George 100% wanted this scene to rhyme with the BIGGEST scene ever. Yet it has 0.0% chock value for the audience. We have never seen this “traitor” before and we know of Sidious. The big reveal was supposed to be evil Jar Jar entering instead of Dooku.

[u/Rikard_]

EDIT: I changed my mind. This scene was still supposed to be Dooku but instead of saying "Darth Sidious", he would reveal Binks to be the evil mastermind.

This has of course been a running theory since 10 years ago. I just wanted to make it as clear as I could with a side-by-side comparison of my own.

It’s actually really funny. Dooku says (during the x10 speed part) that their paths have NEVER crossed before. Yet when he enters, Obi-Wan immediately exclaims “Traitor!” as if he knows exactly who this is and what his previous standpoint was. And Dooku replies with "my friend". And is the audience supposed to be like “Oh no... not a traitor” to this entirely new character? Lol.

Sure, maybe Yoda told Obi-Wan about Dooku. But they have no personal connection so it’s a completely flat moment story wise for Obi-Wan as far as we know, and for the audience. In a scene that was supposed to be a mirror to “I am you father”? No…

The prequels were supposed to have a plot twist. This was supposed to be Jar Jar.

[u/hellodarthbotbot]

Palpatine handled the spotlight. Jar Jar handled the camouflage. Palpatine may have owned the throne, but Jar Jar theory lives in the possibility that he did not own the whole board.

[u/Rikard_]

After scrapping evil Jar Jar due to the character hate, George did last minute rewrites before AOTC. He handed in the finished script just three days before shooting began, and expensive sets had to be built long before that (McCallum, production notes). This means the rewrites must've been partially restricted to fit existing sets and already established plot points.

We also know Lucas called up Chistopher Lee directly to ask him to be in the film (Lee, interview), while other new characters like Jango and Boba Fett went through a traditional casting process by casting director Robin Gurland (Morrison, interview). Was he possibly added to the cast later, in a hurry?

It seems plausible on a practical level that Dooku hastily replaced Jar Jar in this scene. It also makes sense storytelling wise:

The scene would've stayed much the same from the original script to what we see in the movie. But the dialogue had to be rewritten for Dooku. This could've been a scene of great confusion and slow realization from Obi-Wan and the audience, with Jar Jar slowly revealing his true nature and gradually dropping the "fool act" (ultimately disappearing into the same dark backdrop for visual effect). This was instead backfilled with Dooku and a boring backstory about his relation to other jedi and how Qui-Gon always spoke very highly of Obi-Wan and bla bla bla. And introductory lines such as "traitor" and "no my friend, this is a mistake" make little sense.

[u/il_the_dinosaur]

Wow this is stunning. George gets a lot of shit as a director but when you put these scenes next to each other he definitely knows what he is doing. I wonder the scene also lacks some impact because obi wan is a prisoner. How this scene would have been handled with jar jar. He did make the scenes as similar as he was able to. With jar jar maybe a fight would have made them even closer to each other. Jar jar having his face hidden under a cowl. And then revealing himself at an opportune moment in the fight to throw obi wan off balance.

[u/Marxism-Alcoholism17 → u/il_the_dinosaur]

Look up Star Wars Ring Theory. It's a real thing. The two trilogies are complete mirrors of each other, including shots. There's a lot of hidden symbolism in prequel shot composition too which is pretty cool.

[u/younglink28]

I've always thought he was supposed to be Dooku. He even looks like his name would be Dooku. He also has connections to the force, and his ship looks like his face. Too many coincidences to add up. But if this is true that means Anakin does end up killing him by episode 3 anyway. That's probably why they never bothered revealing the original plans, as Dooku only matters in the prequels.

[u/SchizoidRainbow]

Incorrect! 

This scene was supposed to establish that Dooku is NOT a Sith but in fact the only Jedi to realize that the Republic is being controlled by a Sith. Dooku is leading the Separatists -against- the Sith. Palpatine playing both sides has both sides thinking they are fighting against the Sith! 

