Full Series YOU design TCW

Yes, yes, another one of those threads. It's 2007 and you assume the crown (or cowboy hat?) of supervising director of The Clone Wars.

You are tasked by George Lucas to create a 7 season (22 episode ea.) storyline from AOTC to ROTS.

Your challenge: present George a summary of this storyline with a paragraph synopsis of the meta-arc for each season.

Stipulations by George:

• You MUST prominently feature a female Jedi Knight (i.e. create your own Ahsoka)
• You MUST resurrect Darth Maul for AT LEAST one arc of 4 episodes
• You MUST feature Black Sun, Mandalorians, and Nightsisters, though not necessarily the way they have presently been depicted
• You MUST include an arc on the planet Mortis (though everything else is up to you)

 

Ooh, intriguing. Always good to let off the fanfiction valve every now and then.

Shall post in here at some point, once I've had a little think.

 

I'd combine the Mortis and Maul arc, and make it Obi Wan's tripped out hallucination while toking with Kit Fisto and Quinlan Vos.

 

• You MUST prominently feature a female Jedi Knight (i.e. create your own Ahsoka)
• You MUST resurrect Darth Maul for AT LEAST one arc of 4 episodes
• You MUST feature Black Sun, Mandalorians, and Nightsisters, though not necessarily the way they have presently been depicted
• You MUST include an arc on the planet Mortis (though everything else is up to you)

Meta Arc One (from the Fandom Thread, Female Jedi Master Sayeinau Akoiya):

The Republic Goes Rogue Quadrilogy:​

1. Acclamator Sabotage: The CIS strikes back! The pivotally positioned world of Haui’Mayugthaur was won over by the Republic in one of the bitterest fought campaigns of the war. Jedi Master Sayeinau Akoiya led her personal militia and the clones to a hard-fought victory for the Republic despite her mistrust of Jango Fett’s DNA. But now Mar Tuuk leads a massive Separatist offensive helped by a CIS mole in the Republic’s ship.
2. Tarkin Rising: Captain Tarkin lands on the glacial city of Thaurmayue, the capital of Haui’Mayugthaur. Immediately he clashes with Master Akoiya, but as she leads an attack on the southern slopes of the city, Tarkin puts his own plans for the planet’s defense into action. Meanwhile Master Akoiya and her personal militia obliterated the CIS land forces that lay north of the equatorial zone.
3. Nightmares of Haui'Mayugthaur: The Karkarodon Commander Iqov Sanomt is leading the CIS forces. They have managed to secure most of the southern hemisphere, battling fiercely and destroying the Republic tanks. The reports of this have reached Captain Tarkin and he immediately decides to release a deadly bioweapon in the form of toxic incinerator bombs on the unsuspecting Separatist forces, despite the fact that the cities in the CIS path would be destroyed as well – the chief reason Master Akoiya was not willing to use them yet. The Republic bombers take off from the capital Thaurmayue, unaware that Master Akoiya’s forces are reaching the equatorial zone.
4. Phantoms of Akoiya: The bombers unleash their fury upon the southern zone, burning cities and millions of people in their path. The once lush boreal forest…all the flora and fauna die in quick succession. Master Akoiya reaches the equatorial city of Ba’Neis’Me. Scouts run up to her and inform her of the nearby city of Glamusgix being wiped off the planet by Republic bombers. Master Akoiya orders the scout to take her to the city. She sees the charred remains of what once was a magnificent city lying burnt, its surrounding lands a charred wasteland. Master Akoiya then recalls the words of Count Dooku, who told her of the Republic’s corruption. She immediately contacts Tarkin, but then she sees him executing Sanomt in cold blood, despite his pleas. Master Akoiya meditates amidst the wasteland and makes a major decision: she could not support the Republic anymore.

 

Limit Anakin and Obi-Wan's involvement to one arc a season. Mentions in other arcs are fine. Focus on everyone else. If you must have them in more than one arc do not have them fight Dooku or Grievous every time or something like that.

 

I'll come back tomorrow morning with my proper ideas, but this is what I've got for now.

Stop the Anakin/Padme constant get togethers.

