Anakin's accidental saving of the day - how would you redo it?

The thing that always bugged me the most about TPM (well, if not the most, then it's up there) is pretty much everything that happens in the third act involving Anakin. In fact, I vividly remember watching the PM trailer way back when, and loving every second of it, but upon seeing a clip of Anakin in the cockpit during the space battle, I said "If they stick that little kid in the middle of a crazy space battle, I'm gonna be pissed."

At any rate, from the moment they get on Padme's cruiser and head back to Naboo to fight the Trade Federation, I think the whole thing needed to be reconceived. For starters, I do not believe for one second that Qui Gonn would have taken a small child to a heated battle. It's just inconsisent writing, in terms of Qui Gonn's character, and very contrived...i.e. Lucas wanted Anakin to save the day like Luke, so he needed him to be at that battle, and he couldn't think of another way, so he went against Qui Gonn's established personality and had him bring the kid along. I'm sorry, Qui Gonn would never bring a kid to a war. It's irresponsible, and dangerous. Qui Gonn was rebellious, but not quick to endanger the life of an inncocent. I mean, Qui Gonn was very protective of Anakin, as we saw in the way that he was the only one who stuck up for him, and would want him to be safe...and safety is something you cannot guarantee in a battle, even if you're a Jedi. Sure, you could say that Padawans go on missions with their maters all the time, but at that stage, Anakin was not even officially accepted as a Jedi, much less a Padawan...he was basically a Youngling, and they don't leave the Temple at all. And yes, Qui Gonn was in charge of Anakin, and had no place to leave him, but I'm sure that arrangements coulda been made. I don't care what you say, there's no way anyone would bring a kid to a battle, and then tell him to stay in the open cockpit of a fighter because it was "safe." If anything, he would want the kid to be near him at all times. Not to mention that the fighter was obviously ready to take off, seeing as all the other planes were doing the same...not to mention that there was blaster fire and killer droids everywhere, and Anakin was sitting in a giant gasoline filled plane that was made of metal and electrical parts. Safe? Not quite. Then there's the fact that no one even questions Qui Gonn's decision to bring Anakin to said war at all. They just accept it blindly. It was all just too unrealistic. I know that some of you will try and explain it away by saying that Qui Gonn could sense what was gonna happen, and he knew that Anakin wasn't gonna be in danger. MMM...no, sorry, can't buy that one either, because we never even get the smallest smidget of a hint of such a thing, visually or via dialogue. And one can only imply, or try to fill in the blanks, so much before coming to the realization that it's a stretch. And, I know, it's Star Wars, you're supposed to suspend your disbelief. And trust me, I usually have no problem in suspending my disbelief, I have a very vivid imagination, and nothing really takes me out of the SW world when I watch those movies, but that Anakin Third Act stuff in TPM is just TOO unbelievable for me. I see it as uninventive writing, to tell you the truth.

I mean, everything in that sequence is just very contrived: Anankin hiding in the cockpit of that conveniently wide open fighter, being led to the battle on autopilot, performing complex flight maneuvers on a whim ("Let's try spinning, that's a neat trick"), and worst of all, him randomly pressing buttons and blowing things up, INCLUDING the main control ship, and thus, accidentally saving the day. We as an audience can buy one major coincidence, maybe two, but like five in a row is too much too swallow. Then there's the fact that we already had an accidental battle sequence with Jar Jar...was there really the need for two? Jar Jar is the comic relief, so his accidental battle scene is more acceptable...Anakin is our main character, so we want him to win using his skill, this great skill as a pilot and

 

I wouldn't redo it.



Anakin is a slave
/LM

 

Well I don't really have a problem with it, but for the sake of this topic, things I might have done differently:

1) Not have Anakin fumble around for the trigger. He could have set the ship in motion and took out the destroyers without it being a fluke, but still have the ship on auto-pilot that takes him to the battle.

2) When he has crashed inside the hanger, have R2 relay to him that the ships reactor core is right in front of them or something so Anakin knows what he is doing when he fires the missles (he did overhear the plan to take out the ship anyway, so he could have figured out destroying the core would do that)

 

2) When he has crashed inside the hanger, have R2 relay to him that the ships reactor core is right in front of them or something so Anakin knows what he is doing when he fires the missles (he did overhear the plan to take out the ship anyway, so he could have figured out destroying the core would do that)

I like that. It would have mirrored Luke destroying the Death Star much, much more than it already does.

 

The only thing that I would change are some of the lines that he says. "Now this is podracing." That line always bugged me. As did his "I'll try spinning..." line. They seemed to unreal for me.

 

I'd cut the cutesy moments, ya... that sorta stuff. But most importantly, I would give Anakin some type of reward after he saves the day... perhaps HAVING HIS MOTHER FREEEEED FROM SLAVERY.

Anakin got so screwed in the end. R2 gets a nice hot oil bath and Anakin gets squat.

 

He got a new haircut.



Some people were born ungrateful
/LM

 

I didn't mind Anakin flying a fighter at the end of the movie. I think Georg could have reworked some of dialogue as other posters have mentioned, and I would have liked to see Anakin get into a dogfight with Trade Federation battle droids to showcase his piloting skills a bit more. As for Anakin torpedoing the Control ship reactor, the book makes it quite clear that Anakin was being guided the Force when this happened.

 

"As for Anakin torpedoing the Control ship reactor, the book makes it quite clear that Anakin was being guided the Force when this happened."

Yes Chancellor Ewok, I read the book too, and I think it says a lot that even the author of the PM novelization felt that Anakin using the Force to win the day was a better dramatic choice than having him win by accident, and thus, implemented that factor into the novel. And that is why the novelizations of both prequels are better than the movies, because they flesh all the characters and situations out more. But I digress.

