Lord Of The Younglings

I think JEDIBYKNIGHT was very interested in making a starfighter fanfilm. You could talk to him about the possibility of an adaptation.

Oh and I've started reading NJO: Rebel Dream at the mo, by Allston, and I like it.

Wow, two pages in a thread by me, and it's not accidental!

Oh by the way, I won't be posting anymore tonight because it's coming up to 10:30pm here in the UK and I'm absolutely shattered.

Well, tomorrow I'll be around here during the time when it's morning in the US I think, and then I'm going to see AOTC again yay (3rd time)!

So if anybody has anything to add feel free to while I sleep.

 

I only re4ad the first few responses, and I have to go eat, but a way to get around the lightsaber issue is simple...

Obviously these padawans are not going to be travelling alone (much as in the book) so their Jedi chaperones can simply be killed in the crash. Thus they will have access to lightsabers, as the Jedi who are killed will undboutedly have them...



Indy

 

I just said that.

 

Yeah actually Irydin (spelling?) came up with the idea early on of the saber being the equivalent of the conch, and I decided that these spoilt brats would not get lightsabers of their own.

The only that we haven't discussed is the fire! Now I thought that it could be a sort of Force beacon which will alert the Jedi Knights in the Republic.
With one or a couple of Jedi it's very weak (seeing as they're trainees too), but with all of them it is amplified quite considerably. And seeing as the 'choir' are the more hyped and supposedly superior trainees, they would be very necessary for it.
Thing is, instead, the traitors go hunting.

 

I think JEDIBYKNIGHT was very interested in making a starfighter fanfilm

Mmmm, nope. It wasn't me.

 

Why can't it simply be.... a fire? The whole point of the fire was that it hearkens back to primitive man, and it is one of the most readily-created of all basic necessities for living. Complicating it into a beacon or something removes the need for a tender and also takes away that connection to primitive man.

 

Why not a fire? maybe because ships passing millions of miles overhead might not spot it.........

and it was going to be reaching out with the force rather than simply switching a homing beacon on.

It's a while since I read the book, but didn't Jack/his gang steal the fire at one point? Them going to the dark side would result in the same shift (i.e. they have "more" of the force as it's easier on the dark side)

 

It depends on where you choose to have them stranded. If they're off on some planet somewhere, why wouldn't that same ship just scan for lifeforms and send a shuttle down to do a closer scan at whichever point had human life? Or if the planet's populated and the ship can't do that, then why not the fire, so the shuttle can see it? Either way, you come to the conclusion that you either need fire or need nothing, and fire works better from a symbolic point of view.

 

Ships don't just casually scan for lifeforms. Anyway, a scan wouldn't find them as they're surrounded by lifeforms. It's a forest.

 

Suppose a group of young Jedi trainees are lost on a planet somewhere, and you want to rescue them. You send a ship to rescue them, of course - what are you going to do, swim? When the ship reaches the planet, it must first find them before it rescues them. Being a ship and able to orbit a planet as well as scan it, it logically follows that it would scan the planet, searching for traces of these trainees instead of sending down people to comb the planet by hand. Also, I must point out that although a forest is filled with life, it is possible (even today) to distinguish human life signs from other life signs, such as animals or planets.

 

Yes, and that's what should happen.

But only at the end of the story when they're picked up.

When the council hears of the disappearance, they will look at the ship's route and work out likely places to search, but the galaxy is a big place, if it was a long journey, finding them will take time.

 

Except who would be quite foolish enough to send a troop of valuable young Jedi somewhere without knowing what that somewhere is? If, on the other hand, as I suggested, it takes place on the fourth moon, and they build the fire - and Yavin 4 is isolated, so the temporary leader of the Academy would presumably use their current resources to search the moon - it would still take some time for them to be found.

I know I'm probably being stubborn and backwards in arguing for fire, but I must admit a certain predilection for it, since it fits perfectly with the storyline I proposed. That storyline, being mine, is obviously the one I'm most fond of.

 

Hi,

Now, I read the book a long, long time ago. But after reading this thread I'm pretty interested in giving the book another read. Anyway, here are some of my thoughts...

Why does everything need to be justified? It seems like your translating the book verbatim and finding clever ways to make it fit the Star Wars motif. I'm just scared that you'll lock yourself into such a rigid structure that'll it take away from the passion, the characters and make for some difficult writing for yourself.

