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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

PT The "Darth Sidious is really Palpatine" Surprise

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by enigmaticjedi, Feb 6, 2015.

  1. PCCViking

    PCCViking 5X Wacky Wednesday & 4x Hangman Winner star 10 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2014

    Maybe the twist was that Jar Jar was the one responsible for Palpatine getting the emergency powers. ;)
     
  2. Drewdude91

    Drewdude91 Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    May 21, 2011
    If you pay close attention in TPM, the balcony Sidious and Maul are walking on in Coruscant when he tells Maul to kill the Jedi and capture the Queen is the balcony of Palpatine's apartment that he meets with the Queen in. Obviously, it's a detail that a casual viewer would miss, but it's not like it's a hidden easter egg or anything.

    And of course, there's the zoom in to Palpatine after Windu and Yoda discuss the Sith Lord.

    These make it appear to me as though they want it to be a surprise, but they know it won't be a surprise for hardcore fans.
     
  3. Ditolus

    Ditolus Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 22, 2005
    didnt u ever wonder why the same actor played the emperor in jedi and the senator/chancellor in ep 1 and 2?
     
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  4. Darthcharlton

    Darthcharlton Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Mar 8, 2015
    I have a hard time understanding how there were people didn't catch on to at least the ending with the close up of palpatine. If it was supposed to be a secret, I can't imagine how Lucas would think his audience would not see the link. However, I was one of those who fell into the plot twist theories because I thought it was so obvious that it had to be a trick, so when rots came out I was disappointed. I really thought there would be some big reveal like in empire. I will admit though that some of the theories were really out there and didn't make sense.
     
  5. redlightning

    redlightning Jedi Knight star 4

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    Feb 1, 2014
    I didn't have a copy of ROTJ for a few years yet.
     
  6. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    Darth Sidious is The Emperor. Palpatine is The Emperor. Therefore, Palpatine is Darth Sidious.
     
  7. Darthcharlton

    Darthcharlton Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Mar 8, 2015
    Yeah, it was quite simple. However, I never could understand how there were people understood that Palpatine was the emperor but were unaware of Palpatine being sidious.
     
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  8. Fruit Pastilles

    Fruit Pastilles Jedi Master star 3

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    Dec 21, 2014
    I just finished showing my 8-year-old sister the films for the first time, and she really enjoyed them. As well as that, all the twists were well-preserved. We first watched the OT films, and she loved those, and then the PT. Despite this, she didn't really figure out that Palpatine was Sidious, but she would say that Sidious reminded her of the Emperor a lot, and would ask me. I'd just say no or I don't know. We just finished watching ROTS, and I'm surprised she didn't figure out Palps was Sidious though. She was surprised at that. She was very shocked in a good way when she saw that Palpatine was the Emperor too.

    If she was older, she would've most likely caught on to it, but at her age, nope. Seems to be the best age to watch SW. You can understand the story reasonably well, and also appreciate the films, but not spoil things for yourself.
     
  9. Ananta Chetan

    Ananta Chetan Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 2013
    Let's all become 8 again...assuming most of us haven't already. :p
     
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  10. Sudooku

    Sudooku Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 31, 2014
    Damn! They really had to use a lot of make-up that Sidious is finally looking like the chancellor on the right foto.[face_laugh]

    I was one who didn't catch at the first glimpse too.[face_blush]

    Last year I saw all the six parts of the PT and OT within a few days: I had some quarrels with my husband about what trilogy to see first. My husband wanted me to see the OT first to catch a glimpse of the original star-wars-feeling he got almost 40 years before, while watching the first part of the OT. But I wanted to see the PT first to get the chronological order. And I did as I wanted.:)

    When I finished the prequels I was thinking at first that Darth Sidious was just a pretender to be Palpatine while the real Palpatine was already killed or taken prisoner at a forlorn Planet where nobody will ever find him when the Jedi won't rescue him one day. It took a while till my husband convinced me that there is no other "real" Palpatine but Palpatine and Sidious are just one and the same person.:eek:
     
  11. Sudooku

    Sudooku Jedi Master star 4

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    May 31, 2014
    After watching it the second time I also was realizing that the camera went a bit to long upon the chancellor's face. But while seeing the funeral scene for the first time I was so occupied with mourning the loss of Darth Maul. :mad:So that tiny detail just slipped off my attention.
     
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  12. Dark Ferus

    Dark Ferus Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Jul 29, 2016
    I took it as dramatic irony. The audience knows that Chancellor Palpatine is Darth Sidious, but the main characters, the Jedi, do not. This creates tension, making the audience root for the Jedi, or more specifically Anakin, to figure it out.
     