At any rate, we're not talking about the novels, we're talking about the movies. From that mindset, we have to go with what is shown to us, and the movie in no way shape or form demonstrates that Anakin uses the Force to blow up the ship, visually or via dialogue. Anakin was clearly just pressing buttons, and one happened to be the torpedo trigger, which happened to launch a torpedo that blew up the ship. No, there are no allusions in the film to Anakin using the Force to save the day at all, it's not even something that can be implied, because of the way that the scene is shot, edited, and performed. Even a throwaway line from someone at the end (Palpatine, Yoda, anyone) like : "How'd you do it son?" "Well, i dunno, I just sort of saw the weak spot in my head..." woulda sufficed. No matter what, your hero should never win the day by accident. It is not dramatically satisfying, which is why I have a problem with it.

 

I don't know, maybe it was my eyes playing tricks again.In the movie, I thought, I saw a shadow of something spinning, when they cut to the part of him shooting the droids, right before he took the shot. If there was a faint glimmer, than a person can see that it wasn't an accident,that the force gave him some insight prior of shooting the missles. Then when he said,"I missed", and flew out of the Control Ship before it blew up, not relizing what had just happened and not seeing and understanding that the force showed him the way. Like I said, it might have been my eyes. I just rewatched it here a few days ago, and I am still not for sure.
But, you all have made great points. Though I wouldn't have change very much. Like several have said,"Why take a child to a battle?" That I agree, it was stupid to take him to Naboo.

 

The scenes doesn't bother me at all. I like it the way it is. The only thing I might change is the tone of the earlier scenes. Where's the ingenius boy pilot we saw from the race? The one who, once he focused, was blind to everything but his ship and his flight path? There's an almost inhuman reflex to Anakin's abilities in the pod race, and I kinda missed that in the final space battle.

 

How about not making the film at all. TPM is irrelevant and a complete failure.

CRH

Strilo edit: How about not trolling? You post is irrelevant and a complete failure.

 

"How about not making the film at all. TPM is irrelevant and a complete failure."

Wow, such insightful analysis...no wait, thats not analysis, its spam, and a violation of the TOS.

Personally, Id have him just notice the the reactor and choose to fire at it, but it doesnt particularly bother me.

 

Typical response from gl cool-aid drinkers.

CRH

Strilo edit: Flaming.... good idea...

 

TPM was NOT a failure by any means. I rank it up there as being just as good if not BETTER than ANH & ROTJ. If Anakin had had something else to do other than blow up the TF Core Ship at the end, it would surely >ANH, as well as ROTJ.

 

"Typical response from gl cool-aid drinkers."

Wait a second, if I criticise you for for making a trollish comment with no relation to topic in question thats clearly against the rules of these forums, Im somehow a "GL cool-aid drinker?" Oh and what the hell is a "GL cool-aid drinker" anyway?

 

TPM was NOT a failure by any means. I rank it up there as being just as good if not BETTER than ANH & ROTJ. If Anakin had had something else to do other than blow up the TF Core Ship at the end, it would surely >ANH, as well as ROTJ.

I agree, for a first installment, Ep.I was pretty good.

 

Strilo edit: He called you a troll because YOU TROLLED. I don't care how long you've been here, a trolling post is a trolling post.

 

"My response was relevant to this post because TPM was a piece of crap."

The topic is called:

Anakin's accidental saving of the day - how would you redo it?

You didnt even make an attempt to answer this question, what you said was completly off topic.

"It is funny that you call me a troll since I have been here since '02."

So being here for a long time automatically disqualifies you from being able to make trollish comments? Im really not seeing how that works.

"You are proving my point by defending GL and accepting what ever he puts out as if he can do no wrong. I do not. I call it as I see them."

Honestly, Id think that kind of pathetic arrogance was a joke if I hadnt seen so much of it on these boards. Basically what you are saying here is that your opinion is automatically fact, and anyone who disagrees is what, blind to the truth? Or are we all just lying because we're do desperate to defend a man we've never met? In fact you'll notice I wasnt even defending the film, I was just pointing out that what you said has no relation to the topic, and then you insulted me for doing so.

 

Well for the sake of this topic, frankly Anakin didn't have to say "this one, oops wrong one, maybe it is this one", especially when he supposedly can "
catch on pretty quick". With that said, however, Anakin is a anti-hero, and an accidental moment, which saves the Naboo lives which to me sounds like the right thing (for GL) to have done.

 

I'd have it more apparent that he's using the Force. I picture him closing his eyes, repeating Qui-gon's words to himself as he does it all manually, and letting the Force guide his actions. Where he destroys the reactor and flies out of there in a tranquil state of peace. When he gets out and clear of the explosion, he opens his eyes and has this look of peace on his face.

 

He is 9 years old for God's sake! Don't ask him to be rationnal, do some sort of mental force trick while he is in space dogfighting for the first time... That's nonsense. The force guided the kid he is without him really knowing it.

 

Yeah, he's just "The Chosen One."

 

You may roll your eyes but Lucas DID intend to draw a comparison between Luke and Anakin.

Anakin did it PURELY by instinct. They talked about it throughout the movie.. in fact Qui-Gon TOLD him to Race that way.

Luke, in comparison... did it intentionaly, as a CHOICE. Even though Luke relied on his instincts to listen to the voice, he made a choice.

Luke would make his FIRST rational choice by refusing the Emperors command to kill Vader.

 

That's what I posted, Anakin doing it all by instinct. To feel, not think, and let the Force be his guide.