Good Choice of Words

I have noticed a number of times throughout the Saga that Lucas seems, intentionally or not, to have chosen lines of dialogue with greater meanings than first apparent.

I will give a few examples that spring to mind, then invite others to share examples of this they have noticed...


CLONE COMMANDER THIRE: There is no sign of his body, sir.

MAS AMEDDA: Then he is not dead.

PALPATINE: Double your search.


YODA: Done, it is. Until the time is right, disappear we will.

As soon as I heard both these passages of dialogue in ROTS, I immediately linked them to the ability to disappear that Yoda is the first to fully understand.

The first exchange between Sidious and his caomrades shows a complete lack of knowledge of the ability to merge with the Force - the belief that if there is no body, the Jedi is not dead.

Later, in virtually his last dialogue, Yoda says until the time is right the Jedi will disappear. Although here he means they will hide, it also applies to what the Jedi do in the OT... they physically disappear and then return when Luke needs their guidance.

PALPATINE: We must move quickly. The Jedi are relentless; if they are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end. First, I want you to go to the Jedi Temple. We will catch them off balance. Do what must be done, Lord Vader. Do not hesitate. Show no mercy. Only then will you be strong enough with the dark side to save Padme.

This Sidious dialogue struck me because of the use of the words "off balance"

In the scene the Chosen One has just rejected his destiny by pledging himself to the Sith for selfish means, thereby leaving the Force unbalanced.

Can anyone think of any more?

There are plenty in all 6 films...

 

Some more...

I'm gonna go in chronological order, so here come some TPM observations...

QUI-GON : (off screen voice) Captain.

We first hear Qui-Gon speak, but he is off screen...just how we will last hear him speak (AOTC).


OBI-WAN : I have a bad feeling about this.
QUI-GON : I don't sense anything.
OBI-WAN : It's not about the mission, Master, it's
somethging...elsewhere...elusive.
QUI-GON : Don't center on your anxiety, Obi-Wan. Keep your concentration
here and now where it belongs.
OBI-WAN : Master Yoda says I should be mindful of the future...
QUI-GON : .....but not at the expense of the moment. Be mindful of the
living Force, my young Padawan.

The best exchange of dialogue in the whole film and it comes so early!

Kenobi's first words obviously mix a standard Star Wars in joke with a statement about the differing views of the Force on show here - he is midful of the larger picture (the future), whilst Qui Gon is only thinking in the moment.

Another widely documented piece of crucial info - Yoda taught his students to look to the future, just the thing he will be preaching against by the time of TESB. Genius Mr. Lucas, genius - a throway line has told us all we need to know about how the Jedi have evolved after the rise of the Empire.

AMIDALA : I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.

Although this is exactly what Padme does by the end of this movie, she redeems herself by voting against the creation of the Army in AOTC... thereby not condoning a course of action that would lead the Galaxy to war.

 

Leia mentions a "foul stench" when first meeting Tarkin. Little did she know that she would later end up in a trash compactor that's FULL of a foul stench.

 

PALPATINE: We must move quickly. The Jedi are relentless; if they are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end.


Now, Palpatine is BSing about that because even when all of the Jedi have been eliminated, there was still a civil war without end which is indicated in the ANH opening scroll.

 

A good point and I noticed the use of the phrase "civil war", but to be fair to Palps he is right - not all the Jedi are destroyed, Kenobi and Yoda remain and they help the Civil War against the Empire.

Keep 'em comin though

I enjoy showing how Lucas is clever with his dialogue!

 

Continuing with TPM...

QUI-GON : Are you brainless? You almost got us killed!
JAR JAR : I spake.
QUI-GON : The ability to speak does not make you intelligent. Now get outta
here!

This always surprised me a little - here is Qui Gon known for his appreciation of the living Force, and he basically insults a native for being stupid. I fel there may be more to this that I am missing...

OBI-WAN : Sorry, Master, the water fried my weapon.

OBI-WAN pulls out his burnt laser sword handle. QUI-GON inspects it, as JAR
JAR pulls himself out of the mud.

