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"Skywalker witnessed a stunning sight: the Chancellor, cornered, with Windu looming over him with his lightsaber blade extended. Palpatine unleashed a torrent of Sith lightning at the Jedi Master, but Windu was able to deflect it back at the Chancellor. The evil energies twisted Palpatine's face as they flowed through him, scarring and disfiguring his once handsome features. His eyes burned yellow, his voice grew ragged and deep, and he became a well of dark side energies."-from starwars.com

don't know if anyone mentioned this yet.

Its been mentioned plenty of times....well, maybe not from the OS, but from other sources..

I don't care what any site says I believe that's his natural appearance...

Well you suck, my good sireuro


But look at his face in your sig and compare it to his face when he melts....his face is natural looking in the sig, its just...f*cked afterwards

Yeah, but I like the idea that he's just so evil he's naturally ugly... The lightning thing is just real weak.

No one else melts when they get lightnig-ified...

... But I really don't wanna get into all this again.

Yep, long dead argument. It was stupid how he just melted though..

Indeed... Thats shit.

Its abundantly clear that Lucas has never heard of charring or even seen/heard what happens to people even after the briefest of lightning strikes, let alone a minute long sustained strike...

And it doesn't explain Palp's change of dentistry or the fact that he was cloaking his voice/appearance, speaking in his "Emporer" voice BEFORE his transformation etc.... This stinks and i'll never accept that as the 'truth'.... puke

But force lightning isn't lightning...

Should it be lightning, it would be electrons charging into their targets and at the same time, generating heat and light.

But isn't it force, that is shot =P

Does Luke melt whe-- AHH, NO! I'm not doing this again!

Originally posted by DeVi| D0do
I don't care what any site says I believe that's his natural appearance...

I have to agree with this some what, i do believe that the lighting disfigured him, but it just turned him into his true self twisted and evil. Let's face it palpatine must be very old and he is using the dark side to slow his aging process, but inorder to not be zapped by mace with his own lightning he had to use alot of his powers therefore weakening himself and making him disfigured.
I had thought his eyes were yellow cause the darkside was flowing through him like anakin killing the nemodians and after he got his legs and arm cut off.
as for palps voice it was changing when anakin went to see him and found out he was a sith and when mace went to see him.
I think someone at LFL pulled that explanation out of their ass.

I think it's a good explanation. Anakin & Dooku turned to the dark side, and they still looked pretty much the same as they did before they turned. And true, it's not "real" lightning or Luke would have looked like a french fry.

It's also a "movie."

why the heck did SW.com have to go and say that. i think thats not needed at all. they should have just let us wonder instead of explaining every god damn thing.

i wish the effect was more like in the book, where his face swelled up, then flowed down like water.

HE GETS WRINKLEY!

I think that's dumb. All of it is dumb. It was dumb in the movie....and sounds dumb in the novel because its dumb. It's a dumb idea. It's a dumb plot point...

I think it's a Lucas screw up, personally...he had no way of aging Palp a good 50 years in 25. Way to cock it up!!!

Thats so very cool...I knew that was the answer the whole time.

the reason why lukes face didn't melt was because it wasnt his forcelightning being used against him. the reason why palpatines face became a prune was because his own evil forcelighting was deflected and used against him. its very sinple but just so happens to look stupid in the movie.

Done and done, good explanation.

i don't think it has anything to do with who's lightning it is, i think it's more a matter of intensity and proximity

Originally posted by Darth Jello
"Skywalker witnessed a stunning sight: the Chancellor, cornered, with Windu looming over him with his lightsaber blade extended. Palpatine unleashed a torrent of Sith lightning at the Jedi Master, but Windu was able to deflect it back at the Chancellor. The evil energies twisted Palpatine's face as they flowed through him, scarring and disfiguring his once handsome features. His eyes burned yellow, his voice grew ragged and deep, and he became a well of dark side energies."-from starwars.com

don't know if anyone mentioned this yet.

Booya... i've been proven right... poor dodo...

