Episode II Thoughts

Bad Points:

We never see the cockpit view of a ship going into hyperspace - only an external view when a ship comes out of hyperspace.

All of the music was forgetable. I was craving to here Luke's or Leia's theme several times, and especially the Imperial March. I guess they are saving that one for Episode III.

Bad light saber sounds. I miss hearing the snap-hiss/scrape sound of a lightsaber igniting. They seem to change this sound with every movie. The best lightsaber sound I remember is when Luke ignites his saber in the forrest on Endor, just before slicing the front off of one of the speeder bikes.

Pathetic Jedi skills. Anakin gets his arm chopped off for being foolish. As I remember his midichlorian count rivals Yoda's. I guess we are to believe that his recklessness corrupts his skill. I was not impressed by Yoda's skill. Count Dooku got away damn it. Obi Wan just lays on the ground when he got hit only twice. Obi-Wan could not handle Jango Fett. Also, the Jedi are so pathetic that they cannot detect Darth Sidious right in front of them. Did anyone notice, through pure observation, that Senator Palpatine is looking much older and worn due to his embracement of the Dark Side. I guess the Jedi just dismiss it as old age or stress os something. It's just that when I think 'jedi' I think of someone with skill well beyond the exception.

Even the least casual thinker would conclude that someone simply ERASED the record of the planet ObiWan was trying to find. I guess they needed an excuse to include a scene showing Yoda training some Jedi.

No double-bladed lightsabers.

Using two poisonous creatures to kill Amidala instead of just firing a high explosive rocket through the window. The droid itself could have been loaded with explosives and just drive itself through the window.

Good Points:

I was impressed by Obi-Wan leaping right through the damn window to grab the droid - cool!

I just knew Anakin would go beserk on the Tuskin's after his mom died. I got nervous just sitting there at that point.

Coruscant city scenes were really cool, as were all of the other environments.

Natalie Portman's outfits. I like the white outfit best. Or perhaps that backless number.

Asteroid chase scene. Laser cannons and weapons from Slave I were really cool. I still like the asteroid scene from ESB.

We heard Luke and Leia's theme as many time as we saw Luke and Leia on screen.

Actually, we heard Luke's theme in the opening crawl, the end credits and about six seconds worth in the Jedi battle (albeit ripped straight from its six seconds of fame in TPM.) That's about a minute more than it's already owed.

The Imperial March got a good outing in the final clonetrooper assembly scene. A bit early to be playing it in such a classical style, but it was still great to hear it.

While I'm sure a September 11th-style tactic would have made the film much more popular with the critics, you overlook one little thing: Jango's client wanted Padme's head on his desk, or at least some kind of physical trophy that he could lord over to soothe his little hurts. Blowing Padme to smithereens would not accomplish that.

We never saw that in Episode I, either. Shame. However, it makes the first appearance in A New Hope of hyperspace that much more memorable.

Not at all. Luke and Leia's Theme is for, well, Luke and Leia. Clones has an outstanding soundtrack, just as the previous four films do.

The saber sounds have remained almost completely consistant.

exception.

The Jedi skills were vastly far from pathetic, in fact, it was the best use of Jedi skills we have ever seen. Anakin getting his arm chopped off was foolish? He was simply bested by Count Dooku. A midi-chlorian count that is high, which his is, has nothing to do with how well he can use a lightsaber. And, to be honest, you are probably the only person to not be impressed with Yoda's skill, so that is a moot point. Obi-Wan did what he could. He put up a good fight, but, again, the fact is Dooku is a better swordsman. I'm sure getting cut with a lightsaber in the leg and arm is NOT a good feeling, and he probably used his last bit of strength to get his lightsaber to Anakin. You also misrepresent Obi-Wan and Jango Fett. We have no idea if he could handle him in a one-on-one battle in a set environment. It was Obi-Wan vs. the rain, the wind, Slave I, Boba Fett, Jango Fett, and the fact also is that Jango Fett is a DAMN good fighter. Remember, a Jedi can be beaten. Again, you say the Jedi are pathetic because they cannot detect Sidious. I suppose you missed almost all of the dialogue in the film talking about the Dark Side. You have to understand that much of the dialogue between Mace and Yoda, and even Dooku and Obi-Wan, talk about how the Dark Side clouds everything, even the Jedi.

