Tag: Star Wars

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Carmine Infantino

Comics artist Carmine Infantino died the other day. I primarily remember his work on the Marvel Star Wars series, which he drew during a hefty chunk of the period between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, which was actually a really wild-and-wooly time for the Star Wars comics. At that point, nobody had any idea what was to come in terms of the Star Wars mythology and backstory and so on, so Marvel was flying about as blind as could be. The result was a sequence of issues that told some really fun and entertaining space opera adventure stories, and Infantino’s art was a big part of that.

A fine, fine artist.

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Fixing the Prequels: Revenge of the Sith (part seven)

previously:

six
five
four
three
two
one


Diving right back in with both lightsaber blades ignited…or something like that. Anyway, when last we left, Palpatine had engineered Anakin Skywalker’s elevation to the Jedi Council, but the Council, angered at Palpatine’s machinations, denied him the traditional promotion to Jedi Master that usually is part and parcel of a seat on the Council. Anakin is then asked to report to the Council on the Chancellor’s dealings, which he is not comfortable doing. Then Palpatine revealed to the Jedi the location of General Grievous, forcing them to take action; he suggests that Anakin be given the assignment of going after Grievous, and again annoyed by Palpatine’s machinations, the Council gives the job to Obi Wan. So, thanks to Palpatine, Anakin’s already troubled relationship with the Jedi Order is now simmering, he’s been left behind on Coruscant to do nothing while the war enters its most critical phase, and Palpatine reveals to Anakin a Sith legend about the power to defeat death.

The die is pretty much cast at this point. Palpatine has sown the seeds of Anakin’s discontent with the Jedi, he has sown the seeds of Anakin’s temptation for power he can’t get with the Jedi, and he has sown the seeds of Anakin’s desire for action. Well done, Palpatine! All he has to do now is keep pressing.

At this point in the film, we cut from the start of the battle on Kashyyyk to Obi Wan departing Coruscant for the Utapau system, so he can investigate the report that Grievous is there. In the script, however, two scenes happen before that: a scene in which Obi Wan visits Padme, and another in which Padme meets with the Senators who are concerned over the Chancellor’s continued acquisition of power. I won’t quote either of those scenes, because they really don’t add much to the story, and I’m glad that Lucas cut them from the finished film. They’re OK, but hardly essential.

Instead, Obi Wan bids farewell to Anakin:

EXT. CORUSCANT-CLONE LANDING PLATFORM-DAY

ANAKIN and OBI-WAN walk onto a landing platform overlooking a docking bay where THOUSANDS OF CLONE TROOPS and armored weapons, tanks, etc., are being loaded onto a massive REPUBLIC ASSAULT SHIP.

ANAKIN: You’re going to need me on this one, Master.

OBI-WAN: Oh, I agree. However it may turn out just to be a wild bantha chase.

OBI-WAN starts to turn and leave.

ANAKIN: Master!

OBI-WAN stops and ANAKIN walks over to him.

ANAKIN: (continuing) Master, I’ve disappointed you. I have not been very appreciative of your training . . . I have been arrogant and I apologize . . . I’ve just been so frustrated with the Council. Your friendship means everything to me.

OBI-WAN: You are strong and wise, Anakin, and I am very proud of you. I have trained you since you were a small boy. I have taught you everything I know. And you have become a far greater Jedi than I could ever hope to be, and you have saved my life more times than I can remember. But be patient, Anakin. It won’t be long before the Council makes you a Jedi Master.

OBI-WAN starts down the ramp, then turns back.

OBI-WAN: (continuing) Don’t worry. I have enough clones with me to take three systems the size of Utapau. I think I’ll be able to handle the situation . . . even without your help.

ANAKIN: Well, there’s always a first time.

OBI-WAN laughs.

They talk for a few more minutes before ANAKIN watches OBI-WAN depart.

ANAKIN: Obi-Wan, may the Force be with you.

OBI-WAN: Good-bye, old friend. May the Force be with you.

OBI-WAN heads down a ramp toward the waiting Republic cruiser.

This is a nice little scene that I’ve always liked. The way the film ends up playing out, this is the last time Anakin and Obi Wan are together, as friends and comrades, before things go terribly awry. This, to me, only highlights the awful tragedy of what’s about to unfold, because it so completely takes the Jedi, and Obi Wan among them, by surprise. Their undoing comes from within, and they never saw it coming. I’d make an addition here, though:

As the Republic cruiser lifts away from the platform, Anakin turns to depart as well, when a Clone trooper approaches him.

TROOPER: Master Skywalker? The Chancellor is requesting you right away.

Anakin sighs.

ANAKIN: Very well.

Next is some nice banter and stuff as Obi Wan gets ready to investigate Utapau for General Grievous. No need to quote that stuff, but it’s another little character moment that I like. Real camaraderie has grown between Obi Wan and the clone troopers, at least a few of them. It’s another example of the Jedi’s complete lack of awareness of the tragedy to come.

Meanwhile, the following transpires in the script but not in the film. I’d restore it:

EXT. CORUSCANT-CITYSCAPE-CHANCELLOR’S TRANSPORT-DAY

The Chancellor’s Transport races through the city and heads for the Senate Office Building landing platform. Waiting on the landing platform is a LONE JEDI. The Transport lands, and CHANCELLOR PALPATINE emerges with FOUR ROYAL GUARDS and MAS AMEDDA. The FOUR ROYAL GUARDS move off in another direction as PALPATINE greets ANAKIN, who has been waiting for him.

PALPATINE: Well, Anakin, did you see your friend off?

ANAKIN: He will soon have Grievous’s head.

PALPATINE: We can only hope the Council didn’t make a mistake.

ANAKIN: The Council was very sure in its decision.

They exit the landing platform.

INT. CORUSCANT-SENATE OFFICE BUILDING-MAIN HALLWAY-DAY

They enter the main hallway of the Senate Office Building. They pass SEVERAL SENATORS, including REPRESENTATIVE JAR JAR BINKS from Naboo.

JAR JAR: Helloo Annie. Good en to see yousa . . .

The Gungan waves to Anakin.

ANAKIN: Hi, Jar Jar.

JAR JAR: Oopsin da Chancellor!! So sorry, Your Highness, sir.

Anakin turns back to the Chancellor. [None of this appeared in the movie, but I would not restore the Jar Jar bit. Nothing against Jar Jar, but it’s just a pointless bit.]

PALPATINE: There are rumors in the Senate about Master Kenobi. Many believe he is not fit for this assignment.

ANAKIN: Not fit? Why would anyone think that?

PALPATINE: They say his mind has become fogged by the influence of a certain female Senator.

ANAKIN: That’s ridiculous. Who?!?

PALPATINE: (slyly) No one knows who she is … only that she is a Senator.

ANAKIN: That’s impossible. I would know.

PALPATINE: Sometimes the closest are the ones who cannot see.

ANAKIN becomes worried.

PALPATINE: (continuing) Idle Senate gossip is rarely true and never accurate. I’m sure your Master will do fine. But you and I both know they should have sent you.

In the script, the deleted scenes paint a picture that Palpatine is trying to drive wedges all over the place: between Anakin and Padme, between Anakin and Obi Wan, between Anakin and the rest of the Jedi. I’d keep a very small bit of it – this bit, to be precise:

PALPATINE: Well, Anakin, did you see your friend off?