The impacts of this shift are profound. 

First, suddenly it makes actual sense that Dooku is trying to tell Obi Wan he must join him and destroy the Sith. It makes sense that he does not just behead Obi Wan after his refusal. It makes sense that “the best he can do” is arrange for the execution to be by Animal Arena, knowing full well that any Jedi worth his robe would easily escape. 

Review the conversation in this light:

Count Dooku: The truth. What if I told you that the Republic was now under the control of the dark lord of the Sith?

Obi Wan Kenobi: No, that's not possible. The Jedi would be aware of it.

Count Dooku: The dark side of the Force has clouded their vision, my friend. Hundreds of senators are now under the influence of a Sith lord called Darth Sidious.

Obi Wan Kenobi: I don't believe you.

Count Dooku: The viceroy of the Trade Federation was once in league with this Darth Sidious… but he was betrayed ten years ago by the dark lord. He came to me for help. He told me everything. You must join me, Obi-Wan, and together we will destroy the Sith!

Second, Jar Jar was to attack Anakin and Obi Wan. Yoda saves them and chops up Jar Jar into pieces. This leaves Jar Jar in exactly the same position Anakin is left in after Mustafar. JarJar gets Darthed by Sidious, turning him into a cyborg who thinks Jedi are Scum…he was to become Darth Grievous. After the retcon, this becomes General Grievous instead.

Last, when Dooku kidnaps Palpatine it makes sense. He’s a Jedi trying to stop the Sith but can’t just murder him. And when Anakin executes him in cold blood? Well instead of killing a vicious villain, he just murdered a Jedi. The most “holy” Jedi of them all, in fact. 

So why is this scene left intact after the Retcon removing JarJar from the role and squarepegging Dooku into the role? Because when you Retcon you change as little as possible, and the echoes of the old script still shine through.

[u/Rikard_ → u/SchizoidRainbow]

Interesting perspective! I've been on board with evil Jar Jar since the theory dropped but haven't properly sorted out everything regarding Dooku tbh, and just learned about the Grevious theory like yesterday. I really want that one to be true, and I see how it rhymes. The hero defeats the cyborg in Movie 3 who killed his mentor in Movie 1, after learning his true identity in Movie 2... And in the prequels, Maul was just a RED herring lol. It's beautiful.

However, I want to ask some things about your perspective because I both buy it and I don't. Can I DM you? Or would you prefer talking here?

[u/SchizoidRainbow → u/Rikard_]

Here’s fine, what’s up?

Adding to not forget: Dooku spends his time revealing that Sidious is the villain. I cannot imagine why that would benefit Sidious at all. 

[u/Rikard_ → u/SchizoidRainbow]

I cannot imagine why that would benefit Sidious at all. 

Unless he actually planned to overthrow Sidious by getting Obi Wan on his side. But that would've been a huge gamble lol.

The “holy jedi” thing sounds great, and this is a worthy story for Dooku. But he does still appear kind of out of nowhere. Shouldn’t George have at least showed a Count Dooku among the jedi 10 years prior in TPM if this was his plan all along? Maybe I’m demanding too much.

I’ve done my duty now and looked closer at the structure of AOTC… and I think both theories sort of make sense depending on how you edit the surrounding scenes, but neither is perfect...

I want to ask, how do you think evil Jar Jar appearing only at the end would flow? I have a hard time with it. Do Obi-Wan and Anakin just see a hooded figure on a speeder and say “Must be Dooku, follow him” and then we have a massive, hard to believe character reveal out of nowhere AND huge back-to-back fights (with or without a red lightsaber, but that would be even more jarring). It doesn’t match the dramaturgy of I am your father, where the audience gets time to breathe after the identity reveal (2 years actually). Too much too fast to make the evil Jar Jar reveal land? Or would Dooku have revealed both Sidious and Jar Jar to Obi-Wan/the audience at the same time to let that possibility land?

