PT What did you think of Yoda dueling with a lightsabre in the PT?

I didn't mean to imply it was bad or not plausible. For me, it just seemed out of place, and more so within the context of the character. Maybe that comes from ESB coming out first. We see Yoda as this old nearly decrepit hermit Jedi Master. Then back up to Yoda who can flip and spin and do all these tricks. If the movies had come out in the opposite order, where we go from Flipping Yoda to old decrepit Yoda, it would have come off as, Wow, he didn't age well. And I did enjoy seeing badass Yoda even if it felt out of place for me.

 

I thought it was really cool. The scene of him at the Jedi Temple is one of my all-time favorite few seconds of Star Wars.

 

I loved it! I can understand why some older people might hate it, when the jedi and sith were made out to be more like wizards in the original trilogy. That the ones who were old and wise didn't need them. But as someone who was 10 when I watched Attack of the Clones, Yoda and Palpatine both fighting with lightsabers was completely natural. Lightsabers are a jedi's weapon after all. They all went through training at some point in their lives

 

Although I cant stop thinking of the old video game Q-Bert as Yoda bounces around against Dooku/Palpatine , there is something awesome about it too. I suppose it works but Id be lying if I didnt say it could have been handled a little more elegantly.

 

I vividly remember seeing AOTC for the first time in theater, the audience went absolutely nuts. By far the biggest crowd reaction I've ever witnessed at a SW movie.

It was comical, but I don't have a problem with it because it's so committed to the bit, uncompromising. The way he gives out a little screech before hand, amazing. Also, this was the first time we saw CGI Yoda, as the original TPM cut used a puppet. It was a totally new and surprising version of the character.

 

I love it. Yoda's duel with Palpatine is one of the best duels in Star Wars. People claim that they should have fought with Force powers, yet we did get some of that and some nice lightsaber action. Worked great for me. The Dooku duel was also fun, though brief.

 

I think it's all a matter of what version of the character you got to know first. RotS being my first SW expierence all I knew of Yoda was that he was this old wise man who is also probably the best lightsaber duellist ever.

I understand the argument, which also extends to Palpatine, that the idea of them being so powerful they don't even need a lightsaber, but I don't know any better than them both being absolute monsters when it comes to wielding one, and it makes sense to me too. Plus, in my opinion, it doesn't devalue their Force powers one bit, you'd have to be true master of the Force to move around like they did, it's completly unique to both of them, to move around like a blur of red and green, jumping and spinning around like a Whirlwind.

yes, the Yoda grunts were silly, just as Ian looked a little goofy when he did his lightsaber stunts, I can forgive it honestly, and it never took me out of the scene either.

 

Off topic but I'm pretty sure that Ian purposefully acted with silly expressions during his fight with Windu, for the same reason that after his full reveal as Sidious from time to time you get a cartoony appearence of a villain.

When Lucas talk about the bad guys of his saga, he always care to stress the concept that the dark side (a metaphor for the evil) give just apparently a cool appearence but actually hide pathetic people.

The deadly and fearful Vader is actually a broken man and the same emperor Palpatine that rule the galaxy, in his final (for me at least) moments in ROTJ can't avoid to show himself ridicuolous and defenseless while screams and shoot lightings bolts. We see a Dooku that accepts his death with dignity because Christopher Lee convinced Lucas that was an end more appropriated for the character, but the previous script provided him to plead with dismay Palpatine, something going against his confident attitude in life.

Ian showed himself to be a great actor capable of subtle expressions (Prequel) as much as blatant ones (Original) for me not believing that he was following the vision of his author. I think that Lucas asked him to portray Palpatine in ROTS over the top when he can leave behind his fake personality and be completely himself. The spectator has to realize that even the evil incarnated, the mastermind behind everything, in the end reveal himself to be not a mythical figure but actually a pitful one

 

Damn, well said man and completely agreed. I actually hadn't thought about it like that, but I loved the silly elements none the less, a slight touch of campiness has always been part of the charm of Star Wars. It wouldn't be star wars without it

 

For answering to the topic I loved the idea of Yoda as a skillful warrior and to see him pirouetting with a lightsaber for the first time had no price for me.

