Current Events > When you read Star Wars literature you see how good the Prequels could have been

(+) Yeah! (+)

spoilers for the Prequels

https://i.imgur.com/7hz3ajN.png
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Books are better than movies generally

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MedeaLysistrata posted...

Books are better than movies generally

I disagree, there are some things you can represent in film that you can't represent in text.

It works the other way too; neither medium is necessarily better than the other tbh.
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The tie-in Leia book they released right before TFA was also pretty good and set up the universe way better than the movie did. Shame what they did with the New Republic.
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Damn thats some shit. Poor dooku.

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Matthew Stover is awesome. If you like his SW books, I highly recommend his Acts of Caine series starting with Heroes Die. Or if you just like fantasy/sci fi in general.

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Dooku and Grievous were really underutilized in the Prequels. Another reason why I think the whole trilogy should have been about the Clone Wars. Having some meaningful development on Dooku and Grievous (as well as adult Anakin and Obi-Wan being friends) would have provided a lot to the experience of RotS.

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The story the prequels are tying to tell is decently interesting and enjoyable which is why things like the clone wars, book etc. can be pretty good.

Hairistotle posted...

wait, i just read the OP. was that shit not obvious in the movie?!?

Not really. Yeah after a while you realize palpatine just used dooku after anakin sabers him but you dont get a sense of dookus feeling of betrayal. Definitely not like its written here.

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Uhhh, that look on his face says it all.

You're really underselling Christopher Lee's acting.

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Hairistotle posted...

wait, i just read the OP. was that shit not obvious in the movie?!?

This. All of that was conveyed perfectly by Christopher Lees look.

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FuneralFroth posted...

Not really. Yeah after a while you realize palpatine just used dooku after anakin sabers him but you dont get a sense of dookus feeling of betrayal. Definitely not like its written here.

And perhaps more importantly you never get an inkling of what Dooku actually wants. He is introduced as the "bad guy" and 2 and immediately killed in 3. I even found it jarring watching it as a kid. Who Dooku actually is doesn't matter at all in the movies, and is more just there to show how quickly Palpatine will betray those he is supposedly working with.

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I still don't get why Dooku didn't start talking and giving up Palpatine before he was executed.

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Jabodie posted...

Dooku and Grievous were really underutilized in the Prequels. Another reason why I think the whole trilogy should have been about the Clone Wars. Having some meaningful development on Dooku and Grievous (as well as adult Anakin and Obi-Wan being friends) would have provided a lot to the experience of RotS.

Yeah they should have stuck with just Darth Maul or just Dooku. So it felt like a well earned victory when the Separatists are defeated.
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The RotS book is fucking fantastic.

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The extended universe was never canon.

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Southernfatman posted...

I still don't get why Dooku didn't start talking and giving up Palpatine before he was executed.

I read somewhere that in the original script Dooku begged for his life or something, but Christopher Lee suggesting it was unbecoming of his character so they cut it. In the novelization I believe the plan was to have Anakin capture Dooku who would ultimately betray the Separatists and give them Grievous and the other CIS leaders, so when Dooku initially lost the duel he was just sort of confused when Palpatine ordered Anakin to kill him.

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I draw the line at fanfiction. No way.

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creativerealms posted...

The extended universe was never canon.

This is the RotS novelization, not the EU.

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Lmao
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Jabodie posted...

I read somewhere that in the original script Dooku begged for his life or something, but Christopher Lee suggesting it was unbecoming of his character so they cut it. In the novelization I believe the plan was to have Anakin capture Dooku who would ultimately betray the Separatists and give them Grievous and the other CIS leaders, so when Dooku initially lost the duel he was just sort of confused.

Is that one of the only examples of a prequel actor saying to Lucas "Hey this dialogue is sorta shitty?" and he listened?
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KillerSlaw posted...

Uhhh, that look on his face says it all.

You're really underselling Christopher Lee's acting.

Im saying lucas doesnt know how to write

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Damn_Underscore posted...

spoilers for the Prequels

https://i.imgur.com/7hz3ajN.png

How it was written was how it was filmed.

Darmik posted...

Is that one of the only examples of a prequel actor saying to Lucas "Hey this dialogue is sorta shitty?" and he listened?

Well, it's said a lot on the Internet but I'm not entirely sure if it's true. Edit: Apparently it is said in the Christopher Lee Film Encyclopedia. Idk where else, or if that book is even accurate.

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Darmik posted...

The tie-in Leia book they released right before TFA was also pretty good and set up the universe way better than the movie did. Shame what they did with the New Republic.

