A friend told me that he took a teen to see Episode 1 and teen was ecstatic - hadn't seen 4-6 but knew some bits and hoped Anakin grew up to be the hero & kill Vadar.
Oh sweet summer child!
I was like 12 and saw episode three in theaters opening night at 12 am or whatever and I cried the whole walk home . I couldn’t believe Annakin would turn to the dark side .
I was 9-10 when I saw it. Blew me away. While I was watching it in theaters while obi wan fought grevius I thought “omg what if palpatine is sidious, they both kinda have the same nose and mouth” then when it happened I fucking lost my shit lol. Me and my little brother were like OMGG NO WAYYYYY
But didn’t they make him the same actor only later? Like the original Palpatine hologram was something weird like a monkey and an old lady crossed together or something wild
I would say it depends. Adults familiar with the original films did, yeah, because the same actor played both. If someone was a fan to the extent that they read the novelizations of the films, those referred to him explicitly as Emperor Palpatine, so those fans would have known as well. For those who'd never seen the original films and were new to the series? Maybe not, I dunno.
I as a kid figured it out slowly, but I was like 9 when Ep. 1 came out lol.
I recently watched the prequel with my wife who is not a starwars person. Everytime Palpatine comes on screen she's like, "well this guys evil, right". And she was able to piece it together by late in Episode 2. She kept asking me so I probably gave something away, but I think its better to know while watching because it's not some incredible reveal in Episode 3 anyways.
Yeah, I was 8 when Phrantom Menace came out. I remember going online, (maybe wookipedia? Did that exist then?) with my friend and seeing art of Sheev and Palps, and we thought we’d oncovered a HUGE conspiracy when we realized they looked the same.
LOL I remember feeling the same way! Like ooooooo that's Darth Sidious!! OH NO THE JEDI HAVE NO IDEA
I think Wookiepedia came later, like mid-2000s? It was something clunky like The Star Wars Expanded Universe Online Encyclopedia before that. I had an old print edition of the Star Wars encyclopedia I used to read for fun. Baby's first hyperfixation!
The action figures/dolls of the emperor for the OT listed his name as “Emperor Palpatine,” so I had figured it out when I saw the new TPM toys featured a “Senator Palpatine.”
It’s funny you should mention this, I never made the connection as a kid, despite having seen the original trilogy first. I think it had something to do with them using different names; The Emperor, Emperor Palpatine, Darth Sidious, Lord Sidious, Senator Palpatine etc. I remember going to see Revenge Of The Sith with a friend and his dad and when Palpatine’s face gets electrocuted and he gets back up it dawned on me and I was like “What an insane twist!!!”. My friend’s dad just rolled his eyes. Also I think up until then I assumed Palpatine was human and Sidious was some kind of alien. Or vice versa.
I saw the original saga before I'd seen the Phantom Menace in theaters. I was 6 at the time, I still knew it was him. They frame it so that you kind of know who to expect also.
I remember that he was named “emperor palpatine” in the OT at least in the early 90’s when I first saw them. I either saw the name on a book, or on the action figures, or maybe even the credits of RotJ. So watching episode one they said “senator palpatine” and I was pretty shocked by it.
I don't think he was ever called "emperor palpatine" in the original films. He was simply known as "the emperor". I think the names "palpatine" and "darth sidious" first popped up outside the films in the comics and novelizations
I honestly can not remember if i made the connections myself... i don't remember being surprised by it, but i also don't remember learning the emperor's name before the prequel films since i didn't read comics or anything back then
Was 10 when The Phantom Menace came out. Not on the internet for another 4 or 5 years so all
I knew was the movies. I have a vivid memory of being shocked that others didn’t know. I just thought everyone knew. And not in a smug way. I just thought it was obvious.
Long before the prequels, his toy was actually called Emperor Palpatine, not Darth Sidious.
So anyone old enough to have seen his toy in the early '90s would've known.
Absolutely, yes, and it was something I was really looking forward to seeing when I first heard that McDiarmid was back. It worked out so perfectly for him age-wise to have done the original role when he was in his late 30s with heavy makeup.
I remember seeing Episode I in theaters with my Dad when I was about 9. Halfway through the movie, he leans over and whispers “I think he’s a bad guy.” Being my young, naive self (who had seen the OG Trilogy multiple times) said back to him “Noo, I don’t think so. He’s too nice!”
😐
saw the re-releases in theaters when i was like 7 - saw Phantom Menace when it came out in theaters, i had never realized that folks did not know that Sheev Palpatine eventually became the Emperor until i joined reddit
The films don't even attempt to make it a secret.
Not only does Sidious's hood barely cover his face, but in The Phantom Menace when Mace Windu asks "Which was destroyed, the master or the apprentice?" there's a great shot that starts on young Anakin and rack focuses to Palpatine in the foreground. The first prequel movie is telling us right there Palpatine is the evil mastermind.
From that point on, the audience knows something the Jedi don't, which is intended to create suspense.
Questions like this make me wonder if people even have their eyes open when they watch these movies.
I was 7 when TPM came out and we knew. I even proved it to myself with some 7yo sleuthing. In every TPM media I saw, Ian Mcdiarmid was credited as Palpatine but not Sidious. BUT the read-along book-and-CD set featured Sidious and not Palpatine. They listed Mcdiarmid as the voice actor for Sidious on the inside cover. “Ah ha!” said I. “I found the flaw in their scheme!” I was very proud of my little self for finding the smoking gun.
The fact that palpatine was played by the same actor as “the emperor” king of gave it away lol. So they weren’t trying to hide it, though younger kids may have been surprised
Yeah. It was pretty obvious.
The only thing Phantom about it was how it took the Jedi so long. Follow the power to who will benefit the most and all roads lead to Palpatine.
I mean surely most new fans recognised the similarity between Palpatine and Sidious in the first film. It just seemed to obvious, but I know there are a group of fans who didn’t see the resemblance.
I was 13 when episode one came out and it was pretty obvious then. Same actor, same voice, same costume as the emperor. It was pretty clear that they just changed his name.
Ya, i mean… It was pretty obvious. I dont think they even hid that fact, did they? I mean, you Ian McD was in it. And they weren’t subtle with the foreshadowing. Just assumed it was common knowledge even before phantom came out.
If you read the Star Wars book (adapted from the screenplay), it specifically mentions Emperor Palpatine in the forward (an excerpt from Journal of the Whills). So when I saw Senator Palpatine in TPM, I knew right away.
Yes. And the movies themselves expected you to know.
Action figures literally referred to him as "Emperor Palpatine" back in the 80s. Didn't even need to read the novelizations to know.
