5. Mace Windu Vs The Emperor Palpatine: Who Was in Control?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXjT6Dg4E68 Samuel L Jackson was always an odd choice to join the cast of Star Wars in our opinion but he definitely added a degree of 'bad ass' to the prequel trilogy. As the Jedi Council's resident 'Bad Mother F****r' he was never going to die like a little bitch which is why his final moments battling the gnarly old Emperor Palpatine are so memorable. As great a moment as it was - and let's face it the prequels were distinctly lacking in truly great moments - it has caused all kinds of arguments over the years and we're pretty sure nerds the world over have probably come to blows over this one. Now that's a mental image you wish you didn't have, right? So what's everyone arguing about exactly? Well whether or not Palpatine was in control all along and lured Jackson's Mace Windu into a falls sense of security allowing Anakin to show his true colours and in the long run helping to send Windu to his untimely demise. One argument in favour of Palpatine having the upper hand was that despite Mace operating at at an exceptionally higher level than previously due to the events of Episode III he was still only to battle the Emperor as his equal meaning Palpatine was by default the more powerful of the two and thus could have destroyed his adversary with Force Lightening at any time. Let's not forget how well Palpatine did against Yoda who is a superior fighter to Mace. With this is mind one person took to Wikipedia to clear things up once and for all:
"The argument that Palpatine showed weakness against Mace isn't very solid. How did he show weakness? By having his force lighting (sic) deflected back at him? How did he know Mace was going to do that? What if Mace just absorbed it into his Lightsaber, as Obi Wan had against Dooku. Or if Mace got hit? He shot at Mace at point blank range. So basically Palpatine foresaw that he would have his force lightening deflected back at him, making him look weak. Returning force lightening with a Lightsaber had never been seen before. Doesn't add up really"
What we can decipher from this edit is that Palpatine engineered the whole sequence to lure Mace into thinking he had the upper hand only to have the tables turned on him at the last minute. Currently over at Wikipedia though the common belief is that Windu had Palpatine where he wanted him. He could sense fear during the confrontation which gave him his strength and it wouldn't make sense for him to not realise who's fear it was. Therefore any argument positing Palpatine manipulated Anakin's fear should be disregarded which leaves only one possible source - The Emperor. For fans who's first experience of Star Wars was the prequel trilogy the argument is not who shot first Han or Greedo but did Mace deflect the lightening?