I always loved his puppet version of the original trilogy, even today I'm fascinated about how much the people behind the movies were able to make appear him so alive and "real". But, maybe for my young age at the times of the prequels, I've always liked the CG and the wonders that allow it. In AOTC not only Yoda's ability to fight, but even to see him walking or his widening of expressions range represented for me to see the character free from his previous boundaries and finally with endless possibilities ahead of him.

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When I saw the prequel I knew very well the original trilogy and they were some of my favourite movies. But I was also a children, I always liked fictional fights with swords, and I've never grown accustomed to the idea that Yoda or the emperor were so skilled in the Jedi arts to the point of being on another level in comparison to their apprentices, with their powers directly tied to the force and where wiseness or malice were their only "weapons".

I admit that in retrospect this could make sense just as the idea that the Sith don't fight with "laser swords" and Vader use one only because once a Jedi too. But in my eyes in the OT Yoda and Palpatine were simple too much old for being still swordplayers; in addition, even if less talented than Yoda, Obi Wan incarnated for me the figure of the wise Jedi Master and so ANH demonstrated to me that "there are alternatives to fighting" but to the occurrence Jedi masters do even that.

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Retutning to Yoda' scene my only complaint is that I would have preffered his fighting debut in AOTC was more "powerful". It's not a surprise that his fight with Dooku was supposed to be longer, with the Sith in difficulty fighting Yoda with 2 swords in a reversal of his fight with Anakin. I would have really liked to see it (even for see more of Dooku, another of my favourite) and like someone said the scene can give almost the idea that is a showcase of what ILM could do at the time.

Even so I think that works well with his duration and I like how create it's little climax: a fight between powers of the force escalating in a battle with lightsabers through over human reflexes. But thinking about the climax of the entire movie, Yoda's fight is treated equally to the previous fights of Obi-Wan and Anakin against Dooku, and assumes the same importance (but maybe the idea was the one to consider Obi-Wan, Anakin and Yoda duels with Dooku parts of an unique fighting battle. The level of ability increase of a step each time, but the importance is always the same).

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About the grunts and the "frog style" of Yoda, honestly they never bothered me at all, on the contrary. But I really think that this was an initial conception of Yoda's fighting style that ended to be discarded from Lucas judging from his fights in ROTS and in the end I think that was the better thing.

I believe that Lucas in AOTC wanted go for an extreme contraposition between the usual wise, compassionate and composed Yoda's attitude as Jedi master of the temple (or even when he gives order on the battlefield to the troopers) and a feral side of him when he goes directly in battle, unstoppable and aggressive one. If we think about it's exactly how he played with the spectators in TESB, showing him as a creature childish and goofy than no one would expect be revealed a Zen master. But maybe Lucas thought later that his warrior portrayal had gone too far and that a such fighting style could be few concilatory with the personality of Yoda (while in TESB everything worked because it was a staging for Luke). So he could have refined it for ROTS, where we see a Yoda always extremely fast but this time a little less acrobatic and more still, and at the same time more acting as a silent fighter that look for ending a battle in the less time possibile rather than someone diverting the attention on it as happened in AOTC.

Thanks so much, but just for clarifying I wasn't absolutely discussiong tastes, everyone can be free to like or dislike whatever. It's just that sometimes I saw people criticize this aspect of as the only flaw of McDiarmid's portayal of his character when I'm pretty sure that it was something specifically made on purpose (even because classic "Lucasian one").

 

I loved it, never could understand, the critism. He's a jedi master and they wield a lightsaber, it was my favorite momments of ATOC and ROST as a kid as 8 and 11. Mster Yoda today is my number one star wars character i fangirl over. i Love him all the movies from TMP to TLJ.

 

There is a documentary of AOTC where Lucas talks about everyone (I assume he means the fans) always wanting to see Yoda pull out his lasersword and go to town... Not once before 2002 did I ever hear someone talk about Yoda with a lightsaber.

