and here we are... I like Mace Windu as a character, but I dislike him when he devolves into Sam Jackson. Mace is about keeping the Jedi Order under control, not being a bad MFer. I think people need to reign in Sam Jackson's leash a little.
I find it embarassing that there's 2 stand out black characters in Star Wars, and they are reduced to stereotypes of Blacksploitation by the fans. Sorry to rain on anyone's parade here, but think about it, please.
As for the greater topic, I see the Clone Wars as a fun cartoon, not as canon (which is a whole other sack of snakes [not on a plane, please
]). If you want to see the impressive skills of Mace in action, check out the book Labyrinth of Evil, which ties II and III together in a more cinematic and semi-realistic way as opposed to the flashy, ADD inspired cartoons.
Also, were they easy targets... I think two things are at play here. One, the Jedi hubris. These mystical warriors have been unopposed for a long ass time, and suddenly there's Sith and droids coming out of the woodwork. They never saw it coming because it never occurred to them to look, or that the Sith might actually be around. Second, much like how gunpowder spelled the end of the Samurai, blasters spelled the end of the lightsaber. To get this, you need to let the KOTOR go a little. Guns always beat swords, no matter how fast you are. Now, if the Jedi carried both blasters and sabers, they would have stood a chance. But there were just too many droids, and Palpy was sending them to the far corners of the galaxy to thin them out, wear them down. It was perfect.
