Saga SW Saga In-Depth In-Depth Discussion Thread

Long live Princess Leia Aquilae.

 

The Death Star brings the Titanic to mind. Everyone was so sure of the Death Star's invincibility that they didn't take any precautions.

 

So I've been rereading the 1973 SW story synopsis with an eye to figuring out how it might have worked as a film.


The major difference between the synopsis and the 1974 rough draft is the absence of Annikin Starkiller, the brash young Jedi-in-training. Instead, Princess Leia Aquilae is guarded by "one of her generals, Luke Skywalker," who takes along two "bickering Imperial bureaucrats," the forerunners of R2-D2 and C-3PO. Probably Lucas considered having the "bureaucrats" be two different alien species, like Legolas and Gimli in The Lord of the Rings.

In the 1974 rough draft, General Skywalker was a wizened man over 60 years old, based on the wise old Kambei Shimada, leader of the titular Seven Samurai in Kurosawa's film. In the 1973 synopsis, however, General Skywalker is clearly modeled on Toshiro Mifune's ronin character from Yojimbo and Sanjuro. The given name of Mifune's ronin Sanjuro means "thirty-year-old", and Sanjuro jokes about it in both films: "actually, now I'm closer to forty." The General Skywalker of 1973 is thus a much younger character than the wizened Jedi of the 1974 script, and so more suitable as a romantic match for the Princess. (Think of the interplay between Indiana Jones and Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark and you'll probably have the right idea.)

The story synopsis version of General Skywalker was probably the basis for young Obi-Wan Kenobi's character in the rough-draft script of TPM: in the rough draft of Episode I, Obi-Wan was a thirty-year-old Jedi Knight on a solo mission, fully trained but still young enough to be headstrong and brash in his dealings with the Jedi Council.



Back to 1973: The Imperial vs. Rebellion conflict is in evidence here, though it's been simplified from the Journal of the Whills fragment. In that initial outline, there was a Galactic Cold War between the Empire and the "Alliance of Independent Systems". The planet Alderaan, backed secretly by the Empire, invaded its neighboring system Aquilae, and the Alliance sent Jedi Knights to Aquilae to provide clandestine assistance.

Here, though, the Empire is openly fighting a civil war against a "rebellion", which has led to the occupation of Aquilae by Imperial troops. The heroes' goal is to get Princess Leia safely to rebel-held territory, the planet Ophuchi, ruled by her uncle. Leia and the general take with them "two hundred pounds of aura-spice", the equivalent of the gold pieces from The Hidden Fortress.

Again contrast the 1974 draft, where Aquilae stands alone against an unprovoked Imperial invasion: there is no wider Rebellion as such. The 1974 Ophuchi is the headquarters of "the chrome companies," who would provide assistance... for a price. (Not spice, but the brains of top Aquilaean scientists, suitable for cloning in new bodies.) In the event, however, the discovery of the Wookees of Yavin provides the impetus needed to retake Aquilae and restore Princess Leia to her rightful throne.



The Sanjuro references in the 1973 synopsis continue when the party, seeking shelter from a rainstorm, arrives at an abandoned temple. There General Skywalker meets ten young boys, 15 to 18 years old, who want to become rebels and fight the Imperial occupation of Aquilae. The cynical Skywalker is at first dismissive of their idealism, but they prove themselves by killing a giant monster which attacks their camp that night.

The size of the party has now grown to fourteen -- the same size as the party of heroes in The Hobbit: thirteen dwarves plus Bilbo. (The comparison to Paul Atreides of Dune training Fremen warriors in the Bene Gesserit ways of fighting is also apt.)



A few notes on design: at this stage, Aquilae is not yet a desert planet. Though it has deserts which the party crosses to elude Imperial pursuit and get to a spaceport, the overall landscape as seen from space is "blue-green," not "reddish-yellow." And when Skywalker draws his sword during the cantina fight, his lightsaber has a sheath like a conventional sword: it's not a retracting pure-energy blade yet.



