No Such Thing As Sith

Doesn't matter. The scene was effective as hell with no heads or arms flying loosely about the place.

Lucas could very easily have put the Jedi up against a living army of red saber wielding baddies in the PT and shown the same kinds of deaths as we saw in the sail barge battle. Maybe an occasional saber hand going that-a-way, but there's absolutely no reason why a clash between lightsaber-wielding armies would necessarily have to be portrayed as a full-on Gladiator-style bisection fest.

 

I understand that, I was just throwing out ideas. He probably just kept 2 Sith to keep them mysterious rather than armies of them.

 

Lucas actually said at one point during one of the TPM "making of" documentaries that he went with battle droids because the Jedi could "slice them up like butter" while still keeping the movie "family friendly". He was definitely concerned about violence... even though his earlier films were plenty violent (and the series has the word "war" right there in the title, fer flip's sake!)

 

That's actually really funny. He probably decided that the same night he came up with Jar Jar Binks.

 

Y'know, I actually got that same impression when I watched the making-of thing years ago.

 

Aside from the fact that this assertion is completely verifiably false, sure. The Sith appear by name in the 2nd or 3rd draft of the first movie (around 1975 I think) though they're called the Legions of Lettow in the first draft. I think Jedi are referred to as the Dai Noga in that first draft too. The first written use of the word Sith is probably the novelization of ANH in reference to Vader as the Dark Lord of the Sith. I think that was still in the 70s.

When the EU started up in the early 90s, Zahn wanted to use the name Sith for the Noghri since all anyone (who hadn't read older versions of the ANH script) knew was that Vader was the Dark Lord of the Sith. Lucasfilm didn't let him and saved it for later when it was revealed what the word meant in the Tales of the Jedi comics which came out right after Heir to the Empire in the early 90s.

Not to be rude but Christ, put a little effort in before posting.

 

Edit: to put it more simply, the Sith Knights as skilled warriors who fought the Jedi Bendu (also skilled warriors) to the point of near extinction is a concept that predates the introduction of the force to the story of Star Wars. I'd say it's been a fairly integral part of the story for a while now.

 

Just because they were explicitly named and described in multiple still-existing (and you can actually go look this up yourself) drafts of the script does mean that I can and do know that they were always a part of the story of Star Wars, no matter who chooses to be ignorant to the facts at hand. As I said you can verify this for yourself which is why it's called a fact.

 

I can only roll two eyes at once and I can't keep chasing this moving target around forever. The title of the thread is No Such Thing As Sith which is obviously untrue but I'll give you on artistic license since it's a title. Then you stated:

...One thing that became immediately apparent is that it looks like the entire concept of the Sith wasn't present, and was invented for The Phantom Menace...

I clearly explained why this isn't true and you seem to agree which should be a fun learning experience out of which we get to know each other a little better and the world is a nicer place.

I'm not sure what your point becomes after that...what did the artists who made the movies think? George had written drafts of the script where it was a lot more explicit and then toned it down later, leaving only 4 or 5 occasions of the word in the 4th and final script. If you go to Google and search for Star Wars script then take the first hit to this site then hit ctrl+f to bring up the word search box and type "sith" you will see it pop up 5 times. I consider George the predominant artist on the project. The only thing that changed from the earlier drafts was the number of Sith. If the guys at ILM who built the model of Tantive IV or the key grip or Jim on the corner of 7th and Vine St didn't know that then I don't know what to tell you. I'd venture to guess that several of them didn't know who Obi Wan was either but that doesn't refute his existence.

 

Not angry, just being 'that guy'. I'm sure we'll agree on something later and continue the conversation then.

 

not to rain on the poop parade, but i'm gonna get back to the initial post (ignoring the title):

growing up all i had was the OT. i barely knew about the EU stuff and frankly, i didn't care: i always thought they looked cheesy and that they didn't stand up against the movies at all (before someone jumps down my throat, let's just say that's my personal opinion and leave it at that).

with all that being said, i was ignorant of any Sith. Vader was just a fallen Jedi, seduced by the dark side of the Force. the Emperor was just a crazy, evil, force-wielding wizard with lightning and a Darth-Vader as weapons. i never thought about what came before because they pretty much tell you: Anakin was a pupil of Obi-Wan before he turned evil, and all the other Jedi were killed off by the Empire. when you pick up the story in ANH no one even seems to know what the Force is all about; one imperial officer even mocks Vader regarding his belief in it. if anything the vibe of the story is: using the Force has kind of fallen out of fashion and the new thing to do is use lasers to blow up planets (or proton torpedoes to blow up moon-sized battle stations). at every turn people are like, "Force? what?" even Han has his turn, proving that common folks didn't know the first thing about the Jedi or the Force.

now, when the prequel trilogies came out i thought it was awesome that there were hella Jedi. i liked that they changed things to be peaceful and at the height of civilization, so to speak. everyone knew who the Jedi were and they were a respected institution. then you hear of how there's this opposite group, called the Sith, and lo and behold! that's what Luke was fighting against the whole time! who'da thunk? midichlorians were even pretty cool at the time, i have to admit.

although i did like aspects of the PT, they were in general pretty bad movies. i can see why they changed the things they did between the two, despite the fact that they almost contradict each other at times, but they were so poorly executed and that was (and still is) a bummer.