AHC: Revamp the entire Star Wars series (Ep. I to VI)

Since we have an ongoing discussion about making Star Wars I a good movie, I figure: "Hell, let's give ourselves a challenge!"

The premise is thus: some years in the future, when George Lucas is on his deathbed, an ASB appeared and influenced him into choosing one individual who is interested to reboot the Star Wars universe (hereby limited to the six canon movies - I don't want to get into EU).

Now, you are the person chosen for this great undertaking. What would you do?

Marc A
 
I want to do this, but it's going to take me ages...

Just to be clear: this is a case of us remaking Star Wars at some point in the future, right? Not doing it differently in the past?
 
I want to do this, but it's going to take me ages...

Just to be clear: this is a case of us remaking Star Wars at some point in the future, right? Not doing it differently in the past?

Yep, it'll be in the future... and can a Mod move this to the relevant section of the board? :eek:

Marc A
 
some years in the future, when George Lucas is on his deathbed, an ASB appeared and influenced him into choosing one individual who is interested to reboot the Star Wars universe (hereby limited to the six canon movies - I don't want to get into EU).

Let me see if I can clarify the challenge -- is Lucas looking to see the basic story of the six films retold (a trilogy on Luke's journey, followed by a prequel trilogy explaining his father's origins)? If so, how much do we need to keep to be telling the same story? Presumably, in any event, it has to happen over the course of six films...

For example, I've heard Lucas claim that Star Wars was meant to be "a story about a father and his two children" -- that the overall arch of a remarkable Jedi who falls to the dark side, only to be redeemed by his son, was always the basic gist. Now, while plenty here (including myself) are skeptical of this, I'd say it's a good starting point...
 
Let me see if I can clarify the challenge -- is Lucas looking to see the basic story of the six films retold (a trilogy on Luke's journey, followed by a prequel trilogy explaining his father's origins)? If so, how much do we need to keep to be telling the same story? Presumably, in any event, it has to happen over the course of six films...

For example, I've heard Lucas claim that Star Wars was meant to be "a story about a father and his two children" -- that the overall arch of a remarkable Jedi who falls to the dark side, only to be redeemed by his son, was always the basic gist. Now, while plenty here (including myself) are skeptical of this, I'd say it's a good starting point...

You can do that. You can make the father-trilogy first. You can make Anakin a hero all the way. The ASB basically gave you free rein over the entire project, although you get bonus points for keeping most of the storyline and characters. ;)

Marc A
 
Hm, well I guess I could try starting with the third draft for the first film (4th episode), which is pretty similar to OTL, and work from there; in order to justify six films, though, I'd probably have to stick with Lucas' story that Vader was "always" Luke and Leia's father.

One change for the larger narrative in the first (4th) film that comes to mind -- don't make *Leia* (or her equivalent) a Princess, but daughter to a powerful family on *Alderaan*, who joins the rebellion for her own reasons, and against the wishes of her neutralist parents. That way, for the backstory, *Padme* can be just about any social class or background. Also, it allows for some nasty taunts and heavy drama when *Alderaan* gets blown up...
 
Personally I'd go with the original idea of a trilogy of trilogies (the first being the rise of Palpatine and the events leading to Anakin's conception, I was never a fan of that whole virgin birth malarky, that and I like the early expanded universe too much to butterfly away Zahn's work).

I'd keep the plots to the other trilogies largely the same and alter the details Smaller agegap between Anakin and Padme,
Jedi training and selection beginning at secondary school age (what can I say I've always been a fan of that whole plucky Mid trope)
Hints on who Anakin's father is without ever saying who straight up (It's not Palpatine)
No Jar Jar
Give Anakin a devious streak and an ego the size of a small moon (more obviously flawed character, more believable corruption)
Get rid of the contraditions between the trilogies
e.g. Obi Wan saying Yoda was his instructor when he was Qui Gon's apprentice. My way around this would be that Obi Wan goes to Naboo/Amidala's homeworld alone, and Qui Gon tags along after hearing rumours of the Siths' involvement (extra bonus points, have Qui Gon overrule the idea of training Anakin).
Instead of the Ewoks, maybe a more doglike species related to the Wookies fighting a guerilla war against the Empire on Endor.
 
