Friday, February 02, 2007

Inside Edition: Star Wars

Warning: this blog post is a complete waste of your time!

On the Relevance site, I saw a link to this fascinating analysis of the connections between the first Star Wars trilogy (episodes IV-VI) and the second one (episodes I-III). As much as I'm loathe to admit it, I've done some thinking along these same lines, especially since 2 things have recently happened: 1) I got a new HDTV and 2) HBO has turned into the "All Star Wars Station" (but only for episodes I and III -- they must not have rights to II). You should probably read the analysis before you go on (or it won't make much sense). I'll wait.

In fact, the only flaw I can find in the analysis is the fact that the Jawas weren't at first going to sell R2D2 to the Skywalkers -- it was only after the other similar droid blew up (maybe R2D2 did something to him in the hold of the Jawas' ship?) But it kills the idea that the reason they ended up at the Skywalkers was some sort of deal with the Jawas (unless they double crossed him). See, I told you this was a waste of time, right?

Actually, I distinctly remember interviews with Lucas back in the late 70's where he talked about a trilogy of trilogies (it was supposed to go episodes IV-VI, I-III, and then VII - IX). He has since retracted that statement (and claims he never made it). Whatever. Given how much work it is, I completely understand.

But I always thought that it would be cool in episode IX for C3P0 and R2D2 to suddenly reveal that they are in fact the keepers of the force, much like some of Asimov's robot stories where the robots turn out to be the guardians of mankind while pretending to serve him. And, if you take C3P0 out of the equation (in light of the analysis above), then R2D2 can be said to be the guardian of the good part of the force. That would be cool!

When I want to waste some more of your time, remind me to tell you about the plot idea I have for the origin of the Borg...

5 comments:

Speedcat Hollydale said...

Do you mean the Borg that attack Captain Picard?

Michael Letterle said...

Nice link! Thanks for posting.

Of COURSE the Jawas double-crossed R2, that's what they DO.

I'd really like to see a plot point by plot point analysis of V and VI as well, this brings up elements from those two films, but really only goes over IV.

Oh and as for the Borg...does it involve V'Ger?

Neal Ford said...

Yes, the Borg that attacks Picard.

And, no, it does not involve V'Ger.

Basically, the plot contrivance is that the Federation goes to look for the source of the Borg and discover that they are coming from the future: they are what the Federation eventually evolved into, they conquered the whole galaxy of the future, and now they are invading the past. So, it becomes this big quest to figure out where the Federation went wrong and to fix it in the current (Federation) time. You get pithy commentary about the environment, time travel, Borg -- it's got everything!

Adam said...

Actually, another flaw in that analysis is that the assumption is made that Leia does not know that R2 is carrying the Death Star plans. That is not true; when R2 plays the entire holographic message for Obi Wan, she states he (R2) is carrying "vital information" (though doesn't specifically mention the plans).

However, after they escape the Death Star, she makes specific mention of it to Han:

LEIA: At least the information in Artoo is still intact.

HAN: What's so important? What's he carrying?

LEIA: The technical readouts of that battle station. I only hope that when the data is analyzed, a weakness can be found. It's not over yet!

So, she knew R2 was carrying the plans (whether she put them there or not).

Also, Chewbacca works "for" Han Solo because the Wookies were enslaved by the empire and Han rescued a bunch, Chewie being one of them. He entered into a life-debt situation at that point. (That would be outside the scope of the information provided in the movies, however, as my geek-factor leaks out of my fingers).

Plus, the fact that Chewbacca was even in Episode III was a complete bonehead move by Lucas anyway.

Weep for me.

Unknown said...

I also remember the trilogy of trilogies bit, with episodes 3 years apart (that's a lot of 3s). The last episode was to be released in 2001, in hommage (or reference) to 2001, Space Odissey