• From: Gardena, California
  • Registered: 2009-11-26
  • Posts: 1,598
  • User Karma: 484

Topic: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

I suppose this needs little introduction to anyone who's listened to the show. I'm Dorkman and the Star Wars prequels give me stress hives. I originally wrote these up over on TheForce.net's fanfilms board as an idea for one way to "fix" the prequels. I only meant to do a sentence or two per film but then it got out of hand. These were subsequently posted on the [REDACTED] blog, but since that was nearly four years ago and we have gotten a lot of new community members since then, this may well be new to many of you.

My goals with this version of the story were as follows:

1) Use the titles. I'm big on the power of a good title, and I actually like the titles of the Star Wars prequels. So as part of the experiment I wanted to keep the titles and find a way to thread the new story in such a way that they applied as much or more than they do in the official films. It also helped give me some focus rather than completely starting from scratch.

2) Preserve "I am your father." It's one of the great moments in cinema, and despite the fact that everyone already knows it, I don't think the prequels should behave like it's a foregone conclusion that you know it. You should be able to watch it chronologically and not know until that moment. I'll be the first to admit my solution is less than completely elegant, but it's the best I could come up with. It's a tough problem. hmm

3) You can watch it in either order. Corollary to the above, ideally if you already know the OT, the PT would give you a new perspective on events. At the same time, if you've never seen a Star Wars film, you should be able to watch them chronologically without the films assuming you already know the rest of the story.

4) It's Obi-Wan's story. While ultimately the six-film cycle is still about the rise, fall, and redemption of Anakin Skywalker, as the OT saw that story through Luke's eyes, the PT would see it through Obi-Wan's. Not only does this create a sense of symmetry (as Brian said in one of the commentaries, first you see the story through the eyes of his "father," then through the eyes of his son), but it hopefully resolves the Plinkett Problem.

5) GTFOH with that prophecy shit. I'm so, so tired of this Chosen One nonsense in every fantasy story these days. There wasn't a prophecy about Bilbo or Frodo and there doesn't need to be one about Anakin, Luke, or anyone else in this story. They're just players in galactic history, sometimes for good and sometimes ill.

I'm posting the treatments below, or you can download them in PDF form here.

Enjoy!

-----------

EPISODE ONE
THE PHANTOM MENACE

A mysterious fleet of ships carries out a campaign of attacks against planets on the Outer Rim of the Galactic Republic. They appear out of nowhere, decimate the planet and then vanish once more into the black. The Jedi OBI-WAN KENOBI is drawn into the conflict, dispatched from the Jedi Temple on the jungle planet Yithian to investigate the mystery.

His investigation leads him to discover that the fleet is comprised of the remnants of the Mandalorians, a civilization that was destroyed by the Republic during an expansionary phase millennia ago. A small contingent of them went into exile, trying to rebuild their army to take revenge. But they were too small a contingent, their army building too slowly, and they were soon forgotten by the Republic, relegated at most to legend, and only on a handful of fringe planets.

But the Mandalorians -- a spacefaring but relatively primitive culture -- have somehow obtained cloning technology, which has allowed them to build their army exponentially, and finally begin their campaign of vengeance against the Republic in earnest. On the Outer Rim planet of Utapau, Obi-Wan discovers their primary cloning facility, and leaves to warn the Senate. But as he makes his escape he is attacked by Mando ships and barely gets away, his ship badly damaged. He limps to the nearest inhabited planet -- Tatooine -- for repairs.

Planetside, it is determined that the ship will take weeks to repair. Obi-Wan knows that he doesn’t have weeks, and seeks out alternative transport. Obi-Wan has never been outside the Jedi Temple, and he sticks out like a sore thumb, leading to trouble in the local cantina. Before things can get out of hand, a young moisture farmer named OWEN LARS comes to his rescue and gets him out of there. Obi-Wan tells Owen his plight, and it just so happens that Owen knows someone who can help.

