Jeff's Star Wars Episode Two Reactions

May 18, 2002, 11:58pm

Like with Episode One, I've seen Episode Two twice before writing
anything down.  Unlike last time
( http://www.keegan.org/jeff/movies/starwars_episodeonejournal.html )
I'm not describing my reactions as "after the first showing" or
"after the second showing", just all mixed together.

And once again (as before), this is mainly for the "myself" of the future..
I don't care about presenting this for anyone else.

(Prepare for many "incredible", "awesome", and "terrific"s - there aren't
enough words to bother trying for more..  )

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Warning to anyone reading this:  HUGE spoilers for Episode Two here..
If you haven't seen it, stop reading.  In fact, what are you doing reading
this in the first place?)
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

===========================================
= Reactions after the first two showings: =
===========================================

Oh my god.

Incredible.  Just incredible.  Loved it.  Ok, here goes..

We saw Episode Two on opening night (May 16th, 2002), in Framingham, MA,
on a digital theater (theater 9).  Carl Parisi and I stood in line from
around 3:00pm for the 7:00pm show.  We were eventually joined by
Laurie, Todd Sjolander, Bob (Todd's Friend), Dave & Sharon Gamache,
Aron & Merle & Rachel & Jonas Insinga, Todd's brother and his wife,
and Sal (Carl's friend).  Carl ended up with two extra tickets which he
sold back to the theater, which we tried giving to Craig & Darcie Nuttall
but Craig already was going to see it that day.  Kevin (Stearns) wasn't able
to make it, so Laurie and I are going to see it with him and Caroline
tomorrow    Oh and we met two guys that sat with us, one's name
was Jeremy and I forget his friend's.

Laurie and I just saw it again today (May 18th) here in Methuen in an
analog theater, despite the fact that we're seeing it in another digital
theater in Boston tomorrow with Kevin & Caroline Stearns (making it Laurie
& my third time).

Anyway, on to the movie.

Incredible.  Random thoughts:

Yep, 3P0's memory has to get erased sometime after this.  (And after having
said this next part a few times already to people with the wrong reaction,
lemme say ahead of time that I loved all of this and laughed at it):
If it wasn't bad enough after Ep 1 that 3P0 in 4 should be recognizing his
home planet (instead of "what a desolate place this is"), and the name of
his creator (he meets Luke and never says "hey, ya know, I was *built* by
an Anakin Skywalker!"), we NOW also know that in 4 when he's bought by
Uncle Owen he should be saying "Hey!  I worked for you once, remember?  On
this very farm!"..  "My first job was operating binary load lifters, very
similar to your moisture vaporators in most respects" my ass!  His first job
was operating moisture vaporators!  THOSE moisture vaporators!  
Totally loved that.

Also loved "He seems to be carrying a message from someone called ObiWan
Kenobi".    For the record, loved all of the repeated phrases, didn't find
any of them corny at all.

Ok.. First of all, at the beginning of the movie when the shuttle lands and
explodes, I was already convinced the movie would be awesome.  I was
unfortunately cursed by the fact that I let one piece of info slip by my
spoiler-paranoia-self-defense mode.. The night before I saw it, a former
co-worker Isa Leshko sent out mail with her opinions on having seen it early
(she won some radio contest).  I'd read one line (that she was disappointed),
then stopped reading. I can now safely say she's insane with respect to that
opinion - the movie was fantastic.  

After the shuttle explodes, the guard that helps Padme to her feet had this
cool eyepiece (permanent? wearable/removable?).. I now think that was
deliberately put on him for us the audience to notice so we'd observe him.
I say this because when we finally see the clones being trained, they showed
an adult one and I could have sworn it looked the same as that guard (minus
the eyepiece, that is, but the eyepiece had made me notice and remember the
guard's face).  I then later got confused when we saw Jenga Fett, since he
didn't look the same as the guard had.  I figured I must have been wrong.
After seeing the movie a second time, I carefully studied the guard's face
and I know I saw him as the adult clone.  Then when they showed
Jenga Fett, he looked different than the clone we'd just seen!  So, I think
(that unless I'm seeing things) the "genetically enhanced clones" look
slightly different than Jenga Fett..  (I'll check again tomorrow).
Granted, it doesn't make much sense, since the assassin didn't know they
were using a decoy and the guard presumably would have.  Argh.  Must see again.


