Probably because they do it constantly and with no effort throughtout all six films and the droideka are as wafer-thin as the regular droids (just hunched over).
Lucas had them run down the hall, instead of the obvious methods of killing them, because he couldn't think of any other way to get them to the hangar. That's it, Droidekas aren't that much more dangerous than a regular droid until they pull the shield up, which they can't do until they stop rolling and stand up.
So anyway, about the toad guy? I think his name was Nute Gunray or something. How did he get away? They arrested him at the end of Ep 1. Did they explain how he got away and I missed it?
edited 29th Mar '11 8:02:42 PM by NULLcHiLD27
Anyway.
edited 29th Mar '11 8:09:01 PM by MetaFour
Y'know what? Your (and everyone else) argument was absolutely pointless. There were only two droidekas, nothing else
Obi-wan watched them roll down the hallway, he didn't even bother trying to destroy them, he and Qui-gon just watch them roll down the hall, stand up and put up the shields. It's like they forgot they could use the force.
Everytime I go back to watch this movie now, it seems like there's a new problem I have with it, I never even thought of how stupid the jedi act at times and it seems like every scene in Ep 1 is there to tell me Obi-wan and Qui-gon are borderline imbeciles, it's like the only things that actually set them apart from Jar Jar is their ability to speak fluent english and lightsabers.
edited 29th Mar '11 8:36:31 PM by NULLcHiLD27
And he proves to be about as good, if not better, as his master.
Not that it matters, they just stand there and watch the damn things roll down the hall, un-coil, bring up their shields and open fire.
If Nute was really smart, he could've strapped a small thermal detonator to the things and let 'em roll right up to the jedi and blow up.
edited 29th Mar '11 9:10:01 PM by NULLcHiLD27
1) I like to think that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were shocked to see Destroyers there, so it took a while for it to register that that was rolling their way.
2) Nute would have done that if he was stupid. Destroyers are expensive so it would have been a waste of money and it would have damaged the ship/station and that would have put him back even more for repairs.
Yeah, you're right. Strapping a bomb to a droid, having it run up and blow up the jedi (most likely killing them, if not crippling them) just doesn't have any long-term gain when you compare it to the minor repairs and losing two droids he'd ran the risk of losing anyway
I just chock it up to minor plot-stupidity and being a simple excuse of making them run to the hangar.
edited 29th Mar '11 9:18:47 PM by NULLcHiLD27
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That excuse only flies until they bust out of the conference room, after that, if they really let their gaurd down and stop being ready for anything, they're simply incompetent fools. They didn't seem too suprised by the things, they seemed to know what they were, so they should've been ready.
edited 29th Mar '11 9:33:19 PM by NULLcHiLD27
They had time to prepare and Obi-wan identified them the second he saw them. They had ample time to take the things out before the droids attacked. You're argument makes it sound like you think they're retarded. And if that's your real argument, I agree.
edited 29th Mar '11 9:37:47 PM by NULLcHiLD27
It's because you're are trying to sell me a smelly, rotten fish and I ain't buying.
With the wierd shit that inhabits this universe and the crazy predicaments a jedi most likely finds himself in on his journeys through the galaxy, I don't see how you'd believe that they'd degenerate into gawking idiots because a droid comes rolling down a hallway when they've just fought a small platoon of droids on an extremely hostile ship. They made not be the same type of droids the jedi fought previously, but the point stands. Your argument that "They weren't expecting it" just sounds like a complete cop-out and nothing else.
I'm with Null on this one. It couldn't be that hard to use the force to crush them. For a Jedi, a droideka shouldn't be a name to run away from. They had a chance to kill them and they didn't. It was clearly used as an excuse to advance the plot.
The problem with the force as a plot device is that Lucas seems to change the power of the force from scenario to scenario.
For example,what you say about it taking concentration to use the force. In that scene in the Phantom Menace the excuse is they didn't have time to focus and use the force on the Droidekas.
However, in Revenge of the Sith, Obi Wan who is hanging on for dear life manages to force grip Grievous's blaster in the heat of the moment. That leads us to believe it doesn't take much concentration. Which is it?
I just think the force could have been done better.