Focus on a lot more of the different Jedi, not just Anakin/Obi-Wan/Ahsoka. Make me feel sad about their impending dooms in Episode III, some even before then- introduce them and keep them round for a while, then kill them. Not in the same arc, I often struggle to care for those.

 

This was one of the best things about the show. I miss season one in this respect.

 

Anakin was a main character in 15 episodes of Season 1, whereas he's only been a main character in 2 episodes so far this season. Season 1 has the second-most Anakin of any season in the show!

I swear most of LACWAC has forgotten what Season 1 actually was. The battle droid humour was absolutely horrific in the first season. Also have 3/4 episodes of Jar Jar, because he's your favourite Star Wars character, right?

 

True, but I meant more about characters like Kit Fisto having episodes dedicated to them.

 

I think I would like to go with the old plan: Ashoka is the main character, but she is not Anakin's apprentice, but rather Tera Sinube's.

They start off on a planet divided between Loyalist and Separatist forces - while the main characters put a good fight, eventually the numbers of the CIS win out, and the main characters are forced to flee. Trapped behind enemy lines, the jedi and surviving loyalists are forced to deal with the underworld in order to stay one step ahead of the CIS.

Eventually they would get back to the Republic...then I suppose we would move on to stories about the increasing militarism and oppression of the Republic.

Darth Maul...not sure what I would do with that. Perhaps reveal that Palpatine recovered his corpse and used it for experimentation, having him appear as a half-machine, half-undead monstrous assassin to clean up Palpatine's loose ends.

Black Sun - major villains I think. Multi race, but significantly better armed and trained than most underworld thugs.

Mandolorians: Have Fenn Shysa and the Protectors show up as sympathetic antagonists for an arc or two. Also, I would try to have it so Mandolorians had custom armor instead of all looking like Fett.

Nightsisters: Probably just one or two nightsister mercenaries working either for the underworld or the CIS. I think I would also throw in one of the good witch clans as well.

Mortis....hmmmm.....I think I would just have it as an unusually force strong planet where the characters experience some visions that lead to character development.

 

Allotting Separatist victories is always a step in the right direction as far as I'm concerned. Mortis is an intriguing idea, but like you, I'd prefer to make its existence ambiguous. (Filoni says the events therein were intended to be akin to the cave on Dagobah, but I think the show treated it much more literally.)

One thing I do enjoy about the series currently is its introduction of unallied or unaffiliated factions. Having wild cards like the Nightsisters, Death Watch, and the myriad criminal elements is really enriching narratively. I prefer that to bringing them all under Republic or Separatist umbrellas.

 

I've been putting a lot of thought into the "Mauldalorian" arc. For all its strengths and entertainment value, I think the story would have been better served had Maul and Opress not clashed with Obi-Wan so soon after "Revenge." Moreover, I think Sidious's presence would have been better justified had Dooku been sent first to deal with them. A prospective alliance is highly unlikely: Sidious [should?] be aware that Maul is not likely to befriend his replacement and Dooku, for all his cartoon villainy, is not likely to cozy up to the man who personally killed his Padawan. It would also have made the arc more epic and pivotal if Dooku, who is one of the few villains to be treated formidably and respectfully by the writers, fails to defeat the Zabraks. I think it is a victory on all fronts: Dooku's individual superiority can be confirmed while at the same time cementing the fact that this pair is especially dangerous to anyone. Then Sidious's inclusion is no longer just a cool decision, but a sensible one.

 

- Ahsoka exists, but she's no Anakin's apprentice. Perhaps Plo Koon's or an original characters' apprentice.

-Maul ends up surviving and it is in some way tied to Darth Plagueis, whether he was assisted from beyond the grave or Plagueis was able to body hop in some limited capacity in the same way that Vitiate could. Perhaps "striking a deal with the devil" as he lay dying to yield some power (in the form of letting Plagueis in) to keep them both mutually alive to some extent. I definitely would not just go some "oh, the Dark Side did it and it turned him into a spider" explanation. It would not be Plagueis dominating control over Maul, more like Maul hearing Plagueis' voice in his head.