Claudia Grey has been killing the Star Wars novel game over the last couple of years.

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KillerSlaw posted...

Uhhh, that look on his face says it all.

You're really underselling Christopher Lee's acting.

Some people have a hard time reading facial expressions
They need text to tell them how people feel.

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Hairistotle posted...

why are you using this example to illustrate that point

chris lee's face told me everything that novelization paragraph did

so if anything his writing (in this instance) lines up with this so-called good writing

Because this is the fucking scene we're talking about? That paragraph made me give more of a shit about dooku than any of the movies did.
In the movies all you get is some limp dick scenes, some shitty fights then him getting killed. His facial expression would have been enough if george had built it up the right way.
Im not saying i cant tell he was betrayed, im saying i didnt give a flying fuck in the movie. This one paragraph puts it in a whole new perspective in a way george couldnt with three fucking movies.

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"Literature. "

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Hairistotle posted...

As a little baby I was able to think dookus exact thoughts (according to the excerpt) just by his face so idk what to tell you

Seriously. Not sure why TC needed overly pompous and classless prose to tell him things that George Lucas of all fucking people was able to direct an actor to express clearly.
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The problem isn't seeing the betrayal in his face. The problem is the complete lack of investment in Dooku as a character and what his motivations are. There's no reason to care about his failure and his sudden realisation that he is a pawn.

Vader turning on the Emperor doesn't need to show any facial expressions to show you what is happening within him because that was actually built up to be something meaningful.
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Darmik posted...

The problem isn't seeing the betrayal in his face. The problem is the complete lack of investment in Dooku as a character and what his motivations are. There's no reason to care about his failure and his sudden realisation that he is a pawn.

Also his name sounds like a slang for poop.
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Hairistotle posted...

As a little baby I was able to think dookus exact thoughts (according to the excerpt) just by his face so idk what to tell you

Like i said. I just didnt give a shit about him in the movies.

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Darmik posted...

The problem isn't seeing the betrayal in his face. The problem is the complete lack of investment in Dooku as a character and what his motivations are. There's no reason to care about his failure and his sudden realisation that he is a pawn.

Vader turning on the Emperor doesn't need to show any facial expressions to show you what is happening within him because that was actually built up to be something meaningful.

this

The only interesting thing about Dooku in the movies is that he's played by Christopher Lee. That's just bad moviemaking.

To answer the above question, the quote from the book does both - yes, that short quote builds up Dooku's character much more than the movies do. There's also this great quote that I saw before which helps build Dooku's character:

https://i.imgur.com/xqjYaar.jpg
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Hairistotle posted...

Then why didn't we get a quote building dooku up instead of a quote just telling us what happened on screen

You do in other parts of the book.

There are chapters dedicated to different characters exploring motivations. Dooku, Grievous, Palpatine, Mace Windu...

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"the fuck we need character development for? We got christopher lees face"

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Books aren't time-constrained, and have to tell instead of show.

The only way that passage can even start to work in film, would be Dooku getting a contrived soliloquy out of nowhere.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Books aren't time-constrained, and have to tell instead of show.

The only way that passage can even start to work in film, would be Dooku getting a contrived soliloquy out of nowhere.

George had two whole movies before this to set up the Separatist villains with character arcs and stuff to do.
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Darmik posted...

George had two whole movies before this to set up the Separatist villains with character arcs and stuff to do.

yeah but we had to see podracing

Darmik posted...

George had two whole movies before this to set up the Separatist villains with character arcs and stuff to do.

The one in the middle had some decent potential at being a 'detective' story, but that ended up squandered also.

Reis posted...

yeah but we had to see podracing

Don't forget the Chinese stereotype aliens.
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Lot of the literature is usually far better than most of the movies. I personally enjoy(as I've said before) the theory that Jar Jar was the ultimate Sith Lord. Or the so called Sith that was so powerful he was contained to his own planet.

Darmik posted...

Don't forget the Chinese stereotype aliens.

Or the Jewish stereotype alien.

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Darmik posted...

Jabodie posted...

I read somewhere that in the original script Dooku begged for his life or something, but Christopher Lee suggesting it was unbecoming of his character so they cut it. In the novelization I believe the plan was to have Anakin capture Dooku who would ultimately betray the Separatists and give them Grievous and the other CIS leaders, so when Dooku initially lost the duel he was just sort of confused.

Is that one of the only examples of a prequel actor saying to Lucas "Hey this dialogue is sorta shitty?" and he listened?

I mean who's gonna argue with Christopher Lee? Didn't he correct Peter Jackson on the sound a man makes when he gets stabbed to death?