Star Wars prequels were mapped out in 1981, only nothing like the way they turned out — Page 6

darklordoftech said:

The Lucas-Kasdan conversation says that not only do you not need midichlorians to use The Force, you don't even need a master to teach you how to use it! This truly means that anyone can use The Force.

I remember back in the PT heyday when SuperShadow's site and Midi-chlorians were big deals. I remember one of the articles on his website gave the supposed Midi-chlorian counts of all of the main characters, and while I knew all of his "info" was bunk and that Midi-chlorians were a stupid device, it made me consider for the first time that the Force might be a power that could be used by anyone.

I didn't really like that idea then, and I don't really like it now... I feel like it devalues the Jedi if just anyone can be trained to use the Force. Han is clearly an uncanny pilot (I'd put him on the same level as Luke, maybe even higher) and an obvious non-believer in the original Star Wars, but then he meets up with Luke and Obi-Wan and begins to realize that the Force is real, why wouldn't he start to think that maybe his talents are Force-granted and seek training from Luke?

I think that, for the Force to make its impact, it needs people who can use  it and people who can't. It loses its uniqueness if any nerd like Greedo could be trained to use it; plus it devalues characters like Han or Boba Fett, who are just as talented as Jedi, and can ostensibly hold their own against them.

^ & ^^ Hmm interesting. I hadn't considered the way the force works when squared against Palpatine's end game, before.

If they Jedi inherit their powers through the bloodline, then wiping them out would be key as they could never return.

If anybody can be a Jedi providing they are taught/learn about the force then this is also a good reason to wipe them out. But you'd also need to erase them from existence and from all knowledge.

The fact that Han barely remembers the Jedi in ANH, suggests that Palpatine commited a cultural, as well as a literal genocide of the Jedi, leaning towards the second interpretation. But then Palpatine is affraid of Luke's inherited powers in ESB and ROTJ, suggesting the first.

I'd go with both. Anybody can be taught the force but some are more naturally gifted with it.

Were any drafts ever written with these plans?

Bingowings said:

The Jedi were meant to be like warrior monks from the East.

Orientalism ascribes the East with a magic cauldron of exotic human abilities (Yoga, martial arts, sorcery, immortality etc). The idea being that while the Tibetans, the Chinese, the Japanese etc were human beings like us. their culture contained disciplines we never developed or forgot.

It was a trope of 19th and early 20th Century fiction that a Westerner would visit some far flung school in the East and come home with exotic abilities.

So no it doesn't weaken the Jedi if anyone could learn their disciplines.

It strengthens Palpatine's desire to wipe their teachings and teachers out...all of them.

While I understand your angle, I really must disagree that making it so that any Tom, Dick, or Harry could have stepped up and been the next Luke Skywalker is a good thing.

If having the ability to be taught to use the Force is innate in all denizens of the galaxy, why wait for Luke to come of age? Why not train someone with obvious talents (like Han)? If the death of Vader and the Emperor was the ultimate goal, then someone who was emotionally disconnected from Vader would have been a better choice. In fact, why leave it up to one man? Why not train several well-chosen people to fight the Empire?

I also feel like comparing the Force to yoga or a martial art is pretty silly, honestly. The Force is a supernatural thing, which is not exactly the same as stretching a certain way, or even learning how to fight; and while the Force and these real-world practises do both have a few things in common, learning how to break a board is not quite the same as learning to use their mind to help block a blaster bolt with a blade made of energy, and I feel like making it so that just anyone off the street could be trained to telekinetically pull a starship out of a swamp like we can learn how to do a downward dog really devalues that amazing ability and the power of the scene that showcases it.

Tobar said:

Even with Lucas' anyone can learn the Force thing he still sticks to the idea that some people are inherently stronger in their connection to it than others:

The Skywalker line is very strong with the Force, so Ben says, “I think we should protect the kids, because they may be able to help us right the wrong that your husband has created in the universe.”

So while you could train others, they still wouldn't be a match for those that are naturally more attuned to it like the Emperor and Vader.

Which then makes the idea of anyone being able to learn it stupid because that's like saying "anyone can learn karate, but they have to stop at the brown belt, no matter how dedicated they are or how much they practise, because they don't have a strong enough connection to their chi" or whatever.

I just think it's a really dumb idea that either devalues the Force and characters connected to it, or it devalues itself as an idea.

Came to this through the index thread.

"Lucas: Well, he is a teacher, not a real Jedi. Understand that?

Kasdan: I understand what you’re saying, but I can’t believe it; I am in shock."

THis made me laugh for some reason

HerekittykittyX said:

adywan said:

This is a really interesting excerpt from the upcoming “Making of Return of the Jedi” book.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/star-wars-prequels-return-of-the-jedi_n_3313793.html

Interesting to just how different his plans were back then. It also destroys the argument of the prequel fans that they were planned out that way all along ( i bet they’re going to love that 😉 ).

So to summarise;

Yoda doesn’t fight. He is more of a teacher.

NO MIDICHLORIANS

Jedi can love and marry.

ANYONE can learn to use the force if they are prepared to learn.

Luke & Leia’s mother was still alive until they were 2 years old

So they would have originally fit in pretty well with the OT.

Face palm

What’s that supposed to mean?

I can’t tell if it’s that or if he thinks the post itself is ridiculous.