55 ways to improve "The Phantom Menace"

55 things to improve ?The Phantom Menace?

1. See-Threepio is a protocol droid belonging to Queen Amidala, and not built by Anakin Skywalker.

2. Anakin Skywalker is about 17-18 years old.

3. Obi-Wan Kenobi is not a padawan learner to Qui-Gon Jinn; they are equal Jedi Knights.

4. Remove the ?Force speed? movement of the Jedi in the beginning of the film. It wasn?t seen before, and hasn?t been seen since. Their escape could have been solved differently, as in (as an example) the PC CD-ROM version of the film.

5. Use a Yoda puppet that actually looks like Yoda.

6. Have Frank Oz calm down a little when doing the Yoda voice, so it sounds more like the beloved character from the original films.
7. Remove Boss Nass, or change the character completely. What a farce.

8. Tone down the Jar Jar Binks character, especially his voice and ?funny? antics.

9. Remove the eopi fart joke.

10. Remove Jabba the Hutt and Bib Fortuna. The galaxy is small enough as is.

11. Give Ric Ollié some less ?obvious? lines.

12. Remove Captain Panaka or give him a better role with better lines.

13. Have Anakin living on a planet different from Tatooine.

14. Remove Kitster.

15. Cut down the length of the pod race.

16. More screentime and dialogue for Darth Maul.

17. More screentime and dialogue for Darth Sidious.

18. More screentime and dialogue for Senator Palpatine.

19. Change some of the Jedi Council character designs, most specifically Even Piell.

20. Remove Yaddle and keep Yoda as a unique species.

21. Instead of battle droids, have the Trade Federation working with Kamino on cloning right away.

22. The final battle of the film could be an exciting battle between clone soldiers and Jedi Knights (the beginning of the Clone Wars should occur in TPM I feel ? see #21).

23. Have Mandalorian armored clone soldiers instead of battle droids.

24. Have a more detailed, interesting interior set design for the Queen?s starship.

25. Have some cool names for the starships and vehicles in the film.

26. Give R2 a more pivotal role in the film, instead of just tagging along.

27. Improve the ?Duel of the Fates? by giving the characters some interesting dialogue.

28. Have some more sweeping, emotive music during the other battle scenes.

29. Cut the ?Accidental Pilot? events in space and have Anakin actually be an amazing star pilot.

30. Improve the sound editing during the pod race. The abrupt silences and crowd cheers are bad.

31. Improve the sound editing during the Senate scenes. It sounds as if there are only fifteen Senators instead of several thousand.

32. Remove the E.Ts from the Senate scene.

33. Redesign the Federation droid starfighters. They look cool when they walk around, but as flying ships they are terribly boring to behold.

34. Increase the length of the duel between Qui-Gon and Darth Maul in the desert.

35. Add the deleted scene where Qui-Gon slices the probe droid in half (but not the first part of the scene, where Anakin takes farewell with Jira).

36. Give See-Threepio something useful to do or say, or scrap him and introduce him in ?Attack of the Clones? instead.

37. Don?t reveal a main character?s death on the back of a soundtrack CD sleeve before the film is released.

38. Remove the ?regal? voice of Amidala to breathe some life into the character.

39. Have Obi-Wan discover Anakin.

40. Remove the midichlorians. Let Qui-Gon speak of the Force as it was portrayed in the original films instead.

41. Change Naboo with a more exciting location. While it is very nice, and some of the CGI effects are excellent, the setting itself is too dull.

42. Remove some of the most grating lines (in my opinion, lines like ?are you braindead??, ?the ability to speak does not make you intelligent?, ?i?m a person and my name is anakin? lol)

43. Cut the pause between Sidious? words ?Wipe them out..all of them?, for more dramatic effect (as in the trailer for the film).

44. Some of the choreography in the duel of the fates could have been tighter

 

My way was much simpler.

1) Give the film the same chance you gave the classic trilogy episodes.

 

I'm responding mostly to the smaller points. Ones that attempt to change the entire film are too much for me to think of right now.

