The Maguffin/Driving force of the TV series

I'm just curious as to what the "maguffin" of the tv show will be ? George is always one for maguffins, what could the driving force behind the series be ?

Other shows currently/previously have been :

HEROES - The maguffin is them eventually forging an X-MEN of sorts.

LOST - Unlocking the mysteries of the island.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - Finding Earth.

NIP/TUCK - Who is the carver ?

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES - Why did Mary Alice kill herself ? What happened with Orson and his ex-wife ?

To name but a few, but you see my point. What is the driving force ?

The continuation of the purge for an ultimate bounty ?

The Kiber Crystal ? An attempt to restore peace to the galaxy which ultimately fails.

A reveal that one of the last remaining Jedi is the mother of one of the Bounty Hunters sent to capture her ?

The Bounty Hunter is the bounty himself ?

There is an ultimate plan devised by the Emperor to "wipe them out all of them" The search for the Kiber crystal follows 3 story-strands of a Bounty Hunter, remaining Jedi/Rebellion and The Empire Hunting for the crystal only to find that its a plan to rid the Empire of the Jedi and the bounty hunters ?

Going around the galaxy capturing bounty's will get boring after a while if it serves no larger purpose. At least for me.

What do you guy's think ? I'm out of ideas !!

 

I think you're misusing the "MacGuffin" term a bit, at least in a few of the examples, though not through any fault of your own. Blame Lucas.

A "MacGuffin" is the plot device which actually has nothing really to do with the story that's being told. The classic example is the Maltese Falcon statue in (duh) "The Maltese Falcon". The novel/film revolved around people trying to get the statue, but the story was actually about the characters themselves, the alliances/betrayals, etc. A "MacGuffin" is a motivator, or prime mover if you will, but ultimately is essentially irrlevant to the story being told . Marcellus Wallace's briefcase in "Pulp Fiction" is also considered a classical-style MacGuffin.

Now, George Lucas has his own definition of what a MacGuffin is -- he described it as the "driving force" behind the narrative. In George's definition (based on his assertion of R2-D2 as the "MacGuffin" of the original Star Wars film), the MacGuffin is important to the story being told; R2 is in fact critical to the film.

Okay, now, that being said, i too wonder what the central focus of the series will be. Although i seem to recall Lucas or someone at LFL saying that the live-action series will focus on seperate storylines (for example (and these are my own examples, nothing that has been said by LFL or anyone), one storyline following a Jedi in hiding, one following an early Rebel group, one following Boba as he hunts Jedi, etc etc). That being said, there surely will be one uniting theme of the series. Gievn the time frame, the creation of the Rebel Alliance would be the most basic, i'd imagine.

 

The live action tv series might go the route of Surface. Where you had 4 stories going on at the same time and it revolved around the same plot: the creatures, where they come from, where are we headed with them, and stuff like that. I think thats the way the live action tv series is going.

 

That type of storytelling is a Lucas trademark, which he pioneered all the way back in 1973 with American Graffiti.

 

I've always thought the Rebellion and the creation of the Rebellion Vs The Empire would be the driving force behind the TV series. Its amazing that all this while on, we still have absolutly no idea what this series will be about.

 

In furiating isn't it !

I'm just puzzled as to what it's all going to be about.

For me there needs to be an external factor, the problem is we already KNOW that the Rebellion will topple the Empire all be it in 20+ years time (in terms of the story obviously) not much of driving force for me.

Perhaps a Yoda Vs. Sidous re-match ? Explains why Yoda is so weak come Jedi, not just his age.

 

Well, the formation of the Rebellion is out as a direct part of the story, at least until fairly late in its run it seems to me. Prior canon's established that the Rebel Alliance was formally founded literally days before ANH out of (correct me if I'm wrong) several different Rebel groups.

Plus of course, there's the fact that taking the DS1 plans was the Rebellion's first victory against the Empire.

 

First major victory

 

I agree that the series shouldn't feature the Rebel Alliance, that would go against the established storyline. However, I sure hope it includes some sort of Resistance group, one of the multitude of groups formed all around the galaxy who resisted the Empire's oppression. Most were swiftly squashed, some caused a bit of a headache, and some would go on to eventually join other groups and form THE Rebellion. Mix this with a fleeing Jedi, put some bounty hunters on their track, and the mighty fist of the Empire trying to squash them, and you got yourself a compelling series.

