About Darth Maul's death, while conversing about the various ways of offing people in movies, a friend of mine came up with what he calls the
Octopus Test of Character Death. Basically, one takes a death and then substitutes the means for however the death is accomplished with an octopus (chosen for the fact that it is difficult to wield and should theoretically be an easy attack to dodge, and used here because it's just the kind of thing George Lucas would do.). If the believability of the new scene's execution is equal to or greater than the original, the death does not pass the test.
Nearly all Deaths in the Prequels manage to fail this.
For example, Darth Maul:
Obi-Wan hangs perilously onto the edge of the whole pit... Thing while the rather hardcore looking Sith guy above waves around his lightsaber. Suddenly, our Jedi hero finds the strength to pull himself up, out of the pit, he flips over Darth Maul and lands. Maul spins around and stares stupidly as.... Obi-Wan, with the power of the Force, hurls a giant octopus (which he either obtained from his trusty Jedi Belt, or had with him since the earlier, underwater scene that everyone had mistakenly thought had no point) right into Maul's face. The Sith warrior, with all his hardcore Sith training skills and evil badness powers, is completely taken by surprise as the creature hits him in the face and starts to strangle him, causing him to stumble backwards and fall to his death. Thus, Qui-Gon is avenged. Somewhere miles away, a Gungan (possibly related to aforementioned octopus) sheds a single tear. Verdict: Believability is Equal to the Original. Darth Maul's Death fails the Test.
Example 2: General Grievous
Obi-Wan lies perilously near the edge of the whole pit... Thing while the rather hardcore but kinda blurry looking CGI blob that's supposed to be an android lifts up his big, pointy, energy stick thing for a killing blow. Obi-Wan quickly rolls around, uses the Force to grab an octopus from the surrounding swampy place, and throws it. He then uses the Force to open the Cyborg's chest, allowing the octopus inside, where it begins to suck up all of the super nefarious, but really cowardly General's organs. Grievous goes down coughing (and wishing he had not wasted his life smoking Marlboros just because all badguy villains did) and dies. Verdict: Due to its lack of random special effects exploding, Believability is Superior to Original Scene. General Grievous's Death fails the Test.
Now, let's look at an Original Trilogy Death; Palpatine.
Luke lies perilously near the edge of the whole reactor pit... Thing while the rather hardcore but kinda pruny old dude fries him with lightning, that while painful looking, we will later learn has *never* actually killed someone. Suddenly, Darth Vader has a change of heart and fires an octopus thrower he had installed in his armor (this was done around the same time Artoo had all that other junk attached to him during the prequels). The octopus nails Palpatine squarely in the back of the head, and suddenly, the old lunatic takes a page out of MGS3 and explodes(!) Verdict: Believability is Less than the Original Scene. Emperor Palpatine Passes the Test.
One must admit, it's certainly an interesting way of looking at things.
Anyway, on topic, my favorite part was probably when in the rain battle, Jango headbutts Obi-Wan. It's like "I may be an evil Bounty Hunter who relies on blasters, and you may be a super Jedi guy who uses a lightsaber, and neither of us may have those crazy special effects weapons at this point, but I'm STILL gonna break your face in."
I think it's even funnier when I try to imagine how they choreographed that.
Lucas(We'll just assume that it's him, since he's clearly stated before that
everything Star Wars is him and how he deserves all the greatness and credit for everything in all his movies): Okay, now you're both going to grapple and lock arms. And then you, you're gonna crack him with your head.
Jango's Actor: But, don't I have pointy blade things in my gauntlets? Why don't I just gut him like a fish instead if we're going hand-to-hand?
Lucas: Well, uh, see, you've both locked arms, so your blades are out, as are all your other weapons. And right now, you believe that the best way to damage him is by hitting him with a blunt object. And in this case, the hardest, most dense part of your body. In this scenario, your thick skull.
Actor: Ah, thick because I'm wearing a helmet, right?
Lucas: .......Helmet.... Right... Sure. We'll go with that.
Or, uh, something like that.
This post has been edited by Harmonica: 30 January 2006 - 09:27 PM