logo Sign In

Post #557155

Author
McFlabbergasty
Parent topic
How would you handle the transition from Republic to Empire?
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/557155/action/topic#557155
Date created
2-Jan-2012, 3:23 PM

danaan said:

 

 I feel that the theme of "the path from democracy to dictatorship" is a very appealing one, and telling the story of how Palpatine went from Senator to Dictator is one that fits the fall of Anakin Skywalker very well, as a parallell. It's one I'd like to see told. So, my problem with the official version was the execution, rather than the theme.

I think the key to doing this is to take care and build a plausible political setting, which Lucas did not do. In other words, the Republic and the Senate need to function in a convincing fashion.

 

 

I think the main problem with Lucas' execution of the Republic's political unraveling was two-fold: 1) We never see how Palpatine's rule affected the common man on the street and 2) There was too much kriffing C-SPAN going on.

I tried to derive my version of pre-Empire events from interpreting what certain characters in the OT said about the time period. These are some assertions I gathered from all OT exposition of pre-Empire times...

1) Before "the dark times", Jedi Knights acted as galactic justice-keepers. It is never made clear how many Jedi Knights existed, but it is assumed to be more than the three Jedi seen in the OT (two if you don't bother to count Yoda). A traitorous apprentice of Kenobi's named Darth Vader helped the Empire eliminate all known Jedi Knights.

2) There is no mention of anything called a "Sith". I intend to keep it that way for my prequel re-write.

3) Lightsabers were weapons used by Jedi Knights in "more civilized times". They are, however, not the only weapon used by Jedi. Yoda and Vader are both shown to be gifted in telekinesis, and Palpatine can generate an arc lightning attack. 

4) Obi-Wan fought in the Clone Wars in the capacity of a Jedi Knight, alongside Luke's father. No-one in the trilogy ever says the Jedi held military leadership positions in the Clone Wars.

5) Owen did not hold to Luke's father's ideals, and believed he "should not have gotten involved". The exact meaning of this statement is rather murky, which means it's perfect material for exploration in a PT remake.

6) At no point in the OT is it said that the fall of the Republic coincided with the rise of the Empire.

7) Anakin was a gifted pilot and warrior. 

8) At an early point in her life, Leia saw her mother as "beautiful, but sad".

9) The Jedi named Anakin Skywalker gained a hatred for the Knights and resolved to hunt them down and kill all of them. Three more connected events happened in an unspecified order: 1) He fathered Luke and Leia, 2) The Empire was created, and 3) Anakin/Vader was burn and wounded to the point of relying on a bio-mechanical life-support suit; at least one of his arms is synthetic.

With all these assumptions being made, I devised a few constraints for a PT remake...

1) At the beginning of the Clone Wars, evil alien clones attack Coruscant and decapitate the Republic's leadership. This leads to a splintering effect that leaves the Republic in shambles and the clones in a position of supremacy across the galaxy. The war goes for four years before Palpatine reunites the factions and destroys the clones, but creating the Empire in the process.

2) The Jedi are far fewer in number than they were in Lucas' PT. I am thinking six or seven individuals at most. And not all of them use lightsabers.

3) Much of Episodes I and II is spent in the clone-dominated period  between the Republic's end and the Empire's beginning. Memories of this time is what leads to a xenophobic, militaristic mindset that allows the creation of an evil Empire.

4) Vader's red saber from the OT is used by a villain in this remake trilogy. The blade has a long and infamous history by the time it is vaporized in the second Death Star's explosion.