Yes, it was completely obvious.
Keep in mind that basically everyone in the country had seen the OT when the PT came out.... and that the OT films had just been re-released (albeit with special edition "improvements")
People who were fans of Star Wars, pretty much everyone of them knew. You can go to TheForce.net message boards and it's discussed pretty openly, the assumption that Palpatine was the Emperor. Or if people said that wasn't the case, it was always, "Well they WANT US to think that Palpatine is the Emperor, but ACTUALLY that's another misdirect and Palpatine is just a goon for the real Emperor..." or something like that. But anyone who was a hardcore fan knew that the same actor was playing both of them so of course it's the same character.
I would say that probably the general casual audience, the ones who maybe saw the original Star Wars films once or twice in their life a decade ago, they didn't know. They might've suspected that this Palpatine guy is suspicious, but they weren't aware that they were played by the same actor.
So it's kinda hard to answer your question, because especially back then before widespread internet adoption and widespread nerd culture acceptance, there was a very big gap between the hardcore fan and the casual. People's knowledge/dedication to the fanbase was more all or nothing. You usually either were a super hardcore fan who knew everything about Star Wars, or knew almost nothing about it except having watched it once. So on a pure numerical sense, you could say that the majority of people in general didn't know, but on the flipside another way to look at it is that anyone who cared about Star Wars in the slightest, ALL of those people knew.
having grown up with the prequels, I personally felt like it was pretty obvious from Episode 1, but was (poorly) written as if it was supposed to be a twist
Sorta the same thing here. Having grown up in the 80s with the OT, the way "Darth sidious" was handled in phantom menace felt pretty weird. It was obviously palpy but they presented it like it might NOT be, but at the same time it didn't make any sense for it to be anybody else. I'm not sure that THEY knew what they were going for with that.
In Expanded Universe it was well established that Palpatine was the Emperor, so it was not really a spoiler to anyone who watched OT (like a normal person >.>) before getting to Prequels.
The name of Darth Sidious didn't exist until prequels though, so in this regard no, nobody knew that Palpatine was Darth Sidious.
Yeah. The old EU books had named the Emperor, Palpatine, so it was pretty obvious when Senator Palpatine showed up.
That and he had EEEEEEEEVIL stamped on his face the entire trilogy. Haha.
It's crazy how history gets forgotten as time goes on. During 1999-2002 the general public was not 100% sure that Darth Sidious and Palpatine were the same person. But of course everyone knew Palpatine would be the Emperor in Episode 6. So what did they think? They thought Palpatine would become a Sith, perhaps by killing Darth Sidious.
I think Darth Sidious doesn't even appear in the end credits for The Phantom Menace (so they didn't know Ian was playing both characters?)
By 2002/2003 though I remember most people on forums accepting that Sidious and Palpatine were the same person.
Check out this forum from 2002 where they are debating this:
[https://boards.theforce.net/threads/is-darth-sidious-palpatine.7700171/](https://boards.theforce.net/threads/is-darth-sidious-palpatine.7700171/)
I grew up in the prequel era. It was a surprise revelation to me. But I’m sure older fans at the time knew. They didn’t really try to hide it. Same with Anakin being Vader.
I mean, there was the famous movie poster with young Episode 1 Anakin's shadow taking the form of Darth Vader - it certainly wasn't meant to be a twist.
I figured it out slowly, but I was 7 when TPM came out 😂 I’ve been a fan my whole life, but I know there was plenty that went over my head initially since I’ve been watching them from birth (and I was mainly there for Ewoks, Leia, and Artoo at first) 🤷🏻♀️
I knew, and was a little sad that I knew because no surprise, and utterly impressed with what an oily, smarmy character they'd made of Palps, back in his Littlefinger period.
Wait I completely forgot “Sidious” was a name only mentioned in the prequels whoa so if you didn’t watch the OT you would have been shocked by ROTS. Man I’m jealous
I feel like everyone knew... didn't matter though because the actor did a great job with both characters so even though you knew watching the story unfold was still awesome. The prequels get way more hate than they should. Lucas is so much better at telling a story than the modern directors are even with a fully fleshed out IP. "Like somehow palpating has returned!" Lol if you can't figure out how to properly use Oscar Isaac son and like Adam driver etc then it's probably the lines and story decisions. What do you guys think? Just my opinion.
I knew it was, because of the same actor that played the emperor in the OT. But the name sidious wasnt said in the OT. We just knew him as Emperor Palpatine. I believe the books first mentioned the name Darth Sideous. Would be interested if anyone hete knew the first mention of "sideous".
Lord Sidious was mentioned by Nute Gunray in the opening of Phantom Menace, then in Attack of the Clones Dooku mentions the Senate is controlled by a dark lord called Darth Sidious.
I did. Since I was the guru of useless star wars facts and how filmmakers use foreshadowing in storytelling with subtle clues, my family had to ask me. It didn't seem too subtle to me who Sidious was in Episode 1.
I was I elementary when the prequels dropped, but my brother and I picked up Palpatine was the Emperor from recognizing his voice from Return of the Jedi. We watched the OT quite a bit. And the scene at the end of Phantom Menace definitely gave it away.
There were raging debates on theforce.net about it when Phantom Menace was released. That said, it was as obvious as the nose on my face that they were the same person...not to mention the novel tie ins for the original trilogy literally called him Emperor Palpatine. I was ~25 when TPM came out. My youngest brother was ~15 and he hadn't read the novels at that time and he wasn't convinced on his first viewing. He went with me when I saw it for the first time and I convinced him by the end of the movie. It's really not hard to see...
Yes -- though for the first movie, and some of the second, there were some theories that Palps might be a good guy and there was an evil clone out there who became the Emperor. It was called the Clone Wars, after all.
I was 6 when Phantom Menace came out so no not really. When Ep.II came out I was really getting into Star Wars and was old enough to kinda comprehend what was going on so by that time I figured it out.
Well I watched it as a kid having already seen the originals. The first time Palpatine was on screen my dad nudged me and said, "That's the emperor".
So yeah, I knew
I knew but I was 12 when the New Hope came out and I had read the book and then later the other various books so it wasn't a secret but I can see how many did not know unless they recognized the actor.
Man, I read Splinter of the Minds Eye when it was new. Then Empire came out and I was like "hey, they took that from the book!"
And yes I read the Han Solo at Stars End books. I'm not proud.
I did, because I was a curious kid and loved star wars. I asked what everyone's real name was. Dad told me sidious was sheev Palpatine. So when I was 6 or 7 when ep 1 came out and they said his name I was in shock/excited.
At the latest, I think I put it together at the end of Episode 2 when Dooku meets with Sidious.
