8. Why An Army Of Droids Was Not The Way Forward
Again, this theme is one that continues through the entire Prequel Trilogy but what Lucas did with the battle droid armies in Phantom Menace was set up the limitations of machines and why a much better option was people or indeed Clones. Arguably Lucas went for droids because its a kid friendly option when it comes to laser swords cutting off limbs left right and centre but really the core to this choice was setting up a bad guy the galaxy could come together to side against when Palpatine so required (arguably its also why some regions of space are a little anti-droid like in the cantina in New Hope). Additionally, droids are mass produced and even the best Jedi can be overwhelmed with sheer numbers. Lucas gets a lot of criticism for his roger roger simpleton battle droids but I feel that this plays into what hes trying to say with their inclusion in the world of Star Wars. Droids are not good enough to win battles but they are good enough to cause conflict and distract the enemy as Palpatines master plan plays out. Plus they are easily controlled and can be turned off at the flick of a switch (or at least the blowing up of one) and a battle is won. Incidentally, Joss Whedon did exactly the same thing with the alien baddies in The Avengers but because they dont drop any roger rogers, movie goers didn't seem to have a problem with the simpleton approach to on mass bad guys. Of course they should have had more of a beef considering the alien swarms had no reason to all stop working really.