If they’re retconning the sequel trilogy, I would deeply hope “Rey is Palpatine’s granddaugter” to be a part that gets retconned out.
A couple of things to keep in mind about G. Lucas when discussing Star Wars:
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G. Lucas was almost always about technique. The original Star Wars was as much (if not more) about pushing filming techniques, special effects, etc., to new heights.
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G. Lucas was influenced greatly by Joseph Campbell, as well as the Saturday Matinee “serials” like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
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G. Lucas dropped 1 & 2 into a blender, hit frappe, and gave us Star Wars.
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Just saying that I personally think G. Lucas is a pretty good story creator, but somewhere between the ideas in his head and the images on the movie screen, something gets lost in translation.
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Or, perhaps, the grand, sprawling vision in his head gets shoe-horned into a movie format, when it might be better served by an episodic series format (whether it’s a classic network, cable network, or streaming service), at least from a story perspective.
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However, the special effects budget would never fly (notice how The Mandalorian uses fairly practical effects most of the time, and reserves the “good stuff” for greatest story impact?) for an episodic/TV format.
good story creator, terrible screenwriter.
This is why I still believe they should have started with the newly minted Darth Vader. I, I, and III should have been about the adventure of Darth Vader, with heavy doses of James Earl Jones.
What’s the character arc if he’s already Darth Vader? Seems like you’d have the same problem as in Solo.
Yeah, Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side is good Greek Tragedy material. A whole trilogy of films of Darth Vader going around being evil at people would get boring pretty quickly.
If I were rebooting the prequels, I’d set up a love triangle between Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan. Padme picks Anakin, but Palpatine manipulates Anakin into thinking she’s being unfaithful, and that’s what pushes him over to the Dark Side.
I get the knee-jerk reaction here. But this simply isn’t backed up by the facts. Lucas is on record as wanting to introduce the Whills…the precursor to the midichlorians…back in 1977. Yes, Lucas always strove to make these movies with a broad appeal (Leia, Speeder Bikes, Ewoks) but that’s not what undermined these movies. They weren’t cobbled together by focus group even if the poor result makes you think they were. He had a plan, but he didn’t execute, the facts are well documented.
I agree that a prequel trilogy about Anakin Skywalker’s tragic fall to the Dark Side was a great idea for a series of films, it was just executed really, really badly. Kid Anakin was a mistake, especially since it gives the love story arc a creepy vibe, and then teen Anakin was handed painfully bad dialogue to deliver like “I hate sand” and “Nooooooooooooooo”. And don’t forget Jar-Jar Binks.
IMO one of the problems with the prequel and sequel trilogies is that the political structure of the world isn’t really clear to the audience (without going into a lot of non-movie material, at least). The OT makes it clear with a few lines of dialog that there was an Old Republic that was pretty nice, then The Emperor turned it into The Empire, and during the movie he made his final consolidation of power by dissolving the Senate and placing the Moffs in charge of running things. The first taste we get of the Empire is Stormtroopers boarding a ship and Darth Vader choking people to get answers, and we find that the Rebellion is a collection of people fighting to resist the Empire. While there’s a ton of detail in the expanded universe, it’s really easy to see what’s going on at a glance.
You don’t get a solid backdrop like that in the prequels or sequels, instead the picture of what is going on is fuzzy and confusing, and instead of giving us a few big markers and letting us fill in the rest, you get a confusing and inconstent picture with details that don’t really make sense. For example, the fact that Old Republic currency is worthless on Tatooine in E1 is off-putting, it’s like being unable to exchange British pounds during the 1800s. The Jedi are supposed to be wise and respected, but come off as really painfully stupid and naive.
That’s basically what they did…if only in Anakin’s mind. Which honestly is the best way to do it IMHO. Obi-Wan is not that big a rule breaker and certainly not duplicitous. If only the movies spent more time developing that instead of just exposition-vomiting it in like 10 minutes of dialogue at the climax.
I don’t recall any hints that Anakin thought Padme and Obi-Wan were having a relationship, although it’s been a long while since I’ve seen any of the prequels.
But I was thinking something like, the first movie features a romance between an adult Anakin and Padme. In the second movie, circumstances separate Anakin and Padme, and put her somewhere with Obi-Wan. There’s a genuine spark, but they both recognize that it’s not right - Padme is in a relationship with Anakin, Obi-Wan is Anakin’s friend, and has his duties as a Jedi - and they don’t act on it. But Anakin, who’s sequestered somewhere with Palpatine, has a vision of the same scene where they give in to their passions. It’s a false vision, something that “might have been” - “always in motion, is the future,” and all that. But he doesn’t realize it, and under Palpatine’s guidance, turns to the Dark Side out of anger and betrayal.
Third movie, he’s the villain for the whole thing. Darth Vader, but before the suit. Murders a whole bunch of (grown-up!) Jedi - basically the entire supporting cast from the last two movies. At the end, on Mustafar, right before he’s crippled, he finds out the truth about what happened, but at that point, its too late to turn back.
Certainly there was a love triangle between Anikin, Padme, and the Jedi Order in the PT as written, with Obi-Wan as the face of it. The Jedi Order wanted him all to itself, and in the end neither it nor Padme got him. He was taken by a new suitor—a seductor: that is, the Sith.
It’s not quite a triangle, though, because there’s no real relationship between Padme and Obi-Wan/the Order.
Ehhhhh… here’s how I understand love triangles to work:
A loves B, but B loves C. C also has feelings for B, but then is aware of A’s love for B too, and is thus conflicted. Tension ensures, wether or not C has feelings for A or I just merely aware of them as a close acquaintance/borderline friend, with bonus points if a Romeo & Juliet “They’ll say our love is wrong” angle gets worked in as part of the conflict over the relationship between B and C.