When they arrive on Yavin, Leia isn't separated from General Skywalker; however, like Tolkien's dwarves in Mirkwood, all but two of the young boys get lost in the jungle. The general's group, riding "jet-sticks" (proto-speeder bikes) through the jungle, are chased by "giant furry Aliens" (Wookees in the 1974 draft) riding on "large bird-like creatures".

In the camp of the furry aliens, two alien chiefs have a fight. One demands the death of the intruders, and the other walks away in anger. The aliens summon a large guard, armed with a spear, whom Skywalker fights and eventually cuts in half. This is very different from the 1974 draft, where the Wookees are more friendly to young Annikin after he saves some of their own, and the battle at the Wookee camp is an initiation ritual that ends non-violently with Annikin's induction into the tribe.

In the 1973 draft, the aliens are incensed by General Skywalker's victory, and take him to the edge of a cliff, tossing him down to a boiling lake below. (Milton's Paradise Lost opens with Satan and his fellow demons waking up on a boiling lake after being cast down from Heaven. Since Luke Skywalker is named for the Norse trickster god Loki, this is probably a deliberate Milton reference.)

However, the General survives by holding on to some vines protruding from the cliff face -- a moment recycled in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.



After his escape, Skywalker meets up with the other alien chief, the one who wanted to spare his life. The chief takes Skywalker to see where the belligerent alien is meeting with a squadron of Imperials, selling them the princess and bureaucrats. Skywalker and the chief reunite with the rest of the boys, and capture the local Imperial base and its complement of long-range "one-man devil fighters."

In this version, Princess Leia is not taken back to occupied Aquilae, but rather to the city-planet of Alderaan, the capital of the Empire. After some target practice, Skywalker and the boys fly off to Alderaan, using a disguise to enter "the gates". (Is this a planetary defense shield like in Rogue One?) They rescue the princess, though a few of the boys are killed. (Perhaps three -- Thorin, Fili, and Kili? )



With Leia safe, the heroes at last reach their destination of Ophuchi, the planet ruled by Leia's uncle (presumably her mother's brother, the Theoden to her Eowyn). They receive a parade (shades of Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars) and the surviving boys are inducted into the Princess' honor guard.

I suspect that, as in the Journal of the Whills, the 1973 Ophuchi is a cloud city suspended in the air, providing a heavenly contrast to the urban hell of Alderaan. Again the Milton allusions!



A small note on appearance: with General Skywalker being so closely modeled on Toshiro Mifune, it's inevitable Lucas envisoned him with dark hair. Think of Conan the Barbarian or Aragorn in LOTR - dark-haired heroes with eyes of steely gray or blue. And while the 1974 Leia has red hair, given the outline's allusions to Milton and Tolkien, it's quite possible Lucas in 1973 saw her as a blonde: the angel figure to Skywalker's roguish devil.

If so, expect Leia's head to be shaved in the Alderaan prison: besides the THX 1138 allusion, there's also a pun in there about her going from a "golden eagle" to a "bald eagle." (Because "Aquilae" is the genitive of Latin "eagle". I know, it's terrible. )

 

I was wondering who I could ask to help me figure out which "editions" of all my different DVDs etc are of the films? A Chorus of Disapproval directed me to you fine folks.

For example -- I must have 5 different versions of ANH -- is there somewhere or someone that can say "this is the "special secret probation edition" or something like that?

Maybe a site that shows pictures of each set? Or someone that if I describe it to them -- you would know which is which?

I would love to label all my editions correctly but despite some googling -- couldn't come up with something as concrete and informed as I hope I can get here.

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

While the SW films have been released in many packages, there's really only been one version of the films released on DVD - digitally revised editions of all six films from the early 2000s.

The original trilogy also had a "limited edition" 2006 DVD release of the theatrical cuts, known as the "GOUT" version (George's Original Unaltered Trilogy; so-called because it's a terrible transfer from a 1990s laserdisc release.) This was done so Lucasfilm could claim to have appeased the fans who wanted the theatrical cuts released, while not actually providing them in a decent form!

The 2011 Blu-ray releases of the SW films are revised yet again with digital changes. All of them. Again, this is the only version of the films available at this level of quality.

