[Jon Gutner]

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GooDy piotns. if evry1 want u can call mee Qui-Jon Gutner.

BLAHMBABAGO!!!!!

[Despondent]

I admit he is probably the most comfortable person in the whole film when it comes to acting in that travesty.

[A Mighty Pirate]

I agree with Qui-Jon Gutner.

[Despondent]

(I think "Qui-Gon Jon" flows better, and yes, nobody asked me) I like your exp​ression Mr. Gutner. and I find your posts more intelligible than some.

[J m HofMarN]

Qui Gon Gutner is alliterative. You can't beat alliteration. In other news

Everyone who posted in this topic needs to return to the forums dammit where have you been?!

[Lord Aquaman]

Hi guys, been a while. I have been unusually busy these past few weeks. Been working on a screenplay. Hopefully when I finish it, I can let you guys in on the details. Maybe even post it to see what you guys think. (MY ULTIMATE HORROR IS THAT SOMEONE WILL WRITE A "50 reasons to hate Mike Mac's Screenplay site" somewhere!!!)

"The most vital thing a filmaker needs to know is the difference between major characters and minor characters"

The new topic I want to present is regarding characters in the new trilogy. In the original trilogy, the story really focused opn just four main characters- Luke , Han, Leia and Darth Vader. The other characters were supporting characters that propelled the plot and to provide background to the story's Universe. Lando Calarissan might seem like a major character, but in essence Lando's purpose in the story is to show Han Solo's gangster background and to provide some of the backstory behind Han Solo, the Millenium Falcon and Chewbacca. Lando enhances the major charcter of Han Solo. This is not to say that the supporting characters were not interesting or had depth, they did, but they were not the focal point of the story. The four main character approach, allows the Star Wars storyline to be streamlined and focused. The main characters are allowed to breathe and reach their potential as fully developed charcters.

The must infuriating thing about the new trilogy is that it is loaded with unnecessary characters. These characters essentially have nothing to do with the story in general and they take valuable time and scenes away from far more important characters. I will explain

1. Qui-Gon Jin- The character seems like a descent heroic sort, he is a good jedi, teacher of Obi-Wan, rebellious in a way, and he dies tragically. He is a pretty good heroic character for a movie. The problem is that he is taking space away from an even more valuable character, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a character that we are interested in the trilogy. He is extremely important in that his decisions are what ultimately lead to Anakin becoming Darth Vader. He should be at the forefront at most if not all of the action in Episode I & II. A perfect example of this are the Tattoine scenes, where they meet up with Anakin. Qui-Jon is the one that follows Amidala and Jar-Jar on Tatoine to get the hyperdrive unit, while Obi-Wan stays watch aboard the ship? Don't you think it would be a better scene if Obi-Wan went with Amidala and Jar-Jar, and Qui-Gon stayed on the ship? Then he could meet with Anakin and develop a vital relationship that we ALL wanted to see!!Heck, why even have Qui-Jon at all, why not have Obi-Wan and some other minor Jedi go and rescue the Queen? You could streamline the story and have a much more interesting Obi-Wan. Hell you could even put in a love interest with Amidala, which is what we ALL thought was going to happen, but didn't for some stupid reason!!? I like Qui-Jon as a character but he is a character best reserved for novels not taking up valuable screen time in a three part movie trilogy. You know, how unnecessary Qui-Jon is? The viewere completely forget he was part of the first movie when you watch Episode II. That's how lasting a charcter he was.

2. Mace Windau- Another actor I like-Samuel Jackson. In many ways Mace is simply and example of "cinematic affirmative action". While I like that minorities are being portrayed as strong charcters, this is a little gratuitous. Mace Windau is essentially just a background supporting actor, made important by the fact that he is bein played by a well known actor. Think, if Mace Windau were played by John Essex would you even remember the character.? No, because you have no idea who John Essex is, he isn't a famous actor! Mace Windau is simply a minor character meant to show the depth of the Jedi and what the stand for. In the original trilogy, his role probably woul dhave been given to an extra. Mace is as important to the Star Wars story as General Dodanna is to Star Wars. Hell, that halibut looking guy that was Lando's co-pilot in ROTJ is nearly as important as Mace, and that guy helped destroy the second Death Star!!!

3. Jar-jar Binks- Ah, yes! The dreaded and reviled Jar-Jar. Nearly everyone considers Jar-Jar to be a failed attempt at a comic-relief character. But, there is an even more sinister misuse of his character. Jar-Jar's actual plot purpose is to introduce the Gungans to the heroes. Why? Because the Gingans are needed to fight the droid army. There that is rely the only purpose of the Jar-Jar? Now, it might be me but don't you think there is a better way to have the Gungans involved in the droid war than to have one of them become a part of the main action of the story. It's kind of like having Wicket the Ewok meet Luke and leia in jabba's palace and then have him follow Luke to dagobah and then have him show up in the rebel meeting and announce that their are Ewoks on Endor that can fight the Imperials. You see how stupid Jar-jar is as a plot device, much less as comic relief!!!

