PT J.J. Abrams view on midichlorians

Film's Peter Sciretta asked JJ Abrams about his take on The Force and midi-chlorians. His response:

"I will just say this: I would never presume to question anything George Lucas says is canon in Star Wars. And our job was not to negate or undo. A lot of people who are critics of our Star Trek, and I respect all of them, said we destroyed what they loved and negated everything. And we worked hard to clarify that we are not saying that our Star Trek over-rides a thing of the original Star Trek — it was a parallel timeline. I never wanted to negate canon that fans held so dear. And because I love Star Wars and have for too many years… … And having said all that and meaning it — I don’t want to presume over-write or change what George says the rules are.

I’m not someone who quite understands the science of the Force. To me Star Wars was never about science fiction — it was a spiritual story. And it was more of a fairytale in that regard. For me when I heard Obi-Wan say that the Force surrounds us and binds us all together, there was no judgement about who you were. This was something that we could all access. Being strong with the force didn’t mean something scientific, it meant something spiritual. It meant someone who could believe, someone who could reach down to the depths of your feelings and follow this primal energy that was flowing through all of us. I mean, thats what was said in that first film!

And there I am sitting in the theater at almost 11 years old and that was a powerful notion. And I think this is what your point was, we would like to believe that when **** gets serious, that you could harness that Force I was told surrounds not just some of us but every living thing. And so, I really feel like the assumption that any character needs to have inherited a certain number of midi-chlorians or needs to be part of a bloodline, it’s not that I don’t believe that as part of the canon, I’m just saying that at 11 years old, that wasn’t where my heart was. And so I respect and adhere to the canon but I also say that the Force has always seemed to me to be more inclusive and stronger than that."

 

Good on him. He's stated his own opinion in a respectful way.

 

He's quite the politician but there is no doubt in my mind the subtext is strong disapproval of the midichlorians concept.

He is of course free to his opinion but I do think the reasoning is flawed. His quotes seem to be at odds with what we learn in the later OT films, before the phrase midichlorians was even invented.

"That boy is our last hope"
"The force is strong in my family"

He'd do well to read 'The Star Wars Heresies' regarding this subject.

 

Some fanboys need to take JJ's example.

I'm always astonished when I hear fans being upset about such a simple concept added as "midichlorians". Star Wars has never been a real thing, it's fantasy. There's no need to be so upset.

Plus, I still don't see how it destroys the concept of the Force as many fanboys are claiming. It's not said that the Force is composed of biological organism. It is simply explained that those micro-organisms allow people to communicate with the Force and use it and they are living within every people, thus allowing life to exist and everyone to use the Force. But even if everyone can use the Force, only the Jedi know how to manipulate and control it. It didn't destroy the mythology of the Force itself but I rather think that it has added a more mystical aspect when saying that there are small organsims living within every being in the galaxy allowing life to exist (not to confuse with allowing the Force to exist) and people to use and communicate with the Force.

 

Another midi debate?

 

I think the main critisism of midichlorians is that it introduces a biological prediposition. It doesn't change the Force itself, but your ability to communicate with the Force is dependent on your midichlorian count. Critics of midichlorians prefer the concept of the Force being available to anyone, as long as you are willing to be open to it. They feel with the inclusion of midichlorians, the Force becomes a sort of super power only really accesible to a few. So it's a question of nature vs nurture. The first would imply you can only become a Jedi, if you have the biological predeposition, meaning a high enough midichlorian count. The second would imply anyone can become a Jedi, if you work hard enough at it.

Of course there are hints of genetic prediposition in the OT, although it's never linked to some biological manifestation, that can be measured. In any case, to many it needlessly demystefies certain aspects of the Force.

 

When people whine about midichlorians my response is imagine if Jabba the Hutt became a Jedi.

 

What's wrong with a fat, slobbering Jedi? In a universe where Jar Jar is a senator, anyone should be able to become a Jedi...

 

Everything that is wrong with Jabba in the first place. The Rancor pit is what I imagine the Jedi Council wishes they could do with Anakin

 

J.J.'s view goes against the heart of my inner 11 year old given that I never thought the Force was something everyone could access. I respect his canon. But, I'm just saying...I kind of don't.

 

Yeah, a lava pit is too good for that sack of ....

 

Wonder if Porkins had a high midichlorian count.

 

My avi disagrees

 

I just don't get Abrams. The prequels, ironically, confirm that everyone, absolutely every living creature, has the ability to connect to the Force. Since midichlorians are the link to the Force and they're found in all living cells. The only thing is, the Force is stronger with some people than others. Some people have more potential. It's basically the equivalent of saying that everyone can play sports but only some people can become professional athletes (or Jedi, in the case of Star Wars).

Otherwise...Empire Strikes Back (especially) makes no sense. Why is Luke the last hope except for the other? There are only two people in the galaxy that can bring down the Empire. Why? Why did Yoda and Obi-Wan sit on their butts for 20 years then, if anyone could have been trained as a Jedi?

The entire premise of Star Wars falls apart if you assume that anyone can be a Jedi. I think that anyone can use the Force, but some people only under intense circumstances. The prequels never say that the Force is a primal energy flow only some can access. It literally says the opposite by virtue of having the mediators (midichlorians) of that access be present in all living cells.

To me, it just seems like he didn't get what Lucas was trying to say with the midis (the symbiosis theme) nor did he understand how the plot of Empire wouldn't make sense if anyone could be a Jedi.

 

No, but his triglycerides were through the ******* roof.

 

Maybe so, but did we really need to know Anakin's power level? Over 20,000 imaginary units? I always thought it was pretty awesome that a Jedi could sense the power of another Jedi or prospect. I never imagined they would need a blood test. To me it was always a case of overexplaining.