A is the Jedi Order (most commonly represented by Obi-Wan)
B is Anakin
C is Padme
I believe the above relationship fulfills all the requirements of a love triangle, with the bonus angle worked in as well, although Anakin only dies in spirit in the end.
ETA: Oh, and, uh, spoilers for that much debated and discussed twenty year old film trilogy.
ETA2: Keep in mind, such triangles are usually represented as two men as rivals for one woman, or two women as rivals for one man, but in the PT it’s and order and a woman as rivals for one man.
Cursory googling supports your definition.
I still like my scenario, though.
Here’s my quick and dirty reworking of TPM into something that may have been legitimately good without dramatically changing the underlying story.
The Phantom Menace - Act I
Opening crawl explains the basic workings of the Republic. That there is peace and prosperity but certain wealthier systems, influenced by the the trade federation, are pushing for more autonomy. Insurgents are attacking several systems at once, apparently organized by some unknown hand.
Zoom in on Coruscant. Show the Jedi Council discussing the attacks and debating their role in any intervention. This does a nice job of explaining what their charter is and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Potentially even mention the Jedi-Sith War as a cautionary tale to introduce that backstory.
Flash to the Senate, debating what their response should be. Bickering factions, arguments from supporters of the insurgents in the minority. Senators bringing the the concern about the apparent invisible hand coordinating these attacks up and getting mocked. Ultimately voting to send an expeditionary force led by the Jedi to investigate and support the local realms. We see the Gungans…who have their own homeworld…the Wookies, the Hutts, and Palpatine.
The Phantom Menace - Act II
One expeditionary force led by Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan accompanies the Naboo Senators (Palpatine, but not yet Padme) to Naboo where one of the biggest cities is under siege. We see the droid army surrounding the city. We see some other races directing the action, the droids are a lot less useless but when absent competent leadership things can start to go awry. The Jedi target the commanders and encounter (a much younger) Dooku. They ultimately win, but the other Senator is killed in the fighting (and not coincidentally) ultimately leading to Palpatine promoting Padme. Obi-Wan apparently saves Padme in the fighting which creates a bond between them.
We get scenes of other expeditions on other worlds led by Mace, Yoda and others. Cue lots of fun lightsaber play and action sequences on new and interesting worlds. The good guys win them all, but Mace and Yoda start questioning the motive behind these attacks that were so obviously doomed to fail. Dooku’s appearance makes clear that the Sith have returned and they begin wondering if Dooku is working alone. Who is Dooku’s master? Is there’s something bigger out there? The future is clouded.
Two posts because of the idiotic 3500 word limit
The Phantom Menace - Act III
On retuning from Naboo to Coruscant for Padme’s swearing in their ship is sabotaged. The nearest planet is, again not coincidentally, Tatooine. They land at one of the port cities for repairs and take refuge with one of the Hutts. They call for reinforcements from Coruscant. While they wait and fort up, they are attended to by one of the Hutt’s many slaves, Shmi Skywalker and they encounter Anakin (who is slightly older and less annoying). Qui-Gon immediately senses a extremely strong presence of the Force with him and begins testing him. Some interesting call-backs Luke’s early training with Obi-Wan on the Falcon can be made.
Anakin and Padme bond a bit over their unsatisfying lives without any freedom to do what they want. Anakin trapped by slavery, Padme by duty. In the middle of their repast alarm bells sound, a Trade Federation fleet appears from hyperspace to blockade the planet. The Hutts in partnership with Dooku turn their coats and attack the expedition. Palpatine is captured. Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Padme and Anakin flee into the Hutt palace’s underground. Shades of Cloud City.
The Jedi regroup, gather some local allies to stage a rescue operation to free Palpatine. A fleet is due to arrive soon from Coruscant. Mace, Yoda and a few other Jedi plan to rendezvous as well to provide support. It’s a race to rescue Palpatine before they can get him onto the cruisers and jump to lightspeed. A massive battle in orbit ensues while a the same time Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are cutting their way through the Hutt’s guards and battle droids when they get attacked by Darth Maul. Qui-Gon is killed. Obi-Wan with timely help from Anakin’s newfound Force powers slays Maul and rescues Palpatine in a nick of time. Dooku and his fleet jump to hyperspace.
We wrap up with an ominous vote in the senate to promote Palpatine to Supreme Chancellor. To grant him war powers and a charter to establish a new Republic Army.
End
From here Attack of the Clones can pick up with the training of Anakin by Obi-Wan on Naboo, shades of Dagobah. The secret romance of Anakin and Padme along with Anakin’s budding jealously of Obi-Wan. It can show Palpatine drafting the Clone Army on Kamino, which will take years to be ready, and the gradual oppression of the various worlds in service of building the Republic fleet. The politicking of the Jedi as they try to convince Palpatine to allow them to search out the Sith instead of building an army to directly challenge the Trade Federation. Palpatine constantly keeping the Jedi spread thin as they put out fires across the galaxy. Introduce Ventress as Dooku’s new apprentice and General Grievous. It ends with the Republic on the brink after suffering a string of losses and the suspension of the senate.
I’d go for an inversion - we’ve seen Jedi training, and got the basic gist of Jedi philosophy in Empire. The middle movie of the prequel trilogy should have been the same, but from the Dark Side - Palpatine training Anakin in using anger to harness the Force, and indoctrinating him into Sith philosophy.
So long as they make good stories, canon shouldn’t be considered important.
The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be… unnatural.
No, see, Rey’s parents were nobodies, but they were only nobodies because of the oppressive rule of the Emperor, and it was because of him that they were what they were, so from a certain point of view, he was their father.
There, if Lucas and Abrams can do it, we can, too.