PT Palpatine's office

I thought his name was Frank. Frank Palpatine.

 

Or...Geoffrey?

 

Or he had no first name.

 

Classic. But really, they should never had given him a first name. Sheev is just stupid, and he'll always be just Palpy to me.

His room obviously has some Sith symbolism with the blood-red walls, floor and ceiling, but I don't think the statues and art have been confirmed to be of Sith origin in canon. The old EU surely explained them, but that's sadly out now.

 

Sheev is better than Frank though. Frank doesn't sound Star Wars-ish.

 

Neither do "Ben" "Luke" and "Owen" - at least these days. They're very atypical now.

 

I never refer to Kenobi as Ben; always Obi-Wan. Owen wasn't a major character so I don't care about his name lol. And Luke..well Luke is better than Ben or Frank. Frank Palpatine sounds lame. Sorry to anybody's name that is Frank haha

 

I can hear his childhood friends now: "Sheev! It's time to leave." "Sheev! Don't be naive." "Sheev! C'mere and heave."

No wonder he became a Sith Lord.

 

Look what Sheev had up his sleeve!

 

I see this thread is turning to a humorous rhyming thread.

 

Taking this thread...back on topic...

In terms of his office, it was a great set and I wish more time had been spent there throughout the film. If only the film had included every one of those long, introspective, and so atmospheric scenes between the dark lord of the sith and Skywalker...

For example, the scene quoted earlier by Iron Lord. That was masterful, and I wish it - the full version which is in the book, that is - had been included in the film...along with the full version (also only in the book) of Palpatine's reveal as Sidious. Anakin's motivations might have even been more believable if we had literally seen just how much Palpatine was putting into his head and manipulating "his own-self" (Skywalker's self, that is).

(This is going off on one a bit, so please bear with me...)

I can just imagine it. It would have been nighttime already when Sidious revealed himself, not late afternoon. The lights would have been harsh and filled the room with the eerie glow of chiaroscuro...the beginning of a truly dark descent into "Sith-Noir". A quiet dialogue scene which is truly eerie. Sidious's face would have been enveloped in shadows, so that when he reveals himself to literally be the shadow of the dark side (just as he was described in the book), his own self being the veritable darkness infesting Coruscant and even poisoning the minds of others, it would have been a nice physical extrapolation of this deeply twisted psychic phenomena.

Naturally, something that atmospheric rarely happens outside of seriously psychological thrillers or psychological horrors. If George Lucas had filmed the scenes just like they were described in the novel, though, that's what it would have become, and I think it would truly have been amazing - a genuine art film. But ROTS could have been those things (psychological thriller and horror and art film) as well as a space opera...and elements of those things are still in the film to a point. Just not all that much. It could have been taken much further, like it was in the book.

Then we'd have seen his office for what it truly was. A manifestation of the dark side.

Just imagine. Imagine if Skywalker had been played by Hayden as his character was in the book. Where he was actually getting seriously mentally damaged from a lack of sleep caused by his continual nightmares about his fair (or shall we say dark haired?) lady. Where he couldn't keep track of time due both to this, and to being equally damaged by his conflicting loyalties to his Jedi friends and mentor, and the 'evil mentor' whom Palpatine truly was. Where Skywalker was actually visibly consumed by such overwhelming fear that we could truly sympathise with him despite his arrogance and pride. Where, upon returning to warn Mace about Sidious, he literally collapsed...as he did in the book.

ROTS could have used those really deep, dark, introspective psychological thriller and horror elements...and been an even greater film.

And the office?

Especially if set at night, any single scene which lasts above a certain length (let's say over five minutes) can be seen to be slipping into what I'd describe as this "atmospheric twilight world" of the dark side of psychology. (which might or might not be related to the dark side of the force) So, accordingly, if the office scenes had been as long as they were in the book...

The film would've been longer. It'd have been at least 150-170 minutes long, most likely. But it would be all the greater. To those who like deep psychological stuff such as myself, at least.

 

Alas, It's in the script.

