The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 371

Thanks for the feedback, Pan! Looking at AotC’s script, the cleanest option for a dialogue change would be when Obi-Wan is reporting to Yoda & Mace on Kamino. After saying that Sifo-Dyas requested the army 10 years ago, change his line from “I was under the impression he was killed before that” to “I was under the impression he went with Dooku.”

Speaking of the Council of Geonosis, this would likely take far more time and effort than most people have (myself included), but has anyone ever thought of creating a three-second shot of General Grievous at the table, just to ever so briefly set his RotS appearance?

Peter Pan said:

I would have to look, but I might still have a background for that scene flying around from the time that I gave Tambor an extra line of dialogue during the war room scene.

Funnily enough, I aimed the line to sell the „clones were originally intended for the separatist“ idea. Had him report that the republic hijacked their deal with the Kaminoans. But anyways, if I‘ve still got the assets, then I would only need a fitting shot of Grievous to fix up a proof of concept for that scene. However, I am currently short on time due to the exam season coming up. But I can send you the background plates, if I find them.

Very cool! Off the top of my head, the best shot would be of Grievous preparing to fight Kenobi. You’d have to constantly reverse the shot & paint his robe over his body, but it’s the only shot I can think of him standing up straight. It could work with him sitting in a chair, staring out menacingly.

I second that. Completely impossible with existing footage.

I must admit it was a questionable choice on the part of George to have a different villain for each episode. At the very least, it’s a good thing that nobody kills Dooku until Episode 3.

That being said, I do appreciate the original idea that Qui-Gon’s death was what pushed Dooku to the dark side, rather than him being the one to do it. It makes his character far more sympathetic and understandable. Perhaps even a little grey and morally ambiguous. I feel like this concept would just force him into the two-dimensional villain role with no discernable character motivations. To that end, I think I actually prefer Maul being the one to do it.

EDIT: If anybody has the VFX skills, I’d actually much prefer Dooku to be present at Qui-Gon’s funeral, taking the place of the super obvious hint shot of Palpatine after “But which was destroyed, the master, or the apprentice?” I realize this would contradict Tales of the Jedi, but it’s honestly such a missed opportunity. Mace is too foolish to realize that no Sith was destroyed by what occurred, but rather a new apprentice was born.

I agree that the lack of a consistent villain hurts the trilogy. I think Lucas’s logic is that Palpatine is the real villain so it doesn’t matter, but I disagree. Personally I think adding Dooku to TPM is the most elegant solution to this issue.

I think this has been suggested in other ideas people have shared here over the years, but by showing Dooku in TPM you could also play around with the implication that he is the “master” Mace and Yoda speculate about. It would be interesting if Sidious=Palpatine could be more of a twist, where we actually never see Sidious until Palpatine reveals himself to Anakin.

A Pro would be that Anakin could blame Dooku for indirectly causing Qui-Gon’s death if he thought Dooku was the master of his killer. And, the prequels could play out in an interesting way if “Who is the Sith Lord” was more of a mystery.

On the other hand, you would have to cut a not-insignificant amount of runtime to cut all of Sidious’ scenes. He has quite a few with Nute Gunray in TPM, but only one in AOTC (but his one scene is important because it reveals Dooku’s Sith name, which helps add clarity to the cloning mystery) and one in ROTS with Grievous.

That’s exactly what I was thinking, RL. George makes it so incredibly obvious who the Sith Lord is that it retroactively makes the Jedi seem like idiots. Then again, there is the canon explanation that they were blinded by the dark side of the Force, but that’s kinda a cheap, cop-out explanation.

I don’t think you’d necessarily have to remove all of Sidious’ scenes so much as you’d just have to darken his hooded face and distort his voice in any hologram scenes. The fact he doesn’t do that already as a public figure in canon is kinda strange. The scenes he has in-person could still have the darkened face but his true voice, serving as a subtle hint before we’re even introduced to Palpatine. Ian already does a slightly different voice as Sidious. Plus, we never actually hear Dooku speak until about halfway through AotC.

Do we know if Sir Christopher Lee did some movies in the early 90’s that we could take footage from? That would be a decade before he recorded AotC, which matches the timing properly.

ben_danger said:

i would vote to remove any noticable features of sidious so its actually a surprise when his true identity is revealed. would be cool to have dooku in his place on TPM, and to do away with the rule of the two.