Owen introduces Obi-Wan to his brother-in-law, ANAKIN SKYWALKER, a pilot with his own ship (Owen’s wife, BERU, is Anakin’s sister). Upon hearing that Obi-Wan wants to go to Coruscant, Anakin refuses, but Obi-Wan offers him so much money he can’t turn it down. He agrees, on the condition that they take a one-day detour so that Anakin can make a delivery that’s just come in. Desperate to get on the move, Obi-Wan accepts.

The delivery takes them to another Outer Rim planet, Nimban. On arrival, instead of arriving via the standard approach, Anakin activates a scanner-scrambler, and with a bit of fancy flying evades planetary security without their even realizing he’s there.

When Obi-Wan asks him why he did this, Anakin responds that it would not do to have security scan the ship, as the contents are not exactly legal.

Scandalized to realize he’s been traveling with a smuggler, Obi-Wan gets all up on his high horse and Anakin tells him that if he doesn’t like it, he can take his money and find other transport.

Obi-Wan disembarks at Nimban as Anakin makes the trade, but Nimban is somehow even more hostile than Tatooine. The other pilots regard Obi-Wan’s offers of money as more suspicious than enticing, and pretty soon they’re all giving him a wide berth. He quickly realizes that they’re ALL smugglers here.

Humbled, he returns to Anakin, who is not interested in flying the long journey to Coruscant with a self-righteous stick in the mud. But when the Mando fleet appears and attacks the planet, Anakin lets Obi-Wan back into the ship and they make their escape.

Obi-Wan co-pilots with Anakin, and they manage to get out of the fray, the only ship that escapes unharmed. Obi-Wan is impressed, to say the least. Anakin is the best pilot he’s ever seen -- so good, in fact, that Obi-Wan is certain his abilities are supernatural. He believes that Anakin has the Force.

For Anakin’s part, having now seen the scale of the Mando threat, he agrees that the Senate has to be informed, and they set course for Coruscant.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, a nobody Senator named PALPATINE argues passionately that the Republic -- currently a diplomatic body comprised of individual, sovereign planets and/or systems -- cannot survive this new threat in its current form. The military might of any individual planet is insufficient to combat the encroaching army. One by one, they will be defeated. He proposes that a unified army -- the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) -- be formed from a voluntary alliance of member nations, to go on a combined offensive against the conquering marauders. They must stand together, he urges, or they shall fall apart.

Upon their arrival at Coruscant, Obi-Wan seeks an audience with the Senate and, as a Jedi, his request is granted. Obi-Wan and Anakin are both out of their element among the crowds and skyscrapers of the city planet, and they bond through their shared new experience.

Obi-Wan tells the Senate of what he has discovered. The size of the threat, combined with the fact that the Mando forces are increasing in number on an almost daily basis, turns the tide of debate. Now that they know what they’re up against, dozens of planets agree to add their might, however great or small, to the GAR.

Obi-Wan and Anakin are recruited to help lead the offensive against the primary Mando cloning facility -- Obi-Wan because he is a Jedi, and all nations trust their wisdom and neutrality, and Anakin because Obi-Wan requests it.
The battle at the Mando facility -- into the heart of the Mando fleet -- is suitably huge and climactic. Anakin leads the air fleet while Obi-Wan leads a force on the ground to shut down the planetary defenses.

Shockingly, Obi-Wan finds himself face to face with a Sith Warrior, DARTH MAUL, the likes of which -- like the Mandalorians  -- many including Obi-Wan believed to be mere myth. A LIGHTSABER BATTLE ensues. Maul is incredible and Obi-Wan nearly falls at his hands, but the ground contingent succeeds in shutting down the planet’s defenses and Obi-Wan is able to escape as the airstrike destroys the facility.

After the battle, Obi-Wan returns with Anakin to the Jedi Temple, asking that Anakin be admitted for Jedi training. But the Council refuses, saying that he is too old to begin his training.

Dejected, Anakin prepares to leave the Temple and go back to his old life. But Obi-Wan, unwilling to lose the best (really, the only) friend he has ever had, and unwilling to see Anakin’s potential go to waste, says that they should both accept the Republic’s offer to join the GAR. Obi-Wan will teach Anakin the ways of the Force himself. Anakin agrees.

