Star Wars - Part 9

[craigdbfan]

The Mandalorians subplot/role Speedball suggested would have been great though.

 

[Speedball]

Eh, I'd prefer the forbidden love thing over a triangle.

Triangles always make at least one character look like a ****.

Yeah, I wasn't sure If liked that either. I just want a better reason for Anakin to turn to the dark side, hell maybe even have the triangle, but someone else, or maybe an arranged marriage.

 

[CConn]

Why not just not have that be his reason to turn to the dark side? Just have his reason be political/moral/something else.

 

[Speedball]

I know I want Padme to die a starship explosion. The babies are born in the middle of Episode III. It will happen during the Anakin vs Obi-wan duel, and Anakin will feel her die, and believes his to be killed as well. He's never told that there were twins. Obi-wan takes Luke because he can tell Luke can use the force, and Leia has a better chance to not be noticed by Vader.

 

[Speedball]

Why not just not have that be his reason to turn to the dark side? Just have his reason be political/moral/something else.

I was thinking of using the vision of Padme dying as the reason, but I feel like the actor playing Anakin needs to make it more convincing than Hayden.
And having Qui-gon die in the Maul duel, with Anakin taking his saber and dueling Maul with Obi-wan.

 

[Matt]

Are we re-writing the prequels? May as well throw my idea into the mix:

As much as I like Liam Neeson, I would have cut Qui Gonn Jinn. The character really doesn't serve a purpose. I would start Episode I in the early days of the Clone Wars. The Confederacy is a quickly growing rebellion. They have occupied and annexed Naboo with their droid army. Queen Amidala has been leading a small guerrillian resistance force (similar to the French resistance during WWII). Obi Wan is a young, somewhat arrogant ("Was I any different when you trained me?") Jedi Knight assigned to rescue the queen following the invasion. He is sent because the Confederacy is attempting to capture her and force her into signing a treaty that legitimizes their rule over Naboo.

After Obi Wan rescues the queen, their ship is damaged during the escape and they land on Tatooine where Obi Wan finds a teenaged Anakin. Anakin is portrayed as a slave with a chip on his shoulder due to the ****ty hand that life has dealt him.

Darth Maul who is working with the Confederate Army's Count Dooku (who wouldn't be a Sith but rather a politician whose ego is manipulated by Palpatine into leading rebellion) by the order of his master Darth Sidious is tracking them. Anakin wins his pod race, earns freedom, gets the parts, yada yada yada.

As they prepare to leave and repair the ship we see Maul torturting Shimi Skywalker to learn the location of the Nabooian ship (this really establishes Maul as an evil bastard, rather than simply dispatching probe droids he actually, y'know...does some evil stuff). He finds them, Obi Wan duels Maul (like Qui Gonn did) and they escape.

On Coruscant, the Council denies Anakin's training and the Supreme Chancellor refuses to send troops to reclaim Naboo as he is taking an appeasement approach to the Confederacy (leading to the vote of no confidence at the urging of Palpatine, who is Amidala's political ally). Due to the Sith involvement the Jedi agree to help Padme reclaim the planet.

In the end, there is a battle for Naboo, only instead of Gungans, it is an army of Jedi led by Obi Wan vs the Confederate forces. Obi Wan and a few other Jedi Knights eventually have a show down with Maul. Maul kills the other Jedi during the duel leaving just him and Obi Wan. Obi Wan fights heroically and fares better against Maul than any of the others but he is ultimately subdued by Maul who uses the force to put Anakin in danger (distracting Kenobi). Anakin had been brought by Obi Wan who had sworn to train him regardless of the council's decision and joins the Queen's resistance troops (but abandons that battle when he learns of Obi Wan's danger and attempts to help his friend who freed him).

Maul, sensing Anakin's potential with the force and anger begins to taunt Anakin in an attempt to seduce him to the dark side. He first dangles the life of Obi Wan in front of him, claiming that the dark side could save Anakin's friend and when that fails he reveals that he killed Shimi after torturing her. In a fit of rage unleashes a powerful blast of of force lightning on Maul, killing him.