ANAKIN: He will soon have Grievous’s head.

PALPATINE: We can only hope the Council didn’t make a mistake.

ANAKIN: The Council was very sure in its decision.

PALPATINE: As they always are. Master Kenobi is capable, but you and I both know they should have sent you. Well, since the Council has decided that you are to watch me and report on my doings, you can have the pleasure of watching me meet with one group of Senators after another.

ANAKIN: Anything important?

PALPATINE: From this faction? No. Just jockeying for power when the war comes to an end. It’s all very silly…the usual business about taxation and trade routes….

ANAKIN looks bored as PALPATINE continues discussing statecraft.

Next, in the film, Anakin has another vision of Padme’s childbirth, but this one is a bit different:

INT. POLIS MASSA-MEDICAL CENTER-DREAM

PADME calls out in pain. OBI-WAN is near her and softly speaks to her.

OBI-WAN: Save your energy.

PADME: I can’t!

OBI-WAN: Don’t give up, Padme. Don’t give up . . .

That’s interesting in that he’s now seeing Obi Wan as involved somehow, as being present at the birth of Padme’s children, and not himself. This is a pretty interesting vision because that’s the one that ends up playing out, but in this context, it starts feeding into Anakin’s anxieties.

The next scene is where we really start to see some of Anakin’s internal turmoil. The scene as is works OK, but I’d still re-tool it:

INT. CORUSCANT-PADME’S APARTMENT-LANDING ROOM-DAY

ANAKIN snaps awake from the dream.

ANAKIN: No!

He is on the couch, where he had dozed off. He hears the sound of an approaching and slowing speeder, and he stands as PADME climbs out of the speeder that has just halted outside. C-3PO had been piloting.

PADME: Thank you, Threepio.

She smiles when she sees ANAKIN; they embrace and kiss.

PADME: I didn’t expect you.

ANAKIN: I had some free time, I guess. Chancellor Palpatine is in his daily meditations, and the Council doesn’t seem to think I’m to be allowed to do anything else.

PADME: It’ll be all right. You don’t always have to be on the front lines.

ANAKIN: I’m a Jedi. Yes, I do.

PADME lays down her parcels and pours a glass of water.

PADME: If you’re with the Chancellor, I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m part of a group of Senators who are meeting with him tomorrow about reducing the scale of executive power once—what is it?

ANAKIN: I sense someone familiar . . . Obi-Wan’s been here, hasn’t he?

PADME: He came by this morning.

ANAKIN: What did he want?

PADME looks at him for a moment. ANAKIN seems tense.

PADME: He’s worried about you. He wanted to talk about you before he left.

ANAKIN: Did you tell him about us?

PADME: No! But…I think he suspects. Maybe. We can trust him, though!

ANAKIN: He’s a Jedi.

PADME: You can’t trust a Jedi? Anakin, listen to yourself!

ANAKIN: You’re right…I just feel…weak. Like I’m not useful to anyone. And I shouldn’t feel that way. I’m the most powerful of all the Jedi, but I’m stuck here.

PADME tousles his hair.

PADME: Here’s not such a bad place to be.

ANAKIN: You know what I meant.

PADME: I know, but why worry about it? You said that you’re going to leave the Order when the baby comes, anyway. Is that still what you want?

ANAKIN: I want you. More than anything.

He puts his hand on her belly.

ANAKIN: I have to know that you’ll be safe from whatever is in my nightmares. I have to stop it.

PADME: Anakin, I’m sure you’re worried about nothing.

ANAKIN: I don’t think so. The Force shows me what will happen–

PADME: What might happen.

ANAKIN: I won’t let this happen, Padme. I won’t let you die.

They embrace and kiss again…not noticing the PROBE DROID outside their window.

INT. JEDI TEMPLE – MEDITATION ROOM.

MACE WINDU sits in the meditation chamber by himself, looking at holographic footage of ANAKIN and PADME kissing. Then he looks at a report on a computer screen, and shakes his head.

My purpose there is to get a lot of stuff in play: Padme’s ongoing involvement in what will become the Rebellion, Anakin’s anger at the Jedi and how it’s starting to color his perceptions of the Order itself, and his continued fear of losing his loved ones. And the fact that for all Anakin’s worrying about Obi Wan finding out about his marriage, it’s Mace Windu who knows.

Next comes the arrival of Obi Wan Kenobi on Utapau, his discovery of General Grievous there, and the start of that battle. This is one of my favorite parts of the movie, and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. Not one bloomin’ thing. This entire sequence is just cool, from Obi Wan’s landing on Utapau (the music does this really cool rendition of the “Force Theme”), and then his jumping on the back of some beastie to ride, and then his confrontation with General Grievous which serves as a diversion as the clone troopers attack. I love this entire sequence. It’s just terrific.

Back on Coruscant, though:

INT. CORUSCANT-JEDI WAR ROOM-EARLY EVENING

KI-ADI-MUNDI, ANAKIN, YODA, MACE, CLONE COMMANDER CODY, and AAYLA SECURA talk via holograms.

CLONE COMMANDER CODY: Master Windu, may I interrupt? General Kenobi has made contact with General Grievous, and we
have begun our attack.

MACE WlNDU: Thank you, Commander. Anakin, deliver this report to the Chancellor. His reaction will give us a clue to his
intentions.

ANAKIN: Yes, Master.

ANAKIN leaves the room. COMMANDER CODY’s hologram disappears.

MACE WINDU: I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi. The dark side of the Force surrounds the Chancellor.

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: If he does not give up his emergency powers after the destruction of Grievous, then he should be removed from
office.

MACE WiNDU: That could be a dangerous move … the Jedi Council would have to take control of the Senate in order to secure a peaceful transition . . .

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: . . . and replace the Congress with Senators who are not filled with greed and corruption.

YODA: To a dark place this line of thought will carry us. Hmmmmm. . . . great care we must take.

Interesting! The Jedi are scheming to put matters right if the Chancellor does not leave his office after the war ends. I’d clarify this scene just a bit:

INT. CORUSCANT-JEDI WAR ROOM-EARLY EVENING

KI-ADI-MUNDI, YODA, MACE, CLONE COMMANDER CODY, and AAYLA SECURA talk via holograms. ANAKIN enters.

MACE WINDU: You’re late.

ANAKIN: I’m sorry, Master Windu. I was detained.

MACE WINDU: Indeed.

ANAKIN and MACE WINDU exchange glances, but nothing is said.

CLONE COMMANDER CODY: Master Windu, may I interrupt? General Kenobi has made contact with General Grievous, and we have begun our attack.

MACE WlNDU: Thank you, Commander. Anakin, deliver this report to the Chancellor. His reaction will give us a clue to his intentions.

ANAKIN: Yes, Master.

ANAKIN leaves the room. COMMANDER CODY’s hologram disappears.

YODA: It has come. The last battles of the war, these are.

MACE WINDU: I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi. The dark side of the Force surrounds the Chancellor.

YODA: Manipulated by Darth Sidious, you believe he is?

MACE WINDU: That’s the most likely way of it.

