Ian McDiarmid
Ian McDiarmid
I bet the name Ian McDiarmid doesn't ring a bell, does it? How about Senator Palpatine? (Yes, Star Wars fan girl in the
back, I see you.) How about the Emperor in Return of the Jedi? Yeah, I
thought you'd recognize that one. Mr. McDiarmid did, indeed, play the Emperor in Return of the Jedi. He also portrayed
Senator, then Grand Chancellor, Palpatine in Episodes I and
II, respectively. (We know that he will be returning to the screen in
Episode III in May of 2005, but until then, his performance cannot be
evaluated.)
In Episode I: The (cough, cough) Phantom Menace, Mr. McDiarmid's character, Palpatine, the planet Naboo's representative to the Senate, was more a slimy character than anything. Clearly, he wanted political advancement, but frankly, who doesn't? I actively campaign for Princess of the World constantly, to no avail. But I digress. I suppose we should have gotten a hint when he said, "there is no civility, only politics," but we, too, were taken in by his slick charm and his love for long, striking robes. I mean, he didn't really do anything evil, right? He's just an innocent politician! His other persona, Darth Sidious, had no such subtlety. (All of you who didn't realize Darth Sidious was a bad guy, please leave this site.) He was all black robes, evil sneer, "wipe them out, all of them," and he didn't mind having a guy with a face like a demon as his personal assistant. Not the most subtle villain, but certainly one of the more evil. Did he mind that his minion got cut in half? Heck no, he just hired a new one.
By Episode II: Attack of the (dear God) Clones, the now Chancellor Palpatine's veneer of goodness was wearing thin. Not only did he manipulate lesser beings into giving him special political powers, which he promised to return because he "loves democracy," he has started, er, working, yeah, working with young Anakin Skywalker, whom we all know is going to grow up to be Darth Vader. Chancellor Palpatine gives him all kinds of, um, special guidance in the ways of... Yeah, I'm stopping that whole line of thought right here. His new personal assistant, the replacement for Darth Maul, is Count Dooku/Darth (again with the no subtlety) Tyrannus, played by fellow Cool Bad Guy Christopher Lee. Having one of the Coolest Bad Guys ever to walk the earth as an Assistant? Well, that's pretty damn cool. Again, he hasn't come into his full evilness yet, but you can definitely see it starting to sneak in there around the edges.
Update! And we thought he was Evil before! My goodness, did he really come into his own in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Sure, he was a little too interested in Anakin. Yeah, he got Wicked Deformed trying to take out a Jedi Master. But this is clearly a man who planned ahead. He even had a special order programmed into the Clones just in case he had the opportunity to take down the Jedi and take over the Galaxy. I mean, how many Bad Guys get to declare themselves absolute ruler over millions? Just the one, we think.
By Return of the Jedi, the Goodness Veneer has been shattered and parts sent flying into the wind. Finally, as the Emperor, he gets to flaunt his evilosity. Previous minions have been abandoned and replaced by an entire corps of red clad Imperial Guards with Really Long Guns. You have to look out for those quiet ones. They'll always get you in the end. Plus, he has Darth Vader, a Bad Guy if Ever We Saw One, calling him Master. That's cool. Really Cool. However, his ill-conceived plan to corrupt or kill Luke Skywalker, son of his chief minion, goes horribly awry, even after it was provided with the impressive application of blue lightning bolts. Darth, instead of assisting the Emperor like he was trained to do, seemed to take issue with the destruction of his offspring and tossed his boss into a Standard Star Wars Issue Gaping Abyss. The rest of the Empire kind of fell apart after that, but still, We honor a true Villain among Villains, Emperor Palpatine, who at one point had much of the galaxy under his evil hold. Some Bad Guys can't even knock over a bank effectively, but this guy showed Villains everywhere how it was done.
extra points for also having cool minions
can even the Devil shoot blue lightning out of his hands?
he seemed to be digging those long robes just a touch too much
Princess
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