I have a question

[The Metal Maniac 0]

The question is: When did Palpatine become so well-trained in the Force that he could see into the future and shoot lightning and stuff?

 

I'm reading his bio on Starwars.com, and it quite literally never mentions him training in the ways of the Force. It talks about him being a senator, then it mentions Vader being his "pupil", then it talks about him using the Force.

 

Did he train before he was a Senator? I can't imagine it would be after he became the Emperor, because he seemed pretty damned powerful to have only been using it for a few years.

 

Or is this one of those questions that will (hopefully) be answered by the next movie?

[Guest Staravenger]

Probably have to go with the latter. Episode III leaves a lot of questions unanswered. How does Anakin become Darth Vader, how are the Jedi nearly erased from existance, how does Palpatine have these powers greater than Yoda does, etc. etc.

[Tawren 0]

He's Darth Sidious, so he is already very powerful in the force by the time the prequels begin.

[Guest Staravenger]

He's Darth Sidious, so he is already very powerful in the force by the time the prequels begin.

....Damn, how did I miss that. Oh well, tonight is not my night. First I screw up in a poll voting, post something in the wrong folder, and now this.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

Well damn. Now it makes more sense.

 

Thanks for the quick help, guys.

[Mole 0]

how are the Jedi nearly erased from existance

This is something I really want to know. How the hell do they get rid of all of these poweful guys? It would be like getting rid of 1,000 Neo's, I just don't see it happening.

[The Metal Maniac 0]

It would be like getting rid of 1,000 Neo's, I just don't see it happening.

 

I could see it happening if they had a new and improved Neo to do it.

 

And a giant army.

[Mole 0]

And how does Yoda get away?

 

EDIT: I shouldn't have made an comparison between SW and the Matrix. Matrix just sucks beyond all.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Yoda ran away and hid on Dagobah while the Jedi purge was going on.

[starvenger 0]

Yoda ran away and hid on Dagobah while the Jedi purge was going on.

The EU offered an explanation in that the residual Dark Side energy on Dagobah (you know, the tree) helped mask Yoda's presence.

 

A better question is how Obi-Wan manages to hide on Tatooine, where no such balancing presence exists. Does he do it by not using the Force and acting like a crazy old man?

[JasonX 0]

A better question is how Obi-Wan manages to hide on Tatooine, where no such balancing presence exists.  Does he do it by not using the Force and acting like a crazy old man?

I think that was do to the combination of the fact that he was hiding on the one place Darth Vader would never visit (his homeworld, where his mother was murdered and he was forced to live his childhood as a slave alongside his mom) and possibly Vader, despite being horrifically disfigured/crippled by Obi-Wan, purposely allowing Obi to live so long as he went away and didn't take arms against the Empire. And possibly (depending on how Lucas decides to handle the issue of Leia and Luke's birth/conception) Vader let Obi live on the condition that he protects his kids so that Palpatine never gets his hands on them....

[Black Lushus 0]

I thought one explanation that was thrown out about the killing off of the Jedi was that most of them were killed during the final battle of Episode 2? I know it's stupid to me too, but I swear I read that somewhere...so basically, with like a handfull of jedi left, Palpatine and Vader are able to pick them off one by one...

[BlackFlagg 0]

I thought one explanation that was thrown out about the killing off of the Jedi was that most of them were killed during the final battle of Episode 2?

There weren't that many Jedi in the final battle in Episode II, it was pretty much just the Council members.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

You know, the plot twist presented in spoiler tags in this very thread seemed pretty obivous to me. So obvious, in fact, that I'm half expecting them to pull some kind of SHOCKING SWERVE in this one and say they AREN'T the same man.

[pochorenella 0]

Another bunch of Jedi were killed by General Grievous (sp?) in the Clone Wars animated series, so there shouldn't be that many come EPIII.

[pochorenella 0]

Another bunch of Jedi were killed by General Grievous (sp?) in the Clone Wars animated series, so there shouldn't be that many come EPIII.

[Guest CronoT]

You know, the plot twist presented in spoiler tags in this very thread seemed pretty obivous to me. So obvious, in fact, that I'm half expecting them to pull some kind of SHOCKING SWERVE in this one and say they AREN'T the same man.