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: If Chancellor Palpatine does not give up his emergency powers after the destruction of Grievous, then he should be removed from office.

MACE WINDU: That could be a dangerous move … the Jedi Council would have to take control of the Senate in order to secure a peaceful transition . . .

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: . . . and replace the Congress with Senators who are not filled with greed and corruption.

YODA: To a dark place this line of thought will carry us. Hmmmmm. . . . great care we must take.

I think it needs to be shown that the Jedi are on the right track, but they are also one step behind, which ultimately ends up destroying them. This is an important point and a subtlety that I think often gets lost amongst Star Wars commentators: the Jedi in the Prequel Trilogy are not at their best. Indeed, they are a slow-moving train wreck. Here they are planning to act to restore the Republic’s democracy, but Palpatine will be able to use that very plot against them.

And that’s where we’ll stop. Next time, Anakin – who has been teetering on the brink – finally tips. Or…is he pushed? Hmmmmm…tune in!

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Is Gonzaga Porkins, then?

March Madness explained by invoking Star Wars:


Of course, the fact that a geek like this has to ask why Luke has a grenade on Hoth with which he blows up an Imperial Walker is disappointing. Come on, pay at least some attention to the movie.

(via)

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Fixing the Prequels: Revenge of the Sith (part six)


previously:

five
four
three
two
one



OK, time to dive straight back in. Huzzah!!!

When last we left off, the various forces in Anakin Skywalker’s life were starting to use him as a pawn in their own various games. This was starting to have the effects we might expect, as both sides are using Anakin against the other – but Palpatine is doing it more constructively and in a way that is more likely to further his own goals. What always interests me is that of all the adult figures in Anakin’s life after Qui Gon Jinn’s death, the one who is most consistently encouraging of Anakin is Palpatine. He’s done an awful lot of heavy lifting to set Anakin up for his eventual fall.

And that brings me to an interesting speculative question: has Palpatine been planning Anakin’s seduction for twenty years?

I’m honestly not sure. On the one hand, Palpatine has shown enormous flexibility in his plans. He didn’t get bogged down when the Jedi and Queen Amidala defeated whatever his scheme for the Naboo blockade was – which seems to imply that he didn’t really care about that, one way or the other. The entire goal there was to simply get the game board arranged in such a way as to leave him in as powerful a position as possible. Mission accomplished, obviously. His plans seem so reactive, though: could he really predict Darth Maul’s defeat? Or Count Dooku’s? Likely not…but maybe so. Maybe he has been on the lookout himself, for the most powerful possible Jedi to turn. Maybe he set those earlier apprentices as ones that were doomed to defeat, and maybe he always had a backup plan ready to go for when the next one died. Palpatine has clearly been playing the long game.

And that brings us to the next scene in the film, which is one of the key scenes in the entire Star Wars saga. In this scene, Palpatine smoothly and even gracefully decides to dial it up with respect to his attempts to ingratiate himself with Anakin. He already knows that Anakin sees him as a father figure, because Palpatine has been his greatest source of consistent encouragement. Obi Wan is a teacher figure, not a father figure, and anyway, they are too close in age for Anakin to really take him completely seriously as an authority. As for the rest of the Jedi, they have made crystal clear that they’ve never really trusted Anakin, even before Mace Windu comes right out and admits it (albeit privately). Palpatine knows that Anakin is predisposed to hear him out, so now he decides to appeal to Anakin’s personal pressure points.

So here’s where Anakin joins Palpatine at the Coruscant Opera House (red text indicates material not in the final film):

INT. CORUSCANT-GALAXIES OPERA HOUSE-NIGHT

ANAKIN lands his speeder and exits.
ANAKIN runs up the stairs at the Galaxies Opera House.
ANAKIN runs through the hallway and enters Palpatine’s box, where the CHANCELLOR is sitting with Mas Amedda and Sly-Moore, watching the Man Calamari Ballet doing “Squid Lake.”

ANAKIN: You wanted to see me, Chancellor.

PALPATINE: Yes, Anakin! Come closer. I have good news. Our Clone Intelligence Units have discovered the location of General Grievous. He is hiding in the Utapau system.

ANAKIN: At last, we’ll be able to capture that monster and end this war.

PALPATINE: I would worry about the collective wisdom of the Council if they didn’t select you for this assignment. You are the best choice by far … but, they can’t always be trusted to do the right thing.

ANAKIN: They try.

PALPATINE: Sit down, (to his aides) Leave us.

ANAKIN sits next to PALPATINE. The Chancellor leans over to him.

PALPATINE: (continuing) Anakin, you know I’m not able to rely on the Jedi Council. If they haven’t included you in their plot, they soon will.

ANAKIN: I’m not sure I understand.

PALPATINE: You must sense what I have come to suspect . . . the Jedi Council want control of the Republic . . . they’re planning to betray me.

ANAKIN: I don’t think . . .

PALPATINE: Anakin, search your feelings. You know, don’t you?

ANAKIN: I know they don’t trust you . . .

PALPATINE: Or the Senate . . . or the Republic . . . or democracy for that matter.

ANAKIN: I have to admit my trust in them has been shaken.

PALPATINE: Why? They asked you to do something that made you feel dishonest, didn’t they?

ANAKIN doesn’t say anything. He simply looks down.

PALPATINE: (continuing) They asked you to spy on me, didn’t they?

ANAKIN: I don’t know … I don’t know what to say.

PALPATINE: Remember back to your early teachings. Anakin. “All those who gain power are afraid to lose it.” Even the Jedi.

ANAKIN: The Jedi use their power for good.

PALPATINE: Good is a point of view, Anakin. And the Jedi point of view is not the only valid one. The Dark Lords of the Sith believe in security and justice also, yet they are considered by the Jedi to be. . .

ANAKIN: . . . evil.

PALPATINE: . . . from a Jedi’s point of view. The Sith and the Jedi are similar in almost every way, including their quest for greater power. The difference between the two is the Sith are not afraid of the dark side of the Force. That is why they are more powerful.

ANAKIN: The Sith rely on their passion for their strength. They think inward, only about themselves.

PALPATINE: And the Jedi don’t?

ANAKIN: The Jedi are selfless . . . they only care about others.

PALPATINE smiles.

PALPATINE: Or so you’ve been trained to believe. Why is it, then, that they have asked you to do something you feel is wrong?

ANAKIN: I’m not sure it’s wrong.

PALPATINE: Have they asked you to betray the Jedi code? The Constitution? A friendship? Your own values? Think. Consider their motives. Keep your mind clear of assumptions. The fear of losing power is a weakness of both the Jedi and the Sith.

ANAKIN is deep in thought.

PALPATINE: (continuing) Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis “the wise”?

ANAKIN: No.

PALPATINE: I thought not. It’s not a story the Jedi would tell you. It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life … He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.

ANAKIN: He could actually save people from death?

PALPATINE: The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.

ANAKIN: What happened to him?

PALPATINE: He became so powerful . . . the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. (smiles) Plagueis never saw it coming. It’s ironic he could save others from death, but not himself.

ANAKIN: Is it possible to learn this power?

PALPATINE: Not from a Jedi.

