Beyond - Legends HISTORICAL ACCURACY OF THE FILMS

While human holo-filmmaker George Lucas's kid-vid epic 'Star Wars' has been a source of inspiration for several generations of history students I thought it would be fun to pin-point some of the more glaring historical innacuracies of the films [there are many] -

* The fun starts right at the beginning! The Senate knew of and approved of the use of Jedi to negotiate the TF blockade [Senate Records Vol.10092c]. There is even reason to believe that Qui-Gon Jinn campaigned for this assignment [The Unmaking Of A Statesman: The Valorum Story by Havlor Sten].

* Nute Gunray was involved in this scheme of course - but he was never present at Naboo! Rune Haako is a fictional character.

* Obi-Wan Kenobi & Qui-Gon Jinn stowed aboard the same ship [Obi-wan Kenobi: The Lost Journals Vol. 2].

* Jar jar Binks was already a political liason between the Gungans & the Naboo. He was sent with a scouting party to investigate the TF invasion and helped rescue the Jedi [Citizen Binks by Ttrez Hyltor, A Primer In Gungan History Vol. 6].

* There is no historical evidence that Boss Nass did anything to hinder the Jedi & Senator Binks [The Binks Journals Vol. 3].

* The encounters with various Core 'monsters' is fictional - it could have happened of course but it is not recorded in any official memoirs or records.

* Of course the citizens of Theed were being seriously mistreated but GL chose not to show any of this. I recommend 'Atrocities of The Trade Federation' and 'Naboo:A History' both by Prof. Gaz Leeman.

* Some of the Naboo Elite Guard were in on the invasion. Captain Panaka sadly had to fire on some of his own soldiers. This is why he was reassigned and his post given to his nephew Jamel Typho during Jamilla's term - this goes unexplained in the second film. See 'A Soldiers Life' Panaka's strirring autobiography for more.

* Darth Maul was already on Naboo overseeing the invasion. The famous 'desert duel' set on Tatooine in the holo actually happened in the hangar!

* R2D2 is a fictional character. The escape was made possible thanx to Ric Olie's flying skills.

* This is where things get really messy. In the film our heroes suffer a damaged hyperdrive and land on Tatooine where they encounter Anakin Skywalker. In reality they made it to Coruscant without a problem. There Qui-Gon Jinn approached the Jedi Council with a request to follow a 'calling of the Force' to a 'remote planet called Tatooine' (I love the way GL works in historical quotes) to investigate 'a possible vergence in the Force'. The Jedi Council agreed on this. According to current speculation the council sensed that they were losing ground in the Senate and the Republic at large and were hoping discovery of 'the Chosen One' would improve internal morale. See 'Rethinking The Jedi Order' by Kleev Groz and the uber-controversial 'Master Of Deception : The Rise & Exile Of Minch Yoda' by Vozza Seleeni.

* C3PO is a fictional character.

* The holo sets up an elaborate plot device to hilight Anakin's skills as a pilot. In reality Anakin was simply bought from Watto by Qui-Gon Jinn, representing the Jedi Council. The boy was seperated from his mother Shmi as was customary for the Jedi Order.

* Upon returning to Coruscant Jinn & Kenobi were surprised to learn that Amidala and Binks had decided to return to Naboo and launch a counter-offensive.

* After testing Anakin, Master Yoda became concerned with the boy's latent anger and almost flip-flopped the Council's mandate. However, an incensed Jinn talked them out of backtracking. Check out Plo Kloon's record of Jinn's fiery speech in 'Jedi Journals Vol. 23007f' - ouch!

* Anakin stayed behind to begin his training while Jinn, Kenobi, Binks, Amidala & her crew returned to Naboo.

* More Panaka controversy. In an attempt to stop the counter-offensive Gunray ordered prisoners to be executed hourly as long as the attack on Theed Palace persisted. Amidala wanted to relent - Panaka voted to finish the job. I recommend 'The Panaka Paradox' by Ufst Vol Kreex.

* Captain Tarpals was wounded in batt

 

Haha. This is priceless!

 

Really cool idea!

 

Moving on to holo II 'Attack Of The Clones' :
after being harshly criticized for playing fast & loose with the facts in TPM Lucas tried to hew closer to reality.

* AOTC gets off to a strong start with a stunning recreation of the infamous landing platform assassination attempt on Senator Amidala. You can see that they studied the existing security-cam footage carefully.

* There was no second attempt on her life - the kohouns and sky-chase are pure fantasy. There are no surviving records as to who made this decision. Obviously the Jedi Council approved it. Also, Bail Organa was offworld at the time. He didn't get back to Coruscant until after Amidala & Anakin had left.

* Palpatines' little talk with Anakin is taken directly from 'The Emperors' Journals' Edited by The Skywalker Family Trust. Look for it in Vol. 773y or Reel-22 of the Computer-Codex version. Thank the makers these documents have finally been made public!

* In reality this was the first time Padme & Anakin ever met.

* Dexter Jettster is not fiction but he was a shadier and more dangerous person than the film lets on. Also, he never owned a greasy spoon!

* The entire romance is speculation. No one knows how or when Padme & Anakin became attached to each other on Naboo. Anakin's dreams are speculation as well. All that is known is that Anakin felt compelled to return to Tatooine to search for his mother at this time. Padme's decision to accompany him illustrates their newfound attraction.

- More later!

 

* Just what went down on Kamino is of course mostly speculation. Kenobi was pretty vague in his 'Journals' [see Vol. 6] and there are no surviving official records from Tipoca City. However Boba Fett was not a clone of Jango - he was only one of the bounty hunter's many illegitimate children. However, his talk with Kenobi, rife with angry undercurrents, is taken directly from Kenobi's 'Journals'.

* Here's the real mess *sigh* still so controversial after so many decades. According to Luke Skywalker's ten volume 'Skywalker Family History' no one knows what happened in the deserts of Tatooine. After tracking down the Lars family and discovering that Shmi had disappeared into the desert and had not been found by search parties Anakin went off alone to find her. A few days later he returned. Shmi was not dead but unconscious. She died in a coma within hours. According to Tusken oral history the woman taken from the vacinity of the Lars homestead had been caught stealing from them. Their oracle warned that to set her free, that the 'white woman' was protected by a demon who would come from offworld, 'the Starkiller'. As prophesied the 'demon' came in the form of her son, Anakin, who killed the entire camp, man woman & child. I'll give my notes on this later. Some interesting stuff there!

More to come...

 

hehehe, too cute!!!