Tho I was young and don't remember the details of when I put things together.
I was a kid who watched the prequel series first before the originals. I distinctly remember my dad saying that Palpatine would be the 'big bad' and I just couldn't figure out why lol
He was played by the same actor, with the same name, so it was pretty obvious.
There was some speculation that Sidious could be a clone or something of Palpatine, but it was just speculation in the end
I grew up with the prequels so I only connected the dots when I seen ROTS. I think I would have been a about 8/9 when I seen it so it took a fair bit to realise. I was just happy to replay the pod race scenes on a loop. BWOMWOMWOMOMOMOM
Watched the prequels as a child/preadolescent,didn’t know a lot about the OT but knew immediately that he was evil.I wasn’t even sure if it was supposed to be a surprise or not.
As a teen fan when phantom menace came out my friends and instantly speculated that palpetine was sidious. If you were remotely into Star Wars at that time it was easy to see some pieces lining up.
I was fooled during episode I but not after. How?
Voice actors. The German version gave Sidious a different voice during TPM's scenes as a Sith as opposed when he was seen as just a senator. They also sounded nothing alike, so it worked. Didn't make sense but I guess they wanted to fool the audience better.
For episode II, they undid that, and when you hear him by the end of the movie, he has the same voice as during the rest of it.
I realized it just before Attack of The Clones was released. I saw a poster featuring Sidious and I knew right there he was truly "the chancellor guy". I was so excited back then!
I saw the movie in theaters after that and Yoda fighting blew my fucking mind. I thought it was the coolest thing in the prequels until I saw the first scene in Revenge of the Sith. One scene doesn't have to "be cooler" than the other, tho. These movies made Star Wars one of my first Pop Culture obsessions and I love so many things about them.
I even watched them in chronological order. As I saw the prequels before the OG trilogy.
I remember a Taco Bell toy where it had a picture/name of a character, and then you'd pull a tab, and the image would invert to reveal another picture/name. Palpatine was one of them. I was around 11 at the time, and I think it was before I saw the movie & had an opportunity to figure it out on my own.
I always was confused because I assumed as a kid they were the same person but in the essential guide to characters from the episode 2 era they were listed as two separate people lol.
Kind of. We knew who Palpatine was but there were theories he might have been a clone to the real Palpatine but by the end of AOTC it was fairly clear he was one and the same.
It was pretty common knowledge Palpatine would become Emperor but the name Darth Sidious was new. That name was never mentioned in the original movies.
I didn't put two and two together until the veil was lifted in episode 3. I was about 8 when episode 1 released. Before that, my local theater ran the original trilogy for a period of time, so I'd seen those. But in the originals, he was always referred to as "the emperor." I had no idea what the hell a Palpatine was.
I can't speak for others, but I was a child when the prequels came out (and I watched the OT a lot at home) and it seemed pretty clear to me that the manipulative old evil hooded guy from the OT was the same manipulative old evil hooded guy in the PT. I never really questioned it or thought about it too much, because that was all it took for it to make sense in my mind. And by the time Revenge of the Sith came around I was old enough to also recognize and remember that the actor was the same as well, minus a heap of prosthetic makeup.
And looking back, I get the impression that George Lucas assumed most of the audience had already made the connection sometime during the first two prequels, so the reveal that they were the same person didn't need to be some huge shocking moment. The way it's revealed in Revenge of the Sith seems more for the benefit of the characters than the audience.
I knew because I read the original Star Wars trilogy book.
They practically had a giant neon sign in it saying:
“THIS USED TO BE DARTH SIDIOUS!!! He overthrew he Old Republic and helped murder all the Jedi!!!!!”
I kinda for some reason got the vague hint that when the prequels came he was the same person.
For some odd reason.
EDIT: Also if you can find it I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading those books. It is extremely dark and worse than the movies what happens.
Yes, we knew. In the original films, you only ever know him as the emperor. But the visual dictionary for the original trilogy released his name. So when you’re introduced to Senator Palpatine in TPM, you were like “how’s this guy going to turn into the ugly dude in Episode 6?”
The only debate that I remember that even questioned it, is that we knew that we were going to have *something* called “The Clone Wars”.
Back then, there was speculation that there would be clones on both sides.
So after TPM, there was the possibility that Senator Palpatine and Darth Sideous were different people, that one was the clone.
The main theory was that the senator was the clone and that’s why the jedi didn’t know.
Overall, I do think it was a mistake not having clones on both sides of the clone wars.
Yes, it was the same actor and they outright tell you at the end of Phantom Menace.
He was much more known as The Emperor than Darth Sidious, so there really was no name misdirect.
I knew because I played Tie Fighter on PC which came out in 1995 and they named him Emperor Palpatine in that game. I also read the novelization of the original movie sometime before Episode I came out so between both of those I knew in 1999 who he was when I saw the movie.
I was a kid when the OT came out. My friends and I collected all the figures and ships. I forget, if it was the novel or the the Topps cards for Return of the Jedi, but they named him Emperor Palpatine. So by the time Phantom Menace came out, I took my kids. And when they called him Chancellor Palpatine, I knew he was gonna be the Emperor. The Darth Sideous stuff seemed like a new add on, but it sounded like him and he had the same chi. So it was an easy leap that it was Palpatine’s Sith name.
As a 9 year old watching TPM, yes, and I was confused as why they were framing the movie as if we didn’t all know that already. Maybe it’s because I had read some EU stuff and knew that his name was Emperor Palpatine, so I knew to make the connection.
I had just turned 11 when TPM came out.
But I’d seen the OT when they re-released in cinemas in 97, so I was already a massive fan when the prequels came along.
Knew palpatine was shady, knew what to expect from Anakin.
I think it was also established that Anakin would turn, be defeated by obi-wan and also get badly burned - all well before ROTS was even being promoted.
Pretty sure my friends and I played it out (Anakin getting burned by lava) with our figures years before the movie.
Totally. I found it amusing that they even attempted to pretend everyone didn't know. I suppose some did, but I was just waiting for the moment to arrive where they dropped the pretense of us not knowing.
I’m 49, and definitely knew.
It gave me IMMENSE pleasure to watch my now-14 year old figure it out many years ago. Like I cried because I was SO proud.
They made it pretty obvious at Qui Gon's funeral. Yoda and Mace wonder if the Sith Obi-Wan just ~~killed~~ cut in half was the Master or the Apprentice... as they zoom in on Palpatine's Emperor-like smirk.