Savage would find Maul in the Outer Rim completely battered and broken. He would not be entirely incoherent as he was in Brothers, but he would be more like Hitler in his last days, having plotted out grand schemes of how he is going to get revenge without taking into consideration that he has no way to carry those plans out as he's stranded. When Savage shows up with a ship, Maul is inclined to kill him, but decides to train him as an apprentice. Savage is thoroughly trained as a Sith on a deserted planet, much like how Yoda trains Luke, albeit much more ruthless.

In the end Maul voices ambition to use Savage to take on his former master, but Savage cuts him down in anger.

Plagueis then makes a similar offer to Savage as he made to Maul in offering greater power and Savage accepts.

-Much of what happens with Black Sun and Mandalore plays out the same, only with Savage going solo. Also I would have him approach Black Sun first without any thought given to Mandalore. He then leads the Black Sun to attack Mandalore and THEN finds out about how Mandalore holds influence over 2,000 systems. At which point he jumps sides and approaches Death Watch with the solution to how to defeat Black Sun and defeat the enemy he created. If anyone is going to use the "I felt a presence..." quote, it would be Palpatine who is horrified and goes to face Savage alone because he senses his master's spirit upon him.

The battle would be much more even with Palpatine struggling and both exchanging taunts. Palpatine would also become aware that Savage was partially trained by Dooku, which would create conflict between Palpatine and Dooku further down the line in a future arc. Palpatine would of course win and kill Savage (and finish Plagueis), but it would be much more difficult. Palpatine would not keep Savage alive.

-I don't have time to type up something for Mortis this second (have to get ready for work), I'll address it later, if I remember.

 

The Plagueis connection is definitely intriguing.

 

Here goes...

Jedi Master Obi-wan Kenobi is assigned a new second apprentice by the name of Ahsoka Tano. On their first mission together they are sent to investigate reports of a massacre on Planet Mandalore. There they find the culprit is none other than Maul, the Sith Kenobi thought he defeated. He has gathered together an army using the criminal empires of the Blacksun and the Pikes. It turns out he survived by cheating death with the darkside of the force and being infused with Mother Talzin's dark Alchemy which was used to conjure up a new lower half. This same dark magic also infused his little brother Savage Opress who was a wanted felon. The fierce battle happens. By working together with Bo-Katan and her forces the Master are able to lure the revenge crazed Sith off the innocent planet and unfortunately he escapes.

During their escape the engines lose power as they enter a strange nebula that is not mapped. The gas is to cold for a recent explosion to have happened. The find the miss clears to reveal a strange planet where they land on Mortis. There they encounter visions of the future and balance out the planet.

I will expand on this later.

 

Good idea. Don't have time to do this in any thorough way, but here's what I would do. N.B. it's difficult to think back to 2007 because there have been some pretty great episodes and ideas along the way that will heavily influence this.

Ahsoka - is the Padawan of K'kruhk, someone more or less like Luminara in terms of personality. No "Skyguy" garbage. Ahsoka can be just past a youngling like she is in the TCW film.

Ventress - storyline starts off more or less the same as in TCW - always trying for the approval of Dooku, never quite getting there. Obi-Wan is her nemesis and he represents all the failed promises of the Jedi Order but she's fascinated with him nonetheless. I'd maybe do a TCW version of Obi-Wan and Alpha/Rex being imprisoned by Ventress. Ventress eventually realized she is a tool of Dooku and nothing more, and that the Sith Order has failed her in the same way as the Jedi. She does turn to the Nightsisters, but none of this Savage/Maul garbage. Mother Talzin sees an opportunity for the Nightsisters to be a power in the galaxy, and Ventress as a tool/symbol of their potential. Ventress at first feels welcomed by her kin but quickly realizes the Nightsisters have been insular for so long they don't have a true grasp of the galactic conflict, despite their use of the Force and of dark magic. She does not want to be a pawn of yet another power-hungry tyrant and so leaves.

She does join a band of bounty hunters. She enjoys the freedom of taking one job at a time, and being in a group simply working for the weekend. They develop a reputation for being the most efficient and expert bounty hunters in the galaxy, a group that includes their leader Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, Boba Fett, Bossk, and Rako Hardeen. Black Sun has recovered from their unfortunate run-in with Darth Maul back before TPM, and is a rising power in the galaxy. They hire Bane/Ventress' group to assassinate Ziro the Hutt, a tyrant on Nar Shaddaa who is trying to centralize smuggling across the galaxy.

