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The legendary "Starkiller Ranch" Thread — Page 8

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Awesome catch, yeah Batman Begins has ALOT of great philosophical quotes from Liam
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Here are some important exerpts from the discussion about Qui-Gon in Trooperman's thread:

Commander Courage:
In your break-down of the offical scenario, there is no doubt Lucas left himself some plotholes. What else is new? I've read that in early screening of TPM, Qui-Gon's body did indeed dissapear in the fire. This would be something to consider, but then what about everyone watching? Surely now that it's been established Jedi DON'T dissapear, there would be some sort of reaction if Jinn did. Anakin SHOULD have dissapeared, it even says he did in the Star Wars Databank, but Lucas' offical explanation (at least in The Annotated Screenplays) is that Obi-Wan and Yoda caught him on the other side. Of course he also said the "real" reason was that we wanted all the heroes of the PT to be together again, which is why I'm all for adding Qui-Gon (and maybe even Padme) to RotJ. But that discussion is for another time. But Anakin dissapearing is definitely something I would change; he's the Chosen One, that's explanation enough.

And while I do indeed support expanding Qui-Gon's role, it would be in a different way that Obi-Wan's life after death, as MTHaslett already pointed out. The problem with what I think you were getting at, TM, was that there can be no conversaions between Qui-Gon and the characters. This puts him in a very similar position as Obi-Wan in ANH after his death. He communicates with Luke in extreme moments, but they aren't chatting it up and we don't have Luke questioning how he's talking to him. In fact, Luke seems to not believe it himself at first. Here are some places I think dialogue from Qui-Gon would be approriate and meaningful:
-At some point during the space battle, when Anakin fires the torpedoes into the reactor for example, have Qui-Gon in his head: "Concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Use your instincts." Qui-Gon is straddling life and death here, so this could be interpreted as either a rememberance (he told Anakin this before the pod race), Force user-to-Force user communication (Luke and Vader at the end of ESB), or advice from the netherworld (Obi-Wan in ANH).
-When Obi-Wan is hanging in the pit, have Qui-Gon is his head: "Always be mindful of your surroundings." Then he remembers Jinn's lightsaber is still there and leaps up to kill Maul. That could be interpreted as the latter two options from above.
-I thought about having Qui-Gon die after "Promise me you will train the boy," (assumming you would keep that line), then have "He will bring balance. Train him," echo in the long shot, in Obi-Wan's head I assume. But that might be a little weird.
-I mentioned this before, but perhaps have some of Qui-Gon's tone poem in Anakin's head at the funeral. "It will be a hard life. One without reward, without remorse, without regret." This would tie-in with the dream in your Episode 2, but again it might be a bit out of place.
-Qui-Gon dissapearing in the fire? Again, logically there would be some kind of reaction/response, so I'd say leave this as-is.
-Qui-Gon starts off the dream in SotDS.
-You know thinking about it, maybe we could weave a sub-plot here of Qui-Gon being responsible for Anakin's nightmares, trying to warn him about the future. He always starts off Anakin's dreams, and in RotS they could be continual visions with not only Padme, but maybe a glimpse of Vader and his future evil? Just a thought; not sure if/how that would work.
-Some kind of dialogue alteration after the Tusken massacare. Replacing the "NO!" first and foremost. Getting two different "Anakin"s would be nice too, making it seem less like a cut and paste job. Any additional stuff you can think of.
-So Qui-Gon in Anakin's Episode 3 visions is a possibility.
-A prefect line that could go several places (from Batman Begins): "Your anger gives you great power but [if you let it] it will destroy you." The place I have in mind of it is when Anakin looks into the suns on Mustafar, before he sheds a tear.
-Reconstructing the Yoda scene in some way. What I think everyone is forgetting is that they still need the Yoda part, which will never be released. And since it all has to be pieced together from different sources anyway, alter and expand it to not only explain the secret of immortality, but Qui-Gon expresses some responsibility for what happened in regards to Anakin.
-After Obi-Wan says "Qui-Gon!", maybe a line or two from Jinn would be appropriate. No "Teach you how to commune with him, I will," rather something from Qui-Gon along the lines of, "Yes Obi-Wan. I will guide you..."
-Considering this last scene, Obi-Wan should not hear from Qui-Gon after he has officially died. This leaves my first two suggestions possible, and reserves surprise for Obi-Wan in RotS. That works very well considering there's not many quiet moments for him to hear Qui-Gon in the first place.

