To all the Star Wars fans!

[MagmaLord]

I just read an article about a recent interview with George Lucas.


"Essentially, Peter (Jackson, LoTR director) is making three three-hour movies out of one book," Lucas said. "And I'm making nine two-hour movies from one book."

Notice Lucas says "nine two-hour movies". Last I heard Lucas wasn't doing episodes 7-9, but I guess he is now!:D

[AtmaWeapon]

I don't care what Lucas says, Episode III is going to have to have so many chapters in it, I don't think there will any time for actual story, just plot point plot point plot point plot point.

[Starkist]

Lucasfilm made a statement about Lucas' comment, saying he had been misquoted.

[Beldaran]

Originally posted by AtmaWeapon
I don't care what Lucas says, Episode III is going to have to have so many chapters in it, I don't think there will any time for actual story, just plot point plot point plot point plot point.

So you are saying there will be so much plot that it won't have a story?

/me gives Atma the logic award


Seriously though, I don't think I understand what you are saying. What do you mean?

[Soaring Eagle]

If you watch the interview with George Lucas that Leonard Maltin did, he said that he would probably not be doing seven, eight, and nine. He implied that someone else might do it, though.
About Episode three, everyone knows where the story ends up, though. Anikin turns into Darth Vader, the twins are born, and the Republic crumbles. Palpatine takes over, the Jedi become scattered or destroyed and everything goes to hell pretty quick.

[plith]

Originally posted by Beldaran
Seriously though, I don't think I understand what you are saying. What do you mean?

I think it might be more that there would be too many characters and sub-plots or some such that there would be little effective coherence throughout the story. But that's just what I think it might have meant; I haven't even seen the second one yet.

[DarkDragon]

Yeah, I too have trouble imagining how the movie is going to cover all the ground leading up to New Hope; perhaps he is planning on cutting the story short a significant time before Episode 4?
I'm not overly concerned, though; quite frankly Episodes 1 and 2 were in my opinion a bit of a disappointment, lowering my expectations for 3.

[AtmaWeapon]

My point was that there is SO MUCH CRAP that HAS to happen in the movie, there is going to be no way to make it NOT look rushed. To me, "story" and "plot" are two different things.

Here's a plot:
Boy meets girl. They get married. They have children.

Here's a story:
Han Solo meets Princess Leia Organa in a twist of fate that places him on the frontline of a battle against the evil and powerful Empire. At first, they hate each other, but over the course of hardened battles she finds she likes his rugged style and devil-may-care attitude. After a frightening chain of events leaves Solo encased in a carbonite prison, Leia risks life and limb to save him. Together, they play an important part in the war against the Empire, and bring about the destruction of the once powerful government. ( I'd go further, but I'd be relying on fanfics rather than Lucas. I think perhaps you get the point.)

George Lucas spent too much time in Episode I on Pod Racing and not enough on story. I cared about Han Solo; after Episode I, Anakin Skywalker was no more significant to me than the bounty hunter robot IG-88 who only made one appearance in the entire series. I mean, he was just a kid with force abilities that wanted to bone Natalie Portman. Aside from the force abilities, how is he unique? Lucas simply wanted to try out his new toys and make pretty special effects, NOT create a carefully crafted and magnificent backstory to one of the best movie series of all time. Don't get me started on Jar Jar Binks. His only function, ONLY function in the entire movie, was to show that Lucas could have a fully rendered character on screen. Imagine Episode I without Jar Jar. Would it have been that different?

Episode II was a step in the right direction, but fell short of the mark. Storywise, the movie was great. It provided motivation for a lot of the characters in the movie. However, its primary problem is it ended too soon. Because Lucas was too busy ejaculating to his SGI stations for Episode I, Episode II had to cover a good portion of backstory that could have been handled in Episode I with some charming "growing up" scenes for Anakin. Instead, we're dropped right in the middle of events that only make sense if we make deductions based on Episode I.

Now let's see, for Episode IV to make any semblance of sense, the following things have to happen:
Anakin has to:
Impregnate Padme/Amidala.
Fall under Palpatine or Darth Sidious's eye. (I still think that perhaps Sidious isn't who we think it is.)
Turn entirely to the Dark Side.
Become Darth Vader.
Discover that Leia Organa and Alderaan have some information they shouldn't, and give chase.
Palpatine has to:
Overthrow ALL of the Old Republic.
Become/Expose himself as Lord of the Sith.
Establish the Empire.
Train Anakin as Darth Vader, his apprentice.
Kill ALL the Jedi, except Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.
Obi-Wan has to:
Figure out something's up with Anakin.
Figure out that not all's peachy on Coruscant.
Hide Anakin's children from him, then hide from the Jedi exterminators (whoever they may be) on Tatooine.
Luke Skywalker has to:
Be born, and possibly have some "growing up" scenes. It doesn't make sense to go straight from infant to adult, especially when you consider the roles Leia has to fill.
Leia Organa Skywalker has to:
Be born.
Be assimilated into Alderaanian society.
Grow up and possibly have something bad happen that makes her hate the Empire.
Join the Rebellion.
Steal information about the Death Star from the Empire.