LMAO just look at the first post on this thread

Omg that is hilarious. 😂 I was like, “Any prequel edit idea imaginable has been suggested in this thread so I know it’s been mentioned before” it’s come full circle.

Yeah, having face be totally obscured and voice distorted could definitely help. Though if one were to try and set up Dooku as a sort-of red herring, I feel like the voice would need to be obscure enough that it could be confused for either Palpatine or Dooku. Potentially layering their voice using AI? (Ironically kind of like how Gandalf and Saruman’s voices are layered when Aragorn and crew encounter the White Wizard for the first time).

Just to clarify, I’m not saying “Oh I believe this MUST be done!” Just spitballing ideas for fun.

That would be cool, but might be extremely hard to pull off. I’d be fine with either a voice filter or an entirely different voice. Darth Vader is an example of the fact that in the Star Wars universe you can synthesize a completely different voice.

On the other hand, you would have to cut a not-insignificant amount of runtime to cut all of Sidious’ scenes. He has quite a few with Nute Gunray in TPM, but only one in AOTC (but his one scene is important because it reveals Dooku’s Sith name, which helps add clarity to the cloning mystery) and one in ROTS with Grievous.

My solution to this has always been to simply replace Sidious with Tyrannus in most of TPM, only leaving his conversation with Maul, whom Tyrannus does not refer to as his apprentice when introducing him to the Neimoidian. Until recently that would’ve been a huge hassle but now with AI swapping the voice and face of a hooded figure should be a walk in the park. That said, this does pose the question as to why Dooku would need to hide his identity. Perhaps it’s because he hasn’t yet left the Jedi (he leaves the Order around the time of TPM in both Legends and Canon and I think they allude to it in AotC).

I think it would make sense to have Dooku still be a member of the Order during TPM.

There is also another issue you run into by trying to introduce Dooku in TPM. Sure, you could tease him, but I feel like it would be strange to show him (like appearing ominously at Qui-Gon’s funeral), but to not give the audience information as to who he is. It could work well at misleading the audience into assuming that he’s the Sith Lord, only to reveal in the second film more details of who he is and why he was there. This would especially work well if Dooku is briefly seen overlooking Qui-Gon’s funeral after Mace Windu’s line, “Then who was destroyed? The master? Or the apprentice?” Snooker made a nice test of this idea forever ago and I know others have made similar things. Plus, it would be simpler to de-age him just for one shot.

This would go against canon, but I feel like this idea would pair well with Dooku not actually being a Sith Lord, but simply a fallen Jedi. Then in AOTC we are kind of on the same page as the Jedi as far as not knowing who or what to believe. We don’t have the additional context of Palpatine’s machinations.

It would also add to why the Jedi are skeptical of Palpatine in ROTS. Anakin killed Dooku, who they thought might be the “Sith Lord”, but things still don’t feel right. The Force still feels out of balance.

But simply removing the scene of Palpatine and Dooku at the end of AOTC would help this idea even if Dooku is actually a Sith and working with Palpatine.

This would also go against canon, but I could also imagine a version of TPM where Dooku was on the Jedi Council as a voice of opposition against the majority opinion that spoke out in favor of his former apprentice. But I feel like it would be difficult to make such a scene work with the material available. No real way to make it clear who Dooku is, so in a way the mystery angle that I mentioned above might be best.

Oh dang I had no idea somebody made a test of Dooku watching from a distance. That’s super cool. Like you said, I think it just needs to serve as a teaser for whats to come, MCU-style. “Who is that guy? Is he the Sith Lord Mace is talking about? Why is he watching Qui-Gon’s funeral, then?”

Honestly, Tales of the Jedi already breaks canon in this way, allowing this idea to be non-contradictory. Yaddle tells Dooku that everybody is headed to Naboo. Instead, he goes to Palpatine, who apparently hasn’t left to Naboo yet for some reason. We know Palpatine shows up with the rest of the Jedi there, so this is kind of canon-breaking. However, we could retcon all this so that Dooku simply leaves for Naboo along with Palpatine after he kills Yaddle. They already stretch the logistics of Palpatine being in two places at once, so I don’t see why we couldn’t do the same for Dooku.

This might be a Mandela effect thing going on but doesn’t he already have teary eyes/is crying during this scene?

BrotherOfSasquatch said:

This might be a Mandela effect thing going on but doesn’t he already have teary eyes/is crying during this scene?

Nope, that’s on Mustafar as he’s staring out at the magma fields.