Trooperman:
“Qui-Gon dissapearing in the fire? Again, logically there would be some kind of reaction/response, so I'd say leave this as-is.”
“in early screening of TPM, Qui-Gon's body did indeed dissapear in the fire. This would be something to consider, but then what about everyone watching? Surely now that it's been established Jedi DON'T dissapear, there would be some sort of reaction if Jinn did.”

This is a good idea, though- Qui-Gon could disappear in the fire like Anakin was supposed to in ROTJ. This didn’t occur to me. About the reaction? I could probably find a way around this, like…camera pans over to Palpatine, who is staring ahead at something (longer than he was in the original). The scene ends with a shot of the fire, only…Qui-Gon has completely disappeared. CUT to celebration.

This does many things. We don’t have to deal with the reaction of the crowd, because the scene ends with the disappearance. We know that Palpatine saw what had happened and is disturbed by it (as well as the loss of his apprentice). And best of all, we know Qui-Gon actually disappears in the fire and becomes one with the force. I just don’t like the idea that Qui-Gon died, and somehow after he was dead he managed to find out how to come back as a ghost in his original form. I like the idea that during his life, he worked towards discovering this secret so that when he died, he was able to fade away. It was a result of his brilliance and hard work in life.

“Anakin SHOULD have dissapeared”

Yes, but if I’m not mistaken, I believe his physical face was visible during the burning scene. I would have to check on that.

“The problem with what I think you were getting at, TM, was that there can be no conversaions between Qui-Gon and the characters.”

Right. It can’t be like Empire; it has to be like SW when Obi-Wan spoke up at emotional high points.

“At some point during the space battle, when Anakin fires the torpedoes into the reactor for example, have Qui-Gon in his head: "Concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Use your instincts." Qui-Gon is straddling life and death here, so this could be interpreted as either a rememberance (he told Anakin this before the pod race), Force user-to-Force user communication (Luke and Vader at the end of ESB), or advice from the netherworld (Obi-Wan in ANH).”

Yes- I LOVE this idea. Anakin goes from not having a clue what he’s doing the whole time to not having a clue until he hears Qui-Gon. Then, he has control. Great parallel to SW, also.

“When Obi-Wan is hanging in the pit, have Qui-Gon is his head: "Always be mindful of your surroundings." Then he remembers Jinn's lightsaber is still there and leaps up to kill Maul. That could be interpreted as the latter two options from above.”

Good idea to have some Qui-Gon dialogue there- however, when I get to Ep. I, I’ll probably think about using some other dialogue there that works better dramatically. You never know…

“I thought about having Qui-Gon die after "Promise me you will train the boy," (assumming you would keep that line), then have "He will bring balance. Train him," echo in the long shot, in Obi-Wan's head I assume. But that might be a little weird.”

That would probably come off as weird style-wise. However, I like the idea of him dying after saying “Promise me you will train the boy.” I could possibly manipulate dialogue to make him say, “The boy will bring balance. Promise me you will train him.” Anyway, plenty of time to think about that.

“I mentioned this before, but perhaps have some of Qui-Gon's tone poem in Anakin's head at the funeral. "It will be a hard life. One without reward, without remorse, without regret." This would tie-in with the dream in your Episode 2, but again it might be a bit out of place.”

Maybe, but less so than the previous example. This could work, but I’d have to test it multiple ways.

“You know thinking about it, maybe we could weave a sub-plot here of Qui-Gon being responsible for Anakin's nightmares, trying to warn him about the future. He always starts off Anakin's dreams, and in RotS they could be continual visions with not only Padme, but maybe a glimpse of Vader and his future evil? Just a thought; not sure if/how that would work.”

Ha ha- I know how it would work. After I read that, I realized how this would work. And it’s going to be so spectacularly creepy that I don’t even want to give it away yet. I will say that this will work VERY well and will make the story that much richer. Also, think “Vertigo” again (although that probably won’t help.) Anyway, thank you for some MAJOR inspiration.

“Some kind of dialogue alteration after the Tusken massacare. Replacing the "NO!" first and foremost. Getting two different "Anakin"s would be nice too, making it seem less like a cut and paste job. Any additional stuff you can think of.’

Yeah, I’m not sure about that yet, but something is guaranteed to be different about this.