Just thought of something else tonight when watching - presumably if we'd
ever taken a helmet off of a stormtrooper in 4, 5, or 6, we should have
seen Jenga Fett's face?  (or if I'm right above, the guard's, which is
real similar)..  Are the Stormtroopers the same clones that we see in
Episode 2?

Ok, next thing that originally confused me was the whole Count Dooku thing.
My thoughts went something like "ok, so he tells ObiWan about Darth Sidious
controlling the senate, but then he goes and reports to Darth Sidious later
on - what's that about?  Isn't giving out the fact that Darth Sidious exists
a bad thing for Sidious?"..

After seeing it a second time, it's more clear what's happening.  First of
all, Count Dooku's sith name is Darth Tyranus - Sidious calls him that at
the end of the movie.  Sidious has Tyranus hire Jenga Fett to attack
Queen Amidala.  (I'm still not sure who really ordered the clone army,
but they said that whoever that was's Jedi name was sypha-deeas (don't know
how to spell it, but it was pronounced sie-fah-DEE-uss)).  Jenga Fett has her
attacked by [Zam], it fails (probably deliberately?), and Fett shoots [Zam]
with a dart that seems easy enough to trace.  I think that was deliberate.
It leads ObiWan to the clone army planet, letting everyone know about it.
Great, the republic has that as an asset now, right?  Then Sidious has
Tyranus start a seperatist movement against himself.  The Trade Federation
is a part of it, mad that Sidious had betrayed them.  Others join too.
He has them all threaten to leave the republic, causing chaos in the senate.
Sidious (as Palpatine) stages that conversation about not wanting to let
the republic fall apart in front of Jar Jar, so that he'll vote to give him
the ultimate power needed to create an army to defend against the
Seperatists' droid armies (even though he was behind those too).

He wants a war, to justify needing an army, to justify needing absolute
power to create that army (since he made sure the senate won't allow it).

Ok.. On to Anakin.  I love the whole arrogant I-know-more-than-the-"adults"-
around-me thing he's got going.  Perfect.  Even when he floated that fruit
he and Padme were eating, he was like "If master Obiwan caught me doing this,
he'd be grumpy".  Loved when it got more severe later with "OBIWAN IS JEALOUS
OF ME - HE'S HOLDING ME BACK!".  Perfectly fueled by "you're the best
Jedi I've ever seen" from the Senator from time to time.  

Loved the scene after his mother died.  Originally wish they'd shown more
of it, but now I'm pretty certain the version in my head is darker than
what they'd have shown on film, which is the whole point.

Loved the anger and pain in his face as he told Padme what he'd done.
They're like ANIMALS.. I HATE THEM!  I HATE THEM SOOOO MUCH!  But then
broke down into tears.  Perfect.

Loved that they set up the idea that he loses lightsabers all the time.
  Maybe this is even how Obiwan has one lying around from Vader
to give to Luke someday.

The second time I saw the movie, I liked Anakin's lightsaber fight with
Dooku/Tyranus even more.  Very cool.

Absolutely loved the Yoda fight.  Best part was afterwards when his
cane flew up to his hand and he immediately started hobbling on it like a
crutch and walking very slowly.  Reminded me of Columbo.. (Columbo acts like
an idiot to bring down other people's guards.. Then again, as someone said
to me the other day, who does Yoda really think he's kidding here?  )

R2D2 seemed to be asleep on the job with the whole 2nd assassination attempt
on Padme.  I liked Anakin's instant killing of the millipede-like things,
but loved Obiwan's reaction to jump through the glass window and just
grab onto the thing.  (Luckily I'd avoided the preview that showed that..
I apparently avoided two previews)  Even cooler when he slammed into a
wall in the next scene.  That whole night city thing was insane.  Ditto
for Anakin's jumping from the car - too cool.. (and Obiwan's subsequent
lightsaber catch)

So Obiwan often has problems in these bars he frequents?  

The rendering of Yoda is beyond incredible.  He's giving these incredible
facial expressions that really make the character come alive.  When Palpatine
speaks, you can see one scene where Yoda seriously starts to consider him.
And when Obiwan describes the battle as a victory, Yoda's expression was
great.

Loved all of the 3P0 lines, even the over-the-top "I'm beside myself"
three seconds after hearing "this is a real drag".  The head thing was
a riot.