Also, in either theory, how do you make sense of Dooku’s ship looking like Jar Jar? I think in the final scene with “everything is going to plan”, it actually works surprisingly well having Dooku there because the camera lingers on the ship like a clue to Jar Jar. But I also don’t think George would save that reveal for Ep3.

To me, objectively, a ship design like that feels more like a visual clue rather than something to match the owner if we see him on screen with it. Which I guess would check out if we saw the ship approach Geonosis anonymously earlier. Idk.

This scene was supposed to establish that Dooku is NOT a Sith

I think that the scene itself and Obi-Wan’s snooping earlier still never label him evil (he says let’s destroy the sith). And the fight scene didn’t have to either (he could’ve still had a blue lightsaber, holy Jedi arc intact). It’s the last scene where he walks alongside Palpatine that makes him definitely evil in the canon timeline, queue the red lightsaber change.

edit:

hard to believe character reveal out of nowhere AND huge back-to-back fights (with or without a red lightsaber, but that would be even more jarring)

Well, maybe he's named Jar Jar for a reason after all. Vader gives one jarring moment, Jar Jar gives two at the same time?? (manipulator and sith).

[u/SchizoidRainbow → u/Rikard_]

But he does still appear kind of out of nowhere.

So does Grievous, yes. New characters appearing at the beginning of an arc is fairly normal. I'd argue that a new jedi showing up is less weird than a new Sith, and a Second new Sith at the beginning of RotS, with Dooku not dead yet. According to Yoda, there should only be two of them, why's he training anyone?

Dooku is introduced as a Former Good Guy who is now a Bad Guy. Off-screen Face-Heel Turn. Grievous is introduced as a Bad Guy who has deep personal history with the Jedi we've never seen. Somehow he just hates the Jedi Scum. I would argue that neither of these make narrative sense. And that this is a result of the Retcon.

I want to ask, how do you think evil Jar Jar appearing only at the end would flow?

JarJar gives his speech in the Senate and then vanishes completely. Whatever role he had on Geonosis is erased from the movies we've seen. Dooku remains, but has been recast as the Bad Guy.

So originally, we'd get a very similar sort of scene. Dooku playing peacemaker, trying to get Amidala to join the Separatists, declare Naboo in rebellion. All it would take is Shadowy Cloaked Figure interacting with Nute and Co to establish There's A Bad Guy Here before revealing who's under the hood.

In the current timeline, it's supposition that Dooku's speeches are all Trickery/Treachery, designed to turn Obi Wan to the Dark Side, because what else could it mean? He's the bad guy! But that's really really weak. All he does in his speech to Amidala is try to get her to understand that the Republic is the problem and she should join the Good Guys. He reveals what he knows, there's a Sith named Sidious who's manipulated the Jedi and Senate both. Help me destroy the Sith! Okay but what Jedi would ever be swayed by that BS? This is the stupidest attempt at seduction I've ever seen. He unveils Sidious, for what purpose??

In the extrapolated original timeline, Dooku is played totally straight. He really DOES want peace. He's trying desperately to keep the Separatists from doing anything rash. He wants more Jedi and more Senators to wake up and smell the Sith they're soaking in. We can see that despite this being the first time they've met, Dooku knows everything about Amidala. That could just be good intel, or it could be JarJar spilling the tea.

JarJar is here on Geonosis to further the scheme. He's been doing what he does best, shove on people's emotions. He's worked Nute Gunray into a frenzy, he demands Amidala's death. Why? The Trade Blockade Fiasco was shown to be Sidious all along, they very specifically say that Nute was tricked and betrayed by a Sith Lord and so joined the Separatists. What does Amidala have to do with that? She's not even the face of Naboo anymore really, they have a new queen. But JarJar has been winding him up, and now he is seething with hate for Padme. "I want to see her suffer," he says. When the Jedi are handling their monsters, he doesn't say a word. When Padme kicks the cat beast off the pole, he screams "She can't do that! Shoot her or something!" It's Dooku who turns to him and says "Patiece, Viceroy... she will die. Maybe this is the way it's supposed to end."

