A Star Wars retake on the 7 samuri planning thread.

anybody remember that movie the seven samuri?
well many people (theres alot of samuri nuts out there)
like it.
but what about a different take on it?
mabey with 7 jedi?
and they arent heros...they are framed criminals trying to find out who did it in the dangerious outter rim.
think about star wars crossed with the felowship of the ring.
we'd have to decide when this takes place after the phantom menace or return of the jedi.
develop the characters.
create a way for them to be framed so it looks convincing.
and of course this story would feture tons of crazy lightsaber duels.
we can created tons of scary and intimidating sith for them to find in the outter rim.
well...what do you think?

 

The original story (I loved this movie, I'm a big Akira Kurosawa & Toshiro Mifune fan) went something like this:

The Farmers and their village are entering their harvest season and have seen the Bandits in the hills. This is usually the time when the Bandits raid them, stealing crops and food, burning houses, and kidnapping the women of the village for their own vile means.
The Farmers decide not to go through with this anymore. However, they are "poor," and cannot seek the help of the high-class samurai. They go into the city and meet five washed-out samurai and hire them; they also meet a kid and a drunkard who would both like to be samurai and tag along, though the insane drunkard-scoundrel has to earn his way into the group. There's the seven samurai: the elderly mentor of the group, his strategist friend, the kid apprentice, the heavy-set joker, the battle-hardened veteran, the ladies' man, and the scoundrel.
The samurai join the village, talk with the elders, and basically plan their way of defending the village from the bandits. The Farmers have told the samurai that there are no women in the village (legends, perpetuated by the Bandits, tell of the samurai raping and kidnapping the women of villages they stay in) and that they are very, very poor and their crops are not enough to sustain them, let alone feed the Bandits.
But, then, the apprentice meets and falls in love with the daughter of one of the Farmers, who has masqueraded as a man, cutting her hair and everything. They also discover that the Farmers have a huge cache of crops to feed themselves for a lifetime practically; the Farmers are greedy and are risking the lives of the samurai.
Now there comes the new question: should the samurai stay and fight for the Farmers, where they'll face certain doom, or should they abandon the village and let the Bandits raze and raid? The Seven Samurai choose to stay and fight, for it's the noble thing to do, the Samurai thing to do. They'll will prove themselves in war against the Bandits.
The big problem with fighting the Bandits is the fact that the Bandits have a nice little place to hole up in the mountains, have superior technology (rifles), and ride horseback. If memory serves me correctly, the Bandits have five rifles and seven horsemen.
And so, in a series of superb action sequences, the Bandits, the Samurai, and the Farmers fight, defending the village. Eventually, most of the Samurai die. The scoundrel manages to prove himself when a horseman, at the climax of the movie, invades the hooch where the women and children are huddled for protection. The scoundrel dies killing the horseman and protecting the innocents.
The heavy-set guy dies when the Samurai sneak off to take a peek at the Bandits' hide-out; the veteran dies in the climax sacrificing himself against the last batch of Badnits; the gentleman is killed by a rifle (I'm not sure, it's been a while since I've seen it).
In the end, though, everything turns out right. The villagers celebrate; the apprentice is going to marry the girl he fell in love with and stay as the resident Samurai of the village while the Master and his friend go off to continue their lives.

It would make for a very good Jedi fanfic. But why do the 7 Jedi have to be framed criminals? They can't just be down-and-out? Lost their glory, their faith in the Force?
Also, instead of Sith, the enemies could be Huttese gangsters or intergalactic bandits, maybe the first glimpse of the stormtroopers? Maybe they can be led by the Sith, who takes the place of horseman in the final showdown and duels with the scoundrel and the veteran?

At the end, the Jedi will learn that the Force never dies out, their faith will be renewed. Maybe the whole concept is that because their belief in the Force has been muddled, they've lost their Jedi abilities? They've become no better than ragamuffins with lightsabers, no better than the criminals they defeat? In the end, they realize their true nobility merely as living beings, that all creatures of all shapes and sizes are strong and powerful with the Force a

 

all I have to say is wow!
Man do you want to plan and write this story with me and any other writers who wish to join?
i was also thinking climatic battles like them wandering into a village and coming face to face with a rampaging sando aqua monster.
then of course metting up with a sith and having a crazy duel in a pond with them kicking water up and doing all sorts of force tricks.

