Mace vs. Palpatine- Step by Step- What Happened

ok... i have read hundreds of blogs and message boards debating this question: Did Mace really overpower Palpatine. I'm here to settle this now once and for all. Now i have seen Episode III 15 times literally and have studied this scene the past 10 times when i watched it and right now I am watching it and pausing at all the parts as we go along. Lets begin step by step.

NOTE: That was back in the summer when i saw it 15 times in theatres... the current count is 23 times (15 times in theatre, 8 times on DVD)

#1 Palpatine easily kills all 3 of the Jedi besides Mace. How? Because of his speed and style. No one has a more offensive style then Palpatine. He uses many jabs and quick attacks.
#2 Palpatine goes on the offensive and Mace must defend against crazy jabs and offensive attacks (a style that none of the previous slain Jedi or Mace have defended against). Score: Palpatine 1, Mace: 0
#3 After a series of attacks and blocks, Mace takes a big full swing at Palpatine. Palpatine ducks and then aims his lightsaber at Mace's chest. Mace left unguarded backs up cautiously with his lightsaber to the side. Score: Palpatine 2, Mace: 0
#4 Palpatine tries to jab at Mace's open body, but Mace blocks it. They Stay there, with sabers locked looking angry. Mace finally blocks down Palpatine's sword and they continue fighting as he continues to back up into the main office. Score: Palpatine 2, Mace: 1
#5 The movie goes back to Anakin landing his ship.
#6 When we come back Palpatine and Mace are now even- neither is on the defensive. Mace and Palpatine have sabers above their head. They clash sabers twice and switch positions. The camera zooms in on Palpatine as he gives an evil sigh while showing teeth (obviously trying to show his evil coming up) Score: Palpatine 2, Mace: 1
#7 The camera zooms out and we see Mace dominating, forcing Palpatine back. Then Palpatine does 2 crazy small flips off of some piece of furniture. The camera zooms in again showing Palpatine's saber close to his body blocking Mace's saber, this time he looks like he is having trouble defending. Score: Palpatine 2, Mace: 2
#8 Mace goes on the offensive (yeah kick his ###). They both block and spin. The glass shatters (who broke it? its hard to see. anyway...)
Score: Palpatine 2, Mace: 2
#9 They switch sides after a blocked hit.
#10 Palpatine does some jabs and Mace blocks them.
#11 They switch sides again. (right now Anakin is walking down the hall)
#12 Finally Mace gains the upper hand by kicking Palpatine, who drops his saber out the shattered window. Score: Palpatine 2, Mace: 3
#13 Palpatine backs up scared while Mace advances. the camera shows Anakin walking into the room.

Now the question is did Palpatine drop his saber on purpose. Here's my two theories. Enjoy:

Theory #1: Palpatine looses his saber on accident. Mace just surprised him and caught him off guard. Palpatine feels Anakin's presence and backs up. Anakin walks in. Palpatine puts on his fake act. Then, seeing/sensing Anakin is not fully convinced what to do he tries to buy himself more time. He shoots electricity at Mace. Mace deflects it back. It makes Palpatine deformed (possibly revealing his true age? we wont get into this now, though). Anakin is now put in a situation where he must choose who to save.

Now listen to this... Palpatine knocks Yoda's lightsaber out of his hand with lightning during their final battle and the first time in his office, Yoda is also not able to absorb the lightning (when he flies into the wall). This shows that Palpatine is strong enough to easily knock a lightsaber out of a hand. So if Anakin didn't come to his rescue... Palpatine would have knocked the lightsaber out of Mace's hand with lightning or killed him with the force.

I believe that if Anakin didn't interfere or if they fought a second time, Palpatine would win. I think that just this one time fate allowed Mace Windu to win so that Anakin would have to choose, thus fulfilling his destiny. See my blog on how he brought balance:

http://blogs.starwars.com/sith-archives66/1

I also believe that Palpatine would have killed Mace with the force if Anakin would not turn. In this event Anakin would strike him down, but it didn't happen like this.

For those of you who still believe he lost on purpose think of this... if Palpatine had to convince Anakin to turn after he arrived, had to buy time by shooting electricity at Mace, and also had to get deformed in the process, would he really take that big of a chance with the possibility that Anakin still might not turn.

Now many of you might be saying "oh, but Palpatine saw the future and knew he would save him," here's my response to you: if Palpatine saw the future of Anakin turning... why did he still shoot electricity at Mace, knowing that he would deflect it back and deform him in the process? Also remember, "always in motion the future is," as yoda once said. I just can't see Palpatine taking that big of a chance. Besides he couldn't see the future of the collapse of his empire and Vader's turn back to the light, so who said he could see whether or not Anakin help him? I mean after all... the SITH ORDER and his LIFE are at stake here!!! I just can't see him taking that big of a risk.

Theory #1 Summary: In conclusion, I believe that Mace caught Palpatine off guard and overpowered him, but Palpatine still could have killed him with the force, but decided not to and let Anakin choose.

Theory #2: Sidious tells Anakin that he is the Sith Lord (seeing that Kenobi has engaged Greivous and knows that he will probably win and then his term in office will be over he has to make his move on Anakin now). in any event Sidious tells Anakin thinking he'll turn (maybe he saw the future that Anakin would turn, but cant see how it will happen.

In any event, because Anakin says he's going to tell the council (little tattle tail) on Palpatine, Palpatine thinks his plan backfired. for the rest of the movie up until Mace and the other Jedi's come into the chancellor's office all cocky, Palpatine is desperately trying to make Anakin come. he is calling him through the force talking to him: "you do know... don't you- if the Jedi destroy me any chance of saving her will be lost..." he never says that to Anakin in the movie before that so don't say Anakin was remembering him saying that. Palpatine is literally talking to Anakin through the force trying in a last desperate attempt (which works) to change Anakin's mind. (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about I'm talking about when Anakin is in the council room alone, looking out the window, while Padme looks out the window and the Jedi head to the Chancellor's office.) in any event, up until Anakin walks into the building (notice i said building, not the actual office. this is important, keep reading), Palpatine is actually fighting as hard as he can trying to kill Mace since he thinks Anakin betrayed him (after all Anakin actually told the council and then didn't come when Palpatine was calling him).

Then if you look at my step by step above, it says that Anakin enters the building in one of the scenes while Palpatine and mace are still fighting. shortly afterwards Palpatine and mace break the window. then right before mace knocks the lightsaber out of Palpatine hand. Palpatine feels Anakin's presence enter the room and knowing he cant beat mace or convince Anakin (who is still not sure what to do) in a saber duel, he decides to toss the fight and let Anakin decide (plus if Anakin never sees him fighting it helps his "weak old man" theory a little better even if he still is an obvious Sith lord).

Theory #2 Summary: Basically I believe he was trying to kill Mace and the battle was about even until he felt Anakin's presence nearby and then dropped his saber outside the window on purpose and put Anakin in a situation he would have to choose.

I know a lot of this sounds confusing and I have been trying to word it as best I could for the past few days and wait for the right time of day to send it, but I hope I got the message across. Once again as I say all the time this is all speculation and no one has to agree with it. We will never really know unless Lucas himself tells us, which he would never do (he likes us creating these kind of debates). Comments are well appreciated, as are theories. If you would like a more in debt description of this or want to talk about anything star wars, I am open to e-mails as always at littleeagle2032@aol.com. Thank you all for reading this and for posting your comments!