Tag: creator

Losing Faith… or never lost.

Posted on by CV Whitfield

It was 16 years between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menance – 25 years had past since George scribbled his idea for Star Wars and executed the next major phase of his story. That’s a lot of time. Also, that’s a lot of life to live between the two.

I believe George’s film making philosophy in the 1970s and early 1980s changed and is very different than his 1990s version. Or more specifically: his philosophy and attitude toward Star Wars. With all the examples I’ve provided and what he spoke about during the documentary From Star Wars to Jedi, he has definitely bent his filmmaking rules.

George, during another interview, admitted to this happening. His reason was children. He adopted 3 children from 1983 and the release of Episode I in 1999. He was making these movies for them. Or more generally – for children. Although by the time Revenge of th Sith came out I’m not sure I would say that was a kids movie (uh, man burning alive, duh). Yet, he definitely looked at this world through altered eyes.

I believe I was victim of something similar. When I was younger, my stories were so vast, incredible and fun. As I got older, I somehow stumped and blocked my efforts as my mind would question the rationale of the details. It was a difficult time. I subconsciously shutdown my own imagination. I think this happened to George. George wrote the Original Trilogy as an adult but with the spirit of his youth. As he got older, he wrote as from his youth but with a spirit of an adult.

I was disappointed. I had hoped he would have kept his original spirit. I also wish he had told himself, “if I was filming this movie in 1984 how would I have done it?” Allow the new technology to make it easier and sharper, but not lose the feel of the universe that had been shaped by real world limitations. Now, there will be no resolution as the torch has been passed. I’m not sure I have faith with the new direction. Yet, I think in the long run George lost faith in his youthful imagination. I struggled and sometimes still battle with my logical brain to keep my youthful imagination alive. As a writer, it’s imperative that the youthful imagination never is lost. I will vow to do my best….

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Losing Faith…. pt. four.

Posted on by CV Whitfield

The new Star Wars Prequels are not terrible. The movies don’t deserve hatred or fan outrage. Yet, I do wish they had been slightly different. Being a child in the late 70s and early 80s, I was the perfect age to enjoy the Original Trilogy. I also had 15 years of adult years, college study and personal imagination to overthink the next chapter.

The Force in the Prequels was simply forgotten. When it came time to explain important things, expand on the mythology, we simply didn’t get them. Almost like George couldn’t answer them himself (odd since this was his world – his creation). Or maybe he just didn’t want to revel his hand. Now, I’m not stating I needed more such as how or why it worked (so I definitely don’t want Midichlorians). Actually keeping it vague actually works for the story. But, why does Obi-Wan and Yoda disappear to the Force in the Original Trilogy but no one in the Prequel Trilogy does? This was a critical misfire for the saga. Yes, at the end of Revenge of the Sith, we get one line of dialog to “wrap” that mystery. But why wasn’t this slowly developed through the entire Prequel Trilogy. Why wasn’t the audience shown the Jedi more in tune with the Force? (not just using its magical powers) With Anakin, Qui-Gon should have just felt the Force stronger than he’d ever felt it before within Anakin. Instead of testing his blood, he should have told Obi-wan “There’s something about this boy! I’ve never felt a vergence of the Force like I have with him.” “Even around Master Yoda?” “Not even Master Yoda!” Their surprise is the cinematic story telling. Concluding in a test similar to the one Anakin got in front of the council, we, as an audience, know that Anakin is Force sensitive. He would and did perform tasks that are beyond that of an average Padawan. But still raw! (not the Rey syndrome!) Qui-gon’s original Force insight of Anakin would make sense with what we know from the OT: “I feel a presence I’ve not felt in a long time.” “It was a 1000 voices all screamed out in terror at once.” “Search your feelings.” “Leia is my sister.” – “Your insight serves you well!”.

