The Official Episode III spoiler thread

[Crown]

I'd safely discount anything about the endings that hasn't been confirmed in hyperspace webcam- for example, that Anakin will duel Dooku in front of a captured Palpatine (supposedly shackled to his chair) is confirmed.

George hinted during the AotC commentary that the last scene is Obi Wan handing over Luke to Owen, as he was talking about shooting the Tatooine scenes, and said that he isn't ever going to go back and do that location again (when he dropped the hint that the last scene of Ep III was already filmed).

[Ender]

Ok, I'm gonna attempt to layout what I think the plot of ep3 will be based off the spoilers I've read, and my own speculation.









Opens with the Seperatists launching an attack on Coruscant. Dooku has found his own apprentice and is going to take out Sidious and win the war in one go. Huge battle going on. In the middle of it, Obi-wan, now a full master and Anakin, promoted to knight, board the CIS command ship to rescue Palpatine. Obi-wan squares off agaisnt the apprentice, General Grevious, while Anakin takes on Dooku. Obi-wan and Grievous fight a running battle, with Grievous getting away, while Anakin and Dooku fight infront of a chained down Palpatine. Between his own emotions, Dooku's goading and Palpatine's encouragement, Anakin gives into the dark side and strikes Dooku down. the ship meanwhile, is going down, and the Jedi and Palpatine have to evacuate while it plunges through the atmosphere. It crashes, the fireship crew put out the blaze, and Palpatine and the Jedi return heros while the CIS is routed. Obi-wan gets most of the praise, infuriating Anakin, who goes off to Padme's apartment to see her. While there, the lovebirds are caught by Padme's would be suitor Bail Organa. Organa turns them in, and Anakin is expelled from the Order. Incredibly upset, Anakin is however picked by Palpatine to be his personal bodyguard. Meanwhile the Jedi are sent off to pursue the remnants of the CIS before they can regroup, with a disgraced Obi-wan sent after General Grievous.

While the Jedi are mopping up and Anakin being groomed for apprenticehood, the Loyalist committee is getting itchy for Palpatine to step down like he said he would, and plan on confronting him. They do, but he refuses, saying the threat has not yet passed. When they leave, assassins make an attempt on Bail's life, but he escapes. At the same time, things are not going well for the Jedi generals, they keep being led into traps, killing a number of them. Mace Windu discovers that the only way the separatists could do this would be if they had information on the inside, from the Supreme Chancellor. He goes to pay Palpatine a visit. Meanwhile, Obi-wan has another showdown with Grievous, this time finishing things after a chase and multi-lightsabre fight.

Mace arrives and demands to know the meaning of this. Palpatine reveals what we all know: He is Darth Sidious, Sith Lord. Mace goes for him and has to kill a number of the Royal Guard first, but it comes down to a dual between the two Masters, with a very confused Anakin on the sidelines. While they battle, they play the role of Anakin's inner demons: Mace asking him for help, reminding him of the evil of the dark side and what the Jedi have done for him; Palpatine asking for help, telling him of the corruption of the Jeid and the power of the dark side... power that could have helped him save his mother had the Jedi not held him back. Anakin makes his choice and kills Mace, fully embracing the Dark Side of the Force, and kneeling as Palpatine's new apprentice.

Palpatine then calls an emergency session of the Senate. He makes his announcement: The CIS was never the true enemy of the Republic. They were duped as the Republic side was, and offers peace to the seccionists. Then he revels the true enemy: the Jedi. Afterall, the CIS was led by a former Jedi master and the rest of the plan was just confessed by Jedi Council leader Mace Windu before his death in an attempt on Palpatine's life. Palpatine will continue to hold onto the emergency powers until the Jedi threat has been eliminated. He then gives a signal to all the clones: Attack the enemy now.

There is a montage of scenes as the Clones turn and kill the Masters, Yoda and Obi-wan must fight for their lives as well. Yoda is assisted by the Wookiees, but Obi-wan must personally kill all the troops he is leading and has befriended or die himself. Concurrently, Anakin leads an assault of clones on the Jedi temple, killing the Jedi children and the instructors. One after the other, the Jedi fall.