It's sort of odd that Yoda is this old, frail thing and yet he's also able to hop around. Just earlier in the movie the Jedi sit around and talk about how their ability to use the force has diminished. So does their diminishing force use not apply to hopping around? Just seems like conflicting information. Is their use of the force diminished or not?

 

The first time seeing Attack of the Clones, I didn't like Yoda fighting at all. I didn't like the movie either. In it's really grown on me. Thanks in large part to The Clone Wars.

Now Revenge of the Sith - I loved that film from the first viewing. Yoda's lightsaber work in that film is top notch. Yoda's duel with Darth Sidious could be my favorite in all of Star Wars.

Not sure if you're putting us on or serious.

The Jedi's ability to see the future and present through the Force is diminished. They couldn't even see the Clone Army. That's because the Sith are using the Dark Side to hide things from the Jedi in the Force without the Jedi ever knowing it.

This doesn't effect the Jedi's ability to hop around or pick stuff up with the Force.

 

But their ability to see into the future and their ability to jump around both come from the force, right? Or did I miss something?

 

Yes, you missed something.

Darth Sidious is actively making specific Jedi abilities diminish. But Darth Sidious doesn't want the Jedi to know he is manipulating their connection with the Force. To keep this secret Sidious is only targeting specific Jedi abilities - like seeing the future. He is not effecting their ability to jump around or use the Force in general. That's something they would have noticed.

Mace Windu and Yoda had no idea their connection with the Force was diminished until they found out there was a Clone Army. That's the only way they even knew their abilitiy to see things in the Force wasn't seeing everything. An army that big should have shown up in the Force.

 

Yoda jumping around may look silly(to some), but it makes sense. He's extremely short and small. He has to be able to leap and outmaneuver his opponents. The force allows him to do that.

Yoda is a teacher, who has a soft spot-who listens to the intuitive wisdom of children, with a great sense of humility but he can cut loose and meet Darth Sidious or Count Dooku despite them being much taller than he is and (without the force) much stronger than he is.

To me, that's awesome.

 

I also love that once the fight in AOTC is over, he picks up his cane and goes back to his normal walk. It shows him using the force when necessary, not like a toy to enhance his life whenever he wants to. It's the humble and responsible way to use such a gift.

 

Also Yoda seems spent after the duel. In Attack of the Clones at least, he's nearly exhausted. He can fight like that when needed but his tadpole days are long gone. Thanks to the Force and will power Yoda can summon great strength but it takes a toll. The Clone Wars down plays this

 

Not a fan. Yoda fighting with a lightsaber just looks silly. IMO, Yoda should have preferred to not use a lightsaber in the prequels.

 

Its only silly because well he's a little green goblin looking creature. But I firmly disagree.

Size doesn't matter-which fits what he says in ESB.

 

I’m mostly indifferent about it. I can see why people think why he’d be a touch above the need for a lightsaber, based off his characterization in the OT. But his lightsaber use in the Prequels don’t really bother me that much either.

 

Loved it. Was actually delighted by it, in a rare way... I had a huge grin, I probably laughed out loud in the theater, because it was fun in all the right, silly, cool, awesome ways... the amazing Christopher Lee, in those evil, booming, cultured tones, calling Yoda out, Yoda snarling back, the lightsabers igniting, the insanely ferocious battle...it was over the top and wonderful. It's continued to delight, on every re-watch.

I wasn't aware it was much of a controversy, frankly, but hey, to each his/her own.

 

Not for me. I don’t see why all of the anointed guardians of peace and justice have to be saber wielding swashbucklers. Thoughtful sage like Yoda of ESB is far more palatable. He should have just dropped some truth bombs on Dooku causing him to have an existential crisis.

I did like the bit where he absorbed the lightening though.

 

Yoda should have walked into that hangar and shared some words with Dooku. Dooku should have tried dropping stuff on him which Yoda would block. Dooku tries to then attack with force lightning to no avail. Dooku finally tries to crush Anakin and Obi-Wan. Yoda stops it from happening and Dooku gets away. No need for him to hop around like a frog, yelling.