Discussion Empire in the trenches film?

We've all seen the rebellion in the trenches. I wonder what would be the possibility of seeing what the Empire was like behind the scenes. Doubt it would be a stand-alone type of thing, but part of an overall Empire-based movie, maybe?

EDIT: I have no hope for this... I was just trying to get the podcast thing off the front page... unsuccesfully. As you were.

 

I really don't think it would work as a film, but I believe a live action series that takes place within the OT and shows things from The Empire's POV (referencing, but never showing, the major events from the films) could work. You could focus on all of the machinations and maneuvering. Maybe have the main character become slowly disillusioned and ultimately turn. They've done a little bit of this in the novels (Michael Reaves' and Steve Perry's "Death Star").

 

An Imperial movie could be fun.

 

Yeah I completely agree!

 

If it was used to show off all the Imperial's hardware, the story of an AT-AT squadron during the war going from planet to planet fighting rebels?

 

Heck yes!

 

The story of the AT-AT crew that went through training together, then landed on Hoth, and then fell over when Luke Skywalker threw a bomb up their $%#$^. The final scene is Luke cutting the underbelly with his saber and throwing the bomb inside. Cinematic genius.

 

I don't see it happening. I know we're gonna get one film a year for the rest of time but I don't see them making a movie or TV show about everything ever.

 

I don't think this would work on it's own, But it they made, Star Wars: Darth Vader, I'm sure we'd see a ton of Empire action in it.

 

Robot Chicken did the last part. Apparently that area was right next to the AT-AT men's room and someone was on the throne when the grenade was tossed in. I tried to find a YouTube of it, but couldn't find that specific scene.

 

I think an Empire film would be great and I guess I don't see why it couldn't work?

I can buy that maybe with working under a strict adherence to the 'rules' of the Saga Episodes, it could become an issue. But I think that when it comes to the standalones, doing some things somewhat different (while still dressing the projects in classic Star Wars-y trappings) could actually be a real opportunity.

For an Empire p.o.v. film, I'm imagining those old WWII war-genre pictures. Plenty of those black-and-white classics offered, for example, the Nazi point-of-view*, while still making no bones about the fact that they were evil (and incidentally, how terrific would a B+W Star Wars: Empire film be?).

*And by "Nazi p.o.v.," I don't mean espousing or glamorizing IRL Nazi beliefs. Rather, 'told through the eyes of a Nazi character(s).'

And they came out great. It's not as though it's impossible to create a terrific, engaging film based around unsavory protagonists.


Or another available avenue is the "everyday soldier" route. To keep with the WWII analogy, not every soldier in the armies of the various Axis powers were evil hatemongers, after all, and certainly, I'd expect the same to be true of the Empire.

I know that Lucasfilm has reportedly encountered some issues with finding the right tone for a Boba Fett feature - making an evil character (I never found Fett "evil," but that's neither here, nor there) a sympathetic lead, and such. So I get the argument.

I just don't see it as insurmountable.

 

Paging The Hellhammer .

 

I'm not sure I can bring myself to retype and repost once more all my hopes and dreams for an Imperial centered spin off or series haha

 

Hmmm... A Das Boot in the stars!

 

I know this is Legends material, but let's remember that Wedge, Tycho, et. al. (even Han) were trained for the Imperial military. Luke himself was eager to join up and see the galaxy at the beginning of ANH.
How many good young people like them enlisted or were conscripted, found the Empire was less than the ideal the propaganda had portrayed, but didn't find the opportunity to defect or desert that our heroes did?
I've always wanted to see a TV series focused on the crews of two ships, one Imperial and one Rebel, as they take parallel paths through the Galactic Civil War. (Kinda a Stark v. Lannister meets BSG thing, if you please.) Characters could defect from one side to another, with an idealistic rookie TIE pilot surrendering to join the Rebels, or an unsavory Rebel Sargeant growing disillusioned with the underdog's life and selling his friends out to join the Empire.
By the end of the series, many of the Imperial characters are ready to mutiny and take the ship, even as she's part of a task force set to crush the rebel ship and her comrades. A truly epic finale.

