Tarkin should have been in Commander Cody's place in ROTS

Every time I rewatch ROTS and see the ending with Sidious, Vader and Tarkin, I cannot help but be disappointed that we only received a cameo of Tarkin.

I had imagined before ROTS came out and hearing that we would see Tarkin, that we would see him as an officer of some sorts fighting alongside the Jedi as the Clone Wars were coming to an end. I thought just as we would see signs of what we were familiar with in the OT, we would see those persons that would become the eventual Imperial officers.

But obviously that did not occur, and we only got to see Imperial officers and staff running the Star Destroyer that Vader and Palpatine were on, and getting the small cameo of Tarkin.

I got to thinking that instead of seeing Commander Cody, who in my opinion was just another clone with no real distinction other than us learning his name, and that he received the Order 66 from Palpatine, there was nothing really special about him that deserved us knowing his name.

Now imagine if Tarkin had been in the role Cody had, particularly when you think of what Tarkin said in ANH.

Imagine Obi-Wan conversing with Tarkin about leading the clones into the battle on Utapau, and then having Tarkin giving the command to fire on Obi-Wan after receiving Order 66. And then hearing him ask the clones as to whether they had found his body.

Then with that, think of how the impact of Tarkin's words would be in ANH, when he said to Vader after he exclaimed that Obi-Wan was still alive.:

"Obi-Wan Kenobi...., Surely he must be dead by now". The Jedi are extinct, their fire as gone out in the galaxy. You my friend are all that is left of their religion"!

Tarkin's words made you believe he actually knew Obi-Wan personally, or had at least met him. Imagine the power of those words had he been in the place of Commander Cody.

I think it would have worked to have had those men that would have eventually become Imperial officers to have been commanders of clone troops when ROTS opened, and it could have been said that Palpatine started getting non-Jedi officers because of the depleting numbers of Jedi that had been killed during the time of the war, plus another move on his part in getting the eventual Empire set up when the Jedi were wiped out.

And I think seeing Tarkin in this pre-Imperial officer role would have been excellent, and Cody's role was very small anyway. But having Tarkin in that role would have been powerful in terms of what we know of him in ANH.



Darth Sin!

 

I never thought that Tarkin knew Obi-wan personally. I always took it as he knew of him, but they were never more than casual aquaintences (sp). As I understand it, Lucas wanted to use old footage of Peter Cushing to work him into the films. But he ultimately decided to have Wayne Pygram instead.

I don't think we need him leading the Clonetroopers. Rather, I figured that he'd be more in Palpatine's inner circle of conspirators like Mas Amedda and Sly Moore. The whole point with Commander Cody, like the others, was to show how the Jedi grew to trust the Clonetroopers in battle. Most of the time, the Stormtroopers run themselves. Only in ROTJ, do we see an Imperial officer give orders to them.

 

Hey, this is probably one of the coolest ideas on this board in a while. Sweet. Good job!

 

I couldn't picture Tarkin's scrawny build on the battlefield of Utapau . We see enough of those with the droids...

Rather than having him be an actual military officer on the battlefronts (Which is a job best suited for the Jedi, Clones, and Boga of course ) He would of been better suited in a role like Sinister mentioned above, somewhere within Palpatine's inner-circle.

But I think at that point in the PT, we already had too many cameos, the galaxy would feel a lot smaller with Tarkin being involved. Chewy fighting with Yoda, Anakin building 3P0, there were already enough tine-ins to the Classic Trilogy and too many would cause too much cluttering.

It's not a bad idea, it would make Tarkin seem like he didn't just come out of no where and rise in the ranks of the Empire, but I do believe the Clones were best suited as commanders and having too many OT characters would squish our GFFA

 

Tarkin had too high of a rank to be out on the battlefield. At the time of ROTS, he was already an Imperial Governor. That type of person leads from far away, as they are too cowardly to be on the field itself.

 

I think Lucas just had trouble figuring out how to work him in. And then you got the problem that Cushing is too distinctive. It was easy to have Ewan MacGregor, because he blended in nicely to Alec Guiness. While Pygram looks like Cushing with the help of make-up, acting wise they're too distinctive from each other. I don't think it had to do with too many cameos.

 

Interesting idea.

I think I prefer having Tarkin making his appearance in ANH, where he's such a badass and gets to boss around Vader(!!).

