AOTC Chapter 38: Droid Factory DISCUSSION

Until the release of ROTS on 5/19/05, I would like to discuss AOTC chapter by chapter on the DVD. There are 47 chapters to discuss over the next eight months, excluding Chapter 1: Opening Logos, Chapter 2: Attack of the Clones and Chapter 50: End Credits.

Each discussion will last 5 days. At the end of 5 days, the following chapter will be posted.

Chapter 38: Droid Factory
DISCUSSION: February 20, 2005 - February 24, 2005
DVD TIME INDEX: 95:22 - 102:38

Synopsis:
The Naboo Yacht heads toward Geonosis. Cross the vast rocky expanse, Anakin pilots the ship towards columns of steam, which come from the droid factory. The ship descends into the steam. As tries to put her cape on, she tells Anakin the plan. The Jedi protector gives in frustrated, unable to argue with her anymore. They leave the ship and head for the factory. Artoo wants to help, but Threepio objects saying that they don't need their help and he understands human behavior better than his counterpart. Anakin and Padme enter the factory, but first pass down a narrow dark corridor. Artoo leaves the ship followed by a reluctant Threepio. The Jedi and the senator walk down another corridor. Geonosians in the walls begin to wake up due to the trespassers. Anakin senses their presence. The Geonosians start coming out of the walls and attacking Anakin. The padawan draws out his lightsaber and begins slicing Geonosians left and right. Padme runs to an exit. They end up on a retractable bridge as the door closes behind them. Anakin hangs on to the door, but Padme falls onto a conveyor belt in the middle of the droid factory. Anakin follows her on the conveyor belt as Geonosians attack. Padme is way ahead of him, trying to dodge machinery. Anakin slices more Geonosians and jumps to a conveyor belt below him. The droids then see the factory. Threepio is amazed. Artoo knocks him off balance twice. The second time, Threepio falls and is intercepted by a large sorting droid. The sorting droid drops Threepio on a conveyor belt. Artoo using his rockets flies through the droid factory. Anakin continues to battle machinery as Padme struggles with a Geonosian. The Geonosian throws the senator into the cauldron being transported to another section of the factory. Threepio is then decapitated by a piece of machinery and ends up on the battle droid assembly line. Threepio's head is placed on a battle droid; a battle droid's head is placed on Threepio. Geonosians start attacking Anakin. The padawan strikes back using the Force to throw machinery at his adversaries. Anakin jumps to a higher conveyor belt, but is knocked off balance. He falls down and his hand and lightsaber are trapped by a piece of metal. Padme is being led to her death and a molten substance is being poured into each of the cauldrons. Artoo flies to her rescue, trying to stop the machines. Anakin, trapped by the piece of metal, continues to try and dodge descending machinery. The machinery that pours the molten substance hangs above Padme's cauldron. Padme is terrified. Just in time, Artoo allows Padme to cheat death and the cauldron falls onto a circular platform. Padme rolls out of the cauldron. Anakin still riding the conveyor belt is free from the metal, but his lightsaber will not ignite. Back on the platform, the senator is surrounded by Geonosians as Anakin is surrounded by droidekas and Jango Fett in another part of the factory. Both Anakin and Padme are taken into custody. END OF CHAPTER

Opinion:
The last sequence before the final battle. This scene we don't necessarily need. It's a nice action sequence and introduces the factory a bit more. Very lengthy indeed, a bit too much for this film. A last minute addition, tacking on seven minutes, needed or not.

It's a good scene. I prefer Padme in this type of scene than her taking her palace back in Phantom Menace. She's still giving orders, but they both pay the ultimate price in the long run. It seemed as if like the pod race, we entered into a completely different story, easily the format of video game. The timing

 

LETS HAVE A CGI PARTY!!!

Oooohhh do I have issues with some of the use of CGI in this sequence. C3p0 in particular. When he goes throught the flap-jack part, it completely takes me out of the star wars universe and into one GL's employee's computers.... Heaven help the one who animated that one, I hope he still has a job. I also hope the next edition cuts that part out and just has him land on the belt like in the IMAX version.

