PT The Federation in TPM

Yes. There is definitely all of that. Well-articulated.

There is also the fact that the series tends to portray its bad guys as bumblers; every bit as much as it shows them to be cold and merciless.

If nothing else, there's a sagely reminder being given that big organizations aren't merely ruthless, but incompetent as well. It isn't mere malignity that rules the world; hypocrisy and stupidity have major roles to play.

This patterning within Star Wars was established with the first movie. There we saw that the Empire was run, for the most part, by over-confident bureaucrats, whose own military arm was basically comprised of keystone cops. And they had a planet-killing device that left itself vulnerable with a fatal flaw -- the "good" characters' exploitation of which became the dramatic climax of the movie.

Anyway, the battle droids are, indeed, like marionettes; or wind-up toys; or super-sized stick insects. Bugs, basically. While the droidekas are more like porcupines or armadillos. Tough mo-fos. The super battle droids, though -- I can't place those.

I guess I like the trifecta of combat droids used by the TF. The Neimoidians may be a little dopey, but they're not without their tougher aspects. In fact, rather like the harder droids, when they're not speaking, what they do is actually quite scary. The reach of their power. And how this ultimately plays into, and pales, next to the Sith.

It shouldn't also be dismissed that the Neimoidians are also aliens. Aliens with the same sort of weaknesses and flaws of the human beings of the story (or those at the same level of power); but also perhaps designed to seem -- to biased, prejudicial human eyes -- a little more goofy (at least in some of their mannerisms) than they might actually be to others in the galaxy. They're played a bit campy to test our perceptions and throw us. Nothing more complicated than perception. Or in the words of a hippie Jedi Master: "Your focus determines your reality."

Lastly, the careful interleaving of the TF into all three prequel installments is one of the things I enjoy about the PT quite a bit, personally. Lucas doesn't overplay his "phantom menace" adversaries (pun intended), but you know they're still around with the grace notes the artist uses to announce their continued presence. My own appraisal is that they bring a pleasing poetic through-line to the archly-political storyline.

That's a good observation. Everyone in that Mustafar control room, in fact, is basically a stooge of Palpatine's -- even the guy who comes to "take care" of them.

Somehow, it's like, from the very start, their destinies are yoked together.

Aside from the fact that Lucas was probably teasing, the name is probably taken -- in part -- from Mandarin. For example:

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nei_Mongol

This is consistent with various other references to China and the East that permeate the saga, some of which can be found in the names of major characters (e.g., HAN Solo, QUI-GON Jinn).

BTW, note that that link states that "nei", in Mandarin, means "inner, inside, internal", and there you have the sort of esoteric meaning that exemplifies a rich dialectic within Star Wars concerning inner/outer, cores, outer rims, caves, peripheries, and so on. Yes, even in the sublimated psycho-sexual sense of birth canals (Kaminoan and Geonosian architecture), and other sorts of passageways, holes, sockets, dwellings, etc.

 

There is an interesting sub-plot that was deleted in ANH that would fit perfectly with the PT and the Trade Federation. In the deleted scene where Biggs comes back to tell Luke he is going to join the rebels, he also warns Luke that the Empire is nationalizing (taking over) trade in the core systems. Biggs fears that one day that everyone, even Uncle Owen will become serfs for the Empire, that the Empire will sezie ownership of everything. That would be such a great irony that the Trade Federation was helping a man (Sids) who promised them free trade, but were really helping a man (Palps) who would sweep away free enterprise altogether.

 

Even back then, the established backstory was that the various commerce guilds had aided and abetted Palpatine in his rise to power. So you could say the irony was already there.

In fact, in TESB Lando mentions that there exists a Mining Guild which he implies has become simply another arm of the Empire. In fact, that's the whole reason Lando is forced into making a deal with the Empire--he's been evading the Empire's legal right to place regulations on his mining colony. Intergalactic trade politics has always been a part of the fabric of Star Wars.

 

Atleast the nemoidans had some character. After ANH the imperial general just become way to bland for my taste.

 

Yes, I noticed this comment about trade recently in that Anchorhead deleted scene. Shows that issues surrounding trade, the market, and government were in Lucas's mind from the outset. (Although I feel it was the right choice to delete that scene, if it--or part of it--had been included in ANH from the beginning then maybe there wouldn't be as many people complaining about the trade/committee issues in the PT…).

