Full Series Anyone else annoyed by Padme's character

Reminds me of the days of season one Ahsoka. Ah, memories.

 

I'm so glad that this topic was created! Though Padme's character doesn't necessarily annoy me, her voice does. Her voice is the only negative thing that I have to say about The Clone Wars in general.

While I don't mind Padme's actions whatsoever (I loved Senate Murders), and I really enjoyed her character (and Natalie Portman ) in the PT, I loathe Catherine Taber's interpretation of her. I like virtually every single thing about the Clone Wars, and have been easily impressed by it. The one thing that I can't let slide, is Padme's voice. I mean, the actors for Obi-Wan and Anakin sound just like their PT counterparts, why can't Padme? If they kicked Taber off the cast list, I would rejoice.

 

It's funny so many people aren't pleased with Cat Taber. I think she does a fine job. I agree she isn't spot on, but for me, she captures the feel of Padme, which is something I would say for most of the cast (and I don't mean this in a bad way at all). The great James Arnold Taylor adds a bit of swagger to his Obi-Wan, which I love. I think Cat Taber focuses on adding that bit of royal edge to her character.

My only complaint is the music. It's not that I just don't find it good, but he's rejected Williams' use of leitmotif and giving characters their own theme music. But that's for another thread. lol

 

Well, I like Padme in the series, especially since she's more active and personable than her movie appearances. I liked her usage in Bombad Jedi and, believe it or not, Senate Spy, whatever my personal feelings about the episode itself. XD
I'm a little miffed by her tendency to get involved in so many important (and violent) events, though, as if there weren't any other Senators or pacifists out there. Aaaaand at times, her idealistic stance can get taken to rather ridiculous places.

Still, I can admire her dedication to her convictions and ideals. I just can't forgive how readily the writers throw her into warzones and thrilling action sequences where she gets to hit stuff. XD

 

I don't know why but Padme doesn't bother me at all. Like 0% annoyance here... voice-wise or character-wise.

 

Are you kidding? Obi-Wan is good, but Anakin sounds totally different.

 

Heh... while I agree he sounds off, for some reason I like his new voice better than the film version. He's got more personality. And while I never liked Anakin's character before, TCW's version seems like a nice guy. Hayden's Anakin was more of a....zombie...

While I still absolutely hate Padme (she makes really nonsensical moves sometimes, and I'll never forgive what she did in ROTS), I'll grant you that she definitely has more personality. If she cuts the cliched smarmy dialogue all the time ("[sic]We've got to save the Zillo beast, because it's the RIGHT thing to do!") I'll find her much less annoying. She's got potential.

So long as she doesn't get captured again. Seriously, she's a disgrace to all heroines.

 

Agreed, 100%. She wouldn't be such an annoying character in the show if her voice wasn't so lame.

 

Hopefully her character will improve.

 

I like Anakin's voice in the show wayyyy more than the movies, but sometimes I find it hard to imagine the prequel trilogy Anakin saying some of those lines.

 

Heh -- yeah. TCW's Anakin seems like a laid-back kinda guy who cracks jokes every now and then. Whenever Anakin tried to joke in the movies, it either fell awkwardly flat, or else it was followed by a forced laugh from whoever he was with.

 

She hasn't been captured in quite some time.. But with the old 'Padme's always getting captured' complaint, I think it's just one of those things that should've been spread out. It's like the recent homage episodes, doing too many episodes like that too close together gets annoying, but here and there, it's fine.

And what did Padme do in RotS that's unforgiveable? Just curious. I think Anakin would be more the one to say something like that about.

I think Padme is being made an active moral voice in this show, on the non-warrior stance. It's not a bad thing, you could say it fills a place in a series mostly about a Anakin and Ahsoka, two Jedi who crave action and danger, and Obi-Wan, who doesn't crave it but does it anyway. In a way Padme is becoming the Hermione Granger of TCW. She has a purpose, but her character can get on your nerves.

 

The problem is that her stance on the issues are not very...consistent.

On one hand, she will talk about how wrong violence is, but then readily and easily engages in violence when she or a love one are threatened.

She talks a lot about diplomacy and understanding, but arrests a leader of the guys she wants to negotiate with and glaots about how he is going to be tried as a war criminal. That is hardly diplomatic.

Not to mention she waged war to free her people from Federation control, so why is she so opposed to the Republic essentially doing the same thing.