Meanwhile, the Jedi Council deliberates, attempting to decipher what part the presumed-extinct Sith are playing in these events, and in the Senate yet more planets commit their military forces to the GAR. The Mandos no longer have their primary cloning facility, but their fleet is still the greatest threat the Republic has ever seen.

The Clone Wars have begun.

Thumbs up +4 Thumbs down

  • From: Gardena, California
  • Registered: 2009-11-26
  • Posts: 1,598
  • User Karma: 484

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

EPISODE II
ATTACK OF THE CLONES

The Clone Wars have been raging for ten years, and they are nearing their end. With almost none of their cloning facilities remaining intact, and clones only having a lifespan of about ten years even when not being killed in battle, the Mando fleet is shrinking rapidly. It seems certain the battles will be over soon.

Obi-Wan and Anakin are both highly-decorated, respected Generals of the GAR, and so close that most people simply assume them to be brothers. Obi-Wan has continued training Anakin, and Anakin has flourished in his abilities with the Force, even succeeding in building his very own lightsaber.

But unbeknownst to Obi-Wan, Anakin’s abilities have in fact outpaced Obi-Wan’s ability to teach him. Anakin doesn’t want to hurt Obi-Wan by telling him this, as he loves Obi-Wan as a brother and mentor, but his powers are growing to the point where they are beginning to frighten him and he doesn’t know who he can turn to.

Anakin has also developed a relationship with now-Chancellor Palpatine. If Obi-Wan is a brother, Palpatine is a father.
Reliable intelligence brings to light that the Mandos are planning one last all-out assault on the planet of Alderaan, which is the planet that has developed some of the Republic’s most sophisticated weaponry. At first they think that it is simply to destroy the weapons manufacturing, perhaps as retribution for the destruction of the cloning facilities.

But then it is revealed that the Alderaanians are secretly developing some truly devastating hardware -- even, they hint, something capable of destroying entire planets. It becomes clear that the Mandos wish to steal this technology, and turn the tide of the war once again.

The Senate, manipulated by Palpatine, will not authorize the GAR to mobilize to the protection of Alderaan. They have managed to spread the Mandalorian fleet thin enough to make it manageable, and if their intelligence is faulty then concentrating forces so heavily on the wrong planet could have devastating effects. Nobody wants to risk being the planet that wasn’t protected when the Alderaan attack turns out to be a mere decoy. And besides, Alderaan has all those weapons. They can protect themselves.

Knowing that a Mandalorian coup of Alderaan would spell doom for the Republic, Obi-Wan takes it upon himself to go to the planet directly, putting Anakin in the uncomfortable position of having to decide where his loyalties lie. Ultimately, but not without hesitation, he sides with Obi-Wan and accompanies him to Alderaan.
After convincing the Alderaanian leaders that the danger to their planet is serious and real, Obi-Wan and Anakin split up. Anakin remains on Alderaan to help prepare them for the impending attack, as Obi-Wan goes to nearby planets and tries to convince them to exercise their rights as sovereign entities to pull their forces out of the GAR and give aid to Alderaan.

During his time on Alderaan, Anakin meets PADME, a soldier who at first is put off by his brash personality. But she warms to him, shows him the wondrous things her planet has to offer, the reasons she and her people will fight for it. And with the threat of annihilation looming over them, they fall in love.

Obi-Wan manages to get a mere half-dozen planets to give their fleets to Alderaan’s protection, and he mobilizes them around the planet as best he can.

And then the attack comes.

The battle is massive and devastating. The Mandalorians implement kamikaze tactics to break through the defenses and land a ground party -- one led by Darth Maul. Obi-Wan and Anakin engage him in BATTLE, but he has spent the last decade training, and is far more powerful than when Obi-Wan met him on Utapau. He takes on both of them, nearly killing Obi-Wan and rendering him unconscious.

In his fury, Anakin unleashes hell on Maul, beating him back in lightsaber combat and then hitting him with a Force blast so powerful it not only kills Maul, but brings down a building, killing hundreds of Mandalorians and Alderaanians alike. Overwhelmed with horror, Anakin flees the planet.

