Power Couplings

What's with those power couplings in Episode 2?? I'm exactly sure what going on there. There's just two towers that, when shot, shoot electricity at people? I'm really confused.

 

george lucas just likes to shock people. it's kinda like his obsession with severed limbs. it's how he has his fun.
but in all seriousness i have no clue. i've wondered that myself.

 

I've always thought Lucas uses the power coupling as another form of foreshadowing, in addition to indicating the basic relationship between Jedi/Sith, master and apprentice, male and female, and so on. It's another "symbiote circle" in a sense.

In TESB, 3PO says, "The power coupling on the negative axis has polarized and needs to be replaced." This can be taken literally, or it can be taken to be referring to Anakin...as a Jedi he was always between the light side and the dark side, then he "polarized" falling completely to the dark side...and the emperor was looking to replace him. For the Jedi, Luke was the replacement. One thing that's interesting in these terms is also this...when Vader is watching Luke getting the electric chair from the emperor, look at the color patterns that appear on his helmet do to the lightning. It flashes briefly, then stops, then again, and stops...the overall effect is white>black>white>black, you can see the conflict in his mind through these color changes (ie Lucas is a visual storyteller). The "power coupling on the negative axis" is returning to a normal relationship with the Force. And that's essentially what Vader does in this scene, become a "human" power coupling, receiving all of the sparks shot off by the Emperor, instead of Luke!

 

I think you are looking a bit too far into it.

 

As do I.

 

Whoa! Either Lucas is a genius, or you're really good at finding parallels in stuff.

 

Does anyone know why the big towers were there? What are their functions? Why were safety measures not made to stop them from flashing out like that? Apparently they are somewhat common because Obi-One tells Anikan that he has said to stay away from them.

Seems somewhat random to me, if there is no explanation.

 

i have no clue as to why but there cool i want one, make that two

 

That was such a pointless part of the speeder chase. They obviously didn't do their job, because Obi-Wan and Anakin got through them. And it's stupid to the average viewer because they just see electricity, see Obi-Wan and Anakin get through it, and continue. Woop dee doo.

And Obi-Wans line "Anakin, how many times have I told you? Stay away from, power, couplings!" is just horrible.

 

well... the power couplings were to slow them down, DER! lol...

did you see and hear anakin...

"ah-uh-eh" lol... with some shaking added... how close were they to wreck right

 

ya your right

 

I don't want to know why they were in the movie, I want to know what the EU purpose is.

 

Well, power couplings on podracers link the engines together. It's clearly some sort of industrial thing, perhaps for a power plant of some sort. Ok, maybe that wasn't helpful.

 

I'm still trying to figure out why they didn't go numb like Jar Jar in TPM.