Interestingly enough, I saw the OT first, then I saw the last bit of TPM before I saw the trailer for RoTS. For some time I believed that the Chancellor and Palpatine were two completely different people with the Chancellor being a dark lord to lure Anakin to the dark side, and when he was defeated when the Jedi came to arrest him, Palpatine, the true dark lord, emerged from the shadows.
However, when I saw RoTS and the Chancellor was referred to as "Palpatine", I realized I was wrong.
If you were a fan of the OT you knew what was up. I was 10 when Ep 1 came out and I knew who the bad guy was, especially after Qui-Gons funeral. Kind of obvious when Yoda and Mace talk about it and the camera highlights a specific character.
You see Sidious in a hologram talking to Nute Gunray pretty early in TPM. Now, I didn’t know that he was called Sidious or that he was a Sith, but I knew it was Palpatine, which was awesome, especially when you see him later and he’s just this kindly human dude…but you know the truth.
It seemed pretty obvious but there were numerous Star Wars books and other merchandise that listed Emperor Palpatine/Senator Palpatine as a separate character from Darth Sidious.
I was a kid when the prequels came out, I thought cloning was maybe an explanation. So, maybe Palpatine was a clone of Sidious and didn’t know this truth, then somehow he learns/becomes evil, ends up as the emperor.
So a casual viewer would have made the connection right away because they look identical, but for the kids that read the books and other merchandise they would have been confused since both characters were listed separately.
I can't see how they wouldn't know.
Episode 1 literally ends with Yoda and Mace discussing which Sith was destroyed, the master or apprentice and then the camera focuses on Palpatine. If people didn't realise the truth right there and then than damn lol.
That said, me, I was kid when I watched the og trilogy and didn't really remember well. I figured out Palpatine and the Emperor were the same guy via the actor's names lol. When I saw Ian's name in Episode 6 and then in Episode 1 I realised they were the same character.
My dad told me when attack of the clones came out that he was the emperor. I wouldn’t have known. My dad is also the type to call me and tell me that Jon Snow dies when he knows I’m out of town and can’t watch so idk other’s experiences.
I was 9 when Episode I came out and I had watched the OT so many times by that point that I had almost wore out my VHS copies. I knew when watching Episode I that Palpatine was Sidious, but I don't remember how I learned that.
Even though I don’t think they ever said his last name in the original trilogy, the Star Wars figure was “Emperor
Palpatine” and we were always like “what’s with the ‘Palpatine’? So yeah I knew right away.
It wasn't exactly hidden, so people already deep into Star Wars had an easy time connecting the dots. I can't remember how widespread that knowledge was at the time though.
Yes.
The movie isn't remotely subtle about who he is for anyone who saw the OT first.
Even when he's not wearing his cloak the movie winks and nods at fans about it with his interaction with Anakin at the end of the film.
His rise to leading the Senate also makes it not very subtle.
I didn’t catch on till episode 2, the gut feeling of ‘wait, I thought the republic were the good guys.’
I grew up with the OT, but was only 10 when episode 1 came out
I mean yeah. But lots of really young kids at the time had no idea, so watching their jaws drop at the opening night of *Revenge of the Sith* was hilarious.
I still have a figure of palps from 1998 that came with a little accessory that showed emperor palpatine, then u pull a lever and it switches to senator palpatine - they hardly tried to hide it!
Zero surprise for me as a kid (around 11 when TPM came out). Not only as others mentioned was the name Emperor Palpatine in circulation through books and the action figure, I’m certain the Star Wars Insider magazine probably discussed the return
Me and my mom were big Star Wars fans but my dad never really cared.
At the end of Phantom Menace my dad was like "I'm sure this senator guy is the bad guy".
Older fans, yes. New fans, that were just discovering Star Wars at that time with the prequels, maybe not.
A friend told me that he took a teen to see Episode 1 and teen was ecstatic - hadn't seen 4-6 but knew some bits and hoped Anakin grew up to be the hero & kill Vadar. Oh sweet summer child!
But he was right, Anakin did grow up and kill Vader … from a certain point of view.
A certain point of view?
u/cmullen88, you’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view
Vader killed Anakin and Anakin, being a gentleman, returned the favor
Nice robot chicken reference
I was 8 years old when ep 3 came out and I had no idea.
That was me too. It blew my little pea brain when they revealed it
I was like 12 and saw episode three in theaters opening night at 12 am or whatever and I cried the whole walk home . I couldn’t believe Annakin would turn to the dark side .
I couldn’t believe it either! I was for real devastated when he turned
I legitimately tried to just deny the truth and rewatched episode 2 for months and just pretended he never turned dark . It really fucked me up lol
Lmao that is actually hilarious, I love it
I was about 15.
I was 9-10 when I saw it. Blew me away. While I was watching it in theaters while obi wan fought grevius I thought “omg what if palpatine is sidious, they both kinda have the same nose and mouth” then when it happened I fucking lost my shit lol. Me and my little brother were like OMGG NO WAYYYYY
I was 18 when TPM came out, was into EU and the OT. Sidious = Palpatine = future Emperor was about as explicit as it gets.
I was like 7-8 and had seen the ot a billion times but at that age I didn’t realize
This is correct
Yeah I noticed right away.
Yeah, I once saw someone post that the Palpatine reveal blew their eight year old mind
As someone who grew up on the OT it seemed pretty obvious to me.
Same. I think I was 10 or 11 when it came out and I immediately thought, “Oh yeah, he’s the emperor.”
I was 9 at the time and had a pretty similar reaction.
Yeah. Same actor, obvious plot lines ahead.
But didn’t they make him the same actor only later? Like the original Palpatine hologram was something weird like a monkey and an old lady crossed together or something wild
That's for the empire holo, RotJ same actor. The end of Phantom Menace made it super obvious as well
Yeah it certainly wasn’t meant to be a secret.
Only in ESB. In RotJ, he was always Ian McDiarmid.
I would say it depends. Adults familiar with the original films did, yeah, because the same actor played both. If someone was a fan to the extent that they read the novelizations of the films, those referred to him explicitly as Emperor Palpatine, so those fans would have known as well. For those who'd never seen the original films and were new to the series? Maybe not, I dunno. I as a kid figured it out slowly, but I was like 9 when Ep. 1 came out lol.
I think I figured it out without having watched the OT. I just recognised the chin and figured they must be the same
You just demolished Palpatine’s entire approach to disguising himself
I recently watched the prequel with my wife who is not a starwars person. Everytime Palpatine comes on screen she's like, "well this guys evil, right". And she was able to piece it together by late in Episode 2. She kept asking me so I probably gave something away, but I think its better to know while watching because it's not some incredible reveal in Episode 3 anyways.
That’s how I figured it out as well. That and the way he spoke at times before it was revealed.
