Originally posted by: NobodyEnough, for sure. But just "enough" isn't good enough for the central hub of a religion. It should be "the most" - a concentration of everything they hold dear. What about the design of the Jedi Temple has anything to do with what they believe in? It looks cool and impressive, but it's got nothing to do with the Jedi religion. And why all the steel? From the outside, the building looks like a Fabergé factory. It blends right into the industrial/commercial opulance that makes Coruscant such a spectacular - and dehumanizing - place. Sure, the city's filled with lots and lots and LOTS of people. So is Grand Central Station. Can you imagine a Jedi relishing in his love of life by standing in a train station?
We can't say for sure why the Jedi temple is like it is. In all fairness it does have its uniqueness among other monuments around. It has four thin towers reaching up to the height of the skyline, and in the center is the main tower (which I assume the council chamber is at the very top, overlooking everything all around the cityscape.) These tower designs could very well be symbolic for something to do with the Force, or more probable: precepts of their beliefs. Maybe the number of towers is significant, I am not sure
And while there is a lot of metal, I do believe many of the floors are carpeted and stone. Stone floors are as close to organic as the Temple interior gets, I'll admit. Not to mention all the organic warm/cool colors.
I understand the desire for a central meeting place - someplace close to the halls of political power. But why not make that place a respite from the chaos around it? If I ran the zoo, my inspiration for the Temple would be the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. It doesn't need to be a messy, uncultivated swamp like Dagobah. A place low to the ground, but spread over many miles, full of gardens and orchards and strange animals and children chasing each other around while doing spectacular stunts in the trees. A place where the buildings are crafted by loving and talented hands, not by machines - pinnacles of art and of patience. Perhaps, a place where the concentrated energy of the Force is so great that rocks float in the lake, and flowers grow out of thin air. And my mind is really wandering there - I'm sure there are totally different directions you could take this idea, but the point is that it's not hard to envision a temple that is both spectacular and centrally located, and that still exemplifies the Jedi ideals. Yet Lucas didn't bother. He didn't think.
That description is neat. Definitely would have put a new spin on things in ROTS, if instead of Anakin walking into a metal/stone/dreary building, he walked passed statues of Jedi long gone, down beautiful gardens paths. There really would have been a clash of good and evil in that moment, if the Temple were as you imagined it. That's a neat idea.
The centralized location is near other important Coruscantian (?) political locations. This never is confirmed 100%, but if you take a look at the different types of locations around the Temple, which as you said are very near (the Temple isn't secluded at all,) you do get the sense that the architects decided to put the Jedi headquarters there because it is near where a LOT of negotiations will need to take place. Think how much violence breaks out in these seemingly civilized places! The Jedi need to be near. I think George Lucas realized this, so put the Jedi Temple right where everyone else important is.
And, for the record, my opinion is that he thought very little through, and that it had a very huge effect. People slam his directing all the time, and it sure wasn't great, but the real problem is the story itself. The writing. Stupid little things that contradict and didn't occur to him, and add up to hurt the films at all the critical points. Stuff like Queen Amidala is "young and naive," but it turns out she was elected, so the whole young-monarch-inherits-huge-responsibility concept has the rug pulled right out from under it. Stuff like building a protocol droid to help his poverty-stricken mother. With what? Dinner parties? How is it that he fits perfectly into a mass-produced shell? Did Anakin buy the do-it-yourself kit? He should have built R2-D2. For one thing, Artoo is unique. For another, Artoo is plucky and resourceful and heroic - and could therefore be considered the embodiment of his good traits, even during the rebellion. The only thing Threepio seems to have inherited is his whininess.
I remember George talking in DVD commentary for ANH (if this is wrong, someone correct me. Could be in another one of the OT movies, but I'm pretty sure it is Episode IV,) how the saga is told from the two droids' point of view. He expanded that to the droids having a part of the entire saga, so you could go as far as to say the
entire saga is told from their viewpoint!
Threepio and Artoo are loosely themselves based on the 'Hidden Fortress' duo of unlucky guys who run into a princess, war, heroes, etc. etc.
So we know that one or both of these two droids had to make an appearance from very early on in The Phantom Menace. Whether or not Anakin got a DIY kit and started working on Threepio is sort of immaterial. A nine-year-old who can put together anything that advanced, whether DIY or not, is someone who is good at gadgetery and mechanics to a very high extent.
Should he have created Artoo? Well, we know that Artoo becomes significant because the Naboo cruiser they are using to bust from the blockade is damaged (shield generators) and I couldn't picture any other droid except for an astromech droids going and repairing that damage. If Anakin had created Artoo, then Threepio would have needed an introduction at that point, and I don't know about you: but I can't picture a protocal droid going out to the surface of a ship while in space and fixing the generators.
And there. RIGHT THERE. That's the big one. Anakin is a brat. There is no level on which that was a good decision, and it's not just Hayden's performance - he was written that way. And it spoils everything it touches. This is supposed to be a tragedy, but a tragedy only works when you sympathize with the main character. It's tragic because you can see how that person's flaws led to their downfall, and because you realize how likely it is that you would have done the same. You can hate Michael Corleone, but all the moreso because you know how good he could have been, and because you understand why he made every choice he did. I don't understand any of the choices Anakin made. I don't sympathize with him, I don't relate to him, and I find him annoying and idiotic. He was characterized very badly and very inconsistently. That alone, even if everything else was perfect, destroys the entire trilogy. That character arc is the entire reason the movies were made in the first place. If that arc works, then everything else is forgivable, and if it doesn't, then nothing else matters.... and Lucas botched it.
Badly.
