Poll: Was Darth Maul a good character in a bad Starwars film? Or a mediocre character in a really bad film

[Headdrivehardscrew]

He had one the greatest fights in cinema history followed by one the lamest and easily avoidable deaths in cinema history.

Notice that people still talk about Darth Maul and not the pod racing or...the rest of the movie. Hell, look at the advertising for the rerelease. He has top billing, Star Wars Ep1: Darth Maul vs some dudes.

Lest we forget:

There was also a "Pod racing" game... anyone actually tried/bought that one?

 

[mrdude2010]

His main weakness was a lack of screen time. If he was introduced earlier, and had more scenes showing him tracking the Jedi and the Queen, he would have been that much more intimidating.

However, if you want more Maul, he's apparently still alive.... somehow. In an upcoming Clone Wars TV arc, Darth Maul's body was attached to spider robot legs, and he is going to fight against the Jedi.

*facepalm* This is why we can't have nice things. Writing about the apprenticeships of Obi Wan and Anakin at least makes some sense, and it can't hurt to throw in a generic copy and paste series of books about the clone troopers, but some of this stuff is just ridiculous. I think in one of the extended universe series the emperor turned out to have a few clones that they had to go through and kill? There's a certain point where the people in charge of authorizing this have to go "no. just no. *whack nose with rolled up newspaper.*"

 

[Garyn Dakari]

Sure, I think he's alright. He was very different from the other Sith in the movies. All the others taunt and try to turn their opponents while fighting them, whereas Maul was just there to kill them.

He could have been used better in the movie though...Then again, a ton of the stuff in the prequels could have been done so much better...

EDIT: Oh, and screw that Clown Wars thing where he comes back to life. I'd just like to pretend the show didn't exist...Or at least consider it non-canon...

 

[Vigormortis]

SNIP

That assumes he was in a film by a guy who could direct, or a guy who could write.

Also, Lucas has never had the ability to write. Watch the original trilogy and actually listen to the dialogue. It's cringe inducing. The only reason Star Wars is loved is because some of the ideas and concepts were brilliant.

Fair enough. Though, apparently, he could write a decent story. Granted, he couldn't translate it to film effectively to save his life, but from what I've heard he could write well enough.

Still, I think it's hilarious that the two best stories within the Star Wars universe were penned by people other than Lucas. Empire Strikes Back, as I discussed in my other post, and the hand-drawn animated Clone Wars series done by Genndy Tartakovsky. (creator of Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack)

 

[Vigormortis]

He had one the greatest fights in cinema history followed by one the lamest and easily avoidable deaths in cinema history.

Notice that people still talk about Darth Maul and not the pod racing or...the rest of the movie. Hell, look at the advertising for the rerelease. He has top billing, Star Wars Ep1: Darth Maul vs some dudes.

Lest we forget:

There was also a "Pod racing" game... anyone actually tried/bought that one?

I did. On the N64. It was actually kinda fun. Especially with a friend. (even more so when you accessed the developer debug menu. which involved a convoluted process including lifting a corner of the cartridge out of the console slot just enough to get it to lock up)

 

[evilneko]

Maul really wasn't much of a character. He was little more than an Elite Mook.

 

[Veylon]

He was cool-looking, I'll admit. Properly speaking, I don't think he belonged in the film. He has no purpose at all in the plot and only really exists to provide a lightsaber fight in the climax. Nothing he does makes any sense for the purposes of advancing Palpatine's goals.

Now, on the other hand, if his role had been to be the apparent leader (and master Sith) of the Separatists, to distract and mislead the Jedi, that would've been a lot better. He has a genuinely intimidating appearance and I think that, if you played it well, you could even get a good chunk of the audience to think Palpatine was the good guy as he heroically stands up as the champion against this spiky paragon of evil.

 

[Loop Stricken]

I liked Darth Maul, but as a character... meh. The movie doesn't do anything WITH him.

Lest we forget:

There was also a "Pod racing" game... anyone actually tried/bought that one?

I loved that game! Sebulba was by far my favourite, but when you actually unlocked him it made the game far far too easy.
I think I played most of my pre-Sebulba matches with a little blue fella who had four engines? Or... there was one whose pod looked like the thing Greivous rides about on in RotS.

 

[Captain Pirate]

Yes and no.

"It's not necessarily what a character says that makes them a badass, but how they go about not saying it.", a quote that I feel is very relevant here.
He is easily one of the most underdeveloped characters in the Star Wars films, dialogue and background wise.
In this sense he was by far the worst character in the film, if not one of the top 10 in the entire saga.

However, his design and actions were far more gripping than he as a person.
He may have been just Palpatine's apprentice and nothing more, but he looked incredible, had a double-bladed lightsaber, and participated in arguably the best fight in the Star Wars films.

So yeah, yes and no I guess.