 

I think I first heard the Trade Federation months and months before TPM.
My hopes were not much but I was fascinated by this new organization I knew nothing about.
My initial reaction was loathing and hate. I hated these villains and not in a good way. I thought Lucas making them pawns who were played so easily was weak.
What I think now is much the same except for one important thing: they were pawns who were easily played by Sidious but that was only because he was the real villain of the film, not the federation. Lucas knew he couldn't make the TF too formidable because they were there to be used by Palps so he could gain power. That was their point.

They were a good addition and I'm glad they are a part of the SW universe.

 

I think the federation leaders are really entertaining to watch and i loved the overall design of the the ships and droids. My only problem was that I wished the vehicles they were utilised a bit more in the later films. Their Tanks,Speeders and Transports didn't stick around long enough for me to form a connection like I have with the Empire's selection. I feel like they built this big army and federation to be the PT's version of the Empire only for most of the designs to be replaced by crab droids,new flagships,spider walker things, and other objects that had very little screen time. I don't know if it makes sense to others but its how i feel.

 

I think Lucas wanted to make a distinction between the Trade Federation and the CIS.

 

I understand that there is a distinction that had to be their for Lucas's story. I just wanted consistency in the movies that the tv shows had for the federation.

 

The Trade Federation is a very interesting group in the Star Wars universe, and one that I felt (from the very first viewing) directly reflects (or what Lucas thought reflects) the status of our politics for the past 50+ years.

In much of Lucas's early writings for A New Hope, he stated that the Emperor's rise to power was promoted by bureaucrats and powerful trader barons. So it's easy to see where the origins of the Trade Federation came from. However, it is also important to note that Lucas's early thoughts were that these bureaucrats and trader barons were the real power behind the Empire, and the Emperor had become a puppet. (as seen in the prologue for the Star Wars novel). Obviously as Lucas started getting into ESB and ROTJ, he changed the Emperor from being a puppet, to that of being the single ruler of the Empire. However, it is clear that Lucas stuck with the theme that the Empire was built (in part) from the greed of powerful trader barons.

The Trade Federation, to me, is symbolic of many of our current governments (U.S., U.K. etc etc) where powerful corporations, unions, or special interest groups have too much influence (using lobbying organizations) within politics and can shape legislation to their benefit, instead of the benefit of the people. This falls in line with the 60's and 70's political view of Lucas where A New Hope started as an allegory for the Vietnam War, where he probably felt the Military Industrial Complex was influencing politicians into the Vietnam War.

The Trade Federation is the Star Wars Universes equivalent to Halliburton, the Teamsters, etc etc. The Trade Federation has a seat in the Galactic Senate, even though they are not a planetary system, they are a business. We know that they have control of the bureaucrats within the Senate as stated by Palpatine when he whispers to Queen Amidala that it is the bureaucrats who have the real power, and that they are on the payroll of the Trade Federation. The Trade Federation, through the bureaucrats is able to steer legislation to it's benefit as evidenced when they are able to push Queen Amidala's plea for help into a committee.

So TPM sets up for us that the Trade Federation, while not the big bad of the Prequels, is a organization that is primary source of the corruption within the Republic that will rot it from the inside out, and that Palpatine uses to his advantage.

I do not see the Trade Federation as being totally inept. They are greedy, a type of single minded greed. This makes them an easy target for someone that is more ambitious. The Trade Federation leaders clearly know they are playing a dangerous game when they made their deal with a Sith Lord. However, their greed drives them, and the realization is that they are all in and have no way to back out...

They know they are being used, to a point, and accept this because there is a benefit to it that will result in a big payday for them. They obviously do not know just to what extent Sidious was using them, but, they entered the bargain knowing full well that they were being used, and their greed caused them to take a gamble.

This is part of why I love the Prequels, Lucas could have easily started out the prequels with storm troopers, and at-at's, tie fighters etc etc and given some fans what they wanted, a re-hash of the OT. Instead he made the prequels their own story. Instead of making the big bad's an established force in which our good guys are openly fighting, he made them a secretive organization feeding off the greed of others, in a corrupt political arena, which is thick with symbolism of our own world governments and how they operate. I am thankful for that!