Having returned to Naboo in disgrace after Bail exposed her marriage, the pregnant Padme is horrified by what is happening and that Anakin is supporting it. When it is announced that Palpatine's personal bodyguard will go and meet with the remaining leaders of the CIS on a planet, she goes to confront him about what he is doing. Obi-wan also goes to this planet, seeking to stop Anakin or die trying.

On the planet, the remaining leaders (conveniently, all the rest of the people who know Sidious is in on this and just pinned this on the Jedi) wait for the peace envoy to arrive with the reward the Sith lord promised them for their help. Anakin arrives, and promptly gives them what they have coming to them. As he is finishing up, Padme arrives. Anakin senses she is pregnant, but accuses her of cheating with Bail, and begins strangling her with the Force to get the truth out of her. Then Obi-wan arrives and Anakin casts her aside to face his former master.

Commence the mother of all duals.

In the end, Anakin looses extremely badly, falling into a pit of lava and surviving only by the power of the dark side. Obi-wan grabs Padme and escapes just as Palpatine and the clones arrive to claim Anakin.

Obi-wan finds his friend in hiding Bail Organa. As Padme is dying, they have to take the children out now. Another montage sequence, this time Anakin being rebuilt with Padme giving birth. Padme breathes her last just as Anakin takes his first "Whoo-kissh". Obi-wna leaves with a mysterious bundle. Meeting with Yoda, they agree that their only option is to go ino hiding. Obi-wan gives the bundle (AKA Luke) to the Lars and Yoda goes to Dagobah.

Anakin awakens and Palpatine informs him that Obi-wan is responsible for his condition. In his rage, Anakin lets loose with a force storm that destroys the medical ward that "healed" him. Palpatine gives him a new name: Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith and apprentice to Darth Sidious, master of the Dark Side. They go to the bridge of their ship, the first Star Destroyer, and look on as it jumps to hyperspace, in search of the remaining Jedi.

Roll credits.


Thoughts?

[Clone Sergeant]

The fate of some Younglings from T'bone at Starwarz.com

Palpatine then declares himself Emperor (I'm not sure if it's to the senate or what) but soon after, Anakin shows up at the Jedi Temple with a squad of armed troopers and pretty much takes out anything and anyone. In reference to the younglings, all my source told me was, "The scene is supposed to cut to black as Anakin opens up the padawan room." Another source told me that on the set, there were no kids but there were two stand-ins for the troopers dressed in white. Here's what he said: "He opens the door to a room with the Younglings, they shout, 'Anakin!' and the door closes behind him as you hear his lightsaber ignite." Lots of talk about those younglings going around, but hey, a Jedi's a Jedi to Palpatine and since they're all "corrupt" it just makes it easier for Anakin to "Wipe them out...all of them." According to this newer source, this all takes place as Yoda is going at it with Palpatine.

Different info on where the twins are born from Episode-X.

Following THE duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, the Jedi Master, Padmé, Bail Organa and Yoda are on board the blockade runner (aka Tantine IV) on their way to Alderaan. Padmé is seriously wounded from injuries Anakin inflicted upon her in the prelude to aformented duel. They try to save her but her condition isn?t looking good at all, so the Tantive IV is forced to land on a new planet.

The inhabitants of this new world resemble the classic grey UFO aliens. They are also quite short.

This is the location where the twins are born prematurely, after being rescued from the dying Padmé, who falls victim to her injuries shortly after Leia and Luke are removed from her. This is also where Bail, Yoda and Obi-Wan decide on how to proceed, i.e. what to do with the (surprisingly) two children.

A little more detail on Vader's scene from Ep.-X

As reported, Darth Vader is attended by medical droids after the duel. After he wakes up and realizes what the operation has turned him into (combined with Sidious telling him he was responsible for Padmé?s death), Vader can?t contain himself, starts force choking people and throwing droids around and ultimately devastates the entire room he?s in.

What follows is the ending sequence montage that has already been described and discussed, until we come back to Vader, Sidious and Tarkin on the Star Destroyer bridge.

Now, remember those three words ?I don?t fear?? (by Vader) which Rick McCallum revealed in one of the hyperspace chats in summer? Well, what Vader apparently says is, that he doesn?t fear the dark side, he embraces it.