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  13. rumsmuggler

    rumsmuggler Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2000
    I was rooting for the Sith in ROTS. If the Jedi are too stupid and blind to realize that the chancellor is a Sith until it's too late to do anything, then they needed to be nearly wiped out.
     
  14. Sepra

    Sepra Force Ghost star 5

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    Jan 14, 2016
    The Palpatine reveal is like the movie equivalent of a Palindrome, or those magic eye things where depending on your perspective it looks totally different, and I think that's the real genius of what was done here.

    I knew Palpatine was Sidious from the get go, so some of the comments were funny or ironic or filled me with dread. But recently I showed 1-3 to someone almost totally naive and she really didn't get it until around the Opera Scene and it was a fantastic twist. So depending on how you watch, the resonance is very different but still there and I think that's incredible.
     
  15. Dark Ferus

    Dark Ferus Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 29, 2016
    When I say the Jedi, I mostly mean Anakin. But yes, the Jedi council was pretty dumb.
     
  16. rumsmuggler

    rumsmuggler Chosen One star 7

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    Aug 31, 2000
    I'm aware of who you meant, but you left it open to the Jedi as a whole as well.
     
  17. Dark Ferus

    Dark Ferus Chosen One star 8

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    Jul 29, 2016
    My bad.
     
  18. darth-sinister

    darth-sinister Manager Emeritus star 10 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 28, 2001

    I'm going to quote you the next time someone says that the reveal was too obvious to anyone with half a brain.
     
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  19. Sepra

    Sepra Force Ghost star 5

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    Jan 14, 2016
    Yeah, I think the idea is that no one is so naive to Star Wars that they don't know Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader. But some people really are, and it does come out of left field for them.

    It was amazing watching it through her eyes. Like a totally different saga.
     
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  20. Kuro

    Kuro Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 17, 2015
    Honestly, it was pretty obvious. The fact that it’s the same actor, the fact that the camera pans over to him at the end of THE PHANTOM MENACE when Yoda and Samuel L. Jackson are discussing the Sith, the fact that he seems to gain more and more power whenever the Sith start stirring things up, that shot at the end of ATTACK OF THE CLONES where he watches all the Stormtroopers board the Star Destroyers as “The Imperial March” plays. It’s not exactly subtle.
     
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  21. theMaestro

    theMaestro Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2015
    I was 7 when I saw TPM in theaters and, watching it then, I had absolutely no idea that Palpatine was going to become the Emperor. But the funny thing is that the VHS for TPM spoiled this plot point in its description on the back cover: "...and Palpatine, well known as the evil Emperor, is an ambitious Senator in the Galactic Republic". So by the time I saw AOTC, I already knew what was up.

    As for the Sidious reveal, I kind of suspected that it might just end up being the Emperor/Palpatine. But I wasn't 100% sure since the name "Sidious" had never been used in the OT. Additionally, I remember reading some wild theories (on these very forums, I believe) about how Sidious was a clone of Palpatine and a whole bunch of other crazy things which made me really question my earlier guess and got me thinking that it couldn't really be that simple. Turns out it really was that simple and people were just overthinking it lol
     
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  22. rumsmuggler

    rumsmuggler Chosen One star 7

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    Aug 31, 2000
    No worries.
     
  23. 2K-D2

    2K-D2 Jedi Youngling star 2

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    Aug 4, 2016
    Palpatine could barely contain his power lust in that "I'll win" scene, which was the main reason why I was suspecting it was gonna be some weird space thing - clone, alter ego, evil twins, no idea.

    His being shady and having some connection to Sidious was obvious, but it seemed to imply he wasn't quite him, or something. Who knows... maybe that had been the original plan for the plot?


    Then, the German dub didn't help at all, Sidious got a deep villain voice (probably inspired by the hologram distortion), and Palpatine kind of a mellow "tenor" that could be described as a cross between Season 1 Littlefinger and HP7 Voldemort... I'll post if can think of a better comparison lmao, but yea.

    Then II and III screwed up, and used the latter voice for the entire character, even as he was all wrinkly and evil... what a hackjob [face_pig]
    Saw the ending of AOTC and was like "wait now I definitely thing they're the same", yea that's cause the voice sounded exactly the same :rolleyes:
     
  24. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    "Sidious" in the scene where he talks to Maul on the balcony has the exact same voice as "The Emperor" in ROTJ.
     
  25. Conkhead_12

    Conkhead_12 Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2016
    Star Wars is a trap.
    Who saw PT first will never experience the I am your father reveal.
    Who saw OT first will never experience Sidious//Palpatine reveal.
     
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