The most prevalent rumor going around is that Darth Sidious is a clone of Senator Palpatine, or vice versa. In the Expanded Universe, in the Thrawn trilogy written by Timothy Zahn, a Jedi Master Jorus C'Boath is cloned. When the clone emerges, it is twisted and evil, so it becomes a Dark Jedi Master. The way Zahn differentiates between the real and the clone is the addition of an additional U in the name: Joruus C'Boath.

 

Also, in the EU, in another book written by Timothy Zahn; Vision of the Future, it's somewhat explained why Yoda went to Dagobah. During the latter days of the Clone Wars, possibly during the time of the Jedi Purge, a Bpfasshi Dark Jedi kidnapped a smuggler ship and it's crew, and proceeded to go on a terror spree. He eventually landed on the planet Dagobah, where Yoda had been waiting for him. They had a massive Light Master vs. Dark Master battle. The Dark Jedi lost, and it was his death that left the dark side taint in the tree on Dagobah; similar to how Leia experienced something in orbit around the Sanctuary Moon of Endor, right at the point where Emperor Palpatine died.

 

Basically, some EU authors are good at continuity and retro-continuity, and other jut suck. That's about the gist of it.

[Black Lushus 0]

Now if only George Lucas could keep that continuity going in his own freaking universe that would be AWESOME!

[The Metal Maniac 0]

And possibly (depending on how Lucas decides to handle the issue of Leia and Luke's birth/conception) Vader let Obi live on the condition that he protects his kids so that Palpatine never gets his hands on them....

 

I don't think that'd be it.

 

For one, it's Vader's idea to turn Luke, if I'm not mistaken, and for another, he doesn't seem to know he has kids - at the end of ROTJ when he's fighting Luke, and he's like "What's this? A sister..." as if he himself just found out.

[Mole 0]

Isn't Attack of the Clones going to have to be atleast 5 hours long to finish all of the stories?

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The most prevalent rumor going around is that Darth Sidious is a clone of Senator Palpatine, or vice versa.

 

Lucas confirms that Sidious is Palpatine on the Phantom Menace commentary. Not a clone.

[Guest CronoT]

And possibly (depending on how Lucas decides to handle the issue of Leia and Luke's birth/conception) Vader let Obi live on the condition that he protects his kids so that Palpatine never gets his hands on them....

 

I don't think that'd be it.

 

For one, it's Vader's idea to turn Luke, if I'm not mistaken, and for another, he doesn't seem to know he has kids - at the end of ROTJ when he's fighting Luke, and he's like "What's this? A sister..." as if he himself just found out.

Obi-Wan line from Return of the Jedi

 

"The Emperor knew, as well as I did, that if Anakin were to have any offspring, they would be a threat to him. That is why you sister remains safely anonymous."

 

Also; yes, I know that being able to recall an obscure line from a Star Wars movie makes me a bit of a geek. Kiss my BUTT.

[Black Lushus 0]

No fault in knowing a vital line from a Star Wars movie man...you're amongst friends here, we're all Star Wars geeks to some extent...

[Mole 0]

This is from 411

 

It looks like Star Wars sequels could be in the works in the future. Insiders at LucasFilm claim that George Lucas made employees sign non-disclosure agreements to promise not to talk about the possibility of episode's seven, eight and nine being made.

 

Lucas previously insisted that there would not be any sequels to 1983's Return of the Jedi, but some indicate this could be a sign that things have changed.

 

A quote on TheForce.net (fan site) states, "You didn't hear this from me, but you might be curious as to why everyone at ILM just signed NDA's saying that they will not discuss Star Wars episodes 7, 8, or 9. Since they're not being made, why the NDA's? Of course, since when has Lucas been consistent?"

 

Credit: IMDb.com

Eh, I doubt it will happen. And Lucas is too old to finish another 3 films.

[Black Lushus 0]

wasn't there a rumor floating around that Spielberg wanted in on this as well...the previous time these two collaborated on a trilogy we got Indiana Jones, so that could be a very good thing if the rumor was true...

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

A big problem I still have with the prequels--my biggest in fact, is that the Empire is soooooo young. In reading the books, playing the games, seeing the movies, etc. etc. I imagined that the Empire had been around for a long, long, long time--hence the reason the universe as a whole seemed somewhat sleezy and bleak. I think it's somewhat stupid that the Empire does ALL this stuff in like 15-20 years--their whole taking over the galaxy and holocaust and stuff, plus it makes Luke and the bunch seem less heroic when they defeat the Empire in ROTJ (I know it still lives on for a while.....). I figured it would be cooler for Vader to have been like a last hope to beat the Empire, only he turned out to backfire--but he's still cool nevertheless, I just figured the Empire was bigger than ONE generation.