As for his costume, there doesn?t seem to be any preliminary stage of the suit he wears in the OT, the moment he wakes up as Vader, it?s the complete dreaded black armour again, unmistakeably.

Palpy vs. Yoda from Jedinet.com

As items continue to develop in Episode III Yoda attains part of what seems to be a Sith book (perhaps on Kashyyyk). Yoda states that he must "go and meditated on what is to come" at the Temple. He is then faced with confronting Palpatine/Sidious in the Jedi Temple. Apparently Yoda is meditating in the Jedi Temple regarding the Sith and Palpatine enters. The two masters fight, and Palpatine eventually gets the best of Yoda, having opened up a huge can of whoop arse on the green master.

The details are few and far between on this scene, and how exactly Yoda attains the book parts, but chances are the meditation is what leaves Yoda vunerable to such a butt kicking by Palpatine.

New Planet from Jedinet.com

The planet Utapau contains mines which were originally reported by some sources to be droid factories. However, the so-called factories are actually reinforcement camps or base camps that allow for the dispersement of additional droid armies or droid army regrouping. Utapau, aka the 'sinkhole planet' is apparently a planet that natives build homes in the sides of rock walls (American Indian influences anyones? How about Pueblos? Get the picture?). Apparently the Jedi Ki-Adi Mundi and Plo Koon investigate this planet and report into the Jedi Council via hologram. The action for Ki-Adi and Plo Koon tends to heat up after this scene, and it greatly affects their role in the film.

In addition to the above, the rest of this is purely speculation, as it appears that Ki-Adi and Plo Koon may die on Utapau while investigating the droid reinforcement areas. Their deaths are seen on screen, yet the exact location has yet to be noted, however the scenes on Utapu provide an excellent opportunity for the two Jedi to die following their report back to the Council.

Obi Wan and his Clone trooper war buddy from Jedinet.com

As the Clone Wars progressed the Clone Troopers had begun to gain a subtle bit of personality through all the battles and missions. One trooper inparticular becomes friends with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and has apparently fought with Kenobi on multiple occassions throughout the Clone Wars. During one battle scene in Episode III (on the planet which Bruce Spence's alien race inhabits) a clonetrooper (who may be portrayed by Tem Morrison) hands Kenobi his lightsaber (may have been dropped or lost during hand to hand combat). Upon handing Kenobi the saber the Trooper's face loses all expression and he raises his weapon towards the Jedi in an attempt to kill him. As the trooper raises the weapon, Kenobi is forced to take the life of the Clone trooper, thereby ending the relationship that had developed over the course of the war.

The scene may or may not be emotional enough for the audience, however, the audience might be able to put two and two together if the following items are also correct.

As previously mentioned the trooper might be Morrison, who may have shared an earlier scene with Kenobi in which the trooper had his helmet off. It appears that the troopers are continuing to age, thus the obvious use of Morrison to portray the aging clones.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Thoughts?

I don't like the ending.

[Death from the Sea]

Thoughts?

A couple of things: 1) I think it would be better if the Anakin v. Obi-Wan duel took place earlier before the seige on the Jedi Temple, so that Darth Vader is the one killing Jedi not Anakin.
2) From what we hear in RotJ, Leia tells us that her mother died when she was very young, but she does remember things about her. A newborn is not going to remember such things and if Padme' dies while giving birth how can they reconcile that inconsistancy?

[Admiral_K]

Leias "Memories" could just as easily been of someone else whom she thought was her mother.

[YT300000]

Much already repeated, but a lot of new stuff:

Grevious' Body Guards: Droids with unique shield weapons that are capable of blocking Jedi attacks. These shields have been designed with the intention of blocking saber attacks from Jedi Knights.

Jedi Hunter Droids - Droids that have shields capable of protecting them from most lightsaber attacks, the shielding can be compared to the shielding on the Theed Generator Complex's doors that Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan had to travel through in order to combat Darth Maul in TPM. These droids reportively ambush a squadron of Jedi Knights in the opening sequences of the film. The catch is that the Jedi Squadron members are flying TIE-type fighters. (Note: For those of you who are a bit slow, the droids should be in fighters)

Battle Droids - We see very few this time around

Destroyer Droids - Aka Droideka's - we've seen this guys before.

