Question: Is the cutting of Zam's arm by Obi Wan in the nightclub supposed to be a nod to when Obi Wan cut off the alien's arm in ANH?
Question: Why exactly did the Viceroy of the Trade Federation want to kill Padme in the first place?
Chosen answer: Because in Episode I, she was the Queen of Naboo. Viceroy Gunray had blockaded the planet with a trade boycott and then tried to take over the planet at the order of the Sith Lord Sidious. But he failed, her forces prevailing and destroying his droid army and capturing him. So in the second movie, which takes place 10 years later, he wants revenge on her for his failure, blaming her.
Question: I have often wondered about the Jedi rule forbidding marriage. (Yes, I know that there are rare exceptions, but in general, no marriage so you have no emotional attachments to get between you and your duty as a Jedi.) It is shown over the Star Wars saga as a whole, that sensitivity to the Force is, at least in part, genetic. Anakin and all his decedents are strong with the Force. When Qui Gon first sees that young Anakin is strong with the force, he asks, "Who is his father?" Therefore, wouldn't forbidding Jedi to have families selectively breed out sensitivity to the Force? Such a rule would seem to doom the Jedi to a fate similar to that of the American Shakers, who forbid all sex, even in marriage. How could the Jedi continue for thousands of years, if they leave no progeny?
Answer: Technically yes, as the force is evidenced to be hereditary. However, the force can naturally manifest itself into a being who has no force-sensitive heritage. Also, in the expanded universe it is established that romantic relationships are forbidden and sexual ones are frowned upon, thus the Jedi policy seems to be that they rely on the naturally occurring force users as opposed to offspring of Jedi.
Question: Was there any point to Zam Wesell being a changeling? She reveals herself to be one to Anakin when he is on top of her speeder and when she is hiding from the two Jedi in the bar, she makes absolutely no effort to disguise herself.
Chosen answer: Being a changeling would make her job as an assassin easier, however, Anakin and Obi-Wan were in hot pursuit and she had no time to remove her armor, which presumably would not also change with her, so there would be no point in changing her appearance, as they'd recognize her armor.
Question: Dooku mentions that his and Obi-wan's paths have never crossed before. Does he mean that they have never met at all, or just not since Dooku left the order? Obi-wan was 20-something years old in Episode I, when Dooku was still a Jedi, so could they really have never met each other in that many years (especially with the connection of Dooku being Obi-wan's master's master?)
Answer: It's certainly entirely plausible that their paths have not crossed previously. Jinn and Kenobi spent the vast majority of their time together away from the Jedi Temple on various missions for the Council. Dooku, for his part, had become withdrawn and dissatisfied with the Jedi Order after a couple of politically-motivated battles that he felt the Jedi should not have involved themselves with and spent much of his time meditating and discussing his concerns with other Jedi Masters. As such, the pair would only rarely have been in the same star system, making it not remotely impossible that they never met, even with their shared connection with Qui-Gon. With that in mind, it seems likely that Dooku is speaking literally and this is their first meeting.
Question: During Dooku's meeting with the other Separatists on Geonosis, why does one of the Separatists say, "The techno-union army," and then stop and make that weird noise?
Answer: If I remember correctly, the Separatist in question is of a species whose vocal functions are incapable of making any sound resembling what we would call "human" speech. He wears a device that translates his sounds into a more discernible language. It needed an adjustment at this point, and you can even see him reach up and turn a knob.
Question: When Dooku asks Obi-Wan to join him, does he really want to destroy the Sith, or does he have another plan?
Answer: Of course he doesn't want to destroy the Sith - he is a Sith. He's using disinformation to distract Obi-wan, put him off-guard and make him look elsewhere for Sith involvement. If he does persuade Obi-wan to join him, then he gets a possible mole inside the Jedi Order and somebody who he might influence into a potential apprentice. If Obi-wan doesn't, but manages to escape, then he'll have the Jedi Order off balance trying to deal with the new information. If Obi-wan doesn't escape and dies in the arena, then Dooku's lost nothing by giving him information.
