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Empire of Dreams - what was your imagined Star Wars story...

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With the last of the Star Wars movies coming soon I wanted to take the time to discuss what we all had imagined the Star Wars story to be through all of those years of waiting. The prequels are nothing like I ever imagined them being, but what did you imagine? Did you come close?

The one thing that I personally found cool about Attack of the Clones was the connection between Boba Fett and the Stormtroopers. Growing up and watching Star Wars I always imagined that Boba Fett was a renegade stormtrooped who became a bounty hunter. As a kid I just thought that their helmets looked similar and the rest of the theory came from there.

When I saw AOTC in theaters for the first time it was so cool to see something similar on screen. Not quite how I imagined it, but closer than anything else in those movies.

C’mon…let’s talk “what could have been…”

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My dream prequel would have been called Star Wars Kids: The young Han, Luke and Leia chronicles, and would have had our 3 heroes (plus the occassional appearence of little chewie) as 8 year olds getting mixed up in all kinds of wacky adventures. Of course, in the last episode they all get their memories wiped in time for a new hope.

Any adventure suggestions anyone?

Seriously though, I imagined the prequels to be of a more similar tone and style to the OT, probably because it would have been made in the 80s or early 90s, and would have featured a young Obi Wan and Anakin as principle characters, like the actual prequels. The kickass lightsaber fights were there too, but nothing else. I don't give a crap about Boba Fett, never did, and any mysterious coolness he once had is lost forever now anyway.

War does not make one great.

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Plus everything would look older. Not old as in decayed etc, but old as in old fashioned - it would have been a galaxy which is as differnt to the OT as our world is to the 60s or seventies (cars, fashion, etc). Which means less advanced monitor displays etc.

War does not make one great.

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Mine would have dealt with the rise of the empire and the fall of Anakin of course, but not have been so focused on Anakin - it would probably have focused a bit on Chewie, Han, Lando, Leia, etc., as well, stuff like how Han saved Chewie, got the Falcon, fell out with Lando, etc.

Moll.

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)

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I'm getting the feeling that most of you that have replied to this imagined a prequel trilogy that took place lot closer to the time frame of the original movies. That's interesting. I never thought about a prequel trilogy that was about younger versions of the main characters. I always felt that the story would be about Anakin Skywalker and the fall of the Republic.

I thought that Anakin was going to about Luke's age in episode 4 in the episode I though. He would be a starfighter pilot for the republic. When the clone wars errupted Jedi Knights being the guardians of peace would help defend the Republic. During one fateful mission Obi-Wan Kenobi meets a really good pilot by the name of Anakin Skywalker. Obi-Wan recognizes the force potential in Anakin and begins training him through the war.

Anakin soaks up the training like a sponge. Obi-Wan is amazed at how quickly that Anakin is learning and yet is wary of his desire to learn. The good friend and pilot that Obi-Wan once knew becomes obsessed with learning about the Force. Feeling that Obi-Wan is keeping the true secrets of the force from him, Anakin goes in search (this is of course, after the clone wars have come to an end) of those supposed secrets.

Eventually he meets the Emperor. He wouldn't have been the emperor at that time, but I didn't think that he would have met the politician first. He would meet the the pre-emperor/darth sidious, and then learn of his true identity. After palp. seduces Anakin with the allure of the dark side, he reveals his true plan for the republic. Anakin is addicted to the power palp. has given him and cannot defy him.

Working basically as an assasin for Palp. he starts taking out Jedi and political figures. Obi-Wan and others begin to figure this out and eventually Obi-Wan tracks Anakin down. They have their tragic duel and the rest is history.

I didn't think about how Anakin would meet the mother of his children, or the political intricacies, but that was my basic plot summary. When the first two books of the Jedi Academy trilogy came out, I really got into the character of Kyp Durron. He was how I had imagined Anakin Skywalker was in the prequels. Even some of the circumstances were eerily similar.

What do you all think?
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At least one person has brought up (I believe it was here) that Naboo should have been Alderaan. After all, it's a huge continuity error in the old trilogy that Naboo is not (cept for the celebration scene at the end... which was put in to counter exactly that). I really wanted to see more of that planet, as it is obviously important in the original trilogy (or... was important I guess).

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!

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Rebel11_38, I want to live in an alternate reality where your Prequel Trilogy is the one that was made.

War does not make one great.

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Awww shucks!