Originally posted by Darth Jello
disfiguring his once handsome features.

uh.........NO. Nothing against Ian but Palpatine was FAR from handsome.

i thought it was already established that SW.com info does not equate to canon

Originally posted by pr1983
Booya... i've been proven right... poor dodo... I wont believe it! Even if I hear it straight from George's mouth I wont believe it! shutup

Originally posted by PVS
i thought it was already established that SW.com info does not equate to canon Indeed... who even writes all that crap anyway?

My belief on what happened to Palpatine is justified when I say that he wasnt disfigured the lightning revieled who he really was, I think the lightning may or may not have changed him, but it did reviel who he really was because look at the facts: when he is revieled in hologram u never see anything more than his jaw are to his lips, even when u see him in person. But then after the attack when u see him anywhere doing anything either in person or in hologram u see his entire face. The ENTIRE FACE. Also when he is using the lightning and it goes back onto his face not only does his face change but so do his hands and his eyes. Not once did his eyes ever be red until after he changed, even when killin the 3 jedi and making spooky sounds and moves, not one look of RED eyes. And saying that he was attacked and deformed he would have broughten compassion from the senate to do his doing. Dont you think so?? Tell me I am wrong.

As for the voice, does anyone really think that a huge sunburn on my face will make my voice change, besides his voice changed throughout the movie.

That is disappointing, i'll hold out hope until the DVD commentary. I wish Palpatines transformation had been gradual over the course of the films, I thought this was going to happen with the dramatic change in Palpatines appearance between Episodes I and II. He looked very frail in Episode II, in fact he looks older in it than he did in Episode II.

Anyway I digress, back to the lightning Luke had a similar dose albiet not to the face. But answer me this how did Palpatines nails grow long and demonic after the Sith lightning?

Originally posted by Darth Jello
"Skywalker witnessed a stunning sight: the Chancellor, cornered, with Windu looming over him with his lightsaber blade extended. Palpatine unleashed a torrent of Sith lightning at the Jedi Master, but Windu was able to deflect it back at the Chancellor. The evil energies twisted Palpatine's face as they flowed through him, scarring and disfiguring his once handsome features. His eyes burned yellow, his voice grew ragged and deep, and he became a well of dark side energies."-from starwars.com

don't know if anyone mentioned this yet.


Well, this directly contradicts what Ian Mc Diarmid said in his Insider interview. I'm not sure which source is more cannon, but my guess is the OS.

All I can say is, if Palpatine's face really did get disfigured by the lightning and that wasn't his true appearance, the scene just seems akward and badly written.

Palps:
"Whaa.... my face just got SEVERELY damaged to the point where I'm not even recognizable anymore??

Oh.

I don't care. I mean, I actually kind of dig this look, but I refuse to make any comment regarding my new face."


well whatever

The OS can suck donkey balls.

Official Site confirms that Palpatine's lightning disfigured him.

who needs official confirmation, when you've got eyes?! it was, umm, pretty much blatant onscreen

or was it his true face? - oh plz! how cheesy would that of been you can see his god damn face melting! i mean, use your head, lightening - burns!

i dont feel like going down this road again.
what sw.com says means precisely dick.

BANG!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/noobbasher/palp1.jpg

Result:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/noobbasher/palp2.jpg

BANG AGAIN!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/noobbasher/palp3.jpg

Result again:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/noobbasher/palp5.jpg

Until eventually this:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y12/noobbasher/palp4.jpg

Theres no way Palpatine just 'revealed' his true face. You can see scars and smoke coming from his face after getting zapped ffs!

And the whole 'Luke got zapped with lightning but his face didnt melt', yeah, did Luke get zapped like that ^ No! He got zapped all over his body, the lightning spread out over him. Palpatine got it full force in the face, repeatedly. Mace got zapped, but all over his body, so his face didnt melt.

Live with it

...and that's proof in the pudding

thx Mist

Hard evidence, prove it otherwise

I dont buy the whole face melting, revealing true face theory.

i dont see proof.
i see stills from RotS with opinionated commentary.
i say he was being unmasked

live with it

Why would George Lucas even bother zapping Palpatine in order to show him being 'unmasked'? That just adds confusion. His face doesnt start warping until he gets zapped in the face. He could have unmasked himself while he was zapping Mace anyway, before he gets zapped back.

