The General Star Wars Thread

Maybe it's because the Soviets aren't as easy to write for as the Americans, Nazis and such. Because understanding the Soviets means studying history which is hard.

Wanna bring this up. Cause this is worth mentioning.

Anyone see parallels between FDR and Palpatine?

Edited by Patar136 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 1:04:06 AM

Sorry, but this is like saying that Palpatine is an expy of Justinian, because both were Emperors.

Edited by jawal on Sep 22nd 2023 at 9:05:22 AM

I AM the Senate!

Sorry, had to.

Edited by Patar136 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 1:07:10 AM

"Anyone see parallels between FDR and Palpatine?"

No.

Well, apart from both of them staying a third term because of the war.

No, not really.

Oh come on! Not again.

FDR was in office for more terms than any other president and there were some fears he was abusing his power in the USA. FDR was in WW 2 as the American President. FDR was a champion of democracy, or so he claimed.

I'm not saying FDR is as bad as Palpatine. He wasn't an evil wizard. But he was a strong leader who led his government against military superpowers.

Palpatine is more evil Winston Churchill than FDR.

And even then, these are some pretty shallow comparisons.

Emergency powers and Palpatine were more inspired by Julius Caesar and he declared himself dictator just like Palpatine.

Neither Churchill or FDR declared themselves dictator for life, emergency powers alone does not make a parallel to Palpatine. The former two fought an actual war, Palpatine made a fake war to declare himself Emperor.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 4:18:45 PM

Here's another point of similarity.

Palpatine was elected when Chancellor Valorum was seen as incompetent when he failed to solve a crisis, the Naboo crisis.

FDR was elected when President Hoover was seen as incompetent when he failed to solve a crisis, the Great Depression.

Heck, just as Palpatine okayed the use of the Death Star to supposedly win the war, so too did FDR initially green light the Manhattan Project, with the Atomic bombings seen by Truman.

The only difference is that Palpatine created the Naboo crisis, and FDR didn't create the Depression, and the atomic bombings actually contributed to end the second world war while the Death Star only worsened it. But there is some parallel.

But I'm not totally crazy. Executive Order 9066 is obviously not inspiration for Order 66. That's just a bizarre coincidence.

There’s been some speculation that Order 66 may have derived its name from Executive Order 9066, in which Roosevelt ordered Japanese-Americans put in internment camps. But like I said earlier, it’s not the only influence, as Order 66 also draws from the “Number of the Beast” and the executions of the Knights Templar.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Sep 22nd 2023 at 1:27:29 AM

That's still a shallow comparison because there are tons of leaders who have ineffective predecessors and some were judged unfairly.

By your logic, I could claim Palpatine is more Winston Churchill than FDR.

Winston Churchill took office after his predecessor was bowed down to Hitler's demands and stood aside when the Germans took land they felt was theirs which contributed to WW 2, while Palpatine taking office after Valorum bowed down to the Trade Federation's demands and lead to the Naboo crisis and eventually the clone wars.

Or Hitler in general.

While there are parallels with the Death Star and Nuclear weapons, the intent of the Death Star was to destroy all opposition and secure the Empire's rule over the galaxy. While the Allies used the nukes to intimidate Japan to surrender and end the war. The Allies weren't plotting to use nukes to conquer the rest of the world.

Both being powerful weapons used in war is all they have in common. The intent matters.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 4:33:07 PM

Well, I admit that is a better argument than the Soviet one.

It is indeed possible that the inspiration for Palpatine gaining a third term was FDR.

Edited by jawal on Sep 22nd 2023 at 9:33:47 AM

Thank you. I'm not saying he's 100% FDR, just that there are some similarities.

Which you seem to be missing the point of. Of course there are similarities to Churchill as there are to FDR. Hell Churchill was a proud colonialist at the time who was in charge of his Imperial, I mean Royal Navy and Air Force.

Is there a problem with Palpatine having some similarities to these leaders. Not at all. It's part of the charm for Star Wars to take things and use them as storytelling plot points.

Now you're just making comparison out of thin air without direct sources.

I mean Lucas explicitly stated his influences for Palpatine, at no point does he say FDR and Churchill are inspirations.

And he's upfront about the Vietcong inspiring the Ewoks.

You are also ignoring the fact that while FDR did get a third term, that's still a false equivalence to Palpatine because FDR didn't extend his powers to declare himself dictator for life. While Julius Caesar who IS an inspiration for Palpatine did.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 4:46:45 PM

I don't remember the films giving a statement like he's had three terms. Just Obi-Wan saying he's managed to stay in office long after his term has expired in RotS

Is the three terms a TCW thing?

Listen, Ganondorf, just because he doesn't mention it doesn't mean it can't be observed. Not all similarities that are found in art are intentional.

Edited by Patar136 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 1:46:26 AM

I'll say it again, it's a shallow similarity, hero of winds.

You can compare Palpatine and FDR on the third term bit but it's going to fall apart under scrutiny.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 4:50:20 PM

You call it shallow I call it meaningful. But I can see your perspective, demon king.

Anyway, how is Ahsoka going? How many more episodes do we got? My plan is to binge it all at once as soon as I can.

It's 3/4s the way through. Two more episode to go. It's pretty good from my point of view as someone who's never watched any other Star Wars Tv.

I just wonder how many books Timothy Zahn will write to try and fix it's take on Thrawn

How much can you understand since you haven't watched other Star Wars shows as you said? Are there things that don't make sense to you?

It’s basically Season 6 of Rebels.

I mean I know who the main players, broad plot points from Pop Culture Osmosis here and other nerdy sites so the plot is perfectly comprehensible.

The emotional resonance/caring about the characters is harder because it is set up assuming you know/are invested in these people already (not wholly unreasonably of course)

What exactly is it getting up to?

My take on Palpatine suffering some Victory Is Boring; I feel that it's because it's not so much holding power that he desires most, but gaining power. As much genuine enjoyment that he gets from ruling over people it doesn't give him the same rush overcoming obstacles and obtaining more power does. I half-joke that his dream is to become torture-god of existence because of how evil he's written, though perhaps those Godhood Seeker and Immortality Seeker traits are ultimately down to the fact he lusts for power more than he reels in it

That said, I could be wrong because if the Dark Empire and Sith Eternal are any indication, it may not be Palpatine chasing after power than it is reinforcing said power. As Chancellor he rules much of the galaxy, but he wants no checks and balances so he makes it an Empire. And he wants to rule without beauracracy, so he tries to turn it into a Dark Side magocracy. You don't need legislation when you can move stars with your will alone

I feel like he would love to live in the old SWTOR era where the Jedi and Sith were at open war with each other, and a Sith could make a killing while being an adventurer across the galaxy.

Like I said, he treated an assassination attempt on Ryloth like a regular person would treat an all expense paid month long vacation to Las Vegas.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Sep 22nd 2023 at 9:27:08 PM