DuracellEnergizer

TITLE CARD: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ...

A vast sea of stars serves as the main backdrop for the main title, followed by a rollup, which crawls up into infinity.

STAR WARS

THE NEW DAWN

It is Year 14 in the reign of Emperor Cos Dashit. Cast into the flames of war, the inefficient Galactic Republic is no more; in its place now stands the Galactic Empire, a far more formidable power for a far less certain time.

In spite of the opposition provided by this new regime, nefarious forces continue to ravage the Known Regions of the galaxy. Members of the Mandalorian Death Watch -- a fanatical branch of the enemy defeated in the First Clone War -- have been making seemingly random attacks upon unescorted ships and backwater planets along the Outer Rim, taking only a select few of those they encounter back to their dungeon ships for destinations unknown while putting the rest to the sword.

In the wake of these attacks, the Jedi of Coruscant have assigned one of their knights to investigate and, in doing so, uncover the underlying plan of the Mandalorians ...

PAN UP

To reveal the underside of the water world codenamed KMN-0, its oceans alive with a preternatural cyan glow.

Suddenly, the Radiant VII -- a Consular-class space cruiser -- comes streaking past at high velocity, its trajectory taking it beneath the hulking blue ocean planet. Behind it, hot on its heels, is a pair of Jehavey'ir-class assault ships. The twin ships fire upon the smaller Imperial craft, unleashing a torrent of intense yellow turbolaser fire. The Radiant VII reciprocates, firing green turbolaser blasts at the Mandalorians.

INT. RADIANT VII - COCKPIT

CAPTAIN MAOI MADAKOR and LIEUTENANT ANTIDAR WILLIAMS, the two crewmembers of the Radiant VII currently manning the cockpit, struggle to simultaneously fend off the attacking assault ships while trying to coax more speed from the small ship's engines.

CAPT. MADAKOR: I can feel them breathing up my skirt, Lieutenant. Can't you coax more speed out of the engines?

LT. WILLIAMS: The sublights are burning at maximum capacity, Captain. If I had some time on my hands, I could probably bypass the safety protocols and give us enough of a boost to evade the assault ships long enough to make the jump to hyperspace, but it's time we don't have.

CAPT. MADAKOR: How long 'til we can make the jump?

LT. WILLIAMS: The navicomp will have the coordinates ready in five minutes.

EXT. SPACE - KMN-0

The Radiant VII's green turbolaser fire strikes each of the assault ships, but each blast is effortlessly repelled by the larger crafts' deflector shields without leaving the slightest damage. Moving in like foreboding birds of prey, the Mandalorian ships unleash salvoes of yellow turbolaser fire upon the space cruiser. The energy bolts hit the cruiser's engines, obliterating one of the engines completely while instantly crippling the other.

INT. RADIANT VII/COCKPIT

The Radiant VII rattles violently, throwing the captain and the lieutenant forward in their seats.

INT. RADIANT VII/SALON POD

The interior of the salon pod is spacious, furnished with glamourous accoutrements. Inhabiting the pod, standing at the far end, is a tall NEAR-HUMAN WOMAN in voluminous crimson robes, six human women in close-fitting black uniforms, and a BLUE ASTROMECH 'DROID. Though each of the six black-garbed women are attractive in their own right, the beauty of the near-human woman -- with her long green-white hair, glittering porcelain-white skin, and glowing green-gold eyes -- puts theirs to complete shame.

When the reverberations of the blast hits the pod, both the human women and the 'droid rock on their foundations, threatening to topple over. The unearthly beautiful woman in red, however, her eyes closed and her hands clasped tightly around the chain of a crystal medallion in prayer, remains perfectly still, unaffected by the turbulent vibrations.

EXT. RADIANT VII - SPACE

With the Radiant VII dead in the water, one of the assault ships easily slides up alongside the star cruiser. Like an insectile proboscis, a mechanized airlock extends out from the assault ship and clamps down on the outer hull of the cruiser.

