ST Behind the Scenes of the Sequel Trilogy

They cherry-picked surface elements from GL's outline and contorted them so they'd fit into their OT rehash.
His ST would've been very different. And much more interesting.

 

Most of it the same apart from the midi-chlorians. Intresting is word used to describe both bad and good things. Maul is a bad thing. And not that intresting with gangster as villains for the story.

 

No. Not in this case. No. Alrighty.

 

It could easily be as hated or more then the PT. Iam glad with what we got and Maul being the main baddie then Palpatine or someone new just dosen't work with the character of Maul. And i say the most important elemts of the story is still in the ST even Palpatine's grandchild.

 

Someone who actually has the book said "Palpatine's descendant" is not in the book. "Descandants" in the ST are mostly referring to OT characters/Solos descendants. And again, just because Luke would have struggled to rebuild the Jedi Order it doesn't preclude him succeeding "in the end" like GL stated in the book. Even if he died in GL's treatment for episode VIII, we don't know what he would have done as a Force spirit. He could have continued to guide Taryn/Winkie/Thea and train her as a Jedi.

 

ok got that wrong, but still seems like most of the important sory is still in there.

 

We won't know until they release the full treatments and even then, we will never know how GL's ST would have evolved since he sold LFL to Disney rather than making them himself. We can only know thanks to interviews like this one so I assume this is his current vision of the ST for now.

 

I think is early still, we know he has lone Luke on exile so the few years after ROTJ was probaly early.

 

The people on reddit as they commonly do are misrepresenting what was presented in the book and in the thread and drawing conclusions of their own
https://boards.theforce.net/threads/star-wars-archives-episode-1-3-the-prequels.50055016/page-7

 

Yeah, I can get where he's coming from with the Midichlorians thing. It's kinda neat how in the real world, our lives, even at the most mundane times, are a never-ending battle between the cells that keep us alive and the trillions of other organisms that can kill us at any moment.

Seems like he just wanted to stress that the Force is in all things, working on the macro level that we can see, but also at the seemingly insignificant micro level that we don't. I don't see how much of that could fit into a movie script (and I doubt it would've taken up much time anyway), but the idea itself is sound IMO.

That add-on stuff in the bullet points sounds terrible though, and I hope it's BS.

 

One of the bullet points is correct. That there was never a Jedi-Sith War is something GL has mentioned elsewhere. He said the Sith used to rule the galaxy, until their order fell apart because they kept killing each other. Then, Darth Bane established the Rule of Two - but in the end, the Jedi wiped out what was left of the Sith... or so they thought.

The first trilogy confirms this:


"The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."

"At last, we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last, we will have revenge."

"Always two there are. No more, no less."

"I will not let this Republic that has stood for a thousand years be split in two."

"The oppression of the Sith will never return!"

"Once more, the Sith will rule the galaxy!"


Granted, it's also said that "there hasn't been a full-scale war since the formation of the Republic", but if the Maker says the old war was not a Jedi vs Sith war, then it wasn't. I assume it was fought primarily by the peoples of the galaxy and that the Jedi just helped out.

 

It could aslo mean that their fight with the sith is so ancient no one remembers.

 

It's alluded to in Making of the Revenge of the Sith book by JW Rinzler: that the Sith ruled the galaxy before the Republic and wiped themselves out and then the Jedi/Republic came along. I thought it was wild circa 2000s because it contradicted the EU canon.

 

As long as this part stays, I'm cool with it. I just think a full-scale Jedi/Sith war ala The Old Republic is cool as hell.

 

GL saying that there was never a full-scale Lord of the Rings type war between Jedi and Sith is news to me.

I'm gonna have to read through that book again, it seems.

 

He's basically repeating what he already said in the interview with SW.com
https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace-oral-history

 

Yep. Pretty much. It is amazing the level of mental gymnastics some people here do in order to try to justify the crap of a story we got with the ST.

 

"Themes."

 

Rey>Rey Skywalker is 100% Lucas as a concept, and related to choice.

This means adoption. Leia Skywalker chose to remain Organa, and Anakin Skywalker chose to be Vader. Luke Skywalker chose to remain Skywalker and Vader's 'forgotten self' returned because Anakin chose 'Skywalker' too. Choice (ROTJ) gave meaning to 'I am your father'. Vader was not Luke's father. Anakin was.

The same with Ben Solo>Kylo Ren>Ben Solo. Two choices, Like his grandfather.

Rey became a jedi, and she chose to crown that becoming with the choice of her belonging. Skywalker. You can't understand her jedi path without taking into account Ben/Kylo and Leia and Luke.

'The belonging you seek is not behind you, it is ahead'. Rey was told that, and so was the audience. The entire ST is Rey Skwalker's backstory.

There are 3 levels of, or pathways to, family:

-Blood (genes)
-Choice (adoption)
-Force (carried by blood, excepting the dyad)

With Rey, the blood level is 'bypassed' by the other two (force, via the dyad and adoption, related to choice). Ben Solo, her inverted mirror, undadopted himself by choice -he became Kylo Ren- and that was because of blood (Vader). That was bypassed by the dyad too.

The exception is the dyad. The question 'what happened to Vader's grandchildren?' didn't make any sense after ROTJ, only as a POV, because there was no Vader, just FG Anakin.