“A prefect line that could go several places (from Batman Begins): "Your anger gives you great power but [if you let it] it will destroy you." The place I have in mind of it is when Anakin looks into the suns on Mustafar, before he sheds a tear.”

Very good idea. I can definitely use that line at some point. Also, thinking ahead to that scene, as much as everyone praises the music for that scene as being the highest emotional point for them, etc. etc- I really don’t like it, believe it or not. It was interesting the first time because it was a novel and completely different approach, but I would like to rescore this with something more sad/beautiful in romantic style. This will likely be an unpopular change- oh, well.

“Reconstructing the Yoda scene in some way. What I think everyone is forgetting is that they still need the Yoda part, which will never be released. And since it all has to be pieced together from different sources anyway, alter and expand it to not only explain the secret of immortality, but Qui-Gon expresses some responsibility for what happened in regards to Anakin.”

I’m probably not going to be able to do this myself. If MagnoliaFan or AdigitalMan want to take a stab at it, then perhaps I can use the scene if it works out in their versions. But I don’t know how to go about replacing both Yoda and Qui-gon dialogue.

“After Obi-Wan says "Qui-Gon!", maybe a line or two from Jinn would be appropriate. No "Teach you how to commune with him, I will," rather something from Qui-Gon along the lines of, "Yes Obi-Wan. I will guide you..."

This is more likely what I’ll do with this. Maybe I could even put some kind of non-talking on-screen Qui-Gon ghost image by Yoda. I do agree that actually seeing Qui-Gon after he dies in Ep. I would really drive the point home, and things would make much more sense.

Hi there! If I were to put an image of Qui-Gon in the Mustafar scene, he would not talk. He would shimmer in the background maybe, but he would not talk to Anakin. More likely than actually putting his ghost there would be to have Anakin cry out for Qui-Gon’s help as he burns. Qui-Gon doesn’t answer as Anakin screams in pain and calls for Qui-Gon. I can do this due to the dubbing. This would bring up a bunch of interesting Biblical parallels that I don’t want to discuss now Good idea, though. Oh, and by the way- I HATE midichlorians with a passion and they will not be included in my saga.

MtHaslett- I Understand where you’re coming from, too. It’s not that the simple interpration is incorrect, it’s just that it’s a stretch and it doesn’t seem to be enough. What has actually gone on with the force ghosts is not explained well at all through the six movies, and elaborating on it serves many purposes. It makes for an overall richer story and also works very well dramatically (Qui-Gon communicating with Anakin and Obi-Wan in Ep. I, Qui-Gon somehow trying to interfere with Palpatine’s dreams and adding his own messages to them.

“What advice from Qui Gon would make Ep II better?”
“If you add Qui-Gon throughout Ep I, II, and III as a voice offering advice and such, you'll be creating more questions than you answer for me.”

Right- but the only time Qui-Gon shows up in Episode II is 1. At the beginning of the dream, and 2. After the Tusken slaughter. In Episode I, he is not dead until the end. Therefore, anything that he says could be interpreted as memories or as direct communication using the force. And in III, his words echo through Anakin’s head, much like Palpatine’s did at the beginning. And then of course we have the ending. So this isn’t creating any questions for me- throughout the PT, Qui-Gon voice keeps coming back. He isn’t watching everything and commenting on everything, saying “Don’t kiss that girl!” “Palpatine is a Sith lord!” etc. You remember that in the original trilogy, Obi-Wan was allowed to do some things and not others (like giving Luke advice when he fought Vader and the Emperor). Even Yoda was restricted in this way.

MTH:
While I can't say I follow the reasoning that because the Force ghosts aren't spelled out that the movies are less rich or that explaining where they come from (or, in the case of having Qui Gon disappear in the fire) making them common place does anything to enrich things -- I can't say the changes you suggest really bother me. I don't see leaving things as they are as any sort of stretch. These movies have a religion -- THE FORCE. Many movies have regligion in them, and the good ones don't spend a lot of time explaining away the mysteries that make their particular religion work. It would be one thing if we didn't understand how Luke could possibly fire a torpedo into the ventilation shaft, but if we need to explain how Obi Wan disappeared, we might as well have an explanation for how Luke had a sword fight with Darth Vader on Degobah. Just my opinion.

