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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

BTS DH Comics to release 'The Star Wars' in September

Discussion in 'Star Wars Saga In-Depth' started by Darth_Nub, Apr 5, 2013.

  1. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    BTW, I agree with Nub that the scroll of text at the end of the comic felt out of place. It indeed is based on the scroll at the end of the second draft--which was the first script where Lucas imagined that he would be able to get several sequels out of this movie. The initial rough draft was conceived as a done-in-one epic space opera, without any sequels necessarily following.

    Mind you, by the time the revised fourth draft rolled around, Lucas was afraid that he'd never get to actually make those sequels he had in mind. Thus he made a few changes to ensure SW could stand on its own. Namely, Lucas inserted the dialogue where Obi-Wan reveals that Vader killed Anakin (as indeed he did at the time!), as well as other lines implying that the destruction of the Death Star would finish off the Empire.
     
  2. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    1) It's not said explicitly, but is heavily implied. The Emperor is never stated to be a Force-user; however, the Sith Master is said to be the most powerful dark wizard of the Empire. Presumably the Emperor at this time still followed Lucas's initial conception of him as a corrupt Nixonian bureaucrat instead of an evil sorcerer (as mentioned repeatedly in the Making Of books). It would be logical that the Sith Master was the real driving force behind events, using the Emperor as a puppet--particularly as this mirrors the plot in The Hour of the Dragon, the Robert E. Howard Conan novel which inspired the second draft's Kiber Crystal.

    2) Yes, I do think Valorum should have been equated in some way with the final Vader. Mostly through armor--Valorum isn't a cyborg, after all. FWIW, I also think Valorum should have been drawn as black, but that's just my personal suspicion of what Lucas had in mind for the casting.
     
  3. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    Dark Horse's interpretation of General Darth Vader gives him a glowing-red cyborg eye. This is an interesting visual, and extremely Lucas-ish, but as Darth_Nub suggested earlier, it's really applied to the wrong person.

    Frankly, the cyborg eye should have been seen on Prince Valorum, the real ancestor of the final film's Darth Vader. And not just because it looks cool. The damaged-eye motif is actually something Lucas clearly had in mind for the Darth Vader of the later films, specifically in the context of his redemption.

    During the ROTJ story conferences, there was a discussion on what Darth Vader should look like when unmasked. Lawrence Kasdan asked Lucas, "Does he have normal eyes?" Lucas's response was "Well, maybe one." The concept artists for ROTJ ran with that idea, drawing Vader's scarred face with one good eye and one milky blind eye.

    And during early story outlines for Willow, there was apparently an idea that the Valorum/Vader analogue in that film--the principal female character, Sorsha, who goes from villainess to heroine--would lose an eye in the big battle at the end, when she confronts her evil mother Bavmorda, the film's true villain. (The resulting scar was later transferred to Old Indy in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, as well as Jedi Master Even Piell in TPM.)

    Clearly there's a pattern here. The idea of the scarred-but-redeemed ex-villain goes back to Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, where General Hyoe Tadokoro (the inspiration for Valorum) is left with ugly facial scars after being beaten up by his evil master as punishment for failure. The captive Princess Yuki remarks on how cruel his lord must be to do such a thing; seeing her compassion causes Tadokoro to switch sides and set the Princess free.

    Meanwhile, the motif of a hero with an eye injury originates with Princess Leia in the third draft of SW 1977, who would've suffered a swollen-shut black eye as a result of Imperial torture. That in turn was inspired by Toshiro Mifune's black eye in Yojimbo (but also with a possible nod to a famous moment in Battleship Potemkin, a parallel seen much more clearly with Sorsha losing an eye in a swordfight).

    So the damaged eye on General Vader in the comic is a really apt idea, just applied to the wrong character. It suits Valorum much better. Because, judging by the above examples, Lucas wouldn't have used a main character's bad eye to denote pure villainy, but rather as a symbol of heroism.
     
    Lt.Cmdr.Thrawn likes this.
  4. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    I'd love first draft adaptations for ESB and ROTJ. Vader's castle and Had Abbadon would be fun to see.
     
  5. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Read it. Very interesting.
     
    EternalHero and darklordoftech like this.
  6. Orman Tagge

    Orman Tagge Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 10, 2014
    Read it. Not bad, but I'm glad the Star Wars we got was what it was, honestly. This was pretty clearly a rough draft. The highlights for me would be the art style and the design on Prince Valorum, while I agree that the scroll of text at the end was a little out of place.
     
    JediFan215 likes this.
  7. JediFan215

    JediFan215 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    I read it. It's pretty cool, but I'm pretty much glad we got what we got. It would be interesting if marvel would make some sequel-y stuff to this.
     
  8. ATMachine

    ATMachine Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2007
    I like it myself, but I think the artistic team definitely missed some opportunities. For instance, I would have made Prince Valorum black, as a nod to James Earl Jones--and General Skywalker should probably resemble Toshiro Mifune instead of a white guy. Also, I'm pretty sure the Annikin Starkiller of 1974 was originally meant to have dark hair and blue eyes, a la Conan the Barbarian.

    There's also the fact that, given the family-friendly status of SW as it now is, certain stuff in the 1974 rough draft simply couldn't be depicted. (For example, the actual rough draft implies the presence of on-screen nudity at one point, as in THX 1138.)

    Overall, though, I think it's as good an exploration of this rough draft as we're ever likely to get under the modern-day Lucasfilm.
     
    JediFan215 likes this.
  9. JediFan215

    JediFan215 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    What, You mean that George Lucas was not really going to star in this movie?
     
  10. Master_Lok

    Master_Lok Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 18, 2012
    It was okay. General Skywalker and Mike Mayhew's art were the big draw for me. Like others have said, I prefer the film we got but it was fun to see this what if...