 

I'd definitely be one of the first to sign-up. Maybe we can all be assigned certain characters and chapters to write from their POV and things like that?

Let's see if anyone's interested in joining in before we begin the plot & characterization process, hm?

This is gonna be good...

 

I agree.
just 5 more writers then.
or any others who just want to write.
then we will make there back grounds.

 

This is a story almost made to fit in to the star wars universe! I'd definetley be interested in helping to write it. And i agree that the jedi should simply be down-and-outs, not criminals. And i think the enemies should be either pirates or gangsters.

 

Actually, the Star Wars universe is made to fit into the films of Kurosawa. George Lucas took most of his inspiration from Kurosawa and 'The Hero With a Thousand Faces.'

So far, this makes Tellesto, myself, and Tank. This proves to be a quite promising idea!

 

I think that we should have the sith involved in some way as well

 

If we do the Sith, it should be either a long time before TPM or a long time after ROTJ. And if we do, we'll have to obey the Master & Apprentice rule and only use two of them, who maybe bribe some bandits to be their goons.

Maybe we should start by naming the Seven Jedi and coming up with their basic profiles.

 

sure thing.
well I want the story to take place after these jedi are down and out and they go to the outerr rim(we'd have to figure out why)
and then we can do all sorts of crazy things.
the outer rim is not a very explored area and we then can create all sorts of crazy aliens and stuff.
then the two sith would be hired by the pirates to help and if any jedi interfere they will take care of them. they are the oposite and thus are the jedi's equil. then they dont know that the sith are just using them to get to jedi.
also if you have your character idea then post it so we can get started on them.
aliens, humans anybody...

 

I would like to see an Ithorian jedi as their overall leader, or maybe the guy who's the leader's second-in-command. Either way, the Ithorian strike me as a very self-composed, self-contained species that speak softly and carry a big lightsaber. If one of their species was a Jedi in this story, he/she'd fit in nicely.

Also, maybe the Sith should be manipulating the Bandits the same way Sidious manipulated the Trade Federation in Ep1? Maybe the Sith want to become the overlords of a small feudal kingdom in the Outer Rim before invading the Republic and beginning their ascent to power, and the 7 Jedi, unwittingly, hired by the villagers, foil their plans by fighting back against the Bandits?

 

I agree that the Sith should be manipulating the pirates. Also i think that some of the jedi should not have completed thier training for some reason, because i think seven fully trained jedi knights would be more than a match for a bunch of thicko pirates.

 

Like say, in the original movie, one of the "samurai" was really just a stable boy who, during the course of the movie, was trained by the other samurai to become a warrior. I could see one of the Jedi being a padawan whose master croaked before training finished and, being down in the dumps after his death, has not continued his training, plus the "stable boy" who wants to be a Jedi Knight.

 

Might as well start. Here's the Ithorian. I figured this would be an easy form of naming and characterizing the Jedi.