4. Agree
5/6. What? It was fine to me!
7. Agree on toning down, but not removing. He is IMHO the worst non-background SW character ever... I like the way he talks, but did he have to spit and go b-b-b-b-b? The CG was not great either.
9. Agree agree agree! Worst moment in SW history (excluding some EU).
10. I liked seein' 'em. I mean, I could live without them, too, but still.
11. It's Olie with one L (for shame!), and he just amuses me too much. We wouldn't have all those great Captain Obvious jokes without him. Go him!
13. No way. I like how Lucas chose to mirror Luke and Anakin's lives. AOTC helped shed some light on the importance of Tatooine too (we see Anakin meet the Larses, thus establishing a connection that will be important when Obi-Wan needs to hide Luke... and we learn why Anakin might not want to go to Tatooine ever again!)
14. Man, you don't like seeing Anakin enjoy his life, do you? Let him have a friend!
15. Pod race = too cool to cut down on.
16-17. Disagree, BUT
18. Agree. He's the villain worth talking about.
19. Even Piell's okay. I have issues with Yarael Poof, he distracts me. Also with Yaddle.
20. See above. (Hey... if it makes you feel better, I'm pretty sure we never actually see her in the film.)
22-23. I think someone read too much fanboy speculation back in '97-'98.
25. Well, the only ship we really spend any time with is the Queen's. And the only ship I can think of in the OT that had a name that was mentioned IN THE FILM was the Falcon. (Also the Avenger, mentioned once.) I know we're all used to calling the Star Destroyers etc. by their names, but we've learned those names through other sources. For instance... the ship in TPM that blows up at the beginning is the Radiant IV (or VII, forgot). Now you know.
26. Yes, because saving the ship from the Trade Federation AND helping Anakin not get fried in the ending space battle isn't pivotal enough. What should he do? Help Obi-Wan kill Maul?
27. I think that would break up the pace of an already fragmented duel. It's not like we don't get other duels with dialogue in SW.
29. This was written correctly, executed badly. I didn't feel that the movie showed Anakin's piloting skills (which I believe was the intent) as well as it could've.
32. No! I them!
33. I think they're cool.
37. Agreed 100%, but blame the marketing guys, not the movie.
40. Maybe Qui-Gon's prose is not as flowery, but I like his little take on the Force just as much as the next guy's. I think midi-chlorians could have been left out as people seem to misinterpret what they do. Lucas overestimated his audience (for the first and only time ever... sigh).
42. I don't think there's any particularly bad dialogue in TPM. No worse than the OT, certainly. I really enjoy the "ability to speak" line. Comes in handy on message boards.
47. Aw c'mon! Is Alec Guinness' recognizablity too great? Should we go back and replace Harrison Ford with a digital unknown 'cause he's famous? I bet more people recognize Ford than Jackson!
48. Agreed, even if she WAS only fourteen. Hey, I call 'em as I see 'em.
49. Oooh, I support hand/arm removal in any SW film (see the sig).
52. I think those are breathtaking shots.
53. You may get your wish... from a certain point of view.
54. NO. I love seeing them in the Obi-Wan style Jedi robes. Wouldn't have it any other way.
EDIT - 55. He's not nearly as whiny as Luke in ANH. And Luke is older, and, well, isn't a slave. So Lucas may have improved in that department.


Rick McCallum loves you!

 

15. Cut down the length of the pod race.

no


41. Change Naboo with a more exciting location.

no

45. Have a more exciting location for the duel of the fates.

no


48 is the worst though, shes supposed to be innocent in TPM just like Leia was innocent in ANH and ESB



I bet more people recognize Ford than Jackson!

yeah that reconize him as Han Solo (or indy)

 

I bet more people recognize Ford than Jackson!

They do now, but they wouldn't have in 1977

 

55 things to improve ?The Phantom Menace?

1. No. Remove him entirely and have Jar Jar as his replacement. One jester/clown is enough.

2. Yes.

3. Agreed. That's in my rewrite.

4. Yes. They make their escape differently in my rewrite.

5. Meh....maybe just the eyes and tone down the spotlight on his head. Less light, the better for puppets.

6. I disagree. He SHOULD be different in the PT. He needs the character arc.

7. Just take away the jowls thing, and have him speak more basic.

8.Yes. The pitch of the voice should be lowered.

9. Absolutely!

10. Agreed. Have maybe a Mandalorian Lord or maybe even Poggle the Lesser.

11. "Look, Ric Olie says alot of obvious things!"

12. I say combine the Panaka and Olie roles into one.

13. Yes, Geonosis.

14. Wizard!

15. Yes. Have two laps instead of three.

16. Agreed.

17. No. He has enough.

18. Maybe.

19. I wouldn't have a council at all. Have the Jedi more decentralized in TPM prior to the Clone Wars. The wars force them to call a council, a war council.

20. Don't even have Yoda in TPM at all. No need.

21. No droids, but have the "occupation" of Naboo be for the purpose of building a clone army. That's what all that gungan energy stuff is for. It's for the growth of clones.

22. Yes. The Clones Wars should've started in TPM. In my rewrite they do.

23. In there too.

24. Meh. Fine as it is.

25. Eh.

26. No R2 in my rewrite.

27. Yes.

28. Okay.

29. No space battle either. Just air and ground battle.

30. Disagree.

31. True.

32.Yes.