 

Speaking of the 1973 Journal of the Whills, here's a Dramatis Planetae of the worlds featured in those notes:

Kissel: located in the Bestine system, homeworld of Jedi-Bendu padawaan Chuiee II Thorpe. Likely a water-covered world with limited landmass and major cities underwater. The name is from German "Kessel" or kettle. Modeled on Japan, and inspired partially by the line from Dune, "From water does all life begin."

Yavin: a jungle world with eight-foot tall furry Wookies, seen in the film's opening sequence.

Anchorhead: capital of the Alliance of Independent Systems. A mountainous, snowy, temperate planet, modeled on Switerzerland (headquarters of the 1930s League of Nations). Much like the Alderaan of current SW canon.

Aquilae: desert planet, the "second planet of Yoshiro," ruled by Lord Annakin Starkiller of the Beber people. The heir to the throne is his nephew, Prince Luke Skywalker. The Bebers (humans) share the planet with the Hubble, a race of tall, scaly green-skinned creatures, of whom Han Solo is one.

Ophuchi: gaseous cloud city planet in the Starbuck system, homeworld of Jedi Knight Mace Windy. The base of a notorious gang of pirates, who kidnap slaves from across the galaxy and auction them at slave markets here. (JW Rinzler dances around this point in The Making of SW because many of the slaves are nubile young women.)

Norton II: an ice world on the fringes of known space, visited by Mace Windy and Chuiee II Thorpe as they flee the Alderaanian invasion of Aquilae with Prince Luke. Named for Emperor Joshua Norton I, a famous figure in San Francisco local history.

Alderaan: a city-planet in the system next to Aquilae (the "Brunhuld system"). The two planets are old enemies. Alderaanian troops invade Aquilae with covert backing from the Galactic Empire, a plot with heavy borrowing from Dune. A major location on Alderaan is Herald Square, a plaza for troop processions and grand speeches.

Decarte: the capital of the Galactic Empire. Probably a combination of Trantor in Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Clavius Base in Kubrick's 2001: a world with a dead, gray, dusty outer surface, and a sprawling urban metropolis underground.

Lundee: private home of the Emperor, Alexander Xerxes XII. A lava world with fiery volcanoes, akin to Condawn/Mustafar. The name is from French lundi, "Monday", which puns on the German equivalent Montag being the protagonist's name in Fahrenheit 451: "It was a pleasure to burn."

 

On the recommendation of the Kitbashed blog, I've been looking at Howard Chaykin's SF swashbuckler comics, Ironwolf and Cody Starbuck.

The first issue of Cody Starbuck (in Star Reach #1, 1974) wears its influences on its sleeve. Chaykin's hero, Elon Cody Starbuck, is named for Leigh Brackett's SF protagonist, Eric John Stark, and Starbuck in the past served in the navy of "the Star Kings," like the titular Star Kings of the novel by Edmond Hamilton (Brackett's husband).

Ironwolf (from DC's Weird Worlds #8-10, 1973-4) is also interesting and appears to have had more direct influence on SW. Like all of Chaykin's SF swordfighters, Ironwolf is a morally grey, womanizing, rough-edged antihero. Though since Ironwolf was published by DC, Chaykin, who shared writing duties here with Denny O'Neil, couldn't show as much sex and violence as he does in Cody Starbuck.

The first panel lets us know the sort of bombast we're in for: the title reads "And there shall come a hero, and men shall call him... IRONWOLF!" The Ironwolf of the title is apparently Space Scottish, because he's always shown wearing a tartan kilt-like garment.

In the first issue, the corrupt Empress of the Empire Galaktika wants to chop down the forests on Ironwolf's homeworld, to take advantage of their unusual gravity-defying wood for space combat. (N.B.: in the 1975 SW drafts, the Old Republic was called "the Republic Galactica.") Ironwolf is sentenced to death for defying the Empress, but escapes with the help of a dancer, who he names "Missy" and takes with him as he flees. In a wooden spaceship, which is wonderfully Howard Hughes.



Ironwolf tries to prevent the trees' acquisition by legal means, but is thwarted by his brother Tyrone, an Imperial lackey who tries to kill Ironwolf. However, Tyrone isn't entirely evil: the Empress and her minions coerced him into serving them. (Imagine a SW where Darth Vader says "I am your brother"...)