Very few things would put me off more than for all the Imperials in the NU to be two-dimensional, simplistically evil mooks. The OT always gave the impression that the conflict had more depth than that (Admiral Piett in particular was a wonderfully sympathetic antagonist, even in a small role), and the EU expounded upon that wonderfully. Star Wars is a story not just of Good versus Evil, but of all those poor buggers caught inbetween as well.

 

I hate to double-post, but I've thought some more on that concept and have some additions. (Once again, no extraneous details, just the bare-bones pitch. "He" is only used for convenience.)

The pilot starts with two childhood friends from a poor mid-rim world who are in their last days at the Imperial Academy. (Let's call them #1 and #2.) They share misgivings about the Empire, maybe they've heard of a massacre (Alderaan?), or mass slavery. They have a plan to defect to the Alliance, and agree to put it into action the next day.
On a training patrol, the first makes a break for it and gets away, as planned. #2 hesitates and misses his moment. Realizing this, he has to pretend he was unaware, and that he feels betrayed by his friend.
The episode ends with #1 greeted by his Rebel contacts and being assigned to ship #1, while #2 graduates in a spectacular ceremony, the proud uniform and show of honor reassuring him that he's on the right path, and is assigned to ship #2.

There are so many opportunities for interaction between the crews. Maybe a spy on one ship is reporting to an officer aboard the other. Maybe both ships send away teams to a given planet, either with opposing goals, or eventually forced to work together against a particularly ruthless pirate gang. Maybe some of the Imperials are visiting a tapcaf on shore leave in uniform, when some of the Rebels enter the same caf in civilian dress; the Imps are unaware of their allegiance while the Rebels pry for intel, and all get drunk together (could lead to a barfight, a killing, or unexpected friendships/romance). I want this to happen.

I'll be reposting this in the Star Wars Television "Official Live Action" thread. More suited to that section, besides being a response to the "Empire in the Trenches" subject.

 

I would love to see a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead style Star Wars film. It would take place during the OT or PT and we would see events from one of the episodes happen in the background (TPM's podrace or starship crash onto Coruscant or Death Star destruction) but the plot would focus on these other characters.

 

Tag & Bink Are Dead was the closest thing to it in Star Wars comics. Is pretty entertaining.

 

"Empire in the Trenches" made me imedeately think of this:



That's what I had hoped the PT would have been like...

 

Maybe that's what Paul Kemp's upcoming Lords of the Sith novel will be like, at least for part of the novel.

 

I think it's unfair to paint the Empire as evil. They were "just doing their jobs", which as we all know was a valid defense throughout history. Bring on the entertainment for Imperial sympathizers. God knows it would be more popular nowadays.

 

You're right, Obi-Wan Kennerobi, the Empire is not evil, per se. The leaders did some evil things, but that doesn't mean the soldiers were. They might have been following orders, as you said. That's what I like about some WWII movies is that it shows the "enemy" as people. Check out Das Boot sometime. Not saying I'm a Nazi "sympathizer"... just simply says I like the portrayal of those soldiers dealing with the situation they're given.

 

Soldiers are not culpable for following evil orders, because following orders is honorable and good, regardless of what they are. Without order, there would be chaos. An Empire that blows up sovereign planets is certainly better than the alternative. CHAOS!

 

Sounds a lot like IMPS The Relentless.

I would like it for sure.

 

Rebel take on the "serving the empire corrupts" concept:

"Put a man or woman in a situation where the actions he's obliged to take, such as serving Emperor Palpatine, are a certain path to personal corruption. Fill his ears with words saying that his actions are honorable ones. But surround him with constant reminders of what he's doing. Our victim will cling to the words but will, at some level, always be aware of the wrongness—he can't escape it. The symbols, such as the names of the ships he commands, won't let him forget. He's always aware of his descent, of his slow transference to the dark side. Skywalker thinks the Emperor found this knowing acceptance of corruption, this half-accepting, half-struggling process, particularly delicious."​