Star Wars Episode I : The Phantom Menace: Darth Maul (Ray Parks)

"Ewan" is actually the correct spelling.

Lucas clearly doesn't know what he's doing,

He killed off Maul, an awesome villain, in a really bogus fight in the very first movie. Then he introduced Grievous and Dooku, both of whom accomplished very little as far as advancing the story line.

What he SHOULD have done is get rid of Dooku altogether. After Mauls seemingly pointless death in episode one, he should have introduced the character of Grievous in episode 2. Then, in episode three, he should have revealed (in a suitably climactic way) that Grievous was actually made from the barely surviving remains of Darth Maul.

Thus, both Maul and Grievous would actually function as viable characters whose existence actually advances the plot,

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Virgil
He killed off Maul, an awesome villain, in a really bogus fight in the very first movie.

Bogus? It was the best fight in the series.

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Then he introduced Grievous and Dooku, both of whom accomplished very little as far as advancing the story line.

Dooku was the (ex-)Jedi who gave the order to prepare the clones. He was very significant.

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Then, in episode three, he should have revealed (in a suitably climactic way) that Grievous was actually made from the barely surviving remains of Darth Maul.

Right before I headed for the exit. Falling down a shaft that long would probably reduce everything to consistency of tomato ketchup upon impact.

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Thus, both Maul and Grievous would actually function as viable characters whose existence actually advances the plot,

The fact of the matter is that Grevious was a pointless character in the film series (yes, let's have all his backstory in the Clone Wars, where the casual audience won't see it) and Dooku really should have lived a bit longer than the first 15 mins of Episode III.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2008 07:21PM by Matt.

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Mr Mouseburger
Comments for death : Star Wars Episode I : The Phantom Menace: Darth Maul (Ray Parks).

The review forgot to mention Jedi Amnesia. Apparently Obi-Wan, apparently a slow learner and of dubious mental faculties, could not recall that earlier in the movie on the Trade Federation ship, he and Qui-Gon had used super speed to evade some Destroyer droids. Such speed would easily have allowed him to race to Qui-Gon's aid rather than finding himself cut off behind a force field barrier, leaving the long-haired Jedi renegade to be sawn in half by the Sith. ('At last, we will have our revenge!')

This, for me, made the duel a rather pathetic event. They had a great and acrobatic character in Maul and he could have battled Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon to a stand-still without Obi-Wan conveniently forgetting Jedi Powers he used earlier in the film. This cheapened Qui-Gon's death.

Of course, if you could actually grab a lightsaber blade, Qui-Gon would have trashed Maul. For those who don't believe me, see the final battle of Rob Roy...

I don't get why everyone found this to be the most disappointing duel in the Star Wars film series. This fight is # 8 on my own Top 10 Greatest Film Climaxes Ever. I'm not going to go into lengthy detail of the 7 that beat it but I will tell you that the only Star Wars duel even more awesome is Anakin and Obi-Wan's stuff on Mustafar.

Here's a good idea of how it should've played out for Maul: He decides to leave Obi-Wan for dead when he's dangling over the chasm. In Episode II he acts as a primary bodyguard to Count Dooku killing a helluva lot of the Jedi during the Geonosis thing. Get rid of Fett and kill them Clones.

In Episode III he's seen skulking around Coruscant as Palpatine's agent making sure Anakin stays on the path. Hey maybe he can be some mystic in a back alley who keeps Anakin on the path of the Dark Side. Then shortly after Windu's death Palpatine fires Maul saying that he is no longer needed. Maul is understandably pissed and at the film's climax he's the guy who cuts Ani into itty bitty pieces of meat when Obi-Wan hesitates. Kenobi then decapitates Maul and tosses his corpse into the lava river. Alls well.

As for Grievous. Totally shouldn't have been in the movie.

Add the Grab Bag category.

Darth Maul comes back in Star Wars: the Clone Wars 12 years after he was cut in half, he's got new robotic legs, a brother... and revenge for Obi-Wan Kenobi. He never died.

Don't worry, he's not dead. Check this out: