I started compiling a list that I thought we could work on together of basically the questions you must answer before you can start on a prequel rewrite. My thought is to keep this thread as the summary of the questions (and stickied, probably) and then individual questions can be discussed and argued in individual threads.
Here are the questions I've come up with... please feel free to add other questions. I'll be adding others as I think of them too.
The Setting
The War
Are you focusing on the Clone Wars?
YES:
Who are the Clones?
How does the War pertain to them?
What about the Clone Wars would cause Obi-Wan to refer to them as an "idealistic crusade"? What were the ideals? How was it a crusade?
How does Cloning become irrelevant by the start of Episode 4?
How is cloning limited to the point that the whole story doesn't get consumed by the idea of clones replacing major players?
NO:
What is the "war" setting for your story? Yes, there has to be a war... it's called Star Wars.
What/when are the Clone Wars if you are ignoring them in your story? How do you validate Leia and Ben's claim that he and Luke's father fought in the Clone Wars for Bail Organa?
Is the War 'Symmetrical' (i.e. WWII) or is it 'Asymmetrical' (i.e. Iraq War or the OT Empire vs Rebellion)
If Symmetrical:
How does War work exactly? How does hyperspace affect a galaxy wide war?
Does your story feature "soldiers"? Who are they? Are the main characters soldiers in the War? Leia's and Ben's comments seem to indicate that they were.
Who are the armies? Does the Republic have its own army, or do each of the independent planets have their own armies? Who is the enemy large enough that this is a full scale war?
If Asymmetrical:
Who is the larger force?
What are the objectives of both sides in the War? What are they fighting over?
When did/does the War start?
How does the War end?
Continiuity to the OT:
Do you show Obi-Wan receiving training from Yoda?
Do you show Anakin receiving training from Obi-Wan?
Are Obi-Wan and Anakin friends? When do they have the chance to establish this friendship
How many years before Episode 4 does your story take place and how old are the main characters?
If Luke/Leia's mom is pregnant at any time in your stories, then that must be within 18 years of the beginning of Episode 4.
How will you handle the surprises in the OT? Will you set out to protect them from a chronological viewer? Or will you show them happen?
Will you show Yoda?
Will you show that Luke has a twin sister? Named Leia?
Will you reveal that Anakin becomes Darth Vader?
If not, how will you protect this surprise? It must be some way that when the viewer sees Darth Vader in ANH, that he doesn't assume or even begin to wonder if that is Anakin under there.
Will you employ the "Other Apprentice" ruse? That suggests that Obi-Wan had an apprentice named Darth Vader that turned to the Dark Side and killed Anakin?
Will you have surprises in your new PT? Will it affect anything that we thought we already knew in the OT? Be careful, you will most likely just tick people off, unless it is done EXTREMELY well.
How does the Jedi/Dark Jedi/Sith conflict play into the back story of the War, if at all?
If it doesn't, then how does Anakin end up falling to the Dark Side and becoming Dark Lord of the Sith?
If it does, then how does the Galaxy allow for a Dark Jedi/Sith/Palpatine to be left in charge of the Empire when all is said and done?
How many Jedi are we talking about here? A handful like the OT? Two-three handfuls like the GPT? Or a lot a lot?
How many Dark Jedi/Sith? Please say not 2 per movie.
What kind of powers do the Jedi/Dark Jedi/Sith have beyond those seen in the OT?
What is the Galaxy's general response to Jedi? Are they all assumed to be heroes? Or are people more like Han where they think that it's all religious nonsense?
How do your Jedi dress? (Please say it's not in "I'm disguised as a hermit" robes.)
How organized are the Jedi? Are they like a police force in space (like the Green Lantern Corps?) or are they more like wizards that are off doing their own thing and maybe have some form or correspondance or a council every now and then? Or something less than that?
Where does the Empire come from? From within the crumbling Republic or without? If from within, are the forces that cause the crumbling also responsible for the War and are they manipulating to create an Empire as in George's PT?
How do the droids fit in to your new story, if at all?
Probably shouldn't have strong connections to Anakin or Obi-Wan (i.e. The "main characters")
How is Anakin seduced by the Dark Side? What convinces him to serve the Emperor, the Empire and the Dark Side for 20+ years before allowing Luke to show him the error of his ways.
Who is the main protagonist in your films? Luke is clearly the main protagonist in the OT. In my opinion, the gPT has problems because the protagonist changed with the movie billing: E1 - QuiGonn Jinn, E2 - Obi-Wan Kenobi, E3 - Anakin.
- I clearly think that Anakin should be the main protagonist as a point of comparison that Luke is the protagonist of the OT. However, I am running into trouble, probably the same way George did, because I have Obi-Wan finding Anakin. In the OT, Luke finds Obi-Wan. This right off the bat seems to set up Obi-Wan as the character making choices, making things happen, driving the story... AKA the Protagonist.