Commander Courage:
I really don't know about Qui-Gon disspearing in the fire. My reasoning is the same as yours, "I just don’t like the idea that Qui-Gon died, and somehow after he was dead he managed to find out how to come back as a ghost in his original form. I like the idea that during his life, he worked towards discovering this secret so that when he died, he was able to fade away." But something as significant as that would surely be worth a mention, which of course would be absent. All that aside, if you're going to go for it, showing Qui-Gon dissapear on-screen is the way to do it. If not, it's TOO ambiguous. So in the final shot of Qui-Gon burning, he would fade away, then Yoda and Mace discuss the Sith, omninous shot of Palpatine, cut to end celebration. Of course, we have plenty of time to work this out. Btw, all you can see in RotJ is Vader's burning armor, no physical Anakin.


Sluggo:
1. The body of Qui-Gon can not dissappear. As it has been mentioned, this would create more problems than it would fix. In addition, Yoda and Obi-wan pretty much evaporated soon as they were dead. If this is the norm, then he would have to dissappear in Obi-wan's arms in the reactor room. Otherwise, he'd still be alive when they put him on the pyre and would have died in the flames.

2. I've been trying to talk somebody into re-editing the Anakin destroying the Droid Control Ship for quite a while. Having Qui-gon speak to Anakin through the Force is the way the movie needed to end up. The allusion to Luke destroying the Death Star would be perfect. The only problem would be that in the final edit, Qui-Gon is still alive. He dies after Anakin destroys the ship. Having Qui-Gon 'communicate' with Anakin while he is still alive seems problematic. Moving the scenes around fix the problem. Incidentally, the revised 3rd draft has Qui-Gon dying before Anakin does his stuff.

3. As far as having Gui-gon communicate with Anakin or Obi-wan later in the movies....I think I'd leave the communication to a minimum. Qui-gon is a prequel character. If he is talking to everybody and appearing to everybody, then there's no reason for him not to be in the classic trilogy. If I had him appear, I'd have him only at the very end of the movie, As Obi-wan is walking back to the Eeopie. He'd appeas as Obi-wan walks towards him.


Trooperman:
1. I see what you're saying, but...could someone explain to me again what happened with Darth at the end of ROTJ? We're going on the original Sebastian Shaw scenario, by the way.

2. Absolutely- this has been brought up before and you don't need to convince me a bit. When I FINALLY get to Episode I in a couple years, then this is sure to happen.

3. I'm not sure about cutting the communication, because I do think Qui-Gon is an important character and needs to be somewhat more involved, if he has retained his identity. But that's a VERY interesting idea, showing the ghost of Qui-Gon at the end of the film, almost like the end of ROTJ. That would tie things up very, very nicely. So what we would have in my PT is: Qui-Gon dies. Then, he helps Anakin destroy the Control Ship (like Obi-Wan in original SW). Qui-Gon doesn't have any contact with Obi-Wan (until the very end, when Obi-Wan sees his master at the end of the film), but Qui-Gon continues to be in touch with Anakin, through dreams and whatnot. This would make sense because he did this immediately after dying in Ep. I. Then, Yoda does NOT make the casual comment about communing with Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon simply appears to Obi-Wan at the end, kind of de-emphasizing the "learning" part of becoming a ghost and still retaining some mystery. What do you guys think? I'm very happy with this particular solution.


TheDemonHunter:
I'd have to agree with all of you here, if we're all on the same page with this. I really believe the PT did too much to take away the mystery of the Force by giving too many explanations (ie. midichlorians... *shudders, trying not to wretch*) and leaving it as you've described here would fit the mythos far better, IMHO. Using Qui-Gon in this way is sort of like giving another parallel to the OT, as Qui-Gon dies before giving Anakin his complete training and then he is trained by another, just as Luke loses Obi-Wan before much training can be done, only to have his training passed off to another (Yoda in this case). The continued edits would really would drive home not only the similarities of the two generations of Skywalkers, but also the differences, as we see Luke resist the Emperor where Anakin couldn't. They seem so much on the same path in ANH/TPM and ESB/AOTC, only to find their ultimate failings or victories in ROTJ/ROTS. Giving Anakin the same guidance as Luke had will surely underline the fact that they can and should have been done as two sides of the same coin instead of the vastly different characters shown in the OT and PT. Shame on Lucas for not seeing this the way we do. lol


Commander Courage:
Personally I was talking about both! There are parallels with both scenarios, but in particular Luke and Anakin's position as they lay dying in extreme cold and heat respectively. If Qui-Gon's spirit were to appear it would then mirror Hoth much more than Cloud City.