There is a lot to unpack here. But first, just in terms of a movie scene, it’s fantastic. The effects are there in the strange opera/ballet being performed in front of them, but for the most part, the scene is just two actors sitting and talking. Ian McDiarmid just nails it here, making Palpatine sound so fatherly, so wise, so warm – and yet, the whole time he is in complete control. Notice how subtly he is able to appeal to Anakin’s single greatest fear, without even mentioning it or saying something like “I know that you are afraid of losing Padme”. He just slides into this story about Darth Plagueis, casually dropping the bit about defeating death into the mix as if it’s never occurred to him that Anakin might have a vested interest in that bit.

And then there’s the intimation that Plagueis was killed by his apprentice, with the clear implication being that Palpatine himself was that apprentice. But most interesting is that line about Plagueis using the midichlorians to create life.

Which brings me back to the oft-derided midichlorians.

The main basis on which the midichlorians are loathed by Star Wars fandom is that by positing their existence, George Lucas has tried to make a scientific basis for what was originally a completely mystical concept.

The problem with that way of thinking is that it is incorrect.

Here is how Ben Kenobi defines the Force, the first time we hear about it, in A New Hope:

The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

And here is what Qui Gon Jinn says about midichlorians, when we learn about them in The Phantom Menace:

Midi-chlorians are a microscopic lifeform that reside within all living cells and communicates with the Force…We are symbionts with the midi-chlorians…Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force.

According to the fans, the two explanations are contradictory. But I don’t think that they are. Not really. There is nothing in the latter that negates anything in the former. It does add a level of complexity, but so what?

George Lucas has always been heavily influenced by Asian thinking, and not just film making styles, either. There is a great deal in the mysticism of the Star Wars films that is completely compatible with Asian mysticism – Taoism, Buddhism, and the like. When I add that to the mix, I think I see what Lucas is getting at with the midichlorians. They’re not an attempt to graft some kind of pseudo-scientific technobabbly hogwash onto what was already a perfectly-good bit of magic. What they are is an expression of a deeply Asian idea, in the way Eastern thinkers have always seen the divide between science and mysticism very, very differently than we do in the West.

In the Asian view of things, science and mysticism are one. I can’t help but think that Lucas’s thinking here is heavily influenced by the types of ideas you’ll find in books like The Tao of Physics and The Dancing Wu-Li Masters. And the idea isn’t entirely incompatible with the more poetical passages of the works of Carl Sagan, who advanced the notion that life is not something separate from the Universe, but rather an emergent property of the Universe. In this formulation, the midichlorians are therefore not some new entity thrown in for no reason, but simply the lowest level at which the interactions take place.

That’s what makes this scene interesting, because the notion – barely even hinted at – is that Darths Plagueis and Apprentice (we assume it’s Sidious) did something that caused the midichlorians to start a new biological process in the womb of Shmi Skywalker. I’ve never been sure of what to make of this, because it’s a fascinating idea that, in the context of the movies, goes absolutely nowhere. The Sith use the Force to create a living being? The implications here are utterly fascinating (did they know where Anakin was? Did they have no idea and were just waiting for him to show up? Did they create a possible hundreds of potential Sith just to see who came to the fore?), and yet, Lucas goes nowhere with it. I don’t know if he just threw it in there for the EU authors to do something with, or what.

This is why I continue to hold to my belief that the midichlorians are not a conceptual error. They are a story error. The midichlorians are the gun on the mantelpiece that never goes off. So, all things being equal, I’d excise their mention here entirely, and just leave the midichlorians the way I left them way back when I fixed TPM.

Still, I do love this scene. Palpatine has shown remarkable restraint, waiting until he knows that Anakin is already starting to feel a certain amount of disillusionment with the Jedi to start to sow some more seeds of discontent. And he does it so interestingly, couching his temptations in Anakin’s sense of morality. Villains they may be, but the Sith genuinely believe that they are the good guys.

So in the next scene, Anakin gets to present his new intelligence to the Jedi Council, in addition to Chancellor Palpatine’s suggestion that he be sent to deal with General Grievous. Of course, the Council seems rather pouty about the whole thing, and they are now in the position of seemingly denying anything just because Palpatine suggested it.


EXT. KASHYYYK-DAY

A WOOKIEE CATAMARAN flanked by WOOKIEE HELICOPTERS approaches the tree housing the HOLOGRAM AREA.

90 INT. KASHYYYK-HOLOGRAM AREA-DAY

YODA and various JEDI speak via hologram. The discussion includes OBI-WAN, MACE, AGEN KOLAR, YODA- KI-ADI-MUNDI and PLO KOON.

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: (holo) Palpatine thinks General Grievous is on Utapau. We have had no reports of this from our agents.

MACE: (holo) How could the Chancellor have come by this information and we know nothing about it? We have had contact with Baron Papanoida and he said no one was there.

ANAKIN: A partial message was intercepted in a diplomatic packet from the Chairman of Utapau.

YODA: Act on this, we must. The capture of General Grievous will end this war. Quickly and decisively we should proceed.

OBI-WAN: Does everyone agree?

All the JEDI concur.

ANAKIN: The Chancellor has requested that I lead the campaign.

They all look at ANAKIN a bit disturbed.

MACE: (a little peeved) The Council will make up its own mind who is to go, not the Chancellor.

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: Yes, this decision is ours to make.

ANAKIN is embarrassed and becomes sullen.

YODA: A Master is needed, with more experience.

MACE: Given our resources, I recommend we send only one Jedi . . . Master Kenobi.

ANAKIN: He was not so successful the last time he met Grievous.

OBI-WAN throws ANAKIN a dirty look.

ANAKIN: (continuing) No offense, my Master, but I’m only stating a fact.

OBI-WAN: Oh no, you’re quite right, but I do have the most experience with his ways of combat.

YODA: Obi-Wan, my choice is.

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: I concur. Master Kenobi should go.

YODA: I agree.

All the JEDI concur.

MACE: Very well. Council is adjourned.

ANAKIN is angry.

MACE: (continuing) Obi-Wan, prepare two clone brigades as quickly as you can. If this report is true, there’s no telling how many battle droids he may have with him.

91 INT. KASHYYYK-HOLOGRAM AREA-DAY

YODA gets out of his chair and walks to the edge of the platform.

CLONE COMMANDER GREE: The droids have started up their main power generators.

YODA: Then now the time is, Commander.

CLONE COMMANDER GREE: Yes, sir.

The battle begins.

92 EXT. KASHYYYK-BEACH HEAD-DAY

A WOOKIEE CHIEFTAIN lets out a roar as the Wookiee army rushes to face the DROID ARMY. CORPORATE ALLIANCE TANK DROIDS race across the water against the WOOKIEES and CLONE TROOPERS on the beach. DROID GUNSHIPS provide air support, while a SPIDER DROID emerges from the watery depths. A brave WOOKIEE places an explosive on a SEPARATIST TANK and jumps off just before the TANK EXPLODES. From the Hologram Area, Yoda observes the ongoing battle.

I like the bit there in which Anakin takes a shot at Obi Wan’s Jedi fighting skills (not included in the film, obviously). But the main thrust of this scene is that the Council is going to resist what they see as Palpatine’s machinations, unaware as they are that Palpatine’s true purpose is to keep the Council pushing Anakin to be as resentful as possible. They play right into Palpatine’s hands, over and over and over again. What might have been, had they decided to just let Anakin have that assignment?

