Tailkinker

Chosen answer: According to his mother, there was no father; Anakin was conceived through the Force itself. Expanded Universe materials suggest that this occurred either as part of or as a consequence of Sith experiments carried out by Darth Plagueis, with the intent of creating the ultimate Sith apprentice.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Nope, it's just a coincidence, and not even a particularly good one as Anakin's midi-chlorian count is stated as being "over twenty thousand" rather than the exact number.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: The Sith and Jedi have been at war for millenia. Yes, there's always been infighting among the Sith as well, but the fact remains that their primary enemy has always been the Jedi. The Sith have been forced to hide away, working in the shadows, for a thousand years, because they lacked the power to eliminate the Jedi. Now, finally, they're in a position to do so. What else would you call it but revenge?

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: No, it can't. As we see in Attack of the Clones, Yoda is in charge of training the younglings, the Jedi hopefuls, the ones too young to have been selected as a Padawan. Yoda trained Obi-Wan when he was a child, then Qui-Gon selected him as a Padawan as he reached the proper age. They both trained him, taking responsibility for different stages of his education. It is entirely possible, of course, that Lucas did originally intend Yoda to have been Obi-Wan's sole master when he made The Empire Strikes Back and thus your guess that he changed the background stories may well be accurate, however, if this is the case, then he made the alterations in such a fashion that no continuity error exists, because it all fits together.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: They know that he's a powerful individual with some serious connections. While they obviously don't know his true identity, they clearly feel that he's capable of manipulating the Senate to that extent. While a degree of curiosity as to how would be entirely understandable, a general unwillingness to look too closely into the doings of a Sith Lord is also entirely understandable. They'd undoubtedly be curious, but either none of them are brave enough to ask Sidious, or they've learned from experience not to do so.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: They can continue their occupation, but, without compliance from the elected head of state of Naboo, that occupation is illegal, and thus could face opposition from the Senate, leading to potential sanctions, up to and potentially including a military response to remove them. With Amidala's signature on the treaty, bringing Naboo into the Trade Federation properly, their occupation of the planet becomes entirely legal, allowing them to continue unhindered by Senate sanctions.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Put simply, the two exist side-by-side on Naboo. Inevitably, choices made by one group will have an effect, major or minor, on the other, and if the two do not work together, this will invariably lead to friction between the races. While the details of what each group can bring to the arrangement remain unclear, what is undeniable is that the two races, and thus the planet itself, will be enhanced if the Naboo and the Gungans pool their efforts and collaborate.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: The Trade Federation started out as a loose confederation of merchants and shipping providers who banded together to ensure that they had effective control over trade routes throughout the galaxy. Under the leadership of the Neimoidians, they took precautions to maintain that control, including a substantial military to protect their interests. This ultimately gave them enough political clout to achieve representation in the Senate at the same level as a member world.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: He is indeed the Senator from Naboo and according to the official Star Wars databank, was born there.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: A lot of people felt that the more political nature of the film was inferior to the more swashbuckling feel of the original trilogy - after all, a trade dispute isn't inherently as entertaining as a rebellion against an evil Empire. They felt that the dialogue was rather clunky and delivered in a somewhat wooden fashion, which is in many ways a not unfair point, although the scripting accusation applies equally to the original trilogy (Lucas simply isn't a good writer of dialogue). In the end, the main problem was that, over the years, the original trilogy have gained an almost mythical status and have a substantial nostalgia factor, to the extent that a number of fans at the time were quoted as saying that the release of a new Star Wars film was to be a defining moment in their lives. The expectation levels were so high that it would have been impossible for any film, no matter how good, to live up to them - disappointment was inevitable.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: It's safe to say that all her security staff will be aware of the decoy procedure - otherwise, they wouldn't know who to protect if things really went wrong. As for outsiders, Queen (later Senator) Amidala is her formal name and would be the one that everyone was familiar with; her birth name of Padme Naberrie is unlikely to be generally known.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Valorum sent Qui-Gon to Naboo as his personal ambassador, so the Chancellor would expect to discuss the situation on their return. Qui-Gon is excusing himself in order to bring the news of the Sith reappearance to the Jedi Council as soon as possible.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: Put purely and simply, we have no particular need to know for the purposes of the plot. That being said, Naboo seems to be a largely pastoral world, so is likely to be self-sufficient on the food front, but may require the import of more industrially based goods, like machinery and so forth. Books related to the series suggest that Naboo has a highly profitable plasma-fuel industry - presumably fuel shipments would also be blockaded, depriving the planet of vital income.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: There's no indication one way or another. It's not particularly likely that he's ever been briefed on her security arrangements, but he's familiar enough with Amidala that his force abilities would be able to tell him that it wasn't her if he encountered her decoy at some point.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Samuel L Jackson wanted a distinctive lightsaber, so asked George Lucas if he could have a purple one - Lucas decided that there was no hard and fast rule that said that Jedi had to go with green or blue, so he allowed it. As for the story rationale, Mace Windu saw a vision of himself with a purple lightsaber and travelled to the planet Hurikane where purple lightsaber crystals naturally grow, and was gifted several as a gift for helping the local populace.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: No. According to the official sources, Maul was trained in the Sith ways from a very early age - it's quite likely that he himself doesn't remember his original name. Even if he does remember it, it would mean nothing to him any more - the Sith and their ways are his life - and he certainly wouldn't answer to it. According to the non-canon novel "Darth Plagueis", Darth Maul was named "Maul" by his mother before she turned him over to a young Palpatine. He didn't take a new name when he got the title "Darth."

Tailkinker ★

Answer: At the end of the film, after Anakin destroys the control ship and all the wardroids shut down, it can be seen written on the back of one of the droids that were guarding Jar-Jar and Captain Tarpals.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: You have to bear in mind that the Trade Federation and Darth Sidious probably have very different views of what the plan actually is. From the point of view of the Trade Federation, they're probably under the impression that the aim is to get the treaty signed, with the likely effect of bringing Naboo into the Trade Federation. This would allow them to exploit the natural resources of the place, and benefit from any trade carried out from that planet. Sidious, on the other hand, doesn't care in the slightest about the Trade Federation - he has carefully manipulated the situation to get Amidala to call for the vote that will remove Chancellor Valorum from office and force the election of a new chancellor, allowing Palpatine (who either is Sidious or is some sort of clone under his control) to advance to the leadership of the Senate. That's pretty much the sum total of his plan, which, as we see, is a complete success.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: As a Sith, Maul has methods of tracking that would not be available to non-Force users. When Obi-wan ordered them not to reply, they're not aware of any possible Sith involvement - his precautions would be secure against technological means of determining location, but not against a Sith Lord.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: It is stated in the novel that they did send a brief response. I see no reason why they could not have defied Obi-Wan's advice and done the same off screen in the movie.

Bane91