 

When you first saw TPM, did you expect Gunray to survive or did you expect him to be "the Tarkin" and die in TPM?

 

There's an interesting parallel there. If Maul is TPM's analog to Vader, Gunray's its Tarkin. Instead of killing Gunray and letting Maul live, the opposite happens: the Sith dies, and the civilian villain survives until the end of the trilogy.

 

I enjoyed the TF thoroughly. Great characters, showing the right fear, cowardliness and also the heartlessness. It was an interesting amalgamation and could only come from the mind of GL who would dare take that chance. I had no expectations at all quite frankly. Maybe that helped, but at the same time I think GL knew what would work for kids too. I would be really interested to know the pov of any SW fan who were say 10 - 12 years old watching.

Lastly, my personal favourite thing, I got a kick out of Nute's head dress with the "Nosferatu" emblems.



MJ

 

I was a child when TPM came out, and I absolutely love the Trade Federation. Gunray works fantastically as the villain you love to hate, all slimy and cowardly. I remember, while watching TPM in VHS I always cheered on Panaka`s "I think you can kiss your trade franchise goodbye", which clearly depicted their defeat. Until AOTC provedPanaka wrong, showing that he was still running around with his job and his franchise, albeit less influential. I`m really glad he was brought back for AOTC and ROTS, even if he was no longer the main villain like in TPM. He was very well replaced though, as Dooku is one of the most compelling characters in the franchise.

My cheering for his defeat in TPM also proved to be kind of ironic though, since I kind of pity his fate in ROTS. He kind o fserves as the analog to free trade in the PT: in TPM, he has much autonomy and influence, and he takes advantage of his license through law breachs and corruption. But his importance gradually diminishes until he is cornered in a hellish Outer Rim world, with no choice or future, ordered to death by an oppressive government. Free trade suffers a similar fate, as Palpatine concentrates power on himself and eliminates pretty much every corportation head in wiping out the Separatist Council.

Also, I believe that in AOTC he wears the Nosferatu symbol in his chest.

 

The Trade Federation were not the bad guys in TPM.

 

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Hey thanks. I was always confident that GL knows how to appeal to the child in all of us and that's why I respect him as a genius filmmaker. He has the knack of insight into a child's psychology I dare to say.

Cheers D.

MJ

 

I think George`s greatest quality is that he is able to make us see his universe with a child`s sense of wonder. I suspect that we end up caring and admiring so much of SW because George himself creates them with the same sense of wonder. Much like Walt, it`s a situation of an inner child making something for other people`s inner childs, no matter their actual ages. At least that`s how I always saw it.

My only problem with Nute a that he doesn`t keep his original hat. I loved TPM Nute`s hat. Also, TPM Haako face is the best out of the bunch. It`s amazing that despite being alien creatures not at all similar to us, we can completely distinguish between Nute and Rune`s facial features.

 

I was happy with the TF when I first seen them. I thought they were interesting and not what I had expected to see after only being exposed to the OT before. I was happy that Lucas brought in some new elements to start the new trilogy back then. I really didn't want to see a rehash of imperial style bad guys. It really makes the Empire that much stronger when the villain's of the PT play out. Not that the PT villain's were bad to or anything mind you. But it gives a greater sense of evilness that the Empire truly was.

Back to the TF. They were a great species addition to the SW universe. And I find it funny that the TF made a deal with a Sith, that they even knew it was a Sith way before the Jedi themselves knew about the return of the Sith. But it shows how the TF were able to keep secrets safe.

 

The TF were really the distraction villains of Episode One. Lucas had to create a surface villain and that was the TF. But they were not the real villains of the piece. Not in my opinion anyway. The Sith are the real ones but they were largely in the shadows. The TF were the fall guys.

 

I disagree. They are the central villains, in the sense that the heroes` objective is to surrender Gunray. Killing Darth Maul was irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, they had to capture Gunray to win the day.

Of course, Gunray answered to Sidious, but so did every other main villain in the saga (Dooku, Tarkin and Vader).

 

Yes and Sidious, the Sith Lord, was the real villain. The Federation were just puppets for the real villain to maneuver and control.

 

I'd go ahead and say that the Trade Federation share main villain status in this movie (TPM), given the point Defensor made and also the influence that the TF has over the plots of the next two movies despite Gunray being relegated to background status.