Another question, why bother even unmasking himself?
'Ah screw it, I dont need a cover anymore', lame

And I dont see proof he's being unmasked either.

If shit was hurting you to the point of possible disfigurement, WHY would you keep pouring it on????

Originally posted by PVS
i dont see proof.
i see stills from RotS with opinionated commentary.
i say he was being unmasked

live with it
yes

The reason he unmasked himself was to make it look like the Jedi had attacked him and "left him scarred".

Seriously... lightning has never melted faces and it never will! And don't give me that reflecting bullsh*t, that makes no difference. Ian's word is more canon than the stupid OS... and my opinion is more canon than everything! Mahaha! And if Lucas says on the commentary that the lightning disfigured Palpatine he can kiss my arse!

Unmasked I TOTALLY buy......the "disfigurement" was already there....Mist, I usually buy into your views, but EVERYONE here seems to forget that the energy "causing" this damage was being eminated from Palps himself, and only deflected by Maces lightsaber...I.E. Palps/Sids could have stopped "firing" the very second the energy was turned back on him!!!!!
But he didn't.
Ask yourself why.





"Unlimited poweeeeeerrrrr!!!!!!!!"

well, his true self was revealed in the sense that he became as ugly and evil on the outside as he is on the inside. but otherwise, i like and believe the official line. if he was hiding his true appearance, why wasn't he deformed and pale in episode I and II in his guise of sidious?

Because you never saw it. And because his evil obviously had time to rot his body over the course of thirteen years.

And GL always makes things ambiguous, especially when it comes to the PT. But like he says, "think outside of the box."

Why would Sidious continue to jeopardize himself with the lightning?

Why didn't it burn his eyes blind if it burned his skin?

Why doesn't it neccessarily have the same effects each time used? (If you pay attention, lighting used, whether by Dooku or Sidious, acts different depending on the circumstances. It's not always a painful stream, it is sometimes almost concussive, like a wave of force)

Whose to say that generating that much power to try and overcome Mace didn't take from the energy he was expending on his disguise?

Whose to literally say anything?

And there you have it.

Originally posted by Darth Plagueis

But he didn't.
Ask yourself why.



Coz Anakin was there

NEWSFLASH: The offical site just confirmed that the prequels sucked and fandom is in a hostile uprising! Head for the bunkers, the fanboys are pillaging!

Originally posted by tlbauerle
NEWSFLASH: The offical site just confirmed that the prequels sucked and fandom is in a hostile uprising! Head for the bunkers, the fanboys are pillaging! Star Wars fans are revolting!!!!!!!!!!!!







Wait.....

well, it could have been part of his plan since it was his disfigurment that won him the senate's sympathy

It makes perfect sense that he was disfigured. It wasn't actually the lightening that did it. It was the dark energy he was chanelling to create the lightening. That energy flowed through him before leaving through his fingertips as lightening.

No.

The explanation sucks, the scene sucks for being too vague (any scene that requires constant visits to the internet for clarification just plain SUCKS) and this arguement sucks as a result.

And because I'm in here, I now suck.

Originally posted by DeVi| D0do
No.

No offence, but what's so hard to understand? He was drawing on the dark side for power. The dark side is made up of hate, rage, anger, decay, ruin etc. It makes perfect sense that having all that flowing through him would warp his body.

Originally posted by Red Superfly
The explanation sucks, the scene sucks for being too vague (any scene that requires constant visits to the internet for clarification just plain SUCKS) and this arguement sucks as a result.

that much, most can agree with.

what gets me is how palpatine doesnt seem to even give a second thought to being disfigured. not that i expected him to wig out, since he wasnt that pretty to begin with, but he just carries on as if it never happened. like "la dee daaa...what? disfigured you say? rubbish! *whistles happy tune*"

i find that odd.

point taken

So it burned his eyes yellow? Then how does that explain Mauls eyes or Anakins eyes. I thought the yellow eyes were caused by the midiclorians turning evil or something, not by being burned by lightning.
Why oh why do people who should know better ie the OS come out with inconsistent crap like this?

Cause by evil....... pure evil!!! Muhahahahaha!

We know that the dark side of the force is corrupting. We also see the effects it has on its wielders.

I believe the explanation makes perfect sense.