They successfully kill off ZIro, but Ventress sees the Black Sun replacement, a Zygarrian slaver, physically abusing some child slaves. She snaps and kills the Zygarrian, and then flees Bane and her comrades, knowing they'll have no choice but to try to kill her to appease Black Sun.

Ventress realizes she has more freedom and control as an independent vigilante, so she crosses the galaxy, going against Republic or Separatist forces, depending on whether or not she seems them as corrupt. She attains cult hero status in some parts of the galaxy, though her identity is always hidden.

K'kruhk becomes disillusioned with the war and the Order and essentially creates a schism in the Order. He plans to leave Coruscant and start his own off-shoot of the Order in Exile. He, of course, takes Ahsoka with him. He becomes obsessed with the "masked avenger" Ventress and is certain she would be a powerful ally and rallying point for his offshoot Order. K'kruhk and Ahsoka track down Ventress on Onderon. Ventress has been supporting some rebels who want to create a democracy on Onderon. She is about to slaughter some of the politicians, but K'kruhk confronts her and stops her. His sales pitch doesn't go down very well, Ventress gets angry, K'kruhk sees her as basically a Dark Jedi and undeemable, and they fight. Ventress kills K'kruhk in front of Ahsoka and is about to kill Ahsoka, and then realizes she's reliving her own life history, and knocks out Ahsoka and throws her onboard her ship. She turns away from the Dark Side and is convinced she will train Ahsoka, but won't have her turn out as Ventress herself did. She flies in search of the Order in Exile.

 

Does not compute.

 

Mortis - would basically start out the same, except it would just be Anakin and Obi-Wan. They encounter these god-like beings at a vergence in the Force. I had originally hoped in Overlords when Force Ghost Qui-Gon appeared, that because they were at a vergence in the Force and Obi-Wan's strong connection to Qui-Gon basically reconstituted Qui-Gon from the aether of the Force. I would make this a two-part arc, and it doesn't get as melodramatic or LOTR-y. The emphasis is on destiny and choice for both of them. They show Obi-Wan him turning away from Satine but later saving Qui-Gon life at some point, and in the future, him fighting Anakin and fleeing to the desert. They show Anakin turning away from his mother and then him being Knighted, and in the future, being asked to kill Palpatine by Obi-Wan when he could either kill Palpatine or save Padme, and he's shown the result of both his choices. They wake up and it's all a Force vision, but then we see Force Ghost Qui-Gon talking with the Father "I was one with the Force and now I have returned. How is this possible?" The Father replies something like "Jedi are sometimes able to maintain their identity after death, and they are able to communicate with those close to them. Your connection to Obi-Wan and Anakin here brought you back. The most powerful Jedi are so connected to the Force that they can willingly leave their bodies and become one with the Force" Then something like "you are more powerful now than you ever were as a Jedi, but you must understand the boy must decide his own destiny. You cannot choose for him."

 

Very cool ideas, nice work.

 

I knew this would be the ultimate surprise death in SW.

The Return of Darth Maul - Obi-Wan Kenobi meets with Jedi Masters Tholme and Quinlan Vos. They discuss the never-ending war and the Sith phantom menace behind it. They express frustration with never being able to find the Sith. They talk about finding a way to draw out the Sith.

Rumors start spreading about a Sith menace in the Outer Rim named Darth Maul. A panicked Nute Gunray finds a way to contact Darth Sidious and tells him a TF convoy was just attacked and crippled by Maul. Sidious asks "Darth Maul? Are you sure?" Gunray says "he was painted red and black! He didn't talk, just destroyed everything with his red lightsaber! Who else could it be?!?!"

Jabba the Hutt, getting desperate, hires Cad Bane to take his gang and assassinate Maul, who is proving bad for business (yeah, I'm re-using one idea here but I'm tired so shoot me). Kenobi was there himself to try to track down Maul and thought Jabba would have solid info, if any existed. He overheard Jabba hiring Bane et al; he then talks to Mace Windu and tells him he's got an idea. They convince Hardeen, Obi-Wan goes Undercover Brother (doesn't die this time).

