I have heard a great deal of general griping, moaning and groaning from all over the place; TFN forums to the lunchroom table about how incredibly lame it made the Jedi seem in Revenge of the Sith when they were all gunned down by their own clone army. Here are these incredible individuals, whom (mainly through EU) we've come to know and respect, getting taken out by a bunch of proto-stormies! It seems downright ridiculous, at first. Haven't we seen two and a half movies of Jedi whomping on practically every foe they come across, sans those pesky Sith? And how could they not see it coming if Jedi are supposedly so good at "seeing things before they happen"?

Well, of course, the clones didn't get every Jedi. Obi-Wan managed to escape, and a couple clones learned just how hard it is to sneak up on Master Yoda. (I'm also willing to bet Mace Windu would have lived if he had been on the frontlines at the time rather than falling out a window thanks to the Chosen One.) And there were a few Jedi we know of in the EU who also survived. However, the fact remains, according to the critics, the Jedi should have seen it coming.

The people with these complaints have, quite obviously, forgotten a couple things we learned in Attack of the Clones:

1. Jedi aren't perfect: You may sneer at clones and think they wouldn't have a chance against Jedi, but in the arena battle several Jedi are taken down by droids, sometimes not even droidekas, but run-of-the-mill battle droids. Apparently Jedi aren't invulnerable to random joes with guns. Plus, the clones had the element of surprise, which brings me to...

2. Palpatine is weakening the Jedi's sensing abilities: Even the Jedi are surprised at their own current lack of competency. According to Yoda: "Blind we are, if creation of this clone army we could not see." So with Palpatine using whatever Dark Side magic he's got up his sleeve to "blind" the Jedi, they're far easier to take by surprise.

Also, as a bit of a sidebar, here's a thing to remember about stormies. Just because they seem to have lousy aim when dealing with our heroes, they aren't exactly bungling. Just tell those guys who died in the first five minutes of A New Hope that stormtroopers can't aim.