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Star Wars Fun Fact
Did you know? In the Extended Universe, The Emperor managed to come back to life with a supply of clone bodies. Guess he really did learn how to cheat death! For a while, at least…
Life on “Tweet”-ooine
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— Leland Chee (@HolocronKeeper) August 3, 2014
Star Wars Swag Bag
Star Wars “77” Logo Ladies’ Tee – click the pic!
Trivia Time!
Yesterday’s answer: The second Death Star
Today’s question: What’s the name of Lando’s alien co-pilot in Return of the Jedi?
Force Feature: The Emperor and the Second Best Plot Twist
As I mentioned back in the Darth Vader episode a few days ago, I’m going to treat the Emperor here as a different character from the Palpatine/Sidious character we know and love from the prequels. The two seem so far apart from each other – not that you can’t see how the Sidious of 19 BBY became the Emperor of 4 ABY, but because so much seems to have changed in the interim.
The Emperor is basically a taller version of Yoda, dressed like the witch from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Which sounds like he should be ridiculously silly, right? And yet, if you saw him in a dark alley, you’d turn around and walk away. If you saw him in a trailer park in broad daylight, you’d definitely stay away.
I know some people think of him as campy, but I think Ian McDiarmid absolutely nailed it in Jedi. But before we get there, let’s take a moment to acknowledge Clive Revill, the original Emperor. It would have been interesting to see Clive Revill do the job in Jedi, that’s for sure. Except that there’s almost no malice to him. He’s so detached from emotion in the few lines he’s given, it’s hard to believe the guy is also a Sith lord, hello!
And as much as I like Ian McDiarmid’s performance over Clive Revill’s, I still think that one of the most horrible changes in the Special Editions was to remove him in place of McDiarmid for that holographic conversation. Why? Why, George, why? “Continuity?” No one cares! We were all fine with it! Yes, some people like Revill better, but done is done! Give Revill back his day in the sun!
All right, I’ll save the rest of that rant for another day. The absolute best thing I love about The Emperor’s characterization is that he’s still playing the game, and he’s as strong as ever. Two decades of Imperial rule, and he’s definitely not bored with it. Unlike Daenerys Targryen from Game of Thrones, if you’ve been watching the TV series version, who seems to be getting forced into a smaller and duller life by ruling as a queen, you can tell The Emperor wakes up licking his chops each and every day.
And he seems like he could be clueless as to Vader’s intentions in Empire. “Rule the galaxy as father and son” doesn’t leave any room for The Emperor. But looking into the future doesn’t seem to be a Force power of Vader’s. I truly believe that the trilogy’s second best plot twist is The Emperor telling Luke to fulfill his destiny and take his father’s place at The Emperor’s side.
Sadly, I think a lot of people tend to overlook it. The focus is so strongly on the relationship between Vader and Luke, that it’s easy to miss it. But you get the same kind of multi-movie realignment out of it. Of course The Emperor has made the same connection as Vader about Luke’s heritage. And in Empire, he lets Vader be the one to come up with the idea of catching Luke and turning him to the dark side. When really, the plan all along was for Palpatine to dump Vader, as Palpatine has dumped so many other Sith warriors before Vader came along. And he gets Vader to walk right into it, just like the little obedient servant he’s been all along.
It’s time for the American Film Institute to revisit their Top 100 Heroes and Villains List, and give to The Emperor what was once Darth Vader’s – that top 3 villain spot.