Excitement builds as the story begins to build to its climax.
Script copyright George Lucas
Script excerpted from this site:
http://www.supershadow.com/star_wars/episode_1/the_phantom_menace/script.html
INT. NABOO PALACE - THRONE ROOM - THEED - NIGHT
NUTE and RUNE stand before a hologram of DARTH SIDIOUS.
DARTH SIDIOUS
The Queen is on her way to you. I
regret she is of no further use to
us. When she gets there, destroy
her.
NUTE
Yes, my Lord.
DARTH SIDIOUS
Viceroy, is the planet secure?
NUTE
Yes, my Lord, we have taken over the
last pockets of primitive life forms.
We are in complete control of the
planet now.
DARTH SIDIOUS
Good. I will see to it that in the
Senate, things stay as they are. I
am sending Darth Maul to join you.
He will deal with the Jedi.
NUTE
Yes, my Lord.
DARTH SIDIOUS fades off.
RUNE
A Sith lord here with us?!!
INT. SPACE - NABOO SPACECRAFT COCKPIT
ANAKIN stands next to the PILOT, RIC OLIE, pointing to various
buttons and gauges.
ANAKIN
...and that one?
RIC OLIE
The forward stabalizer.
ANAKIN
And those control the pitch?
RIC OLIE
You catch on pretty quick.
INT. NABOO SPACECRAFT - QUEEN'S CHAMBERS
SABE and EIRTAE stand behind QUEEN AMIDALA as she talks with
QUI-GON and Capt. Panaka. OBI-WAN and JAR JAR watch.
CAPT. PANAKA
The moment we land the Federation
will arrest you, and force you to
sign the treaty.
QUI-GON
I agree... I'm not sure what you
hope to accomplish by this.
AMIDALA
I'm going to take back what's ours.
CAPT. PANAKA
There are only twelve of us, Your
Highness....we have no army.
QUI-GON
I cannot fight a war for you, Your
Highness, only protect you.
AMIDALA
Jar Jar Binks!
JAR JAR looks around, puzzled.
JAR JAR
Mesa, Your Highness?
AMIDALA
Yes. I need your help.
INT. NABOO CRUISER COCKPIT - DAY
The Naboo Cruiser heads toward the lush green planet. There
is only one Federation battle cruiser orbiting. OBI-WAN and
Capt. Panaka spot it on the view screen.
PANAKA
The blockade's gone.
OBI-WAN
The war's over...No need for it now.
RIC OLIE
I have one battleship on my scope.
OBI-WAN
A droid control ship.
PANAKA
They've probably spotted us.
OBI-WAN
We haven't much time.
INT. NABOO SPACECRAFT - MAIN HOLD
The QUEEN, Capt. Panaka, TROOPS, and HANDMAIDENS get ready
to disembark as the ship alnds. The elevator door slides
open, and ANAKIN emerges into the hold area. He see PADME
and run up to her.
ANAKIN
Hi! Where have you been?
PADME
Annie! What are you doing here?
ANAKIN
I'm with Qui-Gon... but... they're
not going to let me be a Jedi. I'm
too old.
PADME
This is going to be dangerous, Annie.
ANAKIN
Is it? I can help... Where are we
going?
PADME
To war, I'm afraid. The Queen has
had to make the most difficuld
decision of her life. She doesn't
believe in fighting, Annie. We are a
peaceful people...
ANAKIN
I want to help...I'm glad you're
back.
ANAKIN smiles. PADME smiles back.
This first little bit is quite good. I like this bit:
ReplyDeleteDARTH SIDIOUS
The Queen is on her way to you. I
regret she is of no further use to
us. When she gets there, destroy
her.
It implies that Palpatine has orchestrated things all along, including Padme's original escape from Naboo. Reminiscent of Vader letting the Millenium Falcon escape in Star Wars, then tracking it to the Rebel base.
I do wish some hint had been given earlier that Padme's escape was "too easy," but we may be able to take care of that in the re-write, especially if we follow up on my idea that Palpatine is funding the Padme revolution against the Trader overlords. Either way, I think a line or two will handle that.
The miniscene ends very strongly as well:
RUNE
A Sith lord here with us?!!
Perfect! It shows the danger of dealing with the Sith, the Traders continuing to rue the bargain they struck, and makes Darth Maul even more frightening.
The bit with Anakin learning the ship controls works pretty well, at least if Anakin were our teenager.
ReplyDeleteOf course, if we've decided to leave him on Coruscant, that little bit is gone.
The bit with Amidala asking Jar Jar for help is well written as well. We get hope and suspense at the same time. Obviously it's our Jar Jar and not George's.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute:
ReplyDeletePANAKA
The blockade's gone.
OBI-WAN
The war's over...No need for it now.
What war? When did this ACTUALLY happen? Did we see a war? Was anyone killed, other than in Amidala's escape?
This is a big problem with this movie. You never get a sense that Naboo is actually in danger, or that people are actually being killed. A few cut scenes could have spliced in earlier, or a montage like Lucas uses to good effect in Revenge of the Sith when all the Jedi get killed.
Aaaaand after a string of good little scenes there you get a terrible padme-anakin scene.
ReplyDeleteUgh. I don't even know what to do with that, other than say it's gone if I'm allowed to leave Anakin on Coruscant.
I agree that the lack of evidence that life on Naboo has gone to hell is problematic. There was a WAR? The hell? Who, pray tell, fought in this war? The Gungans just ignored it?
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure about leaving Anakin behind. But I think that's the best way forward here. I haven't read ahead and don't remember... does he DO anything here on Naboo?
Yeah, he's gonna steal a Naboo fighter (accidentally), learn how to fly it, evade the Trader fighters, crash into the droid control ship, blow it up and deactivate the droid army, and escape in the nick of time.
ReplyDeleteYou may have heard this story before. It's called the Destruction of the New Death Star and Deactivation of the Shield Generator from Return of the Jedi, only this time it's with an 8-year-old pilot flying a fighter for the first time.