PT Does anyone else find it unwise for Anakin to be brought into a battle situation?

The cockpit was far from harmless as he could and did fire torpedoes that blew up the TF ship.
Had Anakin accidently fired off those things down on Naboo, Padme, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and the rest would all die.

The ship has weapons that could be fired just by pressing a few buttons. It was fueled so if it was shot at, it could blow up. It could and did fly off, very much a risk. As an aside, how could those Naboo fighters have been preprogrammed to fly up to the TF ship? The Naboo people did not have access to them. And why were they fueled and armed? The TF didn't need them and you don't have fueled and armed ships in your base for no reason. But again, the plot required it.

So no, the cockpit was far from safe or harmless. And this being a "fantasy" movie does not mean that the judgment of the characters are above reproach. Unless you are making a mindless action film or a brainless comedy, thinking should never be the enemy.
So Qui-Gons actions and choices can be questioned and they make very little sense in-universe.

Bye for now.
Blackboard Monitor

 

If you left a kid in a ship and later find out that the kid got into a major battle what would you do? Regardless of if they won the battle or not, would get hell from me. They were safe and then went into a battle zone. The fact they won the battle wouldn't cut it for me.

 

The cockpit itself was harmless. What do the ship abilities have to do with staying in the cockpit? Everyone knows, including Anakin, that that cockpit belongs to a ship. A ship that can fly and has laser cannons. So what? How does staying hidden in the cockpit makes it dangerous? Qui-Gon said "stay in that cockpit", not "do whatever you want with the ship while in there".

 

"We gotta help them, R2!"
*sees the console*
*starts pushing buttons*
*flies off into space*

Yeah, the cockpit itself may not be harmful, but put a nine year old in it and he/she will start pressing all the buttons to see what they'll do.

 

Anakin did that in order to help them. He was actively looking for the fire trigger.

 

This.

 

Pretty sure they make perfect sense in-universe. You can explain it in a way that makes sense to you, you're just not trying to.

 

The abilities of the ship has a lot to do with staying in the cockpit. The abilities of the ship is controlled FROM the cockpit.
The ship has guns and weapons and firing off those guns/weapons could kill people. Hence why it is not a good idea to leave a nine year old inside an armed F16.
The ship can also fly which means it could crash or fly into something.
If you leave a nine year old inside a car, the car seat isn't dangerous but if the nine year old manages to disable the parking break and the car starts rolling, then that could be dangerous.
The fighter is also full of fuel and if there is a fight inside the hangar and the ships gets hit, it could blow up. More reasons not to leave small children inside fueled fighters.
Also, by now the TF knows that Naboo fighters have flown up to attack their ship. So if they see a Naboo fighter in the palace, they could try and destroy it to prevent more fighters from getting launched. Another reason why it is not a good idea for Anakin to be inside one.

@TheAvengerButton

No they don't make sense, hence this thread.
Qui-Gon never gives a reason why he brings Anakin into battle and all he wants Anakin to do is to hide and stay safe. So if Anakin's safety was the only issue then he should have left him on Coruscant or at the Gungan safe place. But as well all know, the plot requires Anakin to be in that fighter and so he is.
Anakin is just there, no one questions or comments on it. Qui-Gon didn't bring him to do anything, just get in and hide.
This plot point is contrived, simple as that.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface.

 

Again, both Qui-Gon and Anakin knew that it was a ship, let's not pretend Anakin (a child able to pilot pods that reach 600 mph) was ignorant about what that was or what was capable of. But staying inside the cockpit in order to hide is harmless. It's like hiding inside a car. Actively piloting the ship (or driving a car, to follow the analogy) is dangerous, but Qui-Gon didn't order the latter.

 

To be fair, this is a kid who can compete and survive in a racing contest that's supposed to be a very, very deadly contest. In your analogy, a kid who can compete in a NASCAR race would know exactly how to operate a car, or at least locate the bare-bone basic operators of the car.

But yeah, I see your point. There's no dialogue to tell us why they're bringing a child along to a warzone, and as hinted by Qui-Gon's "Stay in the cockpit!" Anakin wasn't even supposed to fight.

 

No logical reason to bring a child to a war zone when you have no intention of making him do anything, just have him hide. Why didn't Qui-Gon just leave him on Coruscant? I'm sure the Council would've made sure he was looked after, especially if Qui-Gon said he was doing this so as not to bring him into war needlessly.

To make this worse, Qui-Gon decides to allow Anakin to sit in a military grade vehicle. An obvious target for any droids and Anakin could've easily hurt himself or others.

The writing does it's job. Anakin needs to be in a fighter so he can save the day.

 

A Nascar driver won't be able to fly a F16 fighter jet unless he or she has had some training to fly.

Anakin doesn't know what buttons does what, he tries things at random, he could have fired off torpedoes in the palace and kill everyone.