In the end, the Mandalorians are defeated, decisively ending the Clone Wars. But Alderaan has paid a heavy price. Their cities destroyed, their population decimated, the Alderaanian leadership (Bail Organa among them) declares that they will no longer produce weapons on Alderaan -- in fact, Alderaan is to become a peaceful planet, and shall have no weapons at all.

Though the Clone Wars have finally been brought to a close, Palpatine manages to put his spin on it to work the Senate into a froth over the “treasonous” actions of the Jedi (for coaxing armies out of the GAR), and of those planets which abandoned their commitment to the GAR in order to protect Alderaan.

Declaring that this war has been fought too hard and too long for the Republic to divide again now that it has ended, Palpatine declares martial law to bring what he labels the “Separatists” back in line. Several more planets withdraw their own armies in protest, but recognizing that Palpatine will be coming after them too, the excommunicated armies ally together to create a new unified fighting force, the Separatist Confederacy.

Anakin goes to Palpatine, to beseech him to see reason. But Palpatine reveals he not only knows about Anakin’s powers, he knows they have grown beyond Anakin’s control. Far from chastizing him, Palpatine encourages him to pursue that path to power.

Palpatine reveals that he is the mastermind behind the Clone Wars, he the Sith Master who shared cloning technology with the Mandalorians, believing that their goals -- vengeance against the Republic -- were compatible. He tells Anakin of the Sith, an ancient race who had learned to harness the power of the Dark Side of the Force, and how the Republic, driven by Jedi “propaganda,” led to the subjugation, slavery, and ultimate eradication of the noble Sith. But their knowledge, the “Sith Arts,” survived, passed from master to apprentice through the millennia, waiting for the time when those who had forced the Sith to kneel would themselves be forced to kneel before the power of the Dark Side.

And now that his apprentice Maul is dead, at Anakin’s hand no less, Palpatine must take a new apprentice...and he offers this to Anakin. He can teach Anakin things that Obi-Wan has never dared to imagine, and together they can rule the galaxy.

Anakin refuses to join him and attacks Palpatine. But Palpatine is far too powerful, using the Force to defeat Anakin without ever moving from his chair, and finally tossing Anakin out the window of his chamber.

Anakin survives, but he knows that Palpatine let him live. He returns to Alderaan, and he and Padme find comfort in each other.

Thumbs up +4 Thumbs down

  • From: Gardena, California
  • Registered: 2009-11-26
  • Posts: 1,598
  • User Karma: 484

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

EPISODE III
REVENGE OF THE SITH

The Separatists have been fighting to keep the sovereignty of their individual planets, while trying to negotiate a treaty with the Republic to re-enter the fold without need for any more bloodshed. But Palpatine is unwilling to accept anything but complete surrender, and fighting is inevitable as the corrupt Chancellor seeks to bring them under his thumb.

Padme, now Anakin’s wife, is pregnant, very near term, with their first child. Their son. Anakin is already madly in love with the child, so excited to have someone he can teach and care for. They have gone into hiding on Yithian, at the Jedi Temple, having taken asylum in exchange for Anakin providing the Council with the identity of the Sith Master, Palpatine. As a result, the Jedi have allied with the Separatists to bring Palpatine down. Padme is a leader in the Separatist movement, though she has scaled back her involvement as she’s come to term.

This has, of course, only fueled Palpatine’s ability to demonize both Jedi and Separatist alike as traitors to the Republic, and has created such a climate of fear and distrust that nobody speaks out against an anti-Jedi genocide taking place right out in the open, under the auspices of the Chancellor’s office. The Jedi are being systematically hunted and slaughtered by Palpatine’s new Sith Warrior, a shrouded figure whose name has become a talisman of fear: Darth Vader.

A former trainee at the Jedi Temple, Vader turned to the Dark Side and against his former friends. Obi-Wan having trained most frequently with the man who would become Vader, the Council conscripts him to protect a contingent of Jedi, in hiding on the volatile lava-planet of Mustafar, from the Sith Warrior and his team of bounty hunters.