One last note: I love the Thai-influenced design of the planet Kashyyyk. Getting to finally see that planet is a nice reward. (No, we did not see it on the Holiday Special. That did NOT happen.)

And that’s where we’ll stop for this time. Stay tuned to see Anakn get closer and closer to Darthiness!

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Fixing the Prequels: Revenge of the Sith (part five)

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Again, it’s been a while since we did this, and I’ve been lax for mainly the same reasons: work on other projects, and the continued calcification of the view that the Prequel Trilogy is utter garbage. It seems that the only way to get commentary about the PT noticed online is to simply find some way to repackage the same, tired, old “The PT sucks and Lucas is a hack!” narrative. But for the sake of completeness, I suppose I should tilt at this windmill until I’m done…which is what I’m going to do. (I’ve already written several of the next posts in this series.) Perhaps a re-energizing of Star Wars fandom in the wake of the franchise’s transition in ownership from George Lucas to the hands of the Disney folks will lead to a re-evaluation of the Prequels…which might lead to a discovery of this blog series. A guy can dream, can’t he? So on we go!

When last we left off, we had completed the rescue of Chancellor Palpatine and were heading into the political part of the story. In my version, Anakin has already told Padme that when their child is born, he will leave the Jedi order; but Palpatine has already started his plotting, beginning with invoking some ancient law to appoint Anakin directly to the Jedi Council (which Anakin interprets to mean that he will, at long last, be made a Jedi Master). Meanwhile, Padme has been approached by several Senators who have strong concerns about the direction Palpatine is leading the Republic.

So: at this point in the film, Anakin stands before the Council after his appointment. It doesn’t go as well as he hopes. (Red text indicates material not in the film; blue text indicates stuff I’m adding on my own.)


INT. CORUSCANT-JEDI TEMPLE-HALLWAY OUTSIDE COUNCIL CHAMBERS-DAY

ANAKIN stands pensively (I’d have him pacing, actually.) in front of the Jedi Council Chambers. The door opens.

83 INT. CORUSCANT-JEDI TEMPLE-COUNCIL CHAMBERS-DAY

ANAKIN enters and stands in the middle of the room. He is surrounded by the Jedi Council MACE WINDU, EETH KOTH OBI-WAN, YODA, the HOLOGRAMS of PLO KOON and KI-ADI-MUNDI.

MACE: Anakin Skywalker, we have approved your appointment to the Council as the Chancellor’s personal representative.

ANAKIN: I will do my best to uphold the principles of the Jedi Order.

YODA: Allow this appointment lightly, the Council does not. Disturbing is this move by Chancellor Palpatine.

ANAKIN: I understand.

MACE: You are on this Council, but we do not grant you the rank of Master.

Anakin reacts with anger.

ANAKIN: What? ! How can you do this?? This is outrageous, it’s unfair . . . I’m more powerful than any of you. How can you be on the Council and not be a Master?

[I’m glad that Lucas excised that one sentence, there. It really makes Anakin sound whiny and entitled. The focus instead should be on the idea that just being on the Council should make him a Master, not on his power.]

MACE: You are powerful, and you have accomplished a great deal. No one here questions this. But it is the Council’s decision who becomes a Master, not the Chancellor’s, and there is no dusty ancient law in any book that he can use to make it so. Take a seat, young Skywalker.

ANAKIN: Forgive me, Master.

ANAKIN goes and sits in one of the empty chairs. Everyone is embarrassed. KI-ADI-MUNDI WHO APPEARS AS A HOLOGRAM, speaks.

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: We have surveyed all systems in the Republic, and have found no sign of General Grievous.

YODA: Hiding in the Outer Rim, Grievous is. The outlying systems, you must sweep.

OBI-WAN: It may take some time . . . we do not have many ships to spare.

MACE: We cannot take ships from the front line.

OBI-WAN: And yet, it would be fatal for us to allow the droid armies to regroup.

YODA: Master Kenobi, our spies contact, you must, and then wait.

Kl-ADI-MUNDI: What about the droid attack on the Wookiees?

MACE: It is critical we send an attack group there, immediately!

OBI-WAN: He’s right, that is a system we cannot afford to lose. It’s the main navigation route for the southwestern quadrant.

ANAKIN: I know that system well. It would take us little time to drive the droids off that planet.

MACE: Skywalker, your assignment is here with the Chancellor, and Kenobi must find General Grievous.

YODA: Go, I will. Good relations with the Wookiees, I have.

MACE: It is settled then. Yoda will take a battalion of clones to reinforce the Wookiees on Kashyyyk. May the Force be with us all.

ANAKIN is disappointed.

So Anakin had thought that Palpatine’s action would instantly elevate him to the highest levels of the Jedi order…but that’s not at all how things worked out. I really like this development and always have – with this one move, Palpatine has managed to drive the already-existing wedge between himself and the Council a little bit deeper, and he has managed to position Anakin right in the middle. He knows that Anakin will find the Council’s actions insulting, and what’s more, he clearly already knew that the Council would refuse to elevate Anakin to Master. Palpatine is planting seeds with the deftness of…a Sith Lord!

What happens next:

INT. CORUSCANT-JEDI TEMPLE-MASSIVE MAIN HALLWAY AND ALCOVE-LATE AFTERNOON

ANAKIN and OBI-WAN walk through one of the massive Jedi Temple hallways. ANAKIN is furious.

ANAKIN: What kind of nonsense is this, put me on the Council and not make me a Master!?? That’s never been done in the history of the Jedi. It’s insulting!

OBI-WAN: Calm down, Anakin. You have been given a great honor. To be on the Council at your age . . . It’s never happened before. Listen to me, Anakin. The fact of the matter is you’re too close to the Chancellor. The Council doesn’t like it when he interferes in Jedi affairs.

ANAKIN: I swear to you, I didn’t ask to be put on the Council . . .

OBI-WAN: But it’s what you wanted! Your friendship with Chancellor Palpatine seems to have paid off.

ANAKIN: That has nothing to do with this.

OBI-WAN: Anakin, regardless of how it happened, you find yourself in a delicate situation.

ANAKIN: You mean divided loyalties.

OBI-WAN: I warned you there was tension between the Council and the Chancellor. I was very clear. Why didn’t you listen? You walked right into it.

ANAKIN: The Council is upset I’m the youngest to ever serve.

OBI-WAN: No, it is not. Anakin, I worry when you speak of jealousy and pride. Those are not Jedi thoughts. They’re dangerous, dark thoughts.

ANAKIN: Master, you of all people should have confidence in my abilities. I know where my loyalties lie.

OBI-WAN: I hope so . . .

ANAKIN: I sense there’s more to this talk than you’re saying.

OBI-WAN: Anakin, the only reason the Council has approved your appointment is because the Chancellor trusts you.

ANAKIN: And?

OBI-WAN: Anakin, look, I am on your side. I didn’t want to see you put in this situation.

ANAKIN: What situation?

OBI-WAN: (takes a deep breath) The Council wants you to report on all of the Chancellor’s dealings. They want to know what he’s up to.

ANAKIN: They want me to spy on the Chancellor? That’s treason!