I think that Naboo should have been Alderaan as well. It would have given a totally different feeling to the seeing it get destroyed in episode 4....

"JAR JAR IS DEAD!!!! YAY!!!!"

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Yeah, shoulda been Alderaan. Although then Leia's line about it being peaceful with no weapons wouldn't work.

War does not make one great.

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Originally posted by: Yoda Is Your Father
Rebel11_38, I want to live in an alternate reality where your Prequel Trilogy is the one that was made.


I agree.

quick question...in your vision, would anakin have been doing these assassinations of jedi while he was a jedi? what i mean was, when you say the jedi eventually figure this out are your referring to the fact that they find out that anakin is in fact a rogue jedi (sith) and the one responsible for the murders? I guess when you said this i kinda saw him as mole in the jedi order.

as far as meeting Padme, that could have been worked in as meeting her after he meets Palpatine. He would meet palpatine as a Sith Lord, after joining him but before the rest of the jedi figure this all out. Palpatine would inform him of his real identity and they would have interaction outside of their Sith dealings. It would be at this point, say Anakin is meeting up with Palpatine in the Jedi/Politician situation. Some political meeting would just be ending and he would get his first glimps of Padme. He then becomes obsessed with her and ends up talking to her and the whole relationship develops...the turmoil of his now 3 lives (Sith, Jedi, Relationship with Padme) would end up being what causes him to slip up some and allow the Jedi to figure out he is responsible for the Murders. This would be where Obi-wan confronts him and the battle ensues

In this situation the whole need for a struggle on a Naboo (or Alderaan isnt needed) and i think it would have been a much more cohesive story

Why couldnt Lucas come up with this?

-Darth Simon
Why Anakin really turned to the dark side:
"Anakin, You're father I am" - Yoda
"No. No. That's not true! That's impossible!" - Anakin

0100111001101001011011100110101001100001

*touchy people disclaimer*
some or all of the above comments are partially exaggerated to convey a point, none of the comments are meant as personal attacks on anyone mentioned or reference in the above post
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Originally posted by: Yoda Is Your Father
Yeah, shoulda been Alderaan. Although then Leia's line about it being peaceful with no weapons wouldn't work.


It probably would have. Naboo was really more of a defensive planet. It has no army, just volunteers.

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!

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Originally posted by: Yoda Is Your Father
Yeah, shoulda been Alderaan. Although then Leia's line about it being peaceful with no weapons wouldn't work.


I think if the Naboo/Alderaan swap was the only difference that line would still work. I mean essentially the planet was peaceful, they really didnt have any weapons which is why they were so far up sh*ts creak when the trade federation came in. The only tension that existed was with the Gungans, and this was only tension cause each side was afraid of the other due to lack of knowledge (or at least thats how the Gungans felt towars the Naboo)

So at the end of the movie, this tension no longer exists and therefore they resume their peaceful ways, probably even more so due to the lack of tension.

Plus by no weapons I highly doubt that she meant there was not a single gun on the entire planet. It could just as easily mean there is really no army...yeah they have a small volunteer militia with a small cache of basic munitions, but nothing substantial...beside...in the 30 years that passed, with the Emperial rule, its possible that they truely are weaponless

-Darth Simon
Why Anakin really turned to the dark side:
"Anakin, You're father I am" - Yoda
"No. No. That's not true! That's impossible!" - Anakin

0100111001101001011011100110101001100001

*touchy people disclaimer*
some or all of the above comments are partially exaggerated to convey a point, none of the comments are meant as personal attacks on anyone mentioned or reference in the above post
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Yeah, I guess that because I've been a star wars fan since I was a kid, I've kind of built up my own images in my head which don't correspond to the prequels. I imagined Alderaan as a literally weaponless planet, totally peaceful, totally hippy, and that made their destruction even worse, pus I imagined Anakin literally hunting down and destroying the jedi one by one (like an assasin) as Obi Wan descrbes in a new hope. I think a lot of the appeal of Star Wars was just that - the mystery, the backstory, the myths that you could ponder and create. It added a hugeness to the galaxy in which they live becasue everything was NOT explained. I liked that.

Basically, let's build a tie machine and deliver Rebel11_38's synopsis to Lucas circa 1985, along with a signed certificate stating that we will not sue or claim any money etc for the story rights and he can call it his own, so that he makes that prequel, and he makes it in the late 80s so there's no CG.