Anakin does not want to accompany Obi-Wan on this adventure -- he wants to stay with his wife, be ready for the imminent arrival of his child. On top of this, he doesn’t trust the Jedi, and the Jedi have made it clear on many occasions that they do not trust him. They sense he is volatile, that there is darkness in him.

Obi-Wan insists that Anakin come along. He has relied on Anakin for over a decade now, would not have gotten through the Battle of Alderaan without Anakin at his side. But Anakin never told Obi-Wan what happened after Maul knocked him out, and being reminded of it only confuses his emotions even further. Obi-Wan pressures him into coming along, and Anakin very reluctantly agrees.

Upon arriving at Mustafar, Anakin and Obi-Wan confront Vader. But Palpatine appears on the scene and messes with Anakin’s head some more. Palpatine puts it to Anakin: isn’t he tired of having other people tell him what to do? How to live, how to think? He’s more powerful than any of them, shouldn’t he be the one making the rules, making his own decisions? Look what loyalty and servitude has gotten him -- he’s put himself where he doesn’t want to be when, light-years away, his wife and unborn child are in the hands of the very people who have kept him in line with their rules and dogma, through the guise of his “friend” Obi-Wan.

Horribly, everything he’s saying is the truth as Anakin sees it. His fear and anxiety boils over into rage and hatred, directed simultaneously at Vader and Obi-Wan. Palpatine tells him that he can only have one apprentice, only one person to teach the Sith Arts and the true path to power. For now it is Vader, but it could be him. All he has to do is kill them both and “take your place by my side.”

THE DUEL begins.

Obi-Wan tries to talk sense into Anakin in the midst of a three-way, all-out, knock-down drag-out fight. The saber battle to end all saber battles. The planet tears itself apart around them, both due to its already unstable nature and the furious Force-battle they wage in tandem with the lightsaber combat.

Vader is thrown into the lava and Anakin nearly falls, but Obi-Wan catches him, tries to save him. But Anakin is too far gone. He attacks Obi-Wan, and falls.

Devastated by grief over the loss of his friend, Obi-Wan returns to Padme to discover she has given birth not just to a son, but to twins, a boy and a girl. Fearful that Palpatine will come after Anakin’s children, Obi-Wan tells everyone who knows about the birth to spread the word that she had a miscarriage and the son died, and to not even mention the girl.

The girl is taken to Alderaan, into the protection of Padme’s close friend Bail Organa. The boy, Obi-Wan knows he must hide much further, where no one will look for him.

Meanwhile, a charred-beyond-recognition body is retrieved from the lava. The Suit goes on. The breathing starts.

“Who are you?” Palpatine asks the obsidian hulk.

“I am Darth Vader,” the figure responds.

Obi-Wan takes the boy child to the only place he can think will be safe, the only family the boy has left. He takes him to Tatooine, to his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Owen tries to refuse, but Beru -- who is unable to have children of her own -- will not let him. They will raise Luke as their own child.

Word reaches Obi-Wan that Padme has been captured by Vader in a siege on the Jedi Temple (which has also decimated the Council, scattering the few surviving Jedi into exile). He sets out to save her, but he arrives too late. Padme is brought before Palpatine and grilled for answers. Tortured. She refuses to give in. And so, to make an example of her, Palpatine kills her with Force lightning. Vader stands by, watching, and does nothing.

Obi-Wan witnesses this, and in his distress he sets off an alarm. A search begins. Obi-Wan is cornered in a hiding spot, tracked down by Vader. Vader knows he’s there, Obi-Wan knows he knows...but instead of revealing and capturing/killing him, Vader inexplicably leads the troopers away, telling them there is no one there. And Obi-Wan is able to escape.

On Alderaan, an astromech droid, designation R2-D2 (ARTOO), arrives at the Organa residence and is received by the family protocol droid, C-3PO (THREEPIO).

Artoo has a message from Padme Skywalker, to “Bail Organa and his daughter, Leia.” Threepio asks for the message, to relay it, but Artoo insists that it is to be delivered to Bail directly. When Threepio refuses to let him in without screening the message, Artoo simply barges in, wheeling his way into the house faster than Threepio can shuffle after him.

