Monday, December 13, 2010

Saber Duel: Darth Maul v. Savage Opress



Saber Duel:

Darth Maul

V.

Savage Opress


The emergence of Savage Opress into the Star Wars continuity raises an interesting question. Just who is the cooler character? Darth Maul or his previously unknown brother Savage Opress.

Maul was the coolest thing the Phantom Menace had going for it. He had epic duels with both Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. On the other hand, he got cut in half by a very young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not exactly something you would expect from a Sith Lord.

But the biggest knock on Maul is that outside of the EU we have very little character development. In TPM he is basically a tool of Palpatine with no character development of his own. Sure he is evil looking and awesome, but who is he, where does he come from, etc. We don't get any of this.

With Savage Opress we get a much more compelling back story and character development in his introductory episodes. He loses some coolness points because he is derivative of Maul. Basically, slap a coat of paint on Maul, make him a little bigger and give him longer cranial horns and boom, you have Savage Opress.

Fighting styles seem very different, Ray Park did an amazing job and his movements as Darth Maul are fluid yet powerful. Whereas the animated Savage Opress is much more like Vader, power attacks galore with little finesse.

While Darth Maul served his story telling purpose for George Lucas in TPM, bringing the Sith threat to the Jedi's notice, positioning Obi-Wan to take Anakin on as his padawan, etc. In many ways fans latched onto him like they did Boba Fett from The Empire Strikes Back. Unfortunately for fans, Maul was killed off and there really wasn't anywhere for his story to go except a few stories told in the past in novel, short stories and comics.

Savage Opress gives George Lucas and Dave Filoni the chance to use a visually captivating character in the mold of Darth Maul and really get to tell some stories with him. If anything I think Savage Opress is a sympathetic villain. He didn't ask to become what he did. He has great potential as a conflicted character who could either head toward redemption or total corruption.

What say you fans, who do you like better Darth Maul or Savage Opress?

Savage Opress gets my vote.

7 comments:

  1. I think Im going to have to go with Maul on this one. He was just so relentless in his fighting style. Plus with what I've seen from savage so far he doesnt have the skill yet to go along with his brute strengh. battles arent won on brute strength alone. I think Mauls skill will trump his Savage's strength. Until i see Oppress in action more I have to give it to Lord Maul. (P.S. I base my opinion from what i have seen of Oppress at the free sreenings i went to in philly. Which by the way are some of the best duels of star wars)

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  2. I think Savage would kill Darth Maul

    Go TEAM SAVAGE!!!!!!!!

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  3. Maul wins. He has more expeience and he has skill opress just comes and swings with his lightsaber while maul uses technigue... skill vs brutal strenght

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  4. I personally love both character's equally and hope that the powers that be (GL and Dave Filoni are you listening?) show a bit of common sense.

    I hope that they will allow both brother's and a long with both Asajj Ventress & Aurra Sing become the true founder's of the One Sith movement that appeared in Dark Horse Star Wars Legacy Comics.

    See links :-

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/One_Sith

    http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Legacy_era


    That would be a great way to honour the fans and build things up for the future.


    What do you guys think?

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  5. PS Have you guys seen this?

    http://dailypop.wordpress.com/2011/10/26/star-wars-the-clone-wars-darkness-on-umbara-preview/#comments

    http://dailypop.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/darth-maul-returns-in-star-wars-the-clone-wars/#comments

    I defy any fan of Star Wars not to be impressed by this.

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  6. there brothers equally the same id say thatdarth maul would win hes older and more expieriance

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  7. After seeing the two fight together, I still feel as though Maul would come out the victor. Savage is just so very untrained in the force and his style of fighting employs more kicks and punches than saber swings. When Savage does swing, he leaves his entire body open to a counter, negating the defensive advantage of a double bladed lightsaber. Maul can more than hold his own with any duelist in TCW and let us not forget- he is still a Darth. Also, Savage doesn't have the same darkness inside him that Maul seems to have, not a good thing for a sith...

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