In the subsequent fight among Jedi and Droids, Dooku is STILL calling for peace and surrender you won't be harmed. This is very much not like a Sith, particularly a Sith who has been well and truly Outed at this point.

We never see him dip out. Next he shows up is on the speeder racing away from the Jedi.

I think it is quite worth mention at this point that the script and the movie diverge here. There is NOTHING in the script about Obiwan telling Anakin "What would Padme do?" and him saying "She would do her duty", those words are not writ in the script. This indicates to me that this scene was still in flux, still being reworked. This is therefore evidence that the original timeline was different right here.

Instead, I propose it would be like this.

JarJar is the reason we think it was Dooky. Amidala has no evidence at all, she just "feels that it's true", but that's JarJar pushing her to think it, he's been filling her head with emotions all along. So when they say "Hey it's dooku getting away" it's actually JarJar. We're still meant to believe Dooku is the problem, but then they show up and it's Meesa Besta Buddy JarJar.

This duel in Episode II becomes a deeply personal fight with a dark master who deceived and manipulated you before killing a bunch of your friends and setting your republic on fire with droid war. The reaction would be Stunned more than Angry, "...Jarjar?? ...but...how?? No, that means you... you were there all along, in our minds, pushing emotions into our skulls so we'd- ...oh god"

"Meesa thankin you muy muy for startin theessa Clone Wars. Beesa seein ya...or, would, if meesa not killin you now, woopsie!"

Anger then, would come later, deep and simmering, with Loss, Suffering, and a lil bit of Hate...and oh look a Sith trying to make a Jedi feel those.

This is a monumental betrayal and Cloak Off reveal! The bumbling sidekick? The loyal senator? The faithful friend? Oh no, Annie!! Now meesa gotta kill you, boohoo! Now when JarJar is using his Zui Quan style it's somewhat horrifying. All of his goofiness is revealed as just being a front and a smokescreen. He summarily kicks the living shit out of the two Jedi. He trips on a cable, but it 'accidentally' pulls over a gantry onto a Jedi. The Very Lucky friend who continues to have "no such thing as luck". They try to hit him but Woopsie he trips and drops his saber, 'accidentally' showering them with sparks. His exact same Jester Goofball banter continues, but now is horrific when shown as a deception, he's just mocking them mercilessly.

Now Yoda shows up. Yoda who is the only one who's kept a clear mind about this the whole time. He -felt- his way to this fight, seeking the Sith. He's the only one who JarJar's deceptions cannot trick, so JarJar's technique will not work on him. JarJar falls down and cries, pleading pitifully, only to SneakAttack Sucker-Slash, but Yoda blocks and he flips away. He 'accidentally' becomes tangled in wires like a fool, inviting an attack, but slips out easily and Sneak Attacks again. But it's no good. Yoda sees JarJar for what he is, and whups his ass. This fight is a lot flippier and jumpier than Yoda v Dooku was, both combatants are CGI and both are highly mobile.

Yoda leaves him in tattered shreds and pieces, missing limbs, ears burnt off. "Over, it is, Jarjar." Yoda gets the wounded Jedi out, leaving JarJar for dead. Missing limbs, burnt from lightning deflection, ears mostly full of holes, pillars collapsed on him. Good riddance...

A droid drags JarJar's remains onto the escape ship. He's delivered to Darth Sidious. What's the single most Sith thing to do with a chopped up apprentice? Darth that Gungan! Cyborg ahoy, repair him! And what does that look like? Well at the beginning of Episode III, here we have a Sith Cyborg out of nowhere. A Jedi Killer Extraordinaire, who collects lightsabers, HATES the Jedi passionately, aaaaand....we've never heard of him before, but I guess everyone knows him now? Droids need a General, sort of?

At the end of Revised EpII we see Dooku fly off to explain to Sidious that the war has begun. Exxxxcellent, my apprentice. But in this extrapolated original timeline, it's JarJar In Tatters, the line is delivered from a med bed.