Yoda arrives, reverses the Council's decision due to Anakin's "heroics," in the battle (unaware of how Anakin killed Maul). He asks if Obi Wan is sure that he wants to undertake Anakin's training, and showing Obi Wan's arrogance (which ultimately leads to the downfall of Anakin and the Jedi), he agrees, despite having seen Anakin unleash dark powers in the name of revenge.

Fill in some character moments between Anakin and Obi Wan and Anakin and Padme and you have established the relationships between the characters, laid out the conflict for the trilogy (the Clone Wars), started Anakin on the path to the dark side in a believable way and basically covered all of the important details of both episodes 1 and 2 (minus the clone army which could be a driving point of Episode II as Palpatine continues to consolidate power).

Episode II could show the Republic in it's darkest times of the Clone Wars. That would feature Anakin and Obi Wan having adventures and what not. Build their bond while also setting seeds for Anakin's betrayal. As the Jedi become more and more overwhelmed by the growing Confederacy, Palpatine uses it to create his clone army (two birds with one stone, it show's Palpatine's brilliance in discrediting the Jedi, by showing the Senate and people that they cannot rely on the Jedi while also giving himself more power).

Episode III ends the Clone Wars and shows Anakin's fall.

That's how I'd do it, anyway.

 

[Matt]

Why not just not have that be his reason to turn to the dark side? Just have his reason be political/moral/something else.

I don't think it ever had to be anything major that turned Anakin to the dark side, like a love triangle. It certainly shouldn't have been a bad dream as it was in Episode III.

Consider this: Anakin spent years of his life as a slave. This was portrayed as in Episode I as a life that is actually better than most minimum wage McDonalds employees. Anakin's early life should have been portrayed as brutal and hellish. He should have been a young man with a chip on his shoulder due to his harsh upbringing, angry at the world. Then he meets Padme...the first person in his life who brings him happiness...and the Jedi tell him that he cannot have that happiness. Meanwhile, Palpatine senses his anger, senses his desire and uses it to manipulate him against the Jedi (to see them as brutal oppressors, much like his slavers) and seduce him to the dark side.

 

[The Squirrel]

^That'll work.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Obi Wan always had to be a good bit older than Anakin IMO as the whole line from their duel in ANH doesn't make sense otherwise.

Also the Clone Wars only lasted 3 years so I think Anakin has to be an established Jedi before they take place.

I've never had a problem with why he turned, his whole life was about fixing things, he was told for over a decade he was the chosen one who could bring peace, he lost his mother and had been worked on mentally by Palpatine for 13 years, the thought of losing Padme and the chance to save her forced his hand, and once Mace was dead there was no way back and he gave in to the dark side, personally I loved it.

Where are these from?

Just found them on Google.

 

[Karelia]

When I was with you I was a learner, now I AM the master

Only a master of evil, Darth!

*wumwumwumwum*

I watched the original Star Wars trilogy so much when I was a kid on VHS. I still have the trilogy I had when I was a kid on VHS, they look like crap now.

 

[Hunter Rider]

When last we met, I was but the learner; now I am the master!

 

[Hunter Rider]

 

[Speedball]

I kinda made up that stuff on the spot. If I were actually writing a script, it probably would have different story elements than what I put in mine.

 

[Matt Mortem]

Here's the gist of mine:

Episode 1: the Phantom Menace
Obi-wan is the master, Qui-gon is the apprentice.
It's the Mandalorians blockading Naboo, in fact they're the main enemy force of the PT, they eventually begin cloning themselves with the help of Sidious.
It's Swoop Bikes, not Pod-racers.
Anakin is a 16 year old slave orphan.
Mace Windu and Republic troops help free Naboo.
Maul Escapes, no one dies, and Anakin pilots the Jedi ship in a much more epic space battle with Republic Forces.
Mace Windu kills Jango Fett, and causes the Mandalorian retreat.
No Jar Jar, no need since the Jedi land in Naboo City in the beginning.
Padme owns C-3PO, and Qui-gon and Obi-wan own R2, who takes care of their ship.
Qui-gon takes the trials after this movie, and Obi-wan takes Anakin as his apprentice.

