ST Luke Skywalker's New (or Old) Jedi Order?

So you're telling me that Mon Mothma, Borsk Fey'lya, Elegos A'kla, any of the Moffs, Teneniel Djo, and Prince Isolder (just to name a few politicians in star wars) are all weak minded fools that would bend at a simple jedi mind trick? I find that most humorous... That is assuming these characters from the EU or Mon Mothma were to be in Episode VII in any capacity... Nevertheless not all of the senators are jar jar binks and many of them are extremely intelligent, crafty, scheming, backstabbing, crooked politicians... That's not even including the Generals or Admirals that are military chief of staff which is a political position in the senate being the military voice in the room...

 

If you can't imagine anything, I won't do it for you.

 

Also Leia was a politician long before she was a jedi, just saying...

 

I can imagine quite a lot for this, but it doesn't strike me as interesting. I prefer a non-political ST. Unless the politics are really really well done and about interesting subjects (like not the meta subject of whether space wizards are suited for politics or not). But it is hard, very hard, to write convincing politics between all the countless action scenes. If it were a tv-series that would be different.

One far more interesting political topic - to give an example - would be how diplomacy between all the different species work. How can the laws be made to give all of them what they need (while being fair) when they have so different needs?

 

Politics can be represented in different ways. I've written recently that a "political" plot could be full of cloak and dagger spy stuff, like we saw in some TCW episodes. Anyway, I'm not going to do the work for you. Let's just agree that it's impossible because you say it is.

 

Cloak and dagger spy stuff never played a large role in Star Wars, and when it did it was pretty bad. Are you thinking about another franchise?

 

I'd honestly rather just see the New Jedi Order forming and having it's political opponents to having a Jedi Council much like some of the EU books.... That there are many Jedi supporters and rightly there should, but then also having the hardcore politicians that always have a lingering feeling that the Jedi are going to take over or become Sith and try to subvert the Jedi Order's attempts to make policy or have any say in the government structure....

 

How about a war instead of playing wannabe x-men (I assure you, the x-men did politics far better than GL) or rehashing episode III?

 

If that's what you mean then I'm all for it or like a Game of Thrones style where there are many factions trying to pull the New Republic or Galactic Alliance or whatever the new government will be called in different directions.... But I do agree with Darth Pevra that it is quite difficult to fit in all of the political nuances in a movie where there is still a great big adventure movie on top of it.... Not saying cloak and dagger stuff wouldn't be cool, because I think all bad guys have to have spies and informants in order to get information or to maneuver companies, policies, or alliances that will help their goals.... Overall I think some cloak and dagger elements have to be in play especially if there are sith characters that lurk in the shadows or like Admiral Thrawn who did more moves in the military strategy arena which is also quite riveting...

 

I'm personally doubting that the ST will be any more political than necessary. All indications are that they're moving away from the grander more political storytelling employed in the PT back to the relatively simpler style of the OT. I'm sure a certain amount of superficial politics will be necessary to show the causes of war and how the Republic gets reformed, but I don't think they'll want this story to be bogged down in political scandals and the like. That just seems to me to be moving in the wrong direction, and after the negative reaction to politics in the PT I find it very unlikely that they're going to spend any more time on that aspect of the story than they absolutely have to. Logic may dictate certain dramatic possibilities, but I think it could be a mistake to apply too much real-world logic to these movies, and TBH I think it would be pretty boring territory to cover myself. My guess is that Episode VII will be a relatively straight-forward swashbuckling cliff-hanging adventure hearkening back to ANH, with some hints of the danger and direction that the story will be going in, but that most of the real drama in this trilogy will stem from the losses and choices that the new characters are faced with in the final two films. I'm sure they will find room for some side story involving whatever portion of the OT cast remains alive after Episode VII, but I think it would likely be more personal than political in nature.

 

It all depends who the baddie is or what the galactic conflict is at the time, because we know the Yuuzhan Vong won't be gracing the silver screen... (which I think is a big mistake and wish they would use them because they are the perfect bad guy and are polar opposites of the sith because they don't crave power to rule but to kill, sacrifice, enslave, and convert) Nevertheless I just hope that JJ will give us at least a few EU characters that we all know and love like Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, Kyp Durron, etc...

 

Imo there's not enough screen time for a GOT in space. In my observation, these political fantasy or sf stories only get good when there's a lot of time to develop them, like in a comic series or a book series or a tv-series. Three movies are still only 7 or 9 hours, and if these hours are filled with character development and a war and space magics besides the political plot, then something will be underdeveloped. I would rather they focus on the war and the characters first, the elements that made Star Wars great.

 

I agree... However it would be awesome to have a GOT type Star Wars live action tv show on a disney owned network... Heck Disney could literally make a whole new Star Wars channel to make room for programming if they needed to...

 

If they eventually make Star Wars Underworld, they could go totally nuts with politics. They could show interactions between the gangster bosses, the Empire, the Rebels... And the freelancer protagonists always get dragged into these things, resulting in lots of dangerous situations and tricky decisions. It would be awesome.

They can also do politics in Rebels and I would welcome that. However, it is still a tv-show for kids so I doubt we'll see many political episodes.

