PADAWAN
OBI WAN KENOBI
In the original movie we're given only a hint of Kenobi's darkside
when he defies the code of the Jedi and kills Darth Maul in the heat
of battle. In this movie we'd explore the character of Kenobi with
more depth. Not every Jedi is dead set on doing good. Everyone has a
darkside. As a Padawan he's stubborn, headstrong and intent on
seeing what potential Anakin Skywalker holds even if it means
defying his master Yoda. Kenobi is also a bit irresponsible which
accounts to him eventually losing hold of Anakin in the future and
watching him drip in to the darkside of the force. Like Anakin in
the future he is anxious to prove himself as a Jedi Master, thus he
defies Yoda's good sense and stands up to the Jedi Council insisting
that he can train Anakin with great success. In the climax when Obi
Wan does face off with Darth Maul he kills Maul in the heat of
battle and is forced to confront his harsh error in battle. He's
completely stood against everything he was taught in the beginning
and now he's killed someone. Is he really prepared to teach a
potentially powerful apprentice? Kenobi is still the valiant hero,
but he is one who is not sure where he stands in this prophecy, but
he's willing to sacrifice it all to show the council that he can
train someone and make them proud.
YODA
Yoda doesn't just have a small role here as he does in Lucas's "The
Phantom Menace." Yoda was just a way to remind people that we were
honestly watching a Star Wars movie. Thankfully he gets a larger
role in the formation of the Jedi order in the remainder of the
series, but in our version, Yoda is training Obi-Wan Kenobi. Though
he does have faith that Kenobi can be a formative Jedi Knight, he
doesn't have faith that he can train Anakin Skywalker in spite of
his insistence. Yoda is hesitant to let his Padawan mature in to a
Jedi Knight so early in the game, and there's a bit of friction
between them that keeps them at odds with one another. Yoda is the
person who discovers Anakin, senses his ability and refuses to let
him be trained as a Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan manages to convince the
council and Yoda approves the training in spite of his nagging bad
vibes that Anakin can only spell doom for the Jedi order. Yoda
doesn't do battle here, but he does play a big role in deciding the
fate of his Padawan Kenobi and Anakin.
R2-D2
R2-D2 is another character from the original series that didn't have
to be included. I love him (assuming the droid is a him, mind you)
just as much as everyone else, and I rooted for his survival in the
rest of the prequels, but was there really a point in having him in
"The Phantom Menace"? He shows up to save the ship and is
immediately treated with care for something that is required of him.
From there on he serves no purpose but to interact with a
pre-armored C3P0 and just stand at a distance watching the events
unfold. The watcher is the most important aspect of any story, but
not until something actually starts to happen. Until then, he and
his gold counterpart are best left for the later movies.
C3P0
There was really no point in featuring C3P0 beyond Lucas wanting to
squeeze in as many characters from the original trilogy as possible.
C3P0 only served the purpose to show up for a little while, make it
apparent that he would appear in the series and then be completely
ignored until the rest of the trilogy. C3P0 doesn't show up in this
version because he has nothing to do in it. Showing up for a minute
wouldn't serve any function to my plot, so he'd only appear in the
sequel where we're able to put him to good use. I never really
bought that Anakin built him, anyway. Especially when the Jawas are
around that planet selling stolen bots. What's the point?
JAR JAR BINKS
Jar Jar Binks? Who's Jar Jar Binks? As far as we know he's now just
a background character who walks from one side of the screen to the
other. The whole Jar Jar storyline made no sense whatsoever, and
we're still trying to decide why Lucas created him other than to
sell toys and teddy bears. We'd take any of the Ewoks over Jar Jar
any day of the week. Trust me, if Lucas actually made this movie
realistic Jar Jar would honestly not make it past the first twenty
minutes. He's THAT pathetic. Jar Jar is the Screech of the "Star
Wars" universe. There's no actual reason he would hang out with the
cool kids, so don't try to sell us on that.
BUT
DON'T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT: THE BEST "PHANTOM MENACE" REVIEW OF ALL
TIME
It's a Youtube video and it's a seven part dissection of the
cinematic blunder that is "The Phantom Menace." After the saga
finally ended, I spent hours reading reviews from websites about the
series and only four months ago did I discover this video
series/review of "The Phantom Menace" that gets down to the core
problems of the movie and the prequels. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI
<<<GO BACK TO PART ONE OF OUR
PHANTOM MENACE RE-BOOT
2/4/10 |
