Confederate Fleet's Presence Over Geonosis?

I was watching Attack of the CLones the other day and after the Battle the Geonosis was over and the CIS's Trade Federation Ships are retreating, it shows a scene when Dooku's ship sails past some Federation Starships that appear to be in orbit around Geonosis, while docking with their cores. Is it just me or is this a little bit of an error- how did the entire Republic Fleet get into the Geonosis system and land on the planet without Dooku or any Separatist leader knowing about it? Even if they made a rapid descent to the planet's surface, they almost certainly would have been seen by the space-borne halves of the Federation ships in orbit, and they would have called the invasion in to Poggle or someone. The ships just couldn't have shown up after the Separatist retreat because I believe that the core ships need to be in place for hyperspace travel. Maybe this wasn't one of the best-thought-out parts of an otherwise fine movie.

 

No, those ships were brand new. They were going into space from Geonosis. Remember they shot one down? We saw groups of several of the starships being built on Geonosis a number of times in the movie.

 

And, it's the other side of the planet. One side has the asteroid field which is the way Jango, Obi-Wan and presumably the Clones entered. The other side appears to be asteroid free.

 

For a society that can build droids and design Death Stars, I find it odd that the Geonosians don't have an air-traffic control system worth a darn. Obi-Wan, I can see getting on-planet, maybe. His fighter is small and stealthy-looking, plus he lands out in the wilderness and sneaks inside. But Padme and Anakin fly directly into one of those mesa/smokestacks and walk right into the droid factory!!! And then the clone army descends on an arena containing several VIPs including Poggle himself, Count Dooku, and other Seperatist leaders. Say what???

You are absolutely right, the space-borne sections of the TF battleships should have seen and notified their comrades on the ground of the clone army's invasion. Of course, maybe the clones and Yoda found a way to elude detection. We've seen in the past that the TF are not the sharpest tools in the toolshed.

But where do those helicopter-style vehicles the clones use to rescue the Jedi come from? They don't seem to be spaceworthy (with open doors while flying). Do the clones have battleships of their own or some sort of launch vehicle? If so, where did it go?

In addition, once their leaders have returned to their ships in orbit, what keeps the TF from bombing the crap out of the surface where the big battle is going on? They could have wiped out the clones and some more Jedi. Sure they would have lost droids, but they could have built more.

What is the status of Geonosis at the end of the movie? We are only told that the droid army is retreating. Did the Republic take over the world, declare martial law? They know the Geonosian government is complicit in the Seperatist movement. Is Poggle arrested? Is a clone garrison left there to occupy the planet? Are the droid factories destroyed?

 

Only the Trade Federations Droid Control Ships cores were on the surface,the circled saucer like part that they dock with was in orbit, as for why they didnt do anything about the Republic ships there are several reasons:
1.The Republic Assault Ships are new heavily armed state of the art ships and the CIS ships are outmatched and out of date compared to them,they were probably afraid of attacking them knowing that they would get slaughtered in a straight out firefight.

2.Count Dooku and the Separitists leaders were in the Geonosian Areana at this time and almost nobody except for a couple lazy and sleeping Geonosian Warriors were watching the Planetary Radar Screens and Scanners.

3.Poggle the Lesser tells Dooku that the Republic has Jammed their Communications in the War Room after they have retreated from the Areana,its obvious that if the communications were jammed that Clones and Jedi knights jammed them as soon as they emerged from Hyperspace in the Geonosian Solar System,so the TF ships couldnt have sent word anyway because they had no working communications after they detected the Republic ships coming.

 

?For a society that can build droids and design Death Stars, I find it odd that the Geonosians don't have an air-traffic control system worth a darn. Obi-Wan, I can see getting on-planet, maybe. His fighter is small and stealthy-looking, plus he lands out in the wilderness and sneaks inside. But Padme and Anakin fly directly into one of those mesa/smokestacks and walk right into the droid factory!!! And then the clone army descends on an arena containing several VIPs including Poggle himself, Count Dooku, and other Seperatist leaders. Say what??? ?

Geonosis to me seems like the equivalent of Afghanistan when the Taliban was there. Anybody can just walk in and out, nobody knows what?s going on half the time.

And most of the planet has no technology. Most of it is sand and mountains. It?s not like the land in a city. They land where nobody is around.


The helicopter things probably come from the Star Destroyer type ships, which have already landed. The way an aircraft carrier carries jets to their target then leaves them to it.

The Star Destroyers land, start unloading their heavy artillery, detect where the battle is taking place and send the Helicopter things to it.



?In addition, once their leaders have returned to their ships in orbit, what keeps the TF from bombing the crap out of the surface where the big battle is going on? They could have wiped out the clones and some more Jedi. Sure they would have lost droids, but they could have built more.?

Maybe they don?t have bombs? The didn?t bomb Naboo.

 

They may not have "bombs" per se, but they were well-equipped with quad-turbolaser batteries.

When the Naboo Royal Star Cruiser was running the blockade around the planet in TPM the starship nearly got blown to smithereens.

They could've intiated a orbital bombardament of the surface of Geonosis, thus obliterating a HUGE portion of the Clone Army.

As for he Trade Federation battleship fleet surrounding Geonosis when we pan out following the Solar Sailer's escape: they were newly assembled or the semi-circle componets were not operational at all without the spherical core emplaced.



<[-]> Saber

 

Mateos' answer is good.

By the way, what are the correct names for the 'helicopter things'?

 

"Is Poggle arrested?"

Yes, but only Poggle the Greater. Poggle the Lesser managed to escape, by the skin of his wings.

 

When Poggle informed about the communications being jammed, reminded me of what the TF were doing with Naboo. Bibble: "Communications disruption can mean only one thing, Invasion!"

Wonder who are the ?bad guys? now?

 

By the way, what are the correct names for the 'helicopter things'?

Republic attack gunship

 

thanks.

 

I love those Republic Gunships. The wings are very similar to the X-Wings amongst other things

 

Just a couple of thoughts about how the Republic force could have evaded detection..

1. The cruisers came out of hyperspace in the upper atmosphere of Geonosis itself. This would obviously bypass any space-based surveillance system, and if done accurately enough, would have given the Geonosians virtually zero warning time.

2. The Republic ships had cloaking devices that were used until they were on top of the target area. Qui-Gon Jinn's question about whether the Naboo starship had a cloaking device in Ep. I seems to suggest he think ssuch things are fairly common, and with what seems to be a cost-is-no-object army like the clone army, such things might not be terribly uncommon.

3. Somebody asleep at the sensor station. Not a terribly uncommon occurence, particularly for a group of folks who seem to think the Republic has no credible military force.

 

"And, it's the other side of the planet. One side has the asteroid field which is the way Jango, Obi-Wan and presumably the Clones entered. The other side appears to be asteroid free. "

IIRC the asteroid field is a ring around the planet.

 

I seem to recall asteroids on both sides of the planet as well.