OBI-WAN: We are at war, Anakin. The Jedi Council is sworn to uphold the principles of the Republic, even if the Chancellor does not.

ANAKIN: Why didn’t the Council give me this assignment when we were in session?

OBI-WAN: This assignment is not to be on record. The Council asked me to approach you on this personally.

ANAKIN: The Chancellor is not a bad man, Obi-Wan. He befriended me. He’s watched out for me ever since I arrived here.

OBI-WAN: That is why you must help us, Anakin. Our allegiance is to the Senate, not to its leader who has managed to stay in office long after his term has expired.

ANAKIN: Master, the Senate demanded that he stay longer.

OBI-WAN: Yes, but use your feelings, Anakin. Something is out of place.

ANAKIN: You’re asking me to do something against the Jedi Code. Against the Republic. Against a mentor . . . and a friend. That’s what’s out of place here. Why are you asking this of me?

OBI-WAN: The Council is asking you.

Hoo-boy. When I really think about it, the clarity of Palpatine’s plan really crystallizes nicely here. The Jedi don’t trust Palpatine, but he gives them a golden opportunity to have someone watching him very closely. Palpatine is banking on the fact that Anakin perceives the Council as not trusting him, when in fact, they apparently do – or enough of them to think it’s advisable to ask this of him. Palpatine knows that Anakin does not trust them, even if Anakin hasn’t yet figured this out. He’s playing on the fact that Anakin must be well aware of the Council’s long-standing suspicion of him and his abilities, going all the way back to when Qui Gon Jinn presented him to the Council as a young boy.

And thus Palpatine lays the trap for the Jedi, which they walk into, fully aware even as they do it. Is Palpatine worried about Anakin reporting his doings to the Jedi? Perhaps…but he suspects that, when it finally comes time to make the choice, Anakin will choose him instead. It’s almost as if, after years and years and years of careful plotting and reacting to events, Palpatine is finally ready to go “all in”. I’ve always thought this all very well-constructed on Lucas’s part.

Next comes a scene that demonstrates, for me, the thin line that the Jedi are walking (and they are not walking it particularly well):

INT. CORUSCANT-JEDI GUNSHIP-DAY

YODA, MACE, and OBI-WAN ride in the GUNSHIP as it heads for the Clone landing platform. Mace and Obi-Wan are sitting.

OBI-WAN : Anakin did not take to his assignment with much enthusiasm.

YODA: Too much under the sway of the Chancellor, he is. Much anger there is in him. Too much pride in his powers.

MACE: It’s very dangerous, putting them together. I don’t think the boy can handle it. I don’t trust him.

OBI-WAN: He’ll be all right. I trust him with my life.

MACE:I wish I did.

OBI-WAN: With all due respect, Master, is he not the Chosen One? Is he not to destroy the Sith and bring balance to the Force?

MACE: So the prophecy says.

YODA: A prophecy . . . that misread could have been.

OBI-WAN: He will not let me down. He never has.

YODA: I hope right you are. And now destroy the Droid armies on Kashyyyk, I will. May the Force be with you.

The GUNSHIP lands and the ramp lowers. YODA exits the GUNSHIP. MACE and OBI-WAN stand and give him a brief bow then take off in the GUNSHIP.

Again: hoo-boy. It’s like the Jedi see that something very bad is looming out there if they keep doing things this way, and then they just keep on doing things that way. This facet of the Jedi’s eventual fall – the way they brought a great deal of it on themselves, just by being clueless about things at really bad times – is an element I’ve always wished that George Lucas would have brought forward much more strongly. The Jedi fall is, to me, lines up almost perfectly, by way of metaphor, with that of the Knights Templar. If you’ve never read up on the history of the Templars, check it out…and for a good time, mentally substitute the word ‘Jedi’ for ‘Templar’ as you get close to the end.

But meanwhile: Mace, Mace, Mace, you ignorant slut. The key question here is pretty obvious: if you don’t trust Anakin – and it’s clear that Windu is not alone in his lack of enthusiasm for him – then why on Earth are you entrusting him with such a task? If you all feel that Anakin’s friendship with Palpatine is something to be concerned about, why do you not only tacitly endorse it but openly encourage it by giving him such an assignment? Even Obi Wan, who knows Anakin best and trusts him the most, thinks that Anakin is too close to Palpatine. None of the Jedi actions here really make sense, and to me they illustrate what’s most interesting about the Prequel Trilogy: that the Jedi by this time aren’t even close to being the Jedi Order in its prime. They are disastrously close to something bad happening, and while they know it’s there, they have no real idea where the threat is coming from. Right now they don’t trust Palpatine, but that he actually is the threat has not yet entered their minds.

In terms of this scene, though, I’d add something:

OBI-WAN : Anakin did not take to his assignment with much enthusiasm.

YODA: Too much under the sway of the Chancellor, he is. Much anger there is in him. Too much pride in his powers.

MACE: It’s very dangerous, putting them together. I don’t think the boy can handle it. I don’t trust him.

OBI-WAN: He’ll be all right. I trust him with my life.

MACE:I wish I did. There’s something at odds about young Skywalker. He is powerful and he has done many great things, but his thoughts and feelings are not focused on his Jedi duties.

OBI-WAN: What do you think he’s focusing on instead?

MACE: I do not know.

This will play into something a little later on, pertaining to Anakin’s eventual fall from grace.

Meanwhile, Anakin goes home to Padme, and it’s clear that the pressures on Anakin are starting to take a toll on him there, too.

EXT. CORUSCANT-PADME’S APARTMENT-VERANDA-SUNSET

Padme’s Speeder pulls up to the landing platform. CAPTAIN TYPHO escorts PADME onto the veranda, where TWO HANDMAIDENS (ELLE and MOTEE) are waiting. PADME turns to CAPTAIN TYPHO.

PADME: Thank you, Captain.

CAPTAIN TYPHO: Rest well. My Lady.

CAPTAIN TYPHO gets back into the Speeder, and it disappears into the cityscape. The HANDMAIDENS, Motee and Elle, approach PADME as the SHADOW OF A FIGURE moves in the background. C-3PO is standing nearby.

PADME: I’ll be up in a while.

MOTEE: Yes, my lady.

C-3PO stands, confused, as the HANDMAIDENS turn and exit.

C-3PO: Is there anything I might do for you, my lady?

PADME: Yes, make sure all the security droids are working. Thank you, Threepio.

The golden droid turns and exits.

PADME stands and watches the sunset. The SHADOWY FIGURE moves toward her. She senses something.

ANAKIN: Beautiful, isn’t it?

PADME jumps and turns around.

PADME: You startled me.

He sits next to her on the bench.

ANAKIN: How are you feeling?

PADME: He keeps kicking.

ANAKIN: He?! Why do you think it’s a boy?

PADME: (laughs) My motherly intuition.

She puts his hand on her belly.

ANAKIN: Whoa! With a kick that strong, it’s got to be a girl.

They laugh.

PADME: I heard about your appointment. Anakin. I’m so proud of you.

ANAKIN: I may be on the Council, but . . . they refused to accept me as a Jedi Master.

PADME: Patience. In time, they will recognize your skills.