 

He tells Anakin that he has been studying them because the Jedi were hunting down the Sith Lord and he wanted to 'know' the enemy.

Idk if you were implying the answer is in the script :\

 

^ I was joking, it happens because it's in the script.

 

He's Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, it's going to be very grand.
And, oddly enough, it does contain Sith art and artifacts (which the Jedi fail to pick up on)

 

I got the impression that some of the more Sith art pieces were in his inner office and the mural depicting an ancient battle between the Jedi and Sith wasn't necessarily Sith Art but just a piece showing the power of the Force; not saying that one side was better than the other.

And sometimes I wonder if some Jedi would even know what Sith art was if it was right in front of them wearing a neon holo sign with the word Sith in bright red letters.

 

I'll repeat:

the four sages of Dwartii were "controversial law givers" of the Galactic Republic, and were phiosophers,

just because they look like Sith, and some collectibles label them as such does not make them Sith,

Honestly Star Wars have many more labels than "Sith" and "Jedi" you know

 

Pic-heavy post incoming in 3...2...1...

I agree, Stover's dialogue was brilliant. McDiarmid would've rocked it.

IIRC, the scene where Sidious reveals himself takes place at twilight in the book - that atmospheric evening hour when the fading sunlight contrasts sharply with the darkest shadows. There's even a part about Palpatine being a dark shadow against the sunset, with only his gleaming eyes being visible; there's a whole lot of poetic descriptions in that scene. It'd look gorgeous on the screen, for sure. An art-movie or film noir cinematographer could've done visual wonders with that scene.

The duel in the office, and Anakin's turn into Darth Vader, takes place in a thunderstorm in the book. Another obvious missed chance in the film - lightning and thunder always make for a pretty dramatic backdrop, if a bit clichéd at this point.

This is really interesting, now that you mention it, since I have a book of Star Wars concept art, and it seems the concept artists were thinking along the same lines as you. Chiaroscuro shadows are used in the pics of Padme and Anakin, for one. It does seem like the idea of ROTS as a moody atmospheric film, with a lot of visual darkness, was floating around in the designing stage. There's obviously a whole bunch of influences in the ROTS art design, but this Caravaggio-inspired darkness is one that appears a lot.

Since I'm feeling nice today, here's some concept art of Padme and Anakin. Note the chiaroscuro contrasts in all of them, and the Caravaggio-ish deep shadows:




More contrasts with Padme and Anakin, the one in light and the other in black shadow:



Padme standing alone in the twilight, waiting for Anakin's return after Order 66, visuals are pretty similar to the movies of DW Griffith:



Padme and Anakin again, having a lovers' tiff, the pic obviously inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites and especially Alma-Tadema's neo-classicist paintings:



This concept art is really gorgeous and moody as hell, and ROTS would've looked a lot better if the DOP was a more artsy cinematographer, someone like Deschanel, who could really put this stuff on the screen.

It would've made the movie a lot more nerve-wracking and intense, that's for sure. It would've given Anakin's story a vibe of psychological horror. But then again, if the whole thing was acted by Hayden "I don't like sand" Christiansen, maybe it's better left off-screen...

 

Palpatine and me both share the same opinion on color. The color in his office is my favorite color.

 

Tht

That would be brilliant. Come to think of it, I wish that the movie had been remade with the novel's dialogue instead. Too bad Christopher Lee is no longer with us.

 

Same!

 

I thought his office looked awesome also. It's huge as well. This is a little off topic but I always thought it was dangerous to have the Chancellor sit in front of a huge glass window. Like seriously why would you have the most important man in the government right their against a window lol.

 

My favourite part is definitely the art piece on the wall which is apparently called Great Hyperspace War Bas-Relief. I was super happy when I saw a replica of it last year at Star Wars Identities.

 

That is beautiful! What a cool picture!

Yes, his office is certainly a great set- I love all the red.

 

Studying the Sith doesn’t necessarily mean you are a Sith, though yeah Anakin probably should’ve questioned why Palpatine’s telling him about an ancient Sith legend and talking about how both the Jedi and the Sith are similar in every way.