Name: Porauw Luned
History: Born the youngest son of an important priest on his home planet of Ithor, Luned is an avid botanist like any member of his species. However, instead of becoming an Ithorian priest like his kinsmen, Luned met esteemed Jedi Knight Eku Laog'r and left his home with his newfound Jedi Master.
Luned showed great promise as a padawan. He was a superb tactician, his mind moving at speeds unfound in most creatures, able to out-think his peers and those with authority over him. Shortly before his graduation to Jedi Knight, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic chose him to be on an elite tactical council that advised military strategies to the Republic. He became a respected member of the Jedi community and a hero of the Republic.
But ten years after his graduation to Jedi Knight, a crisis arose in the Nequara sector. The two factions at war in that sector had just reached a turning point; the barbaric and vicious Hugawaqs, who wished to enstate their vile politics onto the Nequarans and enslave the people of the sector, had wiped out the Nequaran fleet at their shipyards and was slowly eating their way deeper and deeper in the Nequaran territory. The Nequaran senator pleaded with the Republic to intervene and the council Luned sat on was chosen to devise a clandestine military interruption of the Hugawaq campaign. Luned was given primary control of the strategy used in the operation.
Unfortunately, there was a spy on the council who, in exchange for credits, betrayed the Republic forces sent in to take out a large portion of Hugawaq military. The incursion was utterly destroyed and the entire campaign blew up in the Republic face; not only was the galactic media in a frenzy over this tale of seediness and corruption in the Republic armed forces, but it sought someone to blame for screwing up the operation. Porauw Luned was chosen.
He fled, disgraced, to the Huttese moon of Nar Shaddaa, hiding in shame. Luned truly believed that the blood of those men was on his hands and that he was at fault for the massacre of the Hugawaq.
Profile: Luned is very soft-spoken, polite, and solemn. He doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body and believes himself to be quite incompetent after the Hugawaq scandal. When something goes awry for his friends, family, or anyone around him, he is the first to blame himself and will often take the punishment for others. Luned's Jedi powers are highly based on pacifism and the non-physical or combat oriented. He hasn't ignited his lightsaber since he was a padawan and has almost forgotten its color (a white-blue). He won't speak unless spoken to. Luned is well-intentioned, but he's afraid to rush to someone's defense without immediate cause, for fear of his own "incompetence."

 

very good guys.
yes the sith should be just the manipulators.
good ideas and great characters.

 

and this goes for any writer in here or new writer who passed this up for fear that they wouldent do good or dont think we want them.
we do!!!
we only got me bulwink and tank.
also why dont you guys start with your ideas for our two sith.
what species will they be of?
xexeto? probably not ithiorians due to the fact they are gentile creatures.
mabey this would be a good way to put in some cool mandilorian tec and gagets.
well anyway my character will be ready tomarow.
k.

 

Yes. This is very good.

But, to my unending shame: I have not yet seen the movie. I will try to find it as quick as possible.

What about the "battle-hardened veteran" samurai? Is he killed too?

 

Every samurai dies except the kid, the tactician, and the lead samurai. The battle veteran is shot several times and dies taking out one of the horseman with the scoundrel.

The movie is a definite must-see!

Also, maybe we can come up with a new race for the Sith AND the Bandits. Maybe one can be a Devaronian?

 

yes i agree.
a new race for the sith would be cool.
mabey they can be very strong in the force much like darth mauls race. well give me your imputon em and all writers besides winkle who havent submited your jedi or smuggler or any other-get cracking!
we need 6 more jedi.
1 of them should be a wanna be and the other a padawan whos master has died and he has lost faith in the force.

 

Although Kyuzo (the battle hardened veteran [a beautiful swordsman]) dies, he does have some of the coolest scenes, including his duel, his particpation in the elimination of the bandits' scouts, and his clandestine attempt to steal one of the enemy rifles (which the peasant-turned Samurai loudmouth tries to duplicate with less quiet, more interesting results ).

This sounds interesting, as Kurosawa's works have been so influential to Lucas that nearly any Kurosawa samurai film would work perfectly into the Star Wars universe.

You guys will need to remember two things:

Samurai are not 'great heroes' as a class in this film. The average samurai in this movie couldn't really care about the plight of the peasants. It's mainly because these seven samurai are down on their luck or like challenges that they join. In fact, half of them wouldn't have joined were it not for the charismatic influence of the team's leader. Samurai, as a class, don't perfectly match the Jedi (unless you emphasize the superior-feeling nature of the Jedi and make this a tale almost from the common-man perspective.

This can be a powerful piece if you remember Kurosawa's lessons from the original. Among them is the point that warriors at best survive, and rarely 'win' and the fact that one's worthiness is not necessarily based on class. The characters should also be as well rounded as most of the samurai characters were. Otherwise, people will merely see this as a cheap re-hash.

Bullwinkle: I'm curious as to the discrepancies between your retelling and the way I remember it (granted, although I watch it often, I know no official backstory and can't personally translate enough Japanese to see if if most of the captioning is leaving out details, so I may be wrong):

I wouldn't say all the samurai are washed-out. They're obviously ronin, given the fact that they only have one name, but not all of them are not fit to be active samurai. In particular, the leader is very effective and seems to have taken well to being a 'good deed doer' and teacher to his student. The above menttion Kyuzo is an expert swordsman. They just happen to not be in full employ of a greater samurai...which was common for their time period as power consolidated and the need for so many warriors diminished.