ANAKIN: They still treat me as if I were a Padawan learner. . . they fear my power, that’s the problem.

PADME: Anakin . . .

ANAKIN: Sometimes, I wonder what’s happening to the Jedi Order . . . I think this war is destroying the principles of the Republic.

PADME: Have you ever considered that we may be on the wrong side?

ANAKIN: (suspicious) What do you mean?

PADME: What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we have been fighting to destroy?

ANAKIN: I don’t believe that. And you’re sounding like a Separatist!

PADME: Anakin, this war represents a failure to listen . . . Now, you’re closer to the Chancellor than anyone. Please, please ask him to stop the fighting and let diplomacy resume.

ANAKIN: (growing angry) Don’t ask me to do that, Padme. Make a motion in the Senate, where that kind of a request belongs. I’m not your errand boy. I’m not anyone’s errand boy!

PADME: What is it?

ANAKIN: Nothing.

PADME: Don’t do this . . . don’t shut me out. Let me help you.

ANAKIN: You can’t help me . . . I’m trying to help you.

They look in each other’s eyes.

ANAKIN: (continuing) I sense . . . there are things you are not telling me.

PADME is startled at this.

PADME: I sense there are things you are not telling me.

PADME smiles. ANAKIN is a little embarrassed.

PADME: (continuing) Hold me . . . like you did by the lake on Naboo, so long ago . . . when there was nothing but our love … No politics, no plotting … no war.

Here we have another example of a scene that works better as written than as eventually shown in the finished film, which means that it’s another case of overzealous editing. Basically we cut to the middle of a discussion of politics, with no preamble or set-up, which just doesn’t work very well at all. During this whole part of the movie, I remember thinking, “Wow, does anybody ever just sit and talk in these? Is it all politics, all the time?” And I can see that Lucas wanted to get the running time under control, but really – you’ve got to let a story breathe at times.

So I’d pick up the scene earlier and make a couple of tiny additions:

EXT. CORUSCANT-PADME’S APARTMENT-VERANDA-SUNSET

Padme’s Speeder pulls up to the landing platform. CAPTAIN TYPHO escorts PADME onto the veranda, where TWO HANDMAIDENS (ELLE and MOTEE) are waiting. PADME turns to CAPTAIN TYPHO.

PADME: Thank you, Captain. I’m sorry I’m so late. There were some informal meetings after the official business ended.

CAPTAIN TYPHO: You don’t need to explain to me, My Lady. Rest well.

CAPTAIN TYPHO gets back into the Speeder, and it disappears into the cityscape. The HANDMAIDENS, Motee and Elle, approach PADME as the SHADOW OF A FIGURE moves in the background. C-3PO is standing nearby.

PADME: I’ll be up in a while.

MOTEE: Yes, my lady.

C-3PO stands, confused, as the HANDMAIDENS turn and exit.

C-3PO: Is there anything I might do for you, my lady?

PADME: Yes, make sure all the security droids are working. Thank you, Threepio.

The golden droid turns and exits.

PADME stands and watches the sunset. The SHADOWY FIGURE moves toward her. She senses something.

ANAKIN: Beautiful, isn’t it?

PADME jumps and turns around.

PADME: You startled me.

He sits next to her on the bench.

ANAKIN: How are you feeling?

PADME: He keeps kicking.

ANAKIN: He?! Why do you think it’s a boy?

PADME: (laughs) My motherly intuition.

She puts his hand on her belly.

ANAKIN: Whoa! With a kick that strong, it’s got to be a girl.

They laugh.

PADME: I heard about your appointment. Anakin. I’m so proud of you…What is it?

ANAKIN: I may be on the Council, but . . . they refused to accept me as a Jedi Master.

PADME: Patience. In time, they will recognize your skills.

ANAKIN: They still treat me as if I were a Padawan learner. . . they fear my power, that’s the problem. And they’re angry that the Chancellor used that law in the first place. So I’m in the middle, while everything falls apart.

PADME: Anakin . . .

ANAKIN: Sometimes, I wonder what’s happening to the Jedi Order . . . I think this war is destroying the principles of the Republic.

PADME: Have you ever considered that we may be on the wrong side?

ANAKIN: (suspicious) What do you mean?

PADME: What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we have been fighting to destroy?

ANAKIN: I don’t believe that. And you’re sounding like a Separatist!

PADME: Anakin, this war represents a failure to listen . . . Now, you’re closer to the Chancellor than anyone. Please, please ask him to stop the fighting and let diplomacy resume.

ANAKIN: (growing angry) Don’t ask me to do that, Padme. Make a motion in the Senate, where that kind of a request belongs. I’m not your errand boy. I’m not anyone’s errand boy!

PADME: What is it?

ANAKIN: Nothing.

PADME: Don’t do this . . . don’t shut me out. Let me help you.

ANAKIN: You can’t help me . . . I’m trying to help you.

They look in each other’s eyes.

ANAKIN: (continuing) I sense . . . there are things you are not telling me.

PADME is startled at this.

PADME: I sense there are things you are not telling me.

PADME smiles. ANAKIN is a little embarrassed.

PADME: (continuing) We can’t let this war come between us. Not when we’ve both lost so much!

She steps into his embrace.

PADME: Hold me . . . like you did by the lake on Naboo, so long ago . . . when there was nothing but our love … No politics, no plotting … no war.

ANAKIN returns the embrace, and for a second, his expression is at peace…but then, C-3PO enters.

C-3PO: Oh! I am sorry, Master Anakin, but you have a message. The Chancellor is requesting your presence.

ANAKIN sighs.

ANAKIN: I don’t want to go.

PADME: You have to. You still have your duties.

ANAKIN: But who am I serving?

She kisses him, and they hold each other for just a moment longer.

EXT: CORUSCANT – SKY OUTSIDE PADME’S APARTMENT

Unbeknownst to them, a probe droid is hovering nearby, its camera focused on them as they complete their embrace and part, with ANAKIN walking away.

INT: CORUSCANT – JEDI TEMPLE – COUNCIL CHAMBERS – NIGHT

MACE WINDU sits alone in the Council chamber, watching a holographic feed of what the probe droid is viewing: ANAKIN and PADME embracing. MACE leans back in his chair and turns to stare at the Coruscant skyline, deep in thought.

It’s probably pretty obvious where I’m going with that last bit. George Lucas made quite clear that the real wedge, the final break, between Anakin and the Jedi would center upon Mace Windu. Here I’m drawing that out even more. He has suspicions about Anakin, and now he’s actively pursuing them.

That’s where I’ll stop here. Next time, we come in as Palpatine starts to make his move to lure Anakin away from the Jedi. Tune in!

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Darth Abrams?

According to a number of media reports, JJ Abrams is directing the first Star Wars movie of the Disney era. I’m mostly fine with this — of all my myriad problems with Star Trek 2009, none of them were in the film’s execution or direction. I thought that Abrams made a fine explodey-spaceshippy-goodness movie, so if he’s directing Star Wars, yeah…I’m fine.

I don’t want him writing it, though. I’ve never cared for his work as a writer. Nor do I want Orci and Kurtzman to write it, either. Because they are, frankly, terrible writers.

If only there was a writer out there somewhere, well-steeped in Star Wars and space opera, waiting for his big break…if only…doo de doo de doo….