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Hey Guys,

Here's another Neimoidian clip I threw together based on yesterday's suggestion by MTHaslett about a Sidous-less version of the scene introducing Darth Greivous. I hope you enjoy it. Again, I need a script for these guys. I tried to make them as nasty as possible.

Darth Greivous

These two scenes don't have to be back-to-back. I just put them together for effect.

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Oh wow! Those Neimoidian voices are soooooo much better than the originals. Better than MagFan's too. Now if you can do something like that with the Ewoks...
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Thanks, THX! That means a lot, coming from you. I actually really loved your idea for the Ewoks having Samurai voices when I first read about it in another thread. The audio could easily be lifted from Seven Samurai or any of the Kurosawa films. That could be a definite possibility for our version of ROTJ, depending on what Trooperman thinks. I agree it might vastly improve their character.

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Impressive! Most Impressive!

The Nemoidians continue so sound awesome, and while I'd suggest editing the hologram scene a little differently, the Tatooine arrival scene is PERFECT. Using Grievous' Theme there is amazing, and fit the visuals remarkably well. In the original version it was like, "Oh look, there's Darth Maul. And he's sending probe droid. He'll probably fin them pretty soon now. Okay, next scene," but in this version it's lile, "$hit! Qui-Gon and the gang are in trouble! They better hurry up and get out of there before Grievous finds them!" This is Grievous' big reveal, just as Vader's was on the Tantive IV, powerful music is in order.

Speaking of, there has been much talk of inserting the Imperial March into ANH. Once again I present a clip from a Jedi Council Discussion Board Member at TF.N:
http://rapidshare.de/files/8850916/Vaderimpmarch.mov.html

Having the old music transition into the new was a great touch. I would however reinstate Vader's silent assesment of the situation, where we just hear his breathing, and find another clip of the Imperial March to plug in as he and the troops leave the shot. (I hope that made sense.)
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Wow, CC! You're on a roll with all this agreeing lately. Thanks!

How would you edit the hologram scene differently? If you provide me with some options, I'd love to try them.

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Well it all depends on the dialogue, but I would have the Nemoidians discussing brining in Grievous before his hologram appears. And it would be great to SEE the hologram flicker in. Is there a way to accomplish this? So Nute's assistant (Rune, I think) has his reservations about working so closely with a Sith, but Nute isn't concerned. Then Grievous appears and cuts off theit conversation.

Now this is going to be totally off-the-wall, but is there a way to get his lips to move so we could dub in some lines? Grievous responding to them is essential for the conversation to work. The last shot of this scene would be an intimidating line from Greivous. So can this be acheived without the Conan O'Brien feel to it?
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The truth is, no. Not really. Although it would be ideal, the hologram flickering in is not possible, because I would need a clean version of the exact same background without the hologram. And even if I had that it would still be tricky to accomplish. We'll just have to assume that we come in during the middle of their conversation.

The lips moving is a definite no. BUT, we could add Greivous' dialogue when you're looking at Nute and only seeing the hood. I wish we could do more, but we've got to work with what we've got.

Unless, of course, there's some special effects genius out there reading this who wants to do it for us.

I didn't think this scene was possible to salvage at all until MTHaslett suggested editing it this way.

EDIT: They did a nice job on that Vader clip you posted. That's the best version of that scene that I've come across, and very close to what I want to accomplish.

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A small note about the Neimoidian/Maul scene: the last shot should be of Nute, rather than Rune, so he seems to be giving Maul an order.
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My initial instinct was the same, THX. But, I guess it depends on what the dialogue turns out to be. So I just kept it how it was originally, we see Rune before the transition. I can easily change it to fit whatever dialogue is written.

Where are my writers?