Super Battle Droids - 'Nuff said.

Spider Droids - Perhaps a revisitation on concepts that were developed for Episode II and tossed in favor of the larger Dwarf Spider Droids that the Confederacy of Independent Systems used during the Battle of Geonosis.

As the ending sequences of Episode III begin to play across the screen we see Anakin Skywalker awakening as Darth Vader for the first time since his epic duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on the 'lava planet' known as Mustafar. Once he awakens he questions Palpatine as to the whereabouts of Padme, to which Palpatine responds with "You killed her..." Skywalker/Vader goes into a Force-powered rage, screams the trademark "Nooo..." and the scene fades into a sequence of crossfades including the following items:

* Padme's funeral
* Obi-Wan Kenobi arriving on Tatooine and delivering the infant Luke Skywalker to Owen and Beru Lars
* Bail Organa and his wife on Alderaan with the infant Leia Skywalker. R2-D2 and C-3PO are present on Alderaan as well.

Then, then final shot of the film features Darth Vader, Darth Sidious/Palpatine, and Tarkin on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, overlooking the construction of the first Death Star. At that time the end credits roll.

As the Clone Wars progressed the Clone Troopers had begun to gain a subtle bit of personality through all the battles and missions. One trooper inparticular becomes friends with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and has apparently fought with Kenobi on multiple occassions throughout the Clone Wars. During one battle scene in Episode III (on the planet which Bruce Spence's alien race inhabits) a clonetrooper (who may be portrayed by Tem Morrison) hands Kenobi his lightsaber (may have been dropped or lost during hand to hand combat). Upon handing Kenobi the saber the Trooper's face loses all expression and he raises his weapon towards the Jedi in an attempt to kill him. As the trooper raises the weapon, Kenobi is forced to take the life of the Clone trooper, thereby ending the relationship that had developed over the course of the war.

The scene may or may not be emotional enough for the audience, however, the audience might be able to put two and two together if the following items are also correct.

As previously mentioned the trooper might be Morrison, who may have shared an earlier scene with Kenobi in which the trooper had his helmet off. It appears that the troopers are continuing to age, thus the obvious use of Morrison to portray the aging clones.

The planet Utapau contains mines which were originally reported by some sources to be droid factories. However, the so-called factories are actually reinforcement camps or base camps that allow for the dispersement of additional droid armies or droid army regrouping. Utapau, aka the 'sinkhole planet' is apparently a planet that natives build homes in the sides of rock walls (American Indian influences anyones? How about Pueblos? Get the picture?). Apparently the Jedi Ki-Adi Mundi and Plo Koon investigate this planet and report into the Jedi Council via hologram. The action for Ki-Adi and Plo Koon tends to heat up after this scene, and it greatly affects their role in the film.

In addition to the above, the rest of this is purely speculation, as it appears that Ki-Adi and Plo Koon may die on Utapau while investigating the droid reinforcement areas. Their deaths are seen on screen, yet the exact location has yet to be noted, however the scenes on Utapu provide an excellent opportunity for the two Jedi to die following their report back to the Council.

As items continue to develop in Episode III Yoda attains part of what seems to be a Sith book (perhaps on Kashyyyk). Yoda states that he must "go and meditated on what is to come" at the Temple. He is then faced with confronting Palpatine/Sidious in the Jedi Temple. Apparently Yoda is meditating in the Jedi Temple regarding the Sith and Palpatine enters. The two masters fight, and Palpatine eventually gets the best of Yoda, having opened up a huge can of whoop arse on the green master.

The details are few and far between on this scene, and how exactly Yoda attains the book parts, but chances are the meditation is what leaves Yoda vunerable to such a butt kicking by Palpatine.

After choosing to side with Palpatine (following the entire Mace Windu ordeal), Anakin is sent on missions with clonetroopers to assassinate Jedi. One such missions leads them to the lobby of the Jedi Temple, where they ambush some Jedi - including Younglings.
Footage of the attack is recorded and later reviewed by Yoda and Obi-Wan after they’ve returned to Coruscant. This seems to be the moment when they realize Anakin has turned, and Obi-Wan is very aware that he needs to put a stop to his wayward apprentice.

