ST Episode 7 - parallels to TPM and ANH

One of the more interesting concepts George Lucas introduced with the prequel trilogy was the idea of a "rhyming" saga. The first, second, and third films of each trilogy all have elements that correspond with eachother, while still telling their own distinct story. The first episodes both feature a boy leaving home to realize his destiny, the second episodes both feature budding romance and a fateful "rescue" mission, and the third films both feature the protagonist being tempted with the dark side, amongst many other parallels throughout the saga.

I'm interested to see if this tradition is upheld for the upcoming films. What parallels between ANH and TPM would you like to be shared by Episode 7? Note that this isn't about wholesale lifting of stories. No one is asking for EP7 to be a "remake" of anything.

Personally, and I think this is very likely to happen, I believe that EP7 should feature our new protagonist experience a growth or coming of age similar to ANH and TPM. It doesn't need to take place on Tatooine (in fact i'd prefer it didn't, we've seen enough sand in the saga), but it would be great to have a protagonist that feels like a spiritual successor to Luke and Anakin, one who is thrust out of their comfort zone by outside circumstances.

 

Instead of Luke passing in VII and not disappearing (there's something the matter with the Force ), which is an idea I like and rhymes with TPM' s Qui_Gon Jinn and ANH's Obi-Wan moments and might tie into Plagueis' midi-chlorian villainy. But perhaps Luke's Son/Daughter is struck down by a Sith and Luke has to grapple with the loss. He might want revenge. It may call back into question the rule on attachments. It would most certainly give opportunity for the character to grapple with moral choices and discerning right from wrong. How does one mete righteous justice without confusing the issue as revenge. "It's not personal, Sonny. It's business", kind of coolness. I was reading the story conferences between GL and Alan Dean Foster in the last two editions of SW Insider and it struck me that Lucas has reused the idea of the Hero gaining the confidence of an alien species race in order to treat and battle along with the aliens as a makeshift army, against their common enemy. I can foresee this happening again, similar to the Gungans (PT) and the Ewoks (OT).

 

I honestly think that the "rhyming" concept is the only logical course to take with the ST. I understand that a lot of people think they've been there and done that, but frankly, it's one of the more important ways to ensure that the entire nine-episode saga remains cohesive in both style and substance.

Part of the reason for this is structural: we're now looking at a trilogy of trilogies - in other words, each trilogy, itself composed of three acts, now becomes its own act in a larger three-act structure. This leads to the second reason, which is stylistic: it would usually be considered absurd to make a sudden and radical deviation in tone and style in the third act of a three-act play, regardless of the scale that three-act structure now assumes.

The third is respect of original authorial intent: the fact is that GL purposefully introduced this concept into the Saga through the PT, and he had a thematic and stylistic reason to do so. I'll grant that I could be reading too much into it all, but let's start with the oft-spoken premise that the Saga is meant primarily for young people as a tool of instruction, as all mythologies are, on the actual living of a life and on the difference between moral and immoral behavior. I propose that this instruction is done by placing different characters in the same situations, and each time producing different results in order to provide a contrast, to demonstrate that different people (or, more importantly, different ways of thinking) will come up with different answers to the same question. The ultimate point of it all is that we all go through pretty much the same kinds of troubles, whether we know it or not; it is our choice that makes the crucial difference. And isn't the need for proper moral choices what GL has been stressing from the start? It is summed up in the climaxes of each trilogy, in which the main character is forced to choose to kill or not kill a defenseless opponent, but it is reiterated in many ways, great and small, through the "rhyming" concept.

For this last reason especially, it would be ill-advised for Disney/LFL to omit the "rhyming" scheme in the third act of the overall Saga - unless the people at those offices, who are now looking over all this as a grand narrative and determining what the ultimate point of the saga will be, have a specific reason, or a specific grand point to make to the audience, by doing so, a point which can of course only truly become clear at the end of Episode IX.

The spin-offs, I think, should have a lot more room to play around with formulas such as this one, simply because they're not Episodes; they can ignore the "rhyming" concept, ignore the Hero's Journey concept, ignore a hell of a lot of things in order to make the spin-offs different. But the Episodes are a class above the spin-offs, and they HAVE to be; the best the spin-offs can do, beyond giving us a closer look at characters we love and providing an entertaining viewing experience, is to inform areas of the overall plot, but the Episodes ARE the overall plot, and they need to be handled with gloved hands, not broken just to see what will happen and where the pieces land.

I'll keep saying like a mantra: You can't make Star Wars better by making it NOT Star Wars.

 

Wonderfully put Pfluegermeister. The biggest challenge of the ST is to simply feel relevant to the films that came before, to have a sense of genuine purpose within the context of the greater story. Continuing the rhyming structure of the films is absolutely key to that.