We've already had too many OT connections and appearances, IMHO.

 

I suppose he could have.
But if regular people could lead clones, then you wouldn't need the Jedi to lead them.
If not that, it takes away from Sideous giving the Order directly. A Sith giving the order to kill the Jedi is more satisfying than the trickle down method.
I think it ultimately, it would cause more problems for the sake of a 'neat' factor.
If Tarkin was going to be anywhere, it could have been as a Senator on Palpatine's side, not as a supplement leader to the clones.

 

With Jedi and Sith it isn't a problem. In the OT, we see Vader giving out orders while in the feild. This is fine then and now, since we know that Jedi had lead the Clonetroopers and Vader being a former Jedi, well that makes sense. Throughout the OT, we never see Imperial officers really issuing orders to the Stormtroopers except for one time. In the PT, we see the Jedi generals and commanders. Could it have been done? Yeah, but in the films, it seems that Lucas only wanted Jedi and Clonetroopers working together. We do see help from the Utapan and the Wookiee warriors. The time and place to see Tarkin as a military leader would've been the Battle of Coruscant, directing the battle from a Star Destroyer. In the novelization, Lorth Needa winds up getting that. Lucas did seem to have plans for Tarkin, according to an interview with Lenoard Maltin in 1999. Lucas described how his character rose to power at the same time Palpatine did. But I think, as I said, Lucas had trouble making him work in AOTC and ROTS. He could've appeared in the opera sequence, as one of the guests. Mon Mothma worked because her connection to the Aliance is strong, whereas Tarkin is a reigional governor. Much of that plot got developed in the eu.

 

I for one also believe that Tarkin absolutely needed to have had a large role in the Prequels. The job of the Prequel Trilogy was to not only provide the backstory for the original films, but to expand on them and make them even greater. Tarkin, being the first film's co-antagonist, could have and should have played a prominent part in Palptine's schemes. His defeat at the hands of the rebels would have been so much greater.

 

Okay everyone, just remember that I said Tarkin would have worked nicely in taking Commander Cody's role in ROTS. Now think of how large that role really was and the screen time. it was very minimal, and required no real acting depth that in my opinion that would have taken from Cushing's role in ANH.

It really would have been to show there he was as a Commander or maybe a General that would in the next 18-20 years become a Grand Moff and the one in charge of the Death Star. To be honest, maybe he did not need to be in Cody's role, but could have had a cameo role being there when they planned the attack on Utapau, but he does not actually go there.

But I still say he could have paralled General Veers from ESB. His role was minimal, but you got the message he was a sound leader and vader trusted his expertise, and he commanded the ground troops as they began their assault on Hoth.

Tarkin could have been shown remaining on a Star Destroyer as the clones swooped down on Utapau, and then have had Order 66 come to him, and then he relays the command to the clones.

Lastly, I still believe from ANH, that Tarkin did know Obi-Wan, and quite possibly met him from the way he sounded. I think at least in ROTS, they should have met, and the scenario I gave would have been excellent for this with little screen time as was in the case of Cody knowing Obi-Wan.

Darth Sin!

 

but could have had a cameo role being there when they planned the attack on Utapau, but he does not actually go there.

That would've been ok I think.

and then have had Order 66 come to him, and then he relays the command to the clones.

Again. NO

SIDEOUS: General Tarkin. The time has come. Tell the clones to Execute Order 66.

TARKIN: Certainly, your excellency. Commander Cody! The time has come! Execute Order 66!

CODY: Gotcha. Lt. Coback. The time has come. Execute Order 66.

COBACK: Right. Gunner! The time has come! Execute Order 66!

GUNNER: Yes Sir. Blaster bolt! The time has come! Execute Order 66! (Fires)

The scene works infinitely better coming in once and from the Sith Master.

 

Kenobi could of been long gone before that blast went off.

 

I agree. The whole point behind the Clones have names in Ep.III was to show that the Jedi actually trust the troopers under their command and don't see them as simply mindless drones. This of course turns out to be a mistake as the clones are unswervingly loyal to the Republic, even to the point of turning on their commanders if ordered to do so.

 

But I think at that point in the PT, we already had too many cameos, the galaxy would feel a lot smaller with Tarkin being involved. Chewy fighting with Yoda, Anakin building 3P0, there were already enough tine-ins to the Classic Trilogy and too many would cause too much cluttering.