The kid doesn't appear to be anything less than a child of a samurai or aristocratic family who's seeking to learn how to be one on his own. Notice that he alone tosses money about. The loud mouth ('Thirteen' as the others jokingly called him), is obviously not of samurai upbringing, as he has a dislike for samurai for the treatment of his family. He merely seeks the fame and stature of the very people who did him harm.

Speaking of which, while the fact that the peasants haven't fully told the Samurai the truth about their stores (if you were holding back from the IRS for years, would you tell someone who has been loosely associated with them in the past?), part of the reason the samurai consider leaving the village to the slaughter of the bandits was because the peasants had attacked, murdered, and robbed samurai, most probably weak from battle.

I was also pretty sure that the apprentice doesn't marry the woman he fell in love with...as they are from two different worlds. In fact, he makes a motion to go back and see her and she all but ignores him if I remember. It's not his place. Nor hers.

I think it would be cool if the loud-mouth character is non-force sensitive, but really wants to be a Jedi...maybe even possessing a lightsaber from somewhere. The whole 'peasants killed Jedi out of distrust' thing works out as well.

Just points to consider.

 

Yeah, I thought my memory of the story was a little faulty. I see it as often as possible when it comes on Turner Classic Movies, which often means I'm up till 2 am (it's a pretty long flick, but it's a fine one).

If I recall, the kid looks up to Kyuzo enormously, and the fact that the samurai all see him as a powerful samurai is what spurns the wannabe into going off on his crusade.

 

This is a great idea for a story! I'm sure GL himself would like it since he's a great Kurosawa fan (who isn't? he was the sensei of movie making). Another Kurosawa story that you might consider is Yojimbo, my personal favorite. For you who don't the story, it's about a ronin (rogue samurai) that fights on both sides of a clan war. It has been copied into both a western with Clint Eastwood (forgot the name. A handful of Dollars(?)) and Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis.

//Xarus

 

Can I jump in here? I've got your padawan with the dead master.

Name: Setnashrikarik
Race: Togorian
History: Karik went late to become a jedi, but did well in catching up, though he was one of the oldest students. An unorthodox Knight picked him as her padawan and started to finish his training. However, after five years together, his master, Kresa Rei'de, was killed while on a mission. Karik blames himself for not learning fast enough, for not being a good enough student to properly back his master up. Since then he has just sort of wandered around, not accepting another master for fear of failing again.
Profile: Karik is patient, strong, quick, intellegent, sensitive, but he has a very short fuse on his temper. There are only a few things that will set him off, but when they do, it's a doozy. Speaking slightlying of his master, despite the fact that she is dead, is one sure way to start a fight with the big cat.

(I have Kresa Rei'de's permission for this.)

Oh, and I believe that Kyuzo is what used to be called 'kensai'. Meaning weapon master. That's why he was such a great swordsman, he was always practicing.

[This message has been edited by Lilith Demodae (edited 01-13-2000).]

 

well we have our aprentice and our soft spoken jedi.
also I would like the other five besides the aprentice and the wanna be to be full fledged jedi knights who just are down and are in need of some fast credits.
they feel the force is just an illusion and that they just walk around and chop stuff with there sabers.
also I want to folow the story closely but i want the characters to be original.
and who knows...if this turns out to be a cool story then mabey for a sequel we do a star wars remake of yojimbo.
but remember I want indpendant factors as well in this.

 

This is a great idea. I'm looking forward to reading it. I would think it would be best for it to take place before TPM. I have a suggestion. You should have one of the Jedi's that survives. To be a very young Yoda. Maybe only a little over a hundred. Which is pretty young by Yoda standards. I would say it would be the equivalent of the 28 year old Obi-Wan Kenobi in TPM. It would be interesting to experiment with a really young Yoda. That's my .02. I'm really looking forward to seeing how you guys carve this one out.