33. Just don't have them much at all.

34. Yes.

35. Right on the money.

36. Don't have him in the PT at all.

37.

38. No, I like the stiff voice. Fits her character.

39. Happens in my rewrite.

40. So does this, except it's Obi-Wan talking to Anakin about the Sith.

41. I like Naboo....for TPM only.

42. Yes.

43. Yes.

44. No. It's fine.

45. The "pits" and generator room are the clone facility in my rewrite.

46. No secret planet, but no ivory tower either. Just a loose group of Jedi knights who form a traditional order who protect freedom in the galaxy.

47. No Mace at all in TPM. Have Dooku instead.

48. Perv. She was only 14 when she made TPM!

49. Yes.

50. In my rewrite.

51. No. Messa loven Watto.

52. Agreed. If ILM can create photoreal planes and backgrounds for a Michael Bay film, Pearl Harbor, they can for a Star Wars film!

53. No. Not in this film. Wait until Ep. 2.

54. Drab robes at first until they leave Coruscant. There, they suit up in battle gear as they anticipate a fight.

55. The Jedi and Amidala are not indifferent to slavery.

 

I'll try to go point by point, but I'm posting from work:

1. Yes

2. YES!!!!

3 thru 12 yes.

13. YES!!!!

14 thru 19. Yes

20 No. Where do little, baby Yodas come from?

21. thru 26. Yes

27. YES!!!!

28. Yes.

29. YES!!!!

30 & 31. Yes.

32. Yes, didn't see any, but whatever.

33. yes.

34. YES!!!!

35.Yes.

36. Yes to the second part. No to the first part.

37. Yes, but this wasn't GL's fault.

38. Yes and make her have a stronger voice. Nobody would listen to a person with that weak a voice.

39. Yes!!!!

40. OH GOD YES!!!!!

41. Yes!!

42. Yes!!

43. Hmm, don't know about this one.

44. Yes, I noticed this, too.

45. No opinion either way.

46. Yes!!

47. NO! I like Mace Windu as is. See my rewrite!

48. Hey, this is TPM!

49. Okay.

50 Yes!!

51. Watto--any change would be for the better!

52. Yes.

53. Yes.

54. No, 'cause Obi-Wan wore them in the OT and they were described as Jedi Robes.

55. OH YES! Less Whiny!
But I thought we were talking about TPM here!

Also, I'd add Count Dooku to TPM.

Lady Sami

 

Where do little, baby Yodas come from?

Why, THANK you for that lovely X-rated visual I have in my head now.


Although I never actually thought of that before. I didn't like the idea of seeing multiple Yoda-types, but there obviously HAS to be more than just him.
Right?
Hmm. Can someone more skilled in biology help me out?


Rick McCallum loves you! (Where do little baby producers come from?)

 

I think we have to wait until Episode III comes out to suggest changes, as some of the changes suggested may be explained/contradicted (like the clones stuff).


48. More torn clothing on Padmé as in ?Attack of the Clones?.

Oh, brother.


55. Have Anakin be less whiny.

In that case, have Luke be less whiny in the OT. Luke is WAY whinier than Anakin.

 

Lady Sami

The little Yoddies are conceived by the midichlorians, don't you know?



Come on Adam imagine the dialogue:

Yaddle: Happy to see me, or just a lightsaber in your pocket is that?

Yoda: Pull out my saber, now I will.

 

ShaneP,

Hmm, midiclorians is a direct takeoff on mitochondria, which are only passed down to offspring by the females. So, either Yoda is a girl or they need females to have babies!

Adam,

Hay, why do you think the movie is rated PG-13?

Lady Sami

 

Agree with some but not all. Here are my suggestions. By the way, Ree-Yees, thanks for the comments on my TPM re-write. I see what you mean about the OT similarities. I guess I was trying George's way of mirroring things but it is very easy to overstep the mark.



1- Make all the characters the same age they are in AOTC. That way you remove the rushed romance and Anakin can be a great pilot deliberately rather than accidentally. Anakin and Obi-Wan can spend the whole film becoming good friends.

2- Replace Qui-Gon with Obi-Wan. I love Qui-Gon, but he basically is Obi-Wan as was described in the OT and just doing that removes virtually any inconsistency.

3- Scrap Gungans completely. Have Naboo infantry fighting the battle droids. I like your idea of replacing battle droids with a mercenary force of mandalorians.

4- Boost the villains. Your film is only as good as your villain. GL and co do the hard part of deigning excellent villains and then forget to use them. Increase the sense of threat and danger that the heroes face.

5-Remove the overly formal dialogue(this applies to AOTC also). Even if you just remove all the instances of my young padawan, etc it will improve instantly.

