Here we find out what happens between running the blockade on Naboo and landing on Tatooine.
Script copyright George Lucas
Excerpted from this site:
http://www.supershadow.com/star_wars/episode_1/the_phantom_menace/script.html
INT. NABOO SPACECRAFT - QUEENS CHAMBERS
QUI-GON, OBI-WAN, Capt. Panaka, and the LITTLE BLUE DROID
stand before QUEEN AMIDALA and her THREE HANDMAIDENS, PADME,
EIRTAE and RABE.
CAPT. PANAKA
...An extremely well put together
little droid. Without a doubt, it
saved the ship, as well as our lives.
AMIDALA
It is to be commended... what is its
number?
The LITTLE BLUE DROID lets out a series of bleeps. Capt.
Panaka leans over and scrapes some dirt off of the side of
the DROID and read the number:
CAPT. PANAKA
R2-D2, Your Highness.
AMIDALA
Thank you, Artoo Detoo. You have
proven to be very loyal... Padme!
PADME bows before the QUEEN.
AMIDALA
Clean this droid up the best you
can. It deserves our gratitude...
(to Panaka)
Continue, Captain.
Capt. Panaka looks nervously to OBI-WAN and QUI-GON.
QUI-GON
Yor Highness, we are heading for a
remote planet called Tatooine. It is
a system far beyond the reach of the
Trade Federation. There we will be
able to make needed repairs, then
travel on to Coruscant.
CAPT. PANAKA
Your Highness, Tatooine is very
dangerous. It's controlled by an
alliance of gangs called the Hutts.
I do not agree with the Jedi on this.
QUI-GON
You must trust my judgement, Your
Highness.
AMIDALA and PADME exchange looks. PADME moves next to the
DROID.
INT. NABOO SPACECRAFT - MAIN AREA
PADME sits in the Main Area, cleaning R2-D2, the brave little
Astra Droid. JAR JAR pops out of an open door.
JAR JAR
Hidoe!
Both PADME and ARTOO jump and let out a little SCREAM. The
Gungan is embarrassed that he frightened them.
JAR JAR
Sorry, nomeanen to scare yousa.
PADME
That's all right.
JAR JAR
I scovered oily back dare. Needen
it?
PADME
Thank you. This little guy is quite
a mess.
JAR JAR hands PADME the oil can.
JAR JAR
Mesa Ja Ja Binksss...
PADME
I'm Padme, I attend Her Highness,
You're a Gungan, aren't you?
(Jar Jar nods)
How did you end up here with us?
JAR JAR
Me no know... mesa day starten pitty
okeyday witda brisky morning munchen.
Den boom... getten berry skeered, un
grabbed dat Jedi, and before mesa
knowen it... pow! Mesa here.
(he shrugs)
...getten berry berry skeered.
ARTOO BEEPS a sympathetic beep.
INT. NABOO SPACECRAFT - COCKPIT
OBI-WAN, QUI-GON, and Capt. Panaka watch over RIC OLIE'S
shoulder. A large yellow planet appears directly ahead. RIC
OLIE searches his scopes.
OBI-WAN
That's it. Tatooine.
RIC OLIE
There's a settlement...a spaceport,
looks like.
QUI-GON
Land near the outskirts. We don't
want to attract any attention.
EXT. TATOOINE - SPACE (FX)
The ship heads toward the planet of Tatooine.
Not sure what the point of theses scenes is, other than to give R2-D2 screentime. I suppose it further establishes Padme as a character of value, but that is just as easily accomplished by the upcoming scenes on Tatooine.
ReplyDeleteI'd cut these.
In contrast, think of how important the early Millenium Falcon scenes are in Star Wars. Luke learns about the force, and we see him controlling the force for the first time. And we get the Alderaan "meteor shower," as well as a comic relief chess scene that lasts (and this is important) all of about 30 seconds. We also get insight into Han Solo's character.
Here we get nothing.
Boy, there is really nothing here. I guess for kids who are meeting R2 for the first time? But couldn't we do that in a scene that advances the plot? I feel like we should be drinking for roller skates.
ReplyDeleteOf course, in our rewrite, this isn't R2D2 but R1D1. His "personality" is presumably different. But I still vote for no scenes with Jar Jar, so let's cut this.
I probably should have said this on the last scene, but I honestly couldn't have told you why they went to Tatooine. Absolutely no idea. That's bad, right?
Could be bad.
ReplyDeleteI think it's weird in the Star Wars universe that they can hop from planet to planet even when their hyperdrive is down. You can do Naboo to Tatooine, apparently, and Hoth to Bespin without going through hyperspace.
Don't they refer to hyperspace as "the jump to lightspeed?" If they're not going faster than light, how the heck are they getting from star system to star system in a matter of hours?
