Tailkinker

Answer: Anakin was born in 42BBY and the events of the film take place in 22BBY, making Anakin nineteen or twenty when he marries, depending on precisely when it occurred in the year.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Gunray demanded that Amidala be targeted as part of his price to bring the Trade Federation, with its substantial military force, into the Seperatist movement.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: It's certainly entirely plausible that their paths have not crossed previously. Jinn and Kenobi spent the vast majority of their time together away from the Jedi Temple on various missions for the Council. Dooku, for his part, had become withdrawn and dissatisfied with the Jedi Order after a couple of politically-motivated battles that he felt the Jedi should not have involved themselves with and spent much of his time meditating and discussing his concerns with other Jedi Masters. As such, the pair would only rarely have been in the same star system, making it not remotely impossible that they never met, even with their shared connection with Qui-Gon. With that in mind, it seems likely that Dooku is speaking literally and this is their first meeting.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Allowing nebulous emotions like caring to influence their actions is not generally part of the Sith game plan. Dooku joined up with Sidious after becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Jedi Order and their allegiance to a Senate that he saw as fatally corrupted. After a couple of disastrous battles, which Dooku learned the Jedi had been manipulated into fighting by unscrupulous politicians seeking to advance their personal agendas, he refused to accept any further missions from the Council, becoming increasingly withdrawn and concerned about the course the galaxy was following. It seems that Palpatine first met with him at around this time, some years prior to the battle of Naboo, using their meetings to determine Dooku's suitability for recruitment and gradually bringing the disaffected Jedi into his circle, much as he would do with Dooku's eventual replacement Anakin Skywalker years later. After Qui-Gon's death on Naboo in what seemed to be yet another politically motivated battle, Dooku spoke out, publically denouncing the Senate, then resigned from the Jedi Order, returning to his home planet of Serenno and reclaiming his family title of Count. Shortly after that, Palpatine approached him, revealing himself as a Sith Lord. In a long discussion, Dooku realised that Palpatine's goal of bringing the galaxy under the control of a single powerful individual, rather than the corrupt and inefficient Senate, was not far removed from his own thoughts on how things should be. Accepting Qui-Gon's death as a regrettable but necessary sacrifice to bring order to the galaxy, he agreed to join Palpatine and become his new apprentice.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: He's giving the impression that he's letting his guard down, relaxing while Anakin does all the work. He's hoping, correctly, as it turns out, that their quarry will take advantage of his apparent lack of caution to try to take him out, giving herself away.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: They hate the moisture farmers, who they regard as having encroached on their territory. They kidnapped Shmi and tortured her to gather information for a future big raid on the local moisture farms.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: At the range we're talking about, even as good a shot as Fett couldn't guarantee a kill. But hit Wesell anywhere with the poisoned dart and it does the job. Kamino's been wiped from the Archives, there's no information on the dart there either, so he probably felt that it was pretty safe to use. He couldn't have anticipated that Kenobi would have had a contact who actually could identify one. Even if they do track him down, he's a bounty hunter, which is a legal profession. Somebody with his resources would have no problem faking documentation to show that he had been contracted to take Wesell out.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Yes, extremely likely, particularly out on the Rim. There will always be people who either escape notice completely or, while recognised as being Force-sensitive, do not have the power level required to become a Jedi and thus would not be brought into the Order. In such cases, the Jedi would likely keep an eye on them, in case the trait manifested more strongly in any children who could then become Jedi.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Presumably there's been some disquiet among the spice-miners for some reason - better working conditions, better pay, could be a lot of things. Apparently the intelligence services feel that things have got heated enough that the spice-miners might try open rebellion by attempting to assassinate their Senator.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: What Obi-wan says is "Who could empty information from the archives? That's impossible, isn't it?" It's a question, not a statement. He's heard that it's supposed to be impossible, but the fact of the missing information clearly contradicts that. Yoda puts him straight, telling him that only a Jedi (i.e. somebody on the inside) could have done it.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: No, they don't. At the beginning of this film they don't even realise that he's a Sith - they shoot down the idea of Dooku instigating the assassination attempt on Senator Amidala, describing him as a political idealist. While Obi-wan hears the name Tyranus from Jango Fett, he has no way to connect that name to Dooku. While they become aware of his connections to the Sith, there's no indication that they ever learn his Sith title, so they continue to use his normal name.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: That would be Sly Moore, an Umbaran who serves as Palpatine's senior administrator. According to Expanded Universe materials, she was one of very few who knew that Palpatine was a Sith Lord and received some Dark Side training to enhance her species' natural ability to influence the wills of other sentients.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: From the questions that he asks Fett when they meet, Kenobi clearly does suspect precisely that. He questions him, then he attempts to follow him to his destination, where he discovers the link to Dooku. Which part of that doesn't sound like investigating?

