Star Wars Episode III. Revenge Of The Sith. Primer.

Cafe Society
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Okay. So, there are already a couple Star Wars threads in this Forum, but none with the same purpose as this one.

Episodes I Through III.

All Non-Geeks, this is your last chance to exit this thread. You have been warned.

Before the next Star Wars movie comes out, on May 19th, I need to brush up on what has happened thus far. This thread is meant to be used as a communal primer on where Star Wars currently stands, for those Star Wars fans among us, and to help us prepare for Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. Frankly, I’m a little confused, so I need to put this in writing in order to understand it. And, please correct me where I stray from the truth, or need further information.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

We open up over Naboo. Some Trade Federation ships are cutting off Naboo’s trade in an embargo…why, again?

Two Jedi’s are sent from the Galatic Senate to negotiate the end of the embargo. Instead of negotiating, the Jedis are almost killed, and a full invasion of Naboo is begun…why, again?

The Jedis make it to the surface of Naboo, and hitch a ride with a denizen of Naboo (don’t make me name “it”) to a relatively safe hiding place - a city under the water.

Memory lapse.

The Jedis and team are on an official cruiser, make it off Naboo, and past the Trade Federation ships. They sort of crash land on Tatooine, needing a spare part to fix the ship.

Meanwhile, Princess Amidala of Naboo travels with Lord Palapatine to the Senate to plead help in ending the embargo against Naboo. Something (?) forces a vote of confidence, and Lord Palapatine wins, I think.

The Jedis run into a promising young lad who has a vast inner reservoir of tiny cells that constitute The Force (don’t make me name “it”). They decide to help this lad win his freedom from slavery, and in turn, they get to leave Tatooine with the lad.

Another memory lapse.

The denizens are fighting the Trade Federation robots. Princess Amidala’s castle is under attack. The Jedis are fighting a very powerful Sith. The young promising lad destroys a Trade Federation ship.

The robots are defeated.
The castle is saved.
One Jedi dies, with the Sith.
The lad survives and is taken under the supervision of the surviving Jedi.
Lord Palapatine is in full power of the Senate…how, again?

Episode II: Attack Of The Clones.

The two Jedis meet Senator Amidala again, years later, while on security detail for her on Coruscant. There is some high-speed chase diversion. A clue is left behind - a poison dart that only certain professional Bounty Hunters, from certain locations in the Galaxy, use. The Jedis split. One Jedi follows the clue to the location of a secret planet that is shielded from view. The other Jedi, uh, well, he hangs around and hits on Senator Amidala.

Lord Palapatine is still in charge. There is some talk of some planets that are rebelling against the newly powerful Senate.

Memory lapse.

The first Jedi finds the hidden planet, only to realize that it is a clone factory, spitting out hundreds of thousands of clones, all of the same man - Jango Fett, and his clone son, Boba Fett.

Big fight on the landing platform. Jango and Boba get away. Some chase scene through an asteroid belt.

Another memory lapse.

The Jedis and Senator Amidala end up on a planet. They survive through a robot factory. They are then captured and put into an arena, to be fed to some pretty vicious creatures. At the last minute, a thousand Jedis come swarming in. Big slaughter. Jango Fett dies, but Boba survives. The Clone Wars start immediately outside the gates of the arena.

The Clone Wars is a war between the clones from the hidden planet (eh?) and a bunch of robots (eh, again?).

Some mastermind guy, Lord Dooku, who we just met, is apparently behind all of this - both the clones and the robots. In a battle, he disables one Jedi, cuts off the arm of the other, and manages to escape from being defeated by Yoda.

Lord Palapatine (aka Emperor), who is in cahoots with Lord Dooku, takes the initiative to recognize this as evidently push-back from the planets that are rebelling. To nip it in the bud, he assembles the Republic under a fleet of ships, and takes off to “persuade” them back into the Republic.

Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith.

Here is how Slate describes the upcoming Star Wars movie:

Who is General Grievous?

Lucas has a lot of ground to cover in Episode III. Too bad he wasted so much time with Episode I.

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I must congratulate you CF, a long post about Episodes I & II without a single mention of He Whom We Must Not Name.

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Grievous is the commander of the droid army for the Seperatists. I’m not sure what species he is (probably not human), but he’s cyborged out the wazoo, or would be if he still had a wazoo to be cyborged out of.

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Episode I

Everything involving the Trade Federation was orchestrated by Palpatine (Sidious). As the Dark Lord of the Sith, his goal is to gain control of the galaxy so he can get revenge on the Jedi. He just happens to be a senator from a planet on the very outskirts of the Republic. As Sidious, he strikes up a bargain with the Trade Federation. He convinces them that if they blockade Naboo, it will show the Senate that the Federation means business.

In reality, Palpatine knows how long and drawn out the diplomatic process is, and he uses this to his advantage. With a full scale invasion of his homeworld taking place, Palpatine uses Queen Amidala to speak for their people and move for a Vote of No Confidence in the current chancellor, Chancellor Valorum. Palpatine, being the senator from the planet in dispute, is thereby given a strong sympathy vote, and ends up winning the election for the new Chancellor.

One step closer to his goal…

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Please don’t stop there Soapbox Monkey. I never fully understood the plot of Episode II.

What’s the deal with the clones? And the droid army? And Dooku? How does it all relate to Palpatine’s plans? And why were they trying to kill Amidala?

I definitely need a primer on who is who. Let’s see, we have the Republic, and we have the Trade Federation, and we have Palpatine, and we have Dooku, and we have the Fetts, and we have the Clones, and we have the Droids, and we have the Jedi, and we have Rebelling planets? Who the heck is aligned with whom? And who is fighting with whom?

This is why I liked Episodes IV through VI. There was the Empire and there were the Rebels. Everything was fairly simple and straightforward.

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I like this thread. I walked out of Episode II totally bewildered as to who the hell was fighting who. Haven’t had a strong enough stomach to sit through the whole things since. I’d appreciate someone setting things straight.

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Ok, I’m going to take your questions a little out of order. There are a lot of planets/groups that aren’t happy with the Republic. They think it’s corrupt, that its policies are unwise, etc. They’re led by Count Dooku, who is a former Jedi knight who left the Jedi Order because he thought it was too corrupt. So these planets secede, and they’re backed by powerful groups…the trade federation, manufacturing and banking corporations, etc. These groups give/sell the seceding planets an army of droid soldiers.

Now, the Republic isn’t happy with the secession, but it doesn’t really have a military. So, our heroes in the second movie find out that this Jedi who’s gone missing placed an order for a lot of clones to build an army with. The clones provide the Republic with the military force they need to crush the Rebellion.

Of course, as we know, and our heroes don’t, this is all part of Palpatine’s plan. Palpatine corrupted Dooku and turned him to the dark side. He then had Dooku murder a Jedi Knight and impersonate him to order a clone army, and then talk the disgruntled systems into rebelling. Why did Palpatine do this? This way he gets an army loyal to him, and also an outside enemy to rally the people around and let him increase the power of the Chancellor’s office in the name of national security.

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Republic=the galactic government, supported by
The Jedi, guardians of the Republic, who take orders from
Palpatine,the Chancellor of the Republic, who doesn’t personally know
Jango Fett, a mercenary who let himself be used to produce
The Clones, an army for the Republic, needed to fight
Rebelling planets, who are led by
Dooku (who’s secretly in cahoots with Palpatine), and who are backed by
The Trade Federation, who are supplying them with
A Droid Army.

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But do we all know this? Did Dooku murder Master Sipho Diaz, or was Sipho Diaz actually Darth Sidious before he became Palpatine (the names are very similar, yes?)? Of course the question arises if that was the case, wouldn’t the other Jedi Masters recognize Palpatine as Sipho Diaz? Or, the other rumor, did Sidious take over Senator Palpatine’s body and use it as a vessel (as he does with clones, which we find out in the extended universe)?

So it isn’t cut and dried there.

And do we know whether Dooku left the Order himself and then was brought under Palpatine as a Dark Side apprentice, or did Palaptine turn him while a member of the Order and instruct him to leave. Basically, did Dooku turn to the Dark Side before or after he left the Order?

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Sifo Dias is neither Dooku nor Sidious. Theres a comic detailing the origin of General Greivous coming out that shows a picture of him. It all ties up - although its unclear whether he (Sifo Dias) actually ordered the Clone Army or it was Dooku posing as him.

Theres a 49+ page Ep III thread on somethingawful that spoils just about every conceivable part of it. I have read it all. I had to.

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It’s not clear, but there are implications that no one knew that Dooku was a Sith Lord until the events of Ep. II. When Dooku does his lightning thing against Yoda, Yoda observes that he’s turned to the Dark Side. This is kind of a pointless thing to say if Yoda already knew about it, and if Yoda didn’t, then there’s no way anyone else on the Jedi Council would have either.

Dooku had apparently been out of the Order for some time, though, so my guess is that Sidious recruited him after Darth Maul was forced to split. (Remember, about 10 years pass between Ep. I and II, so there’s plenty of time.) There is a “one master, one apprentice” rule that both the Jedi and the Sith seem to follow.

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>snerk<

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Almost certainly not. It’s just a coincidence in acoustics.

Probably not.

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Okay, so (correct me if I’m wrong here) Dooku is playing both sides of the separatist question. Acting under Palpatine’s orders, he’s stirring up the Trade Federation and other disgruntled groups and bringing them together to secede from the Republic by force. But at the same time, (also under Palpatine’s orders) he surreptitiously commissions the creation of the clone army to help put down the very same rebellion.

So by creating a war out of nothing, Palpatine gets an army under his command – an army that will take orders from him without question, unlike those meddling goody-two-shoes Jedi. Plus he gets to destroy the Trade Federation and others with enough power to be potential thorns in his side when he makes his move.

Okay. I get it.

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Yep. One of the books says that Sifo Dyas ordered the army apparently in fear of a rising tide of evil in the galaxy. Dooku learned of it, informed his new master Palpy, and then murdered Sifo Dyas, who was his friend. Thus he proved his loyalty and set up Palpatine with a kickass master plan all in one swell foop. To be fair, Palpatine probably knew it was coming since he can often see the future.

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If he’s that good at seeing the future, why’d he put a deep, emperor-sized hole in his throne room?

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I just came into say…

Jar Jar Binks!

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha

Darth Odinus

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Well, he’s NOT that good at seeing the future. To be fair, all we really know is that he runs around declaring “I have forseeeeeeen it” constantly an omniously. For all we really know, he has Ms. Cleo locked up in his dark dungeon of doom on Byss or whatever it is.

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Okay. Between these two quotes, I believe I understand it, but don’t expect me to pass a quiz on it.

So, were we supposed to know of the background information with Sifo Diaz and Dooku before going to see Episode II? The first time I heard the name Sifo Diaz was this thread.

Palapatine’s plan just seems too farfetched. But, it’s so crazy, it just might work.

Rubs hands together.

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You weren’t necessarily supposed to know it. It’s possible that it will be further and more clearly stated in Ep3. It’s possible that Lucas considers some of it to be a shadowy mystery per se, and hasn’t noticed that it’s bleedingly obvious that the clone army IS the basic start of the Emp. Palpatine’s armed forces, which the suprisingly similarly named Chancelor Palpatine seems to benefit from having at his disposal, rasing his power considerably.