7. Killing Off Darth Maul to Introduce Three New Pointless Characters
If mentioning the Clone Wars TV show and Expanded Universe as examples for showing how Lucas sold out hasn't made you mad yet, well, how about saying that Count Dooku, General Grievous, and, yes, even Jango Fett should have never been in the prequels at all. Instead all their screen time should have just been given to Darth Maul instead. Darth Maul is one of the most disappointing characters of all time. He was so awesome that Lucas decided he should dedicate less than five pages of the screenplay of Episode I to him. This guy was hardly in the movie at all. He basically just shows up to kill Qui Gon in the coolest lightsaber duel ever. Once he's finished he just dies by Obi-Wan. Why is this horrible screenwriting? Because what the heck does Dooku's character amount too in the next subsequent films? Nothing. Sure it was cool to have Christopher Lee as a Sith lord, but wouldn't it have made a lot more since for Lucas to keep Maul alive? Then there could have been some tremendous character depth and emotional conflict as Anakin sought to avenge Qui Gon no matter what the cost eventually leading him to the dark side of the force and Obi-Wan, his master, wanting the revenge just as badly, but knowing where killing out of hatred will lead him. Just imagine the scene at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith and replace Dooku with Maul being beheaded by Anakin. Way better, right? Instead all we are left with is four cool looking, but pointless bad guys with no character depth in them and three of the most bland Jedi characters to ever trick people's minds by waving their fingers in front of faces. It's like the only reason once again that Grievous and Dooku existed was to sell action figures (no Clone Wars TV show is not a valid excuse for their existence). Jango Fett would be excusable because he's awesome, but once again entirely wasted. His death is cheap and pointless. This is a guy who hunts down the most dangerous people in the entire galaxy, including Jedi, and picks his teeth with their bones in the morning. Yeah, that last comment was directed at you, Master Windu.