So the cockpit is not harmless. Also, as I said, there was a fight going on around it and since it has fuel inside it, if it gets hit, it could blow up. And as I also mentioned, the TF knows that Naboo fighters have flown up to attack their ship. The forces still in the palace could decide to destroy all fighters they come across to prevent more of them joining the battle. So he is MORE at risk than if he had just hid behind some barrels.

Plus, Anakin went through a war zone to get inside the palace. There was shots fired all around him. He could have taken a stray hit. Inside the hangar, there are a lot of shots near him and he could have gotten killed. And there he movies around on his own, Qui-Gon is not near him.

Plus when Qui-Gon and Padme decided to go back to Naboo, they didn't know that the blockade was gone. So for all they knew, they could face the same armada of ships as last time. When they almost got blown up.

Lastly, Qui-Gon thinks Anakin is very important and if he were to get killed, the prophecy could not be fulfilled. So it makes even less sense to risk such an important person for no reason. I almost wish Anakin had taken a stray hit during the fight just to watch Qui-Gon's expression.
Qui-Gon wants Anakin to hide and be safe, then he should have left him on Coruscant or at the Gungan safe place. Qui-Gon has other things to worry about, he has to protect Padme and draw out Maul and try to capture him. Worrying about Anakin as well is not very smart.

But again, plot requirements overrule common sense.

Bye for now.
Blackboard Monitor

 

What does that have to do with anything? Anakin was not ordered to fly the ship.

Irrelevant. Qui-Gon didn't told him to fly the ship or search for the weapons trigger.

The cockpit is harmless. The cockpit on its own doesn't do any harm. Staying in there is also harmless. Messing around with it can be harmful.

Qui-Gon only tells him to stay in the cockpit after they clear the hangar.

The forces still in the palace have the Naboo soldiers to worry about.

Under Qui-Gon's protection.

So they were ready for the worse.

By that logic, better to freeze him in carbonite then. After all, you never know what could happen at any moment.

 

And all nine year old kids never do anything they are not ordered to right?

Very relevant, Anakin is in a place where he could cause all manner of things to happen.
Again nine year olds kids could try and push buttons.
Leaving a kid inside a fueled and armed F16 is not safe or harmless.

Really? So a gun is harmless, it only dangerous if you mess around with it. Dynamite is harmless unless you mess around with it.
There was a news story some days ago about a three year old shooting a one year old with a gun that some adult had left lying around.

In case you missed it, MORE droids come into the hangar after Qui-Gon said that. And Maul shows up as well. And Qui-Gon would not know how many droids there are in the palace or where all of them are.

The number of droids far outnumber the Naboo forces and again Qui-Gon can't know where all of them are all the time. So droids could come into the hangar with orders to blow up the remaining fighters. Ergo the cockpit is NOT harmless or safe.

And shots and explosions were going off around him and he could have taken a stray hit and died.

Which would be to get blown up or captured.

[/QUOTE]

Classic false dilemma, either take zero care or take insane levels of care. There is a middle ground, like don't take a kid into a war zone for no reason. But such simple logic is obviously too much to ask for.
Also, in case you forgot, carbonite freezing was NOT without risk. Vader froze Han to test if Luke could be frozen safely and Boba argued with Vader about it, clearly worried that Han would die.
So freezing Anakin could be MORE risky than just leaving him on Coruscant.

To sum up, Qui-Gon took foolish and senseless risks by bringing Anakin into a war zone and he did so for no apparent reason. Poor and contrived writing.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

I have to agree with both of you.

Anakin's a tough kid, sure, but he's still a kid and like a kid he's going to do what HE thinks is the right idea without a care if it was the smart thing. To him, helping them meant grabbing hold of a weapon he had no idea how to use and start shooting. He's lucky he didn't blast his own allies away. He's also lucky, when he got the ship started, that it didn't ram into a wall and explode, or fly backward into the wall or his own allies.

Also, freezing him in carbonite, even if they ensured it wouldn't kill him would do nothing to improve his skills and would render him blind (temporarily, but how would they know that?) Not something Qui-Gon would want for a kid whose supposed to be the Jedi's personal Jesus Christ. Stoneface is right, there is a middle ground here and it's simple: leave him on Coruscant. Leave him in the Temple, or with a close friend of the Jedi who could keep an eye on the boy for a few days.

Qui-Gon's mission was to liberate Naboo from the Trade Federation and take down Maul; worrying about Anakin's safety would have been a distraction for him.

In-universe, there was no real reason why he needed to bring Anakin to the battle. If Anakin were fifteen and could handle a blaster that'd be one thing, but this was a nine year old with ZERO fighting experience. Again, yes Anakin has skills, but that doesn't always translate to 'I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself in the middle of live fire, surrounded by people/droids who want to turn me into Tatooine swiss cheese'