Love Actually: The Real Story of Anakin and Padmé Skywalker (Scavenger Hunt Started!!!)

One thing is for sure, this is going to be VERY interesting to watch.

 

Another thing. For those participating in the scavenger hunt, you are welcome to come up with your own A/P inspired team name.

 

In my opinion, A/P was rather shallow in the movies. Okay, so there was a great story, but it wasn't carried out right. I think that's where us writers can come into play. We can create thees complex tales with such emotional depth it's almost fascinating.

i think it's really split half in half. there are a lot (i mean A LOT) of people that believed the A/P relationship was really, well, "corny", "chidish", or "shallow" (as you said) because of the portrayal in the movies. but there are also a LOT of people that take a whole different view on the relationship, and are in love with it.

you're right though, the fics and writers can really allow fans to appreciate this special bond between Anakin and Padme. whether or not you were a fan from the beginning, some fics in here can really change some minds and turn some heads

 

Oh, it was deep in the movies... it just could have been expanded and play a more visible part. The stuff we portray in fanfic seems to be lacking in the movies.

 

First of all, so glad to see this thread up and running, keeping A/P discussions, etc. alive.

I know this isn't an official discussion question, but I was intrigued by the last few comments. LOL! In a way, I agree with both anakin_luver and AnakinsFavorite. I think the A/P love story itself is a beautiful and tragic one. If it wasn't, there wouldn't be so many A/P stories written by the many talented authors here. And in many ways, their relationship is depicted well in the prequels as a whole. For instance, we see the early roots of their friendship and how that developed into mutual deeper feelings and eventually into marriage. This is done believably, slowly, over the course of three films which cover the span of many years. I think this adds depth to their love story, more so than if they had just met and fell in love all of a sudden. However, many of the A/P scenes in the films could have been expanded more or done with more depth. I love the prequels, but yes, it seemed a lot of the dialogue in the romantic scenes was corny or just not believable. That being said, I know that the Star Wars films are at heart adventure films, not romance films, and we fans wouldn't have it any other way. But, in the OT, there was a wonderful balance between the adventure of the space battles and special effects, character development and the burgeoning love story between Han and Leia. Again, I LOVE the prequels, but I couldn't help get the feeling that this go-around, the love story didn't get developed as well ON FILM (the books add more depth). I felt that the emphasis was more on seeing how many CG scenes and cool ships and gadgets could be packed into it, which this fangirl loved, don't get me wrong , but sometimes at the expense of character development and the romance.

Point is, I don't think the relationship itself was corny or unbelievable, but I think many of us would have liked to see it developed more on film. Anyway, that's where we fan fic writers get to really have fun, creating that depth!

Oh well, that's my two-cents' worth. And forgive me if it makes absolutely no sense or rambles, but I'm on day two of the flu and my brain isn't firing on all cylinders. *crawls back into bed to go back to sleep*

 

No, Gina, you make perfect sense- but that might be because I'm half asleep! Just kidding...

I do believe that emotional depth was replaced with special effects and such. I think that the movies could have done more justice in delving deeper into the little nuances of their relationship- sort of what we do here in fanfic!

Ah well... their loss is our gain. It leaves more for us to put our imaginations to work out

Hey, that is why this thread is here. Even though we have organized stuff- games, discussion questions, etc. it's first and foremost a place of A/P... and a place where we can discuss things and such.

With that said, we're gonna be pushing back the sign-up date for the scavenger hunt a little. I know I was MIA a lot of this week due to Valentine's Day, etc. The new deadline will be announced soon!

 

Kelia and I are going to be partners in the Scavenger hunt, we haven't got a sock name yet.

Kelia: I can't PM you. Something is wrong with the server, but I sent you an email.

 

In commemoration of our "scavenger hunting" at C4, HandmaidenVeme and I have decided on the following as our team name:

Stalkers of the Force

 

I'm glad to see participants signing up for the scavenger hunt. It's going to be so much fun!!

JediMasterJessica and I will be playing as

Panakin08

 

I just finished this two part story after abandoning it for a while.

A Day at the Beach

Enjoy.

 

I just started a new A/P story. Well the ship is definitely going to be in it, but I'm going to take a while to develop it.

It's an AU inspired by the upcoming Clone Wars release. Also it has Ahsoka in it, so techincally can it be A/A/A lol.

So please add that to the list of current stories, I'm really thinking it's going to be a good epic style story.

