ST "The Dead Speak!" Discussing Palpatine's transmission

Maybe the most interesting marketing/narrative crossover event of the Sequel Trilogy was Palpatine’s Transmission, an event that is both in-universe for the GFFA and our very real, extremely online world of multiplayer video gaming. For those of you who may have missed it, here it is in all its glory: “At last the work of generations is complete. The great error is corrected. The day of victory is at hand. The day of revenge. The day of the Sith!”



So that is the infamous transmission/broadcast that sets up the storyline of TROS in the opening crawl. It vaguely recalls the projects that Abrams used to set up his famous mystery-box frameworks in Lost and Cloverfield, where fans could engage a multimedia, semi-interactive marketing campaign that blended the boundaries between entertainment and reality. The Fortnite tie-in feels relatively pedestrian in comparison, and a bit compulsory.

As to the implications for the storyline, I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. What does “the work of generations,” mean? The day of “revenge”? We know he’s back, which is what matters most apparently, or do we? It’s interesting that the films’ opening scenes are all about Kylo and the Resistance going on quests to confirm its authenticity. In a way, it feels like those two initial sequences could easily have been an entire film unto themselves.

And of course, the meta-subtext of “The great error,” is endlessly provocative. Is this Abrams admitting he should have made TROS’ storyline the foundation of the trilogy to begin with? Is it a shot at Rian Johnson? Is it merely the voice of Palpatine admitting that Snoke wasn’t his best scheme? Doesn’t seem in character for Palpatine to admit a mistake.

I haven't been keeping up with the nu EU material supplementing TROS, is there any more info about the transmission and the GFFA's reaction to it?

 

Maybe the visual dictionary? That's probably it though for now.

The novelisation might do more with it.

For now I can't help but feel it's a missed opportunity.

 

I thought it was bizarre that the transmission wasn't shown in the film - we only hear about it in the crawl.

 

I had no clue Palpatine was going to be in the film until i sat down in the theatre and the opening crawl started.

 

Yes, this is strange to me as well. When you watch the film, it doesn't seem like a big deal at first, but upon reflection, it's actually a HUGE deal. When we first see Kylo, Poe, Finn, and Chewie, they are reacting to it because it is of critical importance. It seems that the FO/Resistance war has almost been put on hold until everyone can figure out what's really happening.

 

opening crawls are usually to make things LESS confusing.

 

This is where an extra 10 minutes in the opening act would have helped, although I loved the film. Start with Kylo butchering some revolutionaries on some planet or other, showing the First Order is in charge, but stretched. Everyone hears the message, then Sidious speaks to just Kylo - "go get the Wayfinder on Mustafar" or whatever. Personally, I would have liked to have had Kylo take it from Purple Robed Big Nose Guy from ROTJ, but anyway. Next scene is the Resistance reacting to the message - is it real? Where did it come from etc etc.

 

it did seem like a lot was edited out

 

For any of you clued into the nu-EU, would this have been the first time that Palpatine publicly admitted to being a Sith? I don't remember that he ever did that in the old EU. Even after the formation of the Empire, only the trusted members of his inner circle or elite organizations knew he was a Sith Lord. I guess it became public knowledge after the events of ROTJ, like into the Dark Empire and Jedi Academy storylines, but that was not really due to his telling everyone, it was just like "news".

 

You did well dodging that given how they were being open about it for months.

 

I think by now he’s dropping all pretenses, unlike PT/OT Palpatine. So, Sith Fleet, etc... But that doesn’t mean all his followers are Sith in the strictest sense. Bane was a member of the Sith Army, but was the only Force sensitive.

 

Sheev's new recruiting strategy is paying off.

 

Why would he bother to broadcast to the universe to begin with? (And how?)

Could also be a dig at the PT. In a movie that has the line “I should never have entrusted my life’s work to a little girl,” (or something) I wouldn’t put it past them.

 

Does JJ do anything that does not borrow and repeat what others have done?

I mean it's almost as if Lucas didn't do an entire Star Wars movie about....wait for it....the Sith getting revenge.

 

This should be have been the series finale for the Star Wars Resistance show. Mission accomplished, you saved the space station, everyone's happy, but then BOOM Sheev's back, witches. And they should have planned to air it around a month before the release of Episode IX.

Instead nobody cares much for Resistance. It feels like skippable Star Wars content.

 

“At last the work of generations is complete. The great error is corrected. The day of victory is at hand. The day of revenge. The day of the Sith!”

"The work of generations" could be a reference to either the Sith line going back centuries, or more likely the generations who contributed to the Empire, First Order, and Final Order (like creating the Sith fleet and manning it).

"The great error" is that the Rebels and Jedi beat the Empire.

Yeah "The day of revenge" is a little silly - Darth Maul would be turning in his grave. They already did that.

 

Did Palpatine broadcast it to the universe, or just The First Order? What was the intel that Boolio provided to the Resistance?

 

I believe most everyone in the GFFA could of heard it (as per the opening crawl), but you are right; the TROS dialogue if I recall would indicate that Boolio's transmission was what confirmed it for the Resistance.
Hmm.

 

The broadcast was likely added to the plot *extremely* late since it is literally only referenced in the crawl. No character ever discusses it explicitly. This makes sense since from what I understand from the various leaks and whatnot, Kylo was originally meant to just be chasing the origins of Snoke's power rather than tracking a specific message, and the Resistance were meant to be learning that Palpatine was alive for the first time from their intel, not confirming an earlier broadcast.

Really goes to confirm the overwhelming impression that this movie was being edited together right until the last minute in some pretty massive ways.

HOWEVER: I do like the line 'The Dead Speak!' Appropriately pulpy / Flash Gordon serial way to open the crawl.

 

Maybe everybody heard the transmission but the resistance wanted to confirm if it was legit/not a hoax before acting on it?

 

wonder what the transmission said

"I'm back *****""

"you can take sith out the movies but you can't take the movies out of the sith...or something"

HISHE reference "I have a granddaughter????"

 

The transmission transcript is in the OP.

It was played during a Fortnite session.

 

my attempt at adding humour to the thread has failed

 

Lol. Sorry. It was still funny.

 

Alternative opening to TROS:

Poe, Finn and Chewie are hunched around the Falcon’s living quarters, deep into a game of holochess. An in-game alert pops up:

Poe: Hmm, I wonder if we unlocked a new skin?
Finn: Nah, don’t touch that, it’s probably another in-game ad for Felucian Slurm.
Chewie: Hrrwhnn!!
Finn: Yeah dude, I installed ad blockers last week, but you all wanted to download the update!
Poe: I’m clicking it, I want the skins.
Finn: Oh c’mon man, let’s just play the –
Palpatine: At last the work of generations is complete. The great error is corrected. The day of victory is at hand. The day of revenge. The day of the Sith!
Finn:
Chewie:
Poe: WTH?