At which point...

...did people realise Palpatine is Darth Sidious?

Ep3 was the first I saw in movies so I've no idea.

 

Do you mean people in-universe, as in the citizens of the galaxy within the movies? If so, then most of them never realized it. The Jedi did, but not until ROTS (Episode III), which was a little too late.

If you mean people here in the real world, ie viewers of the movies... I realized it watching TPM (Episode I) (pretty soon after I had seen and heard both characters), and most others here probably did too. For "regular" viewers maybe some took a little longer, not sure...

 

Thank you, meant the second one.

 

I dunno if anyone remembers that Taco Bell sponsered advertisement of Episode 1, but I had gotten a Palpatine card, one look and I knew that was the Emporer of old. I was so excited, I remember in great detail, my fianceé had taken me to see the movie as a birthday present. Good times.

 

I knew it the first time he was referred to as "Senator Palpatine" given that the EU had long called him "Emperor Palpatine."

 

Buddy of mine didn?t make the connection between palpatine and Sidious until the opera sequence in RotS. He thought there was something shifty about Palpatine after AotC, but didn?t tie him up with the Sith until later.

In his defense though he had never seen Star Wars at all before. He begun with TPM, and watched in numeric order. He had no awareness of the Emperor as he appears in Episode VI, and certainly wouldn?t have known his name was Palpatine even if he had.

Saying all that. I don?t think that there was ever any real attempt on the part of the production to obscure the connection between the two characters (who are in fact the same character). Lucas never admits the connection on screen, at least until RotS, but when he does it isn?t done with a sense of largess, as though anything is really being revealed to the audience. Lucas certainly hadn't wanted to be blatant about it before the moment that Palpatine reveals his true self to Anakin, he wanted to keep the character in the background, shadowy, and Machiavellian, leaving it for the audience to draw the connections before the character is brought fully to the forefront.

Remember Sidious appears (but for one scene) only as a hologram in TPM. Essentially he exists only as a shadow for the bulk of that episode. Even the short scene were he appears in the flesh takes place at night and drapes him in shadow. Furthermore, in?Clones he appears only at the end and the camera is careful to keep its distance then. All of this is done to illustrate the insidious (sic), underhanded, and devious fashion in which Darth Sidious executes his plan as opposed to being a genuine attempt at obscuring his true identity.

Those who?ve watched IV, V & VI before will likely draw the connection quickly. Those who start on Episode I might see it straight away as well, it?s certainly possible to, but others, those perhaps that are oblivious to the greater thrust of the narrative may not twig it until later?

It really comes down to Obi-Wan's axiom, you'll find that it depends greatly 'on our point own of view'.

 

Yes, for those who have seen the OT at any more than a casual viewing it is a pretty quick/obvious recognition... based on name, appearance, etc. It is interesting, though, that the closing credits of TPM do not list Darth Sidious at all... only Palpatine, as having been played by McDiarmid.

 

True. But that?s probably just another attempt at keeping the character shadowy. "He?s not even in the credits!"

It?s also just an example of Lucas and Co. having a little fun.

 

Yes, that was basically what I meant. And I guess for anyone that didn't catch on during the movie, the credits wouldn't give it away or ruin the surprise this way.

 

You know there have to be some people who live on the left side of the IQ Bell curve who saw ROTS and still don't get that Palpatine was Sidious.

These are the same people who call the light sabers "life savers" and wonder why "Ham Solo" wasn't in the film since Luke (Anakin) and Leia (Padme) were.

These people also breed, drive, and vote.

 

What about someone who walked out of TPM thinking the little kid was Luke?

 

If only that HAD been the case...

Just not played by the PT actors, please.

 

since reading the Star Wars book with the Journal of the Whills intro back in '79. Palapatine - locked himself away and declared himself "emperor"....

 

Once Ian McDiarmid's name was made public by LucasFilm for the TPM cast . . . any tried and true OT fan knew the 'Emperor in waiting" was going to play some part of the prequel trilogy. How big of a part no one knew.

When the hologram of Sidious appeared in the scene with Nute and Rune with that unmistakable voice, I hoped 'The Man' would to play a big time role!!!!

The name 'Sidious' was a bit of a curve ball at first, but once Maul appeared with him, there was no question in my mind who Sidious was and would become. Who else would train an "apprrrrentisss" dressed in black wielding a nasty red light saber?

 

I knew palpatine was the emporer in tpm, but i didn't realize he was darth sidious as well until a few viewings later. At the time I just assumed that since darth maul had died, palpatine would be sidious' next apprentice.