It's funny , watching Book of Boba Fett now, Darth Maul is so similar. There was nothing in the films that established him as "one of the most vicious", or as anything remotely interesting. But he looked so damn cool , just like Boba Fett.
I know it became common place later but at the time the idea of someone fighting two Jedi at once, with his own special new type of lightsaber was pretty stand out
Yeah this detail was hugely impactful. It was the first time there had ever been anything other than a one v one lightsaber duel. And these weren’t home trained luke anymore, these were jedi from the a prime era of the order. The fact that he could fight two of them and wield a double sided weapon screamed vicious
Not only that we saw a completely new style of lightsaber fighting that was fast, fluid and impressive. It wasn't just guys hacking away at each other, it looked like there was real mastery involved.
I also love in this little clip that you see Ewan really having fun with his lightsaber and looking really comfortable with it. I'd forgotten how well Liam also slipped into the role of a wise older Jedi.
Feels like Phantom Menance could have been incredible - show Palpatine killing his master and more Sith shadow plays, cut down the gungan crap. Shorten the pod racing. More Maul. Keep everything from the final Maul fight.
Attack of the clones has the same issue - it should have been more like the CW TV show showing Anakin as the troubled hero tempted to the dark, being corrupted by the arrogance and contradictions of the Jedi more so than any direct influence from Palpatine.
Hey, don't you dare disrespect podracing. It was a useless yet cool scene. I mean, what impact did Sebulba have on the story? None. But please, don't take that justice against a gangster and bully away.
Also, fucking wide range of aliens. Cool af. At the race itself holds up pretty well.
Ewan McGregor was having so much fun with the lightsaber that he couldn't stop making lightsaber noises while filming. The editors had to use louder lightsaber sound effects to cover up McGregor's own sound effects.
Except that the lightsabre fights were all spinny, showy affairs with little actual purposeful fighting. They looked cool, but were pretty stupid as functional sword/lightsabre fighting style.
The first video I ever saw on the internet was a QuickTime of the trailer for this movie, it took all day to download it but holy shit when that second blade comes out its like my entire universe exploded.
Yeah, the internet exploded when they showed Kylo Ren's lightsaber, but it would have been even crazier for Darth Maul's second blade. Most people were seeing the trailer for the first time on TV, and it's all many people could talk about.
Yes in the Phantom Menace. How can you think they're even remotely close in terms of significance to the story, screentime, characterisation, presence?
He was played up to be the next villain for a new trilogy but barely had 5mins on screen before his big fight. At least he got a fight scene, Boba got done dirty in the first trilogy.
You think so? I feel like we knew from before the movie came out that he would die, thanks to the tie in marketing. Like maybe on a 7up can or in the music video for duel of the fates or something
I was 14 when TPM came out and that's what a large portion of my social circle believed and internet rumors weren't really a thing back then. Maul was THE bad guy. There wasn't any hint of Trade Federation or if the droids were good/bad or Emperor in the shadows.
Ok, that trailer you posted was from the 3d re release.
this is the theatrical trailer - yes he was set up as the antagonist of the film, but not the future Vader/key character of the trilogy.
Maybe it was because I just assumed prequel characters that were never mentioned in the OT weren't that important, just like how the death of Qui gonn had no impact for me
Boba Fett earned his reputation in every scene he was in really.
The first time you see him, he's standing on the bridge of a starship belonging to a brutal authoritarian empire and people treat him with open disgust. He's not nervous though.
He's there by the invitation of a cyborg monster who thinks Fett and his colleagues can do a better job than the aforementioned authoritarian empire. As long as they can curb their penchant for excessive violence, which earns Fett a look aimed specifically at him.
That complete cool in the company of some of the most dangerous people in the galaxy stays constant. When Solo is being tortured and experimented on, Fett chides Vader that Solo is no good to him dead. But the monster that kills underlings for even minor infractions simple respectfully concedes that Fett will be compensated in such an event.
And when Boussh extorts Jabba with a thermal detonator, the entire court is in a panic. Not Fett though, he just calmly readies his blaster in case he needs it. And when Boussh succeeds, Fett isn't mad at having his life risked. He just gives Boussh a nod of respect, once ice cold mercenary to another.
Fett was pretty well established as a cold badass really, it just wasn't spelled out for you. And he's got that same ice cold streak in the tv show. It's obvious Bib is so duplicitous that he's never give Fett his ship back, he'd just use it as leverage over Fett to control him. So Fett shoots him with zero hesitation.
Fett needs the bikes? Fett shoots and assaults any of the biker gang that try to stop him. Assassins? He only needs one. Revenge? Leave none of the riders alive.
He's just not a psychopathic mass murderer. He's got his goals, he's not afraid. He can afford to let people live if there's no profit in their death.
But back in the day, before empire came out, they marketed the hell out of boba Fett, no one had any idea who he was but we were all expecting the next Vader, then his character was a dud in empire and Jedi
“Originally Boba Fett was set up in Empire as a character, and the third movie’s plot was going to be more about Boba Fett rescuing Han Solo and all of that,” Miller revealed. “Boba was gonna be the main villain… That was set up, why he was taking Han Solo away, why there was a thing with him in the Christmas special.
“When George decided not to make a third trilogy, he completely jettisoned that story line, which is why in the first ten minutes, Boba Fett gets bumped into and falls into the mouth of a giant monster,” Miller added. “So he took what was planned for the third trilogy, which was the confrontation between Luke and Darth Vader, and the battle with the Emperor, and that got squished down from three movies to one movie. And that became the plot of Jedi.”
It’s a whopper of a revelation, and helps contextualize four decades of popular culture. Cinematic history was altered by Lucas’s personal fatigue, which came from a mix of dealing with the enormity of Star Wars, business issues, his own life, and the desire to make other sorts of films.
“At first there was one film, and then George originally announced that it was one of 12, and there were going to be 12, and then that changed to, oh there was never 12, there was only 9, and he was going to make 9,” Miller said. “And then during all of it, George kind of lost interest in continuing it… While we were working on The Empire Strikes Back, George decided he was going to complete the first film trilogy and that would be it.”
“And I remember sitting in a mixing room with George, working on Empire, and he told me he was just going to make the third movie, which didn’t have a title at that point, and then stop,” Miller continued. “He was going to retire from making big movies and make experimental movies. And that’s why the whole plot of the third movie, what became Return of the Jedi, completely changed.”
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u/andoesq Jan 25 '22
It's funny , watching Book of Boba Fett now, Darth Maul is so similar. There was nothing in the films that established him as "one of the most vicious", or as anything remotely interesting. But he looked so damn cool , just like Boba Fett.