QUI-GON : You forgot to turn your power off again, didn't you?

OBI-WAN nods sheeplishly.

QUI-GON : (cont'd) It won't take long to recharge, but this is a lesson I
hope you've learned, my young Padawan.

Obi1 did learn his lesson - his recently returned lightsaber doesnt suffer the same fate after his fall into the water on Utapau.

OBI-WAN : You and the Naboo form a symbiont circle. What happens to noe of
you will affect the other. You must understand this.

This quote is a theme that runs throughout TPM, and the larger Saga.

 

QUI-GON : There's always a bigger fish.

Perhaps a statement on the fact that behind the Trade Federation, there is actually a bigger evil at work? Indeed a bigger evil that will itself destroy the Trade Federation. This scene is followed immediately by...


NUTE and RUNE stand before a hologram of DARTH SIDIOUS.


QUI-GON : The situation here is not what it seems. There is something else
behind all this, Your Highness. There is no logic in the Federation's move
here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you.
BIBBLE : Please, Your Highness, reconsider. Our only hope is for the Senate
to side with us... Senator Palpatine will need your help.

Qui Gon is right here - the ultimate plan is to kill Amidala, Sio Bibble is also right - Palpatine will need her help, to get him elected and help him seduce Anakin to the Darkside!

OBI-WAN : Here, Master. Tatooine... It's small, out of the way, poor...

Hmmm...sound like Kenobi has found a good place to hide.

QUI-GON : Don't let them send ant transmissions. Be wary...I sense a
disturbance in the Force.
OBI-WAN : I fell it also, Master.

The first signs of sensing the Sith, or now they are on Tatooine, are both Qui Gon and Obi Wan sensing young Skywalker?

 

QUI-GON : ...moisture farms for the most part, but also a few indigenous
tribes and scavengers. The few spaceports like this one are havens for
those who do not wish to be found...

I love this because Qui Gon sums up everything we have seen in the OT on tatooine here - moisture farms like the Lars', tribes & scavengers like the Tuskens and the Jawas. Havens for those who don't wish to be found like the cantina we meet Han Solo in 32 years later. Tatooine hasnt changed much in 3 decades.

ANAKIN : ...wouldn't have lasted long if I weren't so good at fixing
things. I'm making my own droid...

From an early age Anakin views everything in the terms that if it is broken, he can fix it. This extends to his later reliance on machinery to survive ans also to his desire to want to learn the power to "fix" humans who are dying.

QUI-GON : Perhaps I killed a Jedi and stole it from him.
ANAKIN : I don't think so... No one can kill a Jedi Knight.
QUI-GON : I wish that were so...

A lot of references here. Anakin says no-one can kill a Jedi, he himself will personally kill many Jedi in the future. Qui Gon says he wishes Jedi couldn't be killed, he will be the first to find a way to retain his personality after death.


ANAKIN : I want to stay with you. I don't want things to change.
SHMI : You can't stop change any more than you can stop the suns from
setting. Listen to your feelings; Annie, you know what's right.

Of course this dialogue has resonance throughout the Saga - Anakin's inability to accept change proving to be his downfall. The choice of words are interesting, the major changes in Luke's life coming as the Tatooine suns set - showing he accepts change much more willingly than his father could.

ANAKIN : Will I ever see you again?
SHMI : What does your heart tell you?
ANAKIN : I hope so...yes...I guess.
SHMI : Then we will see each other again.
ANAKIN : I.. will become a Jedi and I will come back and free you, Mom...I
promise.

10 years later Anakin will see Shimi again and when he does he will free her.

 

How can you people find all this stuff if Lucas is supposed to be a terrible director and writer?

 

Because he really isn't a terrible writer and director. Watch some of his non Star Wars works.