The reviewed footage seems to be George’s means to imply the Younglings’ death without showing it onscreen.

As reported, Darth Vader is attended by medical droids after the duel. After he wakes up and realizes what the operation has turned him into (combined with Sidious telling him he was responsible for Padmé’s death), Vader can’t contain himself, starts force choking people and throwing droids around and ultimately devastates the entire room he’s in.

What follows is the ending sequence montage that has already been described and discussed, until we come back to Vader, Sidious and Tarkin on the Star Destroyer bridge.

Now, remember those three words “I don’t fear…” (by Vader) which Rick McCallum revealed in one of the hyperspace chats in summer? Well, what Vader apparently says is, that he doesn’t fear the dark side, he embraces it.

As for his costume, there doesn’t seem to be any preliminary stage of the suit he wears in the OT, the moment he wakes up as Vader, it’s the complete dreaded black armour again, unmistakeably.

Following THE duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin, the Jedi Master, Padmé, Bail Organa and Yoda are on board the blockade runner (aka Tantine IV) on their way to Alderaan. Padmé is seriously wounded from injuries Anakin inflicted upon her in the prelude to aformented duel. They try to save her but her condition isn’t looking good at all, so the Tantive IV is forced to land on a new planet.
The inhabitants of this new world resemble the classic grey UFO aliens. They are also quite short.

This is the location where the twins are born prematurely, after being rescued from the dying Padmé, who falls victim to her injuries shortly after Leia and Luke are removed from her. This is also where Bail, Yoda and Obi-Wan decide on how to proceed, i.e. what to do with the (surprisingly) two children.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Leias "Memories" could just as easily been of someone else whom she thought was her mother.

Or maybe because she was Force Sensitive. She could have been aware of more at a younger age.

[Ender]

I figured Padme would be holding a baby and smiling as she died.

[Crown]

I figured Padme would be holding a baby and smiling as she died.

That would actually be really cool imagery.

[neoolong]

I figured Padme would be holding a baby and smiling as she died.

Leia remembered her being kind of sad actually.

[Dillon]

The 56-year-old, who has played Palpatine in four of the Star Wars films, said: "You'd imagine that my character has been rather deskbound in the past but this time he will get to take part in the action. I can't give the story away as George Lucas would kill me but I have been engaged in far more physical activities than any of the other films.

"I have found myself sliding down chutes at speed and landing on heaps of rubber, it's been a completely new experience for me. I haven't had to go down the gym to get fit for the scenes but I did need a few rehearsals to get up to speed.

"Most of my scenes have been with Anakin Skywalker (played by Hayden Christensen) who eventually becomes Darth Vader."

[Ender]

From T'Bone

Hi again and welcome back to Spoiler Season here at TBSWU. You might have read the latest Spy Report over at TheForce.Net LLC, which actually contains a lot of information from my friends in "The Chain," Episode-X and JediNet. Anyhow, the report touches on a few items that I'd like to elaborate on today from a source I've been talking to. The usual disclaimers apply (These are rumors, nothing's confirmed unless it comes from Lucasfilm, grain of salt, anything here that's not new to you is just corroboration and things I've heard that match other sites' reports, and so on) so take note. I do have faith in the source, however so take that into account as well. Anything can happen.


There's been a lot of buzz about Yoda and Obi-Wan meeting up on Coruscant after the clones turn on them. Fans are asking why they would go back there knowing the forces are against them. I don't have a specific answer for you other than things are happening quite quickly in the film and perhaps the sith hasn't hit the fan yet, so to speak. I don't know the order of events that well to even guess when this takes place, but I'm going to assume it's before Palatine declares himself Emperor (to the senate?) People aren't all hip to the misconception that the Jedi are corrupt yet, perhaps.