Rather than let the Empire obtain this technological advantage, Ironwolf turns a powerful destructive laser on his own homeworld, denying the Empire a victory -- at the price of virtually destroying his own home planet. Sound familiar?



Exploring deep space, Ironwolf encounters a femme fatale, a red-headed space pirate with the unlikely name of Shebaba O'Neil. The "only survivor of a ship bound for the far arm of the galaxy," O'Neil joins forces with Ironwolf to fight the Empire and restore the Republic... er, democracy. For extra Biblical symbolism points, Shebaba presents Ironwolf with an apple as a gift of friendship.



Incidentally, both Ironwolf and Cody Starbuck have a ship with the same name, the Limerick Rake. Rather like how Lando owned the Millennium Falcon before losing it to Han Solo.

In the second issue, Ironwolf takes a job in a company of intergalactic thespians in a bid to assassinate the Empress. (No word if Anton Karidian is among the players.) We also meet the Empress' right-hand man, Lord Omikel, commander of the Blood Legions: almost certainly the inspiration for Prince Valorum, Knight of the Sith, in the 1974 rough draft.



The plot is thwarted, and Missy is killed by Omikel with the poisoned cup from Hamlet.



That's Missy with the hair buns. Makes me wonder if this is the fate Lucas had in mind for Leia in the "long-form" SW saga plotline where Luke's sister was a separate character. (And if so, is Mara Jade Nellith Skywalker under another name? No wonder Timothy Zahn put the Branstock from Wagner's Ring Cycle in Talon Karrde's base.)

The third issue introduces the leaders of a rebellion against the corrupt Terran Empire. Unfortunately for Ironwolf, the Rebels are just as bad as the Empire in this case -- their leader is actually a drug dealer, whose product turned his own son into a mindless beast.

As Ironwolf contemplates this morally grey universe, he's shown against a background of stars and planets... then he reaches out and crushes one planet in his fist.



Interesting, because a very similar motif was the centerpiece of Luke and Vader's mental duel in the ESB script written by Leigh Brackett. This recursive homagery is getting to be a veritable hall of mirrors.

 

Yeesh.

Okay, George.

 

ATMachine

Great finds and great analysis.

Personally I have little doubt that these comics inspired to George Lucas to some extent. After all, IMHO, it appears he realized at an early stage that having plenty of Deja-Vues in Star Wars would contribute to an overall familiar feel, and ultimately contribute to a commercial success of Star Wars, because it was so palatable to a large audience.

Suffice to say I'm happy that the Millennium Falcon wasn't made out of wood.

 

I've been considering the most probable outline of the "long-form" six-film OT.

The "long-form" Saga is the version of SW where Leia and Luke's lost sister are two separate characters: in other words, the Saga roughly as envisioned during the making of ESB. This is distinct from the later idea of a separate Sequel Trilogy, with another 3 films taking place decades after the OT.

In my view, the most likely outline for the "long-form" OT would be something like this:

Film 1: Star Wars

Film 2: The Empire Strikes Back

Film 3: A major set-piece battle in which Darth Vader, Leia, and Han Solo all die. I'm guessing this would be an attack on an Imperial cloning facility, like in Timothy Zahn's The Last Command.

Having Leia and Han both die is in keeping with GL's 1980 comment about the next three SW films dealing with "the character who survives Star Wars III and his adventures". Also, while Luke kills Darth Vader, the Emperor is still alive at this point.

Film 4: Luke meets Nellith Skywalker, his long-lost sister, and they work together to stop the Empire from digging up an ancient superweapon.

Imagine a plot something like this: Long ago, a Republic fleet (using a revolutionary hive-mind droid technology, which minimized the need for organic crewmembers) defeated an enemy force. The Republic captured the enemy's greatest weapon: a battleship with torpedoes powerful enough to destroy a sun. A Death Star on a massively miniaturized scale. However, on its journey home, the hive-mind malfunctioned and the entire fleet (along with the battleship) was lost.

