My views on Darth Maul

This is my first time on this site, but this thought about Darth Maul has been eating at me ever since TPM.

Maul seems to be little more than a force wielding thug. Sure, he is no Vader and certainly no match for a Jedi in a fair fight -- his fight against Qui-Gon was not a fair fight.

Why would Palpatine surround himself with the dim wits of a guy like Maul. He is more of a tool than an accomplice. The one use for him might be in light saber combat practice.

Clone Maul a few times and now you have a handy sparring partner who is physically powerful, force sensitive, but not really using the force to the full potential.

A scene I would have liked to have seen--maybe adds 5 min to a 3 hour long film

Personally, I think that Anakin turned evil too easy. He was after all the chosen one and a great Jedi and though not without his shortcomings he mass murdered younglings far too easily. I would like to have seen the scene where Anakin pledges himself to Palpatine to involve some dark side training. At first, a door opens and out pops a clone of Maul who Anakin defeats handily. After some harsh coaching/correction by Palpatine where Anakin is instructed not to kill Maul with a light saber (anyone can swing a lazer blade after all) and not to kill in self defense. In order to become a powerful sith, Palpatine force-yanks Anakin's lightsaber out of his hands and instructs Anakin to kill with the force, to "will" someone to death (more appropriate later, think padme giving up on life).

Two more clone of Maul pop out and Anakin disarms them with the force and then force-chokes them to death, an action that is both exhilarating and terribly disturbing. Anakin is clearly conflicted. More clones of Maul appear and Anakin continues to dispatch each one with greater ease and less grief. By the end of the training episode, Anakin is now more Sith than Jedi, more Darth Vader than Anakin Skywalker. Extinguishing life holds no moral remorse for him and NOW he is ready to go and execute younglings without conscience as he is now a true agent of evil (as Yoda said). Plus, we get to see Vader learn to use one of his favorite force abilities--the force choke.

So what do you all think?

Not bad, too many clones for my liking. I always thought Anakin should have witnessed Qui-Gon's death and then be plagued by nightmares about Darth Maul, like Luke and Vader on Dagobah. Say what you like about Maul, but the pod race and him were the only good things about Ep 1.

Part of my reason for this line of thinking was that the lightsaber combat in ep 1 was the best in all 6 movies (ep 3 was so blindingly fast I almost could not keep track of it). Also, and this is a personal belief, Anakin just too easily turned evil too quick. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was trying to save Padme, but killing 5 yr old kids is hardly the best option. Furthermore, I saw no regret in Anakin when he committed these atrocities. But with a little help in dark side training it fits better. Also, in the expanded universe, cloning via spaarti cylinders (makes a darn-near exact clone) is actually used extensively by Palpatine.

I thought that that extra five min of footage could show the audience and make the audience feel just how destructive and dangerous the dark side really was.

Again, just my (probably seriously over analyzed) thoughts

Originally posted by forcex

Maul seems to be little more than a force wielding thug. Sure, he is no Vader and certainly no match for a Jedi in a fair fight -- his fight against Qui-Gon was not a fair fight.

What the f***?

Originally posted by forcex
Why would Palpatine surround himself with the dim wits of a guy like Maul.

If you watch CW then you will know he is far from being a dim wit.

Actually I do watch the CW version and in some ways I like it better. Anakin has more depth, we get to see him as a bona fide Jedi and a heroic one at that. I don't, however, think of the CW version as being "canon" and I thought that the whole plot line involving Darth Maul having survived for 10 years cut in half was a bit implausible. Also, the Darth Maul in CW is a vastly different character than the movies. Don't get me wrong, I like the CW version, but it is substantially different than the movies

Good comment.
Maul is one of my favorites,too.
I Loved the Pod race
The Gungans could have been cut.

I wanted to know everything about when he first appeared.
Now I know almost everything about him.

In CW he's great, don't like the legs too similar to Grievous.
I like the new Maul he's more patient,calm, and in control.
We'll finally get to see Juyo in action by a real Juyo Master .

Welcome to the Site!!!

I don't, however, think of the CW version as being "canon"

Agreed.

Originally posted by forcex
I don't, however, think of the CW version as being "canon"

Originally posted by TheOneOfMortis
Agreed.

Then you should both leave the Eu forum.

Some EU is ok, like the Bioware games and some of the books and comics.

One of my biggest issues with the interaction of the EU and ep 1 is regarding the "death" of Maul. Qui Gon was dispatched with a mere stab through the belly. Honestly, a stab like that is quite survivable even with existing medical technology and practices. Maul was sliced in half. Personally it seems incongruous that Maul should survive with such devastating injuries plus a fall from who-knows-how-far while Qui Gon dies with a stab in the belly and a simple fall the floor.

does anyone else find this as improbable as I do?

Personally it seems incongruous that Maul should survive with such devastating injuries plus a fall from who-knows-how-far while Qui Gon dies with a stab in the belly and a simple fall the floor.

does anyone else find this as improbable as I do?

Originally posted by forcex
I don't, however, think of the CW version as being "canon"

I don't either.

When the CW first came out, I was interested to see how the new storylines would develop and was surprised to see they were kind of just doing things willy-nilly.

In fact, I even went to the theaters to see the Pilot Movie, when it came out - waste of money.

The storyline was stupid and boring, and the plot about the baby-Hutt, asinine.

The series that followed was equally dumb and implausible - and by the time the episode with Dooku getting trashed by some pirates debuted, I was ready to not take the series seriously anymore.

I legitimately don't take it as Canon - it's taken more as a fruity kid's show.

So I barely know who Opress is (Don't care much, either) and also don't care about that dumb duel between Opress/Maul and Sidious - If Sidious really wanted them dead, he would have dispatched Grevious/Dooku to handle it, or would have arranged for the Zabrak duo to have an "accident" somewhere.

But, I guess if a bunch of screaming 5-year olds want to see their favorite villains have a flashy and needlessly-complicated duel - then writing-integrity be damned.

Originally posted by TheOneOfMortis
Some EU is ok, like the Bioware games and some of the books and comics.

- Yeah, the well-written stuff.

The KotoR Saga and Shatterpoint are masterpieces - can't say the same for the rest of the EU, though.

Originally posted by forcex
One of my biggest issues with the interaction of the EU and ep 1 is regarding the "death" of Maul. Qui Gon was dispatched with a mere stab through the belly. Honestly, a stab like that is quite survivable even with existing medical technology and practices. Maul was sliced in half. Personally it seems incongruous that Maul should survive with such devastating injuries plus a fall from who-knows-how-far while Qui Gon dies with a stab in the belly and a simple fall the floor.

does anyone else find this as improbable as I do?

Star Wars has been dead to me since 2008.

OK, Read about Darth Sion--Impressive. But he also seems to be unique. Plenty of other dark lords have been struck down. Darth Sidious himself was killed after being thrown into a deep shaft attached to a reactor. If Sidious himself was killed by a simple throw, then it strikes me that Sions ability, though impressive, was unique.

As for Maul, if he really had this ability to hold himself together, why did he let his legs behind while getting new mechanical legs (and clumsy ones at that). Further, why could Qui Gon not hold on to life with an injury not nearly as devastating as Maul's?

I do agree though that the young Anakin should have seen the death of Qui Gon and have been tormented by it. This would have made an interesting plot line with some depth to it--Anakin, tormented by the death of a mentor by a Sith becomes a Sith himself to avenge that death (namely to kill sidious). Of course, in the end, he becomes a slave (yet another irony considering his childhood) to Sidious.

OK, so I have ranted on, what do you all think?

interesting points,meditate on this I will.

I would have replaced the Gungans with the Wookiees or the Mandalorians.