In any case, WHY they go back is sort of irrelevant at the moment. Let's elaborate on the existing reports and go into a little more detail about what happens when they do go back. As previously reported, Anakin (on the orders of Palpatine and convinced that the Jedi ARE corrupt and trying to usurp Palpatine's power) goes on a killing binge on Coruscant. After being the only Jedi to survive the turnings of the troopers (also as per Palpatine), Yoda and Kenobi meet up on Coruscant. There they see some sort of surveillance footage (or whatever you want to call it) from Anakin's attack, realize that he's killed any and all Jedi he's encountered, including younglings, and decide he has to be stopped. ("He helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights...") While reviewing the footage, they discern that a communications beacon has been set by Anakin, commanding any and all Jedi (who are left alive, of course) to return to the Jedi Temple. In the hopes of saving some of their Jedi comrades, Obi-Wan and Yoda REVERSE the beacon telling the Jedi not to come to Coruscant, but to run for their lives. Then they make their plans to hi-tail it off Coruscant themselves...

However, (Speculation alert!) I'm assuming that this is the point where Yoda goes to see Palpatine to see about what's going on. Remember, they might think Palpatine has done something quite awful, but do they know he's a Sith Lord yet? Yoda will soon find out for sure. (See JediNet for that report.) This is also the point, I'm assuming, where Obi-Wan decides to track down Anakin and stop him. Who else in the galaxy at this point can do it? No one but he and Yoda, and I'm assuming perhaps Yoda comes up with some sort of plan like, "You go get Anakin, I'll talk to Palpatine." Obi-Wan is faced with a sort of "no-choice" situation and has to try and stop Anakin. Try to imagine the feelings of guilt, fear, apprehension, responsibility and even reluctance Obi-Wan must feel at that point. Strong stuff.

Now take all this and throw in some more info from my good friend ALI the Turkish Wonder that was posted over at the Galactic Senate, and you have a good bit here. Check it out (there are a few changes here from Ali):

Neither Obi-Wan nor Yoda think that the former can take on Anakin alone. Obi-Wan agrees that this is a suicide mission but he has to do his duty. Yoda has found out through his meditation into the dark side that if the master dies, the apprentice perishes as well. This is the reason why Yoda goes to confront Palpatine, thinking that if he defeats him, Vader-kin will automatically fall. He gets his arse handed back to him on a platter by Sidious and Obi-Wan has to take on Anakin. Obi-Wan is actually expecting this to be a suicide mission and when he comes out alive, those left are quite surprised.

So maybe Yoda tells Obi-Wan to go after Anakin after losing to Sidious? Perhaps but I can't see Obi-Wan just hanging around there waiting for too long. This bit also assumes that Yoda knows that Palpatine is the Sith Master, but is it a hunch? Does he really know? Does the meditating and probing the dark side give it away? We don't know yet but expect Ali to be vocal over at the senate so if you're not a member, sign up and join the fun.

And am I the only one who thingks Otis Frampton's art kicks ass?

[Lord Pounder]

I don't think Bail can be so openly involved in actions against Anakin. From what i gathered Bail Organa lived untill A New Hope and was on Alderaan when it was destroyed. Vader being Vader would certainly have arranged Organas down fall long before ANH if he was so involved in hurting him emotionally.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

I like how TheForce.Net gushes and practically thinks every one of them is the ball's walls when they update, no matter how lame or stupid parts of these rumors sound...

[Ender]

Latest from TFN

rumors:
Some spoilers have indicated that Anakin literally stabs Mace Windu in the back. This could not be further from the truth. Windu and Anakin duel, and (while it is not an even fight, with Sidious helping Anakin) Anakin wins. Simple. However, look to see some elements of the Return of the Jedi in there, when Mace uses the Force to summon his lightsaber, and Anakin springs to the Chancellor/Emperor's defense. Remind you of a similar way to start the Episode VI duel?
Also, Anakin does not literally go in there and take out all the Younglings with his saber. The destruction of the Jedi Temple is aided by him, certainly, but he does not go from room to room slicing down Padawans. There are elements of that, but with older Jedi (probably this is to keep it at a PG rating).

I find it funny that after major spoliers like those are posted by their competitors at episode-X, jedinet, and T'bone, they just happen to get a source saying that their competitors are full of it in the same week. Not a month or so down the road, not after its been eliminated by a few hyperspace updates, but in the same week.

I'm not saying they couldn't be right, but given their track record...