6-Remove any character that exists solely for comic relief.

7- Introduce the Lars.

 

I disagree with each of these "improvements" and like it the way it is, but that's me.

 

So...basically, you want TPM to be AOTC.

Cometgreen

 

Kind of.

 

There is absolutely NO WAY I would eliminate Qui-Gon Ginn! He is one of the coolest characters in the PT. Plus he is NOT "basically Obi Wan." Qui Gon is a rogue, "make my own rules" type of jedi. Obi Wan is a walk the line "by the book" type jedi. They are NOT the same person.

The only...and I mean ONLY thing I would change about TPM is that I wouldn't have killed off Maul in the first film. I would have made him the villain in all 3 PT films and have Anakin kill him in Episode 3 and take his place at Palpatine's side.

In fact, what would've been cool is to see it take place AFTER his duel with Obi Wan, after he sustained his injuries, and AFTER he has donned the vader suit. A duel between Maul and Vader would've been the stuff! Especially if they made the duel relatively short and Vader dispence of Maul quickly to show just how much more powerful Vader is than Maul.

 

That's entirely my point. In the OT , Obi-Wan is described as reckless, somebody's whose pride and decision to walk his own line has had terrible consequences for the galaxy. I love Qui-Gon, but that is because his role and most of his lines in the film were written for Obi-Wan originally. I firmly believe that the film would have been better recieved with Obi-Wan doing and saying everything that Qui-Gon did(apart from dying, obviously). As it stands , Obi-Wan did not take it upon himself to train Anakin because he thought he could do it as well as Yoda. He did it out of a sense of duty to his dead master. Obi-Wan is the straight down the line guy when he should have been the maverick Jedi with a reckless side that Qui-Gon was.

 

So technically you think those changes should be made so you would like TPM more.

My way was much simpler.

1) Give the film the same chance you gave the classic trilogy episodes.

Amen. Couldn't have put it better myself.

 

3- Scrap Gungans completely. Have Naboo infantry fighting the battle droids. I like your idea of replacing battle droids with a mercenary force of mandalorians.


If your gonna scrap the gungangs you gotta scrap the Ewoks too since the whole Saga is a poem and you cant take out half of something that rymes

 

Yep, jasper is right. The OT has a Obi-Wan full of guilt based on his descision to train Anakin.

He was reckless and full of adventure, excitement. He thought he could do just as good a job, at training Jedi, as Yoda. He was wrong.

TPM ran rough-shod over his entire character and turned the Anakin-Obi-Wan "friendship" into a whiny padawan, grumpy knight duo in AOTC.

winter chili

Let's see: Gun-Gan. E-wok. Gungan. Ewok.

I don't see the rhyme.

 

Well, I'd replace the ewoks with Wookies too, but maybe GL is doing this for episode 3. Anyway, I couldn't agree with you more that these would be changes for me. I like the films but these would be things I would prefer so who gives a rats arse really. Just adding to the discussion.

 

No rhyme until it's time.

 

"As it stands , Obi-Wan did not take it upon himself to train Anakin because he thought he could do it as well as Yoda. He did it out of a sense of duty to his dead master."

Well, that's partly true. Obiwan obviously did train Anakin because that was his master's dying wish. But Obiwan was also very proud. He told the council that he was ready for the trials. He believed that he could raise the boy properly. He knew the danger of raising Anakin, but he thought that he could have been as good a teacher as Yoda, so he thought that he could keep Anakin from succumbing to his fear. So it is still, to me, true that Obiwan thought he could train Anakin as well as Master Yoda could train him.

My opinion? I think Qui-gon was a cool character, and I like how Obiwan was portrayed in TPM. I liked him a lot more in AOTC, but you at least get the sense that all padawans are stuck-up teenagers, thinking they know what's best. I was never really bothered that Qui-gon discovered Anakin and not Obiwan, but I can see how others might be.

Cometgreen

 

What Padawan_Jess_Kenobi says.

Me thinks Ree Yees has several good points, but the others would ruin TPM for me.

To be frank, I'm very glad it's GL making the PT movies, not some fanboys.

I disagree with each of these "improvements" and like it the way it is, but that's me.

You're not alone Latorski, I love TPM the way it is, too. ^_____^

 

I loved Qui-Gon, just for me it knid of went against my view of what I thought would happen. I'm sure if you watched the films in episode order first I would never notice it, although when Ben says that he was reckless in ESB I would be thinking yeah right. Unless he cuts loose in 3 which would be great. I see what you mean about it being good to see the padawan bond but it could have worked with Obi-Wan as he is in AOTC and the TPM Obi-Wan character as Qui-Gon.