PT Jedi Temple Visual Continuity Issues

I saw some obscure criticisms about the prequels that I haven't heard of or even noticed before.
I was looking for thoughts and ideas of how to resolve them or how it could be interpreted. I already have a few ideas, but I wanted to inquire of the fanbase at large.

Here we have images of the Jedi Temple High Council chamber (supposedly the High Council chamber assuming the High Council never met in any of the other chambers) and related Jedi temple imagery:

Jedi High Council Chamber in The Phantom Menace: Notice the lack of external obstructions on the right side where Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Anakin entered.


Interior from The Phantom Menace: notice the turbolift door opens to a chamber with another door across from it. Also notice the free space outside the window to the left where some building structure may be expected.


Interior in Revenge of the Sith: Notice the "turbolift" (Now in quotations because we don't really know what it is) door is open all the way, and you can see the same chamber with the opposing door on the other end. Also note structure outside the window to the left where there is free space in the previous image.


Exterior: Notice the 4 chambers on each corner, the center spire has no council chamber, only a library database. (So I've heard). We assume High Council chamber is the closest one on the left. Also notice the lack of obstructions or any other external "turbolift" chambers.


Inside the World of Episode I - The Phantom Menace: Pages 36-37, Lower Left Corner.


Inside the World of Episode I - The Phantom Menace: Pages 36-37, notice how in great detail there is no external structure that could hold a chamber as large as the one we have seen in the previous scenes. Also notice how Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are waiting on the balcony, outside a chamber which has interior wall paneling that seems to be the same as the interior of the image from Revenge of the Sith. (You should be able to open it in a new tab to see better, its HD)


There is text pointing to the "turbolift" in that above image which dictates that "Turbolift utilizes Force-inspired internal dynamics to transport Jedi of vastly different sizes and shapes." I however do not know what that it means by that. I can imagine it means there is some non-Euclidian space distortion happening, like something from Harry Potter or Doctor Who. However it doesn't explicitly describe or dictate this so I'm leaving my mind open for now.

I have a few ideas, one is that maybe that there were mistakes made in the visual continuity of the films, however they realized this post production and came up with the ambiguous explanation that we see in "Inside the World of Episode I", but I'm not certain this is the case and that this is what that explanation means or is for.

Another idea is that there is a hover platform/chamber that is contrivedly referred to as a "turbolift" which floats between the towers to ferry passengers from tower to tower or to the base of the temple, and that this lift/platform/chamber is parked outside the door to the chamber when the door opens, this would make it difficult to reconcile the visual inconsistency between the Episode I and Episode III imagery.

Another idea is that in the scenes where we see the inside of that chamber, they are not actually in the towers, but in below chambers within the base of the temple where there are viewscreens that simulate outdoor scenery. These chambers may act as backup or secondary chambers in any case for any reason. This idea makes it easier to reconcile the inconsistency between the Episode I and Episode III imagery.

Please give your thoughts and ideas as to what may be going on here, and let me know if I missed anything or got something horrendously incorrect or missed so obvious detail that everyone else got. Also please include details from books, comics, and the rest of the expanded universe as well.

 

So the inconsistency is between the exterior shots where we see the entrance to the council chamber is next to a flat wall and the interior shots where the room is deeper than right next to the wall?

I think the best explanation is that the interior shots are accurate. And other differences between the movies could be the result of remodelling.

 

I've actually posted about this before, many years ago. Funny to see it turn up again

I first assumed they were in the central spire, but establishing shots obviously proved that wrong. Who knows, maybe the adjacent annex room is built on a track that crawls up the outside of the spire, like a monorail (there's a lift like this on Scarif in Rogue One). Or it's bigger on the inside. I guess for aesthetics all the wide shots have the temple spires be neat and symmetrical, but they needed stick a way in and out somewhere for the full set (new question: is the annex room a full set or a miniature extension?).

 

Star Wars has always been full of those small discrepancies between sets, models and even the scale itself. Take the TIE fighter cockpit window, for example.

It's easier to just accept that they exist and not let your mind focus on that stuff.

 

In the Episode III commentary, Lucas talks about how in the scene on Coruscant when Palpatine is returned safely and Anakin & Padmé have their secret meeting, the pillars were moved around from shot to shot for aesthetic reasons and to allow the characters to get around more easily.

Then again, The Overlook Hotel in Kubrick's The Shining has many interior anomalies that were, more likely, done intentionally, to give the film a subconscious disorienting feel. Just as many shots in 2001: A Space Odyssey, including the interior of Discovery One, were mirror flipped, while others weren't.

I'd guess Lucas' motivations were of the aesthetic variety, but it's something to think about

 

renovations.

you know how it is. you get some extra funds and you "forget" to report all expenses. you build a new wall and put it under maintenance or build a new force decorations and write it off as "force research" (whatever it is...). faster wifi and write it as "communications".

maybe council members take some extra to an untraceable TF bank account...
90% of the senate do that.

 

this makes a refreshing change for a PT thread,

no headcanon

no trying to really rationalize it away, with a 'you're just a hater...STFU' tagged on the end of a post.

Just a 'yeah, it is what it is heh'

I almost feel like crying with happiness.

 

LOL. You know, I never even realized, until just now, that the chamber where Anakin kills the younglings is the Council meeting chamber.

 

Nice catch! I cant say I'm enthusiastic about this error, but I'm glad to have been made aware! It is important that we point these issues out as often and as loudly as possible. Thank you!

 

Would that happen about that subject?

 

Ah yes, over the years I’ve fried many a brain cell trying to make sense of the Jedi Temple’s internal geography. Eventually you just have to accept that it doesn’t make sense.
But hey, Star Wars is perfect in its imperfection, and that’s why we love it.

 

Yeah, even when you see the flashbacks to Order 66 in Mandalorian and Obi-Wan, it’s hard to figure out which way is which. xD

I guess this is just one of those things you have to accept and move on. Apply TV Trope’s ‘Rule of Cool’ for this one.