Queen Amidala of the Naboo should have been a true royal monarch. There’s nothing wrong for a royal Queen ruling a world or people in a fantasy story. Actually, it would have made more sense. It would have been a positive look at a monarchy style government. Besides, the government of the galaxy is a democratic Galactic Republic with representatives of each member planet working together for a greater good. Well until, it became corrupt and open for an evil Emperor to take over. More important it would have stay true to George’s original story element of Anakin marrying a young queen. With some slight tweaking, Amidala would still get mixed up in the action as a Padme decoy. I always thought it would have been more powerful to see how Naboo suffered once the Empire formed and Amidala had to go into hiding. (maybe I’ll go into more details at some point). Secondly, Amidala wouldn’t die at the end of Revenge of the Sith. Naboo would fall to Imperial control. The Royal family would be imprisoned or forced into hiding. That scene in ROTS, where Yoda and Obi-wan decide to go into hiding, it should have included Amidala. Yoda asks, “what should we do with children. They are a threat to Anakin?” Bail Organa volunteers, “We will adopt the girl (smiles at Amidala), we’ve always wanted to adopt a girl. Your majesty, you will serve as her Nanny on Alderaan and you’ll be safe there.” Yoda questions, “what about the boy?” Obi-wan offers, “to his family on Tatooine. I will go and watch over him.” This also doesn’t deviate the facts we already know. Leia would have memories of her real mother because she was her nanny. Young Padme would still die young but thats a story for another time.

Easy fixes and the story wasn’t drastically changed. It doesn’t impact the sadness at the end of ROTS nor does it cause issues in wrapping up the Prequel Trilogy….

to be concluded….

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Losing Faith…. pt. three.

Posted on by CV Whitfield

In the documentary, George gives some interesting insight on his film making philosophy. One of those insights: “you don’t have to spend much film time to create an environment.” George continues to say that sci-fi movies are notorious to do this to show off the amount of work and it slows the pace of the movie. Star Wars pulled this off. Perhaps it was simply there wasn’t a budget to do it. Yet, it worked as he said. I don’t need a 3-4 minute fly-over of Manhattan to get a sense the characters are in a big city. But when it came to the prequels, I found George was showing off more and more of the environments: Coruscant, Naboo, etc. The magic of CGI and digital paintings made them great eye candy but the feel of the movies changed.

George also stated, “my effort was to use less exposition and tell the story cinematically.” Again, the prequels are riddled with dialog to tell us where the action is going. The dialog is there to enrich the story – not tell us what we’re looking at: “They went up the ventilation shaft.” “There’s a problem with the main reactor!” Both were just seen only seconds ago. Either George thought we weren’t so bright or he was catering the story to a different audience (more on that later).

The Force was also one of the big issues with the Prequels. George needed to somehow convey that Anakin is more powerful in potential than other Force users / Jedi. But how do you do that? Simple. You make it a scientific explanation. In the previous Trilogy, The Force was a mystical entity, a source for a faith and religion. Yet, in the new Trilogy, it’s all about how many microbial parasites you have in your blood. More exposition. Dialog could have easily fixed this – would have benefited the story not try to explain it. I think this tarnished the mystery and power of The Force.

In the original expanded canon, it was told that Anakin Skywalker married a young queen. This was the mother of both Luke and Leia. We never got a name nor a true definition of her royal line. We really didn’t need it. The mystery was sorta interesting. Yet, now we have the opportunity in the Prequels to explore her character. Yet, is she really a Queen. No. George’s personal political opinion interfered with the fantasy. She needed to be elected to the position because an elected official seems more moral, right? Again, this failed the overall story in a galaxy, far, far away. And by the time she was married to Anakin and gave birth she was no longer a Queen but a simple Senator.

That last example could also lead into another one: changing the previous known canon. In Return of the Jedi, Luke asks Leia if she “remembers her mother, her real mother?” This clearly points to the idea that Leia as well as Luke and Han know she was the adopted daughter of Bail Organa. Could it just be an error in the writing and Luke is projecting his own knowledge toward Leia? Possibly. But why didn’t Leia freak out and say “what do you mean, real mother!?” By the time we got Revenge of the Sith, Padme Amidala died in child birth. So how could Leia possibly remember her. (I know fans have tried to explain this as Force memory) But why did it happen in the Prequels? George could have easily supported what he’d already told the audience.

These are just some examples. Next time, I’ll propose alternatives….

to be continued….

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