Am I the Only Who Likes Dooku more Than Maul out of the prequel Villains?

I loved both Dooku and Maul. I would love to see more of both and in live action. A live action show (miniseries) showing us Dooku in the "early days." I'd also love to see more Darth Maul. He is just so crazy cool.

 

For sure. I was really hoping that Solo would get a sequel, because that would be bomb.

But if not, it would be pretty awesome to have a live action Clone Wars era movie some day. It would be relatively easy to cast Maul, but Lee's Dooku is a different story. The man was a legend.

 

Yeah, it sucks that Christopher Lee is gone. What a legend. I would love to see more of him as Dooku, but that ain't happening now, unless of course they digitally recreate him.

I would also love a sequel to Solo with Darth Maul playing a more prominent role. But darn it, I think that isn't likely to happen. Which is sad, but oh well. Maybe some day in the near future they will. Who knows?

 

Exactly this.

I think Dooku is a vastly underrated and under used character. I think the way Christopher Lee portrayed Dooku was exceptional in that the Sith Lord appeared so noble whilst being ferociously devious and scheming at the same time.

 

Yes.

 

I remember I was disappointed when Dooku was killed off in the opening ten minutes of ROTS after being set up as the major villain at the end of AOTC. Think of how awesome it would be to have Dooku stay on for most of ROTS, and Anakin's desire to defeat Dooku being the main drive in turning into Vader. Much more interesting IMO instead of becoming Vader because of dream that Padme dies in childbirth, and Obi-wan flying off to another planet for 45 minutes to defeat a character that has no bearing on the plot, and we aren't really emotionally invested in anyways.

 

Let me start by saying I know Christopher Lee could act. But when it came to Star Wars he phoned it in. I've seen baked potatoes with more emotional range than Lee's Count Dooku. The only scene where he displayed any emotion at all was when Anakin decapitated him. The fight scenes with him were terrible, especially considering the awesome badassery of Ray Park's Darth Maul we had witnessed in the previous movie.

But my biggest complaint with Count Dooku was the lack of presence.

When Darth Vader enters a room he's automatically the center of attention. When Darth Maul ignites his weapon you know something amazing and violent is about to happen. But when Count Dooku shows up it's time for a nap. He doesn't really contribute anything to the story. You might argue that most of the characters in the Star Wars saga don't contribute to the story. The two headed podrace announcer guy didn't, Lobot didn't, why am I holding Count Dooku to a higher standard than other characters with the same screen time?

Because Dooku is a Sith, and a Sith is supposed to have presence. We could feel Vader's brutal, mysterious power. We could feel the Chancellor Palpatine's intelligent, manipulative power. We could feel Darth Maul's savage, angry power. But there was nothing to feel from Christopher Lee's Count Dooku. There's no sense of danger emanating from him. He represents zero threat. And for a Sith Lord, that's unforgivable.

 

I didnt like Dooku at all. To me it was very unclear who he was as a character and what his motivations were.

 

Yes. I would say that Dooku was an interesting villain, but Maul should've been explored more in the films than he was.

 

Maul has the cooler look and he also has that double-sided lightsaber. Dooku is just a man with a cape and a curved lightsaber. But, all jokes aside, I like them both. The Clone Wars animated show gave both of them a lot of interesting stories.

--- Double Post Merged, May 3, 2019, Original Post Date: May 3, 2019 ---

He explains to obi-wan in the attack of the clones that he believes the Jedi have lost their way and have become warmongers.

--- Double Post Merged, May 3, 2019 ---

thankfully, the clone wars did that

 

I think Dooku was a more interesting character (background, motives, etc) but from a pure combat and aesthetic (Mauls name and look is scary) standpoint Maul wins. Maul is a great movie character, Dooku ( should have been but wasn't) a great tv character.

 

Dooku has really grown on me and I now like him more than Maul.. and what a great call from Lucas to bring in Christopher Lee.

I just wish he appeared in The Phantom Menace.. would have made him a more compelling villain.

 

I've always liked Dooku more than Maul. Aside from his physicality, Maul was never that interesting to me. And I think he should have remained dead after "The Phantom Menace".

 

Dooku was a better character and you can't beat Christopher Lee!

