Originally posted by: Go-Mer-Tonic
I honestly think that by assuming what Lucas means, you are the one limiting your own perception of the Force.
I mean obviousy Qui-Gon is presented as a loose cannon in the Jedi order. A Jedi who rarely goes along with the status quo.
Why would his beleifs rank as provable fact in your mind?
Because there's an established test for Midichlorians. Because Obi-Wan is able to pull up comparitive Midichlorian counts on a non-Jedi starcruiser's computer. If not comparative, then at the least non-Jedi starships' computers are able to perform a Midichlorian count on a blood sample, meaning that Midichlorians are common enough that they are regularly tested for presumably by a ship's Medical subsystem. Also, Obi-Wan knows how high Yoda's count is. If Qui-Gon is such a loose cannon then why are these other items presented as fact? If Qui-Gon has performed modifications to the ship's Medical subsystems to account for Midichlorians then why was this not presented in the film?
Because he didn't. Edit: Now, I'm taking this from the script, since I haven't seen the latter half of the film in a while - I re-watched the first half last night, intend on watching the second half tonight. But in the script, both Yoda and Mace Windu verify that Midichlorians == Force sensitivity. It's not a theory, it's not Qui-Gon being a loose cannon. It is explicitly stated in the latter portion of the screenplay. I'll verify tonight that it is mentioned within the context of the film.
I am referring specifically to the interchanges in the Jedi Council chambers where Qui-Gon tells the other Jedi about Anakin's exceptionally high Midichlorian count, and the scene after the testing where Mace Windu states "His cells contain a high concentration of midi-chlorians." to which Yoda confirms "The Force is strong with him." Now it could be argued that both things could have been tested for. If that were the case then that would have been stated in the film. The context of the conversation explicitly indicates causality. One == the other.
To reiterate:
Originally posted by: DeathTongue
In film, due to the compressed nature of its storytelling, as much of what appears on the screen must be dedicated to the story. By including a scene about these never-before-mentioned Midichlorians in TPM, Lucas is implicitly stating "This is important."
By not including scenes refuting its importance, and then completely ignoring Midichlorians until one throw-away line in ROTS, having the scene in TPM works even less. So what was served by including it? I do understand what he was trying to do in the scene - provide a hard scientific (within the context of the film) basis for Force sensitivity and inheritance. I just think he handled it poorly and the story of the PT would not have been lessened, in fact would have been more acceptable, if he had just deleted it altogether. 