Concerning the crawl discussions, I was wondering if you could mention the Trade Federation targetting Naboo for its valuable plasma. As is, it’d be a bit of a clumsy inclusion, but the plasma is there in the movie’s visual subtext, and I can’t help but feel more could be done with it. Granted, the crawl’s maybe not the place for that.
Darth Raditz said:
I watched Q2’s Episode 1 edit for the first time yesterday and it got me thinking: Could you make Maul the Sith that the Trade Federation is in league with? You’d have to darken his face in his hood, cut out frames in the Tatooine lightsaber duel that show his face off, maybe even shoot new footage of Maul alone on Tatooine to sell the idea, but it would be fun to redub his lines and make him more of an active villain in the movie. Plus that “but which was destroyed, the master or the apprentice” line hits harder because there’s another Sith still out there, especially if you’re not teasing that Palpatine’s behind it all too early.
I’ve actually always wanted to replace Sidious with Dooku. You can still keep him introducing Maul that way and it serves to give the Prequels a more unifying villain.
vranir said:
Agreed. Tipping Palpatine too early is one of the biggest issues I have with the prequels. Yes, it’s obvious for old-school fans, but it’d be cool if he was a mystery to new viewers, just as he is to the characters.
If you ask me, the Prequels are way better when you know Palpatine is Sidious. Otherwise he’s just this random politician we’re spending an awfully long time on. Seeing him build himself up as Emperor is far more entertaining.
Peter Pan said:
For example, there was this idea floating around on this site about changing the motivation of the Naimodians to aquiring the energy technology of the Naboo in order to power a larger droid army.
Ah-ha! See this is what I was talking about when I said there’s potential in exploring the plasma subtext. If plasma powers the droids, that gives a clear motive for the Trade Federation to invade while also posing the ominous question of what they need this droid army for if it’s not just for invading Naboo.