 

No, you are not alone. I am Dookunite. I have alwaya preferred Lord Tyranus’ sophistication and conplex history with the Jedi (he being Qui-Gon’s Master). Therecis a audio book on Dooku coming out or is already out, that I would like to hear.

 

While I do concede that Dooku lacked the presence of Vader or Palpatine, he does by defeating Anakin and Obi and then dueling Yoda to a draw prove he is far more powerful than Maul and Vader who could not end a duel in a draw with Yoda in his prime. Lord Tyranus solidified himself as second only to Darth Sidious. This should have made Dooku more intimidating in ROTS, but he was killed off so Grevious could be a focal point. I wish Dooku had died in the Mace Windu duel, Mace could face off Sidious and Dooku, the three other Jedi Masters like Kit Fisto get slain by Dooku and Sidious, and as Windu is left to face both Sith Lords, Anakin enters and strikes at Dooku; eventually slaying the Count only to turn to Windu and find Sidious pleading to live. There Anakin could then armed with Dooku and His own saber, strike Windu in the same scene we get in ROTS, only Windu is even more suprised because Anakin dispatched Dooku; but really to take his place.

 

I love all three of the big 'villain of the film' villains in the prequels - it's important to understand that whilst they are individual characters they are also there to serve as thematic constituent parts supporting Anakin/Vader's fall to the dark side.

Maul - is fear. Anakin fears to leave and then lose his mother, Yoda senses the fear in him... and of course the fear of losing Padmé is arguably the single greatest lever Sidious uses against him to turn him.

Dooku - is the gentleman Jedi who turned to the dark side, foreshadowing Anakin's own fall. An example of someone doing what they think is the right thing for the right reasons, even though they are wrong - but they aren't wrong about everything. In the same film as Dooku is introduced we see Anakin starting down a similar path - questioning how things are done, flirting with the idea of abandoning democracy for something more direct... perhaps with good intentions, however misguided.

Grievous - is the skeletal solider who collects the lightsabers of dead Jedi - an exaggerated version of what even Vader becomes - even more machine than man, twisted and evil - ultimately defeated by an exploding heart, one of the few organic, non-machine parts left, a more visceral and literal version of how Luke ultimately appeals to finding and defeating/rescuing Anakin amongst the Vader in ROTJ (by metaphorically appealing to his heart for mercy rather than literally shooting it with a blaster like Obi Wan with Greivous!).

Each of these villains is dispatched in order to make way for the next one as we get towards the culmination of what together those symbolic elements form in the end: Darth Vader. Both made from and exuding fear; Turning away from the Jedi order who failed both him and the galaxy; at the heavy cost of much of his humanity, made into a man-machine hybrid under the control of a Sith Lord.

This was all intentional, Lucas talked a little bit about it publically around ROTS' release, but I think it's clear from the films themselves anyway, and for me at least, really enriches the involvement of all three of those characters in Episodes I-III specifically.

 

That's a great observation, Porco. Especially the point about Grevious. But I still think Lawrence Fishbourne would have been a far more convincing Count Dooko than Christopher Lee.

A non-threatening Sith is like watching a little kid in a scary Halloween costume - you kinda want to be scared but you can't get past the cuteness of this kid trying to be something that he's not.

 

You don't think Christopher Lee was threatening? We'll have to agree to disagree there... for sure it wasn't ultra-threatening, it was a lot of charm involved ... but that was the thing I think - he had to be both charming enough you could buy that he used to be a good guy, but threatening enough that he was now a bad guy.

I think he did a great job, but I can kind of see how you would see it the way you do (and I think Laurence Fishburne would have been an interesting choice). I think some of it simply comes from Lee's history in a meta-way, so many other roles he had that played on that charming-yet-sinister thing, obviously one of the most salient at the time AOTC was released was Saruman from The Lord of the Rings films, with which there are clear parallels with Dooku of course.

On a slight tangent, I distinctly remember Lee saying something like he had worked with two geniuses in his career - one was Peter Jackson, the other George Lucas. If anyone else remembers where that clip/interview was from and knows where I can see it again I'd be very grateful!

 

I agree, Dooku is regal and sophisticated, while Maul is mysterious and brutal. GL really gave us such diverse villians; no two villians feel the same.

I am TeamDooku, he’s my favorite. My Xmas list has Dooku: Jedi Lost Audiobook on it.