 

Oh, yes, the rhyming concept is something that makes SW saga uniqe... Among other reasons.
TPM and ANH share some similarities. The main hero departs Tatooine - Anakin by choice, Luke by circumstances, both to become a Jedi. I can't see that happening in Ep 7. Then there's a mentor's death. The difference here is that in TPM died Kenobi's mentor (mentor's mentor ), and in ANH the mentor himself, Anakin's and Luke's. Now, I don't expect for Luke to die in Ep 7, but there could be some mentor figure who does, probably the ST heroes' one.
Then there's the threat to female lead's planet. TPM had Naboo, ANH had Alderaan. That could happen.
The main hero destroys some sort of capital ship. In TPM the droid control ship, in ANH the Death Star. So that could happen too.
There's always search sequences (for Padme or for Leia), chase (pod-race and TIE fighters chasing the Falcon), animals attack (Naboo core, dianoga), R2 saves the day (he restored the shields on Naboo cruiser and stopped the trash compactor).
And one more thing. The opening sequences rhyme in a-b-c-c-b-a order (TPM and ROTJ feature the arrival on a space ship of some kind and ANH mirrors ROTS - space battle), to that's another thing I'm interested to see.

 

Some would see too much parallel as being lazy because it's not original. However, every Hero's Journey is a parallel of each other. You can spice it up by creating twists, ironic reversals, and being sure to put a personal side to it with unique personal struggles.

 

One of the rhyming elements I'd like to see would relate to Luke's Jedi Order. The PT Jedi didn't have the ability to defeat the Sith, so the Force intervened with a Chosen One. The ST Jedi should again be confronted with the Sith, but this time, because they embrace love and faith instead of rigid rules, they should be able to destroy the Sith threat on their own, without the aide of the Force or Chosen One.

It would be a half rhyme (as we call it in prosody) or a progressive rhyme.

 

This might be Luke, AGAIN.

 

Exactly. As I say, the situations are approximately the same; not exactly the same, but approximately so. There were twists and flips among the many differences between situations in PT vs. OT: Obi-Wan lands his ship on something larger to avoid detection by Jango Fett in Episode II; Han Solo also lands his ship on something larger to avoid detection in Episode V, only this time Boba Fett doesn't fall for it. It would indeed be lazy to have the situations be EXACTLY the same, but they never really were in the PT or the OT, and I don't expect them to be in the ST. The twists, the ironic reversals, and the simple differences that come from the difference in characters, as you mention, are something I expect to be there. "Same, but different" only works if you keep both sides in balance.

 

In TPM, the Jedi thought the Sith were extinct when they actually weren't. In episode 7, the Jedi could think that the Sith aren't extinct when in fact they are.

 

I like that overall idea. Plus, the more "free reign" Jedi can seem lead down a road toward disaster before this resolution is finally revealed.

 

I wouldn't say that was introduced with the PT. There's plenty of "rhyming" going on within trilogy, moreso in the OT than in the PT, IMO. Examples: each OT movie has one (or more) "into the labyrinth/monster in the center of the labyrinth/belly of the beast"-type sequences. Then there's the repeated "descent into the underworld" motif.

 

There will be a number of rhyming between the movies. It wouldn't be Star Wars without it.
I don't care what they do as long as they keep Luke alive past 7. He can die in 8 or 9. Someone will die in 7 but hopefully not Luke.

 

Pfluegermeister Excellent post! I couldn't have said it better myself.

 

I would prefer it if Luke does not die in any of the movies mainly due to my belief that the mentor always having to die has become rather cliché.

 

I'm of two minds on Luke. On one hand, I'd really like to see him have some kind of emotional confrontation with the next gen in Episode IX. But on the other, I can't really imagine who else can fulfill the role of the mentor who dies at the end of the first episode, and as has been pointed out, the lineage of Qui-Gon to Obi-Wan to Luke does sort of set it up for it to be him. And of course if he does die he can always come back as a ghost, which is something I'd love to see as well.

 

Actually, I think it would be pretty cool if Luke died in Episode 9 in a similar manner to Vader in ROTJ. Once again, the circumstances would hopefully be completely different, but that mirror would be incredible to see. I'm fact, I can't really think of a more meaningful way kill off that character.

 

If Luke had to die it'd be cool to see Luke as a Force Ghost. Ties in to Obi-Wan from the OT. Loved Obi-Wan coming back from the dead to help Luke. Though since it was done in the OT I hope they could change it up a bit. Not sure how but maybe die in Episode 8 but not disappear into the Force and not appear as a Force Ghost until the end of Episode 9.
I'd personally prefer Luke to watch a binary sunrise and disappear into the Force though.

 

That's why I'm torn. I really like both options. But if Luke doesn't die in Episode VII, then who does? Somebody has to die, dammit!

 

Han most likely.

 

If the rumors are true about Ford having an arc through all three films, which subsequent news seems to corroborate, then I wouldn't bet on that. Besides, traditionally it's always a Jedi who dies in the first movie, and it's always someone who is able to return through the Force, and I'd like to keep that motif going.

 

I can definitely get behind that. However, it might be tricky. How do you pull that off without crowding out the new heroes? Also, I don't want Luke standing around with his lightsaber in his hand. He would need to be integral to the story. Qui-Gon was removed. Yoda was there after Ben was removed, but he was a mentor and a teacher and wasn't involved in the action. His dialogue deepened our understanding of the Force and he was only present in ROTJ to confirm the Vader's paternity and send Luke on his way, by himself. It depends on the story, I guess.