INT. RADIANT VII/SALON POD

Hearing the groans and feeling the shudders of the ship as it is forcibly joined with the assault ship, the human women look up towards the ceiling of the pod, gazing about as if in search of the source of the invading phenomena. The near-human woman -- the beautiful priestess -- brings her prayer to a close, securing the medallion around her neck.

PRIESTESS: (in an alien language, subtitled) It's beginning ...

One of the six human women -- a handsome woman with broad shoulders -- takes a step away from her compatriots, approaching the priestess. This woman is Ziyal D'ukat, a Mistryl Shadow Guard and the Team Prime of the other five black-garbed women.

ZIYAL: (subtitled) We can't save you from the Mandalorians. There are only six of us and an entire crew of them.

PRIESTESS: (subtitled) You've done what you can. Consider our bargain complete.

ZIYAL: (subtitled) I have no wish to see them take you. Why don't you escape while there's still time?

PRIESTESS: (turns to Ziyal) (subtitled) Where will I go? (waves her arm toward the planet sitting out beyond the pod's viewport) The planet out there is a world of empty oceans, and we're light-years away from any inhabited system. (beat) There is nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide.

ZIYAL: (subtitled) To be taken by warriors of the Death Watch --

PRIESTESS: (subtitled) I have looked into a myriad of possible futures ... (places a hand atop the astromech's dome-like head) this is the only course of action left open to me.

Realizing that she cannot deter the priestess from her decision, the Shadow Guard chooses to end the conversation.

PRIESTESS: (subtitled) Artoo, begin recording ...

INT. RADIANT VII/COCKPIT

Madakor and Williams, having regained their senses, are busy undoing the restraints of their seats when a loud hissing sound begins pouring through the sealed doors leading into the cockpit.

CAPT. MADAKOR: (twists her seat around and leaps to her feet) They're coming through! Get ready --

Before she can finish her order, the cockpit doors disappear with a terrific explosion, the walls of the cockpit lighting up with bright yellow light and the air filling with acrid black smoke. As the two officers clear their blasters from their holsters, dozens of Mandalorian warriors -- each clad in the silver-and-blue armour and blue-and-gray robes of the Death Watch -- come pouring in, cutting them down instantly with a hail of yellow blasterfire.

INT. RADIANT VII/UPPER DECK

Dropping in through a hole cut in the hull above, dozens upon dozens of Mandalorian Death Watchmen invade the small cruiser. Spreading out into all available areas of the ship, they cut down all crew members they come across with their blasters and swords.

INT. RADIANT VII/'DROID HOLD

Inside the small, dark, cramped 'droid hold, a number of 'droids lay strewn about its confines, all either deactivated or in low-power modes. As the door to the hold slides abruptly open, casting bright light into its interior, one of these 'droids -- a GOLDEN PROTOCOL 'DROID -- immediately comes to life.

C-3PO: (erratic) Oh, my! Oh, goodness!

The golden 'droid rises to his feet, turning towards the humanoid silhouette filling the open doorway.

C-3PO: Oh, dear me -- it isn't Donic Day already, is it?

The owner of the silhouette steps inside; it is a Mandalorian warrior, a blaster rifle in his hands.

C-3PO: No, wait --!

The Mandalorian levels his blaster at Threepio and presses the trigger. A bolt of yellow energy lances out, hits the 'droid's shoulder plating, then ricochet's back, hitting the Mandalorian square in the face and knocking him back and off his feet.

Cautiously, Threepio takes a few steps toward the fallen warrior. Looking him over, he comes to the conclusion that the Mandalorian is stone dead.

C-3PO: This is no life for a protocol 'droid. I deserve far better than this.

Stepping past the dead Mandalorian, Threepio leaves the 'droid hold for the corridor beyond, eyes on the lookout for more Mandalorians.

INT. RADIANT VII/SALON POD

The priestess stands before Artoo, reciting her message. Suddenly, loud banging noises begin to reverberate through the pod doors. The Mistryl Shadow Guards turn toward the source of the sounds, growing tense with anticipation as they unsheathe their vibroswords.

ZIYAL: (to the priestess) (subtitled) They are coming through!

Finishing her message, the priestess places a hand on Artoo, and he stops recording.

