CT Your reaction to Palpatine's force lightning

5 year old me was terrified.

 

I thought it was awesome and definitely made me fear the Emperor.

 

I think it's interesting that up until that point Palpatine's use of the Force has been conveyed entirely through dialogue and facial expressions.

 

I kinda already knew through promos and movie stills. And even then probably before I saw any of the movies so the impact was obviously not as strong as it could have been. Still cool though....but then again I'd seen god-skeletor from Masters Of The Universe

 

I was expecting it as I'd read the novelization half a dozen times before finally getting to see it on a bootleg VHS.

 

Being the life long spoiler hound that i am I went to a bookstore prior to the movie release and read the last chapter of the novel. So I knew how it was going to end and Luke would live. But the Vader turn was a surprise.

 

First time I saw it was when I was nine. I was shocked. I did not see that coming. I wondered if Luke was a goner, and watching Vader be torn with emotional conflict grabbed my attention during this horror for Luke.

 

I can imagine i was shocked and scared. I don't remember much but I will live through this scene again with my four year old on the 31st. Going to see the movie at a small theater. I hope I waited until a good time as he is almost three years younger from when I saw it.

 

Like many post-OT era kids, I knew about Force lightning before watching the film, so it didn’t faze me so much.

Much less than the scene of Padme giving birth in ROTS.

What was scarier than the lightning was how close Luke was to death, and how much pain he was in.

 

Didn't he lift his finger when he removed Luke's shackles?

 

A very good point. So we know the Emperor has the Force. But he hardly uses it, in contrast to Vader, who chokes Imperial officers to death for looking at him funny.

 

Me: “Well, Luke’s dead. Shouldn’t have thrown your weapon away, huh?”

 

You think Yoda would have warned Luke about Force lightning.

 

Given how broad the lightning streams look, I wouldn't at the time have expected lightsabers to be any defence against it, until AOTC portrayed them as providing some limited degree of protection.

 

And it depends on those who are using the lightning. Dooku's seemed less intense than Sidious, and Obi-Wan was able to block it relatively easily (although Anakin charged and got hurled back). However, Mace had to struggle to use his saber to block Sidious's lightning.

 

he was too busy judging him.

 

I don't have a problem with Force lightning. I just don't see why only the Sith would use it.

 

What would a Jedi use it for? It's inherently pain-causing and life-draining. It's an offensive technique meant not just to incapacitate a target, but cause them pain and suffering also. It's about as close to a stock "evil" Force power as Force powers can get.

 

Obi-wan said that life creates the Force and makes it grow. Force lightning is used to destroy life, which is its own source of power. That is not a sustainable cycle, it's twisted and wrong, and that wrongness manifests itself in the lives and appearance of those who practice it. It's like a starving snake that tries to survive by eating its own tail; not viable and only leads to an ugly death.

 

I think it's compatibility issues, it's like trying to download a cellphone app onto a computer. The light side has its own techniques; Force lightning is just not one of them.

 

I remember watching ROTJ for the first time on TV back in 1999 (reruns in conjunction with the release of TPM) and when ol’ Sheev suddenly shot those bolts of lightning from his hands, that was a shock... I didn’t know that the Sith were so powerful to have such a “weapon”, and that Luke would definitely die from the relentless Force Lightning attacks!

Of course we now know what happened in the end and it was the father who would perish instead, sacrificing himself to save the life of the son...

 

it was set up nicely because before this he just sat and was very calm. But then you realize how powerful he was.

 

For me, lightning is a part of nature. It can be used for beneficial or detrimental reasons. This is why I don't see why the use of "Force" lightning should have been restricted to the Sith.