 

Would love to see Talon Karrde in Star Wars Underworld and of course the Fett... Honestly I just hope we get to see on film the Mandalorian Culture in detail and get to see their history.... I of course know much of the KOTOR 1 and 2 Mandalorian history, but I still don't know if they are going to allow that history into the ST or Character movies... Honestly wouldn't mind seeing an Old Republic cartoon series as well that allows you to go back in time and disney can line up the show to upcoming DLCs and patches in the game... I think that the Scyfy show Defiance had a cool premise to have show and video game but it can be done so much better especially considering the Star Wars universe is so much cooler than Defiance as well...

 

Though I am in favor of many different types of live action Star Wars TV ideas... the one I want to see first is the X-Wing series of books made into a tv series! Show the mopping up action of the Galactic civil war through the eyes of Rogue Squadron Pilots (especially Wedge, and it would be a good place to introduce Corran Horn if they want to utilize his character in the future etc)! You don't need to play it out exactly as it was in the books, but the idea/premise is perfect for a live action TV series!

 

Yeah honestly would love all EU made into films, shows, RPGs... Thrawn Trilogy and duology, NJO, LOTF, FOTJ, in particular... I would love to see NJO, LOTF, and FOTJ tv live action or animated series and RPG games...

 

Can't do them all at once though, so you have to pick something to go with first, and that's why the X-wing series would be a great starting point.

 

never mind..i forgot a key point...deleted.

 

The Bothans stealing plans and Leia sneaking them into R2 who then escapes to Tattoine? Just because the PT represented political struggle as boring Shakespearean monologues (and I mean, poorly written Shakespeare, because actual Shakespeare is beautifully written) doesn't mean that's the only way to represent it.

TCW got back to what I'm calling cloak and dagger or spy or noir representation of political struggle. Assassinations (one of the more interesting aspects of AOTC), pay offs to corrupt leaders, strong-arming weak leaders or blackmailing them, or framing them. The politics in the PT would have been more exciting to me if it were represented like this. For example, you see some thug or assassin threatening a leader. The Jedi sense something amiss and investigate. The leader admits that a shadowy figure is telling them to vote for the creation of the army or else. If this vote happens, war might break out.

It's not hard to imagine 1) how politics can be exciting when represented in a certain style or genre and 2) how it might relate to war and the overall plot.

Anyway, back to the Jedi Order. I'd rather there be a Jedi representative in the Senate, sort of how we saw the Trade Federation represented. They shouldn't be part on the Republic military structure, but they are a part of the Galactic power structure, and should have some sort of representation. Leia would be perfect for such a position. But I'm not interested in seeing the main Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Rather, an embassy. Maybe the Jedi should have their own planet now, or at least the Council, or perhaps they are all just nomadic Knights following the Will of the Force as they see it.

For me, once the Jedi become too militarized, they begin to become too gray. Since they commit acts of violence, I think they are always a kind of light gray, but as an army or soldiers of the Republic, too dark gray imo.

 

Or rather than needs, how about replacing that with different cultural perspectives? That certainly would touch on the current state of our world- how do you deal with a culture that has practices that are clearly a part of that culture, but are looked at as repugnant and even monstrous to others? I don't know if you would care to see more of Lucas's parallels to the real world, but I think that certainly would be an interesting one to touch on.

 

This is a very interesting idea. It could fit with a variety of situations, but reminds me of The Hellhammer 's interest in an invading barbarian culture.

Anyway, reading an article on Rebels, I noticed the writer pointed out how the OT was always political but represented it in an interesting way:

Like I said above, politics aren't only long-winded speeches, they are also the choices we make throughout our day and life. Luke, Han, and Leia's fight against the Empire was political action. They weren't doing it just to fight, but for a political goal: to restore democracy. The representation of this political struggle was not boring.

 

It is also important to remember that the majority of the time, the rebels get into power and start oppressing the people as bad as the government they threw out. This doesn't seem to be the case if we think of Western civilization and the American revolution, but you have to remember the distinction: the Americans were not suffering poor like most revolutionaries, they were just a group that was being treated like manure by the British, and took it upon themselves to fight back. When you look at the places where there has been the most fighting, like Africa or Central America, they have this cycle where rebels fight with a cause, take over, then the new government is just as bad. So in terms of politics, the New Republic would be looking at being inclusive with a mass of different cultures and ways of life, and still maintaining fairness, which would be a huge task, and that could be an interesting thing to touch on IMO.

 

If the ST were willing to portray the struggles of Rebels governing responsibly, that would be a great trilogy imo. The possibility of treating difference fairly, no matter how monstrous it might seem, is actually one of my main narrative and philosophical interests.

 

Yes, TCW has good cloak and dagger stuff. And it is a tv-series! Put it front and center in the movie and we have the bourne trilogy in space. Do you think there is enough screentime to do everything? Abrams got 2,5 hours he has to fill with the war, explaining what happened in 30 years, protagonist setup, action sequences, introducing the villain, humorous scenes and so on. A focus on politics should take a backseat to all that.

You act like everything is possible. But that's just not the case. We're dealing with movies here, time restraints etc.