With a terrible squeal of grinding metal, the doors of the salon pod are forced open. Leaping forward, the six Mistryls engage the first Mandalorians to step through, the vibrating blades of their technological swords clashing against the primitive blades of the helmeted warriors. One of Mistryls gains immediate advantage over her Mandalorian sparring partner, knocking the blade of his sword away and delivering a blow which cuts through his neck and the chain of a platinum medallion surrounding it, nearly decapitating the warrior. Her victory is short lived, however, when another Mandalorian manages to evade her defenses and thrusts the point of his sword into her side, fatally running her through.

Turning away from Artoo, the priestess can do nothing but look on with horror as the Death Watchmen quickly begin to overwhelm the formidable Shadow Guards, cutting them down with full brutality and no mercy.

INT. RADIANT VII/CORRIDOR

See-Threepio makes his way along the corridor, eyeing the twisted bodies of the slaughtered crew members strewn about.

INT. RADIANT VII/SALON POD

The priestess sits against the far wall of the pod, trembling in a ball under the transparisteel viewport, weeping with fear and disgust as Artoo stands beside her, trying to provide consolation the best he can. Ten Mandalorian Death Watchmen stand inside the pod, the bloody corpses of the Mistryl women and their slain dead underfoot, their hidden eyes focused on the beautiful priestess cowering before them.

MANDALORIAN AIDE: The Force Hound approaches!

Snapping to attention, the Mandalorian warriors spread out, clearing the way for two other Mandalorians as they step inside the pod. While the first Mandalorian to enter is just another average Death Watchman, the SECOND is distinguished by the aquamarine robe he wears over his armour along with the trident symbol emblazoned over the visor of his helmet. He regards first the other Mandalorians, then the dead, before walking over to the priestess.

PRIESTESS: (looks up at the Mandalorian, her face twisted with hatred) (subtitled) Butcher! Murderer!

FORCE HOUND: (in the alien language, subtitled) I'm sorry, but it was an unfortunate necessity.

PRIESTESS: (enraged) (subtitled) This was a necessity?! (beat) They were civilian crew members -- they didn't have a chance against you! You could have spared them!

FORCE HOUND: (subtitled) I know you cannot understand. Someday, perhaps, you will. (reaching a hand out to her) It is time to come with us.

Her face still contorted with hate, the priestess seizes the Mandalorian's hand in a hard grip. Fearing an attack, the other Mandalorians ready their weapons.

FORCE HOUND: (to the other Mandalorians) Sheathe your blades -- she won't harm me.

As the Force Hound pulls the priestess to her feet, Threepio steps into the open doorway.

C-3PO: (in the alien language, subtitled) Mistress, I --

Alerted to his presence, the Mandalorians spin around to face him.

C-3PO: Perhaps this isn't --

Before the golden 'droid can finish his statement, one of the Mandalorians steps forward, ramming the blade of his sword through Threepio's mechanical torso. Pulling the protocol 'droid in through the doorway, the Mandalorian twists the blade then forces it upward, cutting out and through Threepio's shoulder.

Uttering a senseless litany made up of a combination of astromech mechanical language and Huttese, See-Threepio collapses to the deck, twitching violently as his wounds flash with electricity.

FORCE HOUND: (bemused) It was just a protocol 'droid, you fools.

Without any further words, the Force Hound steps forward, dragging the priestess behind him as he leaves for the open doorway. As he steps out, the other Mandalorians gather their dead then follow after him, leaving Artoo alone with the bodies of the slain Mistryls and the damaged form of See-Threepio.

EXT. SPACE - KMN-0

Disengaging and retracting its extendible airlock, the Mandalorian assault ship releases the Radiant VII. As the small Consular-class cruiser drifts away, the engines both of the assault ship and its counterpart blaze to life, and they rocket forward, casting its large shadows upon the derelict ship as they cruise over it. Before them, waiting in the distance for them like a stern parent, is the looming form of a Lictor-class dungeon ship.

Passing beyond the Radiant VII, a turbolaser cannon on one of the Jehavey'irs comes alive and swivels into position, opening fire upon the small ship. A single bolt of turbolaser fire hits the cruiser, blowing it apart into three separate pieces.