Now, I personally don't see how Lucas can cover all that, PLUS provide the amout of story that was in Episode II. This is not even counting that it would be nice to see more of Boba Fett and Han Solo, perhaps some new information about them. Instead, what we're going to get is the smallest amount of time Lucas can spend on each plot point. Along with that, he'll probably worm Natalie Portman in Leia's slave girl outfit somewhere in the movie, I mean, did anyone else notice that Lucas seemed to enjoy her assets a little too much?

I'm sorry I didn't explain myself in great detail, Beldaran. You see, sometimes I assume that others can understand my thoughts and ideas without me having to explain them in full. I did not realize that my statement went so far over your head to make you have to reveal yourself as the king of logic. I'm sure if this were a pissing contest, or if your opinions had any bearing whatsoever on my life, you would have won, sir.

There is an exercise called thinking. Sometimes my posts require a little bit of that to fully understand my points.

Besides, we all know that Episode III: Padme Bears All will simply be a 2-hour striptease in which Natalie Portman wears smaller and smaller outfits until the eventual end when she dies right before her bra and panties are removed. Sorry to spoil it for you. But the nude scenes will be on the Super Hyper Platinum 6th release Star Wars Trilogy Tournament Championship Edition. Only $449.95, which is a deal considering the Super Hyper Gold 5th release Star Wars Trilogy Tournament Edition was $448.95. You can afford them BOTH!

[Starkist]

The story in the prequels is a lot more complex than the story in the originals. Episode IV for example. Luke, Han, and Leia must escape from the Death Star with the plans to the Rebel Base. That is not exactly anything too complex is it?

[AtmaWeapon]

Oh, but you're totally ignoring the entire love story between Han and Leia. They are two souls that should hate each other with a passion but instead feel some attraction, which is slightly visible in Episode IV.

Besides, when you compare Episode I to Episode IV, you'll find that they are both pretty much devoid of complicated plots. I mean, take a look at Episode I:

Naboo is being attacked. The Queen escapes, but they crash on a desert planet. A slave wins a race to help them escape. No one will help them, so Queen returns. Queen's army wins.

You can break any movie into a simple plot. What's important is the story. Plus, you have to look at the first (second?) trilogy as a whole. There's plenty of stuff that makes more sense in Episode IV after you watch Episode VI. Why did Greedo want to kill Han? It only makes sense after you see Jabba. How did Darth Vader, Leia, and Luke all end up with fates so intertwined? We discover that they are father, son, and daughter. However, I'm not seeing much of that going on in the newer trilogy. I can't make much of a case now, because the third movie isn't out, but watch. I bet there will be less a reason to watch The Phantom Menace after Episode III than there is to watch A New Hope after Return of the Jedi.

[deathbyhokie]

i don't think they're gonna do luke and leia's birth in 3. i think it occurs in between the movies. and atma, i'm curious about this theory you have with darth sidious. could you explain?

[AtmaWeapon]

Once again, I'll explain what I tried to imply.

SPOILERS
Darth Sidious is OBVIOUSLY Palpatine. I don't like the idea that I've been right about that since Episode I: "Look What I can do with a Computer!" I feel that Lucas is saving a trick where Darth Sidious turns out to be someone else, but Palpatine kills him and becomes the Sith Lord.

[Ich]

I think that ending a movie by having Darth chasing down Leia with some stolen plans is a sucky ending, so there is probably going to be at least some gap between the movies.

[Breaker]

Originally posted by AtmaWeapon
Once again, I'll explain what I tried to imply.

SPOILERS
Darth Sidious is OBVIOUSLY Palpatine. I don't like the idea that I've been right about that since Episode I: "Look What I can do with a Computer!" I feel that Lucas is saving a trick where Darth Sidious turns out to be someone else, but Palpatine kills him and becomes the Sith Lord.

I've always believed from the beginning that Darth Sidious was Palpatine's clone, and sooner or later Sidious kills the original (Palpatine) and takes his place as both Sith Lord and old bastard.

[Starkist]

Palpatine and Sidious are the same person. No question. Period. I mean, Sidious talks to Maul in Ep1 on the balcony outside Palpatine's apartment for crying out loud. When Gunray asks if the Naboo invasion is lega, Sidious says he will make it legal. This makes sense if you know that Sidious is actually a disguised Senator, from Naboo no less.

[deathbyhokie]

he's from naboo so he could get the sympathy votes to become supreme chancellor. that's whe reason the trade federation attacked his home world

[Axel]

frankly I think ep. III's only going to go this far:

Palpatine:
bomb Jedi council
declare himself emperor (he already has supreme power because of the "emergency")
Jedi:
sit in building
bomb goes off
die.
Yoda:
run, run away and never return
Anakin:
impregnate Padme
fall under Palpatine's guidance (in ep. II we see that he's already taking advice)
change name to Darth Vader
Obi Wan:
discover Anakin's true loyalties
duel with Vader, cripling him
Luke and Leia:
sit in womb
Han Solo:
nada
Boba Fett:
train with any and every weapon he can get.