Episode 3's Wasted Characters — Page 3

TheBoost said:

Gaffer Tape said:

Ugh, another irritating retcon.  It seemed so much cooler when it was always told that years of misuse of the dark side had deformed his face.  And, in another fun example of Lucas making this up on the fly, he was actually going with this story in AOTC, as Palpatine looks much more ragged than he did in ROTS, after Lucas changed his mind.

 

 Is it really a retcon? Where was it official that:

A: The 'Mask Theory' is legit.

or

B: That years of using the darkside had made Palpatine ugly.

I'd always though he was just really, really old in the OT. I don't know if different explanations for ambiguities count as retcons.

I believe "A" appeared in an SW coffee table style book (forget the title of it) where it alluded to the idea that Palpatine's disguise melted away during his fight with Mace, and his true face was revealed. Though I do not have the title of the book, I remember picking it up in the book store and thumbing through it and read this bit, then later I think someone on this site mentioned it. It is an official LFL book, so I suppose that makes it official, right?

"B" I am not sure about, I have never heard that one before. My assumption was that he used the darkside to keep himself alive to an unnatural age, which falls into the exact same thing you believed.

 I think the first two prequels were obviously going in this direction. Was really weird and disappointing to see it abandoned. In TPM we have an elderly gentleman, ten years later in AOTC we have an very aged all man. It was clear in AOTC that they were making an effort to make him look really old. Consider that ROTJ is over 20 some years after AOTC, he would be really, really old by then. It was odd that he looked so old in AOTC, and suddenly he looks considerably younger at the beginning of ROTS. More clear evidence of how poorly concieved this entire prequel affair has really been.

Johnny Ringo said:

the ONE thing they really should have taken from the OT was to introduce a core group of characters - and stick with them. Introducing background characters purely to be fodder later on is a bit weak. A lot of the Jedi never spoke onscreen or were referred to by name, yet we were meant to feel something for them when things went pear shaped.

Number20 said:

Instead of so many throwaway villains, they should of stuck with one or two and carried them through.  I remember that it was suggested on here back in time that it would of been better if Grevious turned out to be Darth Maul.  At least then there would of been a connection between TPM and ROTS and a reason for Obi-Wan to really be after Grevious. 

Another waste of great potential was Dooku. He started out with so much potential, then killed off in the first 10 minutes of ROTS.  Why not carry him through to the end, or maybe have him turn out to be genuinely good, and the only one who realizes what is really going on, and nobody else believes him, turning him into a tragic character?

Ah man, ain't it the truth? I think it would have helped if the same actor had at least played Anakin throughout the series. I think that Yoda was too involved, and we didn't see enough out of Palps or Bail.

To top it off, we don't really have a figurehead villain, like we did in the OT with Vader. Maul, Jango, and Grievous could have easily been one character. Plus there wasn't much point to Sidious. Dooku should have looked like the mastermind of the prequels, until he got offed in the last one and it turns out he was a puppet to begin with.

That being said, I was thrilled by the prequels (at least when I first saw each of them). Looking back, they weren't masterpieces, but they could've been worse. Actually, I kind of prefer Phantom to the other 2. Hehe.