The whole notion of just 2 Sith - Master and Apprentice - was plain old lame.
It would be worse than the Klingon Empire in Star Trek for getting competant applicants - they just keep killing each other off! The Jedi had more than one level of competency - some were good at diplomacy, some could really kick ass fighting, others were good pilots - you get the picture. The Sith, on the other hand, are badly outnumbered, plus, the master has to train competent apprentices AND worry about being offed.
The situation with Sidious and his TWO apprentices, Maul and Dooku was really silly. How much more interesting would it have been to have Sidious having problems holding it all together with the unprecedented step of two apprentices at once, both of whom were constantly squabbling for the Apprentice gig, and then thinking they were badass enough to take on Sidious himself?
Actually Dooku was in a pretty ambiguous position - surprise - as to WHAT he was, namely Sith or pissed off ex-Jedi, and what position did he hold in Palpatine's organization? Was he just a temp, filling in until Anakin's fall?
I agree that Darth Maul, as he was presented in TPM, was nothing more than a marketing decision to make the fanboys cream their jeans.
What would have been wrong with using Ray Park's "wussy" natural voice? Wouldn't that have been an interesting contrast with the fact that this [pick your choice of insult] could kick Jedi ass twelve ways to Sunday?
It might also have been interesting, to use Maul to draw attention from the "real" menace, the phantom of the title, with everyone thinking HE was the enemy? That would have given Palpatine even more wiggle room to bring his scheme to fruition. What would have been wrong with Darth Maul surviving until RotS, and Anakin killing him? Perhaps he could have died with some cryptic last words, such as "At least you will be a
worthy apprentice to our master!"
Of course, that would be presupposing that Palpatine, as an extension of GL, was capable of some forethought. It would also be too much, considering how badly GL's grasp of character proved to be in the PT, to suppose for this scene to work, because Anakin, like Darth Maul, was not
given any character development.
This post has been edited by miladyblue: 31 August 2006 - 06:34 AM