After the assault ships have rendezvoused with the dungeon ship and together made the jump into hyperspace, the remains of the Radiant VII begin falling into KMN-0's gravity well. Entering the atmosphere, the fragments begin to glow with intense white hot heat.

After some few years, I've finally started upon a new re-write for the PT.

Unlike my first attempt at a re-write (More like a third, actually, but that's a rather long and complicated story that I'm not going to get into here.), this is going to be pretty much be an entirely original story, with little to nothing taken from The Phantom Menace. There will be no Naboo, no Amidala, no Gungans, no Neimoidians, no Maul -- nothing of the sort. 

With my previous re-write, I tried to make it 100% compatible with the pre-PT EU; I won't be doing that this time around. There will still be references and shout-outs to the EU, though.

I won't be using episode numbers because -- well -- I've grown to dislike them (If I were to make my own personal fanedits of the OT, I'd remove them entirely.).

It should also be noted that Obi-Wan will be the main character, not Anakin.  

The timeframe is 40 BBY -- or 14 ED (Empire Date), according to the in-universe calendar of the era -- and we are fourteen years into the Third Clone War ...

Truth be told, I didn't like Thor very much.

I guess that's due to the writing more than the directing, though.

Wait, VCRs are still made today?

I guess I should reiterate how I rate films.

Since September, I've taken to evaluating the movies I watch by two seperate criteria: the overall quality of the movie, and the overall entertainment I get out of it. Therefore, I use two seperate ratings for any given movie

One possible 5/5 rating for quality

One possible 5/5 rating for entertainability

So, for example, if I find a movie only moderately entertaining, it gets 3/5 for overall entertainability. At the same time, though, if I think the movie was made very well in spite of its lack of entertainability, I'll give it a 4 or a 5/5 for overall quality. Combining the two ratings, I end up with a 7 or an 8/10.

In the case of all the movies I've been rating 7/10, I've rated them that way because I found them very well made if not particularily entertaining, or vice-versa.   

I loathe censored versions of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts. The censored version of Hillbilly Hare is particularily loathesome in how the story's been completely butchered to remove violence only 17th century Puritans would find offensive.

Then he would have been played by Mel Brooks ;-)

Mrebo said:

I've made the point before, but it's simply weak phrasing to say "in my opinion" or "I think," when expressing an opinion. It's useful if one really needs to make clear something is opinion or to express doubt about one's position on something (I think his car is blue), but in general it's an unnecessary disclaimer, I think. See how silly that is!

I think it's helpful in clarifying that the person giving the opinion recognizes that it's an opinion, and not an objective fact. After all, it's no fun giving a POV on something only for another person reading it to jump to the conclusion that you're a conceited blowhard.

imperialscum said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

TOR just followed it by simply saying that there were more humans in the Empire (workers, soldiers) than Sith and that the Sith genes were eventually outweighed, therefore majority of imperial look human at that time. So essentially all the imperial humans still have a percentage of Sith genes.

In other words, they're watering down what was once a unique take on the Sith in order to mesh it with the prequels because the prequels are just oh-so-good and everything has to reflect it.

Yuck.

Why prequels?

Because the concept that almost all Sith wear black, use only red lightsabers, have pale skin, have yellow eyes, have facial tattoos, and go around with "Darth" as a part of their names is a PT invention.

imperialscum said:

Although not said on screen, Vader and Palpatine were Sith in OT... long before the prequels came out.

Vader was a Sith, but Palpatine wasn't never identified as a Sith -- not in the movies, not in novelizations, nowhere. Even in the early EU, he wasn't characterized as a Sith.

All he ever was shown to be was a powerful darksider who managed to place Vader under his control.

imperialscum said:

Then TOTJ made a story where Sith became red skinned aliens. Someone had to connect the dots then. TOR did it pretty well.

The various comics and sourcebooks had already established that following the Great Hyperspace War, the Sith Empire rapidly fell apart and their race eventually died out. Their dark arts survived, though, in numerous tomes and talismans (and with the spirits of long-dead Sith Lords), and those eventually found their ways into the hands of fallen Dark Jedi like Freedon Nadd, who continued the Sith traditions by passing their knowledge down to their descendants and followers.