Bail thanks Threepio for his effort and accepts Artoo’s message. Padme’s message was recorded mere moments before her capture. She tells Bail that she does not expect to live through this, and she asks him to take care of Leia, to show her all the love that she will never be able to. She also gives Artoo to the Organas, to Threepio’s consternation.

To Leia, she sends her love and says goodbye. She looks as Leia will later remember her -- beautiful, but sad. The infant reaches out for her mother’s image, begins to cry when the message ends.

Obi-Wan returns to Tatooine, to watch over and protect young Luke as he grows. Owen, though, blames the entire rotten situation squarely on Obi-Wan, and tells Obi-Wan that he doesn’t want him filling the boy’s head with the same idealistic nonsense that got his father killed. Obi-Wan agrees to observe from a distance, and only from a distance, until the boy is old enough to make the decision for himself.

The Separatist movement fails and they are brought back under the jurisdiction (i.e. tyranny) of the Galactic Republic -- now rebranded the Galactic Empire, with Palpatine installing himself as the first -- and only -- Emperor. But though their sovereignty has been lost, the fight is just beginning, and the Separatists respond to Palpatine’s rebranding with one of their own:

They call themselves the Rebel Alliance.

Thumbs up +4 Thumbs down

  • Teague
  • Teague
  • Administrator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-11-07
  • Posts: 5,717
  • User Karma: 1,545

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

clap

Teague Chrystie

I have a tendency to fix your typos.

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • Lamer
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2012-05-07
  • Posts: 643
  • User Karma: 121

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/standing-ovation.gif

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: State of Idaho
  • Registered: 2010-12-08
  • Posts: 2,367
  • User Karma: 289

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Thank you, Dorkman, for posting these (again).

I know others get sick of debating, rehashing or fixing the prequels but I never tire of it.

God loves you!

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • Rob
  • Rob
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Chicago
  • Registered: 2013-03-18
  • Posts: 482
  • User Karma: 85

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

fireproof78 wrote:

I know others get sick of debating, rehashing or fixing the prequels but I never tire of it.

Same here. I love this shit.

Michael's version of Episode III is solid. The moment when Anakin "turns" rings truer. He is essentially radicalized in something more like the way people can get radicalized in real life: someone (Palpatine) gets to him at a crucial moment and provides just the right explanations. (As the gang pointed out in the Ep. III episode, George's Anakin is a grown-ass man who loses his shit over the fact that death exists. He's Darth Vader, and we can't even respect his intellect.)

@caravaggiorob

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Gardena, California
  • Registered: 2009-11-26
  • Posts: 1,598
  • User Karma: 484

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

I can see your point (and there's an argument to be made that it's still more Jedi-centric than it probably ought to be), though I do think it's worth pointing out that in both cases it's Anakin, and the fact he's too powerful for his own good -- especially when he's giving in to the dark side -- is a major element of the plot.

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Chicago-ish
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 741
  • User Karma: 149

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Seek for the Sword that was broken:
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger than Morgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
For Isildur's Bane shall waken,
And the Halfling forth shall stand.

[drive-by prophecy slam!!]

Last edited by drewjmore (2013-07-07 02:25:58)

(UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Indiana, USA
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 2,747
  • User Karma: 516

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Okay, seriously, just 50 Shades of Grey that shit, man. You've already changed all the events. Now just change the names and write it.


GALACTIC BATTLES SAGA
EPISODE ONE
THE SPECTRAL HAZARD

A mysterious fleet of ships carries out a campaign of attacks against planets on the Outer Rim of the Galactic Allegiance. They appear out of nowhere, decimate the planet and then vanish once more into the black. The Athan monk BROTHER TOBIN is drawn into the conflict, dispatched from the Athan Temple on the jungle planet Yithian to investigate the mystery.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Zarban's Website

Thumbs up +3 Thumbs down

  • From: Gardena, California
  • Registered: 2009-11-26
  • Posts: 1,598
  • User Karma: 484

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

yikes

...

neutral

...

I'm... totally going to do that.