[Admiral_K]

Remember, Anakin is not above killing children. He did it in Episode II.

[YT300000]

The location of THE DUEL.

For military matters, there is a War Room in an underground fortress. The war room is a mass of glass enclosures, electronic wall displays, monitors, and computer control stations. Military aides of various ranks crowd the room, which holds a giant display of the galaxy. Small symbols flash on and off over various portions of the big board.

Now what's interesting is that the War Room is located on the "eerie, reddish-yellow planet" Aquilae. Here's some more information on Aquilae:


There is a secret entrance to the hidden underground fortress that is located in a small desert canyon surrounded by steep cliffs and broken boulders. There is a maze of large boulders to follow to a sheer rock face. A large section of the rock slides away, revealing a well-lit corridor carved out of the rock. Two guards are on duty there. The secret rock door silently slides closed. The Underground Fortress also contains a Med Vac Emergency Room, staffed by several doctors.

George had the following old ideas in mind.

1. "Aquilae is an eery, reddish yellow planet that has an underground fortress, a MedVac facility and a War Room."

2. "I once toyed around with the idea of having the final duel of Return of the Jedi take place in an underground throne room located at the capital of the Republic, which I now have named "Coruscant". There would have been rivers of lava flowing around to make it look cool."

3. "I want Anakin to fall into some lava. I've always wanted that."

[YT300000]

And this is near the end:

As part of Anakin's seduction, Palpatine makes implications that he knows of ways to cheat death.

After the duel: Obi-Wan flees with Padme, Anakin is pulled from the lava by Palpatine's henchmen. Palpatine is also present as this is the

[YT300000]

- Yoda vs. Sidious DOES happen. Maybe even in the Jedi Temple....maybe in the council chambers...and maybe while the temple is under attack and being destroyed...

- When Obi-Wan kills Grievous, his eyes come out of his head...very Raiders of the Lost Ark gruesome. George likes to leave no doubt that his villains are indeed dead.

- Qui-Gon definitely finds a way to communicate with Obi-Wan in the film.

- You'll empathize with Anakin for feeling neglected and betrayed by the jedi order. They really don't treat him with any respect despite his heroic actions early in the film.

- Remember the set diary where Bail is firing at unseen assailants as he gets to his speeder? Expect him to be shooting at clone/stormtroopers.

- Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tatooine because he knows that Tatooine is the one place that Anakin will never willingly return there.

[Clone Sergeant]

Even more details from TFN. I hope the bit near the beginning about some capship vs. capship action is true.

- The Battle of Coruscant will be the biggest space battle the Star Wars franchise has ever seen. Expect to see some cool capital ship vs. capital ship warfare. Each side has lots of varied looking warships. The Republic has ships that are more than just Star Destroyers. Might even see an old Ralph McQuarrie design or two get put into place here.

- Expect one of the final shots of the film to be Vader, Tarkin and Palpatine on a Star Destroyer bridge looking out onto space at the beginnings of a Death Star in progress...(but not necessarily THE last shot of the film...) my understanding of the last shot before iris out will be on Tatooine.

- When Padme faces Anakin on Mustafar, Anakin is incredibly upset with her when he realizes she brought Obi-Wan with her. She led Obi-Wan right to him. From Anakin's point of view, he trusted her and she betrayed him. Anakin force-chokes Padme and throws her aside (where she also hits her head.) Then, the duel begins amidst the corpses of the slaughtered Seperatist leaders.

- The twins are born on a brand new never-before seen world (whose name has not been revealed yet.) They land there when they realize that Padme isn't going to make it if they keep pushing on to Alderaan. The natives of this planet resemble little grey close encounters/roswell aliens. Padme finally succumbs to her wounds suffered from Anakin during the birthing scene. She is able to share a few choice words with Obi-Wan before passing. Bail, Obi-Wan and Yoda hatch the plans for what to do with the children. Bail sees to it that C-3PO's memory is wiped. Yoda is dropped off via escape pod at Dagobah where he will await the proper time to do his part. The jedi have been utterly duped and defeated by films end.