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The biggest problems I have with Star Wars are

1) The military aspect of it sucked: with their level of technology you'd expect better-conceived tactics - I mean, with very few exceptions nobody ever had the presence of mind to TAKE COVER KNOWING THEIR ARMOR WON'T STAND A DIRECT HIT. And of course there's the 501st "We can't shoot straight" Legion, most inefficiently-deployed battle droids (from Ep. I). Oh, and how the fuck did the Ewoks managed to pwn the Stormtroopers on Endor? I'm not saying it's not doable, but definitely not in the fashion shown in Ep. VI - again, if you can shoot an arrow and disable/wound/kill a stormtrooper then what the hell was that white armor for?

2) Tech continuity disruption: in Ep. III we saw a CIS warship with touchscreen/LCD monitors, and in Ep. IV - 19 years after the events of Ep. III - an Imperial destroyer only has buttons that lit up? C'mon. I understand the level of technology wasn't enough to create LCD monitors and whatnot back in the day, but it does stretch the willing suspension of disbelief a bit to the uninitiated (which, BTW, I'm not)

These are the reasons why I always wanted to see Star Wars remade in chronological order i.e. Ep. I being the first one made. :)

Marc A
 
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Star Wars fanboy nerd rage

Things that peeved me about the hexology in no particular order:
  • All the buildup about the Republic being wise and good when it was a dysfunctional mess
  • Why are the Jedi the only attempt at a republican military until the Clone Army?
  • Never mind the Zeerust about what the props crew and art directors did between movies- why couldn't they have gotten better scripts like Empire Strikes Back?
  • I don't pretend to be up on the full EU canon but were the humans the first starfaring species or did others predate them and just get overwhelmed by human competition?
  • Why couldn't Lucas give more mundane (non-Force user) people roles in maintaining order/resisting the Empire?

The big issue to me, is Lucas planned out the first movie, found himself telling a bigger story, then retconned it to spinach.
I've posted about how Ronald Moore and JMS decided to go with the planned story arc approach BECAUSE the myriad editions of Star Trek had gotten unwieldy and muddled, due to the accretion of improvisations
Star Wars had it worse b/c Star Wars as a space opera adaptation of Assault on the Hidden Fortress, it works.
As an example of world-building, we got a lot of intriguing visuals and hinted backstory which was 100% expedient.
 

Swagga

Banned
Things that peeved me about the hexology in no particular order:
  • All the buildup about the Republic being wise and good when it was a dysfunctional mess
  • Why are the Jedi the only attempt at a republican military until the Clone Army?
  • I don't pretend to be up on the full EU canon but were the humans the first starfaring species or did others predate them and just get overwhelmed by human competition?
  • Why couldn't Lucas give more mundane (non-Force user) people roles in maintaining order/resisting the Empire?

This is as much from the movies as possible but a lot of EU sources worked and wormed itself in the explanation, sorry.

1. It was nostalgia written by pro republicans who really preferred that over the empire which followed it. Hell there was nostalgia during the years up to the clone wars about how things were in the republic centuries ago. Remember the people who mention that in the movies were republicans or had a high position in the republican government and society, or those with issues with the Empire who were part of the republic/liked it (ie Obi-Wan). actually that isn't said in the movies but implied from the environment of the movie.

The book version for ANH (old one) mentions how it collapsed. Out of universe originally the republic was supposed to be good but corrupted by the emperor and/or the emperor was a good guy manipulated by his assistants. The prologue to the a new hope novel (the OLD one) mentions the later.

I remember hearing that most of the population preferred the Empire to the Republic anyway by the time of ANH (roleplaying book as source) - note the majority population in Star Wars universe was in the human dominated core where people benefited from the Empire's racist policies and had a sense of vengeance over the Clone Wars.

2. They weren't. Planets had their own militaries and sectors had their own militaries, and they were centralized into the Republic's military during the CW after some major navies attempted to secede with the confederate governments of their worlds (ie Rendili).

A federal republic military was abolished in the deformations of ruusan (the thousand year republic refers to THAT incarnation of the galactic republic, older incarnations are up to 25000 years before the movies and those incarnations had a central military).

3. other species, like the Rakata and Kiliks presaged humans by a long time. Rakata helped to seed humans on some planets, hence the humanoid/near human species like Zeltros from divergent evolution. humans evolved on Coruscant and spread via seed/sleeper/colony ships from Coruscant to other core worlds and the Duros gave humans hyperdrive tech to seed the rest of the galaxy in the way they did. Rakata empire largely died out, I forgot what happened with the Kiliks and there was this ancient precursor civiilization(s) in the EU which I never read up on in detail but they built the Maw by Kessel.
 
This is my take on an expanded Star Wars Saga.