Tailkinker ★

Answer: The Viceroy contracted Fett to assassinate Padme. Fett worked with Wessell to do the job. Wessell never knew who had ordered the assassination; she only knew that the job had come from Fett. As for what Gunray himself gains, it's largely revenge; he's never exactly forgiven her for foiling the plot to take over Naboo. You do have to bear in mind, however, that much of the impetus for the hit may well have come from Dooku as part of the plan to set off the war. Amidala's potentially a major opponent in the Sith plans; eliminating her could be useful. Even if the assassinations don't succeed, they're still useful in raising the tensions between the Republic and the Seperatists, so it's largely a win-win situation from Dooku's point of view, so he may well have influenced Gunray towards ordering the hit.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Reportedly so, yes; the prop department replaced the activation plate stud with a small plate with these letters on it, in reference to Jackson's Pulp Fiction character. Sadly, the authorised replicas available do not include that particular feature.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Of course he doesn't want to destroy the Sith - he is a Sith. He's using disinformation to distract Obi-wan, put him off-guard and make him look elsewhere for Sith involvement. If he does persuade Obi-wan to join him, then he gets a possible mole inside the Jedi Order and somebody who he might influence into a potential apprentice. If Obi-wan doesn't, but manages to escape, then he'll have the Jedi Order off balance trying to deal with the new information. If Obi-wan doesn't escape and dies in the arena, then Dooku's lost nothing by giving him information.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: No they are not clones. Stormtroopers are like any military where anyone can join. A great example is in the movie Solo, Han Solo joins the Empire as a stormtrooper in order to escape the people coming after him.

Shawn M. Milburn

Answer: No. By the time of the original trilogy, most of the clones are dead, mostly through warfare, but possibly due to their accelerated aging process (it's not clear whether they were simply brought to adulthood swiftly and then age normally, or whether the accelerated aging progresses throughout their lives). The stormtroopers of the original trilogy are conventionally recruited troops rather than clones.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: They make frequent references to the dark side clouding their vision - without knowing any specifics, it seems that there may be a general buildup of dark-side energy throughout the galaxy, which is hampering their abilities, and is almost certainly why they can't detect a Sith Lord standing right in front of them. Palpatine's statement seems to refer more to the fact that they didn't pick up on him than any specific weakness of the Jedi. Presumably the Jedi had a certain faith that their abilities would detect a Sith Lord in the vicinity - they were obviously wrong on that one, and Palpatine chooses to refer to their faith in their abilities as arrogance.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: What, you don't think that Dooku would sense that coming? He's a powerful Sith Lord, considerably above either Anakin or Obi-Wan in power at that time - he'd easily be able to sense it coming and deflect it. Obi-Wan would know that - better to give his lightsabre to Anakin to give his uninjured cohort a more formidable attack.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Jango isn't inherently evil - he's simply a bounty hunter, doing the jobs that he's hired to do. Dooku recruited him to act as the clone template by paying him lots of money to do so (in addition to the creation of Boba). Neither are the clone troopers inherently good - they follow orders, as soldiers tend to. The Jedi are assigned as their leaders by the Republic, thus they follow them; when the leader of the Republic orders them to eliminate the Jedi, they do so; they're simply following orders, not shifting between good and evil.

Tailkinker ★