PT Prequel Trilogy Villain Was a Lost Opportunty!?!

I'm not one to bash the PT as generally I liked it. However, there are a few things that I wish were handled differently that may have been the difference in the way those films were received by the general audience. The role of villain in the PT is probably the biggest of these things.....

One recurring theme in Star Wars films is the introduction of a new villain in each film. This new villain was obviously a "secondary" villain to Vader and Palpatine, but served a purpose in moving the story forward. Although this was essentially intact in the PT, I have always felt that Darth Maul was a huge missed opportunity for greatness in the PT, but not just because he was killed in Ep I.

As Maul was introduced to us i Ep I, many of us had a similar reaction to meeting Boba Fett in ESB. Here we are given a mysterious and cool new bad guy, and when he got cut down by Obi-Wan, we had the the same feeling as we did for Boba Fett in ROTJ. A seemingly wasted character.

Fast forward to Ep II. Obi-Wan arrives on Kamino and we get the Sifo-Dyas tease. When Obi called back to Yoda and explains what he has learned, I immediately thought of Maul. The timeline is PERFECT for Sifo-Dyas to have been Darth Maul. The Kaminoans tell Obi that Sifo-Dyas ordered the clones ten years ago, but Obi was under the impression that Sifo-Dyas was killed earlier than that. This would mean that Sifo-Dyas "died" prior to the events of Ep I, leaving the perfect opportunity for him to disappear from the Jedi Order and become a Sith Apprentice under Darth Sidious. If he left the Jedi Order to become a Sith under the Rule of Two, he would need to change his appearance, hence the tattoos. In my mind, I was convinced that we would find out in Ep III that Sifo-Dyas was Darth Maul. Much to my dismay, we never heard of Sifo-Dyas again.

Now skip to Ep III. We meet Gen. Grievous, another pretty cool secondary Star Wars villain. Grievous was a cyborg, giving us a little precursor to Darth Vader. The only living parts of Grievous were his brain, eyes, and heart, all kept living my an awesome mechanical menace. His big Ep III showdown with Obi-Wan was cool, but how awesome could it have been if during that duel, Gen. Grievous revealed to Obi-Wan that he was in fact Sifo-Dyas, and that he had left the Jedi Order to become a Sith as Darth Maul, and would now have revenge on Obi-Wan for imprisoning him in this armor! This would have made huge changes in the perception of that battle, making it a vendetta, but also would have tied together the PT episodes in an area that was left awkwardly hanging.

Darth Maul dying in Ep I seemed like a waste.

The Sifo-Dyas revelation in Ep II could in many ways have been the "I am you father" moment of the PT, but we were left hanging.

Gen Grievous seemed like he should have been more important to the story than he was in Ep III.

If they were all the same guy, the PT would have seem totally different in a lot of ways.

Maul=Sifo-Dyas=Gen Grievous=Better PT

Call me crazy.......

 

You're crazy.

J/K. Seriously though, I thought the villains were kind of a high point to the PT. You got Maul, Christopher Lee as Dooku, then Grievous. You are correct, they are all very much built-up then so easily dispatched. A "rotating door" of villainy, if you will. I suppose that was their purpose in the story though. They were all just stepping stones to the real baddie Palps was after. I guess the silver lining in it was that we knew Vader was coming and these evil-doers were about to be very much overshadowed.

I thought the whole mystery of Sifo-Dyas was going to be explored in ROTS and there'd be a big reveal. Nope. Had to discover what the deal was through EU/novelization. This was one of many opportunities lost in the PT.

 

Dont get me wrong, the villains as they were, were cool, and I agree that they very well may have been the high point of the PT. My popint was more to say that there was certainly a punch missing from the overall story as well as loose ends that should have been addressed. Thats not to say that I'm one of those guys who wants everything explained, but glaring holes are different. Kinda like if we got "I am your father" in ESB, and it wasn't mentioned again in ROTJ. I'm sure if that was the case people here would be arguing over if it was true or not, why it was said, and of course, those who would say "Vader was just trying to manipulate Luke......."

 

I don't see where are those "glaring holes". The reason for why Maul was similar to Boba Fett as far as "coolness" goes, is because he was treated as the silent and effective villain and shown in small doses. If they were going to explore Maul as a full-fledged character, it would take away some of his appeal. I don't see him as a "huge missed opportunity for greatness" because he was already great on the opportunity he was given. I'm glad we got Maul, Dooku and Grievous as separate villains. Not only are they unique and iconic characters (proof of Lucas' creative mind), but also represent symbolic clues for the character of Vader.

That and we got Christopher Lee as a Sith Lord, which makes any possible reasoning moot by default.

 

The only thing I'm calling a glaring hole is the mention and lack of follow up of Sifo-Dyas, not the characters. I do like the villains separately, and Lee is awesome!

I guess my general point is that something was missing.

 

When you have figured out exactly what that is, PM me and I'll consider reopening this.