A Star Wars movie without a light saber! Now we're talking!! Of course, if you wanted only one you could have a Jedi Knight who gets killed in the crash. There you go instance lightsaber. Not like the book? Who cares... My most important point (again) is don't forget to make it your own. I think you got something really cool here so don't get bogged down by details. You'll be best to take what you liked from the story and write a script around that or it'll just be a nightmare to film. Of course, it'll probably be a nightmare either way - Production has a habit of being like that.

I liked the idea of Piggy being Gammorean. I realize that's a difficult character to make work but if he can't talk then it's just one more way to isolate him from the group.

I think keeping the fire is the way to go... It's very symbolic and a good reference to the book, depending how much you change.

Well I said my bit... Man, I REALLY want to read the book again!!

Good luck,

-B

 

Man, is THIS a thought-provoking thread.

I haven't seen any mention here of the importance of Piggy's glasses - representing intelligence, reason, and also important for making fire. (Piggy's also the one who finds the conch, also a symbol of order). Then by the end, Piggy's glasses, the conch, and Piggy himself are all destroyed, and the descent to savagery is complete.

So what if...

You combined the idea of the conch and the glasses into the lightsaber idea. Maybe it's a lightsaber broken in the crash, maybe it's some kind of "practice" saber, but it doesn't fully function. Maybe "Piggy", weakling that he is, is the only one smart enough to get it working... perhaps not completely, but enough to make fire. And "holding the lightsaber" would certainly be an appropriate symbol of power. But still, it's a weapon, so the squabbling begins over what to do with it and who should possess it. And so the lightsaber is destroyed... and along with it everything that's noble about the children's society.

Just thinking out loud, use or ignore as you like. Either way, I'm keen to see this film when it's done.

 

Sorry for my lack of responses, but I've been out all day (watching AOTC for the 3rd time yay!)

I think that the fire should represent something to do with the force and not technology, so I thought they could create a force beacon, if you will.

The 'choir' are given the task of maintaining it, while the others build shelters. Instead of this they hunt, so there are no force users to promote the beacon.

Hey, FX_guy, thanks for alerting me to Piggy's glasses. You're right - they are veeeeery important. Now the conch is, as per Iyidin's smart idea, the only lightsaber in the entire group's possession.
The glasses in the book were used to focus the fire, so if we wanted something like that we could use the EU's kyber crystal. However I don't like the idea of the Force being channeled through a crystal - too much like Power Rangers.

EDIT: I didn't read the paragraph about integrating the conch and glasses into the saber. Sorry! I like that idea!
As Obi-Wan says 'this weapon is your life'. In this film the saber has already become a valuable commodity (there's only one!). Making it the ultimate symbol of both order (conch) and clarity of vision (glasses) could be a good idea.
It would be ironic for Jack to say 'you will pay the price for your lack of vision' before Piggy meets his untimely end.

Now it's certain that in the GFFA they possess the technology to scan for lifeforms on certain planets. The thing is, the Jedi have no idea what planet they've been stranded on. Until a while in they may have no idea that the ship even crashed (until they learn that it never reached its destination).
The beacon is there to create a rupture, or sort of disturbance, in the Force so prominent that they can even sense it all the way on Coruscant. Then the Jedi will be 'alerted to their presence'.

Now, I like the glasses idea but my mind is dead (as usual, some might say) so I have no ideas. I'll sleep on it tonight and hopefully have something to present tomorrow.

 

This is a really good idea. My only worry is that it may get ... corny. But the way it is going at the moment is good.
Just don't ruin the book. Thats what I care about most.

 

no not older, a well trained Jedi would never do such a thing. So they have to be Very young just like in the film Lord of the Flies.

 

When I read the title, I was sure this was going to be a SW/LotR crossover. But now, having read the whole thing, I have to say, it's the coolest idea for a fan film I've ever heard. I just have a few comments to throw in: I wouldn't be afraid to have the beast from the sky be Piggy's father. It'd be a nice twist for people who know the book well; they wouldn't be expecting it. It would also add a nice extra bit of emotion. And I don't know if you'd conisdered this, but the physical metaphor for Simon's beast is created by the hunting party. So, could Simon's vision be some sort of echo from using the Dark Side of the Force in a certain place, perhaps?

-Paul

 

Good inputs from all of you, and don't worry, I am also the kind of person who likes to keep a good work's integrity in tact (whereas Greedo shoots first in Star Wars).

And to darth_paul, that's a good observation. The pig's head is the result of the hunting, and so if I determine the hunting in this film this could stem from that.