The Empire wants to find the fleet, not only because droid ships would make up for the loss of the cloning facility, but also because of the power of the alien battleship. Think of the Katana Fleet from the Thrawn trilogy, as well as the Sun Crusher from Kevin J. Anderson's novels.

Long story short: the Empire obtains the fleet, but a disaffected Imperial officer, befriended by Luke, steals the superweapon and pilots it into the sun of the Imperial homeworld, destroying the Imperial capital. "Empire Galactica", indeed.

Film 5: The Empire, wounded and angry, decides to destroy the Rebels once and for all, with two Death Stars in half-finished state orbiting a remote Imperial planet. Basically it's the plot of ROTJ.

We also learn that the Emperor is a Force user -- although he keeps this a secret even from his Sith acolytes.

The Emperor in this conception is a brilliant general and military strategist, who was elevated into political office based on his heroism in the Clone Wars. (Thrawn, basically.) Normally the Emperor surrounds himself with ysalamiri-type creatures who repel the Force, ostensibly so he can protect himself from any attack by the Jedi, or the Sith Lords who serve him. However, the ysalamiri also conceal a secret from even the Sith: the Emperor is a self-taught dark Force user, whose abilities can sway the minds of men.

In this film the Emperor dies, and the Death Stars are destroyed.

Film 6: 20 years have passed, and Luke and Nellith's children are now grown up. Nellith herself has become Queen of a planet (likely Tatooine), where Luke has established his Jedi academy. This time skip is inspired by the similar time skip in the 6th book of EE "Doc" Smith's Lensman saga.

Luke's son, while exploring an ancient Sith temple, is possessed by a spirit of the Dark Side imprisoned there. This spirit had helped advise the Emperor in previous films, aiding in the creation of the Empire in the hopes of one day breaking free of his prison. (Exar Kun, anyone?) This spirit was able to break the spirit of Luke's son (let's call him Ben) by revealing the truth Luke and Nellith had kept hidden: they're twin siblings, and Ben Skywalker is the product of incest.

Luke's treacherous son betrays his parents' homeworld to the forces of the Imperial Remnant. Luke and Nellith die, but Luke's daughter escapes, with a handful of loyal Jedi in tow, to lead the resistance and eventually take back her homeworld. Thus ensues a rough adaptation of the plot of the 1974 SW rough draft... or, if you look at in another way, The Phantom Menace.



Additionally, this outline could be increased to 12 films, by including a 3-film saga about the Valley of the Jedi on Ruusan.

Valley of the Jedi Film 1: Takes place long before the prequel trilogy, and shows the great battle that led to the creation of the graveyard at the heart of the Valley.

Valley of the Jedi Film 2: Takes place shortly after the PT and the rise of the Empire. Involves Obi-Wan Kenobi hunting for the Valley of the Jedi, with the hope of using the spirits trapped there as an army to defeat the Empire. Eventually Obi-Wan abandons his quest, when he realizes that he wants to find the Valley for the same selfish reasons as the Empire itself would. Instead, Obi-Wan hides directions to the Valley in his hut on Tatooine, and leaves them for Luke.

Valley of the Jedi Film 3: Takes place between Films 4 and 5 in the above SW saga outline. Luke tracks down the Valley of the Jedi and defeats the Sith Lords assigned to excavate it by the Emperor. Having seen the evils of revenge when the Imperial homeworld was destroyed in the last film, Luke releases the spirits of the Valley rather than commanding them for his own purposes.

Inserting the Valley of the Jedi films into the 9-film SW saga also makes Star Wars 1977 into Episode VI - just as it is in GL's early outlines seen in The Making of ESB.


How do we reconcile the above six-film ST outline with Gary Kurtz' descriptions of the original intent for the SW Saga? Well, Kurtz' statements are true... "from a certain point of view."


Let's review the major claims, episode by episode:

EPISODE 6: Leia is crowned "queen of her people," while Han dies in a raid on an Imperial base.

EPISODE 7: Basically nothing mentioned at all about this one.

EPISODE 8: Luke's sister Nellith is revealed.

EPISODE 9: The Emperor finally makes his appearance, and is killed.