Episode 2: Attack of the Clones
Anakin and Padme are married, and the whole forbidden romance is gone. Instead there's a triangle between Qui-gon, Padme and Anakin.
Anakin is still an Apprentice.
Palpatine tells Anakin that his pregnant wife is cheating on him (which she isn't, Qui-gon loves Padme, but she loves Anakin.)
Anakin duels Maul with Palpatine watching, all while the Clone Army is attacking the Jedi and Coruscant.
Anakin kills Maul, goes to the under-siege temple, duels and kills Qui-gon. Obi-wan escapes the temple after seeing the duel and after Anakin tells him that he's going after Padme next.
Mace Windu is chased thru the skyways of Coruscant by Boba Fett, and is killed.
Obi-wan evacuates Padme, who is pregnant but not showing yet, from Coruscant while Anakin is chasing them through the spaceport, using the force to pull stuff from the walls. Anakin almost pulls the ship they're on down, but regains his senses.
He goes to Palpatine, is named Darth Vader and the film ends with Vader taking his seat next to Sidious.

I'm still working on Episode III.

I like it all, save for Qui-Gon's treatment and Vader showing up in Episode II. I would personally save that for III

 

[8wid]

My version of the story throws away all elements of what Lucas wrote in his prequel films and start from stratch. Thinking of the Saturday morning cartoons of the 80s are the similar tone of what I thought of while writing it up. Here are my basic plot points involving Anakin.

Anakin runsaway from Alderaan where he lived with his brother Owen and joins the Galactic Star Fleet to fight against the alien invasion of the Republic. He soon becomes talented enough to save the Alderaan system where Ben Kenobi is stationed from a Mandolorian raid seeking to steal the Kaiber crystal, a magic Force gem that gives a war fleet an unlimited power source and any Force user invincible power. Kenobi makes him his apprentice after the two are the ones that discover that the resurgence of the Mandolorians is through secret cloning technology.

He marries the senator of Alderaan, Lady Arcadia between films and impregnates her with the twins. But because Lady Arcadia is a scholar who researches the powers of the Kaiber crystal for the Republic, she is kidnapped by the Mandolorian general who wants to use it. After the raid on Alderaan, the crystal was moved to a booby trapped cave on a volcanic planet that the Mandolorians learn about. In an effort to save his wife from certain death at the hands of the Mando general, he meets a sorceror captured during another raid on Alderaan held in the prison cells of Kenobi's ship, who offers to teach him how to use the crystal to give him the power to save his wife in exchange for becoming his apprentice in the dark side. After losing soon the one to dare the cave where Lady Arcadia hid the Kaiber crystal to give it to the sweet old sorcerer on the ship he thinks is loyal to the Republic and offers to help Kenobi's expedition to find the crystal in exchange for his freedom. Anakin finds the crystal, but secretly tries to sneak it to the sorcerer to give to him. Ben spots him doing this and confronts him on it.

But still, the Mando general escapes with his wife because Ben did not find the planet soon enough and Anakin is upset over this. In the background a tone that ESB had of growing dred is occurring across the Galaxy because Lady Arcadia was kidnapped by a giant wave of clones that is overwhelming the defenses of the Republic. In desperation, Anakin thinks he has to take it to save her, but with the intention of handing it over to the Republic after he saves his wife and kills the Mando general. Ben won't let him leave and also due to the fact that the Kaiber crystal is also a mood altering substance when near it, Anakin becomes more irrational and aggressive and thinks Ben had betrayed him due to jealousy. One pulls a lightsaber on the other and they duel around an erupting volcano.

Ben tries to convince his apprentice out of this, but accidentally knocks him into a molten pit and loses track of him. The sorcerer from the prison ship escapes and turns out happens to have a secret labratory under the volcanic planet where the unconcious body of Anakin is transformed into an armored cyborg. The sorcerer forces Anakin to either accept his new role as a mercenary and his apprentice in the dark side or to be abandoned back into the molten pit where he will meet certain death, he is also promised to receive training to help him regain control over the Force and to save his wife. Anakin of course accepts and takes on the new name of Darth Vader to hide his true name.

