Why Yoda *is* Great

In the adult novel, Yoda is never depicted as gaining the advantage at any point, whether in sabers or the Force. The novel makes it explicit that Palpatine is more powerful; dueling ability isn't made clear but we can presume that they were at least equals.

I think Sidious was slightly better, just because of Gillard's statements. But they were roughly equal, yes.

I'm talking about the novel. I know what Gillard said; I have the quotes on my respect thread.

In fairness, there is one source claiming that Yoda's skill was unrivaled - said sourcebook also discussing Sidious at length. It also comes after the 2005 quotes, but one could easily argue that the RotS stuff takes precedence since it comes from film-based material and one of the quotes comes from Lucas himself. And also that they're far more varied and numerous in nature.

Respect thread for Sidious?

Yeah I'd agree that RotS material comes first.

No, you don't really see much of the fight in the novel. Also, Sidious' style is definitely retooled and unique.

Originally posted by NewGuy01
No, you don't really see much of the fight in the novel. Also, Sidious' style is definitely retooled and unique.

What makes you say that?

Literally every description we've ever gotten about his lightsaber style. It doesn't cleanly fit with any of the classic seven.

He just uses the seven forms as necessary, like Yoda, at least that's the impression I get. Plus the fact that Sidious calls Form VII the Sith form leads me to believe that Sidious' first response was Juyo, just as Form IV was for Yoda.

He blends all seven forms; his style is "constantly changing" per Lucas.

He factually has his own distinctive fighting style, which doesn't fit the bill of any of the classical forms. It's clearly some sort of hybridization. 👆

That said, this is another problem with the youtube gang's analyses. Regardless of what forms they've mastered, almost every relevant character has a unique fighting style; lightsaber forms make up the basis, but (as Temp would put it,) lightsaber duels are organic, not mechanical. High-level Jedi don't tend to be limited by the constraints of their chosen form--mastering the form is about more than perfecting the stances and strikes, after all--it's about how effective your application of those things are in combat scenario. Yoda and Qui-Gon are both Ataru practitioners, but their fighting styles aren't even resemblant of one another's.

He disarms Sidious in the Illustrated Screenplay, which should be borderline Canon.

Originally posted by SunRazer
He blends all seven forms; his style is "constantly changing" per Lucas.

Good point. Wouldn't that be seen more as just switching between forms very quickly?

He factually has his own distinctive fighting style, which doesn't fit the bill of any of the classical forms. It's clearly some sort of hybridization. thumb up

That said, this is another problem with the youtube gang's analyses. Regardless of what forms they've mastered, almost every relevant character has a unique fighting style; lightsaber forms make up the basis, but (as Temp would put it,) lightsaber duels are organic, not mechanical. High-level Jedi don't tend to be limited by the constraints of their chosen form--mastering the form is about more than perfecting the stances and strikes, after all--it's about how effective your application of those things are in combat scenario. Yoda and Qui-Gon are both Ataru practitioners, but their fighting styles aren't even resemblant of one another's.

Good points.

He disarms Sidious in the Illustrated Screenplay, which should be borderline Canon.

True, but I just found something. In the script for ROTS, which is closest to the movie we can get, it goes like this:

YODA unleashes a ferocious assault on PALPATINE, causing him to almost go over the edge. The Dark Lord drops his lightsaber but recovers with a BLAST OF ENERGY from his hands that surrounds YODA. YODA is deflecting the Sith Lord's lightning bolts.

The script also mentions the fight as fast and ferocious. Sidious 'seeks refuge' in the pod, and Yoda leaps up and they continue fighting.

So instead of Yoda outright disarming him, Palpatine just nearly falls and drops the lightsaber, but recovers instantly with lightning.

Though I still think Yoda had the environmental advantage.

Originally posted by samappo
Though I still think Yoda had the environmental advantage.

oh for sure he did, thats what I found compelling about their fight, it was a stalemate due to environment, some sun tzu stuff right there. Had that not been the case though I think Sidious would've taken the fight.

Originally posted by relentless1
oh for sure he did, thats what I found compelling about their fight, it was a stalemate due to environment, some sun tzu stuff right there. Had that not been the case though I think Sidious would've taken the fight.

^ yep, Yoda was free to move around the pod and Sidious was forced to sit in the middle basically. Though to be fair Sidious put himself in that position.

Actually, Ataru is heavily favoured in wide open areas, a single Senate Pod hardly qualifies.

You're not taking into consideration Yoda's size.

Which wouldn't really help that much. Since he can only leap around in a very limited space if he wants to actually engage Sidious.

In fact, the Junior novelisation outright states Yoda's size and poor positioning is the reason for his defeat.

Yeah but compared to Sidious, who was to remain stationary, I'd still give Yoda the advantage.

But Yoda's defeat happened after the lightsaber duel, not during.

Originally posted by samappo
Only recently joined KMC so had no idea.

Don't let the bozos on this board drag you down and brainwash you. Their hatred for Jensaarai1 is ridiculously overblown and unwarranted.

Yes, his view of Yoda's skills is dubious and he has made some head-scratching verdicts, but the fact is most of his videos are amazing. He has a remarkable ability to give detailed analyses of sparsely-featured characters and make some brilliant extrapolations. His videos give me inspiration in my writing, both for Star Wars, other series and original fiction. They're helpful in devising statistics for characters and in writing fight scenes.

What is Character A's typical approach to battle? How does his personality and experiences influence it? How does he respond to different scenarios? How do I keep his fights consistent but varied enough to avoid being repetitive? These are all important points to consider when writing fight scenes and videos like his are very helpful to me.

I implore you to watch his videos and learn for yourself. Don't be like the close-minded morons who can't even provide answers as to why they hate his work.