When Yoda was teaching the kids (younglings?), and Obiwan showed up, I thought
it was cool that the kids put down their lightsabers before being told that
someone was there.  I noticed in the second viewing that the remotes that the
kids were using were exactly the same as the one Obiwan used in 4
with Luke (he wasn't just making do with whatever he had lying around).

Thought the diner scene went well, really liked that character (the big
guy).  REALLY liked seeing Watto again too - beard and all.  Terrific scene.
There were lots of scenes with CGI characters that were incredible.

Only noticed a few CGI-ish obvious scenes, like one where Anakin jumped on
a beast during the execution scene, and the thing was bucking him.

I have to say, they did an AMAZING job coming up with someone who looked
like the Anakin actor from 1.  Every time I look at this guy in 2 I think
he's the kid from 1 grown up.  Obiwan looked much cooler in 2, and I can
see him becoming Alec Guiness someday, but the Anakin/Anakin resemblence
is way better.

Pretty cool that Yoda taught Dooku, Dooku taught Qui-Gon-Gin, Qui-Gon-Gin
taught Obiwan, and Obiwan's teaching Anakin.  Well, Yoda instructed Obiwan
too (according to 5), but was that just when he was a "youngling", or is there
more history we missed?

Ok, another astounding set of characters were the ones running the cloning
facility.  Oh man.  I'll bet that was what Spielberg dreamt about for the
creatures from Close Encounters..  So damned cool.  And the entire facility
too, from the kick-ass door he walked through to the cloning incubation
chambers, to the chair he sat down in.

It's pretty cool how kiniving(sp?) Palpatine is.  After the 1st assassination
attempt on Padme (the explosion), he says he's concerned about her safety
and suggests she be protected..  "perhaps even by someone you know..  like
that Obiwan Kenobi guy.."..  Yeah, right.  He's saying that because he knows
Anakin is with him.  He's been prepping Anakin, giving him advice like
"you're the best Jedi I've ever seen", etc, and now he sends him back where
he knows he'll be with Padme.  If he sees/talks-with/... Padme, that breaks
Jedi rules, shows him all that he could have without the Jedi, causes more
problems with Obiwan, etc.  Plus, it got Amidala out of the way at the same
time, and she'd been totally against a new army.

I loved all the repeated phrases, like "Join me, and together we can ...",
"I'll never join you", etc.`

The same farm Luke grows up on is the one we see Anakin in.  So when Owen says
he's too much like his father, he knows what he's talking about!  And the
room Anakin's in while talking to Padme is the same room where Luke saw the
first message from Leia!

I thought it was pretty neat that Lars's wheelchair isn't a wheelchair - it's
got no wheels, it hovers.  And they were subtle about that too!  They didn't
even show that until like the last scene we see him in.

Incredible sound that seismic detonator made in the asteroid field.  Perfect
how it got quiet for a second first.

Cool seeing Boba Fett's history.  Also cool that Anakin got stopped in the
assembly line by Jenga Fett (same helmet), yet he ends up hiring Boba Fett
later in 5.  The first time through it didn't even click that Boba wasn't
Jenga's son, but rather his unaccellerated, unmodified clone.  Well, not
at first, anyway.. I think I figured it out before the end of the movie.


Jar Jar was fine in this.  Funny when Padme shut him up.  Tragic when he
gave the future Emperor his power.  Doh!

Just checked, it's Jango Fett, not Jenga Fett.  

I love that there's this unspoken secret that the Jedi really can't
sense much for a while now.  "Damn, I went to the racetrack and I can't
even pick a race or two.. I'm trying to make ends meet here!"  Ok, that
wasn't from the movie..    Anyway it's damned cool, and it makes
a scene from 1 cooler (which I was hoping would happen at least once - that
1 would be cooler after 2):  When Qui-Gon-Jin mentions the sith, Mace Windu
confidently says "I don't believe the sith could have reappeared without
us sensing it"..  That's a way cooler scene now.    Awesome.

When Shmi saw Anakin and said she was now complete, I immediately thought
"drink!".    (from a rule I'd added to the Star Wars drinking game
about drinking anytime something is (or will be or may be) complete, such
as "strike me down, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete",
or "You've constructed a lightsaber!  Now you're jedi training is complete"
(not exact))

In the assembly line scene, Dave Gamache said it best - you could just see
the video game that'll come from that in your head..

When the metal thing stamped down on his hand, that's where I thought he'd
lose it.. (either just his arm, or the whole thing).  Cool reference to his
armor I think later when crying to Padme about his mother, "someday I'll figure
out a way where people don't have to die".