4. Count Dooku- Everyone raves about Christopher Lee's performance in ATOC. I admit he is probably the most comfortable person in the whole film when it comes to acting in that travesty. But, Dooku suffers from the same problem that Mace Windau suffers. You onlyconsider him important, because he is played by a well-known actor. Dooku starts out being a pretty good character, he is mysterious and he appears  to be manipulating events to a certain means. But here is the problem with Dooku: For all his blustering and theatrics he is esentially just another lackey of Darth Sidious. All his acts are done according to Darth Sidious orders. It'' kind of like seeing a person dressed as prince only to find out that he is stable boy. Dooku is essentially just enhancing and doing the acts of an even more important character .. Palpatine. Yeah, remember him? The person who is behind all this? The man who ultimately becomes the emperor and and turns Anakin to the dark-side. Palpatine has only three scenes in the entire second movie!!! Think how much better ATO would be if they cut the middle man and just gave all of Dooku's scenes and actions to Palpatine instead. Simply get rid of the Dooku character and get another much younger and cooler Dark Jedi to fight the Jedi in the end. Maybe bring back Darth Maul? Or even better have Anakin fight Obi-Wan? Both of these sound like better ideas than the Count Dooku character.
There you go. Later on I will post an analysis on the casting of the New Trilogy. Feel free to post any questions or replies. Later

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good points all (I've been telling my friends that about Qui-Gon since 1999). Jar Jar is the king of useless characters.

[CowboyCurtis]

Other Unnecessary Characters

TPM:

Captain Panaka. His lines should've been given to Padme.

Ric Olie. He should've died in their flight from Naboo, and they needed a pilot, and then Anakin (an older Anakin, same age as Padme), could've fixed and flown the ship.

Handmaidens There were just too many of them, and were we all that "surprised" by the "switch?" Do we care now that we know? Does it affect the plot at all? Does it even compare to Vaders, "I'm your father" line? Nope. One Handmaiden would've been enough. And, what was the point of them anyway, they weren't very good at "body-guarding" the princess. One handmaiden, and they could've still done the "switcheroo" but do it where it made sense and actually protected the Queen.

Mace Windu Have to agree he was rather worthless.

AOTC:

Zam Wessel Should've been Jango (or hell, Boba Fett!---no, not as the punky kid, but older) who attempted to assassinate the Queen (or somebody else--maybe even Bail Organan--hmmm).

[Chefelf]

Handmaidens There were just too many of them, and were we all that "surprised" by the "switch?"  Do we care now that we know?  Does it affect the plot at all?  Does it even compare to Vaders, "I'm your father" line?  Nope.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Right. The problem with "the switch" was that we all knew well ahead of time that Natalie Portmas was going to be playing the Queen. The switch didn't catch anyone by surprise. It could have if there hadn't been Padme action figures 6 months before the movie's release.

[Sagacity]

If I'm not mistake, I think there were. Or, at least, a couple of weeks. One was Padme in handmaiden's disguise, and it actually says on the box that she disguised herself to hide from the Trade Federation.

[J m HofMarN]

Yeah that whole part seemed rather pointless to me. It might have been dramatic if one of the handmaidens had been captured in place of the queen and killed or something but instead it just seemed like a stupid guessing game, which was pretty easy since you knew that the one with all the lines was the queen.

[CowboyCurtis]

BINGO!!That's it right there! THAT'S where a Handmaiden would've been handy! Let's say, just for argument sake, that Darth Maul gets to the ship, and the crew sees him. Padme and Corde quickly switch places, and Padme goes running off into a desert storm to find Obi-Wan (I'm going with my re-writes where Obi-Wan is the important character instead of Q-G). Darth Maul slays a couple crew members, dispatches whomever is guarding the Queen, and grabs who he thinks is the Queen, but actually the handmaiden.

This would've made Padme's trek back to Naboo (ugh, in my re-writes, it's Alderaan) to save her faithful handmaiden, all the more real.

[Just your average movie goer]

If you are making re-writes, may I suggest that you change Padme's name to something eles - anything else - like Lyla, Alia or Daala (just some examples from the top of my head).

PAD ME sounds like a clever name for bra accessories.

[CowboyCurtis]

If you are making re-writes, may I suggest that you change Padme's name to something eles - anything else - like Lyla, Alia or Daala (just some examples from the top of my head).

PAD ME sounds like a clever name for bra accessories.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL!! You're absolutely right, that's one thing I've should NOT have allowed to be accepted by subconscious. Padme is a really, really dumb name.