PT Time passage in ROTS

I think I remember reading that it was The Essential Atlas that (if you could read the dating system) first pinned it down to about 8 weeks - can't remember where I read it though.

 

I think it would have been better if Lucas made Padme obviously more pregnant in ROTS. As in, she's struggling to get around. As in, she could go into labor any second. That alone would make Anakin's desperation more warranted and would be a better indicator of the passage of time.

 

I got the impression that they weren't "inducing labor early" but performing a surgical operation - along the lines of a Caesarian:

"We'll have to operate quickly to save the babies"
"Babies?"
"She's carrying twins"

So - they're premature - but not quite so premature as to need an incubator.

 

The only room for time passage is between the end of the Coruscant battle to Obi-wan's departure to Utapau. After that, the rest of the movie (save for the end scenes with the Death Star, Alderaan, and the Lars Homsestead) is just a few days.

 

I would think that the twins were TOO premature, going by what I saw.

I agree with this. The majority of the time passage took place up until Obi-Wan reaches Utapau. I would say the beginning of the movie should be around 3 weeks to a month, with the latter being about 3-4 days. Day 1: Battle of Utapau/Anakin turns/Order 66 commences Day 2: Vader reaches Mustafar/Empire is founded/Separatists slaughtered/Vader injured/twins born Day 3: Vader reconstructed/twins split up/end of film

The beginning just has too many politics going on for me to think it would only be a couple days.

 

At one point they said that RotS or at least until Anakin's turn was nine or so days.

Also remember that Padme's clothes disguise just how far along she is. Even her nightgown at times helps conceal just how far along she is. I felt that they only time she looked like she might be pregnant for twins was at her funeral.

 

Thinking about at what stages time could have progressed, there's not a lot of opportunity tbh...

- Opening crawl to Invisible Hand crash-landing on Coruscant is obviously the same day.
- Next scene with Palpatine and the Jedi being greeted is obviously later that day. Padme and Anakin reunite.
- Anakin and Padme at Padme's apartment I think would be later that night?
- I'm guessing Anakin talks to Yoda about his dream the next day (asap, I could be wrong). He mentions to Obi-Wan in the next scene he was held up (with Yoda). After some suff with Palpatine and the Council, we see Mace,Yoda and Obi-Wan discussing Anakin's new assignment in the evening.
- Is Anakin and Padme talking at her apartment the same evening? And the Opera house the same night?
- After the Opera house any amount of time could pass before we see Yoda on Kashyyyk, but likely one day, as in the meeting Anakin relays the information on Grievous' location he got at the opera house (you would think he would tell them straight away).
- The next morning Obi-Wan visits Padme's apartment (deleted scene). Later, after Obi-Wan leaves for Utapau, Padme comments "He came by this morning", so same day.
- The delegation of 2000 confronting Palpatine (deleted scene) happens at sunset. Most likely the next afternoon Mace's meeting in the Jedi warroom happens (the "I sense a plot" scene).
- By the time of the "turn" scene it is that night.
- I think it could be a number of days from this point.

Some of the stuff I'm not sure of...
- Travel time to Utapau?
- How long is Anakin on Mustafar?
- How long does Vader's construction take?
- How long after Padme's death is her funeral?
- When does Obi-wan get to the Lars homestead.

So, yeah it seems fast. Hmm

 

Granted, Padme doesn't seem to be like a woman who is at the end of her pregnancy, much less with twins. The thing is that we have to remember that the films are now designed to be seen I-IX, and so Padme has to be presented as pregnant but not with twins for those who haven't seen the OT first. Not to mention, she wouldn't be able to hide her pregnancy well if she has trouble walking. So in this case, Lucas does fudge with biology as we define it.

 

Well they show Luke and Leia being named by Padme immediately after birth, so the "let's not spoil the OT" idea is out. But anyways, I still believe the time passage is very short aside from maybe the time between the day after the opening battle to Anakin's appointment on the council by Palpatine.

My main question though related to the events towards the end. Mustafar, the senate building, etc. How long was Vader on Mustafar before Padme and Kenobi arrived, and when did he get there in relation to the senate speech happening at the same time? I like to believe Vader arrived just as the speech was ending, but what else could Vader have done in that time frame? I would imagine too that Palpatine gave Vader all his orders before he left, including orders to shut down the droids, but contacted him again just to reaffirm the order and see for himself the council was dead. Maybe he was busy giving shutdown orders to the remaining CIS forces?

 

You're missing what I'm saying. If you watch I-IX, you see that they are expecting a child, but both believe it to be one child. Not twins. The twins being named means that we will focus on them going forward. If you start with the OT first, then you are introduced to Luke, but you don't know that Vader is his father and that Leia is his sister. That doesn't come out until TESB and ROTJ. This falls under what Lucas said about creating different suspense and narrative factors between one version and another.

Once everyone was dead, Vader just stood outside to wait until it's time to give Sidious an update. Palpatine doesn't give him the order to shut down until they get in touch.

 

The whole film takes place over a few days. There's a line from Obi-Wan in the novel where he thinks to himself.

"Twenty-five thousand years-all of it ashes. Ashes and dust in a single day."

The Jedi Order died in a single night. By the time morning came, the Temple was in ruins and almost every Jedi in the galaxy was dead, gunned down by their own troops or murdered by the hand of a Sith Lord. By the time Yoda and Obi-Wan manage to regroup , it's too late. The Emperor had already won and all the Jedi could do was try and correct their fatal mistake.

 

But order 66 and Knightfall weren't the whole movie. We've already established that that portion happens in relatively rapid succession.