The Clone War

 

sorry, a little late, but i've also had the flu (and it SUCKS, right Gina? )

i totally agree with you Gina. that the movies definitely weren't focused or centred around this A/P love story, and i think that's exactly one of my reasons for loving it so much. sometimes love stories can really bore you and make you just feel like, "yah, that's great, i've seen it all before" sort of thing, but i never really felt that way with A/P and even if i did, my love for the relationship just kind of forced me to ignore it

they had a really unique relationship, especially the changes we see in ROTS and because George didn't complete every scene, or show every disagreement between the two, and allowed the audience to think for themselves and fill in the blanks, it gives writers a great variety to work with.

 

I think one of the reasons you we don't see as much as we'd like between A/P is because Padme herself seems shrouded in mystery. Maybe it's just me, but look at her in Episode 1, when she's the Queen, her appearance is drastically different and she acts completely different. It's almost like when Superman puts on his costume, he's a completely different person. Maybe that's a bad analogy but I think, even just symbolically, lends to the shrouded mystery around her character.

Another reason why I think mystery is sort of intended for her, is because you don't see her a lot in the EU books. Correct me if I'm wrong but Mr. Lucas only lets people write her into the stories on a very limited basis. Just another clue to me that he intends for there to be some sort of mysterious, and guessing on the fans part.

Obviously this has to translate over to her relationship too, to keep up that persona. At the end of the movies, we know that Padme is a shrewd negotiator, she's also very giving (I'm thinking of as a missionary on that planet where their sun was dying, it's on an Episode II deleted scene, she talks about it), and we know she is also "weakened" by the one thing that led to Anakin's downfall as well. Let's not kid ourselves, she was nearly as blinded as Anakin was by love.

"Leave everything else behind, while we still can."

This line coming after she already knew he had killed younglings and went to the dark side. But just come back and forget that, and I can forgive you if you stop right now.


Talk about her going against every moral in her body because of... love. (This is not a knock on Padme, if anything it makes her more human than anything)


Okay, I'm going to stop rambling now.

 

I really liked the A/P relationship because they loved eachother unconditionally, like in episode III when she told him to run away with her and leave everything else behind. He had done something that almost everyone in the galaxy would have deemed 'unforgivable,' but she was willing to forgive him. And even though he tried to kill her, she still loved him.(I wouldn't have)

Although, I do believe that they could have gone a little bit more in depth as far as their relationship goes. But I still wouldn't have changed anything, I like lot's of action.

 

I agree with you, Icecruncher_Amidala. I do love all the action, but I think it wasn't so much as Lucas not putting in enough A/P, I think it was the lack of real emotion in the script, especially in Episode 2. I think if they had a different screenplay where they had just as short scenes in the original script but different dialogue, it would have been much better.

But hey, that just gives us writers room to expand the wingspan of our creative spirits (catch the quote?) and write our versions!

Man, I just LOVE fanfiction!

- Serena K.

 

In the movies it seemed like the A/P shown was more a teaser than anything else. Of course it was absolutely wonderful to see how they fell in love, but it happened so quickly at times I was slightly surprised. By ROTS as a well established couple, I feel it finally showed the deapth of their feelings for each other. I also love the novelizations of AOTC and ROTS because it describes their emotions better, like Padme's extreme fear for Anakin's safety at the beginning of ROTS, not to mention describing the extra scenes (like Padme and Anakin visiting the Naberries) that we might not have appreciated otherwise.

 

Okay, here are the participants/teams for the SCAVENGER HUNT!

jmsbndgrl and HandmaidenVeme- Stalkers of the Force
JediMasterJessica and Kelia- Panakin08
IcecruncherAmidala

Tomorrow, we will be posting the rules again... and the questions! We'll send out a PM to all of those involved tomorrow so as to make it all fair.

Ani_and_Ami_index

 

Okay, here are the scavenger hunt items! The team which correctly PM's us with all of the questions right first- or, in the case of no one getting them all correctly- the team with the most wins!!

Do not post any hints, answers, etc. on this thread. You are to confer within your own team- helping others is not allowed.

Should you have any questions, just hollar...


1. In what fanfic is a mysterious Anakin doing acts of generosity to stay near Padmé? and all the while hiding from the Empire?

2. This author, in addition to being notorious for her crack!ship pairings, has become widely known to her two-part series about a medic Padmé. Who is she?

3. Who is the author and what is the title of the fanfic whose last post ended with these ominous lines: "He does. You would never know he's as sick as he is. Let's go somewhere we can talk. The next few days are going to be critical."

4. Which author won an award for Best Villain this summer- and what character was it for?

5. What author recently did a crossover by crossing SW with a famous Christmas movie?

6. What fic was a response to this challenge: ?In ROTS when Anakin and Padmé are reunited, she mentions rumors that he had been killed. Your scene: Padmé hears Anakin was killed.?

