AOTC Chapter 10: Traveling Incognito DISCUSSION

Until the release of ROTS on 5/19/05, I would like to discuss AOTC chapter by chapter on the DVD. There are 47 chapters to discuss over the next 8 months, excluding Chapter 1: Opening Logos, Chapter 2: Attack of the Clones and Chapter 50: End Credits.

Each discussion will last 5 days. At the end of 5 days, the following chapter will be posted.

Chapter 10: Traveling Incognito
DISCUSSION: October 3, 2004 - October 7, 2004
DVD TIME INDEX: 29:45 - 31:31

Synopsis:
At a Coruscant spaceport, a speeder bus docks. Inside are Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, Dorme and Captain Typho. Padme tells Typho to take care of Dorme. Dorme begins to weep. Padme reassures her that she'll be okay. Obi-Wan takes Anakin off to the side and tells him not to do anything without the permission of the council. Obi-Wan tells Padme that he'll get on the assignment immediately and hopes to have her back to the capital in the shortest amount of time. Padme shows her gratitude. Anakin tells Padme it's time to go. Padme hugs Dorme and they depart from the speeder bus to the ship taking them to Naboo. As they head towards the ship, Anakin and Padme discuss the fear of being away from their mentors and protectors and going together. Anakin assures that they'll be fine since Artoo is with them. Padme laughs. Obi-Wan is concerned that Anakin is going to do something foolish. Typho says that Padme is the one they should be worried about. The ship takes off into the cityscape. END OF CHAPTER

Opinion:
This is the end of Act I. When I first saw the picture of the spaceport, I had no clue what it was. I love the spaceport and how everything is laid out. Even the bus and the ship are designed beautifully. The ship reminds me of Titanic as a starship.

The scene in the speeder bus is where most of the action is. Natalie does a good job comforting Dorme. She still acts like she has to be professional around those closest around her. Calling Obi-Wan Master Jedi.

I also liked how Obi-Wan is the overprotective mentor but confining Anakin's decisions. Gaining permission from the council gives Anakin no leeway and I think it makes Anakin feel like a little kid. I mean he just got back from Palpatine, who was giving him all this encouragement and now Obi-Wan is stealing it away.

It's a short chapter. It moves the story along. The last line in the chapter shows closeness between Typho and Amidala. It's a chapter about the next step in a young person's life and letting go. Great chapter.

The best part was the final line.
"I wouldn't worry about him but more about her doing something" Well it was something like that.

Anything with Typho in it is cool

The line is:

"I would be more worried about her doing something than him"

Is it foreshadowing?

"Anakin, don't do anything without first consulting either myself, or the council."

I liked Hayden's acting in this one. Padme's outfit was strange as always. Captain Typho and Obi-Wan acting like parents watching their children go off together. Lol. What a short, crazy chapter. Even R2 gets something to do. Well... he gets made fun of, at least.

They were supposed to look like the came form the Thousand Moons system. It's only mentioned in the VD, not in the EU

"I would be more worried about her doing something than him"

Is it foreshadowing?

I would strongly agree with that.

My feeling is that first, Panaka knows more about Padme than Obi Wan. Second, we see that Padme shows Anakin ways to manipulate Mace's instructions. Anakin for once decides to listen and adhere, but Padme shows him a way to get out of that (smarly I might add).

Both Anakin and Padme make a one of a kind partnership.

One could say, Padme seems to complement Anakin and her role with him. Indirectly it is leading him closer to the Darkside. Frightening but possible.

It's a decent scene. I agree that it's the end of the first act.

I like Captain Typho more than Panaka, but it still feels like it could have been better with Panaka and maybe Rabe instead of Typho and Dorme.

The last line was nice though.

The refuge ship was neat looking in my opinion too.

Never was a fan of the R2 joke in this scene. And the laughter feels forced. I also think the music as the ship takes off is overdramatic for what's happening on screen, as if we're supposed to feel stirred by what's happening, but we're not. Also, I'm not so sure the Typho comment makes sense - he may know Padme better than Obi-Wan, but he doesn't know Anakin at all. And indeed, Anakin is definitely more of a problem than Padme is: he starts the whole chain in motion, both in terms of his and Padme's relationship, and with taking off for Tatooine, perfectly willing to go and leave Padme behind - thus abandoning his task. That she came along does not make that better).

