By the time of Return of the Jedi, things really started to fall apart for the Empire. The Emperor and his minions were so confident and drunk with power that they couldn’t see it coming. Always in motion, is the future.
Tag: coruscant
The Rescue and the Transformation
It’s true that Anakin Skywalker technically became Darth Vader before he was so badly disfigured on Mustafar, but most people associate Vader with the black suit. That final transformation took place after Palpatine’s search and rescue mission was a success. Vader was rebuilt, and the rest was cinematic history.
Meanwhile, Back on Coruscant…
Episode III turned out to be one of the most galaxy-spanning films of the series, mostly due to the fact that the Clone Wars were still happening. Meanwhile, the puppet master and phantom menace himself, the soon to be Emperor Palpatine, was cementing his place of power on Coruscant, the heart of the galaxy.
Tainted Love
George Lucas has stated many times that he feels the Prequels are more than just the story of Anakin Skywalker and his fall, but also a true love story, albeit a tainted one. Let’s explore this tainted love story a little more closely through some deleted material.
The Politics of Rebellion
One of the subplots that was almost entirely removed from the film has to do with the beginnings of the Rebellion. The seeds of that organization started by Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Padmé Amidala, and a secret group of other senators were originally supposed to be planted in this film.
Rescuing Palpatine
You have to hand it to Palpatine. Organizing his own capture and rescue was a stroke of evil genius. Poor Dooku probably thought so too until he had two lightsabers crisscrossing his neckline. What we saw in the finished film was a trimmed down version of his rescue.
Jedi Detective Work – Coruscant
One of the finer aspects of Episode II was that it (in part) resembled an old fashioned mystery. Obi-Wan is like an old 1940s gumshoe detective in a black and white film noir movie, hitting the streets hard and piecing clues together. Meanwhile, Mace Windu and Yoda are holding down the fort, trying to process the information passed on to them.
To Kill a Senator – Part One
Five minutes into Attack of the Clones, one thing is perfectly clear. Someone is trying to kill Senator Amidala. Two major attempts to assassinate her are made early in the film. The first takes place on a Coruscant landing platform.
To Kill a Senator – Part Two
Five minutes into Attack of the Clones, one thing is perfectly clear. Someone is trying to kill Senator Amidala. Two major attempts to assassinate her are made early in the film. The second takes place in her Coruscant bedroom. The ensuing chase leads the Senator’s Jedi protectors through various areas of Coruscant, eventually ending up in an alley outside of a nightclub.
Representative Binks
Senator Amidala seems like a very smart woman. Therefore, I can only attribute her appointing a buffoon like Jar Jar Binks as her representative in the Senate to the stress of dual assassination attempts. That, and the fact that George Lucas is a twisted individual who, when faced with the knowledge that people above the age of 13 really despise Jar Jar Binks, gives him a more important role.
IMAX Cuts & The Original Ending Sequence
In November of 2002, Episode II made its way to the large screen format known as IMAX. At the time, IMAX film differed from regular film in a number of ways. Read More
Coruscant: Capital of the Republic
The prequels play out over the backdrop of the falling of the Republic and the establishment of a new Empire, still controlled from the city planet of Coruscant by Palpatine. In The Phantom Menace, these events are only beginning while the bureaucrats and senators go about their busy lives, unaware of the plot that’s being hatched beneath their very noses. Our time on Coruscant in The Phantom Menace is brief, but does result in a few interesting bits that fall into the area of cut or altered scenes. Read More