Long live Star Wars!

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Further random thoughts on Disney and Lucasfilm

Some more notions that have occurred to me….

:: Deals like this don’t come out of the blue. It’s not like Disney called George Lucas in the morning the other day, while Uncle George was enjoying breakfast and the morning paper, and said, “Hey, we wanna buy your company and Star Wars. Four billion OK?” So I wonder if the eternal ‘in development’ phase of the long-promised Star Wars live-action teevee show was in fact ever taking place, or if this was a ‘develop some notions for the next batch of movies’ kind of thing.

:: Obviously this deal has sparked a lot of Star Wars-related comment around the Interweb, and I find about ninety percent of what I’ve read to be either stupid or annoying or stupidly annoying or annoyingly stupid. The main reason is that the vast majority of pieces I’ve read this week on the subject haven’t involved any kind of real comment on possible directions Star Wars may take; instead, it’s all been of the grinding-the-old-axe variety. You know: “Hey, Star Wars is in the news again! Let’s talk about how awful George Lucas and the Prequels and Jar Jar are all over again! And let’s whine about how our childhoods have been destroyed, all over again! Let’s stick that knife in, all over again!” Ugh.

:: I’m not sure it constitutes a consensus, but the most common thing I’ve heard about a possible story for the putative Episodes VII, VIII, and IX is very simply this: “Adapt the Thrawn Trilogy to big screen!” (The Thrawn Trilogy are the novels written by Timothy Zahn back in the early 1990s, which resurrected Star Wars as a going concern and established a lot of the territory for the Expanded Universe stuff.) Now, the Thrawn Trilogy is pretty cool and all (I should re-read it one of these days), but remember when lots of Star Wars ‘fans’ were constantly bitching about the Prequels on the grounds of “Where’s the suspense? We know how the story ends!”? Yeah, I remember that, too.

:: Anyone who says that is an idiot, by the way. Finding out what happens next is not the only reason to experience a story, and anyone who implies that it is doesn’t know a thing about what they’re talking about.

:: I already mentioned the other day that I’m not sure I want to see a long series of Star Wars Episode ___ movies, which would take the story farther and farther from the original story of two generations of Skywalkers. But the solution there is pretty obvious: Drop the episode numbers. If they really want to diverge and explore the Star Wars universe theatrically, I’d be fine with leaving the existing films as the only numbered ones, and just give the other ones titles like Star Wars: The New Republic, or whatever.

:: I have no problem with JJ Abrams directing a Star Wars movie. I just don’t want him writing one. And ditto Damon Lindelof.

OK, that’s it. Again.

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The Mouse and the Lightsaber: Random Thoughts on the Disney-Lucasfilm Deal

When I got home from work today, I walked in the door, took care of the mail, unpacked my lunchbox, changed my clothes, and checked the news…to learn that George Lucas has sold Lucasfilm to Disney…including Star Wars. This news really stunned me at first, but as I thought about it, some things crystalized in my head.

:: For years I’ve read and heard people pining that the Star Wars franchise would go the way of James Bond, with different directors getting cracks at it. That seems pretty possible now, for better or for worse.

:: I don’t really have a problem with Disney owning Star Wars or taking the franchise into the future. I think that Lucas has long made it clear that he’s made all the Star Wars movies he wants to make, but that doesn’t rule out the idea of any new ones being made at all. That’s a big universe he’s created there. Why not?

:: For all the complaints heaped upon Disney over the years, fact is, they’re still responsible for an awful lot of really good stuff.

:: I’ve got to think that Disney will be a lot less reticent about the whole “releasing the original versions on DVD” thing than Lucas himself was. I’ve never been one of those fans, but they’re out there, and boy, are they vocal.

:: This also pretty much guarantees that the last set of changes to the Original Trilogy are almost certainly the last set of changes to the Original Trilogy, doesn’t it?

:: For all that…this idea of a new Star Wars movie every few years feels kind of odd to me. One of the big appeals to me about Star Wars is that it’s always been a single story (at least as far as the movies go), this tale of the two generations of the Skywalker family and how one fell into darkness and found redemption at the hands of the next. By necessity, now, the story will become more than that, and with each new tale, that original story becomes a smaller piece of a greater whole. I’m not sure how I feel about that.

:: I had a conversation on Twitter a week or two ago with a friend who had decided that all the various new Star Wars products just weren’t for him anymore, and as a result, his fandom was waning. The point that I made is that Star Wars has become so large in terms of product that one can literally decide what kind of fan one wants to be. That seems very cool to me. I adore Star Wars, but my fandom turns out to be very limited: it pretty much starts and stops with the six existing movies. I read the ‘Expanded Universe’ novels when they started coming out (and I still have quite a lot of love for the Timothy Zahn books, as well as quite a few of the comics, with special love reserved for the Marvel Star Wars title that ran from 1977 to 1987), but I’ve long since stopped following all of that. And I’ve never really gotten around to watching much of The Clone Wars beyond the first couple of episodes (which I actually found pretty solid pieces of entertainment).

Why is this? Well, mostly I suppose it’s because I’m so scattershot in my various fandoms. I’m easily distracted by The Shiny, and I want to fill my life with as much Shiny as possible. I’m just not wired to focus my energies on any one particular variety of The Shiny. But there’s just too much Star Wars out there for me to keep track of, and it’s aimed all over the map. There’s Star Wars for grown-up readers, and there’s Star Wars for kids. Which is why, for me, I’ve pretty much stopped at the movies. I’ll watch what comes, as an observer. And I’ll almost certainly see new movies.

:: I don’t hate the guy. I really, truly don’t. But if Hans Zimmer ever writes the score for a Star Wars movie, I will show up at the theater, consume an entire large popcorn, and then wash it down with ipecac.

:: This isn’t really relevant to the topic at hand, but…f*** Red Letter Media.

:: Some small part of me — the part that’s the writerly equivalent of the kid playing pick-up baseball on the sandlot with a couple of buddies, whispering “It’s the bottom of the ninth in Game Seven…we’re down by three, bases are loaded, two outs and I step up to the plate….” as he awaits the pitch from his older brother — has lazily daydreamed about getting Princesses In SPACE!!! (not the actual title) published, and then a sequel, and then turning the following universal acclaim into being asked by George Lucas to personally write Star Wars Episode VII. That dream has now been taken from me. Sigh….

:: No matter the result, the fact that George Lucas is willing to let Star Wars go, after it’s been the labor of his life, is really something. If it wasn’t obvious, I love this guy and this just helps that right along. What a great thing to do.

:: Speaking of which: as a Buffalo Bills fan, the symbolism of an amazingly rich man selling to someone else the thing that brought him untold riches, that its future might be assured and in good hands, is not lost on me. I hope someone at Ralph Wilson’s house leaves a newspaper on the table, turned to this story….

:: SamuraiFrog has some thoughts, as I figured he would. So does John Scalzi, but when it comes to George Lucas and Star Wars he’s pretty much full of bird poop, so ’tis best to set your phasers (wrong franchise, I know) to ‘ignore’.

:: All that said…I’m really not sure how ready I am to see Princess Leia included amongst the lineup of Belle, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and all the rest!

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