PT J.J. Abrams Swears There Are No Midi-chlorians in The Force Awakens

thejeditraitor: you cannot be more wrong. I don't understand your lack of reading comprehension - all I said is "no midi" mention does not mean anything as to whether midis are canon or not, or to ignored or not. It has absolutely zero to do with TFN, pro or con. It is not a like or dislike.

This need to label others so you can dismiss them (generic "you") is infantile. If and when you feel the need to denigrate another poster, at least be accurate. How can I bash the new movies before I've even seen them? The only thing I bash is the unreasonable, extreme, bile-spouting haters.

 

The MTV interview was a total light-hearted entertainment piece. Obviously, I think we should take it at face value that midichlorians won't be in TFA, but I didn't pick up any disdain or anything while saying it. He also said the Holiday Special was canon, so there you go.

As far as his Comic-Con statement goes, I think we'll see a TFA that only needs Episodes IV, V, and VI as its canon. Especially since Obi-Wan tells us what happened to Vader in ROTJ, so that's part of OT canon anyway. I don't think you'll see any mentions of Mace Windu or Qui-Gon or Boss Nass or anything. They're just not necessary to that part of the timeline, but they're always going to be a part of Star Wars.

 

Fine. Episode 7: The Rude Side Of The Force



MJ

 

I actually consider this somewhat spoilerish, even though I'm not surprised in the slightest.

Time to make myself scarce until the end of the year, perhaps...

 

Dude as others have pointed out your thread is very misleading. For one thing it's a bit rich to title it "JJ swears there are no midichlorians in TFA". You should work for a tabloid nwspaper with provocative headlines like that . He was asked a direct question & respectfully answered no to that question. He didn't put his hand on a stack of bibles or shout it from the rooftops. If GL were asked the exact same question prior to AotC he'd give the exact same answer about that film. Hardly a big deal.

That aside, he clearly said that the films are canon. He didn't exclude the PT at all. He then emphasised the OT but that doesn't exclude the PT & declares them as non canon. In fact it confirms what we all know, the PT is obviously & clearly canon.
Since TFA directly follows the OT & features OT characters it's only to be expected that they're pouring over all the details of the OT to make sure they line up with the canonical events & character elements of those films. They need to do this less so with the PT since very few PT characters are in this film & they're set a massive 60 years earlier.

Hey MODS can I respectfully suggest that you add an amendment to this thread or it's opening post to reflect the facts. "the director has said he is only treating the original trilogy as canon" is a blatantly untrue statement. No doubt it was an honest mistake, but we should be avoiding the spread of misinformation as much as possible, particularly when it's about subjects that inflame arguments & gets people upset around here.

 

Nonsense. He said they won't be mentioned, not that they won't be there. Not mentioning them in the movie won't undo the midichlorians.

 

It would be pretty weird to bring them up now. When the Saga is watched in order we'll see:

Ep 1: Midichlorians this, midichlorians that...midichlorians everywhere. They were stars of the movie.
Ep 2: *crickets*
Ep 3: One brief mention.
Ep 4: *more crickets*
Ep 5: *tumbleweeds*
Ep 6: *tumbleweeds & crickets*

Now all of a sudden they're going to make a big comeback!? I don't think so.

 

And that was precisely my point.

Seems like they won't be brought up explicitly in the movie, but they might find mentions in ancillary material, or shape certain aspects of the rest of the ST.

Either way, it's not a topic I care too much about. Love the prequels, love the midis. Yet their overt mentioning in the sequel trilogy, right now, is neither here nor there, to me.

I just thought I'd highlight the precise way J.J. Abrams answered. It hints that midi-chlorians are not, necessarily, completely off the agenda. Or, at least, I thought it did.

But again... whatever. Prequels are my focus, not sequels.

 

bashing is bashing and you guys are having a field day. so go to it, i guess.

 

I find that totally perplexing. The story is the story and it's over all 6 episodes. You can't separate the one from the other. It's inextricably linked together.

 

I don't see what's so perplexing about it. I think you're misinterpreting. I'm not saying that the PT doesn't exist, just that it doesn't need to exist to write the ST using the OT as the only source of canon.

Episodes IV-VI were written and existed on their own before the PT. Everything in the PT that's relevant to the ST was covered in what Obi-Wan, Vader, and Yoda told Luke in dialogue. Who Anakin was, who Darth Vader was, and the nature of the light side, the dark side, and the Jedi are all spoken about to give you exactly what you need to know in Episodes IV-VI. No PT needed for research.

It's obviously "Episode 7," so basic math suggests that Episodes 1-3 are needed so that it all adds up to 7, but what from the PT even needs to come up in the ST that isn't already covered in the OT? I don't see any need to talk about Mace Windu by the time Episode 7 comes up.