It could simply be that while they're hunting they're actually hunting a species strong with the dark side (the actual Sith - seem to remember the Sith being some kind of creatures that the Dark Jedi learned from).
Or yes they commit an act of darkness in a certain area, and this act of darkness awakens a long fallen Sith Lord - the 'beast' to Simon.

Now, the issue of the beast being Piggy's dad. Well for one thing, when he says 'my father was the pilot of that ship' it will click with readers of the book (to those who haven't, i recommend it. there's a lot to digest in Golding's style but the story and ideas are excellent) and they'll think - pilot - beast - Piggy's father? NOO THATS NOT TRUE!!!! And that might provide some horror because they know what to expect.
Now I could deliver on that expectation or instead, at the moment when the twins (hmmm we could have two twins like Jacen and Jaina Solo, attuned to each other. That is why they finish each other's sentences off) see the pilot and get scared but of course don't realise what it is, the vision is obscured, making it ambiguous. So they don't know who it is.
Then, as we reach the bit where Simon sees the beast, it could be something completely different to what we imagined.

Well, the story's coming along well. I thank you all.

Next week I have nothing but free time. In fact that's how it is until September. So I will begin scripting while also filming my Mafia parody.

I thought I'd just flesh out a couple of important characters here, because we've only discussed Simon and Piggy.

Ralph (Luke Skywalker as it were) - A young, resourceful, mostly by-the-book apprentice who's been patient throughout his long and arduous training.
This boy understands that the reason the Republic works so well (poor kid) is because the Senate calls meetings and discusses things.
Ralph's knowledge of the Force is more rooted in 'presence' factors - it is his idea to make a beacon through the force - that will get them rescued.

Jack - Further in his training than all of them (but by no means near completion - much to learn, he most certainly still has), he is full of pride and, one might say, arrogance. All his life he's been praised and given authority over his fellow apprentices.
Authority and power are what he loves most, and that's why he becomes most susceptible to the dark side easiest.

Has anybody seen the black and white film of Lord of the Flies? For the choir they had this great cheery march thingy played on trumpets that sounded so funny!
Well apart from it being black and white, one of the most prominent features I noted was its poor lighting during pivotal scenes. A lot of things are difficult to make out, which represents the confusion in the boys.

Well, in theory this is not a very hard project, as rather than relying on CGI it relies on human emotions. I have a few friends who are excellent actors, and I'm not such a bad one myself (but do I really want to act in it or rather concentrate on getting each shot perfect).
The pace of this story is quite slow. I don't intend to change that much, but I intend to narrow it down to well below an hour.

OK is it safe for me to post the script when I've done it?

 

I've seen the B/W film, and a live play. Both were good, but I was warned away from the American colour version. They stuck adults on the island.... which kind of goes against the entire plot, anyway.....


We haven't mentioned the boy strawberry mark (or something like that). The one that goes "missing". Could the act of darkness to bring out the Sith spirit, be due to them being responsible in some way for his disappearance? Perhaps some rock rolling goes astray. That would echo Piggy's demise at the end. It was accidental, then deliberate.

This "beacon" idea... my thoughts were that them reaching out was just that, sitting in a group to strengthen the effect and meditating. Are you thinking more on the lines of a physical beacon, helped/powered by the force?

 

No not a physical beacon, but just a 'presence' created in the force. just to get them noticed. I don't like the idea of a physical beacon. I'm not even sure it should show up as some energy field in CGI.

Ah yes, the boy with the mulberry-coloured birthmark. How does he disappear in the book? I think they never explain it do they.

Yeah I saw a live play in Chester a while ago. It wasn't great but not terrible either.

 

Wasn't there a fire early on (before the big fire at the end) after which, that boy is never seen again? It's sort of implied that he dies during the fire but it's not discussed to mirror the fact that the boys don't discuss it.

I don't think the "beacon" should be seen either.

 

Oh yeah! The fire that goes wildly out of control at the start. Well I'm not sure how a force concentrating could do anything to a child (maybe it just 'blows his circuits' so to speak and kills him). Meditate on this I will.

 

I don't think his demise should be to do with the "beacon". The strawberry boy dying was an accident and their loss of innocence in the book. If he is used to channel the other Jedi's energy (as has been done in EU books) and "burns out" because of it, there's no real accident involved and it's too graphic. Golding was incredibly subtle, leaving most things to the imagination. I think this film will work best if it does the same.

 

And see, they don't actually know whether or not he's dead. He just vanishes. They never find any evidence of that. So some subtler way would be better, methinks. I don't think that in this particular aspect you should try to be too close to the book.

-Paul