 

I thought it was pretty cool because it suggested an easy way for the Jedi to find new members as babies. When they're born, kids get a quick blood test and, if their midichlorian levels are high enough, the parents have the option of contacting the Jedi Temple to come and get the child to train.

Also, I think people focus on the "power levels" aspect too much -- sure Anakin had a very high midichlorian count, but he was still defeated by Dooku in Episode II and then Obi-Wan in Episode III. It's hardly the end-all-be-all. It tells us potential, really. I think the level was much more geared towards identifying Anakin as the possible Chosen One. But it's never really brought up again outside of that context.

 

totally agree with this.......rational and logical. Excellent post

 

Well,I think J.J did not mentioned that in The Phantom Menace is told that every living cell has midichlorians living in it.
Qui Gon tells that,to a very young Skywalker.

 

Yes, but would you like to be the Jedi that has to tell some parents their kid only has a midichlorian count of 1.

 

A couple thoughts

1. It is said that midichlorians are a Jedi's link to the Force. But it is also said they reside in all cells. Thus Chewie has them, Han has them, etc. Nobody ever states that they couldn't learn to use the Force.

2. Children with the Force were still being born in the Imperial era. There's no reason to think otherwise. Luke and Leia are not the only two people with Force affinity. What there were was Anakin's only two surviving relatives. It was already shown that Vader was reluctant to kill Luke. I think Yoda and Obi-Wan saw an advantage in that. SW: Rebels even shows that "Children of the Force" are still being born. So Luke by no means was the only one that they could have trained. But he was one of the only two people with a relationship to Vader that could be exploited.

3. The belief that Force affinity and midichlorian count are proportional is something that is assumed but never stated outright. Anakin is never said by Qui-Gon to have a Force potential greater than Yoda or anything like that. All that is said is he has a count greater than any lifeform Qui-Gon had ever seen, and thus he interpreted it as Anakin possibly being conceived of by midichlorians given what Shmi had said about Anakin's father. It is never said that his potential is greater than anyone else. Nor does he ever eclipse Yoda in power, despite having a higher count.

To Qui-Gon, it is merely indicative of a prophecy that says something about an individual conceived by the Force bringing balance to it. He believes Anakin is destined to destroy the Sith. Which as we see doesn't require him to be the most powerful Force user ever, since he just got his butt handed to him by Luke a minute earlier.

Midichlorians may or may not contribute to how quickly Anakin is able to grow in power. Since the Jedi aren't shown to have open recruitment, and instead seem to look at kids that already have manifested Force abilities. But as far as potential, that seems to be based more on knowledge and experience.

4. While midichlorians don't anger me. I do feel they are redundant. They didn't offer anything other than explaining that there is an organelle that is associated with the Force. This never came up again other than in a comment about Plagueis being able to manipulate midichlorians to create life. That same conversation could have occurred by merely saying he could use the Force to create life. Midichlorians were completely redundant.

5. The Force already was symbiotic. Is was generated by all living things, and without it, the Jedi couldn't do their job. It didn't need midichlorians to establish that. But I'd argue that said symbiotic relationship doesn't work if you argue that only some can access the Force, since then it becomes exclusive to a select few. It wouldn't be symbiotic to anyone except the Jedi or Sith at that point and would merely be commensal to the average person

 

Personally I always felt the midichlorian thing was a another way to show how out of touch with the force the Jedi had become. They had reduced a mystical energy field to a quantifiable number. Rather than rely on their instincts and feelings, they left measuring force potential to machines. I think it's one reason they went against their better judgment to allow Anakin to be trained. "The numbers don't lie, we gotta do something with this kid!" I know there's no direct evidence of this just my own personal take.

Edit: typo Anakin

 

I like your idea. It's too bad, there wasn't a little bit more reflection at the end of ROTS. Yoda could have been the one to connect the dots. It would explain his changed attitude in TESB. Jedi Academy vs a kind of Sensei like relationship between a master and his student.

 

3. I don't really see it. Yes, it isn't stated with 100% certainty that midichlorian-count is the definition of "force-potential", but it is very heavily implied. Mentioning the Luke vs Vader fight is kind of redundant, because that had nothing to do with power. Vader was conflicted the entire time and wasn't really interested in killing Luke. This was all about Luke going crazy over the thought of Leia being turned, and Vader being completely hesitant to deal with the situation.

Seeing how far Anakin made it at a young age, it seems rather obvious that he was closing in on the most powerful, and pretty much destined to exceed everyone. That someone with lots of experience can be ahead of a brash 22 year old is obvious, but it doesn't really say anything about the eventual power. All the wonderkids in sport are quite clearly not as good at the very best while they are only 18, they show that they are up there, but generally they aren't clearly ahead of more experienced stars at that point. That doesn't change that it takes only a short time for them to eclipse everyone else (see LeBron James or Sidney Crosby, for example). Anakin was clearly growing by leaps and bounds, and Palpatine didn't suggest that Anakin would easily surpass both him and Yoda just for the heck of it either.

4. I can't agree with this one either. They were essential for showing that Anakin is a unique being. And more importantly, this played a heavy role in how he was treated by the Jedi. If he was just the random powerful Jedi, no one would have thought about the prophecy, much less let this prophecy define how to deal with Anakin. There needed to be something that clearly defined that Anakin was different from other future powerful Jedi, like Obi Wan, for example. Else the the entire setup of the story wouldn't have worked.


I'd say PiettsHat nailed it pretty much.

 

Not sure I see the problem with that. If Jabba became a Jedi, then he'd have the qualities a Jedi should have, right?

My take is that Midis were an extraneous addition to the mythos. You don't need them in any sense. Having said that, I'm not all that bothered by them either. I can see how they could still be compatible with JJ's more spiritual view (which I admit I prefer).