TOR's "connection of the dots" is pure prequelization, plain and simple.

 

DuracellEnergizer said:

As for Empire having many species, that is just wrong. TOR portrays the Empire extremely anti-alien (Sith are not counted as aliens of course).

Well, I was going off of this picture.

And she's a Zabrak, not a human or Sith (as an aside, I have to say I love the purple lightsaber).

That is a promotional material. If you played the game you would quickly get the proper feel. Though the game allows to pick non-human and non-sith, it is purely to satisfy the players who demand customisation. It does not serve the story at all (maybe for Inquisitor storyline a little, but it pretty much opposes Warrior and Agent).

So I guess the purple lightsaber isn't a real part of the story, either. Pity.

Since when is a 7 out of 10 mediocre?

The last book I finished reading was an abridged copy of Don Quixote. It was going good until Dorothea became a pushover and took Fernando back; that killed the book for me.

Maybe the unabridged version makes it easier to swallow. *shrug*

The book I'm currently reading is The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor. Too many stories drag, though, and many of the endings are too abrupt.

The Elephant Man (1980) - 7/10

Jason and the Argonauts (1963) - 7/10

Taste of Fear (1961) - 7/10

13 Ghosts (1960) - 6/10

Prior to the Spring of 2004, I'd never heard of LaserDiscs. Then I read a crumbling old Rolling Stone magazine from the early 80's with an article touting all the technology's virtues.

I've still never seen one in person, though.

RicOlie_2 said:

What I mean is that a primary mover of some kind seems necessary to initiate things like the Big Bang. Specifically a mover who is by his/her/its very nature omniscient, omnipotent, and existing not as a thing but rather just "being" if that makes any sense (I find it a difficult concept to explain).

That sounds similar to what the theologian Paul Tillich had to say about God's existence.

Anchorhead said:

All kidding aside (and you may not have been), but for the life of me I cannot, nor have I ever been able to, figure out the attraction to this character. Cool looking when he isn't speaking, mysterious, and plays a somewhat minor role in the second film.

 Are you saying Jason Wingreen's voice sucked?!

huzzah

imperialscum said:

I don't see why people argue about CGI/models? CGI and lack of real sets have nothing to do with prequels being bad. It is the enjoyable characters, lame story and bad dialogue.

It comes down to taste. Prior to the early 00's, most of the movies I was exposed to were made before the proliferation of CG, and as such, I was accustomed to movies made with physical effects. When CGI took over, Hollywood films turned horrendously alien, and the more of them I saw -- with their lousy characters and weak plots -- the more unpalatable CGI became.  

Outside of fully animated films like the ones made by Pixar, I utterly loathe CGI, and am completely opposed to the heavy use of it in live-action films.

I play Star Wars video games that are pure CGI and yet they are far more enjoyable than prequels.

Video games, by their very nature, have to be CG. Films, on the other hand, don't, as all the movies made before the proliferation of CGI prove.

There is nothing wrong with CGI.

Again, it comes down to taste. I'll take stop-motion animation, puppets, models, and animatronics over it any day of the week.

imperialscum said:

I am not an expert of pre-KOTOR EU but I am pretty sure you are wrong about Sith being biologically pure Sith at the time of Naga Sadow. Sadow was a mix between original Sith and human... as almost all other Sith at that time. I am not sure about this again, but the EU story goes that some exiled Jedi mingled with them thousands of years before.

Yes, you're right -- the Sith of the Sith Empire weren't all pure Sith. I was generalizing, though, as most of the lower-ranking Sith appeared to be pure Sith with only the Lords showing any mixed heritage, and even then, Naga Sadow is the only one who really has any human features.

TOR just followed it by simply saying that there were more humans in the Empire (workers, soldiers) than Sith and that the Sith genes were eventually outweighed, therefore majority of imperial look human at that time. So essentially all the imperial humans still have a percentage of Sith genes.