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Indiana, USA
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 2,747
  • User Karma: 516

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Cool. Episode 1 needs Padme, tho. That makes the romance more gradual and provides 1 with a decent female role.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Zarban's Website

Thumbs up +3 Thumbs down

  • From: Gardena, California
  • Registered: 2009-11-26
  • Posts: 1,598
  • User Karma: 484

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Actually there's a straight epic fantasy story I've been wanting to write for a while, and while I've managed to do a good amount of worldbuilding I could never quite figure out a plot to get things started. So I'll probably just cannibalize these to get me rolling. Thanks for the inception, Zarban!

Last edited by Dorkman (2013-07-07 04:54:10)

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Bristol. Again.
  • Registered: 2010-06-17
  • Posts: 1,202
  • User Karma: 343

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Dorkman wrote:

Thanks for the inception, Zarban!

http://thebiscuit.org/blog/zarbception.gif

I couldn't sleep...

Extended Edition - 146 - The Rise Of Skywalker
VFX Reel | Twitter | IMDB | Blog

Faldor's Website

Thumbs up +6 Thumbs down

  • From: State of Idaho
  • Registered: 2010-12-08
  • Posts: 2,367
  • User Karma: 289

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Zarban wrote:

Okay, seriously, just 50 Shades of Grey that shit, man. You've already changed all the events. Now just change the names and write it.


GALACTIC BATTLES SAGA
EPISODE ONE
THE SPECTRAL HAZARD

A mysterious fleet of ships carries out a campaign of attacks against planets on the Outer Rim of the Galactic Allegiance. They appear out of nowhere, decimate the planet and then vanish once more into the black. The Athan monk BROTHER TOBIN is drawn into the conflict, dispatched from the Athan Temple on the jungle planet Yithian to investigate the mystery.

An interesting aspect of the Star Wars mythos is the changing of the story as Lucas created it. Obviously, the prequels suffered from lack of a cohesive story or any characters that we cared about.

Two things come to my mind as we consider something different. First, how do you create a story similar to SW without it being "STAR WARS?" I mean, lightsabers have become as icongraphic with SW as Darth Vader.

Secondly, I've read older SW materials that predate the PT and explain the fall of the Republic, Palpatine's rise, the Rebel Alliance back story, etc. I think the best descriptor I ever read of the Republic is to relate it to the fall of the Roman Empire. That moral corruption and decay had become the "coin of the realm" so to speak, and the Jedi become further removed due to corruption. Palpatine steps up because he was basically assumed to be naive and easily manipulated by the politicians without being too well known by the media. However, Palpatine played them and manipulated them back.

So, how much EU material that came before the PT is relevant to this discussion?

God loves you!

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Kent, England
  • Registered: 2010-02-09
  • Posts: 1,327
  • User Karma: 146

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

A fair amount of it, because in many cases you can chart a line between original trilogy materials and the EU. The authors that have played in George's backyard, so to speak, are nearly always running on the same assumptions that everyone else had about the backstory. They've seen the same movies, read the same novelisations, and tracked down the same earlier drafts of the scripts.

Part of what made the PT a disappointing experience is that Lucas decided to chuck almost everything out, and in its place introduced story elements that weren't fully reasoned; it's why we have such a disjointed saga.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • Registered: 2010-06-13
  • Posts: 135
  • User Karma: 31

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

One thing you guys talked about a lot is that one of the big problems with the prequels is that there is no Han Solo character. (Which I agree with) I'm not sure we are getting one in Dorkmans version here.

None the less, well done Dorkman. Sure would like to see these movies.

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Indiana, USA
  • Registered: 2009-11-23
  • Posts: 2,747
  • User Karma: 516

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

I think once you divorce Mike's story fom the Star Wars universe, especially if he intends to reframe it as fantasy instead of sci fi, other changes will follow organically. Obviously, Mike is free to base his empire on ancient Rome, but he's best off staying away from the SWEU otherwise.

And if it's fantasy, the sabers can be metal instead of plasma. Or the wizards can wield magic right out of their hands or something. Just don't use wands, obviously.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

Zarban's House of Commentaries

Zarban's Website

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • Registered: 2012-09-18
  • Posts: 87
  • User Karma: 41

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Hey, I enjoyed reading that!