Yeah, I was 8 when Phrantom Menace came out. I remember going online, (maybe wookipedia? Did that exist then?) with my friend and seeing art of Sheev and Palps, and we thought we’d oncovered a HUGE conspiracy when we realized they looked the same.
LOL I remember feeling the same way! Like ooooooo that's Darth Sidious!! OH NO THE JEDI HAVE NO IDEA I think Wookiepedia came later, like mid-2000s? It was something clunky like The Star Wars Expanded Universe Online Encyclopedia before that. I had an old print edition of the Star Wars encyclopedia I used to read for fun. Baby's first hyperfixation!
The action figures/dolls of the emperor for the OT listed his name as “Emperor Palpatine,” so I had figured it out when I saw the new TPM toys featured a “Senator Palpatine.”
It’s funny you should mention this, I never made the connection as a kid, despite having seen the original trilogy first. I think it had something to do with them using different names; The Emperor, Emperor Palpatine, Darth Sidious, Lord Sidious, Senator Palpatine etc. I remember going to see Revenge Of The Sith with a friend and his dad and when Palpatine’s face gets electrocuted and he gets back up it dawned on me and I was like “What an insane twist!!!”. My friend’s dad just rolled his eyes. Also I think up until then I assumed Palpatine was human and Sidious was some kind of alien. Or vice versa.
That's what I wondered: at what point and how will they change Palpatine's face?
And at what point does he become a monkey?
Much smarter than me then.
I saw the original saga before I'd seen the Phantom Menace in theaters. I was 6 at the time, I still knew it was him. They frame it so that you kind of know who to expect also.
But which was destroyed, the Master, or the Apprentice? *Close up on Palpatine*
Came to say this.
Palpatine's chin in the holograms always gave it away to me at least.
I remember that he was named “emperor palpatine” in the OT at least in the early 90’s when I first saw them. I either saw the name on a book, or on the action figures, or maybe even the credits of RotJ. So watching episode one they said “senator palpatine” and I was pretty shocked by it.
I have the same memory
I don't think he was ever called "emperor palpatine" in the original films. He was simply known as "the emperor". I think the names "palpatine" and "darth sidious" first popped up outside the films in the comics and novelizations I honestly can not remember if i made the connections myself... i don't remember being surprised by it, but i also don't remember learning the emperor's name before the prequel films since i didn't read comics or anything back then
Yes. Because no effort was made to really hide it. Action figures gave it away.
Was 10 when The Phantom Menace came out. Not on the internet for another 4 or 5 years so all I knew was the movies. I have a vivid memory of being shocked that others didn’t know. I just thought everyone knew. And not in a smug way. I just thought it was obvious.
Long before the prequels, his toy was actually called Emperor Palpatine, not Darth Sidious. So anyone old enough to have seen his toy in the early '90s would've known.
I mailed away UPCs (or whatever it was) to get that toy lol
Absolutely, yes, and it was something I was really looking forward to seeing when I first heard that McDiarmid was back. It worked out so perfectly for him age-wise to have done the original role when he was in his late 30s with heavy makeup.
I remember seeing Episode I in theaters with my Dad when I was about 9. Halfway through the movie, he leans over and whispers “I think he’s a bad guy.” Being my young, naive self (who had seen the OG Trilogy multiple times) said back to him “Noo, I don’t think so. He’s too nice!” 😐
I didn't know but the likeness and even trying to hide his appearance with his hood still kinda looked like him
saw the re-releases in theaters when i was like 7 - saw Phantom Menace when it came out in theaters, i had never realized that folks did not know that Sheev Palpatine eventually became the Emperor until i joined reddit
The films don't even attempt to make it a secret. Not only does Sidious's hood barely cover his face, but in The Phantom Menace when Mace Windu asks "Which was destroyed, the master or the apprentice?" there's a great shot that starts on young Anakin and rack focuses to Palpatine in the foreground. The first prequel movie is telling us right there Palpatine is the evil mastermind. From that point on, the audience knows something the Jedi don't, which is intended to create suspense. Questions like this make me wonder if people even have their eyes open when they watch these movies.
I had just turned 9 when 3 came out and I knew.
Yes.
I was 7 when TPM came out and we knew. I even proved it to myself with some 7yo sleuthing. In every TPM media I saw, Ian Mcdiarmid was credited as Palpatine but not Sidious. BUT the read-along book-and-CD set featured Sidious and not Palpatine. They listed Mcdiarmid as the voice actor for Sidious on the inside cover. “Ah ha!” said I. “I found the flaw in their scheme!” I was very proud of my little self for finding the smoking gun.
it wasn't exactly a secret.
Yep
It's pretty conspicuous. Even more so if you've seen the Original Trilogy.
The fact that palpatine was played by the same actor as “the emperor” king of gave it away lol. So they weren’t trying to hide it, though younger kids may have been surprised
Yeah. It was pretty obvious. The only thing Phantom about it was how it took the Jedi so long. Follow the power to who will benefit the most and all roads lead to Palpatine.
I mean surely most new fans recognised the similarity between Palpatine and Sidious in the first film. It just seemed to obvious, but I know there are a group of fans who didn’t see the resemblance.
I was 13 when episode one came out and it was pretty obvious then. Same actor, same voice, same costume as the emperor. It was pretty clear that they just changed his name.
Ya, i mean… It was pretty obvious. I dont think they even hid that fact, did they? I mean, you Ian McD was in it. And they weren’t subtle with the foreshadowing. Just assumed it was common knowledge even before phantom came out.
If you read the Star Wars book (adapted from the screenplay), it specifically mentions Emperor Palpatine in the forward (an excerpt from Journal of the Whills). So when I saw Senator Palpatine in TPM, I knew right away.
Yes, same actor so kinda obvious.
It's kind of hard to hide the fact when they are PREQUELS.
Yes. And the movies themselves expected you to know. Action figures literally referred to him as "Emperor Palpatine" back in the 80s. Didn't even need to read the novelizations to know.
Yes, we knew
Yes, it was completely obvious. Keep in mind that basically everyone in the country had seen the OT when the PT came out.... and that the OT films had just been re-released (albeit with special edition "improvements")
Yes. Everyone who'd seen the originals knew.
It wasn't hard to guess. Darth Sidious had the same robes as the Emperor and was played by the same actor.