By ESB, Leia's homeworld and people are a pile of space dust. So, to paraphrase Baron Harkonnen, Leia becoming "queen of her people" probably involves her joining them in death.

As for Han dying in a raid on an Imperial base, this seems to contradict the idea of Han being rescued after getting frozen in carbonite... but Han being frozen wasn't in the initial drafts of ESB. Instead he went off into the unknown reaches of the galaxy to drum up support for the Alliance from a powerful trade guild leader. In any case, it's likely that Han would die heroically blowing up an Imperial base -- a fate alluded to in passing in ROTJ, where Lando narrowly survives doing just that.

Episodes 8 and 9 in the above outline correspond to Episodes 7 and 8 in my proposed reconstruction. Which makes sense, given that Kurtz has said basically nothing about the plot for his version of Episode 7. The idea of having a single-film coda which adapted the 1974 rough draft is probably also what lay behind GL's consideration of a seven-film saga, with "one odd film", as quoted at the end of The Making of ESB.

 

When I saw TFA I thought the Han/Leia reunion scene was intriguingly reminiscent of the scene in a possible future in the Star Trek TNG finale, "All Good Things," where an aged Picard meets Dr. Crusher, now Captain Beverly Picard of the Pasteur.

Han and Leia definitely have been apart for a long time, as have Picard and Crusher. Picard even mentions that they got married and later divorced, though "you kept the name." Like Crusher, Leia now has a new title (General instead of Princess), though she's still got her surname from the Alderaan days.

 

Considering GL's original plans for the ST, I might as well ask this question:

In the A Song of Ice & Fire books, there's a prophecy about a hero who will fight the White Walkers, "the Prince who was Promised": a reincarnation of the legendary hero Azor Ahai, who wielded a flaming sword he forged himself. The thing is, the prophecy was record in Old Valyrian, so the word usually translated "Prince" is actually gender-neutral. Common fan consensus is that "Azor Ahai" is Daenerys Targaryen, a heroine with pseudo-albino white skin & purple eyes.

Meanwhile, Rey's name in the earliest drafts of TFA was Kira: a name also borne by the female albino Gelfling in The Dark Crystal.

And then there's this prophecy from the 1975 second and third drafts of The Star Wars:

"... and in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior,
and he shall be known as The Son of The Suns."

-- Journal of the Whills, 3:127

So, what language was the in-universe Journal of the Whills originally written in, and is the translation of "son" in that excerpt entirely accurate? Inquiring minds want to know.




Bride and sister
art thou to thy brother:
so blossom then, thou blood of the Wälsungs!
-- Siegmund, The Valkyrie, Act I, by Richard Wagner

 

Nobody's ever complained about that before.

 

I should think that two posts about two different ideas, both of which were meant as thoughtful points of conversation, could hardly be considered "an attempt to run up my post count". I don't post here just for the sake of having large numbers beneath my username.

Mod Edit: I said could be, and I was just posting a friendly reminder. Lets not tie up this thread anymore on this subject. If you want to discuss further, please send me a PM.

 

I appreciate ATMachine's contributions.

Some threads require time and research to add a meaningful post to. It's easy to get multiple postees to a "what your favorite" thread, less so in threads such as this.

There comes a time when the 'spirit of the law' must be extracted from the 'letter of the law'.

Mod Edit (Bazinga'd): To the extent that is relevant, so noted. Please keep thread on point.

 

A couple new thoughts on the locations in ESB and ROTJ in the six-film (long-form) OT:

Lucas mentioned to Leigh Brackett in 1977 thatt he'd originally wanted Luke to undergo Jedi training (presumably with Ben Kenobi) on a rocky desert planet, echoing Jesus' temptation in the desert. I suspect this would've been something like Geonosis.

As for Lando's city, I'd guess that if it weren't a cloud city, Bespin would have been an underwater mining colony, like a fusion of Otoh Gunga and Kamino. The idea of mining underwater resources comes from Dune: not only does House Atreides sell rice to the galaxy at large, House Harkonnen has cornered the market on something called "whale fur". (Adventure game fans may remember the underwater coral mines in LucasArts' Grim Fandango.)