7. Which fanfic?s title suggests a kiss? but not ?the kiss??

8. What V/P writer claims in her bio that ?I have been here altogether too long and much, and my geekiness has increased as a result.?

9. What A/P author has written a story where Padme is a Padawan?

10. What is the name of an A/P Cinderella story?

11. What A/P fic won 2 of the 2005 Summer awards?

12. Who has written a story about SW characters going to high school?

13. Who has written the award winning Skywalker Prophecy?

14. Who writes an ?08 diary challenge about the son (not Luke) of Anakin and Padmé?

15. Who is, in addition to being an A/P writer, the reigning undisputed master of action scenes? Who is his/her favorite athlete?

16. Who was the last A/P threadmistress?

17. If you were to fill in the blanks, which A/P author?s name is this?
J__i_aste_R_v

18. Which A/P author proudly boasts this in his/her sig- ?6 years of schooling + 6 months of training + 6 hours of sweat and pain = one very proud black belt??

 

Oh Force, this is more evil than I thought it would be!

I see my partner and I will have our work cut out for us.

Good luck to everyone else playing.

 

i agree with you Icecruncher_Amidala, i wouldn't change anything for the world. perhaps it wasn't perfect (and i have a good feeling it wasn't) but like many of the characters in SW, i, too, have been blinded by love for the movies and have chosen to ignore many flaws

 

I was just skimming over this thread, and when I combined that to watching AotC last night, my friend and I had the thought that maybe the portrayed relationship seems shallow and trite because Anakin is a nineteen, twenty-year-old male who blurts out the first thing he's thinking about. Maybe that is why some of his lines are cheesy--maybe it was planned that way? I'm that age right now, and yes, I'm a female, but I know guys that age--and that's what they do! There's no barrier between the brain and the mouth that checks what it's about to say--it just says it, for better or worse.

However, I still don't get the whole "I just confessed that I slaughtered a whole village but yet I'll still think you're awesome" schtick. It sort of goes along with the "You just killed a whole ton of people, including younglings, but run away with me while we still can". Is that just Padme's idealism? Or her forgiving nature?

 

I had always thought that she took pity upon him from the beginning. Like Awww Poor Anakin. Not that she didn't think he was strong or could handle things, but that was always in the back of Padme's mind IMO. Even till the end, when Anakin was past Aww Poor Ani, she still tried to use this on him.

 

Can anyone post up a fic rec? because I have a good one.

?My Mother? By EsmeAmelia
AU fic: The dying Padme is frozen in carbonite and discovered by Leia years later.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2440805/1/My_Mother

 

It sort of goes along with the "You just killed a whole ton of people, including younglings, but run away with me while we still can". Is that just Padme's idealism? Or her forgiving nature?

i always believed that both of these incidents showed just how much Padme was obsessively in love with Anakin as well. most people notice Anakin's very attached love to Padme because it is what most of ROTS is based on however, Padme did have an obsessive love for Anakin as well in a way. this love was allowing her to forgive and forget everything just to be with him. isn't that the exact approach Anakin took to everything in ROTS? except he did kind of go a little over board . while i think Padme would never have gone as blind as Anakin did with his love and power, Padme also never had the privilege/curse of knowing the power that he did either.

hope that makes sense. basically, i believe Padme did have somewhat of an obsessive love for Anakin but it was no where near the level of his.

 

Yeah I agree with you, I think I sort of touched on that in my rambling a few posts up, about how she sort of turned a blind eye because her love was just as (or nearly) as harmful/obsessive as his was. Obviously it was his actions but she was more than willing to forgive him. Sure he would have had to stop, right then, but say if another three years past and they were on some planet, hiding from the Empire and she goes out to get groceries and some aliens mistreat her and he just goes ballistic and comes back and kills like ten people, would she have been able to forgive him AGAIN? Worth thinking about I guess. Obviously what I'm saying is that she would never have gone with him as a tyrant, killing on a daily basis but what if this was something that only happened every once in a while, an explosion of sorts. Would she keep forgiving him, time after time after time? Hope that makes sense.

But she looks past it in AOTC and is willing to forgive him for more unspeakable acts in ROTS, so obviously love is deeply conflicting with her inner morals and making her turn the other cheek from what she knows is right. Because if anyone has a sense of what is right and wrong in Star Wars it has to be Padme, yet she proves how human she is but letting love over rule everything, basically, that she has ever stood for, even if only for a few seconds before she's refuted, then eventually dies.