I used to think that he might make a prequel which featured a middle aged Annakin and he would use Mark Hamill as the actor, but by 1999 that was obviously not gonna happen.

I still like the Star Wars Kids idea. I'm thinking Muppet Babies with lightsabers. Who's with me?

War does not make one great.

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Originally posted by: Yoda Is Your Father
I still like the Star Wars Kids idea. I'm thinking Muppet Babies with lightsabers. Who's with me?


Ok, so they would cast Kermit as Anakin, Ms Piggy as Padme..who else...

I think Animal should have the Darth Maul role (Palpatines first apprentice)

-Darth Simon
Why Anakin really turned to the dark side:
"Anakin, You're father I am" - Yoda
"No. No. That's not true! That's impossible!" - Anakin

0100111001101001011011100110101001100001

*touchy people disclaimer*
some or all of the above comments are partially exaggerated to convey a point, none of the comments are meant as personal attacks on anyone mentioned or reference in the above post
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quick question...in your vision, would anakin have been doing these assassinations of jedi while he was a jedi? what i mean was, when you say the jedi eventually figure this out are your referring to the fact that they find out that anakin is in fact a rogue jedi (sith) and the one responsible for the murders? I guess when you said this i kinda saw him as mole in the jedi order.


Anakin was trained by Obi-Wan during the Clone wars and for a time after. In my vision Jedis started there trained starting in their teens, not as toddlers. The fact that Obi-Wan trained Anakin past his teens was one of his downfalls and is what leads Yoda in TESB to say that Luke is too old to begin the training. Anakin is among the few in the history of the Jedi that started their training older than most, and it had terrible results.

Due to the war there was no way for Anakin to be trained properly. Since Obi-Wan saw that he already was drawing on the force during battle, he decided to train him. Obi-Wan was simply a Jedi Knight, not a master. Obi-Wan had been his teacher though, and once the clone wars ended Obi-Wan was allowed to keep Anakin as his apprentice. It was at that time that Anakin became more and more obsessed with the force. There were brief glimpses of Anakin taking the force for granted during battle (after Obi-Wan had begun training him), and with the war over it simply got worse.

Jedi were supposed to peace keepers, not a militia, but that was what Anakin was becoming. Scarred from war and dxrunk with power, he was not the same man he was. Perhaps if he wouldn't have been trained Anakin would have been killed during the wars, or he wouldn't have had a power-trip after. I don't know. Anakin was recognized as a Jedi at the time that Obi-Wan became concerned about Anakin. Anakin keeps harassing Obi-Wan about teaching him more. Obi-Wan is concerned but is still blind to the fact that Anakin is treading deeper and deeper into areas he shouldn't be/ Very similar to Exar Kun or Kyp Durron. Eventually Anakin goes in search of the power.

Thinking about it now, it really does remind me a lot of Exar Kun. He goes in search of secrets. He gets into far and can't get back out. One difference is that Anakin serves a dark lord, rather than him becoming the actual dark lord. Still, after his return to the republic he acts as if nothing is different, but in the shadows and the dark places he is doign the bidding of the dark lord.

So yeah, he is a Jedi when the other Jedi figure out what is going on. He is working undercover essentially. They don't know what is going exactly because as Yoda said "the dark side clouds everything." Sorry that I took so long to answer your question. I don't mean to ramble.

Thanks for responding everybody. Keep the imaginitive juices flowing.
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I remember the episode that they did of Muppet babies doinf Star Wars characters. Scooter was R2-D2, and his sister was C-3P0. I think Fozzie was Chewbacca.

The memories...
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I remember that episode too. They made a star filled sky by pushing holes into black paper with a pencil, and once they had that the only limit was their imagination.... I think Ralph the paino playing dog was Han. Kermit was obviously Luke and Miss Piggy was Leia. I think their Nanny was Vader....

Ah, Memories. There was an Indiana Jones Muppet Babies episode too.

War does not make one great.