I also actually found myself worried about Padme when she was in the molten
metal vat, about to get cooked (despite the fact that she hadn't had sex
with Anakin or had twins yet.. slipped my mind for a second).  Oh yeah, and
when I saw the molten metal, I wondered if that was a substitute for lava
or something (ala something I'd heard once a long time ago).

Loved the part where he told her how much he loved her, and that he was in
pain thinking about not having her:  "I can't breathe"..  

When Obiwan showed up at the water planet where they were cloning, I'd
originally thought (incorrectly) that they'd welcomed Obiwan BY NAME,
and were expecting HIM.  This had me thinking there was some evil
Obiwan clone out there somewhere or something.  Glad that wasn't right.
God damned rumors - someone planted that stupid rumor in my head long ago
(about clones of everyone), and it messed up my viewing of the movie.
Only a bit though.  

I also loved how Obiwan played along once he got there.  "That's why I'm
here!" and "Impressive clone army you have here" etc.

Later when fighting Jango Fett, and they slid down the wet side of the
dome, as Obiwan fell and fashioned a grappling hook I thought
"In an action film, we'd be saying 'Bah, that's pathetic, whod have
the presence of mind to do that while falling?' or 'His hands would be
cut in two!', but here it's perfectly ok, because it's a Jedi!"..

(clarification of that last sentence - That's a positive statement..
I'm psyched that Jedi could do that stuff)

During the battle-after-the-failed-execution-scene, there's a scene
with Mace Windu and Dooku, where the camera is on them, but WAY in the
background, way out of focus, you see about 50 tiny lightsabers, totally
blurred.  That looked awesome.

During the love scenes, I loved the waterfall/green-grass scenes -
breathtaking.  I also liked the idea that though it at first felt like
The Sound of Music, yet they saved it from looking like that quick by
those big creatures they were playing with.  In other words, it was
as nice/ideal a setting as The Sound of Music had, but kept anyone from
singing that in the audience.  

Several times (especially in the retreat where Padme/Anakin were)
I thought "damn, this should win whatever they call the best set
decorations award that they give in the oscars.. This is just breathtakingly
beautiful"..  Then a few seconds later I wondered if instead it's not that
but special effects.  The room where they sat eating dinner for instance.
I have no idea if that room even exists.  Light was pouring through the window,
it was amazing, almost good enough that it HAD to be CGI.  Even the fruit
was entirely CGI by the way, including his cutting of it. (saw that the 2nd
time).

She says that if they had a relationship, they'd be "living a lie", and could
he live like that?  He acknowledged that it would destroy them both.
That lie certainly helps him down the dark side.

I'm glad that they picked up C3P0 and that he and R2 are together now.

After the big battle, there was a second part of the battle where they were
retreating..  There was this really cool rolling-wheel-based vehicle that
looked awesome.

I liked the reference to the plans to the Death Star.  Does that mean that
the Emperor eventually builds Death Stars from plans he stole?  (or did he
do it with the seperatists then take it over later?)

I want Supreme Chancelor Palpatine's office.  Damn, that window is HUGE!!

OH!!  There was this absolutely incredible scene..  Palpatine had just
talked to Anakin, and they were walking away from that huge window towards
the door.  At one point the camera faces the room (towards the window) and
they approach us.  Anakin is walking slightly behind Palpatine, with his
shoulders hunched over a little.  The scene looked SO much like the scene
from Return of the Jedi where Vader was walking with the Emperor (deliberately,
I'm sure).  Incredible.

There was a very subtle, non-faked shadow scene, where Anakin kisses Padme
on Tatooine in front of that same house.  Anakin's shadow (because of his
hair) looked slightly (just slightly) like Vader's helmet).

Also noticed many times that they'd play Luke's theme, which seemed wrong
at times until I thought about the fact that Luke is the result of the two
of them getting together.

There was an awesome communication scene where Yoda and Windu were watching
a hologram of Obiwan.  At one point he was like "wait, hold on!!", and
pulled out his lightsaber in the hologram.  You see him fighting for a second
then see a hologram of a destroyer droid.  Awesome!!

Speaking of destroyer droids, I hope someone finds an easy way to disable
destroyer droids to justify why they'd stop using them by 4,5,6, even as a
backup.

