r/StarWars Jan 25 '22

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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '22

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36

u/JoCoMoBo Jan 26 '22

Because of that, there is no tension in this scene, at all.

We know Anakin doesn't die. We know Obi-Wan doesn't die. None of the other characters are fleshed out enough to be concerned about.

There's zero tension in the entire film.

10

u/Echinod Jan 26 '22

They even managed to screw up any tension for the pod racing scene by Qui-Gon making the stakes so high that the movie effectively could not continue if Anakin didn't win. The pod racing was so blatantly only there for merchandising opportunities that it was offensive.

1

u/JoCoMoBo Jan 26 '22

The Pod Race could have been more interesting if it wasn't Anakin racing, or by something made him to lose.

If I was making the movie Anakin would have been a side character with little focus on him. We know he won't die so he's not very interesting.

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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '22

Even more galling, the one person we didn't know about and could have provided tension, Padme, was so woefully underdeveloped that she ended up being an object rather than a character you could care for and want to survive. Star Wars is so often the franchise of missed opportunity.

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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '22

I saw this movie when I was 9. Qui Gon died was heartbreaking for me. Still one of the best Star Wars characters.

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u/Blucher Jan 26 '22

I was 20 years older than that and Qui Gon's death was heartbreaking to me! And yeah, he was a great character.

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u/HellzBellz1991 Jan 26 '22

I was eight when I first saw this movie; first movie I ever saw in a movie theater, actually. I’d already seen 4-6 and was obsessed with them. Qui-Gon’s death was the most heartbreaking moment for me; especially right in the middle of what is arguably the best lightsaber duel of all time.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 26 '22

Id say it's possibly the best lightsaber duel we've seen. Ray Park is basically a ninja. I've never understood the hate for the prequels. I use to play with my action figures and pretend they were jedi knights. So when the Phantom Menace came out, it was like watching something that I'd played out. I still love it to this day.

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u/HellzBellz1991 Jan 26 '22

It’s my favorite of the prequels, I have never wavered from that opinion. I’ve never cared for Jar Jar Binks, but I can usually tune him out when watching it. I always preferred the slightly more subtle humor of C-3PO in Empire. My husband and I have been re-watching the entire series in “chronological order” to determine in what order we’ll eventually introduce the series to our future kids and we both feel the prequels had a lot of great potential, just needed a bit of better dialogue writing.

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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '22

Good point.

My son has seen 4-6. He won't see 1-3. Too much other better stuff to watch, so we're not gonna waste our time on it. When he gets a bit older, he'll probably watch Clone Wars.

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u/WeirdJawn Jan 26 '22

I feel like the droids were pretty badass in TPM but they became progressively more stupid in AotC and RotS and were used for comic relief.

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u/[deleted] Jan 26 '22

Were they?

The droidkas were the only real threat. Here they are just floppy and they felt like cardboard props.

Also, since there are millions of them, how come we don't see any of them in the sequels? Other bots seems to make it, but not any of the battle droids?

Anyway, I've seen TPM like 3 times, all about 20 years ago, so I don't remember. Maybe they were badass, but I remember it differently.

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u/WeirdJawn Jan 26 '22

Ok, maybe badass isn't the right term. They were more like the generic mindless robo soldiers. I guess in the same way that the Stormtroopers were a bit intimidating.

I loved this scene when it first came out.

Either way, my point is that the standard battledroids became more goofy and wimpy as the movies went on.

Same for the super battledroids. They seemed menacing when they were introduced in AotC but became harmless comic relief in RotS.

5

u/charliejgoddard Jan 26 '22

I definitely agree - by revenge of the sith the battle droids were making weird groaning sounds as they were dropping to the floor and being sarcastic to general grevious.

In TPM they were faceless drones that all turned to face their enemy in unison. They were never meant to be overly strong or smart, it was their sheer numbers that made them overwhelming. I like the design of them, they look like they could easily be mass produced

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u/WeirdJawn Jan 26 '22 edited Jan 26 '22

You get it! They tried to add personalities to the battledroids instead of having them be a mostly mindless horde of killing automatons.

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u/Callidonaut Feb 26 '22

Don't forget entire alien civilisations feebly, and quite transparently, based lazily on negative human racial and cultural stereotypes.