The secret Imperial cloning facility I proposed for the proto-ROTJ would probably have been located on an asteroid base. After all, cloning is technically illegal in the wake of the Clone Wars. Also, this lets Han die heroically at the end of the film by setting in motion a self-destruct sequence (like Kirk's father in the 2009 Star Trek).

I suspect the original ending of Episode VI was something like this: Luke, Han, and Leia infilitrate the cloning facility to destroy it in a guerrilla raid. However, Leia is mortally wounded when Boba Fett shoots her with a sniper rifle (like Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service). Luke decapitates Fett, and then engages in a duel with Darth Vader. Luke kills Vader. Han stays behind when the others leave, sacrificing himself to blow up the cloning facility - giving him and Leia a dramatic, tragic finale.

In the next film, Luke would meet Nellith Skywalker: his long-lost sister, and eventual love interest. But that's another story.

 

Here's just a fun little way I look at Star Wars, George Lucas and Disney.

Imagine if Star Wars was a house. George Lucas drew up the blueprints for a house with two stories and a basement. When he started building the house he decided to eliminate the second floor and left the basement unfinished. His neighbors kept asking if he'll ever finish the basement and add a second story.

After almost twenty years Lucas does eventually finish the basement and considered the house complete. His neighbors kept asking about that second floor and he got to wondering what it would be like if he went ahead and added it. He drew up some plans and got an estimate and realized it would be a much bigger project than he wanted to deal with at this point in his life. So he decided to sell the house instead.

Disney bought the house and was interested in adding to it but instead of going up like Lucas' original plan they decided to simply build out off the ground floor.



Episode I through VI are Lucas' vision and will remain it's own special thing. Everything after that is "in addition to." And that's okay. It means a lot of people are going to have the opportunity to add another brick to the house. I look forward to what comes next.

P.S. In this metaphor Rogue One would be a door that was added so you could enter the house in a different way.

 

So cool to see you bring up Azor Ahai and Nissa Nissa, The Prince That Was Promised, Jaime & Cersei. I assume you've heard theories that Jaime will kill Cersei, his Nissa Nissa, which will complete the forging of Lightbringer, and it would also make him the Valonquor -- he's a little brother by a few minutes, after all...GRRM gives his readers lots of fun when it comes to prophecy. We know the stories of Azor Ahai, we have translation problems with the Valonquar bit, we have competing candidates for who different figures can be (e.g. who is the mummer's dragon?). Prophecy in fiction done right.

For me, I remember coming across the Son of Suns prophecy trying to figure out Darth Vader's origins and whether Lucas always intended him to be a savior figure. My conclusion is no, he grafted the unused prophecy element on to Vader later. Luke is much better candidate to be the Chosen One, IMO. With the way the prophecy was written (and yet never spelled out for us in such a way that allows us to explore the intrigue) it kind of falls apart. I would have liked either no prophecy or a different prophecy that made more sense of the hero also being a villain.

 

I do like the idea that the Jedi simply assume "bringing Balance to the Force" is something that inherently benefits them, rather than the other way around. It suggests how complacent the Order has become in the centuries leading up to the films.

 

Yes, I think that does have possibilities for ambiguity. My struggle is that there is also the 'destroy the Sith,' (or even GL saying after ROTJ evil has been eliminated in the universe...so no more stories left to tell?!) bit which is true, but seems silly given that he destroys the Jedi too. And there isn't a consistent line for me between what the balance is supposed to be: yin-yang, with good and evil balancing out OR ripples-in-a-pond, where the Sith cause the imbalance, and need to be eliminated so the pond can be peaceful again. I prefer the latter, but yin-yang seems to be more common, given the TCW Mortis Arc.

May I offer this?:
Be mindful of the fatherless child,
the son of the Sons
his judgments will be severe
yet he will bring justice at last

I really want to like the Jedi in the PT more (I wish I cared about their fall, but I don't so much), but I do like the idea that they get lazy, complacent, arrogant...any number of things, in concert with an increasingly corrupt Republic which they serve.

 

Oops, I meant to say 'son of Suns'...

 

That sort of slip of the pen is exactly what might've inspired the idea of a prophecy whose gender pronouns might be mistranslated...