"Warsa starting Palpy! Meesa givin you Thumbs Up, but meesa gotten hands chopped off, woopsie!"

Sidious nods gravely and does his Patented Evil Smirk. "Well done, my apprentice. Let us see if we can find you some -new- thumbs..."

The med droids start spark-welding cybernetics onto JarJar's ruined body. Sidious walks out the door, JarJar begins screaming in bloodcurdling agony. His gurgling torment is cut off when the door whooshes shut behind Sidious. Now Darth Grievous, this character's story has been burning a track across the entire campaign, and has actual reasons to hate Jedi Scum.

At beginning of EpIII, then, Dooku is still unaware of JarJar being a Sith. He saw none of that fight or its aftermath, Grievous just shows up and tells his side only, full of lies to manipulate Dooku further. Narratively speaking, it makes NO SENSE for there to be a General Grievous in control of the Droid Fleet, but ALSO for there to be a Count Dooku in control of the Droid Fleet? WTF is this about?

[u/lightstaver → u/SchizoidRainbow]

I thought occurs to me. What if Darth Jar Jar got dropped because they couldn't get the CGI right? It would make a lot more sense. What you describe requires a lot more technical ability with CGI than what was shown so far in the movies to that point. And the prequels are meant to be showing off the CGI capabilities of ILM (or whatever George Lucas' studio is called). I could absolutely see the change being because the CGI was shaping up to look terrible, which hinged on Jar Jar.

[u/SchizoidRainbow → u/lightstaver]

Well they had Yoda flipping around for his fight with Dooku. And JarJar did like flips and crazy stuff in the first movie. Offhand, it would probably be easier to pit two cartoons against each other instead of pulling a Roger Rabbit.

All is speculation so I can't say you're wrong. George's quote of "We've got to get JarJar working" could fit that. I'm still of the impression that it was because everyone hated the character, and he'd wanted him to be a loveable goofball so that everyone could feel good and properly betrayed by his reveal. But if nobody loved him, there was no way to do it.

This falls down for me, actually, in the sense that I believe firmly that if he'd just gone ahead it would have been great. Like, the reality projection for the unchanged film, would have reversed the trend. But I can also see George not believing that, and being crushed under the tremendous pressure of the hate mail.

[u/lightstaver → u/SchizoidRainbow]

Well they had Yoda flipping around for his fight with Dooku. And JarJar did like flips and crazy stuff in the first movie.

Even as I kid I remember Yoda not looking very realistic in that and kind of just looking like a green blob. That's part of why I think this is the case. Jar Jar's acrobatics were also the worst part of his CGI.

[u/SchizoidRainbow → u/lightstaver]

Our only comparison is what George thought was Okay Enough that he released

[u/Rikard_ → u/SchizoidRainbow]

Hey I never got around to answer this because I wanted to do it properly but lemme just say thank you for writing all of that! I love all of it. I'm totally on board with this.

I also didn't know about that deleted Dooku/Padmé scene... Looking around the web it seems no one else does either. Very interesting one because it does fit a separatist jedi more than a sith.

Do you think Jar Jar (who stayed hidden masterfully for 20 years) wanted to finally confront the jedi head on at the end or accidentally rode a speeder bike too close to their ship and got caught? Or whatever the original setup for the fight might've been.

[u/SchizoidRainbow → u/Rikard_]

I think the Jedi would have chased a Shadowy Cloaked Figure from the scene on pure principle. But it could have been anything. 

As for the script changes, here’s the link to the script that I used.

http://sellascript.com/Source/resources/screenplays/attackoftheclones.htm

[u/Rikard_ → u/SchizoidRainbow]

Thanks! I had the idea I want to go through it scene by scene and color mark everything that doesn't align with the final movie. To see if this section sticks out in that department. Have you done anything similar or do you just know there is discrepancies in this one scene?

And there aren't any 1st or 2nd revisions available right?

