An alternate Palpatine/Dooku plot for the PT

Watching TPM and AotC again I had an idea for a plot change that I think would work better than the current plot, and make Palpatine much cooler. I put this here because I think the changes would be more significant to AotC, but it is also relevant to TPM. Forgive me if it?s a bit of a long read, but I wanted to explain the full effect of the change. My idea is to get rid of Darth Maul and make Dooku the Sith master with Palpatine his apprentice. Instead of just subverting the Republic, Palpatine would also betray his former master to become Emperor. The new Sith side of the plot would look something like this: Dooku would have been planning a war against the Republic for years, travelling the galaxy secretly assembling an alliance and building a droid army. Palpatine would be his inside man in the Republic, feeding him information and keeping the Republic oblivious to his existence and preparations. Only Palpatine wouldn?t be a very obedient servant. He would also have his own carefully laid plans.

Because the taxation of trades routes is weakening the trade federation, one of Dooku?s allies, he would convince them to blockade Naboo and have Palpatine manipulate the senate into inaction, hoping a treaty will be signed that leaves him strengthened. Instead Qui Gon and Obi Wan enter the scene, rescue the Queen and go to Courescant. Palpatine sees the opportunity to increase his power and gets Amidala to call for a vote of no confidence. Upon learning that Amidala is going back to Naboo from Palpatine, Dooku decided to intervene, capture Amidala and force a treaty to be signed to end the situation, which is spiralling out of his control. He hopes to kill both Jedi so nobody can report his existence to the Jedi Council. He confronts Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and kills Qui-Gon, but is injured by Obi Wan and falls down a pit, although Obi Wan thinks he is dead he actually survives (perhaps something else could happen here, but Qui-Gon has to die and Obi-Wan and Dooku have to live, and it fits the plot better if the council thinks Dooku is dead. It makes Dooku seem weak if Obi Wan beats him, but that could be reduced if Obi Wan catches him by surprise).

Because he had to reveal his existence on Naboo Dooku?s attempts to assemble and army would be hindered by the Jedi being on alert for Sith activity. To compensate he would order Palpatine to make sure the rebel fleet is in some kind of compromised position when his army strikes, so that he can disable most of it in a single battle. When Dooku strikes he catches the Republic fleet unprepared, thanks to Palpatine, and destroys most of it, but then a clone army shows up and turns the tide against him, a clone army Palpatine secretly ordered years ago when he laid his plans. With the fleet destroyed, or mostly destroyed, Plaptine uses the shock of the crisis to give himself incredible wartime powers. Once palatine?s power is consolidated he double crosses Dooku and stops sabotaging the Republic war effort and uses the clone army along with his inside information about Dooku?s force to destroy the rebellion, with Dooku likely being killed by Anakin.

The destruction of the Jedi council and the fall of Anakin would still have to be worked into this, but I don?t think that would be too hard. Many Jedi would be killed during the clone war, especially during the initial strike when Dooku has the element of surprise. Palpatine could use Anakin?s success as a pilot to feed his ego and make him arrogant. All of this is dependant on how these things actually happen in Episode 3, but however they are done I?m confident they could be worked into this plot.

The advantage, as I see it, is that it would be more interesting and make Palpatine all the cooler for his double triumph, as well as not having such a throw away villain in TPM. I think this entire plot would require relatively little screen time as well. It would not take much to establish that Dooku is massing an army; they do it in AotC as it is, and Palpatine?s scheming would not have to take place on screen. The audience would o

 

Ooohhh...interesting plot. this plot actually sets up a pretty strong backstory for dooku and palpatine, hence, giving their characters more depth and room to grow .

i guess if that plot also happened, the syfo-dias thing would be much clearer too since it's obvious that palps was the one who ordered the clones O.O!

also, having dooku in tpm would make his character more "feared" too --- rather than having just a few moments in aotc x.x!

interesting...interesting ^_~!

DIE, PALPY!!! DIE!!!