He also wants to overthrow Palpatine at some point, as is the Sith way, so turning Obi-Wan would give him an ally in his own plans against Palpatine.
Question: The round conference table on Geonosis (where Dooku is updating the other separatists) looks an awful lot like the symbol of the Empire, especially when viewed from above. Is this intentional?
Question: During the battle of Geonosis, how come the droidekas don't activate their shield generators, like they did in TPM and ROTS? Wouldn't it be better since they are noted to be feared by the Jedi?
Answer: Some of the droidekas have sheild generators and some don't. Recall that when Obi-wan and Qui-gon first encountered them in Ep. 1, Obi-wan said "Master! Destroyers!" A few seconds later he pointed out that they had shield generators, to emphasize that that was the type of droidekas they were.
Question: Is it possible that Palpatine was aware of Anakin's feelings for Padme and was trying to encourage something to happen between them by ordering her to leave Corusant with him? He later uses Anakin's love for Padme to turn him to the dark side.
Answer: Absolutely. He wasn't encouraging it (since it was already happening) he was manipulating events to his vision. The jedi have a power of far-seeing (essentially they see the (or a) future), and Palpatine seems to be very powerful in this field, but just because he can see it doesn't mean it happens, he has to shape the events he sees in his visions. After all, from seemingly nothing he worked his way up to the ultimate ruler of the universe. Getting two lovebirds together (for his own later use, of course) is nothing to him.
Question: During the fight scene with Dooku, Obi-Wan is knocked down and Anakin stops Dooku from delivering the fatal blow. My question is this: when Obi-Wan picks up his lightsaber and throws it to Anakin, Dooku is standing right over him, why not just reach up and stab Dooku and end it all right there? Is there any reason for him not to do this?
Answer: What, you don't think that Dooku would sense that coming? He's a powerful Sith Lord, considerably above either Anakin or Obi-Wan in power at that time - he'd easily be able to sense it coming and deflect it. Obi-Wan would know that - better to give his lightsabre to Anakin to give his uninjured cohort a more formidable attack.
Question: Forgive me, but I was puzzled by Jango's jetting himself into the fray during the Battle of Geonosis and taking on Mace Windu. It seems inspired by (and/or justifying - depending on how you look at it) his son Boba's jetting onto the skiff during Return of the Jedi. However, in both cases, with all the laser fire, light sabers, and dangerous creatures involved, it seems like a really stupid idea and a bit out of character. Their nature doesn't seem to lean towards such an impulsive move. In Jango's case, Count Dooku didn't order Jango to attack (verbally or even in gesture). Previously he had served as guarding Dooku, which he abandons by going after Mace. While it could be argued that Jango marks Mace simply because he might resent having a sword against his throat, I don't see why he would launch himself so close to the battle. In his battle with Obi-wan, he didn't get really close until the saber was knocked out. It would've made more sense if he hung back and launched something from a distance. The only other reason for this sequence is to conveniently have Jango out of the picture when the clones arrive. (And to start off Boba)
Answer: Fetts tend to be unforvinging and often hold grudges especially towards Jedi. This is shown in the original trilogy with Bobba's grudge against Han and his impulsive attack on Luke on the sail barge. Jango Fett naturally has a hatred towards the Jedi because he is a Mandalorian and the Mandalorians were defeated by the Jedi during the Mandalorian Wars. Jango has a line with Obi-Wan saying "Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi". This alludes that Jango has met and killed Jedi before and really enjoys it. Add that to the fact that Mace pretty much humiliates Jango by holding him at bay with a lightsaber blade near his throat while Mace has dialogue with Dooku. At this point Jango would love nothing better than to kill a Jedi during the arena battle; especially Mace. He already shoots the Jedi Master Coleman Trebor and when he sees the chance to attack Mace he goes for it; throwing caution to the wind.
