Re: Clone Armies in Trek

On Mon, 1 Dec 2003, Chris Basken wrote:

> "Mike Dicenso" wrote...
> > The opening was a great way to start things off, and the little bantering
> > between Obi-Wan and Anakin throughoutt the movie finally put back into the
> > Star Wars what I liked about the Original Trilogy, although the bantering
> > in AOTC still falls a bit short compared to the one-liners in Episodes
> > IV-VI.
>
> I still don't understand why Lucas didn't have Kasdan write his scripts for
> Eps 1 and 2...

Hmmm, yes. Kasdan and Kirchner where art thou? Actually, I would really
love it if Lucas were to get someone like Peter Jackson, or the Wachoski
brothers to do Episode III.


> > The thing still missing is a very strong sense of comraderie between the
> > characters, and development. I still don't have a sense of why, other than
> > total contrivance, why Anakin went from a nice kid into being a dumb, full
> > of cum punk.
>
> As I learn more about the "extended universe" (I'm getting a kick out of
> Knights of the Old Republic these days), I've learned more about Jedi teaching
> processes.  Most Jedi begin schooling at age 5 or younger, and remain
> Apprentices for ten years or so.  Only by the time they hit 15-ish do they
> become Padawans.  And then they stay Padawans for at least 5 more years,
> possibly more, before they're granted the rank of Knight.  So most
> newly-christened Knights are in their early 20s.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), the Extended Universe and Infinities
symboled Wars books and merchandise are not canon, and George Lucas has
pretty much gone on record as saying that he will ignore them, as he wants
to go and do his own thing (for better or worse).


> Anakin didn't begin his Apprenticeship until he was about 10 (the age of Jake
> Lloyd in 1999).  AotC appears to be about 11 years after TPM (based on Hayden
> Christensen's age of 21 in 2002), so Anakin likely became Padawan only a year
> prior to the movie's timeframe.  So here you have a brilliant Jedi (brilliant
> in the sense that his affinity with the Force outstrips everyone else's) still
> a Padawan when his peers were all becoming Knights, and still needing to face
> 4 or so more years before he can see his own graduation.  Granted, the
> dialogue and characterizations were clumsy, but at least the structure is
> there for him to resent his situation.
>
> Of course, the movie shouldn't rely on "extended" material in order for its
> protagonist's emotional journey to make sense.

No, and nor is it. Lucas has said as much. The only thing he (Lucas) has
really choosen to use is the name of "Coruscant" that Timothy Zahn came
up with for the "Heir to the Empire" trilogy of books for the center or
the Galactic Republic, later to be Empire. However, Lucas had been
considering other names before Coruscant brought to his attention.


> > > not-quite-by-the-numbers-for-SW ground battle.
> >
> > It was a cool thing, although I'd have liked to see more flinching and
> > other "human" reactions from the Clonetroopers during the battle. One
> > thing I really liked as a contrast between Clonetroopers and the
> > Stormtroopers was the scene where the Clonetrooper gets up, goes over to
> > Padame, and actually shows genuine concern for her after they had fallen
> > out of the LAAT.
> >
> > I honestly can't picture a Stormtrooper doing that for anybody, at
> > anytime.
>
> A big problem with these new movies is that the effectiveness of the special
> effects removes some of the humanity.  Not only is Lucas indulging himself too
> much (where in the original movies a tight budget forced him to be creative in
> how much he showed onscreen and how much he let our imaginations do the work),
> but the action has taken on a plastic quality.  I was far more concerned with
> Luke and Leia clinging to the tops of those speeder bikes on Endor than I was
> about Anakin leaping from hovercar to hovercar on Coruscant, mainly because
> L&L looked like they were actually strapped to racing rockets, while Anakin
> looked like a CGI motion blur artifact.

That's because Anakin in most of those scenes IS a CGI blur.

> Sign of the times, I guess.

Indeed.
-Mike