 

I hope so Gry.

 

Yeah, I hope there's no episodes devoted to some Rebs managing to pick off a couple of TIEs.

 

That sounds good. I like the idea that there were small resistence groups before the Rebel Alliance, that were destroyed by the iron fist of the Empire, before the Rebellion truely began. It makes sense that a small number of systems may have tried to depose Palpatine straight after ROTS, and were completely destroyed by the all conquering Empire for their efforts. Thats an angle I've never seen raised before. I really like that.

 

I was also thinking about the extermination of the commerce guilds, banking clan and especially the trade federation.

Could the explanation as to why they don't exist other than the obvious reasons, is that ALL trade federation vessels were stripped for parts and dismantled in order to build the death star ?

 

Doesn't that effectively happen when Darth Vader goes to Mustafar?

 

I was thinking a more Robin Hood thorn in the Empire's side sorta thing.

 

That'd be cool.

 

What prior Canons? EU? Don't get me wrong, I like some EU, but the only true Canon is what Lucas creates. The Rebellion starts whenever Lucas says it does. In fact we see the formation of the Rebellion's leadership in deleted scenes on the ROTS DVD. It seems to me that Lucas is setting up the TV Series from those scenes.

I personally like the idea of Bail Organa and Mon Mothma starting to plot out the Rebellion, and recruit members imediately after the formation of the Empire(ROTS). Why would they wait 20 years? I can't see Organa not making a move for so long.

My guess about the Series is that Lucas will show how the Empire was doomed to fail from the beginning(just like the Roman Empire, which Lucas himself said inspired him). I think that showing the Empire slowly falling apart from within, and juxtaposing this with the growing strength and unity of the Rebellion at the same time, would be interesting. Or at least that is the direction that I would like to see the Show go in.

 

Yeah, that would be pretty awesome. But the thing is, the Rebellion should spring out of lots of smaller, slinter groups thta are initially crushed under the strength of the Empire.

 

I am not totally discounting EU; I am just saying that Lucas does have the final say, not EU.

The first major victory of the Rebellion is just that, their first victory. It would take a long time for them to mount a major offensive against the Empire, so to me it would seem that the Rebellion would have to have started long before A New Hope. Maybe I am not understanding what the true Rebellion is; I personally consider the meetings of Organa and Mothma to be the start of the Rebellion. Also, don't forget that the Rebels had Y-Wings in their fleet, which are an older model than the X-Wings, and that they had a previous Base on Dantooine before Yavin IV. Also, Luke already knows about the Rebellion all the way out on Tatooine; he mentions it in A New Hope. This tells me that the Rebellion have been around for a long time.

Then again, maybe I am just confused. Either way I just wish we would get more info on the show.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Lavaman Response:

But Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were the first to rebel against Palpatine, and get a list of supporters in the Senate.

I guess there could have been some splinter groups banding together before Organa and Mothma that we haven't seen yet, because they were off screen.

I still think that the Rebellion started with Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, but you guys are raising interesting questions about splinter groups. I never really thought about how Organa and Motma would coordinate everybody together. There are a lot of different individuals, from all walks of life, across the Galaxy.

 

Well a lot of what happens depends on when exactly all this takes place in the 19 year gap. Just guessing, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this take place about 5-10 years after ROTS. Personally, I doubt it would be in the years just before ANH.

 

It's premature at this point to COUNT it, as well. We just don't know yet. I love EU as much as the next guy, but I think Lucas could throw some of that era out the window.

It is just like I said regarding the 3D Series continuity, we just don't know yet. Lucas could easily retcon the "first major victory" thing. And he is not above retconning his own movies. We have already seen that!

I agree that it seemed like in the deleted scenes, he was trying to set it up as if the beginnings of the rebellion would happen soon. That doesn't mean they were the full on "Alliance to Restore the Republic", in fact, that seems an easy way to retcon the "first major victory" right there. Maybe that is the first victory since they formally declared themselves thel Rebel Alliance.