In the process of being the moral mouthpiece of the show, she doesn't end up having any kind of consistent opinion of her own.

 

Yeah that is a problem, though I do think that the ten years that passed helped to shape her opinion, and seeing firsthand her people's suffering because of a war might have made her think 'OK, nobody else should have to go through that', nevermind that inaction would have made the problem worse.

But yes, the willingness to depart from these morals as the situation demands (or heck, when it DOESN'T demand it) seems very iffy.

Maybe she's just genre savvy, and knows that SHE was fighting a war for freedom, while the Republic is fighting a war of subjugation, and that Gunray was a cowardly, devious worm that couldn't be trusted while every other misunderstood Separatist should give diplomacy a chance.

 

I do not think Padme is naive or idealistic. Quite the opposite. Throughout the prequels and The Clone Wars she has been the lone voice for compromise.

Padme does not insist that Palpatine save the Zillo beast. Palpatine insists on killing it. Palpatine is the extremist (a kind of idealist) who keeps insisting on the same course of action, killing the Zillo beast, no matter how the situation changes. It has to be killed to protect the troops. It has to be killed to protect the city. It has to be killed to protect me (Palpatine). Thus, Palpatine justifies the same objective with every new set of circumstances, demonstrating that he is out of touch with the reality of actual events. That's the definition of naivete. Meanwhile, Padme reasonably, calmly suggests the possibility of alternatives and asks Palpatine to look for them.

In the case of negotiating with her enemies, Padme demonstrates the maturity and insight to recognize the complexity of the situation. She does not view all who threaten her as irreconcilable enemies, nor is she naive enough or extreme enough to think that everyone fighting on her side is a virtuous hero to be trusted with unbridled power. The clonetroopers are the stereotypical heroes in shining white armor, and the Jedi cannot see through their facade, but Padme can, to a degree, and we ought to identify with her, since we know that white armor and that little wheel-like insignia will become the symbols of the Galactic Empire. Further, negotiating in the face of danger, accepting the risk and loss involved, is a pragmatic way to work toward a greater goal of eventual peace. The naive and extreme position is to battle hopelessly, to use all one's offensive weapons, in an effort to prevent any loss. This is what Anakin does, always, and it makes him both heroic and tragic.

Finally, in her relationship with Anakin, Padme does not ignore or misunderstand the evil within him. Rather, she shows the courage and the wisdom to forgive it. In other words, she loves him in spite of his terrible imperfections, rather than demanding an ideal object of love. Padme's course of action with Anakin (and her similar actions in relation to other evil forces) may or may not be a good paradigm for confronting opposition and danger in this galaxy. It may not even be a wise position in a galaxy far, far away. But, in terms of the deepest values of the Star Wars franchise, it's interesting to note that Luke becomes a Jedi by learning to love what is most damaged and forgive what is most hateful in the galaxy, Darth Vader. That's my personal interpretation of the ending of Episode VI, of course, but in refusing to kill Vader, Luke looks a lot more like Padme to me than any other Star Wars character.

 

Barriss_Coffee never replied with an answer to what she felt Padme did that was so unforgiveable?and it was a question that?s been sitting in the back of my mind for awhile.
Barriss can always answer for herself, but I believe that it may be related to Padme having been an accessory to murder.

When Anakin confessed to her in AotC about killing women/children?and Padme does not report that to any authority (Jedi Council), Padme herself becomes an accessory to their murders. Padme?s crime becomes even greater when Anakin kills the children in RotS and then Obi-Wan informs Padme of such. Padme acts shocked and attempts to deny it despite the fact that not a few years earlier Anakin had confessed about killing children. Had Padme informed the Jedi Council of Anakin?s killings of the sandpeople, then none of the future events would happen because he would have been removed from the Jedi Order. Anakin turning to Dark Side, Anakin killing younglings, Anakin becoming Darth Vader, etc. would never occur. Essentially, many countless lives were lost due to Padme?s negligence in informing anyone of the murders Anakin committed way back in AotC.

I think TCW could use this secret knowledge that Padme has for a story (though it may be too heavy for the target audience).

 

I believe Barriss was referring to Padmé "dying of a broken heart". That is MY biggest gripe with ROTS. They've built up this strong heroine in Eps 1 and 2, and then she goes and "loses the will to live" just because her hubby turned sour, and despite having two newborn children who need her. It IS rather unforgivable.