It was cool when Yoda sensed the pain Anakin was in.  Qui-Gon-Gin's voice
saying "Anakin!!!" was a clip from 1 - I wonder if it implies he's a ghost
now - if so, why didn't his body disappear?  I'll wait for 3 to come out
(or maybe the DVD for 2).

Question:  In 6 (or, well, 4) are we supposed to believe that Palpatine
           dresses normal for "most" people he sees, or is he always
           dressed like The Emperor, with a cloak?  Before he desolved the
           imperial senate in 4, did he dress NOT like a sith in public?

Just found on imdb that Jimmy Smits (picture)
played Senator Bail Organa.. That's gotta be who they give Leia to!

Ok, enough for tonight, I have to wake up in a few hours to go watch it
for the third time.  


June 2, 2002, 3:46am

Ok.  First, the irrelevant stuff.  We're seeing it tomorrow for the
my 7th time and Laurie's 4th.  We both saw it for our third time in Boston
with Kevin and Caroline Stearns, and determined that the digital theater
in Boston Common is horrible.  No THX, and the pixels were huge and visible.
I saw it for the 4th time with Aaron Sherman, Jeff Maziarz, and Erich
Rickheit, in Woburn of all places (analog).  Then the Keegan brothers saw
Episode II together when Jon came up from New York and we saw it in Framingham,
for my 5th time and his 2nd.  I went for my 6th time when we got an AltaVista
trip to go see it in Framingham - 11 people went.

[here is a list of times I've gone]

Ok.. During this last time, I caught 9 new things I wanted to remember,
and did.

1) Early in the movie, when Padme comes to see Palpatine, the Jedi, etc,
   Yoda consoles her.  Then Palpatine says that she should be protected
   and hide.  Organa seems to disagree.  Padme says "I don't think the..."
   and Palpatine finished "situation is that dangerous.. yes, yes..  but it
   IS".. (that might not be a direct quote).  The point is, he knew what she
   was going to say ("he sees things before they happen.. it's a Jedi trait"),
   and said it before she did, either because he was impatient and slipped or
   because he was trying to get an upper hand in the discussion with a
   "I know where you're coming from, BUT..." kinda thing.  But the cool part
   is, right after he finishes her sentence, Yoda gives him that suspicious
   look!  I saw that look 5 times already and couldn't figure out exactly
   what caused it.  Now, it's obvious.  Yoda knows what she's going to say
   too!  He can sense her.  But then he hears Palpatine saying her next
   words outloud.  Very suspicious.  Even if Yoda can't sense what Palpatine
   is thinking etc (because of the dark side being clouded/jammed/whatever),
   he can still sense Padme's thoughts, and hear Palpatine's words.  He's
   putting stuff together, but not telling anyone.  He's Jack Bauer!  (from 24)
   He can't trust ANYONE now because he can't sense half of what he used to be
   able to.

   Anyway, the cool part is why Yoda gives Palpatine that suspicious look.
   He got a clue that Palpatine is strong with the force (through words, not
   sensing it).

2) Hadn't noticed this before, but the Clones' helmets look very much like
   Jango Fett's helmet (with the eye slit that goes down where a nose would
   be).  Knew they looked familiar (and different from Storm Trooper's helmets)
   but had missed the similarity to Fett's helmet.

3) Noticed the Republic's logo (a circle with square-like edges inside it
   around the inner circumfrence) in two places - on a higher-up-in-rank
   Clone, and on Obiwan's ship.  Remembered that logo from one of the guys in
   the Death Star that pulled the final switch to destroy Alderaan.

4) Thought back to episode 4 where Obiwan walked out on the ledge to
   disable the tractor beam.  When I was a kid I thought "wow, that's brave,
   that's a loooong drop..."..  BAH!  They're jumping all over the place in
   1!  Falling wouldn't be a problem.

5) After Anakin killed the the sand people, they cut to Yoda listening to
   the thoughts.. You hear Qui-Gon-Gin saying "Anakin!  Anakin!  " and some
   other actor (probably supposed to be Qui-Gon-Gin) saying "Noo!!!"
   Right then, the Vader theme is in full force..

6) Anakin complains about sand - it's course, hard, and gets everywhere.
   Then later in the execution scene, he's dragged in it by the animal he
   was chained to.  

7) After the Execution battle, when the clones come, and the others retreat,
   they show a bunch of weapons the clones are manning, and some of them
   fly in like a bird, dropping off walking hippo-like creatures.
   How cool that the idea of mechanical walking animal-like machines gets
   introduced here and extends into the Empire (with the at-at's, etc).