 

This is so true. Star Wars was engineered to be campy and overdramatic. What comes off as bad acting is really an homage to the early 30's adventure stories that inspired him. I think at the very worst, Luke wasn't portrayed by the most gifted of actors and so I think Lucas may have kept that concept more intentional for the rest of the Skywalkers actors. In any event when I saw Star Wars as a kid; I thought the acting was great and I was totally absorbed into the story. I think the pokes at Lucas' direction is more a jab at his screenwriting; which in truth isn't stellar but his story ideas are marvelous and the ability to invoke an emotional response is what directing is all about. I dunno about most people, but the trench run in the original Star Wars was perhaps the most invigorating sequence ever shot, and the guy did it with styrafoam and models on strings. That to me says it all in regards to his ability to direct. I think if Lucas is guilty of anything, it's that he tried to put too much in just six films. The reality is that each film could have been fleshed out into a trilogy each their own. My personal criticism is that his love story in Episode 2 was pretty crumby and since it was the core of the film it had a big impact. And again I think that was mostly a product of script problems, not the story itself or the premise.

 

Since Anakin comes from the Force and is meant to be "the Chosen One", it can be said that he *is* "the living Force," and so Qui Gon is telling Anakin's future master to be mindful of his own padawan, which Obi Wan fails to do.

The real beauty of Lucas' writing is the economy with which he threads in the most profound insights. Characters reveal so much about themselves and their world with so little. It is a gift that Lucas has, whether he sees that or not. He proved himself a master at irony with the prequels. He can also write dialogue for villains like no other. When people trash Lucas, they fail to acknowledge these points. He is *not* a bad writer, merely a *different* writer. It all comes back to the philosophical nature of his screenwriting for me. Different writers have different strengths; that is Lucas'. The real problem with his writing is how abstract it can be. It doesn't really bear all the cadence or trope of natural speech. His dialogue always has a slight artifice about it. I think that's what Harrison Ford meant when he chided Lucas for it. But that's also part of the fun. You couldn't possibly buy this style of dialogue for a contemporary city drama, for example, but you can buy it for an epic space fantasy with a 1930's aesthetic. However, returning to Ford's point, where ANH and TESB triumphed was in having Han: someone who could poke fun at it all; someone who brokes the rules doing so. That is the principal difference between the OT and the PT in terms of screenwriting, I think. Ironically, as much as the OT needed Han, the PT needed him even more, but could never have him. Han can only exist in the OT. But there really is some exquisite dialogue, when taken on the qualities I've just described, in all six films.

 

Yeah, I was kidding. Lucas is the best writer/director/producer/etc I know of. His writing and screenplays are full of bits that are there for the thinking people to digest. He shows enough, and invites you to think the rest of the time, to make SW a veritable cornucopia of material that spawns endless debate on this site, others, in books, and references in all sorts of other works. I cant think of anyone who has done this while still being alive. (Tolkien doesnt count, as most people cant say they were into his stuff before he died).

 

I agree. His writing, in my opinion, isn't really bad at all... like you said, he's different. And that difference, I think, is what makes this saga so refreshing, and what has given it staying power over the last three decades. Fans continue to flock to Star Wars because it's different, even though it does pay homage to the 1930s space opera. I feel that Lucas's biggest strength is in his character development. He gives us characters that we can get to know as well as real people, and, in film, character development is heavily based on dialogue. So, in short, I think his writing style is effective. Also, the man is a master with visuals, but that's another topic for another time.

As far as dialogue itself, whether it was originally intended or not, I love Obi-Wan's "double speak" in ANH, especially the line, "Darth Vader betrayed and murdered your father." I just love how that line actually carries the truth, from a certain point of view.

 

QFT, since he was dead 8 years and some months before I was born, and I didn't get into his works(The Hobbit) until I was 10-12 years old. I was in my late high school years before I decided to read LOTR. The first time reading that is the toughest. I tend to skim over the Bombadill section everytime I read it.

 

Well here's my favourite cross trilogy irony of all. Surprised it wasn't mentioned.
RotS
Sidious:"You will not stop me. Darth Vader will become more powerful than either of us."

Yoda:"Faith in your new apprentice, misplaced may be, as is your faith in the dark side of the Force."

RotJ
Luke:"Your overconfidence is your weakness."