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Ok, here's a rough outline of the Grievous Hologram Scene:

EXTERIOR SHOT - TRADE FEDERATION BATTLESHIP

RUNE: I still don't like this. Getting so closely involved with the Sith---
NUTE: What's not to like? We're both after the same thing: power. You best remember who holds the power here, Hako.
RUNE: But we know almost nothing about them. If it's discovered that we're working with---
Sound effect of hologram activating.
GRIEVOUS: (O.S.) You are in need of my services, Viceroy?
NUTE: Lord Grievous. Lord Sidious has told us of your efficient reputation.
Grievous simply stares at the Nemoidians.
NUTE: Ah, well, a Naboo royal crusier has gotten past our blockade. We are certain Queen Amidala was onboard. The ship was damaged during the escape, and according to our projections will be unable to make it to Coruscant in its current condition. You are to see to it the Queen is intercepted and returned to Naboo.
Again, Grievous says nothing. This makes Nute and Rune uneasy.
NUTE: Is there anything---
Greivous cuts him off, O.S.
GREIVOUS: That will be all Viceroy.
Sound effect of hologram deactivating.
RUNE: Quiet one, isn't he?
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Thanks for the try, CC. But why do they sound like members of city council? It's too wordy. They sound not only confused, but also intimidated by Greivous. Which brings us right back to where we started. I thought the point was to make the characters more villainous.

Nute can't be intimidated by Greivous, he's the one holding the leash. He should be instructing Grevious on all the horrible things he wants him to do to Amidala and the Jedi once they're captured. In Nute's mind, Greivous is working for HIM (even though he isn't). Unless we want to change it to where Greivous is the dominant role, and the Neimoidians are reporting to him.

It could even start with Nute saying something like, "And that, Lord Greivous, was the last time they appeared on any of our scopes..."

In any case, let's not draw attention to the fact that Greivous doesn't speak during the scene. In fact, he really doesn't need to say anything at all. All the audience needs to know is that he's in cahoots with the Trade Federation. It should just be played as if he's listening to Gunray intently and we just caught a snippet of their meeting.

No need to re-hash info we already know. We know they escaped. Now we know Greivous knows.

As for Rune, I think you've got him pegged correctly as the naysayer or voice of reason in the bunch. See, he's not cowardly, he just has common sense. But he's still greedy and he wants everything that can be gained by this plan if all goes well. His warnings are usually right, the problem is, no one listens to him because he's always getting slapped down by Nute and his wild delusions.

No need for the hologram to click on and off, the whole exchange is very brief, we're only hearing the most important part of their conversation.

Basically, it's:

Nute explains the situation to Greivous.
Tells him how he wants him to proceed.
Maximum of two or three sentences.
Greivous does his best "silent but violent" Sith Lord impression.
The name Sidious may or may not be dropped.
Rune interrupts with more common sense.
Nute slaps him down like a bitch.
End of scene.

So, as far as the actual dialogue is concerned, we need to ask ourselves, what is the point of the scene? The point is to simply and quickly establish the NAME of Greivous, the fact Greivous is affiliated with the Trade Federation and is now in pursuit of the heroes. Period. It serves no other purpose. This is not their first introduction to Greivous, we assume the Neimoidians are well aquainted with his work. He's not Boba Fett, he's not a hired hand. He's there as an enforcer for Sidious, to make sure everything goes according to plan, and that no one escapes. But, (I think) he should still be subordinate to Gunray. It's just like Tarkin and Vader.

I still believe his entire involvement in the story, as well as Anakin's role, would be strengthened if his sole purpose was to locate and retrieve the "vergence in the Force".

We have to be careful though. As we've seen with the Prequels, it's easy to fall into the trap of explaining too much. If you look at ANH, it just throws you into the middle of everything, and you kind of have to use your imagination to sort everything out. So, even if we make it ambiguous, I think the audience will still get it.

P.S. - Does anyone know where I can locate a German language version of Episode I?

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I see that no one really noticed a post I made a page back about the DARTH GREVIOUS situation. I just don't see how this whole scenario can be played off realistically here is the post, I just wanted to see a good reason and a believable course to make these two characters one:

About this whole Darth Maul IS General Greivous combo:

I have not been sold on this at all yet. I still don't know why we can't have a darth maul in Ep.1 and another villian named General Grevious in III. I just don't see how you could make general grevious SEEM like he is suppose to be darth maul at all. I mean sure, you can mess with names, but how far does that really go? We could change anybodys names around, but the characters don't even move or act like each other. I always thought if you redubbed Grevious with a scarier taunts and a mean voice it would make his character have more intimidation. Someone else mentioned that if we "assumed" that maul survived being chopped in half, then it kind of comes off as cheesy, why did he not die? Are we to assume that if anybody is taken out in battle that they could still be alive? Did mace windue survive palpatines lighting? It just raises some inconsistancies IMO. Plus Grevious has obvious alien eyes and eyeline features. He runs away, he's hunched over and he seems less important to be walking around with droid armies. And if Maul is Grevious in Ep.1, then what did he do when he was found, alive, put together in a droid body.....and then just take up work as the general for the trade federations clone war? I just don't see the characters connecting at all. Maybe it could be pulled off, I just wanted to know how this could be done.