So, what happened to Anakin's grandchildren? The answer would be: they had different blood parents -different 'crude matter' family- but shared the same grandfather -shared the same 'luminous' family. That would have happened 20 years before TROS. 'The dyad, a power like life itself'

Also, from Lucas:

Palpatine didn't expect the dyad:The lifeforce of your bond. A dyad in the Force!
https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-chris-terrio-spoilers-1202198680/

A mistake, because Palpatine didn't suspect the dyad being created. And yet it would be created. So Kylo and Rey shared some predisposition, dating back to her conception and to 10 year old Ben.

 

I think it's more like they had no firm idea in regards to Rey. From what we know now:
TFA: JJ's answer is she is a Kenobi
TLJ: RJ's answer is that she is nobody!
TROS: JJ's new answer is that she is a Palpatine! and Trevorrow had the Rey Solana thing

I think it's pretty clear now looking back that they created Rey first as the main character and probably the story and themes (Empire 2.0 vs Rebels2.0/the deaths of the OT generation), but hadn't thought so far as to give her an origin (that's why her origins changes from movie to movie and creator to creator). If anything it proves how much they are winging the sequels and making it up as they went from JJ->Johnson->JJ. The ST lacked structure because there was no overriding creative vision despite JJ being on two movies since Rian Johnson burned all the mystery boxes in TLJ and forced them to come up with Palpatine as the villain of TROS. If anything I think the LFL bosses really did not understand the implications of what TLJ had done until Trevorrow's DotF (which was a much more faithful followup to TLJ) whereby they hit the panic button and asked JJ back.

 

it's not mental gymnastic its just an option just like people hating the PT two decades ago

 

(I think this belongs here. Moderators, If it does but the post needs reworking, just tell me and I'll fix it)

So, a short while ago, I came across this article which discusses a leaked shortlist about the Force Awakens. I was not aware that such a shortlist existed or had been leaked, but a full list of scene descriptions were apparently later posted. Some of these scenes strongly support that force-sensitive Finn was initially in the cards.

One example is the scene in which Rey is drawn downstars to Luke's lightsaber. According to the shortlist, not only was Finn present but he was actually drawn to the object while Rey was repelled by it.

INT DAY – 212 – CASTLE – UNDERGROUND CHAMBER • Finn is drawn toward the object, Rey repelled by it. She bolts

Given that John Boyega was been very honest in his critique about his time as part of the project and has defended JJ Abrams, I'm inclined to believe that the changes likely didn't come from JJ Abrams (especially given that the idea came back in Rise of Skywalker with him and was, once again, cut from script and scenes)

EXT DAY – 224 – CASTLE – RUINS • Heroes exit into ruins. Finn uses the sword fairly well…

Finn's surprising proficiency with a lightsaber was actually something that survived into the script itself, but not into filming. In the script, he impresses Kylo Ren and successfully wounds him (Finn was also struck in his torso, not his back)

FINN
Come get it.
Despite his fear, Finn raises his blade in welcome. Kylo
Ren CHARGES at him - Finn terrified -- Kylo Ren LUNGES but
Finn DEFLECTS Ren's SPARK-SPITTING blade!
Kylo Ren TURNS, ATTACKS, CUTS -- amazingly Finn BLOCKS,
COUNTER-ATTACKS -- clearly IMPRESSES KYLO REN, who only enjoys
this challenge more!
Rey RECOVERS, gets her bearings. Her eyes focus on the two
men fighting, through the trees.
Kylo Ren is obviously hampered by his wound, yet he attacks
with a primal SAVAGERY -- Finn BLOCKS, turning DEFENSIVE
moves into OFFENSIVE ones. And he ACTUALLY GETS A HIT IN!
LUKE'S SABER GRAZING KYLO REN'S ARM! Kylo MOVES BACK --
wounded, but more enraged than weakened. Kylo Ren CHARGES
AGAIN -- their WEAPONS POUND, SPARKS FLY, their blades LOCK,
the men are CLOSE, LIT BY the powerful, CRASHING sabers:
And Kylo Ren PUSHES FINN BACK, attacks with pure ferocity --
Finn is stunned -- unprepared for this fierceness.
Rey sees this -- Kylo Ren unleashes a MERCILESS SERIES OF
BLOWS, pushing Finn further and further back until he loses
balance.

I'd also recommend having a look at the article (and shortlist) even if you aren't interested in the Finn-related bits because it's interesting to read. For example, it reveals that how Maz came by Luke's lightsaber was initially explained and shown. There was also political context to the state of the galaxy.

With that said, I'm not so sure that I agree with the article's take on why the changes were made - for one, I don't think it was done for the sake of the Last Jedi.

Sources

The article is here:
https://the-swsc.com/2020/09/18/jedi-finn-in-the-leaked-the-force-awakens-shot-list/

The complete shortlist is archived here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170515233940/http://millenniumfalcon.com/

The script to the Force Awakens can be found here:
https://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Wars-The-Force-Awakens.html

 

I am not saying liking the ST is mental gymnastics. That's perfectly fine. Because it is subjective. What is not subjective is claiming the stating what GL was working on was respected by the people in charge of the ST development.

 

I just noticed a behind the scenes feature on Disney+ TFA extras with Rey and Finn being interviewed and shown in saber training. I expected just a few minutes but it was close to ten and also there was a couple new deleted scenes. There is plenty of mystery surrounding how this film came to be and it is very interesting.
I like what was stated above about Palpatine being the one bridging Rey and Kylos mind causing the Dyad to take effect. That is a nice tidbit.
I look forward to finding out even more as time goes on.