PT Finally Saw Attack of the Clones

Maybe, but I always understood it the way that Luke was really too short for a stormtrooper. As in real-life armies I guess that the Empire would have certain physical standards for soldiers, that they would have to be within a certain height, weight and age range to be accepted. Luke was probably slightly below that range, although my personal impression is that Jango Fett was pretty short himself in AOTC. I could be wrong, but isn't he a lot shorter than Obi-Wan?
Btw. it's nice to read so many positive comments about AOTC in this thread. You are lucky nowadays to find anything positive about the prequels anywhere on the internet. Very good comments, so nothing for me to add at the moment.

 

Temuera Morrison is 1.71 meters tall, which is about 5 feet 6 inches. So if the clones were the same height as Jango then they were all pretty short!

Interestingly, Mark Hamill is actually slightly taller at 1.75 meters or 5 feet 7 inches.

 

Interesting fact! Then being Jango's exact copy, Boba Fett would be the same height. He appeared taller in the OT.

 

And then there's those who repeat ad nauseam about how those very effects destroyed the film and how they have aged badly and look so fake.

Whew, glad you finally saw the light Cypess! It's good to have someone like you among us now, better late than never as they say! I hope you thoroughly enjoy ROTS!

 

Maybe that pokes a hole in the "Most OT stormtroopers are Jango clones" theory? With the clones being replaced by significantly taller recruits - then Luke being "short for a stormtrooper" would actually make sense?

 

recruits. the end.

 

You should have written the text crawl!

"The Clone Wars. The end."

 

Glad you enjoyed it. It's one of my l least favorite but it's a great film. Alott of detail and the rising unrest in this film is suspenseful and awesome.

 

C 3PO and R2D2 had an expanded role to play in this film. C 3PO acquired a skin. I had trouble accepting that Anakin had the ability to construct such a sophisticated android. Another fan pointed out he worked for a spare parts shop and would have been around the materials. Also, someone else suggested C 3PO wasn't from scratch, but the unit was maybe bought or bartered and Anakin continued the work. Much like young kids build their own go-carts or, as we saw, the speeder he used in the race. I think I underestimate his talents.

R2's origins aren't known to me. He simply appears repairing the space ship and just misses being knocked into space. He showed cleverness and was taken on board. But, who made him? I wonder if Luke ever talked to C 3PO and knows that his father built him. I am not sure anyone ever had a long chat with either droids, but they are the connection between all films. It's the droids that basically have witnessed the coming and going of characters. I think they get overlooked by the humans. I think R2 has as much or more gumption sometimes than the humans. I keep remembering his moment going into see Jabba the Hutt, he kept going, kept going, moving through the big gates and trembling in his beeps but keep going. Just one more great character to enjoy in the Star Wars world.

 

What?! I, a girl, am taller than Luke?!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

 

He was a serial droid of the Naboo space forces. So, after he saved the ship, he become a Padme special droid. I think R2 and 3PO are metaphor of the small people, who look insignificant but help a lot. R2 saved the life of Padme in AOTC, too.

P.S. The memory of 3PO is erased in the end of ROTS. So Luke doesn't know that he is made by his father.

 

AOTC is the worst PT film in terms of execution, but the story is better than TPM, IMO, and I enjoy it more than TPM because of that. The effects of TPM were generally better, IMO (with some exceptions), but Kid Vader, a muddy plot, and, well, the Gungans, really kill it for me. AOTC has quite a few weaknesses, IMO, but I still find myself engaged by it between the occasional cringes.

 

I think TPM and AOTC are both pretty epic, actually.

I'm sorry you didn't have the same experience as I did, Strongbow.

 

I love "kid vader" and the Gungans. Never have understood why people have a problem with either.

Not sure what you mean about the "muddy plot"? I don't find it confusing or difficult to follow and it does a very good job of conveying its main themes (i.e. the importance of "symbiosis" or working together).

 

I agree, to this day I am still fine with Little Ani and the Gungans were awesome in my opinion. Otah Gunga was such a sight to see on the big screen back in '99.

 

It's entirely subjective. I think Lloyd struggled with the part. He acts like he's reading lines, and the lines he's reading are not so good, IMO. Also, it makes Vader too young throughout the story, IMO. After seeing Sebastian Shaw in ROTJ, I expected that Anakin would be more mature in ROTS, but he is still in his twenties. Meh.