As part of his training, Vader undergoes isolation and indoctraination to brainwash him to think the Jedi Knights are evil and Republic is corrupt and needs to be cleansed through a central authority. Darth Vader starts to hunt down Mandolorian officials as practice, but in exchange for getting to finally see his wife again, he hunts down and starts to kill the Jedi Knights until the Empire is declared by the President of the Senate who is the sorcerer in disguise. After that Darth Vader becomes the Head of Imperial Intelligence that serves underneath the Emperor wiping out the last resistance of the Clone Wars and the Jedi Knights, centralizing the Galaxy and enforcing the new order, putting down rebellion and resistance etc. for the next two decades. Vader does not willingly serve the Emperor but is more of a slave feeling he can do nothing to resist or be redeemed for what he did. Anakin will still hope that his wife is alive after Episode III takes place because he does not know what will happen to her after she goes into hiding on Alderaan and dies three years later of an illness. She lives just long enough for Leia to remember as a young girl.

Vader's biggest sin of his betrayal is not that he directly helped the Empire to destroy the Jedi Knights, but because he cowardly handed over his powers in the Force over to evil for selfish reasons instead of resisting and if needing be to sacrificing his life for his duty instead of letting darkness grow stronger from his hand.

 

[roach]

I don't think it ever had to be anything major that turned Anakin to the dark side, like a love triangle. It certainly shouldn't have been a bad dream as it was in Episode III.

why is his dream a bad idea?
We've seen in ESB that the Jedi can see the future.
I think its way better for Anakin to have a dream that Padme is gonna die and goes to the dark side to save her only to be the reason why she died.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

 

[craigdbfan]

I really like how the colors jump out in this.

 

[8wid]

why is his dream a bad idea?
We've seen in ESB that the Jedi can see the future.
I think its way better for Anakin to have a dream that Padme is gonna die and goes to the dark side to save her only to be the reason why she died.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The idea that he joined the dark side to save his wife from potential death while she is pregnant and especially during a time of war where he might not be around because of the fighting, does make since. But him being so willing to hunt down thousands of Jedi Knights, suddenly think the Jedi were trying to take over the Republic just because he embraces the Dark Side makes no sense in how it was written. He doesn't even know if Palpatine is lying about the ability to save her life or even wants to help him after he clearly started the Clone Wars.

It does make since as an idea, but factually the early drafts of Return of the Jedi clearly show that Anakin's fall to the dark side is the direct result of falling into a molten pit, perhaps during a duel with Obi-Wan, maybe in an accident, there are two different versions of it. A simple explanation like this made since in the 80s when society was more willing to accept black and white morality.

 

[Hunter Rider]

He simply snapped, there was no way back so he let himself be consumed by his power and the dark side, the Jedi Knights he hunted down afterwards were clearly the result of how warped he'd become with Padme dead and his own body now "more machine than man", essentially trapped in a walking iron lung.

 

[Dave McFly]

I kept hearing/reading that the rerelease of Episode II in theaters was coming out in 2013, anybody know for sure when Ep II hits theaters?

 

[Mandalore464]

Let's give it a try...

Forget the Prophecy, the Chosen One etc. as if it had never happened.

I would have started Episode I with a 17-something Anakin already an apprentice to a wise but free-spirited Jedi Master (Qui-Gon would fit perfectly). Obi-Wan would also be a padawan at this point, and the first episode deals with the two going on a mission somewhere with their respective masters to prevent a crisis that's linked to the rise of intergalactic cloning companies, befriending each other in the process.

Then at the very end of the episode start off the Clone Wars for whatever reason and have this "Qui-Gon" die horribly while Anakin tries to save him, leaving him scarred for life (loss of the father + guilt).

The Jedi Council tasks Obi-Wan, newly promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight, to complete Anakin's training.

So you're basically keeping the same structure as TPM, but you're already grounding Anakin in the story instead of having him just toddling around the whole episode not knowing what to do with his life, blowing up motherships unintentionally, making annoying sounds in the process.