Padme, helpless as usual. R2 flies for some reason. Maybe he could have just used his handy dandy plug-thingy to extend the bridge....?

Now lets get back to padme. I wonder what gL was thinking... Padme falls twice in this movie. Once here and another time in the gunship. That girl needs to lay off the jawa juice or something...

Anakin shows off some coolness here. Why on naboo he still has his hand after that big slice-omatic comes crashing down on it is a mystery... nice and obvious foreshadowing though...

I'm surprised R2 let Padme drop so hard on the ground. I don't think he likes being in this situation... I also wonder what he does the whole time after Padme and Anakin are caught.

But we'll see him later...

A CGI potpourri, a slice of plot progression, R2 flies for the first time ever, and C3po loses his head...

Next.

 

i liked the scean because i saw how the droids where made

 

I really, really like this scene. The only part I don't like is the 3PO part. Don't get me wrong, I liked the part with him switching heads with the droid, but I did NOT like he part where he grabbed on to that robot and he was carried around and thrown through the air. That was NOT cool.

I liked how the camera zooms in on Padme before the lava's about to poor on her. Nice!

Also, look at Hayden's face right before that robotic arm knocks him to the ground. Awesome.

 

I really love this chapter, except for two seconds of i.

Everything is great, except when Threepio is hanging by his fingertips on the flying droid thing.

Other than that I don't really have any issues with this chapter.

 

I agree with Moleman. I don't really think this scene was necessary. It could have been done without it.

 

I actually had no idea until a couple months ago that Jango was CG in this scene.

 

I enjoyed this scene.

 

moleman - always easy to agree with you ...i liked the arrival of the naboo yacht when padme and anakin are traveling through a canyon-looking land formation - music is just super. padme cautioning anakin to let her handle things as a diplomat is the very last time she's in control, and that's very brief. loved the parallel with the ledge from a new hope and luke and leia - i do agree that the rest of the scene goes on way way too long much like the pod race from phantom, as you cited. c3po-the initial slice of the head was startling and funny but after that, just too much of a stuggle to be funny here. heroic artoo never lets us down - in every episode he comes through. i did like anakin on the conveyer belt but again, too long. tighter editing would have made this really exciting, i think. and i agree seeing the birth of the droids was a revelation regarding their numbers. it's an "uh-oh" moment. funniest dialogue in the movie: droids making droids - how perverse.

 

apart from a couple of 3po things, i very much enjoyed this scene... very good... teh CGI is great, like the action or not

 

Padme, helpless as usual.

Have you seen the same prequels I have?

 

This scene is okay, but nothing compared to the nhext. It's like a frickin video game!

 

In regards to the constantly slipping and falling, yes I've seen the same movie.

 

Just to clarify, which movie are we talking about?

 

Fiddler on the Roof of course....



DOBBAH DIBBY DIBBY DIBBY DIBBY DUM!!

 

Of course!

 

LOL... I was watching the scene as I typed, or rewatching I should say. So what I've written there outght to be taken with quite a big grain of salt because I was caught up in the moments going by on screen.

Also, for the helluvit: If those Geonosians were smart, they would have dressed Padme up in a slave outfit before rolling her and her boyfriend out to the Arena.

Oohh.. yeah...

 

This scene really didn't need to be here; I felt it would have been better if Anakin & Padme just fought of some Geonosians & then get captured by Jango. Regardless, it's still a good scene, even if some the effects are a little off.

 

I think it's a pointless scene.

However -- I remember reading that there was a bit just before it where they're trapped on the ledge and anakin pulls out a rope and throws it like Luke does in the DS scene, but it misses ! And there's a moment of comedy when he looks at padme and shrugs.

But I can't for the life of me remember where I read it.

g

 

Aah. The infamous droid factory.

First lets start off with the music. This was the first point in the movie I noticed TPM music. Not just a returning theme, but actual lifted music. I was a tad concerned at this point and confused. ROTJ had lifted a bit of TESB music during the Death Star run, but it wasn't heard due to the dialogue and sound effects.

Next I'll move on to the Geonosians coming out of the walls. Reminded me of Aliens. Not a bad thing. But I must admit that once of Anakins saber cuts was awkward looking on a Geonosian. The depth was off or something.