Question: In Star Wars: A New Hope, Obi-Wan tells Luke that he and Anakin Skywalker were very good friends, as well as teacher and student. Now, lack of actor chemistry aside, in this movie, Obi-Wan and Anakin are still very firmly in the role of Master-Padawan, as it should be, and therefore rather formal with each other. My question is, are they speeding up the timeline of how things happen in this movie? It doesn't seem like they're allowing enough time for things to occur as we supposed they ought by the time the first movie begins. It's hard to believe this Obi Wan and Anakin became good friends- it seems they barely tolerate each other.
Answer: Quite often when you lose someone who you spent so much time with, you often remember the relationship as being better than it was. Having said that, we didn't see their relationship for the previous 10 years, and we don't know what will be happening in the next few.
Question: What was the purpose of C3PO going with Anakin, Padme and R2D2 to Geonosis? It just seemed to me like some small subtle scene Lucas threw in hoping no one would notice just to bring things together for Episodes 3 and 4.
Answer: Anakin created Threepio and left him with his mother when he left to train as a Jedi. Anakin has now returned and, with his mother dead, ownership of Threepio has passed to him, so, when they leave, they take the droid with them.
Question: When Anakin said to Padme "don't worry, we have R2 with us" how exactly was that supposed to be comforting?
Answer: It's also a joke for Star Wars fans who know that in every movie, R2 has gotten everyone out of a jam and saves the day. Where would everyone be without R2?
Chosen answer: It was a joke. They start laughing after he said it. They feel an astrodroid like R2 is pretty useless in most situations.
Question: Why did Boba Fett interfere with the fight between Jango and Obi-Wan? Jango wanted to fight Obi-Wan alone. Moreover, Jango had the upper hand when Boba interfered. So why did he interfere?
Answer: Jango and Boba were trying to escape the planet Kamino as quickly as possible after they found out Kenobi was onto them so when confronted Jango tried to fend off Obi-Wan. So it's understandable that Boba would want to help his father and avoid being caught and taken in by the Jedi which Kenobi was trying to do unsuccessfully. Also, Boba could have been instructed earlier by Jango in that event to fire at Obi-Wan with his ship.
Question: In the droid factory, when the smasher crushes what Anakin's arm is trapped in, his lightsaber shoots out, but how is it when his arm is released from it, it's now back in his hand as if it never shot out? It seems too noticeable to be a mistake.
Answer: I watched the clip on YouTube. It's hard to see, but Anakin's light saber is always in his hand. Just after the light blade is switched off, the sword's hilt can still be seen in his palm as his arm is trapped. When his arm is freed, he's still holding the light saber, but it has been damaged.
Yeah the top part of the lightsaber is cut off by the machine and bounces off. I think that what the question asker is referring to, mistaking it for the entire saber.
Question: Why is Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus not on the poster? Considering that he is the main antagonist of the movie.
Answer: Plus, he's played by an great actor.
It's what's known as a "reveal." Yes, he's played by a famous actor, and yes he's the main antagonist. But the audience isn't meant to know that until later in the film. It's supposed to come as a surprise. If he was on the posters (like Darth Vader was for the original films), audiences would go in expecting him to be the main villain, and wouldn't be surprised at the reveal.
Are you saying that if he's on the poster, the audience will judge that he's the main villain of the movie?
The problem is he is only in the end of the movie. If he was on the poster people will expect him sooner and be disappointed.
Well he is not in the end of the movie. He is just in the middle, though. But why do you say disappointed? I am quite disappointed at first that the main antagonist is not even on the poster.
I am sorry for my mistake saying "He is not in the end of the movie". But what am I going to say is He appears in the middle, though.
Question: When exactly did Dooku turn to the dark side?
Chosen answer: Dooku lost faith in the Jedi order when his padawan Qui-Gon Jinn died on Naboo at the hands of Darth Maul. He left the Jedi order and pursued wealth and power. He was contacted shortly after leaving by Darth Sidious, joined him and became a Sith.
Answer: Yes. Severed limbs are a recurring motif of the Star Wars films.
Captain Defenestrator