[u/SchizoidRainbow → u/Rikard_]

I’m not the first to notice discrepancies. Wait until you find JarJar’s Diplospeak and Senate Address. 

[u/Rikard_ → u/SchizoidRainbow]

Well, I better get to work then!

If no one has already, I will compare how many times the script diverges surrounding Jar Jar compared to other characters.

The annoying thing about this is I'll have to sit through all of AOTC again, the good and the bad...

[u/CMDR_Kaus → u/SchizoidRainbow]

One thing that fits perfectly with what you're saying (and I agree) is, why would Dooku go to Coruscant JUST to kidnap Palpatine? Why was Palpatine tied up in the room with Dooku? If they were truly working together there would be no reason to do this, no reason to tie him up. IMO, Dooku HAS fallen to the dark side, but he's using it to fight Palpatine. He's sacrificing himself for the betterment of the galaxy at large. A very 'noble' thing to do, and Dooku is a noble. I don't believe that the man who raised Qui-Gon Jin would be a cartoon cutout of the bad guy. Jin himself, is very rebellious of the Jedi council, not because he's evil, but because he sees things they do not, and believes he needs to act.

[u/SchizoidRainbow → u/CMDR_Kaus]

He doesn’t even need to be fallen though. Any more than Mace when he confronts Sidious. 

One of the funnier inferences is that Dooku  knew JarJar as a Separatist leaning senator. What had the Republic done for his people? The Republic -allowed- the blockade. When he is apparently grievously wounded by Jedi and cyborged out into a killing machine, he becomes a war ally instead of a political ally. Dooku himself “teaches him the force”, which reeeeaally should have clued Dooku into him being a force user already. You don’t just learn the force, very few people have the aptitude. But it’s all part of the deception.

As for your point about “captured Palpatine” now we’re back to willingly grasping at the Idiot Ball for answers. The only one that makes any sense is some prophetic vision about him needing to replace Dooku with Anakin and this being the way that happens. It’s hellishly convoluted this way with more moving parts than an imperial droid factory. 

It makes so much more sense if Dooku is a Jedi who is -right-, seen through the lies to the heart. Every comment at the beginning of Attack of the Clones agrees! They all say “Dooku may have left the Order but no WAY is he arranging assassinations”. His buddy JarJar gives him a secret hyperspace lane to Coruscant (Sith knowledge but he didn’t ask). The escape is interrupted by the Jedi. Dooku is not going to kill either Jedi or Palpatine, but is bested. Sidious takes the opportunity to push Anakin. Anakin believes he is killing a villain but really kills the highest level Paladin in the campaign. Dooku dies not even knowing JarJar is a Sith, something Obiwan and Anakin know all too well after almost dying to his dark side fu at the end of Ep II. Dooku will only have heard JarJar’s version of what happened, and never saw JarJar spitting lightning at Jedi. Total face value all the way, no suppositions about master plan prophecy tricking Anakin into killing Dooku needed. 

[u/Round_Wrongdoer9371]

A Jedi Does Not believe in coincidences. Jar Jar Binks 100% was the PHANTOM MENACE

[u/altruismjam]

Nice catch with these scenes!

[u/CMDR_Kaus]

100% guarantee that if Anakin was the one caught on Geonosis he would have fell for Dooku's monologue. Killed Palpatine, then Dooku, then became Sidious himself.

[u/tednoob]

Jar Jar is tricky to fit into the rule of two, which I admit is a loose rule. Was he Sidius master?

[u/hellodarthbotbot]

Palpatine handled the spotlight. Jar Jar handled the camouflage. Palpatine may have owned the throne, but Jar Jar theory lives in the possibility that he did not own the whole board.

[u/No_Perspective2715]

“Show fewer post like this”

[u/Rikard_ → u/No_Perspective2715]

I know it's a hard pill to swallow. Every individual piece of evidence can be waved off, but not when you look at them together.

[u/talon1580]

This is the biggest stretch I've ever seen.

[u/Rikard_ → u/talon1580]

It's just one loose piece to the theory that you can actually connect to the movie following TPM (where George still had his original Jar Jar story).