Interesting that you made Beru Anakin's sister. I kind of liked the step-sibling relationship in George's prequels, myself. Made it easy to understand Owen's tense feelings towards Anakin.

Just out of curiosity, how old are you picturing Anakin to be in Episode 1?

Oh, and how the heck do these people have holographs, spaceships and laser swords but not ultrasounds?! I mean seriously.

This Is How You Story

Bathilda's Website

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • Marcus
  • Marcus
  • Got Lost Once In His Own Museum
  • Offline
  • From: Starkville, MS
  • Registered: 2012-04-17
  • Posts: 23
  • User Karma: 3

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

I'm completely astounded as to just how good these are.  It's not that I'm surprised that you can come up with stuff this good, Michael, it's just that it's amazing that you produced this on your own with no pay or giant studio behind you and yet what we ended up getting, which should have been amazing with all of the resources at Lucas's disposal, was crap.  But even with all things being equal, really well done, man.

I don't remember where this came from, but it seemed like way back when ESB came out, there was a rumor that the reason Dagobah was a swamp was because of an epic Force battle between Yoda and some dark Force weilder or other in the culling of the Jedi, and the cave that was strong with the Dark Side was perhaps where Yoda finally defeated and killed him.  Further, the reason Yoda lived on Dagobah was because the immensity of the Dark Side of the Force that remained masked his presence on the planet from Palpatine, who otherwise would be able to sense such a strong Force user.  No idea where I read that or otherwise came across it, but I seem to remember that was the theory behind the question as to why Yoda stayed on Dagobah and why Darth Vader never knew he was still alive.  Anyone else got a line on that or where that might have come from?  At any rate, it'd be neat to incorporate some sort of exploration into the reason for Yoda's situation in ESB into these rewrites.

But once again, really really well done.

@marcusvowell  -  facebook.com/marcusvowell

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Kent, England
  • Registered: 2010-02-09
  • Posts: 1,327
  • User Karma: 146

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

I think I read that in one of the EU novels, possibly one of Zahn's.

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. - Carl Sagan

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: Gardena, California
  • Registered: 2009-11-26
  • Posts: 1,598
  • User Karma: 484

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

I remember reading about his defeating a dark Jedi on Dagobah too. It was the "explanation" for why the Dark Side cave existed.

In my prequels you never see Yoda, just hear of him by reputation. Another surprise I would want to preserve for ESB.

Thanks for the compliments everyone! smile

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • From: State of Idaho
  • Registered: 2010-12-08
  • Posts: 2,367
  • User Karma: 289

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Zarban wrote:

I think once you divorce Mike's story fom the Star Wars universe, especially if he intends to reframe it as fantasy instead of sci fi, other changes will follow organically. Obviously, Mike is free to base his empire on ancient Rome, but he's best off staying away from the SWEU otherwise.

And if it's fantasy, the sabers can be metal instead of plasma. Or the wizards can wield magic right out of their hands or something. Just don't use wands, obviously.

Curiosity occurs to me with this thought.
If you divorce Mike's story from SW and craft his own, what would he call the Force or whatever magical abilities exist?

God loves you!

Thumbs up Thumbs down

  • Lamer
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2012-05-07
  • Posts: 643
  • User Karma: 121

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

fireproof78 wrote:

If you divorce Mike's story from SW and craft his own, what would he call the Force or whatever magical abilities exist?

Mojo

http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_movies_actors/film_images/Austin_Danger_Powers_Mike_Myers.jpg

Thumbs up +2 Thumbs down

25 Reply by Rob

  • Rob
  • Rob
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Chicago
  • Registered: 2013-03-18
  • Posts: 482
  • User Karma: 85

Re: The Alternate Star Wars Prequels

Lamer wrote:
fireproof78 wrote:

If you divorce Mike's story from SW and craft his own, what would he call the Force or whatever magical abilities exist?

Mojo

http://www.solarnavigator.net/films_movies_actors/film_images/Austin_Danger_Powers_Mike_Myers.jpg

Well now that might give a whole new meaning to the term "force choke."

[Rimshot]

@caravaggiorob

Thumbs up Thumbs down