Do you think Lucas regrets killing off Darth Maul in TPM ?

It's almost as if they need a justification for being drawn to the darkness. Vader is the ultimate 'wish fulfillment' character - hidden identity, powerful, vengeful, no baggage (as originally depicted).

Ironically, Vader is the actual Marty Sue as originally depicted in the limited screentime in ANH. Funny how that works.

 

lol. I love it how he, when you think about it, had a similar function to Maul in ANH. A sentinel. He just got a little bit more screen time. Vader's boss was Tarkin.

 

He would be logical to feel regret; it doesn't matter anymore though, because Maul got the fan film Darth Maul Apprentice, which is better than all of the Star Wars films except for The Last Jedi

 

Regret isn't the right word, I would say Lucas is pleased with the prequels and how he made them. I think he discussed with the creative whether or not it'd be worth it to have Maul in the TCW and they came up with his story

 

I think Lucas regrets a lot of things about TPM...!

 

Well, seeing as how, Darth Maul came back, I'd assume so.

 

Lucas doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who regrets a lot of things. This is the same guy who started to make even more unnecessary changes to the original trilogy after fans expressed less than happy opinions about the prequels. Not that any of them are necessary or even good, but some of the later ones were done for no other reason than the past people off.

Now do I think he made a huge mistake killing the character off? Absolutely. For starters, Count Dooku was an awful character. What was Lucas thinking making him the only other character we’ve seen on screen be able to use Force lightning? And maybe it was just Christopher Lee’s age, but I never got the vibe he was really that much better with a light saber than anyone else. He only won flights because that’s what the storyline called for. I think Darth Maul would’ve wrecked him.

Anakin actually had a connection to Maul. He’s the one who killed Qui Gon and Qui Gon is the one who recruited Anakin. If that is the motive revenge, I don’t know what is.

 

Well, maybe if he wasn’t such a consistent screw up in that movie anyhow.


VADER: Ha ha, I have you now, Princess. Now, where are those plans?
LEIA: What plans?
VADER: CRAP!

VADER: Well, let’s talk about that hidden base of yours then - MIND PROBE STYLE!
LEIA: . . . . . . . . . . no.
VADER: CRAP!

VADER: OK, what if we just let her go and then follow her back to her hidden base?
TARKIN: Seriously? What if that totally blows up in our face?
VADER: Pssh, like that would ever – CRAP!

VADER: Alright, I’m gettin’ out there and cleaning all these turds off our lawn. I have you now!
HAN: YAAAAAAHOO!!!
VADER: CRAAAAAAAP!

Not exactly ‘employee of the month’ I guess is what I’m saying

 

I liked Dooku but only if he would have stuck around for more than a half hour and foiled Anakin and Obi-Wan a few more times in another film, which would have given Christopher Lee some more screen time to give that slimy arrogance to the dialogue like he can, like Peter Cushing did with Tarkin.

That would have been possible if AOTC was Ep. I instead of 2. But alas, we had to meet Little Orphan Ani.

 

I'm sorry, but I don't agree. Darth Maul was not that interesting as a character . . . not to the point that I could see him acting as the "official" leader of the Separatists. Maul seemed nothing more to me than an enforcer or hired gun for Palpatine. And the latter needed more than that to lead the Separatists (Dooku) and to help him enforce Imperial policy throughout the galaxy (Anakin).

Frankly, he should have remained dead and not allowed the public to dictate his saga. Allowing others to dictate your story just makes things worse . . . like bringing Maul back from the dead for "THE CLONE WARS". And I don't think Lucas didn't need him as a "plot device" to lead Anakin into giving in to evil. Utilizing Anakin's difficulty in giving up his attachments more than served the purpose, at least to me. In fact, this inability to give up attachments when the time was right seemed to be a flaw that many characters had shared. It almost seemed like a theme in "ATTACK OF THE CLONES", "REVENGE OF THE SITH", "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" and "RETURN OF THE JEDI".

Attachment seemed to be a problem with a lot of fans. They're so impressed by Maul, due to his "cool factor" and his lightsaber abilities, that they seemed blinded from his limited characterization. And because of this, they were unable to allow Maul to remain dead . . . to this day.

 

Darth Maul looked cool, but that's it.
But I have to admit: Anakins path to the dark side is the most frustrating and unconvincing aspect of all Star Wars movies so far – using Darth Maul as a plot devise for Anakins "downfall" would have been interesting indeed.

 

I hate that I really liked Maul's run on CW and Rebels.
Because I normally despise the "Oh look they weren't really dead!" thing.

It's why I gave up on Agents of Shield. I get sick of the death fakeouts
Force Ghosts being so limited and still actually dead, are right on that cusp of things I accept or dislike.

 

I think that would depend on how they were choreographed. If they look like the duels in The Phantom Menace, that would be great. but if it went the route of all that unnecessary twirling, flipping, and spinning of episodes two and three, then no thanks.

 

I think it absolutely proves it. If he had intended for Maul to return, he wouldn't have had Obi-Wan cut him in half and then fall down whatever it was he fell down. He might've still had Obi-Wan injure him and/or win the fight, etc. But not in a way that (seemingly) so obviously kills him off.

 

I mean, but maul's "death" was a very important turning point in Obi Wan's story, and without it the story would have been a lot different. Anakin would have probably been trained my a different jedi, therefore ruining the whole set up of Obi Wan's dialogue in ANH... In other words, I think it makes the most sense for Maul to be "killed", and then come back later. It's kinda the whole resaon the last few episodes of Clone Wars, some of Rebels, and AOTC have even a compelling storyline... Just saying.

 

To be honest, I wouldn’t think so. They needed Maul as the main bad guy. To be the return of the sith. With Qui-Gon and Obi-wan fighting this antagonist, thats really all they needed. Plus we got plenty of Maul in Rebels and CW. But, I do love Maul as a character, in the film and the shows.

 

Agree. That's the reason they brought him back for sure.

I really felt that maul could have become the main villain of the entire trilogy.

And I miss a connection with a main villain in this trilogy. For the OT we have Vader and for the ST we have Kylo. Unfortunately to the PT we have too many bad guys, and none of them have the appeal that Maul has.

 

I've always thought that was intentional. With the addition of the prequels Star Wars became about the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and since the true villains doesn't reveal themselves until ROTS we just have a bunch of so-so bad guys in the meantime. I think George thought that having one villain span the entire trilogy would perhaps lessen the overall impact of Anakin's story. Not to mention the fact that, despite only having two lines of dialogue Maul did become instantly iconic due to his look, lightsaber, etc. His status as an icon obviously pales in comparison to Vader's but a big reason for that IS because he was killed in the first movie, who knows what would've happened if he stayed around for the whole thing, and I think that again ties into my first point. It's the story of Anakin Skywalker who falls to the dark side and becomes the most iconic villain of all-time, maybe Lucas had a fear and didn't want any villain even coming close to challenging for that spot.

 

I agree. It makes perfect sense.