What was Chancellor Palpatine watching at the theater in this scene from Revenge of the Sith?
- Opera?
- Athletic competition?
- Academic conference?
- Performance art?
Please provide answers with quotes from canon sources.
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"Now, watch the play Anakin. A thrilling tale, ‘The Ghostly Threat’. And here is the merry jester! Me-sah think you gonna love him."– Paul D. WaiteFeb 8, 2021 at 11:39
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2 Answers
The (fully canon) factbooks Star Wars in 100 Scenes and Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know identify it as a graceful aquatic ballet performed by a Mon Calamari troupe at the swanky Galaxies Opera House.
Anakin meets Palpatine at the Galaxies Opera House, where Mon Calamari dancers perform a ballet called "Squid Lake"
The name 'Squid Lake' was based on the classic ballet 'Swan Lake', according to Lucasfilm concept artist Ryan Church:
Another scene that appeared challenging for CG artists was when gelatinous shapes performed what looked like an otherworldly Cirque du Soleil routine. Where did that idea come from?
Ryan Church: The inspiration for that came on my birthday. My now-wife and I were going out to dinner and I got a call, which I rarely did, asking me develop ideas for a scene that George wanted to change. He wanted the scene to take place at a ballet or an opera. He said, Think about it being Swan Lake, or Squid Lake with squid guys. So I was thinking that we could do a space twist on a water ballet and have this giant ball of water in zero-gravity. So I sent these paintings over the next day and they ran with it.
Otherworldly Concept Designs of Ryan Church
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2@Schrodinger'sStat and that Mon Calamari actually put up with being called that.– hobbsJun 9, 2018 at 7:55
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2I don’t see General Ackbar anywhere in that. Such disappoint. @Schrodinger'sStat It appears that Disney Canon has tried to distance the name from the edible squids by renaming the planet’s exonym as Mon Cala (the endonym is still Dac, I think?). This looks like an etymological fallacy–based move, trying to separate calamari into a ‘name’ Cala and then -mari because it’s an oceanic planet (our word calamari is actually from a Graecolatin word meaning ‘pen case’, so nothing to do with oceans). So perhaps it doesn’t actually still mean squid in GB, at least not anymore. Jun 9, 2018 at 10:08
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The title “Squid Lake” alone is an extremely valid reason to never watch the prequels ever again for any reason. Jun 10, 2018 at 3:38
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The fact that a member of the production crew was thinking of Swan Lake when he came up with this concept makes me suspect they were borrowing ideas from the ballet.– RichSJun 10, 2018 at 5:58
The Mon Calamari Aquatic Ballet, performing Squid Lake, according to the Star Wars Wiki, which cites Star Wars: Galactic Atlas and Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 13: Burning Seas, Part I as its sources.
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36Squid Lake ballet? Is that a reference to the ballet, Swan Lake? The story of Swan Lake is about how an evil wizard corrupts a young woman and turns her into his pawn. Much like how Palpatine corrupts a young Anakin and turns him into his pawn. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake– RichSJun 8, 2018 at 6:32
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1"Is that a reference to the ballet, Swan Lake?" Probably, but I don't know if any canonical sources explicitly state so. Jun 8, 2018 at 6:49
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4@RichS No one is corrupted in Swan Lake. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake#Prologue– LVDVJun 8, 2018 at 13:47
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1@LVDV Thanks for clarifying that. The version of Swan Lake I saw had the evil wizard, Rothbart, corrupt Odette so she would do his bidding.– RichSJun 9, 2018 at 2:49