Excerpts from an early version of the script to Star Wars: Episode III, following modifications by a group of writers who are becoming increasingly disillusioned by the project
18/08/06---
67 INT. BRIDGE-TRADE FEDERATION CRUISER
- OBI-WAN:
- Can you fly a cruiser like this?
- ANAKIN:
- You mean, do I know how to land what's left of this thing?
ANAKIN sits in the pilot's chair and sees on a screen the back half of the ship break away. There is a great jolt, and the ship tilts forward.
68 EXT. CORUSCANT-INDUSTRIAL LANDING PLATFORM-AFTERNOON
A large landing platform in the industrial part of the city is surrounded by Emergency Fire Speeders. The smoking ship approaches as five Fireships spray it with foam. It crashes into the ground with an almighty explosion that devastates the city for miles around.
69 INT. ESCAPE POD
- OBI-WAN:
- Phew! Lucky there was one last escape pod.
- ANAKIN:
- Yep. Boy, we'd sure look stupid right now if I'd tried to land that thing.
- OBI-WAN:
- Too right. With no engines and the fact that it's about as aerodynamic as a brick, it was pretty inevitable that it was going to just smack into the ground like that.
- PALPATINE:
- Hey, I can see my house from here!
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128 INT. CORUSCANT-CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE-EARLY EVENING
PALPATINE stands by the broken office window, from where MACE WINDU has fallen to his death.
- ANAKIN:
- What have I done?
- PALPATINE:
- You are fulfilling your destiny, Anakin. Become my apprentice. Learn to use the dark side of the Force.
- ANAKIN:
- What? Are you nuts? You were clearly just pretending to be beaten there, so you could win my sympathy so I'd interfere and you could defeat Windu. You're obviously the bad guy who's been behind all of this from the beginning.
- PALPATINE:
- You must serve me. I am the only one who can save Padme.
- ANAKIN:
- Well... there is that. But frankly, I don't trust you anymore. I'm very confused. I need to go somewhere and think about things.
- PALPATINE:
- Fine, whatever. On your way out, could you tell that army of clone troopers outside to go kill all the Jedi in the temple?
- ANAKIN:
- Uh, sure.
---
94 INT. CORUSCANT-PADME'S APARTMENT-LIVING ROOM-EARLY MORNING
PADME and OBI-WAN sit on one of the couches.
- OBI-WAN:
- Has Anakin been to see you?
- PADME:
- Several times . . . I was so happy to hear he was accepted on the Jedi Council.
- OBI-WAN:
- I know ... he deserves it. He is impatient, strong willed, very opinionated, but truly gifted.
They laugh.
- PADME:
- What did we just laugh at?
- OBI-WAN:
- I'm not sure. Is there some kind of gas leak in your apartment?
- PADME:
- I wouldn't be surprised. That would certainly explain a lot of the laughter that's been happening around here recently. Looking back on things, we've not actually had a good reason for laughing at anything. Except maybe the really poor dialogue we've been coming out with.
- OBI-WAN:
- You mean all the romance stuff? Man, I thought I was going to vomit. I mean, come on, this is a far distant galaxy full of futuristic stuff, but seriously, people don't talk like that anywhere, do they?
- PADME:
- I hope not. Fancy a beer?
- OBI-WAN:
- Dude, I'm gasping.