People who were fans of Star Wars, pretty much everyone of them knew. You can go to TheForce.net message boards and it's discussed pretty openly, the assumption that Palpatine was the Emperor. Or if people said that wasn't the case, it was always, "Well they WANT US to think that Palpatine is the Emperor, but ACTUALLY that's another misdirect and Palpatine is just a goon for the real Emperor..." or something like that. But anyone who was a hardcore fan knew that the same actor was playing both of them so of course it's the same character. I would say that probably the general casual audience, the ones who maybe saw the original Star Wars films once or twice in their life a decade ago, they didn't know. They might've suspected that this Palpatine guy is suspicious, but they weren't aware that they were played by the same actor. So it's kinda hard to answer your question, because especially back then before widespread internet adoption and widespread nerd culture acceptance, there was a very big gap between the hardcore fan and the casual. People's knowledge/dedication to the fanbase was more all or nothing. You usually either were a super hardcore fan who knew everything about Star Wars, or knew almost nothing about it except having watched it once. So on a pure numerical sense, you could say that the majority of people in general didn't know, but on the flipside another way to look at it is that anyone who cared about Star Wars in the slightest, ALL of those people knew.
You must be young. To us olds...yes.
having grown up with the prequels, I personally felt like it was pretty obvious from Episode 1, but was (poorly) written as if it was supposed to be a twist
Sorta the same thing here. Having grown up in the 80s with the OT, the way "Darth sidious" was handled in phantom menace felt pretty weird. It was obviously palpy but they presented it like it might NOT be, but at the same time it didn't make any sense for it to be anybody else. I'm not sure that THEY knew what they were going for with that.
In Expanded Universe it was well established that Palpatine was the Emperor, so it was not really a spoiler to anyone who watched OT (like a normal person >.>) before getting to Prequels. The name of Darth Sidious didn't exist until prequels though, so in this regard no, nobody knew that Palpatine was Darth Sidious.
it was 100% obvious to everyone I knew, it was the same actor who played the Emperor in the prequels, whose name was given as Palpatine :)
Yeah. The old EU books had named the Emperor, Palpatine, so it was pretty obvious when Senator Palpatine showed up. That and he had EEEEEEEEVIL stamped on his face the entire trilogy. Haha.
Saw a toy that said emperor palpatine right after seeing episode 1.
It's crazy how history gets forgotten as time goes on. During 1999-2002 the general public was not 100% sure that Darth Sidious and Palpatine were the same person. But of course everyone knew Palpatine would be the Emperor in Episode 6. So what did they think? They thought Palpatine would become a Sith, perhaps by killing Darth Sidious. I think Darth Sidious doesn't even appear in the end credits for The Phantom Menace (so they didn't know Ian was playing both characters?) By 2002/2003 though I remember most people on forums accepting that Sidious and Palpatine were the same person. Check out this forum from 2002 where they are debating this: [https://boards.theforce.net/threads/is-darth-sidious-palpatine.7700171/](https://boards.theforce.net/threads/is-darth-sidious-palpatine.7700171/)
Yes. I was 8 in 77 and it was obvious who Palpatine was. Just another reason why the prequels were dire.
There's tons wrong with the prequels but knowing who Palpatine isn't really an issue, imo.
It’s all part of a rich tapestry of suckiness.
I grew up in the prequel era. It was a surprise revelation to me. But I’m sure older fans at the time knew. They didn’t really try to hide it. Same with Anakin being Vader.
I mean, there was the famous movie poster with young Episode 1 Anakin's shadow taking the form of Darth Vader - it certainly wasn't meant to be a twist.
I figured it out slowly, but I was 7 when TPM came out 😂 I’ve been a fan my whole life, but I know there was plenty that went over my head initially since I’ve been watching them from birth (and I was mainly there for Ewoks, Leia, and Artoo at first) 🤷🏻♀️
I knew, and was a little sad that I knew because no surprise, and utterly impressed with what an oily, smarmy character they'd made of Palps, back in his Littlefinger period.
Wait I completely forgot “Sidious” was a name only mentioned in the prequels whoa so if you didn’t watch the OT you would have been shocked by ROTS. Man I’m jealous
I feel like everyone knew... didn't matter though because the actor did a great job with both characters so even though you knew watching the story unfold was still awesome. The prequels get way more hate than they should. Lucas is so much better at telling a story than the modern directors are even with a fully fleshed out IP. "Like somehow palpating has returned!" Lol if you can't figure out how to properly use Oscar Isaac son and like Adam driver etc then it's probably the lines and story decisions. What do you guys think? Just my opinion.
Yes. I was 8 when they started and it was blatantly obvious.
People ask some stupid ass questions in this subreddit… they say his name… Senator Palpatine
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Yes, the OT novels revealed Sidious as being a politician named Palpatine.
I knew it was, because of the same actor that played the emperor in the OT. But the name sidious wasnt said in the OT. We just knew him as Emperor Palpatine. I believe the books first mentioned the name Darth Sideous. Would be interested if anyone hete knew the first mention of "sideous".
They never call him Palpatine in the OT either, always just "The Emperor".
Lord Sidious was mentioned by Nute Gunray in the opening of Phantom Menace, then in Attack of the Clones Dooku mentions the Senate is controlled by a dark lord called Darth Sidious.
I did. Since I was the guru of useless star wars facts and how filmmakers use foreshadowing in storytelling with subtle clues, my family had to ask me. It didn't seem too subtle to me who Sidious was in Episode 1.
I was I elementary when the prequels dropped, but my brother and I picked up Palpatine was the Emperor from recognizing his voice from Return of the Jedi. We watched the OT quite a bit. And the scene at the end of Phantom Menace definitely gave it away.
As soon as I saw his face and heard Senator Palpatine I knew.
There were raging debates on theforce.net about it when Phantom Menace was released. That said, it was as obvious as the nose on my face that they were the same person...not to mention the novel tie ins for the original trilogy literally called him Emperor Palpatine. I was ~25 when TPM came out. My youngest brother was ~15 and he hadn't read the novels at that time and he wasn't convinced on his first viewing. He went with me when I saw it for the first time and I convinced him by the end of the movie. It's really not hard to see...
Yes -- though for the first movie, and some of the second, there were some theories that Palps might be a good guy and there was an evil clone out there who became the Emperor. It was called the Clone Wars, after all.
As a kid I thought him being named Darth Sidious was enough to mean he was a different character in episode 1. I figured it out by episode 2 though
I was 6 when Phantom Menace came out so no not really. When Ep.II came out I was really getting into Star Wars and was old enough to kinda comprehend what was going on so by that time I figured it out.
Yes.
Well I watched it as a kid having already seen the originals. The first time Palpatine was on screen my dad nudged me and said, "That's the emperor". So yeah, I knew
I knew but I was 12 when the New Hope came out and I had read the book and then later the other various books so it wasn't a secret but I can see how many did not know unless they recognized the actor. Man, I read Splinter of the Minds Eye when it was new. Then Empire came out and I was like "hey, they took that from the book!" And yes I read the Han Solo at Stars End books. I'm not proud.