 

 

*Note--Vader is cool, not poetry spouting, happy gee-whiz kid Anakin Skywalker. Han Solo would bitch slap the kid and take his lunch money and make him like it.

[Mole 0]

I never thought about that before.

 

EDIT: I was just thinking how I haven't watched episodes 4-6 in a long time. I think I am waiting till they come out on DVD and what Lucas does to kill them or make them better.

[Black Lushus 0]

Vader WAS the last hope to defeat the Empire...Vader was the one that killed the Emperor, so essentially he really IS the one that brings balance back to the Force, it was just fucked up the way he went about it...

[BlackFlagg 0]

actually if ya think about it he brought balance by turning to the dark side, there were a lot more light jedi around than dark, pretty unbalanced...so he wiped a ton out and balanced things out

[Vyce 0]

Here's the question I want answered for me - Jedis can sense if another is strong in the Force, no? It's how they recruit children to be new Jedis. How many fucking times in the original films and in the prequels have we heard some jive-ass line like "I sense the Force is strong in you..."?

 

And yet NONE of the Jedi seem to realize that they're hanging out with a dude, Palpatine, whose dark Force powers should make him glow like a fucking light-bulb to their keen Jedi senses??!?! They're totally oblivious to it. IMO, that's a big continuity problem. And please no one offer an excuse about how "he's probably so powerful he can mask his powers", because that's just so fucking lame.

 

It looks like Star Wars sequels could be in the works in the future. Insiders at LucasFilm claim that George Lucas made employees sign non-disclosure agreements to promise not to talk about the possibility of episode's seven, eight and nine being made.

 

Lucas previously insisted that there would not be any sequels to 1983's Return of the Jedi, but some indicate this could be a sign that things have changed.

 

A quote on TheForce.net (fan site) states, "You didn't hear this from me, but you might be curious as to why everyone at ILM just signed NDA's saying that they will not discuss Star Wars episodes 7, 8, or 9. Since they're not being made, why the NDA's? Of course, since when has Lucas been consistent?"

 

So you mean he's going to do what he initally PROMISED he was going to do?

 

Small anecdote: This one was of the things that initially made me dislike Lucas and think of what a piece of shit he's become as a creative force. He was giving interviews way back in the EIGHTIES about how his "grand vision" for Star Wars was to have three trilogies - the original, some prequels, AND some sequels. Fast forward to when he finally gets off his fat ass and starts making the prequels, and suddenly he's changed his tune and said that he NEVER intended for there to be sequels, only prequels.

 

Something minor, but I just found that so incredibly disingenous of him to deny something he himself had said - several times - just a few years before.

 

I shudder to think, though, at how fucked up all of the EU stuff is going to be (at this point, the EU books / comics are the only Star Wars products worth spending your time on) if he decides to make sequels. Nothing he puts out will likely even touch the awesomeness of Zahn's initial Thrawn trilogy

 

A big problem I still have with the prequels--my biggest in fact, is that the Empire is soooooo young. In reading the books, playing the games, seeing the movies, etc. etc. I imagined that the Empire had been around for a long, long, long time--hence the reason the universe as a whole seemed somewhat sleezy and bleak. I think it's somewhat stupid that the Empire does ALL this stuff in like 15-20 years--their whole taking over the galaxy and holocaust and stuff, plus it makes Luke and the bunch seem less heroic when they defeat the Empire in ROTJ (I know it still lives on for a while.....).

 

I would have to agree. The time frame is something that's REALLY hard to wrap my head around. It would have made more sense for the Empire to have been an established presence, and then base the prequels on how they achieved ultimate victory against the New Republic thanks to the treacherous actions of Palpatine and Anakin.

 

EDIT: I was just thinking how I haven't watched episodes 4-6 in a long time. I think I am waiting till they come out on DVD and what Lucas does to kill them or make them better.

 

If he's not including an original cut of the films in th DVD release, I'm passing on this. I'm not wasting my money on the goddamn Special Editions.