The Gungans are extremely cartoony to me. The design does not feel remotely realistic to me (and the less said about Jar-Jar, the better). At least they are better than Ben Quadrinaros and the two-headed announcer. All those character designs belong in an animated movie, IMO. I do not object to the CONCEPT of the Gungans, it's about the execution.

What I mean by a muddy plot is that the story of TPM is really just a prologue. The entire point is to follow a manufactured crisis that Palaptine engineers to bring himself into power. But wait! It's REALLY about finding Anakin, the Chosen One. After all, the story of the PT is about the rise and fall of Anakin, right? TPM felt a little fuzzy and undefined to me. I think it had about 10-20 minutes of story worth seeing. In the rewrite thread, I talk how if I were to rewrite the trilogy, I would merge the events of TPM and AOTC (and have Anakin start older), and have an all-new episode II. ROTS I would leave mainly unchanged, except fro some dialogue and editing tweaks.

But as I said, it is a matter of personal taste. I really disliked those elements, and it killed TPM for me.

 

I never saw any problems with Lloyd's acting. Back in '99 Empire magazine called his performance "fresh and believable" and I agree wholeheartedly with that assessment. I also think that making him a young kid was a great idea because it gave the younger members of the audience someone to relate to and root for. It's no surprise to me that TPM is my 8-year-old's favourite SW movie.

Again, never disliked Jar Jar or the Gungans. Jar Jar to me has always been far less annoying than C3PO (who bugged the hell out of me even when I was a little kid) and I remember being completely knocked out by how amazingly realistic the CGI looked at the time. And I was blown away by the beauty of Otoh Gunga. I still think that city looks fantastic.

Like you say, it's all subjective but I don't really see Quadrinaros or the Gungans as being any more cartoonish than, say, Salacious Crumb or the rather cutesy mouse droids on the Death Star. And BB-8 is as blatant a Pixar character as I've ever seen!

Well yes, that's part of the story. But it's also about how the Republic became the Empire. And you can't really get to ANH until you've told that story. For me, the way in which Palpatine manipulated everything, the way he played both sides and manufactured a war to gain himself "emergency powers", the fact that he rose to power through manipulation of democratic process, it's all absolutely fascinating and the whole thing was brilliantly handled by Lucas. It shows what a keen student of history and anthropology he is.

Fair enough. For my part I enjoyed the depth and breadth of the story. I loved that TPM wasn't just a rehash of what came before and that the whole PT was more complex, layered, ambiguous and politically astute than the OT.

 

sexist.

 

Yeah, this all is just taste, right? That's cool. I DO enjoy the political intrigue of the PT, and I like that they mix it with elements of adventure. That part was brilliant of Lucas. I do wish that he could have dealt with the political intrigue a bit more deftly. And Man, he should, IMO, have remained a producer and left the detail writing (just providing story) and directing to someone else.

I know a lot of folks like AOTC the least among the PT, but to me, it really introduces a lot of great stuff. And I do remember leaving the theater grateful that despite its flaws, it refrained from TPM's more childish elements. That was a win for me, romance scenes and cheesie Threepio slapstick aside.

 

LOL Yeah, I could have done without Threepio's antics too.

OTOH I think the romance is one of those elements of the PT that's largely misunderstood. Lucas said that he wanted to tell the love story in a very old fashioned, "overly dramatic" way, and that's what he did. In fact the romance follows the Medieval literary format of "courtly love" which usually involves a knight, unsure how to win the heart of a noblewoman, declaring his love only to be met with ambiguity or outright refusal before she finally reciprocates but insists that their love must remain secret. Lucas has said he was very pleased with how the love story in AOTC turned out and, when you know what he was shooting for, it's not hard to understand why.

Of course something so old-fashioned and operatic is not going to be to everyone's tastes.

 

Yes.

 

Hey Cypess, did you ever do your ROTS viewing?

 

I think I wrote my theory on that in some other thread. We see lots of other 3PO units throughout the saga. They all look basically the same. So we know Anakin didn't build him from scratch. There were probably parts from tons of other droids to use in Watto's shop. The basic building instructions for the galaxy's standard generic protocol droid were probably readily available as well. All he had to do was find the right parts and put them together according to the manual. It is clear from the movies that Anakin didn't design CPO, just put him together, quite a difference in my opinion. He was smart but not that smart.