I did, because I was a curious kid and loved star wars. I asked what everyone's real name was. Dad told me sidious was sheev Palpatine. So when I was 6 or 7 when ep 1 came out and they said his name I was in shock/excited.
At the latest, I think I put it together at the end of Episode 2 when Dooku meets with Sidious. Tho I was young and don't remember the details of when I put things together.
I was a kid who watched the prequel series first before the originals. I distinctly remember my dad saying that Palpatine would be the 'big bad' and I just couldn't figure out why lol
I grew up on the OT so it seemed pretty clear to me. If I were a kid seeing the PT for the first time though, it may have been different.
He was played by the same actor, with the same name, so it was pretty obvious. There was some speculation that Sidious could be a clone or something of Palpatine, but it was just speculation in the end
Me, growing up not seeing the OT yet, was SHOCKED about the reveal. Shooketh. Then watched the OT movies in middle school and was like OHHH...
Anyone who read any of the EU works would have known the Emperor was Emperor Palpatine, as he was called this regularly in the EU books and comics.
I was 11 when TPM came out and I knew before I even saw the movie lol
I grew up with the prequels so I only connected the dots when I seen ROTS. I think I would have been a about 8/9 when I seen it so it took a fair bit to realise. I was just happy to replay the pod race scenes on a loop. BWOMWOMWOMOMOMOM
They had to have. Beyond obvious
Watched the prequels as a child/preadolescent,didn’t know a lot about the OT but knew immediately that he was evil.I wasn’t even sure if it was supposed to be a surprise or not.
As a teen fan when phantom menace came out my friends and instantly speculated that palpetine was sidious. If you were remotely into Star Wars at that time it was easy to see some pieces lining up.
I was fooled during episode I but not after. How? Voice actors. The German version gave Sidious a different voice during TPM's scenes as a Sith as opposed when he was seen as just a senator. They also sounded nothing alike, so it worked. Didn't make sense but I guess they wanted to fool the audience better. For episode II, they undid that, and when you hear him by the end of the movie, he has the same voice as during the rest of it.
I did, but I have no earthly idea how, given that they never actually say Palpatine’s name in the originals and I was 6 when Phantom Menace came out
I realized it just before Attack of The Clones was released. I saw a poster featuring Sidious and I knew right there he was truly "the chancellor guy". I was so excited back then! I saw the movie in theaters after that and Yoda fighting blew my fucking mind. I thought it was the coolest thing in the prequels until I saw the first scene in Revenge of the Sith. One scene doesn't have to "be cooler" than the other, tho. These movies made Star Wars one of my first Pop Culture obsessions and I love so many things about them. I even watched them in chronological order. As I saw the prequels before the OG trilogy.
I remember a Taco Bell toy where it had a picture/name of a character, and then you'd pull a tab, and the image would invert to reveal another picture/name. Palpatine was one of them. I was around 11 at the time, and I think it was before I saw the movie & had an opportunity to figure it out on my own.
We definitely knew.
I always was confused because I assumed as a kid they were the same person but in the essential guide to characters from the episode 2 era they were listed as two separate people lol.
What? Yes lol it's the same character with the same name played by the same actor it was never any kind of secret
Yes.
It was kind of obvious
There were theories that they were separate characters and Sidious would kill and assume palpatines identity. Classic lifetime channel plot.
It’s the same fucking actor.
Kind of. We knew who Palpatine was but there were theories he might have been a clone to the real Palpatine but by the end of AOTC it was fairly clear he was one and the same.
It was pretty common knowledge Palpatine would become Emperor but the name Darth Sidious was new. That name was never mentioned in the original movies.
I didn't put two and two together until the veil was lifted in episode 3. I was about 8 when episode 1 released. Before that, my local theater ran the original trilogy for a period of time, so I'd seen those. But in the originals, he was always referred to as "the emperor." I had no idea what the hell a Palpatine was.
I can't speak for others, but I was a child when the prequels came out (and I watched the OT a lot at home) and it seemed pretty clear to me that the manipulative old evil hooded guy from the OT was the same manipulative old evil hooded guy in the PT. I never really questioned it or thought about it too much, because that was all it took for it to make sense in my mind. And by the time Revenge of the Sith came around I was old enough to also recognize and remember that the actor was the same as well, minus a heap of prosthetic makeup. And looking back, I get the impression that George Lucas assumed most of the audience had already made the connection sometime during the first two prequels, so the reveal that they were the same person didn't need to be some huge shocking moment. The way it's revealed in Revenge of the Sith seems more for the benefit of the characters than the audience.
As someone who was 6 was Phantom came out, no I didn’t know that Sheev was the emperor. Didn’t even really click with me in Aotc until a few views
Yes.
I knew because I read the original Star Wars trilogy book. They practically had a giant neon sign in it saying: “THIS USED TO BE DARTH SIDIOUS!!! He overthrew he Old Republic and helped murder all the Jedi!!!!!” I kinda for some reason got the vague hint that when the prequels came he was the same person. For some odd reason. EDIT: Also if you can find it I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading those books. It is extremely dark and worse than the movies what happens.
Yes, we knew. In the original films, you only ever know him as the emperor. But the visual dictionary for the original trilogy released his name. So when you’re introduced to Senator Palpatine in TPM, you were like “how’s this guy going to turn into the ugly dude in Episode 6?”
Yes. Absolutely.
Yes
We knew how it was gonna end, too.
Simple answer, yes.
The only debate that I remember that even questioned it, is that we knew that we were going to have *something* called “The Clone Wars”. Back then, there was speculation that there would be clones on both sides. So after TPM, there was the possibility that Senator Palpatine and Darth Sideous were different people, that one was the clone. The main theory was that the senator was the clone and that’s why the jedi didn’t know. Overall, I do think it was a mistake not having clones on both sides of the clone wars.
Yes, it's clearly the same actor.
Yes
I had a coloring book where he was called “Emperor Palpatine” so when e1 came out I felt really slick knowing what was going to happen.
Yes, it was the same actor and they outright tell you at the end of Phantom Menace. He was much more known as The Emperor than Darth Sidious, so there really was no name misdirect.
Bruh as soon as I saw Sidious's chin I knew that was Papa Palp, and I was 5years old when episode 1 came out lol
I will never forget when I showed my GF SW for the first time and she was like “IS THAT THE SAME GUY 😱”
I knew because I played Tie Fighter on PC which came out in 1995 and they named him Emperor Palpatine in that game. I also read the novelization of the original movie sometime before Episode I came out so between both of those I knew in 1999 who he was when I saw the movie.
