Duel of the Fates vs. Battle of the Heroes (excluding Yoda vs. Sidious)

When I think of the Battle of the Heroes, it?s mostly because of the bookend scenes of character interaction more than the logistics of the actual dueling sequence. The shot of Obi-Wan standing atop the ramp looking down on Anakin is pure iconicity, while, aside from any instance where Natalie Portman opens her mouth, the pre-duel banter does a fine job of setting the tension. Post-duel, Anakin?s spewing of ?I hate you? is delivered with the perfect measure of ghoulish hatred, while Obi-Wan?s answer of the love between brothers provides a most appropriate note of tragedy to end the set piece. In-duel, however, I remain largely unimpressed. It might be clichéd criticism to bring up the lava surfing, but for me it?s true that this aspect, along with the crumbling towers and vine swinging and such, detracted from the intimate sense of strife that should have been a prime descriptor of the physical exchanges. I can feel the emotion before and after, but the actual duel fails on this account as well as the more stylistic matter of being an engaging action sequence.

For me the nod easily goes to the Duel of the Fates, which excelled so well at capturing a picture of the Jedi in their heyday. The choreography is like an intricately timed dance, fantastic, frenetic, with the human action never being over-shadowed by any superfluous background noise. Emotion isn?t the number one priority here, but that?s not a problem as Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan vs. Maul is first and foremost a matter of adrenaline. I appreciate the end of RotS despite the actual Battle of the Heroes. I love the end of TPM because of the Duel of the Fates.

 

Yes, and the Novelization even goes as far to say that Maul might have been the best that Qui-Gon ever saw in terms of Light Saber skill.

***

Chron-
Who doesn't listen to Mr. Harvey?
If you don't hear his views, you aren't in the news.
That wise 'ol-coot is like "America's Grandpa" now that Mr. Rodgers is dead.

 

DotF. I didn't care for the stylized combat in BotH. The fighting in DotF feels more like a natural extension of the style established in the OT, just taken to the next level.

 

I personally liked the Battle of Heroes better. It seemed much more intense to me.

 

I was way more into BoH than DoF. One thing that really ruind it was the intercutting. DoF was intercut with Jar Jar and little Ani yelling. BoH kept it's energy through intercutting because it had another battle going on that was just as great.

 

but Qui Gon never seen ROTS Anakin and Obi Wan

 

BoH had too much CGI in it. There were a number of somewhat poetic elements to it, such as when they had to take a break from the fighting to avoid being lava'ed, but other than that it wasn't terribly interesting.

 

They both have their moments, I like Duel of Fates a lot but Battle of Heroes is more emotional.

 

To me the Battle of Heroes is way better then the Duel of Fates because there was way better moves and because Anakin and Obi-wan showed there emotions way more and basically the entire fight between Darth Maul, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon was silent.

 

Duel of Fates
Pros.
Three combatants
Amazing set
Brilliant score
Fantastic choreography

Cons.
Qui-Gon dies


Battle of Heroes
Pros.
Again, fantastic setting which makes for v. interesting viewing
Choreography better in that it's more intricate and therefore entertaining
Emotional and meaningful
More entertaining overall

Cons.
None really.

Its gotta be Battle of Heroes then.

 

What???? Are you serious?

I have to say Ewan's better in DotF than anywhere else in the PT... he seems especially useless in AotC, but I guess that's what you call "the demands of the plot"...

 

I have always loved Duel of the Fates, and I was hoping that Battle of the Heroes would atleast rise to the level of Duel of the Fates. Unfortunately, I dont think it does. One of my few criticisms of ROTS.

Ezekial

I agree totally. The dialogue right before and after Battle of the Heroes is absolutely PERFECT. But I have problems with the actual duel. I didnt have problems with the lava surfing and rope swinging. When you consider the over-all romantic style of the PT that kind of stuff fits right in. I didnt like how the duel was edited in general. I would have liked to have seen the length of the cuts doubled and the number of intercuts reduced by half. I think that would have created more tension. Also, Lucas should have taken a bit more time when they were on the collection arm. I beleive he said there was orginally more material filmed for that.

 

When compared to the OT, it lacked the same emotional feel that ANH, ESB and ROTJ conveyed. It was a simpler-time, no fathers, no sons, no former apprentices...two Jedi one Sith... and somebody had to die.

I really liked him in the duel, but I didn't think he was a very good Padawan. The opening scene set the tone for me, and I didn't like the young Kenobi from the get-go. As I have said before, his character progression through the PT was solid, if unspectacular. AOTC sucked all the way around in my book, but by the time ROTS rolled around Kenobi was a better Jedi.

 

I prefer DotF. I really liked Battle of Heroes, but there is something about Jedi vs. Sith that I like better. I know that Anakin is a sith in BoH, but I just don't really picture him to be pure sith at that time. It's really emotional, but to me it's just brother vs. brother, or jedi vs. fallen jedi. DotF is two jedi against a sith. I like how it's a three person fight, and when I look at Maul, the first thing I think of is Sith. DotF also shows the link between a padawan and a master and how they interact with each other. It compares and contrasts the views of the Sith and the Jedi.

 

Agreed, Master Mundi.

DOTF, eloquently displayed how a Master-Padawan team functioned in combat. Maul displayed a tenacity that underscored the hatred and contempt the Sith held for the Jedi.

 

I prefer DOTF by a longshot, I thought the cheoreography was far superior and is therefore my favourite duel in the entire saga.

BOTH was ok but I think the scenary got in the way of a good fight.

 

lol @ the post about BoTH having too much CG. I guess they actually built the Theed power generator behind Skywalker Ranch or something.

Anyway... I'd have to call it a draw. BoTH did get a stronger whoa response from me, right at the start of the duel when there's that over-the-shoulder shot for Obi-Wan and it looks like there's twenty or so sabre blades onscreen. But DoTF had a nice moment too: The unveiling of the dual-blade lightsabre in the trailer. I was like "Theyyy're baaaack!"

 

I prefer Battle of The Heroes

 

These are two of my fav's:

[image=http://www.dmeb2.org/pictures/tpm/sithhologram1_lg.jpg]

[image=http://www.dmeb2.org/pictures/duel/dm_challenge3_lg.jpg]



This one is probably my favorite comic shot:

[image=http://www.tucoo.com/comic/star_wars-darth_maul_02/images/Darth_Maul_02_07.jpg]