 

I'm not talking about Mace Windu.

I'm talking about Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and his family, the Force, the Jedi and Sith, the Republic and Empire etc etc.

Talking about Mace Windu as of any importance besides historical footnotes decades after his death would be like talking about Tarkin or battles on Geonosis or Hoth or that Han was frozen in carbonite or waxing on about how Jabba and his minions were wiped out.

Research? They are movies.

IIRC Pablo Hildago talked about how TFA is set up in such a way that you don't NEED to see ANY of the previous 6 movies because it will be a new starting point for a younger generation who may not have seen any of the movies and if they have it's more likely they have seen the prequels already as they are still the modern day movies.

I know some fans find that hard to believe but between the movies and TCW and everything since 1999 a whole generation of fans actually know the PT era far better. Hence the marketing push to educate these kids on the OT era.

"Everything in the PT that's relevant to the ST was covered in what Obi-Wan, Vader, and Yoda told Luke in dialogue."

You know you don't know that but you can't really believe that surely? That would be like saying the exact same thing about the OT's relation to the ST.

 

You could be right but right now we're only guessing. There could be elements of Palpatine's story from the PT that's still relevant. What could also be likely, perhaps more so in the later episodes is some scenes at the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Perhaps Luke or another Jedi will make use of the Jedi archives or records.

I think he's saying the basics of those themes & characters were already explained in the OT, so the PT isn't needed. Another way of saying it is in the future a viewer could just watch Eps IV-IX & not be lost or need further backstory. It's just speculation though.

 

*ponders starting a fan-campaign to include midicholorians in the ST*

If you don't have time to make a placard and take a protest shift to demonstrate outside of Disney headquarters or even money for the plane ticket to get there we can still find a way to get you involved.

 

They weren't though. That is the point.

I think what this comes down to is the same old, same old. The real story of Star Wars that George told didn't tell the story they wanted it to be because it wasn't the "right one."

It's no different than not wanting snippet of Anakin's story that was told in ROTJ where he was ultimately not the actual evil but a hero turned to become the pawn of evil. Then for them the prequels took away the image of the "hero" they still had in their head from Obi-Wan in ANH which itself was only partly true and about Obi-Wan telling Luke what he needed to hear at that point.

 

Fair point.

 

"Mace Windu" is a parody example of something that was relevant to the PT that doesn't really need to be referenced in the OT or require watching the PT to write a trilogy that comes after the OT. Things like Mace Windu, Boss Nass, Battle for Naboo, Count Dooku, like, whatever. Let's see more Stormtroopers. It's the past.

Of course. I don't think you will need to watch the OT either to watch the ST. Episode VII should be handled as a starting point for anyone...

...BUT, you would need to watch the OT to write the ST.

I don't think the PT is nearly as necessary for writing purposes, and that's what I mean when I used the word "research." You don't need to educate yourself on the PT to write Episode VII as you would 4-6.

JJ singled out Episodes IV-VI with an "especially" for a reason. The PT is still a part of this universe, and the things that were created in it will still have existed in the ST, but they just won't influence the plot nearly as much as the OT. It just makes sense chronologically.

 

It's a sad day indeed when someone like me who has stated her concerns where she has them is labeled a basher by certain other posters, who seem unable to have any kind of reading comprehension - or is bound and determined that anything less than 100% agreement with said poster's viewpoint must be bashing,.

The only thing I bash is the extreme, vitriol-spewing comments by a subsection of fans. Anything else is an acceptance or dispute of opinions - i.e. a (sometimes heated) discussion.

Which I guess means your attack on my opinions is - fine. Welcome to it. But it's wrong.

 

Why did Abrams bother to make that announcement in the first place? I find it unnecessary. Midichlorians were only mentioned in "The Phantom Menace".

 

He didn't make an announcement, he answered a question. Totally different thing.

 

Can some mod (please for the love of god) change the title of this thread to J.J. Abrams says that there's no mention of Midi-chlorians in The Force Awakens".

The amount of misinterpreting is giving me a headache.

 

negative misleading statement. hence the bashing comment. don't see why that's hard to "comprehend".

these boards = gl haters, pt bashers, tcw haters, rebels haters, cgi haters, (practical effect campaign haters, pegg haters, jj haters, kk haters) st bashing in my words. notice a theme? it's all bull****. combine that with all the misstatements and taking things out of context and there's barely any "discussion" going on.

 

And Revenge of the Sith.

And The Clone Wars, but that's probably not important to this discussion.

 

There was little mention of midi chlorians in the rest of the PT outside of TPM. What's his point?

 

See the opera scene in ROTS