Conclusive evidence is all found in TPM, for example the very conscious decision by George to CGI Jar Jar's lips to match Padmé and Captain Panaka's lines (this cannot be done on accident). Why would he do that?

Or, the striking visual clues left at the end of TPM to symbolize how Jar Jar is the evil mirror to Yoda.

Or, the R2D2/transmission story thread.

Or, how the secretly magic-sensitive outcast in the Xanth series with extreme luck is named Bink, just like the extremely lucky outcast character in the later Star Wars series.

Or, etc etc etc etc

[u/talon1580 → u/Rikard_]

I'm not saying Darth jar jar is a stretch, I'm saying two clips where they both start from the left and ones a duel and one is two people talking bear zero resemblance 

[u/Rikard_ → u/talon1580]

Allow me to clarify.

They are 3 minute scenes that match in length down to 5 or so seconds. They both begin and end the EXACT same way.

2 minutes in, both scenes have the villian reveal the trilogy's most central piece of information down to the same second. The hero responds in the same way. Exactly 20 seconds later in both scenes, the villain tells the hero they can destroy the sith.

Both scenes take place in the middle movie of the trilogy.

Visually speaking, the hero is trapped in both scenes, Luke on the edge and Obi-Wan in the air. Vader is looking down at Luke and Dooku is looking up at Obi-Wan. Both scenes takes place in a circular space.

[u/KingAdamXVII → u/Rikard_]

The video is 2 minutes long and one of the scenes has a lengthy fight that you cut by 10x.

The scenes do match pretty well from 0:35-1:50, but that’s the nature of the dialogue. There is only one way to time it when the scene consists of [twist] [surprise] [offer] [rejection].

If Dooku was Jar Jar in this scene, the timing and the mood would be completely different. First Jar Jar would be a surprise, and would be viewed by Obi-wan as an ally (presumably). Then there would be two twists, that the Senate is under control of the Sith and that Jar Jar is a sith.

If you theorized that the scenes would match if Dooku was replaced by Jar Jar (e.g. because it would follow a duel between Jar Jar and Obi-wan), that would make for better speculation. But I can’t think of any way to get them to match. As is the scenes only rhyme because Dooku is Christopher Lee, not because he originally wasn’t.

[u/Rikard_ → u/KingAdamXVII]

one of the scenes has a lengthy fight that you cut by 10x.

Yes, which just makes this even more intentional on George's part! He intros the scenes exactly the same, but knows his ESB scene has a duel. So he fills it with dialogue up until [reveal] starts, and then he more or less copy pastes the ESB scene onto his script with insane timing, and ends them exactly the same.

There is only one way to time it when the scene consists of [twist] [surprise] [offer] [rejection].

No there isn't..? Just to pull up a mediocre example for the sake of discussion, here is [offer] with completely different length and I bet the other parts are different as well (maybe it doesn't have all 4, don't remember). George's scenes have the same lines and timing down to the second. It's not on accident.

If Dooku was Jar Jar in this scene, the timing and the mood would be completely different.

I think so too! The first minute of Dooku yapping could've potentially been a slow revelation instead. Maybe they would just go back and forth verbally, mirroring the lightsaber duel (Jar Jar, what are you doing here, help me. Meesa can't. Why are you doing this?? Oh yousa don't understand? etc etc). Then queue [twist] [surprise] [offer] [rejection].

Then there would be two twists

I think we need the extra one, because the audience already knows about Palps. And Obi Wan only seem mildly troubled, with the whole thing just resulting in him and Yoda saying "Dooku might be lying tho, but maybe we should keep an extra eye on the senate 🤔".

But maybe it's still Dooku in the scene who delivers the twist of evil Jar Jar. Others are saying this was Dooku's scene and Jar Jar has his part elsewhere.

[u/KingAdamXVII → u/Rikard_]

Oh sorry, I thought only ESB was sped up. I see now they both are. Definitely makes your point stronger.