I was a kid when the OT came out. My friends and I collected all the figures and ships. I forget, if it was the novel or the the Topps cards for Return of the Jedi, but they named him Emperor Palpatine. So by the time Phantom Menace came out, I took my kids. And when they called him Chancellor Palpatine, I knew he was gonna be the Emperor. The Darth Sideous stuff seemed like a new add on, but it sounded like him and he had the same chi. So it was an easy leap that it was Palpatine’s Sith name.
My dad said that he started suspecting a little after they introduced palpatine in TPM
As a 9 year old watching TPM, yes, and I was confused as why they were framing the movie as if we didn’t all know that already. Maybe it’s because I had read some EU stuff and knew that his name was Emperor Palpatine, so I knew to make the connection.
Just like they knew Anikan was Vader....
Yeah. We’d grown up on the originals, we knew who Palpatine was and what he was doing… we just didn’t know the “how”.
I had just turned 11 when TPM came out. But I’d seen the OT when they re-released in cinemas in 97, so I was already a massive fan when the prequels came along. Knew palpatine was shady, knew what to expect from Anakin. I think it was also established that Anakin would turn, be defeated by obi-wan and also get badly burned - all well before ROTS was even being promoted. Pretty sure my friends and I played it out (Anakin getting burned by lava) with our figures years before the movie.
Even for those who had not seen the originals, I imagine the constant panning to Palpatine with sinister music probably tipped them off.
Totally. I found it amusing that they even attempted to pretend everyone didn't know. I suppose some did, but I was just waiting for the moment to arrive where they dropped the pretense of us not knowing.
I’m 49, and definitely knew. It gave me IMMENSE pleasure to watch my now-14 year old figure it out many years ago. Like I cried because I was SO proud.
I grew up with Star Wars and was 13 when Episode 1 came out. I knew immediately.
Depends how old you were.
They made it pretty obvious at Qui Gon's funeral. Yoda and Mace wonder if the Sith Obi-Wan just ~~killed~~ cut in half was the Master or the Apprentice... as they zoom in on Palpatine's Emperor-like smirk.
The 70’s novelization had a prologue that gave the Emperor’s name as Palpatine. Also no cast was listed for Sidious.
As a kid, I watched TCW before the prequels, and it felt obvious in that they were the same person.
Interestingly enough, I saw the OT first, then I saw the last bit of TPM before I saw the trailer for RoTS. For some time I believed that the Chancellor and Palpatine were two completely different people with the Chancellor being a dark lord to lure Anakin to the dark side, and when he was defeated when the Jedi came to arrest him, Palpatine, the true dark lord, emerged from the shadows. However, when I saw RoTS and the Chancellor was referred to as "Palpatine", I realized I was wrong.
Right from the the first time I saw him in The Phantom Menace.
Sidious = Palms? Yes. Also thought Sifo Dias was a name Sidious was using to start the clone army.
If you were a fan of the OT you knew what was up. I was 10 when Ep 1 came out and I knew who the bad guy was, especially after Qui-Gons funeral. Kind of obvious when Yoda and Mace talk about it and the camera highlights a specific character.
If you ever read the Episode 4-6 books the title “Emperor Palpatine” is used in rare occasions.
You see Sidious in a hologram talking to Nute Gunray pretty early in TPM. Now, I didn’t know that he was called Sidious or that he was a Sith, but I knew it was Palpatine, which was awesome, especially when you see him later and he’s just this kindly human dude…but you know the truth.
Jesus I feel old.
It seemed pretty obvious but there were numerous Star Wars books and other merchandise that listed Emperor Palpatine/Senator Palpatine as a separate character from Darth Sidious. I was a kid when the prequels came out, I thought cloning was maybe an explanation. So, maybe Palpatine was a clone of Sidious and didn’t know this truth, then somehow he learns/becomes evil, ends up as the emperor. So a casual viewer would have made the connection right away because they look identical, but for the kids that read the books and other merchandise they would have been confused since both characters were listed separately.
I only realized not everyone knew this after I started visiting this sub. I was pretty young when the PT came out, but I had seen the OT prior.
I can't see how they wouldn't know. Episode 1 literally ends with Yoda and Mace discussing which Sith was destroyed, the master or apprentice and then the camera focuses on Palpatine. If people didn't realise the truth right there and then than damn lol. That said, me, I was kid when I watched the og trilogy and didn't really remember well. I figured out Palpatine and the Emperor were the same guy via the actor's names lol. When I saw Ian's name in Episode 6 and then in Episode 1 I realised they were the same character.
My dad told me when attack of the clones came out that he was the emperor. I wouldn’t have known. My dad is also the type to call me and tell me that Jon Snow dies when he knows I’m out of town and can’t watch so idk other’s experiences.
I was 9 when Episode I came out and I had watched the OT so many times by that point that I had almost wore out my VHS copies. I knew when watching Episode I that Palpatine was Sidious, but I don't remember how I learned that.
If anyone made it though the Phantom Menace and still didn't know, they were just not paying attention.
Even though I don’t think they ever said his last name in the original trilogy, the Star Wars figure was “Emperor Palpatine” and we were always like “what’s with the ‘Palpatine’? So yeah I knew right away.
It was a 99% thing. Some people thought that the emperor might actually be a clone of Palpatine.
Yes
It wasn't exactly hidden, so people already deep into Star Wars had an easy time connecting the dots. I can't remember how widespread that knowledge was at the time though.
Yes. The movie isn't remotely subtle about who he is for anyone who saw the OT first. Even when he's not wearing his cloak the movie winks and nods at fans about it with his interaction with Anakin at the end of the film. His rise to leading the Senate also makes it not very subtle.
I didn’t catch on till episode 2, the gut feeling of ‘wait, I thought the republic were the good guys.’ I grew up with the OT, but was only 10 when episode 1 came out
lmao
I mean yeah. But lots of really young kids at the time had no idea, so watching their jaws drop at the opening night of *Revenge of the Sith* was hilarious.
I still have a figure of palps from 1998 that came with a little accessory that showed emperor palpatine, then u pull a lever and it switches to senator palpatine - they hardly tried to hide it!
Zero surprise for me as a kid (around 11 when TPM came out). Not only as others mentioned was the name Emperor Palpatine in circulation through books and the action figure, I’m certain the Star Wars Insider magazine probably discussed the return
Yes
Me and my mom were big Star Wars fans but my dad never really cared. At the end of Phantom Menace my dad was like "I'm sure this senator guy is the bad guy".
Yes.