SPECULATION what if...

I think the problem with Naboo being Alderaan is it would mean a depressing ending for TPM since we would know twenty years later the planet would be completly destroyed . Meaning they would have been better off just letting the Trade Federation win.


What if.....

Padme and the Jedi never left Naboo. The go hide in the forest. Coordinating guerrilla attacks on the Trade Federation until brokering an alliance with the Gungans. Plot wise they would achieve the same assets and capabilities in attacking the invading army. A problem with the plot of TPM is the whole second act achieves nothing in the actual real purpose of what the protagnist are trying too. Actually, this shows the blind luck of Palpatine (oh wait he can see the future, how convenvient).

What do they achieve by leaving Naboo:

Find a young kid who will later become a Jedi who will then turn to the dark side to become a Sith Lord.

Go to Coruscant to but in a more pro-active chancellor Palpatine who will later revealed to be a Sith Lord.

So instead gaining military support (starships, troops), or even a handful of Jedi, or heck even a couple of mercs. They return to Naboo with they exact same people plus one eight-year-old kid. Who once again thanks to dumb luck saves the day. Yipppeee! So plot wise I can understand why Lucas went the direction he wanted discover Anakin and put Palpatine in power. But wouldn't it have been better in terms of plot and characters to have a real queen (who due to her parents death now is forced to lead) and a young jedi (Obi-Wan) racing to Coruscant who are in over their heads and need help. Introduce Palpatine, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Bail Organa. Palpatine gets elected on the promise of building an army, Qui-Gon Jinn agrees to return to Naboo to help take out Darth Maul, and Bail Organa volunteers a small fleet of Alderaan starships to help take out the blockade. This puts in the wrench into Palpatine's plans since he needs Naboo under siege as long as possible to justify building a galactic army. Naboo should be considered a strong allly and colony of Alderaan. Alderaan's fleet attacks the Trade Federation causing their modified cargo ships (their a business conglomerate not a military force) to flee the system when the battle turns leaving the ground troops to their own devices.

So when Tarkin destroys Alderaan it is because Bail Organa is Palpatine's political rival who helps build the Rebel Alliance. But this needs to shown beyond expostition in boring scenes around a table in ROTS (most of which got cut anyway).

 

What if...

Padmé had never been elected to the Senate after her term as Queen was up, and thus never returned to Coruscant nor needed Jedi protection? Most likely Anakin would not have met her again were it not for that chance event. Would he have been able to remain on the Jedi path without the distraction of this girl he had a major crush on since his youth? Would he have naturally developed affections for some other female he met at some point, and still had the shadow of the fear of loss looming over him, guiding him down the wrong path?

Obviously his experiences with his mother would still deeply affect him. But imagine that, after losing her, he did not have another person for whom he had a genuine love in his life.

He may still have been turned at some point, for some reason. Palpatine was incredibly adept at seeing the weaknesses of people, getting at whatever made them twitch. Undoubtedly Palpatine would have more difficulty in cracking Anakin. Would Palpatine dismiss the idea of turning him without that easy leverage, or did Anakin just have a natural darkness to his core which Palpatine recognized anyway?