8) When Anakin battles Dooku, he does this swipe with his sword towards the
   ground and cuts a power cable, making the room dark.  This made the light
   saber battle awesome.  He does that as Vader too in 5 or 6 I think.
   Maybe it's deliberate.. Forget using your eyes to battle, just use the
   Force.. That probably goes in his favor seeing as how strong he is with
   it, etc.

9) Someone somewhere posted that Yoda seems like a hypocrite now, since he
   saves Obiwan and Anakin at the expense of letting Dooku go (he told Luke
   in 5 to stay around and let his friends die, rather than face Vader too
   soon).

   I now disgree.  I think Yoda just learned from his mistake.  When Yoda
   tells Luke to let them die if he honors what they fight for, he's probably
   talking from experience (remembering whatever evil Dooku does between the
   end of 2 and Dooku's death)..  Maybe Yoda loses more than 2 people later
   because he saved these two.

Also, Aron Insinga and I had this cool theory about why the dark side
is cloudy.  Here's a snippit from a post I did on one of the tivo forums:

---
Palpatine has created this great master plan.  It's easy to make a
complicated master plan (even with lots of variables) if you can forsee
what will happen..  The trick is, if Palpatine is looking waaaaay out
into the future and sees what will happen, how could Yoda possibly see
that too?  If Yoda saw what's happening too, he might change it, and the
Emperor's original vision would have been wrong.  What if it's generally
a good idea not to look forward too much because you "pollute" things,
since others can't see it too?  So if Yoda looks to see what happens,
and Palpatine already knows the outcome, Yoda can't see it clearly - it's
cloudy.. (maybe also because it's changing since the Emperor is making
different plans based on what he sees).

The Emperor is seeing more (or, at least, TRYING to see more.. again,
maybe Yoda tries not to look forward too much because it's irresponsible,
or leads one to temptation to change things to better one's own position,
leading to the dark side, etc.. similar to only using the force for defense,
never for attack).
---

Ok, here's another thing I figured out sometime after I created this document
and before now.  I'd made reference above to the fact that I was confused
about why Dooku would tell Obiwan about Sidious if Dooku is actually working
with Sidious.. I mean, the Jedi know at the end of 2 to start paying close
attention to the Senate because it's being controlled by someone named
Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith.  That's got to be valuable information,
and why did he give it out?  What's his motivation?

I originally thought it was all to add believability to the whole thing,
to make it seem like Dooku's seperatist movement was legit (when in fact
it was fake - staged by Sidious and Dooku(aka Tyranus).  But now I've figured
out a way better, much easier explanation.

Dooku is trying to get Obiwan on his side, so he can get rid of Sidious and
run things with Obiwan.  Then he'd be #1 (Master), not #2.  With the Sith,
there are ONLY two.. A master, and an apprentice.  That's it.  Not multiple
pairs of two, JUST TWO.  Tons of Jedi, only 2 Sith.  I've heard from someone
that supposedly there used to be lots of Sith, but they'd always battle each
other, and eventually it was decided that there would always be only two.
It's like the steady-state for Sith - any more, and they backstab each other.

So, Dooku was trying to get Obiwan on HIS side.. JOIN ME, and together we'll
destroy the Sith (well, um, er, at least this Darth Sidious guy.. yeah...)

And it's not like we don't have (future) precedent for this!

Vader tells Luke "JOIN ME", trying to overthrow the Emperor.  He wants
Luke on his side, so he can stop kissing the Emperor's ass.

Even cooler for Dooku, if he tells Obiwan about Sidious and Obiwan doesn't
join him, at least he's weakened Sidious a bit (by revealing at least his
name and that he's controlling the senate), and Dooku can try converting
another Jedi later.  (However, as we knowm that never happens).  But it
all explains why Dooku would tell Obiwan about this, even while reporting
to Sidious.

One last unrelated thing.. They added fuel to the fire about the "Hey why
didn't Qui-Gon-Gin disappear when he died?" question, when they showed
Obiwan checking for a pulse on one of the slaughtered Jedi.  (And further
confused things with Qui-Gon-Jin's voice screaming "Anakin!  Anakin!!")

Hey, maybe at least Anakin never sees or hears about Jedi vanishing, because
he does seem a bit surprised when Obiwan vanishes.......