C-3PO and R2-D2 bantering was great. It didn't seem forced or cheesy at this point.

The visuals and colors of the droid factory are wonderful. Especially when Anakin is on tthe conveyor belt.

The music continued to be an issue. Any new music Williams recorded was cut becuase the new version of the scene and the recorded music didn't line up. At this point I was getting kinda nervous. Many Williams marks were irritated and the TPM score being butchered at the end, little did we know AOTC...

The animation of 3po was horrible. His getting bumped off the edge by Artoo was funny but after that it felt like nails on a chalk board. Especialy when his body was given a battle droid head.

Anakins line after his saber is cut in half "Obi-Wans gonna kill me" was hilarious.

The sequence ended by reintroducing Jango Fett and confirming Dooku as a liar. Which was nice. Though Jango appearing via cgi was not so good.


Was the entire sequence needed? No. But there have been numerous action sequences in the SW films that were necessary to the plot. Yet still looked good.

 

This scene is virtually useless. I call it "Padme and Anakin Playing Spy Kids: 3D on Geonosis." The CGI looks fake.

What really saddens me, is the length of time eaten up by this scene could have been so much better spent. Not only does the scene itself take up time compared to the whole movie, but little parts within the scene itself do as well. For example, was it necessary for R2D2 to bump into C3PO TWICE before he fell? (This in another example of anticlimactic dissappointment, for in the TV spot it showed RD only bumping into him once before he fell, so after the first bump you expected him to fell, and the blood in your veins reverses its flow for a split second because of the unneccessary and unexpected repitition (Anticlimactic dissappointment (in trailer vs. movie form again) occurrs abundantly in the second scene of the movie (Loyalist Meeting))).

The time could have been much better spent by including a more profound "Padme Addresses the Senate" scene. Really, ANY of the deleted scenes were far better than this one. The holograhpic pictures in Padme's bedroom look more real than anything in the droid factory.

I've been wondering for a while now if there will even be time for even one virtually useless scene in Revenge of the Sith. I'm sure Lucas will find some way to squeeze it in there.

Moleman, you should consider having discussion chapters for the deleted scenes too, if you have time.

Thanks again for taking the time to post the thread for every chapter. Not only is a great idea, it is well-organized and comprehensive.

 

Thanks for the compliment. I'll take deleted scenes into consideration. AOTC's on its last leg, so that might be something.

I just love how there's more than one entrance into the factory. We first see it from Obi-Wan's perspective and now from Anakin and Padme. Wonder if there is some blueprint of the factory, so we can see the entire scale.

 

I think it was pretty good.

We can see how TF droids/droidekars have been built. Shows an instance how R2 helps out. I also think it helped Padme to realize life is short; also she looked like a Angel (in white) (reminding me of the "are you an angel" line from young Anakin).

Also showed that the Geonosians are not interested in welcoming anyone or come for discussion in any shape or form. Diplomatic solution not possible whatsover. Helping Padme to change her stance "no, I call this aggressive negotiations!"

As for Anakin, whatever his skills he had, he could not "save" Padme himself, nor Obi Wan for that matter. His ability to "not fail again", was let down, providing possible impetus to become even more powerful. Just ripening him further to his eventual fate.

Let's not forget how he himself was fastened on to circuitry/machinery; a premonition for his future.

On last point, the part when Jango tells the Droidekars to take Anakin away, that reminded me of Vader in ANH tells the stormtroopers to take Leia away. Hmmm.

 

Lucas was totally correct in adding the Droid Factory scene.

For a number of reasons.. first of all...this is the FIRST time our couple have fought together in a battle. It started up the motor of action that was to take place for the rest of the movie.

It also gave us a glimps of Anakin of the future.. the lone warrior. Until now, he has always had Obi-wan at his side.


And as far as C3Po goes...well you didn't want Jar Jar...the humor had to come from somewhere. It actually works much better with 3po... okay, the holding on to the edge thing didn't quite work.. but otherwise.. it was a blast to have him with a gun.

 

Great scene. Anakin truly got to show his skills with the lightsaber for the first and only time in this movie.