lack of bias or shit) doesn't seem nonsensical.
That's one part that would've been much better if fleshed out, but it doesn't take one out of the movie.
The whole situation is strange, the basics are iffy and it's a very boring way to start the saga.
Pretty much this. Plus that even the Palpatine plotline is just as stupid ;)
It's hard to imagine what could Sidious have promised to them that was worth taking such a risk.
It could've even been nothing more than them simply seeking for help to resolve their tax thing - or, maybe they had some large agenda together that somehoe tied into the separatist thing. Or not.
Not only aren't we told WHAT Sidious promised them, we're not even told whether it was actually the "Sidious promised something in return" scenario.
WHAT did Sidious do at all? He obviously had influence on the senate... somehow... so he was like the Mafia of the senate? "Come to me if you got problems?" But, the government usually knows about the mafia (just often has a hard time doing anything against it), while Sidious seems to be a complete enigma until Dooku spells it out for Obi-Wan. So, a really well concealed don with absolutely loyal "clients" (guess they were afraid of force choke... right?).
Aaand, another great awesome idea (and cultural reference) wasted.