Ep.I: Cloak of Deception. Introduces Obi-wan, Qui-gon, Yoda, the Council, the Trade Federation and Palpatine. Also shows Palpatine manipulating the Senate and creating a manufactured scandal around Chancellor Valorum. Shows Obi-wan hunting Darth Maul.

Ep. II: The Phantom Menace. Introduces Anakin and shows Palpatine manipulating his way into becoming the Chancellor of the Republic. Palpatine engineers the Blockade Crisis. Qui-gon and Obi-wan encounter Anakin. Darth Maul kills Qui-gon.Obi-wan kills Darth Maul. The Jedi Council instructs Obi-wan to begin Anakin's training.

Ep. III: Rouge Planet. Obi-wan training Anakin. The first hints of tension between Anakin and Obi-wan.

Ep. IV: The Approaching Storm. Introduces Count Dooku. Hints at dissatisfaction among the member worlds of the Republic. Shadowy forces are engineering a civil war.

Ep. V: Attack of the Clones. The Trade Federation engineers an attempt on Padme's life. Anakin is assigned to escort Padme back to Naboo. Obi-wan investigates alterations to records in the Temple archives. The start of the Clone Wars.

Ep. VI: Labyrinth of Evil. The Jedi Council attempts to track down the mysterious Sith Lord.

Ep. VII: Revenge of the Sith. Palpatine is taken "hostage." Anakin kills Dooku. Obi-wan kills General Grevious Palpatine is revealed to be Darth Sidious. The Republic falls, the Jedi are destroyed and Anakin turns to the Dark Side. Luke and Leia are born on Polis Massa

Ep. VIII: The Rise of Darth Vader. The survivors of Order 66 gather together in an attempt to combat the Empire. Darth Vader stops their uprising before it can gather steam. Foreshadows the emergence of the Rebel Alliance.

Ep. IX: A New Hope. Introduces Luke, Han, Chewy and Leia. Luke's home on Tattooine is destroyed by stormtroopers. Luke discovers that he is descended from Anakin Skywalker, who was murdered by Darth Vader. Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star. The Rebels win the Battle of Yavin.

Ep. X: The Empire Strikes Back. The Imperials win the Battle of Hoth. The Rebels flee Hoth. Luke travels to Dagobagh to train with Master Yoda. Han, Leia, Chewy and the droids have a series of misadventures while trying to evade the Imperial fleet. They eventually make it to Bespin, where they are betrayed by Han's old friend, Lando Calrissian. Han is frozen in carbonite and sent to Jabba the Hutt. Luke duels Vader and discovers that Vader is his father. There are hints that Leia may be Force sensitive.

Ep. XI: Return of the Jedi. The Imperials are building a second Death Star in orbit around Endor. Luke, Lando, Leia, Chewy and the droids rescue Han from Jabba's palace. Leia strangles Jabba. Luke returns to Dagabagh to finish his training. Luke discovers that Leia is his sister. Han, Luke and Leia lead a Rebel strikeforce on the surface of Endor to destroy the sheild generator protecting the Death Star. Luke allows himself be captured. He is taken aboard the Death Star where he is brought before Vader and the Emperor. The Rebel fleet begins its attack on the Death Star, which is the lynch pin of an Imperial trap. Han and the Rebel commandos eventually force their way into the bunker and destroy the sheild generator, allowing the Rebel fleet to attack the Death Star. Luke is goaded into attacking Vader, who is eventually subdued. Vader throws the Emperor down the core shaft. Lando and Wedge fly into the Death Star and destroy the reactor. Vader dies as a result of his injures. Luke escapes the Death Star. The Rebels win the Battle of Endor. The Empire is toppled and the New Republic is founded.
 
Some interesting ideas there, but I think a lot of those early movies could be merged without sacrificing anything.
 
Some interesting ideas there, but I think a lot of those early movies could be merged without sacrificing anything.

Well, I will admit that in this format, Star Wars might be too long to work as a film franchise, and would probably have to be a miniseries, which is, frankly, an interesting idea. The Star Wars Radio Dramas proved that Star Wars is really well suited to long format story-telling.
 
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Well, I will admit that in this format, Star Wars might be too long to work as a film franchise, and would probably have to be a miniseries, which is, frankly, an interesting idea. The Star Wars Radio Dramas proved that Star Wars is really well suited to long format story-telling.

Hmmm, I can see at least 8 seasons of Star Wars coming... ;)

Marc A
 
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