The only worthwhile part in that train wreck of a movie.

Some of the edits bugged me. Yes, it was probably the best part of the whole prequels, this particular video just doesn't flow.

It was the music in that scene that made it great really. Oh and the guy that played Darth Maul.

God, I remember some girl in the theater was like "His lightsaber has two ends...it is soo unfair!"

Always thought Jedi vs Sith fights were hypocritical since two guys are ganging up on one.

Darth Maul was a sad waste of a potentially good character.

Haha just noticed that Darth Maul loses his balance for a bit and almost stumbles off the edge at 4:07.

I'M GONNA WOW YA!

For me this was the best saber-fighting in the SW prequels. (Yoda doesn't count. He just spins a lot.) The entire thing was very well choreographed, and Obi-Wan's fighting after Qui-Gon bites it is particularly intense.

But beyond this fight, is it just me, or are all of the saber-fight scenes in TPM choreographed a lot better than the two following movies? As bad as the movie was, they were quite fun to watch . . .

I think you're right Sylvester. Episode 1 has the best use of sabers. The opening twenty minutes of this movie is also quite good, especially the very opening on the trade federation ship. The suckage starts with Jar Jar's first appearance, but the Gungan city and the Jedi's passage through the underwater core of Naboo are some classic Star Wars if you ask me. Things get truly shitty once Anakin shows up.

One thing I hate about the prequels is how every single character who shows up in eps 4-6 is somehow tied to the events of eps 1-3... worst offences being:
1. Darth Vader created C3PO
2. Yoda knows Chewbacca
3. Obi-Wan killed Boba Fett's dad

would have been a great scene - apart from the fact that's its' badly directed. too many cuts. it just jumps around too much to really get a grasp of what's going on.
But it's a shame as it would have been the best scene of the film.
Equally, would have been much better not to kill off Darth Maul, waste of a great character.

I'd have to add,
4. Medichlorians

These single handedly dispelled the boyhood fantasy that even I too could have been a Jedi. It wasn't about some depth of understanding in the power of the universe anymore, the Force now came from how infected you were with magic bugs

I believe the prequels failures mainly lie in the fact that George Lucas was again directing, am sorry but taking a leave of some 20 odd years has significant impact on your craft. The man just can't direct actors at all, no wonder we had so many clunkers from the characters.

See Irvin Kershner on Empire Strikes Back.

Fun fact : Darth Maul only blinks ONCE during this whole fight, right when he gets cut in two. I actually liked this one the most out of all the prequels, sans Jar-Jar Binks.

don't forget the imaculate conception bullshit!

"4. Medichlorians" OHHH you are so right. If there was but one choice for the prequel ruining the series for me it would be that. As cool a concept of "The Force" was as a kid....was boiled down to a parasitic infection of paranormal microorganisms?

I bet Lucas told his kids when they were 3 that there was no Santa either.

Lightsaber duels are wizard!!!

Ugh...

Agreed with Roofles, Darth Maul could have MAYBE saved this movie. To waste him like that... I felt cheated

I completely agree with Sylvester_Ink. This is actually the only prequel I revisit because of the duels and more pleasing sets.

Every duel that came after Ep1 became rushed, tightly shot sfx extravaganzas that began to rely less on the clever acrobatics of the fighters.

Ray Park really made all the saber battles work in the Phantom Menace. In the next two they relied too heavily on CG and couldn't match the choreography of real actors.

I saw this movie with my young nephew. When darth maul falls in the hole at the end of the fight, my nephew said, "hey, his pants fell off!" lol.

If I bought that place the first thing I would do is tear out those damn red force field doors.

Darth Maul was actually their teacher that taught the actors about the choreograhy. the Orginial actor that was playing dath maul just couldnt do the tricks, spins and other stuff, so they canned him and hired the teacher, he wasnt an actor (hense the Always super serious face and vitually no lines). its is probably why the fights between these three flows so well, because you have an Actual Kendo master (maul) fighting the other 2.
also, its all Kendo (apperently), just practiced to perfection in what we see.
this saber fight was apperently, fromt the start, the biggest and most planned out part for EP. 1. nothing else in the 3 movies was practiced as much as this fight, which is Why this part (imho) stands out as the best part of the movie, cause it was

One thing that now bugs me about the saber fights in these prequels is all the saber swirling that the jedis do to try to look cool. Especially at 4:27. It just looks stupid.

Dispite the fact that the episode 1-3 movies were disliked by a large majority of the so called Star wars fans. I still like them because they make my life fun. People should just learn to enjoy movies instead of ripping them apart. There are a ton of perfectly crappy movies out there, and these movies were not part of them. Try to get your sense of wonder back people. Just sit down and watch a movie without an agenda. You know what I mean?

Worst movie ever.

Nick Gillard has been with George Lucas from the beginning, doing the choreography for every saber fight since 1975... He's constantly traveled to keep up with trends and new styles... GL asked him to find something much more exotic for "these Jedi and Sith at their prime". Wushu was the only solution...

The wild swings are called flares, and serve to misdirect your opponent and gain momentum on your strikes... In EPIII Obi-Wan and Annakin stand inches apart doing infinity flares at high speed... Most would say it's just showing off, but it serves an important purpose when you can be cut in 2 at any moment...

And it was Mace Windu that beheaded Jango Fett... Not Obi-Wan.

I think Episode 2 is highly underrated, mainly because of the terrible love story. Take that out and you got a pretty entertaining Star Wars movie. That's what the chapter skip button on your remote is for.

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Monday, June 11th, 2007 1:26am PDT - promote requested by kronosposeidon.

I am so torn by this clip/movie for these very two reasons:

First, I love, even though the moment is ever so brief, that Darth Maul uses the Force to aid in his opening the door and preventing himself from being backed into a corner. When I saw that in the theatre originally, I actually sat up in my seat and thought "Now THAT was fucking cool."

Secondly and most importantly, I think Lucas made dogshit of what could have been one of the biggest movie reveals of ALL time. Had he kept a lid on the fact that Darth Maul employed a double-bladed lightsaber, I guarantee you EVERYONE would have lost their fucking minds on opening night and the subsequent weeks that followed. Next time you watch the movie, take yourself back to when you first saw it and imagine that you had no idea that DM used the double saber. Then watch this fight again. Instead, they decided to market the hell out of it, ruining what could have been an incredible movie moment, in an otherwise stinker of a movie. Like when the Jedi first arrive in the beginning and Qui-Gon immediately starts taking the door out? Everyone I've ever talked to admitted that was bad ass.

(I always use the T2 reveal of Arnold being a benevolent terminator as an example. As I remember it, Cameron didn't allow any commercials or print ads revealing that secret for the first 2 weeks of release. That's why it was such a great setup and scene and reveal.)

>> ^Mgshadow:
Dispite the fact that the episode 1-3 movies were disliked by a large majority of the so called Star wars fans. I still like them because they make my life fun. People should just learn to enjoy movies instead of ripping them apart. There are a ton of perfectly crappy movies out there, and these movies were not part of them. Try to get your sense of wonder back people. Just sit down and watch a movie without an agenda. You know what I mean?

Trouble is, Episodes 1-3 were so simplistic when compared to 4-6 that it became (for me) a real chore to get into them.

Just one example, during one of the many conference calls they showed us in Episode 1, featured a fellow saying "A communications disruption can only mean one thing. Invasion." Ex-fucking-cuse me? Sorry, but my powers of disbelief suspension are not that great. Maybe if I were still 7, that reasoning might be solid.

So you see, disliking a shitty movie can only mean one thing: it's shitty.

*dead

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