Emperor:"Your faith in your friends is yours."

Well as it turns out the Emperors faith in his apprentice and only friend is misplaced and his weakness. I thought this was great, and I immediately thought of this when Yoda spoke those lines when I saw it in the theater. I didn't think at all of the more immediate scene to come where Vader fails to best Obi Wan.
However, as far as the more immediate irony in the RotS lines above and I don't know if anyone caught this, but as we know due to his injuries Vader does not become more powerful then either of them, and as Lucas has mentioned he actually becomes weaker. I think it's funny that the Dark Side misled Palpatine into believing that Vader was his tap into the "unlimited power".

 

I'm glad people are participating in the thread, but can I just say it is not designed to praise/bash Lucas' writing abilities.

It is designed for people to post the greater meanings they find in certian lines given the context of the Saga as a whole.

I will be carrying on with TPM later...

 

I'm aware of that.

Good topic by the way.

 

I watched my 1995 Star Wars video in glorious full screen last night on my bedroom's glorious 14 incher.

"He has too much of his father in him"
"That's what I'm afraid of"

- the solemn tone in Ownes voice is proof to all the silly nay-sayers who claim that George Lucas didn't have the trilogy planned out ahead of time with Vader being Lukes father. That line was said that way in case Lucas could make the other two. There's NO WAY any GL nay-sayer can tell me otherwise.

 

True.

 

VALORUM confers with several of his AIDES and VICE CHAIRMAN MAS AMEDDA.
PALPATINE whispers something to the QUEEN.

PALPATINE : Enter the bureaucrats, the true rulers of the Republic, and on
the payroll of the Trade Federation, I might add. This is where Chancellor
Valorum's strength will dissapear.

Intriguingly here, the very bureaucrat Palpatine accuses of being on the payroll of the Trade Federation, Mas Amedda, will continue to serve under him - surely a clue towards his dishonesty???

OBI-WAN : The boy will not pass the Council's tests, Master, and you know
it. He is far too old.

Kenobi will change his tune on the age of prospective Jedi trainees when it comes to Anakin's son.

YODA : Afraid to lose her..I think.
ANAKIN : (a little angry) What's that got to do with anything?
YODA : Eveything. Fear is the path to the dark side... fear leads to
anger... anger leads to hate.. hate leads to suffering.

The crucial difference when assessing Anakin & Luke as Jedi? Both are too old, but Luke states definatly he is not afraid. Unlike Anakin who Yoda senses much fear in.

RIC OLIE watches in amazement as the Federation battleship starts to
explode from the inside out.

BRAVO TWO : What's that?? It's blowing up from the inside.

Anakin destroys the Trade Federation ship from the inside out, just as the Sith will destroy the Republic from the inside out.

OBI-WAN : Master Yoda, Igave Qui-Gon my word. I will train Anakin. Without
the approval of the Council if I must.
YODA : Qui-Gon's defiance I sense in you. Need that, you do not. Agree, the
council does. Your apprentice, young Skywalker will be.

The first signs of Old Ben's "recklessness"?

To Be Continued...with Attack of the Clones...

 

Cheers.

 

Cryogenic wrote, "It is a gift that Lucas has, whether he sees that or not."

It is a gift Lucas has, whether we, the audience, see it or not.

DarthWolvo23 wrote, "Anakin destroys the Trade Federation ship from the inside out, just as the Sith will destroy the Republic from the inside out."


Luke destroys the Death Star from the outside in, literally and also coming from an Outer Rim world, just as the Rebels will destroy the Empire from the outside in, a rag tag bunch with some inside political leaders. Anakin, also from the same Outer Rim world, may have been a product of some "inside" political and Dark Side leaders, either Plagueis or Sidious.

 

DarthWolvo (and others).........

You will definitely want to check this thread out:

http://boards.theforce.net/the_star_wars_saga/b10456/22286544/p1/?179

 

Cheers

I have read that thread before, but i'm more interested in the Saga as a whole, than just Palpatine's part in it.

Good thread though.