Again, no. Use common sense. The fact that someone erased the records is a *huge* deal, nothing that should be obvious when it simply should NOT happen, perhaps has never happened before. Also, perhaps Obi-Wan did think, 'Perhaps they've been erased.' Okay, what should he do? He does not know for sure. Does it hurt to go get some advice? On top of that, you think he can just get a ship and go on a mission to find a planet without consulting someone? Jedi do not just run around doing whatever they wish. He conversed with Yoda about the problem, which let the viewers know that something was up, and let us also know that Yoda now knows about it, something is going on. On top of that, it gave us the chance to see Yoda instructing students; Lucas killed two birds with one stone and it provided one of the best scenes in the film.

Thankfully! This would completely diminish Darth Maul. The very thing that will make Maul rememberable years and years from now will not be his looks, it will not be his dialogue, it will be his lightsaber, that cool bad guy with the double-bladed saber. No, I hope we never see another double-bladed saber; it would take the entire cool factor away from Maul and the final battle in Menace.

It was made clear that they wanted PROOF of her death. If you blow up her room, you really don't have much left to show your clients.

Very cool.

I liked that, too. They deserved what they got.

Coruscant has been cool since the original designs back in 1981 or so before Jedi was made. I absolutely loved Zam's ship, especially the sound it made.

I also liked her white outfit. It looks almost exactly like one of the original drawings of Leia way back in the 70s.

The sonic charges provided some of the coolest sound effects in recent years.

the only silly thing about the missing planet scene was that ob1 clearly states that, while the planet is gone, a gravitational force still exists. even to the lay astronomer common sense should tell you that you'll find a planet (or something) right where he thought it should be... i can buy the part about not believing something had been erased, but they really didn't need to go in to that long spill just to get a kid involved in the scene.

Yes, but that proves the point that Obi-Wan was suspecting that someone might have been fumbling with the database. But as a simple Jedi Knight, do you go to Yoda and tell him 'hey, someone's been deleting things!'? I wouldn't. I'd cautiously go there and present the problem much like Obi-Wan has - you don't want him to get the impression that you're blaming HIM, or the Jedi Council, or something like that.

This is the most irritating thing about the new trilogy. It doesn't feel like a SW movie w/o the jum to hyperspace.

On the contrary, I think AOTC uses a large amount of the bass-heavy hum of a lightsaber cutting through the air, especially when Anakin and Dooku are fighting. Also, the particular sound effect you mention is used twice in AOTC. Once when Dookue ignites his lightsaber for the first time and when Anakin uses Obi-Wan lightsaber and his own against Dooku.

Well, Yoda was having to deal with a heavy pillar that was about to crush Anakin and Obi-Wan. I've read in earlier posts that others have questioned why Yoda had so much trouble with that pillar, while in TESB he was able to lift the X-wing so effortlessly. It seems logical to me, as in TESB, Yoda had soem time to summon the Force and lift the X-Wing (and even looked a little tired after doing so), where in AOTC the pillar falling occured suddenly and Yoda had to sheath his lightsaber and quickly summon the force to stop the pillar. Plus he had been dueling with Dookue, which I am sure zapped some of his strength.

...with a lightsaber. For all we know Count Dooku had hit a major nerve in his leg.

He was doing all right for himself until Boba started blasting him. He was attempting to get his saber back, but was tangled up by Jango.

Look at a picture of someone who is 55 then look at a picture of them at 65.

It's just that

MACE WINDU: 'We must inform the Senate that our ability to use the force has diminished.'

And it also cleared up the mystery of how Obi-Wan was trained by Yoda.

Imagine the best ice cream sundae you've ever had in your life. Then imagine if you had eaten it ever day for the next year. It kind of loses it's uniqueness, no? Plus, it seems like a weapon of evil associated with the

Ok. It looks like I missed some things.. I look forward to seeing it again.

I also missed the Correlian freighter and X-Wing. There is so much to look at.

Chris