The uber geeks

Re-watching Star Wars: Episode II

Palpatine’s genius continues in Star Wars: Episode II - The Attack of the Clones.

In my first part in this series I mentioned how I appreciated the genius of Palpatine (Sidious) far more than I found Jar-Jar Binks annoying. I think I could draw nearly the same conclusion from Episode II since I enjoyed how the story unfolded, the genius and power of Palpatine, and the formation of a fearful and hateful Jedi who becomes Darth Vader, much more than I found the dialog annoying.

When Episode II was first released, Lucas took a pretty serious hit on the dialog. When I first saw Episode II I agreed with much of the criticism since a lot of lines seem cheesy and not heartfelt - but now that I am re-watching the series - I think it has more to do with the pace of the film than it does the dialog itself.

If you had a line like “You’re in my very soul!”, you’d find it difficult to make it seem genuine if only giving 10 seconds to spit it out. Then, after taking 11 seconds and thinking that you nailed it - Lucas comes on the bullhorn and yells: “Faster, more intense.” (as he is so famous for doing). I think Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman both did a good job with the lines and time they had for their parts.

Anyway, I won’t defend the dialog anymore, back to the story. It has been roughly ten years since the end of Episode I and the beginning of Episode II. When Palpatine was voted to be Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, his next move was to somehow get the Republic to fund his efforts to take over the galaxy. Obviously the first move was to get an army, but without war you do not need an army. And, armies take awhile to build. So, he somehow either sent Master Sifo-Dyas, a Jedi on the council who died near the time that Qui-Gonn Jinn did (to be precise Obi-Wan referred to his death as “being killed”), or masqueraded as him.

Side note: Who is Sifo-Dyas? There has been much conversation about this and many people have many ideas. I can tell you that most of them are dead wrong. Here is a list of people who Sifo-Dyas is not and why. Master Sifo-Dyas could not be Darth Maul, nor Palpatine, nor Dooku. Why? The entire council, and Obi-Wan, knew Sifo-Dyas. They knew him personally enough to talk about when he died, etc. When Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan met up with Maul - neither of them recognized him. Count Dooku was once a Jedi (not on the council), was an apprentice of Yoda and Master to Qui-Gonn , so it obviously is not Dooku. Could Palpatine have pretended to be Sifo-Dyas in order to get the clones made, full well knowing that Sifo-Dyas would be killed? Perhaps. But I think it would have taken Sifo-Dyas to delete Kamino from the Jedi Archives (something Palpatine would probably not be able to do without being noticed). My knowledge of Star Wars is not vast enough to delve into such areas I suppose, but I can deduce who Sifo-Dyas was not. My guess is that Sifo-Dyas was also not Qui-Gonn since Jedi didn’t normally change their name when becoming Jedi (only Sith do this).

So Palpatine needed an army, and for the army to be funded by the Republic. Right around the end of Episode I, presumably the moment he took power in the Senate, he got the cloners on Kamino to start his army (which were to number 1.2 million strong though only 200,000 were completed prior to the beginning of the clone wars). So how would he make this secret army an army of the republic legally? And how would he shift the Republic from a democracy to a dictatorship? Start a war.

To start his war he needed to divide the Republic and create circumstances where he’d be given “emergency powers”. In other words, he would no longer need to consult with the Senate in order to make decisions. He did this by getting Count Dooku, his apprentice (presumably he was the next apprentice immediately following Maul), to create a separatist group. He found a wide range of systems that provided the republic with massive amounts of resources, which would do the most damage to the economy. To fight these separatists, Palpatine would need to be given “emergency powers” which he used immediately to “create a Grand Army of the Republic”. How convenient that such an army was already 10 years in development!

Let me quickly clear something up about the Jedi not being able to see that Palpatine was Sidious, or to see anything at all that was going on around them. Some had speculated that “The Jedi were not able to “see” the future due to the propheseized inbalance that was affecting the Force at that time.”. This might be partially true. Others have told me via IM and will remain nameless, that “their abilities to use the Force were diminished due to them not using them”. The Sith had not been around for “a millennia” and as such perhaps the Jedi were “out of touch”. I can sort of see this, but I seriously doubt it. The Jedi Temple was a place to hone your skills, to be constantly using your abilities, to become mindful of the living Force and all of that jazz. I seriously doubt that the Jedi were much worse at using their abilities as they had been just before Master Yoda was born (which is right about the time when the Sith went into hiding). What we’d be saying is that Master Yoda, presumably the most in touch with the Force on the entire council, was a horrible representation of a Master Jedi since the Jedi before him (those who used their skills to battle off the Sith). I don’t buy it. In Episode II Yoda makes it very clear that the Dark Side cast a shadow over everything - and that “the only one knowing our weakness is the Sith Lord” - essentially saying that Lord Sidious was the reason for their apparent darkness. Enough said about that.

So Palpatine showing that “everything is going to plan” got his army, fully funded by the Republic, and turned the Republic into a dictatorship all legally. His next move would be to get the people of the Republic to see the Jedi as a threat, and remove them “legally”.

Oh, before I end this - someone had asked me why would Palpatine care if he did all of this stuff legally? How else could you legitimately create an empire and rule it? He had to get into position to do it in such a way that he’d have the money to create a vast army, a league of ships, and have all the systems at his feet. Remember, a Sith’s drive is power. I can’t wait to watch Episode III.

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