As for her being an acessoory to murder, I never thought about it, but you have a good point. I guess Padmé and the rest of the galaxy kinda see the sand people as 2nd grade beings. That's the only explanation for Padmé brushing aside Anakin's slaughter. It's like someone confessing they killed a bunch of slaves in colonial times.

 

Here's why I hate Padme:

Anakin: "I killed them. I killed them all. They're dead. Every single one of them. And not just the men... but the women... and the children too. They're like animals! And I slaughtered them like animals! I hate them!"

Padme: "To be angry is to be human."



WORST.DIALOGUE.EVER.

 

"I believe Barriss was referring to Padmé "dying of a broken heart". That is MY biggest gripe with ROTS. They've built up this strong heroine in Eps 1 and 2, and then she goes and "loses the will to live" just because her hubby turned sour, and despite having two newborn children who need her. It IS rather unforgivable."

This is IMHO the very worst part of writing Lucas ever did, a lot of other stuff was also pretty bad, but this is one of the few things that don?t even work on an idea level.

I?m pretty certain a huge amount of the world?s population would be dead if you could actually die from a broken heart, or from the loss of the will to live.

 

Actually, I have nothing against "dying of a broken heart" and "losing the will to live" per se. It is a well known fact that does happen in real life. It is most common with elderly couples, when one goes, the other soon follows. However to see such a phenomenon in a young, brave, headstrong woman who has just given birth to twins is just unacceptable.

 

She even tells Obi-Wan "There is good in him." Now, wouldn't that, I dunno, give her a reason to live? To live and hope for the redemption of her love? Or did she just decide 'eh, I'll leave this to the professionals'?

 

Yeah, it's weird all. On the one hand, I can understand, because she found out her husband turned to the dark side, has been slaughtering younglings, he helped a Sith Lord in power, he choked her, he has dictatorial ambitions, etc. I can see how that devastates her life...

So in this light, losing the will to live, I can accept somewhat. But then she says "I know there is good in him." Say what? Then why die, if you're so sure of that?

Bleh. I'd rather see that she said nothing at all and died as a result of the Force choke, with them barely rescuing the babies.

 

The line about Padme losing "the will to live" always rang hollow and false for me. I dismissed it completely as just nonsense. However, now that I realize that Padme is also partially responsible for the deaths of those younglings as Anakin is (given that Padme never reported his earlier killings of children...which in effect would have prevented the later killings) I can see that the enormous weight of guilt was simply too much for her to bear.

 

So glad I found this thread. I'm glad I'm not the only one having trouble with Padmè. I agree with those that say she's inconsistent...to me it's poor continuation of her character. I blame it on bad writing make look stupid, immature and over the top all around. Although I haven?t seen the last episodes with her, but after Senate Spy I was highly disappointed and I didn?t bother to watch the other episodes. It really bothers me because she?s my favorite in the PT & I believe they are not doing her justice.

She has ever been suspicious of Palpatine. Watch her expression in TPM when Palpatine announces his bid to be the next Chancellor. You can almost see the daggers of distrust conveyed from her eyes.

I think it's very difficult for the creators to write stories for Padme's character as senate negotiations and political wranglings would be pretty dull for the main target audience of TCW (Cartoon Network C-SPAN anyone?). [/quote]

Yes, Padmè has misgivings about Palpy and through the PT there subtle hints of it. Like a good Politian she keeps her real opinions to herself. Before anyone brings up her words of denial in Rots deleted scene about Palpy, remember that she needs to believe Palpy is a good guy. While I see no problem in her confronting Palpy, I would have to see in the manner in which it was done since I?m not very fond of most of Padmè?s dialogue in TCW. While I agree that it maybe difficult to write political episodes, they should really make an effort to make them consistent with PT; Senate Spy was ridiculous on so many levels even as far as character development & story line goes.

That?s because Taber voiced Leia in TFU. She said so in an interview. Her voice does annoy me at times?doesn?t sound right. I can over look it though.

Its post like this that make wish that Lucas had kept the orginal dialogue that shows she confronts Anakin rather than Anakin opening up to her willingly as he did in AOTC. But it works fine as it is.

Exactly! Not to mention that she literally put Palpy into power and although unknowingly to Padmè at the time Jar-Jar gave Palpy the emergency powers which ultimately gave foot for the CWS to take place among other things regarding her hubby. I don?t know why people took the droid?s words to be literal; I always interpret it as its way of saying ?we don?t know she?s dying.?

 

beautiful post! She's like Luke indeed!