Sidious discusses the Maul issue with Dooku, says he could interrupt their plans. Of course Sidious is fine with another upstart, if Maul again becomes his apprentice, that's fine. He gives Dooku a chance to cement his place. Dooku isn't stupid and doesn't want to move directly against Maul until he assesses his strength. He hires a Mandalorian mercenary group called Death Watch, led by Pre Vizla and Satine, to take out Maul.

Sidious then calls Anakin in for a private meeting. He talks about the rumors of Maul and is he concerned for Obi-Wan? He hasn't seen Obi-Wan around lately, perhaps he is trying to take care of Maul by himself? Anakin of course storms off to try to find Kenobi.

So Maul and his boys, Death Watch with Satine, Cad Bane and his group (Aurra, Boba, Hardeen/Kenobi, Bossk) all end up somewhere. Casualties on both sides. Maul kills Bane. Aurra is about to kill Satine when Hardeen/Kenobi intervenes. Kenobi is fired up and angry and Aurra et al flee. Kenobi is stunned that Satine is a part of Death Watch as she was a pacifist when they were younger. They start to argue but Kenobi says we have to stop Maul. He then says "something isn't right".

In comes Anakin, starts dueling with Vos. It doesn't last too long, and Anakin is about to finish off Maul, when Kenobi yells out "Noooooo!" and tackles Anakin. They fight until Kenobi/Hardeen convinces Anakin it's him. Tells Anakin to stop fighting Maul.

He goes over to Maul and says "well, you managed to draw out just about everybody but the Sith you were looking for. Isn't that right, Quinlan Vos?" TWIST.

 

For Mortis, I'd link it more to the idea of the Whills and prophecy.

I also wouldn't do some fantasy-esque story with enchanted swords and a Son and Daughter representing hell/heaven/dark side/light side/good/evil.

Instead of three individuals, I'd make it a civilization. The Rakata of Star Wars were already kind of the Atlantis/Rome with the Empire being in a relative Dark Age by comparison it seems. Technological progress isn't correlated with time, and some of the most advanced civilizations in Star Wars existed thousands of years in the past. Or in Star Trek, there is the Q Continuum which is a race that is far more advanced than humanity and have god-like abilities. I guess I'm OK with such an idea existing in Star Wars as well, so long as it is reconciled as to why such a powerful race is not out conquering the galaxy.

Hell, for Mortis, I wouldn't even be opposed to calling the "Force Wielders" Whills and establishing that the Whills are a remnant of the Rakata or something like that and that the monolith was a variant of their mind traps that has created a pocket universe in which they can exist.

I would make these Rakata/Whills/Force Wielders extremely powerful in the Force but make them more or less apathetic to what is going on in the galaxy. They would be more like diviners who use the Force to predict the future but do not take an active role in shaping the universe.

Anakin and Obi-Wan would be on their way to reinforce a fleet engaged with the Separatists when they get pulled into the mind trap. They would think time is passing normally and be extremely anxious to leave, believing their fleet is being massacred without their help and pleading with the Whills for a means to escape but nobody really cares to help them.

Obi-Wan and Anakin would explain what is going on in the universe, but they remain completely apathetic, only looking at the big picture and not the little picture. To them, the imbalance of the Force is insignificant as they realize that it has been imbalanced before, yet always manages to self regulate.

I'm pulling from Superman again here, but there was a story arc called Camelot Falls, in which a Sorceror foresees a future in which Superman is killed and humanity is driven to extinction that is tied to Superman's desire to save humanity. He argues that civilizations are meant to rise and fall like Atlantis and Camelot, and that the fall to evil is inevitable. And every time Superman saves the day from evil he is only postponing the fall as evil will return again stronger than before, until it emerges so powerful that nobody can stop it and Superman inadvertently causes the extinction of the human race and gets himself killed.

I would play that angle (to an extent). That the Whills believe that one side will always rise, but that the more it tries to maintain superiority and suppress its counterpart, the stronger the other side will become. Such that the Jedi tried to suppress the Sith and maintain peace for 1,000 years, but now the Dark Side is strong and they could not hold it back forever. And then when Palpatine creates his Empire and tries to coerce the Galaxy into submission, it only has the opposite effect of leading to the proliferation of heroes that will oppose him and inspire others to do the same until he is eventually defeated.