The rest of the scene is OK.

I like this scene fine. I don't think it's really anywhere near the best of AOTC, but it's ok. The bus design is neat, and the final shot of the passenger ship going off is really cool. The acting's good. I do like the R2 joke(since the audience will appreciate this joke as we realize the "don't worry; we have R2 with us" is actually a more honest statement than the heros realize. R2 really is the one who ends up saving everybody else, one way or the other). But I think the heros should have just done a little chuckle instead of an all-out laugh.
I like Typho's ending line, actually. I think it's definitely in character.

I think the scene would have worked better with Panaka rather than Typo. I like the actor who played Typho better than Hugh Quarshie but he doesn't have the same history with Padme so it lacks the same effect of two dads watching their kids move out of the house.

I do like how Artoo is acknowledged in the scene as the secret hero of the entire saga.

Padme is so TPM-esque in this scene. Her refugee costume reminds me of one that belongs in TPM without the white makeup and red dots.

As far as Panaka/Sabe and Typho/Dorme. I think that personally, I would like to see Panaka and Dorme. I like Hugh better than Jay and Rose more than Keira.

I think the whole relationship with Panaka, Padme and Typho is understandable since Typho is Panaka's nephew.

Also, I'm not so sure the Typho comment makes sense - he may know Padme better than Obi-Wan, but he doesn't know Anakin at all.

You have to remember that Anakin is under direct orders from the Jedi Council. Padme isn't she can move a lot more freely and she does

The novelization added a second part to the line: "She's the type to give orders, not take them." And, as we see soon after, she starts defying those orders almost immediately (going first to the site of her old job, then to her family home before finally hiding out).

I also felt there was an unneeded plot hole at this point. The whole impetus seems to be that Dorme will pretend to be Senator Amidala while Padme's away (hence "the danger's on you now"). Yet she's never seen or mentioned again in the film, and Typho's next seen with Jar-Jar in the pivotal Senate scene. Did assassins manage to kill her too, albeit offscreen? I wish something would have been said about it (and I bet it would have been had it been Keira's Sabe instead of Rose's Dorme).

Was Sabe supposed to go on pretending to be Padme?

One of the originak lines was.

"I'm not woring about me M'lady, what if they realised I'm not you? What if they discover you've left the Capital?"

I loved the spaceport - I wanted to see ships landing on something else besides a floating platform, and the bustle of refugees about conveyed the tumult the galaxy was experiencing.

I liked the Artoo joke and the forced laughter, because for me, it seemed so deliberately campy, like out of a 40's musical's scene close.

What I liked was the idea of boarding the ships mid-level, like a cruise liner, instead of at the base.

I liked the Artoo joke and the forced laughter, because for me, it seemed so deliberately campy, like out of a 40's musical's scene close.

Could you give an example?

Astaire and Burgess Meredith (who has a very sinister laugh by the way) after the second musical number (I think the second) in Second Chorus. Another quick one is Swing Time, but I think that came out in the 30's.

i've said it once, i'll say it again. Dorme is very very hot

I feel this is one of the better-acted scenes in the film.

I loved Ewan's delivery of his final line to Anakin. "Anakin, may the Force be with you."

They had just got done having a tense exchange, and Obi-Wan hands out the Jedi greeting as a sort of olive branch. Perhaps trying to assure Anakin "I still believe in you. Good luck." At least that's what I got from that small exchange.

I love how Lucas works the camera in this scene also. It's pulling back, focusing on Anakin and Padme, giving them a true sense of being alone on this mission, leaving the familiar things (Coruscant, Typho, Obi-Wan) behind and are truly on their own now.

This also serves as a very natural end to the first act and kicks the central plot of the film into motion.

Padme sure takes a lot of luggage

Anakin: These bags weigh a ton! What's in here?
(opens the bag and pulls out a hairdryer)

I liked this scene. It really showed of more of Coruscant. It shows how big the city is and so on. It also shows way it is the sit of the goverment. Every one seems to come or go from Coruscant. It's just such a cool planet. Though I would not want to live there.

Same, i wouldn't want to live there unless i was Jedi and then i'd rather be on somewhere like Naboo.

I also like Obi-Wan's 'May the Force be with you' in that from that point on, things would never be the same with Anakin. It's on this mission that things would really start to take shape.