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as far as meeting Padme, that could have been worked in as meeting her after he meets Palpatine. He would meet palpatine as a Sith Lord, after joining him but before the rest of the jedi figure this all out. Palpatine would inform him of his real identity and they would have interaction outside of their Sith dealings. It would be at this point, say Anakin is meeting up with Palpatine in the Jedi/Politician situation. Some political meeting would just be ending and he would get his first glimps of Padme. He then becomes obsessed with her and ends up talking to her and the whole relationship develops...the turmoil of his now 3 lives (Sith, Jedi, Relationship with Padme) would end up being what causes him to slip up some and allow the Jedi to figure out he is responsible for the Murders. This would be where Obi-wan confronts him and the battle ensues


I like this idea. I also think though that the story didn't need a strong focus on the mother/Padme. Anakin coulud have just as easily been dating Padme during the clone wars before he met Obi-Wan and then he got married to her. Or he could have met her afterwards and it could have been like what the prequels say about Jedi not having attachments...

I guess I just never gave much thought to whether or not Jedi were allowed to marry growing up. In fact, before the Black fleet series of books, I hadn't really given much thought to Luke and Leia's mother at all. Now I think there is a story that could be told about their mother, but I liked the books' idea that she was in some way connected to the force.

I don't know how many of you have seen the Rise of the Empire trailer made with legos, but I think that the story, albeit brief, is nice marriage between what I always thought the prequels would be like and what Lucas gave us. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.


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I don't think we need a young actor trying to pretend to be Harrison Ford, so I came up with some basic changes that I would have made to the Prequals to make them work with the Original Trilogy and make them better movies.
1. Anakin should have been older in the Phantom Menace. I don't think quite Luke's age, but at least a teenager and someone close to Portman's age. It would make the council saying he is too old more sensible and make Kenobi a little reckless('so was I if you remember' from Empire) to train him. He even could have left the Jedi for a short time to train him. They would eventually relent and let him back in, but it would set up more tension between Kenobi and the council and show that Kenobi truly believed in Anakin.
2. Rule of Two. Silly. No need. If Yoda and Mace's conversation had paid off in some way so that they were actively pursuing Darth Maul's master, then I would say leave it in. However, they didn't do anything with the line, so it is there just to mess with Empire Strikes Back.
3. The Clone Wars should be completely different. In New Hope, when Kenobi talks about the Clone Wars and Luke reacts, it sounded fascinating. That is what I wanted to see most when I heard they were making the Prequals. As it is now, it is basically galaxy-wide governmental repression. Not interesting.
4. Jedis can't get married. Quite possibly the stupidest concept Lucas came up with. Why can't Jedi get married? Because Lucas couldn't find any other reason for keeping Anakin and Amadala apart. Why do they need to be apart anyways?
5. Anakin should have been completely evil by the end of the end of the second movie. The Anakin-Kenobi duel could have been the beginning of the third movie. Anakin, now in the suit, could have then done the Jedi Purge almost completely himself and there would be no need to introduce General Grevous or any other character. I realize I'm criticizing a movie I haven't seen yet, but I'd rather see Darth Vader in action than on the sidelines while a new character has all the fun of killing all the Jedi.
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GlopOfGrease, those are some great ideas.

I really like 2-4, I think it would be awesome to have seen 5, and I am totally agree with you on the first part of 1. I just don't know if I would have wanted Obi-Wan to have left the order. I think it might create more tension and regret with Obi-Wan defying the council while being a member of the order than while not. Then again, I was never a big fan of the Jedi council. It is never mentioned in the OT, and I don't know that it was entirely necessary. At least, not the way it was done.

I always pictured the Jedi having a temple(s) on a egyptian like planet. Lots of pyramids and spires and such. I really never cared for the idea of them being on Coruscant. I thought of the Jedi being more like you read about in the Tales of the Jedi graphic novels. Academies on distant planets. Knowledge being stored and yet forgotten. All types of different races and lightsaber colors...

If only
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I agree with a lot of what GlopOfGrease said.

Anakin should have been older and it should have been all Kenobi wanting to train him, none of this Qui-Gon (though he's a cool character, he just introduces to many plot holes)

Even with allowing Jedi to love, you could still use have that 3 way struggle i mentioned in my 'add on' to Rebel11_38's prequal idea...just slightly modified to do be a tension/strain forming in their relationship because hes doing the dual Jedi/Sith thing and hidding all this from everyone (well except Palpatine)

I think one of the biggest problems with the PT is as follows:

In A New Hope the movie was made to stand alone if the sequals couldnt be made, so it has a struggle that is fully resolved by the end of the movie. When Empire was made it ended leaving you hanging...it didnt just cut you off but you needed Jedi to find out what happens to the characters.