Maybe I've just missed something technological.
And apparently I'm Eileen today.
ReplyDeleteAnd while we're commenting on Droid nomenclature...There are craploads of these astromech droids. How come they all have the same freaking names? R-something-D-something, with none of the somethings being larger than like 5? There are four or five of them in Finn's Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, and there is almost no variation in the names.
ReplyDeleteJust how many R2-D2's are there? Maybe it's not the same droid. I mean, I know it is actually the same droid and all, but still. But the way the names are used, they seem more like model numbers than serial numbers.
Here's a discussion of naming the droids I found on the internet:
ReplyDelete"The entire "R2" "R3" etc. naming convention we're familiar with was created by Lucasfilm to assist the marketing departments of licensees, but has not been accepted by George Lucas, who intended a less stringent application of droid names. In A New Hope, Luke calls R5-D4 an "R2 unit": "Uncle Owen, this R2 unit has a bad motivator." Also, during the making of Attack of the Clones, George Lucas told the droid techie, Don Bies, that Obi-Wan's astromech droid had the same dome as R2-D2, but is called "R4." Don then asked George if he was aware that a whole naming convention had sprung up, and that R4 units had the "lampshade" dome. George indicated that that wasn't correct. (See this interview here.) This goes a long way towards explaining why in the prequels "R2" units suddenly were always referred to as "R4," or why in the new Clone Wars television show "R2" units are being referred to as "R3," "R6," and even "R7" and "R8." So even though we have been led to believe that the shape of the dome reflects differences in a droid's capabilities or programming or "type", the reality is that all astromechs are essentially same, with the dome style being only a difference of aesthetics or manufacturer.
The fact is that the current Clone Wars series is under the complete control and daily supervision of George Lucas and is canon, and must be treated the same way as the other movies: What we see in the series is fact. You can read a great interview with the main writer and director of the CW series here that covers the factualness of the series in great detail, and how George Lucas created most of the stories and even told the production team to "ignore the EU stuff" when writing the episodes. Regardless, we should continue to refer to them by their traditional dome type for ease of discussion."
Link: http://www.angelfire.com/droid/astromechs/
Holy CRAP! That web page is painful to look at. I'll read it later.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea. And the thing is, I KNEW that was R5D4. I think I had R5D4. So why had it never bothered me that it was an R2 unit?
ReplyDeleteI think I objected to the lack of hyperspace in Ep1 at the time. I had forgotten all about it. Maybe it took them weeks and we're just not talking about that? But if that's true, I feel like we could find a better travel moment than Jar Jar and R1D1.
Is this also the first appearance of the big button that does absolutely everything in this spaceship?
It's very Last Starfighteresque.
ReplyDeleteThere was some movie my Mom was referring to as "just like the Last Starfighter" recently. I remember being offended, but I don't remember the movie. She loves The Last Starfighter, so she didn't mean it as an insult in that sense...in fact, it seems like she was saying that whatever movie it was was not as good.
May have been Phantom Menace, as far as that goes.
What this whole series of scenes lacks is lines that succinctly bring a contrast in philosophies sharply into focus. Contrast: Qui-Gon's and Panaka's argument comes down to "you must trust my judgment, your highness." In Star Wars, you get this classic line that sums up the whole conflict: "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
ReplyDeleteOne important point established in IV is that the Jumper cannot be tracked through hyperspace. The pursuers have a good idea of the vector, but that is all.
ReplyDeleteGoing back to my last scene commentary, there is no pursuit by the federation. This only makes sense if they have jumped to hyperspace, so that must be the case. I haven't seen that part of the movie in years, so I don't know if they actually jump or not.
Can we establish somewhere in the previous dialogue a reason for Padme to always take a Jedi's advice over anyone else's? Or even more interesting, how about flipping the advice and have the Jedi's offer Alderan as a destination and Panake offer Tatooinne?
Looking at all this again, the only thing I can find is that they say "the hyperdrive is leaking." Maybe it's not actually broken, but is breaking down? Hence, they can only get as far as Tatooine before the wheels fall off. We'll clean that up.
ReplyDeleteAh, I like the flipped suggestion idea.
I'm watching this right now, and there's no discussion of whether they have or have not gone to hyperspace. So, sure... they made the jump and then had to change course because they didn't have enough "fuel." Why not.
ReplyDeleteI also like the flip.
Did...you actually watch the whole thing?
ReplyDeleteNope. I'm about one scene ahead of this analysis. My primary take away messages:
ReplyDelete1) The AVERAGE Anakin acting job is merely bad. There are moments of torture, but on AVERAGE, he's just bad.
2) Jar Jar is SO MUCH WORSE in this movie a) than in 2+3 and b) than I remembered.