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Phantom Menace Discussion: Is the Duel of the fates a classic match?

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I was 12 years old when The Phantom menace came out, and while there is probably consensus here the film sucked the duel always stuck out to me. From the choreography to the music, the introduction/visuals of Maul also contrasted to the peacefulness of Qui Gon. But moreover to the point, Do you believe the duel belongs among the pantheon of the classic fights (The Bespin duel, Vader vs. Old Ben), or do you think it was the duel that started the all flash over substance trend that the followup films would follow? What were your original memories from the duel? 

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I loved Ray Parks martial arts work, his kendo etc.

Thought Ewan was good as well.

But it seems a lot more visual, less than anything above a physical confrontation.

It lacked the meeting of mental Wills.

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Frankly, I only like the first part of the duel when Qui-Gon is involved. Once it's down to Obi-Wan and Maul, it becomes too frenetic and flashy.

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 (Edited)

I know it's been said before, but the song is excellent. As for the fight itself, I don't really remember it much.

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I thought the silent duel worked fairly well the way it was done. It's by far my favourite duel of the PT, but a bit more dialogue before the laser fence thingamajigger and after Qui-Gon's defeat would have been good.

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 (Edited)

My major problem with the fight is that the characters were fighting just because they're Jedi and Sith. There was no personal conflict between the characters.

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I thought that duel was best part of the entire PT (except for CPY, of course).  Loved the music and the choreography.  Also loved the contrast between Qui-Gon and Maul when the barriers seperated them.

That said, the classic battle between Luke and Vader in ESB was still better.

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darklordoftech said:

My major problem with the fight is that the characters were fighting just because they're Jedi and Sith. There was no personal conflict between the characters.

 Maul was very eager to kill Jinn after fighting him on Tattooine, while Lucas has no script writing skill that and Maul's desire to test his skills counts as a motivation somewhat.

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Counted with the saber fights in the OT, its in the top five easy.

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RicOlie_2 said:

Handman said:

Well... they never actually tried to hit eachother...

 LOL!

Frink had better do something like that with the other sabre fights. He did a bit in TRM, but not enough....

 You just wait for the ROTR duel...

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The song was great... but every other element sucked balls, including the choreography, the cinematography, the script (Or lack thereof), the props, the lighting, the set design, the costume design, the make up, the sound design and the entire conception of the whole thing at a story and character level... but as I said good job John Williams on creating a piece of music so good that quite a few people still can enjoy the sequence anyway :-)

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I think the final fight in TPM is the best of the PT, but that really isn't saying much when you have this in ROTS.

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Was the what of the whats a what, now?

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Odd though this may sound, I think it would have worked better if you didn't have to cut between the three strands of plot in that part of the film. Duel of the Fates is meant to be really engaging, but I'm thrown off by the pacing of the cuts between it, the race to the throne room, and the space battle. Straight-up flair works best uninterrupted like that.

I like it but that's my one complaint.

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Interesting that not a single fanedit has attempted it (to my knowledge).

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I'd say yes and no. Yes in that it introduces an incredible piece of music and it was probably the most engaging part of the movie on the big screen. No in that it fails in fridge logic terms. After a while they're just fighting to fight. This is apparent when there's a freaking wall that puts a complete halt to the action and there's no attempt to negotiate things. Regardless of the choreography and whatnot story wise that's the perfect time for the Jedi to at least try to come to terms with Maul. Zero attempt, absolutely zero. Even if it's a long shot they could've at least tried but no.

TV's Frink said:

Interesting that not a single fanedit has attempted it (to my knowledge).
Plenty of people on YT have edited it as a single fight though here's one.

http://i.imgur.com/MXA8TmO.gif

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twister111 said:

I'd say yes and no. Yes in that it introduces an incredible piece of music and it was probably the most engaging part of the movie on the big screen. No in that it fails in fridge logic terms. After a while they're just fighting to fight. This is apparent when there's a freaking wall that puts a complete halt to the action and there's no attempt to negotiate things. Regardless of the choreography and whatnot story wise that's the perfect time for the Jedi to at least try to come to terms with Maul. Zero attempt, absolutely zero. Even if it's a long shot they could've at least tried but no.

TV's Frink said:

Interesting that not a single fanedit has attempted it (to my knowledge).

Plenty of people on YT have edited it as a single fight though here's one.

http://i.imgur.com/MXA8TmO.gif

 I never really thought about the Jedi talking things through, but I don't think that the scene needed that. Lucas seems to work best when he focuses on the music and images. Perhaps in the hands of a good screenwriter some dialogue could have worked, but with Lucas at the helm, the less dialogue the better.

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