Don't get me wrong, I think it would have been cool if maul survived TPM and showed up again in ROTS to revenge his fight. And it is true, Grevious did not serve much puprose in the movie, but you could make his character seem more of a threat. He is kind of like Jabba in ROTJ, did we really need to go to his palace and watch nothing but him and his cronies for 30 minutes only to watch him dye and fade away? I think General Grevious is a cool character and was nicely expanded upon in the cartoon series, but I don't see why or how you can turn him into darth maul. Just a thought.
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I gotta agree with Darth Preston. Changing Greivous into Darth Maul is making things more complicated than they need to be. It is one thing to be tying the trilogies together, but I think adding extra plot lines runs the danger of distracting the viewer. These movies have a lot going on already.
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Exactly, Sluggo. But, that's WHY certain characters should be condensed. To give the saga more unity. And actually, contrary to your opinion, it's actually simplifying things. Why do we need to have a different villain every movie until we get to the OT?

These are the reasons we decided to do this:

-Maul didn't have a big enough part.

-Greivous came out of nowhere and was a p*ssy. An extremely dull and mishandled character.

-It strengthens the drama in episode III between Greivous and Obi-Wan and possibly Greivous and Anakin.

-It doesn't matter that they don't walk the same, he's in a mechanical suit! Besides, their eyes are very similar.

-It echos Vader's situation. We can assume only Sidious has this technology and keeps it a secret.

-Remember Palpatine can sense when his apprentice is in trouble. Palpatine was ON NABOO in the following scene.

-Plus, it might be a bigger draw for Anakin in Episode III when Palpy is talking about saving Padme, Anakin has already seen that he has the power to bring his apprentice back from the dead...

Why NOT do it? Why have a completely new character who contributes nothing to the story come out of nowhere in episode III and basically serve no purpose whatsoever?



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I love all those reasons, as CC outlined them earlier. But I can't remember one thing, and I wonder if this is what people have a hard time with: HOW do we convey the info that Maul became Grievous? It seems like the kind of thing that deserves real fanfare.

I wonder if some type of "reconstructing Grievous" scene would help? I'd have ideas for doing it if we needed it. The downside of this idea is that it would have to occur in Episode II (Shroud of the Darkside) -- and would probably stick out like a sore thumb.

So how do we convey that Grievous was reconstructed before he joined Dukoo? Maybe a missing Dukoo/Grievous scene? Cut them into the same room. Take some of the Sarumon/Orc dialogue from LOTR? "You are to find the [Jedi]!"

I'm just spit ballin'

InfoDroid: That clip is incredible. I think the scenes being cut together has definite possibilities, but it might not work in the "big" picture.

I think the flow of dialogue with Maul/Grievous should cover many of the points Commander Courage suggests in his dialogue. I agree with you, however, that Gunray can't seem too impressed by Grievous. He should treat Grievous like an equal-- at BEST. Maybe even talk down to him. I also think the scene as you cut it could end with one last shot of Maul -- I don't think we need to hear what Gunray and his flunky say after they talk to Maul -- leave them all on the same page: GET AMIDALA!!!

This all brings up a point I don't quite understand. Dukoo tells Obi Wan that Sidious betrayed the Viceroy ten years ago. He's referring to Naboo, I presume. What does he mean? Sidious did everything he could to help and only the blind luck of the Gungan/Anakin victories foiled the plan. It is even possible that if Maul had killed Obi Wan that he could have personally grabbed the Queen and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. So where was the "betrayal?" Or was Dukoo lying? If he was lying, why? To persuade Obi Wan to join him? He's clouded my mind with confusion. He must be a Sith. Is that the point? Just curious.

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A follow up thought: assuming I can give instructions for cutting together a "reconstructing Grievous" scene -- I think I know where it should go:

The only logical place for it is as soon as possible after Maul is killed -- so it either goes into the end of Episode I or the beginning of Episode II.