So the Whills just don't care because they see it as inevitable that the Sith will fail and that the Jedi will eventually fail, and that the Force will simply regulate itself. But that's not a good enough answer to Anakin and Obi-Wan since they care about the trillions of lives that hang in the balance and all of the deaths that can and would happen if the Jedi did not take action and were as apathetic as the Whills. Anakin and Obi-Wan would try to make appeals to the Whills to help them in The Clone Wars, realizing that they have immense power that could help the Republic, but the Whills do not care and mention that they have already seen that the Force will create a Champion of the Light Side to stem the increasing darkness.

Obi-Wan would assert that Anakin is that Champion and make mention of Qui-Gon and the belief that Anakin was conceived by midichlorians. The Whills would then downplay the role of midichlorians and treat them as a symptom and not a cause (for no other reason than because I hate the concept and would like to undermine it a bit).

The Whills would have existed in isolation for several thousand years and will pretty much just sort of go along with whatever they predict and not really hold any kind of moral convictions. However, over time the presence of Obi-Wan and Anakin would corrupt that apathy and appeal to their "humanity" and begin to polarize the Whills into the Light Side and Dark Side leading to conflict. The story would then play out similarly in that the Dark Siders wish to leave and run amok in the galaxy while the Light Siders begin to realize the danger that poses and begin to see the value in all the lives that would be lost and that even if it is inevitable that the evil would fall anyway, they are willing to do whatever is necessary to protect those lives, even if it means destroying the pocket universe and selflessly sacrificing themselves to prevent their escape.

Anakin would not see his future nor fully turn to the Dark Side, but he would be initially manipulated by a mutual desire to escape the mind trap so that he can rejoin the fleet and help out, while the evil Whills are capitalizing on that desire to find a way to escape so that they may be free and re-join the galaxy.

Ultimately the Light Side would triumph through sacrifice, but the last of the Whills would begin to realize the error of focusing on the big picture and overlooking all of the evil that happens when they remain apathetic. They would acknowledge Anakin's role as the Chosen One and the Whills would pull Qui-Gon from the netherworld of the Force either during the conflict to commune with him and determine if Anakin was the Chosen One and/or at the end as a parting gift to Obi-Wan and Anakin in which they could "say their goodbyes" to him and Qui-Gon could ease their minds that Obi-Wan should not regard Qui-Gon's death as a failure nor feel sad for him, etc.

 

@TaradosGon's idea of Savage outliving Maul is intriguing and I've been revisiting the Mauldalorian arc.

I think an episode or two dedicated to their exploits in the Outer Rim, as mentioned by Tom Kane in "Revival," would have been nice. But the entire pirate/Mandalorian arc would have been better served had it not been so replete with defeat for the Zabraks. I think the brothers should have assimilated the pirates, bounty hunters, and the crime syndicates like true Sith do: by beating them down and forcing them into submission. It would have allowed us more time to see rather than hear of their machinations. Then, everything plays out roughly the same: the Death Watch is the final addition to their motley crew and make their way home sweet home: they stage a coup, imprison Satine, and rally the public around Viszla: Maul has what he needs to disrupt the status quo and intrude upon his Master's carefully-designed plans.


Sidious sends Dooku to thin the proverbial herd: Dooku launches an invasion of Mandalore. We could see a fight between the Zabraks vs. Dooku & MagnaGuards while Viszla, Bo-Katan, and Death Watch repulse the Separatist invasion. The Death Watch succeeds, Maul and Savage combined force Dooku to retreat, and Viszla looks better than ever. Viszla graciously thanks Maul for his support but, jaded from his disastrous alliance with Dooku, tries to whack his Sith co-conspirators. Maul challenges Viszla and defeats him; he's executed for his weakness by his "replacement," Bo-Katan, who in turn can blame the Republic or the Jedi. (Perhaps she impales him with Maul's lightsaber?) Thus Mandalore is firmly opposed to the Separatist-would-be-conquerors and Republic-corrupt-saboteurs, Viszla is martyred, and Maul's gambit worked out brilliantly.