When Lucas made Phantom Menace he used a similar set up to A New Hope. Yeah, because of our knowledge of the saga as a whole its less so, but it still has that same feel, the only contrary thing to this is Palpatines comment "We'll watch your career with great interest". Attack of the Clones leaves you with a more similar feeling to the one Empire leaves, a what happens now type feeling. Yeah it leaves us with a partial closure, just as Empire did, but theres that definate feeling that there is more to come, your not satisfied with where all the characters currently are. ROTS will (hopefully) wrap it all up. It will obviously have a darker tone because its essentially the start of Emperial rule, but it will end the story line.

What lucas should have done is treat the whole PT as one story (similar to the way it was outlined here, the ideas are a plot outline that covers all three PT movies as a whole). He knew he was gonna make the 2nd and 3rd so why waste valuable story telling time with a conflict that only servers the purpose of bringing all the characters together and then limit yourself to 2 movies that actually tell the story that your trying to tell. This single story should (in my opinion, and i believe others as well) start with Anakin as a teenager (15 ish maybe) the earliest. probably around lukes age (18-20). and like Rebel11_38 said, during the clone war when he and Obi-Wan meet (Obi-Wan senses the force in him/his flying as Qui-Gon did in TPM) and basically follow the story outlined by Rebel11_38 and continue up to the end of the jedi/rise of the empire.

I dont think that we need to see the rule of the empire. I think that the killing off of the Jedi taking place as Palpatine is doing basically what he is doing in the actual prequals is what would be shown in the third movie as stated, and this movie should basically end with the Jedi all but wiped out (Yoda and Obi-Wan are obviously still around, maybe a few other random Jedi, but only nameless Jedi Knights) There would basically be a scene with Palpatine 'taking the throne' and Vader joining him at his side. Something to signify that he's now in control type thing. then maybe a cut with Obi-Wan leaving Luke with the Lars. This could go either way...if the scene is there it give it an ending similar to what i was talking about in Empire...actually to preserve the OT i would def leave out the mention of Leia...and by this arguement i would actually change what i just said so the end is a shot of Obi-Wan taking up residence on Tatooine, then the scene with Palpatine and Vader (I would go from solemn music with obi wan the cue the Imperial march on the last scene) then roll credits.

and as far as my comment about Yoda still being around, i would make it so his fate is unknown...just kind of loose mention of him and dont show him after the last mass slaughtering of the Jedi occurs. what this does is make the movies watchable in PT then OT order without ruining any of the suprises (Vader is lukes father, leia is luke's sister, our first intro to Yoda)

and it would obviously still work watching OT then PT, only prob i could see is people might want some more of those continuity points (a Yoda scene, Luke being left at the lars, leia being left with bail organa)

-Darth Simon

ps sorry for the extremely long post
Why Anakin really turned to the dark side:
"Anakin, You're father I am" - Yoda
"No. No. That's not true! That's impossible!" - Anakin

0100111001101001011011100110101001100001

*touchy people disclaimer*
some or all of the above comments are partially exaggerated to convey a point, none of the comments are meant as personal attacks on anyone mentioned or reference in the above post
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Great stuff Darth Simon.

Let's throw this question around for a while.

How could we write episode III so that Obi-Wan knows that Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader, the audience doesn't, and the surprise that he is will be preserved for TESB? Without showing that Anakin is Darth, how would we explain Obi-Wan/Ben's explanation of what happened to Luke's father in Ben's home? We would know that what he tells Luke isn't true, and not just from a certain point of view . Unless there is another person pretending to be Darth Vader who pretends to kill Anakin. But then how would we explain that Obi-Wan clearly knows it is him at the end of episode IV? We know that Ben never trained "Darth Vader."

Remember what we are trying to figure out is how to preserve the surprise of TESB, keep Episode IV unaltered, and make Episode III satisfy those requirements.

Hit me.
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I always just assumed that Obi Wan would knock Anakin into the volcano, think he was dead and walk away and we don't learn that he survived until he tells Luke that he's his father in ESB and Yoda confirms it in Jedi. But yeah, you guys have raised some good points - how could you make it all make sense?...

War does not make one great.

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A friend suggested something about Han cheating Lando out of the Falcon - something to do with Chewie threatening to rip out his arms if he didn't let Han win...

Moll.

"Right now the coffees are doing their final work." (Airi, Masked Rider Den-o episode 1)