Maybe they can borrow another page from the fantasy side of the genre and make it so Jedi have to prepare their force movements ahead of time and can only use the moves they prepared. Once they run out, they use their lightsaber. Similar to Vancian Magic. The more midichlorians you have the more force moves you can prepare,thus making the user more powerful.
edited 29th Mar '11 10:35:30 PM by TheProffesor
No midichlorians, they weren't brought up in the originals, hell I can't even remember them being mentioned outside of Ep 1.
Anyway, I could assume that Obi-wan got better by Ep 3. But in Ep 1, he's a well-trained apprentice to an, apparently, extremely good master and again, they had ample opportunity to prepare for and defeat the droidekas before they even brought up the shields.
I think Lucas simply wrote himself into a corner here. There's no way the droidekas could sneak up on them and they don't have a reason to go to the hangar and discover the army. All I can think of are these:
- he would have to re-write it so that the jedi learn of the invasion plan before they try to get into the control room, after they attempt to lightsaber through the door, Obi-wan says it will take too long and they should make their way to Naboo and warn the inhabitants instead.
- simply send waves of droids, rather than two, at the jedi and have them decide that there are too many to take out.
Also (taking another from Red Letter Media), don't split the jedi up when they escape to Naboo unless there's a point to it, as it is, it's useless.
edited 29th Mar '11 10:51:37 PM by NULLcHiLD27
In hindsight I wonder if the Jedi would have been better off being presented as genuinely wise and powerful group of warrior knights, but perhaps also mysterious to the general public, and not heavily involved the politics of the Galactic Republic. Perhaps like a mix of secretive samurai/ninjas who could and did move quickly, quietly, and expertly in being guardians of justice.
They were effective and dedicated to their causes, but many in the galaxy had their doubts about them, especially given that they seemed to act without the authority of Chancellor or the Senate. If that had been the case in the prequels, it might have helped to explain a couple of things.
First, why you could have someone like Han Solo be so skeptical about something like the Force, given that even in the days when Jedi had large numbers and were using the force, the vast majority of the Republic had never really seen them in action.
Secondly, it could perhaps better justify how Palpatine and Vader were able to wipe them out so effectively and without enough protest from either the citizens or even the Senate. With Vader's knowledge of the Jedi's ways, citizens already skeptical, and with a massive propaganda campaign, they're easily able to take them out.
Finally, it could likely explain how Palpatine was able to shield his true intentions and his knowledge of the force from them. Namely that the Jedi order had so little involvement with politics and had not dealt with a Sith (or any real utilizer of the dark side) for such a long time, that Palpatine was able keep himself under their radar.
With the chancellor obfuscating his intentions and competence (perhaps drawing upon the abandoned concept from the New Hope novelization, that of a weak willed President actually being manipulated by the his own bureaucrats) and the Jedi's stance of non political involvement, no one realizes the true threat of Palpatine.
I guess it all comes down to you give the Jedi's a fatal flaw as you would Obi-Wan and Anakin. If that's the case, then you can really characterize Yoda (being the last of only two left) realizing what a fundamental mistake it was for the Jedi to not take action or intervene when it came to the Senate and the Chancellor.
Emphasizing how that fatal mistake (being so caught in tradition and old code of the Jedi ways that they felt it better to not get involved with the politics of the Republic) led to so much destruction could also help explain a great deal. Specifically why he and Kenobi so strongly urge Luke to confront/destroy Vader and why Kenobi is convinced there's no real good in Anakin anymore. Yoda and Obi-Wan were blind to the troubles of something they thought they knew (the Republic and Anakin) and the two witnessed the cost of their ignorance.
If Luke is the last hope, both have lost too much to see him make the same mistake.
edited 30th Mar '11 2:52:29 AM by BorneAgain
You have to remember that the movies themselves are mostly consistent when it came to the powers and skills of the Jedi, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had about just as much trouble with Droidikas in Episode 1 as Obi-Wan and Anakin did early in Episode 3. Defending against them is not that difficult, but it does require more attention than a dozen regular droids because of their firepower and their shields. Yoda and Palpatine's duel with throwing objects around isn't that far off what Vader was doing against Luke in Episode 5.
It's been mostly the EU where the Jedi became near god-like Supernatural Martial Arts / Full-Contact Magic type individuals, ie Star Wars Clone Wars and The Force Unleashed. In Episode 1 Qui-Gon even remarked that he is capable of defending an individual and himself but he isn't a One-Man Army, which was the entire point of needing the Clone Troopers later.

And again, what basis do you have to think that any feat involving The Force is easy and doesn't require concentration?