In Episode II you show Anakin and Obi-Wan becoming increasingly tired by a war that's gone on far too long (the story is set five years into the Clone Wars). The Republic is crumbling apart battle after battle, and the opposite side, led by one Senator Palpatine and his aide, Padmé Amidala, rallies more and more systems to its cause, alienating the Jedi Order and Republic from the people of the galaxy.

While Obi-Wan defends the Republic no matter who's up against it, no matter what its faults may be, Anakin meets and falls in love with Padmé (now there's a good reason for describing their romance as a forbidden love, not this "Jedi can't marry" sh...) and is progressively seduced by Palpatine and her arguments describing the Republic as a sick horse that has to be put down. Palpatine reveals himself as a Sith Lord.

Obi-Wan and Anakin grow more and more apart and Anakin starts to live a double life, secretly sabotaging Republic operations (but refusing to let his actions cost a single life on either side) and seeing Padmé.

In Episode III, the Jedi are up against the whole galaxy, convinced that the Republic and its Force-wielding soldiers are the reason the war is still on the front page.

Obi-Wan, who's now a leading Jedi on the Council, authorizes an operation against the opposite side's HQ, resulting in the capture of a pregnant Padmé. She's brutally interrogated by the Republic, which sickens Obi-Wan, but before he's able to stop the process, Padmé spills the beans on Anakin's betrayal and Palpatine's identity as a Sith Lord.

Obi-Wan rushes to the Jedi Temple to inform the Council, while Palpatine informs Anakin of Padmé's predicament. Anakin storms the Republic's vessel in which she's kept prisoner, killing everything that breathes in the process, but is unable to find her (Obi-Wan's had her moved to a secure location, he learns from a dying officer). Anakin goes on Obi-Wan's trail.

Obi-Wan is instructed by Yoda and co. to track down Palpatine and a Jedi strike team (of not four, but a hundred or so Jedi masters, knights and padawans) is sent to his personal fortress on some lava planet.

A huge battle ensues with Palpatine and his crimson guards + Mandalorian mercenaries (nerdgasm) against the Jedi strike team. It's a bloodbath that results in hundreds of deaths on both sides. When Anakin arrives Obi-Wan and half a dozen Jedi masters are up against Palpatine. Anakin has to choose and defends Palpatine against his former friend. While Palpatine gets rid of the other Jedi, Anakin and Obi-Wan take the fight outside, which ends in Obi-Wan kicking Anakin's butt. Obi-Wan is forced to flee as Palpatine and his minions come out looking for him.

This last battle will tip the balance in favour of Palpatine's side in the Senate.

Obi-Wan rushes to Padmé's cell on neutral Alderaan and finds out she died (who cares why? Complications during delivery, mistreatment, brutal interrogation...) and takes her children away (the girl is left on Alderaan, that nobody would suspect of taking sides in the conflict, and the boy is taken to Tatooine to be raised by the Lars family, Owen Lars being an old friend of Obi-Wan's).

At the same time, a dark armor-clad warrior named Darth Vader arrives at the Jedi Temple and destroys everything (who else wanted to see that in ROTS?), Palpatine arrives on Coruscant and is hailed as a saviour.

Yoda and a hundred Jedi manage to flee the Temple and Obi-Wan's warned to not come back to Coruscant but keep an eye on the boy instead. Yoda and the Jedi scatter on Outer Rim worlds.


- - - - - - -

Well, I made this up as I went so it probably requires a lot of tweaking here and there, but I still like it.

And a couple of nice SW pictures to conclude :

 

[A Necessary Evil]

I kept hearing/reading that the rerelease of Episode II in theaters was coming out in 2013, anybody know for sure when Ep II hits theaters?

Next year, probably february.

 

[Hunter Rider]

It's interesting to see how many different ideas are spread throughout the fandom.

Those are two stunning pieces of art Mandalore, I've actually being looking into buying the Vader one recently.

I forgot to mention I won auctions for these two beauts at the weekend.

 

[Mandalore464]

Obi-Wan's ROTS lightsaber is my favourite hilt design ever with Mace Windu's a close second...

 

[OptimusPrime114]

One question:

Did Star Wars: The Clone Wars change anybody's original perspective towards the prequels?