- Medical droids turn the remains of Anakin Skywalker (now named Darth Vader) into the classic trilogy cyborg Darth Vader we know and love. His reveal is very "Frankenstein." (He lays on a slab that slowly rises up when he is completed.) When Vader rises, his first desire is knowledge of Padme's fate. Palpatine calmly and cooly tells him that she is dead and that he(Anakin/Vader) killed her. His sorrow and regret result in an awe-inspiring physical manifestation of the dark side of the force. The entire room buckles and twists away from his anguished screams. Every droid in the room is obliterated. Palpatine has to muster all of his powers just to shield himself from Vader's wrath. Vader's echoed scream segues directly into the next scene: Padme's funeral procession.

[YT300000]

The first spoiler in a while:

Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader really isn't in the film for all that long of a time. In fact, he gets maybe five minutes at the maximum. Here's some details on what scenes you can expect him in:

1) He will be seen just for a couple minutes in the much talked about "waking-up" scene. This is after his recovery from the duel and he realizes what he has done and what has happened to him. He is shown here without the cape and upper helmet.

2) There's the "Sith christening" scene also known as the knighting as a Sith Lord. Another couple of minutes when he'll be seen during the film. He is also named here.

3) And finally, there's the "superstructure being built" minute where you can see the Death Star being constructed from his viewpoint with a few other notable Empire characters.

I hope that three is wrong.

[YT300000]

There's a minor quabble among fans on how Obi-Wan gets his name changed to "Ben" in the classic Episode IV. For long lengths to time, fans have speculated that it may be answered in Episode III. Well, from what we hear it will be. Here's how it goes:

Obi-Wan's given name is Ben - but he's been called Obi-Wan for so long no one seems to know otherwise. As they zip around the galaxy in the new Jedi Star/Tiefighters there is a scene where Anakin, having discovered Kenobi's actual name recently (though not seen in the film), calls him "Ben" as a jest in the middle of a blazing firefight. Obi-Wan responds, saying "This is no time for jokes Anakin! Besides you know I hate it when you call me that" - but Anakin persists. "Did Qui-Gon ever know your real name?" he asks. Obi-Wan blasts a few enemy ships, then says he fears that everyone will know now that Anakin does.

Speculation then would lead us to believe that after the fall of Anakin to the Dark Side. Obi-Wan escapes into hiding, calling himself Ben and burying himself on a planet where Vader would least want to return to. He uses the name as a painful reminder of his relationship with the fallen padawan, who he would someday face again one day.

[Vympel]

Stormtroopers produced in factories on different worlds all over the galaxy?

Kernan Industries comes back a second time for another SPY REPORT, this time focusing on one interpersonal relationship we'll see briefly explored in Episode III:
So far we know that Obi-Wan becomes good friends with a character in the film. Ironically, he is a one of the new clonetroopers - you should know that these are the ones that are the final step forward in the evolution to the stormtroopers we all know and love.

The clone/stormtrooper is from Trooper Factory 011 on the planet Coruscant. He is a prototype Stormtrooper. Evidently he is one of the jillions of troopers created for the beginning of the Empire (unbeknownst to Kenobi) and this is one of the scores of factories on different worlds all over the galaxy. We'll finally get to see where the Classic Trilogy stormtroopers are born. You remember that number on their backpack, don't you? Wow.

On the back of this clone/stormtrooper is the number 011 from the factory he was created. Obi-Wan gives him the name (sounding like) "OH11" and they have a brief bit of dialogue in the film to establish their relationship. At one critical moment in the film, when Palpatine turns all of the Clones against the Jedi. O11, who is with Kenobi, becomes stiff and robotic - almost like he is being controlled. Kenobi who is realizing what is happening - ignites his lightsaber and is forced to strike 011 across his chest plate. The Trooper drops to its knees then falls lifelessly to the ground with his blaster still in hand. there's some moving moments to make this scene dreadfully sad. Here is what looks to be the brief dialogue for this scene:

011: "Target Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Locked on."
The saber strike happens, the Clone's body drops
Kenobi: "It was always Ben to you my friend...goodbye."

[Illuminatus Primus]

I wouldn't doubt it. These are likely the dawn of the GeNode facilities. In accordance with EU, these factories will likely be dismantled and cloning official banned--but the factories will crop-up in the Deep Core and keep right on churning.