In Episode II it would go something like this:
Theme music/opening crawl
Amidala's ship lands -- BOOM!!! Terrorism!
Cut to: Sidious' secret facility where droids report on their progress at restoring Grievous. Sidious scowls.
Cut to: The Jedi meeting with Palpatine.

Hmm?

I don't know.

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I doubt you could talk Trooperman into it.

What footage would you use?

Oh, and here's a spit ball for ya, how can we put Dooku into Episode I as a Jedi? Either on the council, as a hologram, or something! It has to be done.

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Originally posted by: InfoDroid
I still believe his entire involvement in the story, as well as Anakin's role, would be strengthened if his sole purpose was to locate and retrieve the "vergence in the Force".

I agree with this and everything you said about the Neimoidian/Maul scene. But here's another idea: put this scene after the Tatooine scenes, rather than before. The reason I suggest this is that it gives Maul a better introduction in the movie if he just shows up and we don't know who he is or what he's doing, then later we see him report to the Trade Federation. Kinda like Vader and Tarkin.
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Originally posted by: THX But here's another idea: put this scene after the Tatooine scenes, rather than before. The reason I suggest this is that it gives Maul a better introduction in the movie if he just shows up and we don't know who he is or what he's doing, then later we see him report to the Trade Federation. Kinda like Vader and Tarkin.

Yes, even better parallels to Vader on the Tantive IV. But what would the conversation be about then, and how would we know Maul was searching for Amidala? Maybe an earlier bit of dialoue between Nute and Rune.
Rune: She's escaped! We'll never find her now...
Nute: Always the pessimest, Hako. Lord Grievous will intercept her majesty and deal with her accordingly.

Dooku’s discussion with Obi-Wan is confusing whichever way you look at it. It can only be assumed he is saying whatever he thinks will persuade Obi-Wan to join him. Even then why reveal Sidious? Whatever, it’s a great scene and one of my favorites in Episode II (helped tremendously by Lee and McGregor being excellent actors).

As for reconstructing Grievous, if there’s a way to see SOMETHING, no matter how vague or obscured, it would go a long way. Unless we can find an appropriate place for it in the films, which I doubt, an easter egg similar to ADM’s after the end credits of ANH would be in order. But then the question becomes which film, I or II? Would it really take ten years to complete Grievous? No, therefore I would be the logical choice. If we could work his presence into II somehow, even the tiniest bit, that would help as well. What footage could we use, you ask? Well, if the “Construction of Vader” clips with screaming Anakin were indeed going to be cut, or even if they weren’t those shots could be altered to suit are purposes. Then take of the RotS Trailer with ending dialogue.
Sidious: Lord Grievous?
Grivous: Yes, master.
Sidious: Rise.
The briefest shot of Grievous opening his eyes in the darkness.

Dooku in TPM? First of all its almost logistically impossible, and then we’ve got, “It’s a pity our paths have never crossed before, Obi-Wan.” It would feel too shoehorned in and out of place.
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Well, THX, that is a good idea.

Infodroid: I'm starting to see it now. Honestly, the biggest convincer for me is "Why not?"

The clip of Vader on the blockade runner was cool. The music gave the clip a nice little punch. But not too much. Along a similiar vein, since you have been talking about (I think it was in this thread) modifying the Emperor Hologram scene in ESB, I'd like to see a bit of the Emperor's theme there. Just enough to give Palpy a bit more menace, as it were.
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Originally posted by: THX But here's another idea: put this scene after the Tatooine scenes, rather than before. The reason I suggest this is that it gives Maul a better introduction in the movie if he just shows up and we don't know who he is or what he's doing, then later we see him report to the Trade Federation. Kinda like Vader and Tarkin.

Yes. I like that, THX.

Dooku in TPM? First of all its almost logistically impossible, and then we’ve got, “It’s a pity our paths have never crossed before, Obi-Wan.” It would feel too shoehorned in and out of place.


Oops, you're right, CC. I forgot about that line. It's too bad though, because I think it would improve his character if we saw him as a good Jedi and then in the next movie he's turned to evil. Again, it's about strengthening the little threads all throughout the saga. I just don't know how it could be accomplished without some serious CGI head replacement.

I'm starting to see it now. Honestly, the biggest convincer for me is "Why not?"


Know the power of the Dark Side, Sluggo... It is unavoidable. It is your destiny.