In other words, they're watering down what was once a unique take on the Sith in order to mesh it with the prequels because the prequels are just oh-so-good and everything has to reflect it.

Yuck.

As for Empire having many species, that is just wrong. TOR portrays the Empire extremely anti-alien (Sith are not counted as aliens of course).

Well, I was going off of this picture.

And she's a Zabrak, not a human or Sith (as an aside, I have to say I love the purple lightsaber).

Btw have you seen this Galactic History from the SWTOR website? If not you may go through them and see how they connected everything.

I gave up caring about the modern EU and its plethora of stupid "square peg through a round hole" retcons years ago.

TheBoost said:

Many atheists would disagree strongly with this:

Nothing in an atheistic cosmology ultimately matters in the end.

 

You said that I was pigeonholing atheists and telling them what it was they believed in; giving my own opinion on atheistic cosmology doesn't mean that I think atheists share that opinion.

TheBoost said:

as well as any religion that doesn't believe in an afterlife.

Of course they would.

Perhaps I should have made it clear that I'm aware that not all religions believe in the existence of an afterlife, that the existence of a god/higher power doesn't necessarily mean that life has any meaning, and found a way to incorporate it all into my central argument. 

TheBoost said:

You're not only pigeonholing atheists, but you're having the presumption and gall to tell them what they believe. 

In what way am I pigeonholing atheists or telling them what they believe?

OBI-WAN37 deserves no less.

imperialscum said:

darklordoftech said:

The TOR Sith, their Emperor, and their Empire. They undermine the movies, TOTJ, and even KOTOR.

 In what way?

The question is for Sith and Empire, not for the Emperor btw.

Though I haven't played the game, I can immediately recognize how TOR undermines TOTJ just by looking at screencaps and reading various synopses across the 'Net.

The Sith Empire in the game is supposed to be a reinvigorated remnant of the Sith Empire that appears in The Golden Age of the Sith and Fall of the Sith Empire storylines. The Sith in those stories, though, were biological Sith -- with red skin, pointed chins, simian facial features, etc. -- and weilded crystalline swords. But the Sith in TOR are just like the Sith depicted in post-PT storylines -- belonging to many different species, weilding red lightsabers, using the "Darth" title, etc, etc.

One's left wondering why the creators of TOR even bothered to tie their Sith directly to the Sith of the old Sith Empire if they weren't even going to adhere to how those Sith were originally depicted. 

Ryan McAvoy said:

 I did wonder if The Strokes were aware of that scene when they designed the album cover, I'd guess they were and that was the joke... afterall who hasn't seen that film?

Since I don't get the reference, I obviously haven't.

skyjedi2005 said:

Also if i am not mistaken Zahn, Veitch and Anderson tried to have some kind of overlapping continuity if not successful in execution they had the idea for the stories to intersect.

From what I read, the Thrawn Trilogy was supposed to take place after Dark Empire and have a bunch of references to that storyline. Zahn refused, though, so the chronological order was flipped around and no references to Dark Empire ever showed up in his trilogy.

OBI-WAN37 said:

I'm a little sick of everyone bashing the prequel trilogy. They are utterly mind-blowingly fantastic films. And no, I'm not joking.

They're a fantastic trilogy and tragedy (I'm not misspelling any words).

The way Palpatine manipulates anakin is excellent, and there's so many awesome action sequences. You get to see the Jedi in their prime,

and for those who say the prequels had too much CGI, check this thread, which proves there isn't really too much CGI in the prequel trilogy, except for maybe the clones: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/p...-etc.50017310/.

And yes, the story was great, because anakin turning to the dark side is truly moving, and the way Palpatine manipulates anakin into doing so is so cool, especially in episode III when you're just watching and thinking, "no, don't turn to the dark side", but then he does and the effect, regardless of how obvious it is that it was going to happen, is amazing.

And the climatic duel on mustafar! Fantastic. They even incorporated a real erupting volcano into that scene!

As awesome as the original trilogy is, I think the prequels surpass episodes IV-VI.

I look forward to episode VII not so much because I want the film to live up to the originals, as fantastic as they are, but because I want it to live up to the prequels.

What do you think about prequel bashing?