I agree. Besides, Tarkin is associated with the Death Star. He is shown exactly where he should be.


Maybe we should have seen a young Han Solo acting like a juvenile delinquent instead. Like for example, stealing Padmes purse.

 

true, Tarkin was associated with the Death Star, but that is not where he began, because we see him in that cameo role as the DS is in its infant stages of construction.

I still Cody's role was basically a cameo role that if Tarkin had been in this role, would not have taken anything away from his role in ANH, it would have simply said, that is where he got his start as a younger man, he met Kenobi and was there first hand when the Jedi began to be exterminated. Then you would then see him on that Star Destroyer with Vader and the Emperor with the DS in the background, knowing that his military feats in helping to wipe out the Jedi positioned him to oversee and eventually take command of the Death Star in the future.

However I do agree it may have worked better if he had been one of the cronies of Palpatine that we saw in the theater with Mas Amedda and Sly Moore. Then you would have seen him as having been one of his close personnell in his political pursuits that is rewarded with commanding the Death Star from that path. In other words, a spokesman for the Emperor and his philosophy that fear rules.

Darth Sin!

 

In the theatre would've been great too.
Anywhere really, I just don't like the thought of Order 66 being a trickle down system.

Places Tarkin could've been:
Part of the Loyalist Committee in AotC
On the balcony with Palpatine and gang in AotC
Part of the crowd awaiting Palpatine's return in RotS
In the theatre in RotS
Standing with Palpatine during the Empire Speach
Aboard the Star Destroyer in RotS (which we got)

If Lucas really wanted to, he could've written in Tarkin into AotC and RotS to be sort of a foil to Bail Organa without much trouble. Two lines could do it. Then of course, Tarkin blows up Bail in ANH. Nifty really.

 

The whole point of the clones was to show that they were genetically engineered to follow orders (however repugnant) without question. To have Tarkin execute Order 66 would weaken that premise.

 

I totally agree with Sinister.

 

I think putting him on one side of Palpatine with Bail Organa on the other while overseeing the army at the end of AoTC would have been wonderful.

Carnage

 

I think it would be a bit strange to have two characters having similar suffixes in their names mentioned. A Tarkin cameo is enough IMO.

But if Tarkin were to be in III, it would have been like :

Obi Wan- "Commander Tarkin, call Master Jedi Anakin and ask him to come in. Oh and ... can you drop this in the dustbin"

 

The flouting of Tarkin, in my estimation, is as unforgivable as the underwhelming Padme/Anakin courtship, or the undefined character of Count Dooku. He is, for all intents and purposes, the villain of ANH, and as memorable an antagonist as Palpatine. If the Fetts were given a fair treatment, certainly the Donald Rumsfeld of the Star Wars galaxy deserved accommodation.

For reasons expounded upon by others, I don't care for the Commander Cody idea. But it would have been quite easy to place him in Jar Jar's role in AOTC, as the representative of Naboo; or perhaps in a rewritten ROTS scene wherein the Delegates of the Two-Thousand confront Palpatine and Tarkin over the appointment of governors (a caustic glare from/to Padme or Bail would send shivers up anyone's spine, in view of the Leia/Tarkin interplay in ANH).

A shame, really.

 

Tarkin has been a politician from the start. From what I have read about him in older SW books was that he knew Palpatine for a long time. He was a govener of a sector and then apointed Grand Moff which means govnener of all sectors.

Sinn, I like your Idea of having Tarkin playing a more intrical part but I think he was to high of an offical to been on the battle field.

I also noticed in ROTS when Vader aproches Palpatine on the bridge of the Star Destroyer the look of disapointment/disgust Tarkin has when he walks away.

 

burrisjedimaster1, and that is just it. Tarkin is to believed that he was even a high ranking official even back to at least the time of AOTC; however we do not see him until that brief cameo at the end of the film. Tarkin deserved to at least been among those that followed close to him like Sly Moore and Mas Amedda. Now that I think of it, maybe Tarkin should have been in the place of Mas Amedda rather than Commander Cody.

Imagine if Tarkin had been in the place of Mas Amedda throughout the prequels, particularly in AOTC and ROTS.

Darth Sin!

 

Well it would certainly set him up to be a bigger baddie in ANH.