A Long Time Ago In a Galaxy Far, Far Away.... - Star Wars General Discussion
- Thread starter SHIELD Agent 47
- Start date
Yeah, 'spice' is frequently used sci-fi euphemism for drug/mind-altering substance.
Glitterstim is very different in properties (and somewhat different in world-and-production) from mélange, but there's certainly a casual similarity.
C-3PO's reference to "the sand mines of Neelgaimon" in Children of the Jedi had to be a bit of fun on Barbara Hambly's part, though.
C-3PO's reference to "the sand mines of Neelgaimon" in Children of the Jedi had to be a bit of fun on Barbara Hambly's part, though.
I mean, sure. But since Star Wars is not talking about the Arrakis drug when they say spice.... Spice is mentioned in the open title of Powerpuff Girls. It is mentioned in "Spice World".
It is reasonable to think Lucas had read Dune when he wrote the throwaway line that C-3PO says in Episode 4. But it is also reasonable to think he was totally unaware of it. The spice trade was big business in the earliest days of intercontinental commerce on our world and it was just about exotic stuff that made food tasty. I would think that exotic otherworldly spices would be a hot item in the Star Wars universe and he could simply have meant that.
Spice mines of Kessel were even shown in Solo.
Possible Haslab Spoiler alert
May be the next Haslab has leaked
- a TVC Cantina playset.
I was just thinking we were due for the next Haslab... Honestly not sure I'd go for this. It's super cool, but I certainly don't have a spot for it, nor would I want to build up the sheer number of figures required to fill it out.
I was just thinking we were due for the next Haslab... Honestly not sure I'd go for this. It's super cool, but I certainly don't have a spot for it, nor would I want to build up the sheer number of figures required to fill it out.
Possible Haslab Spoiler alert
May be the next Haslab has leaked- a TVC Cantina playset.
I was just thinking we were due for the next Haslab... Honestly not sure I'd go for this. It's super cool, but I certainly don't have a spot for it, nor would I want to build up the sheer number of figures required to fill it out.
Stretch goal should be a
Bea Arthur
Watched the Phantom Menace re-release. As a kid I was merely disappointed by Phantom Menace, never had the strong feelings many did for this movie. I never loved Darth Maul or the saber fights as much as many, but I also never hated Jar Jar or Anakin as much as many.
leading up to the original release I was infinitely hyped for this. I was a child in the dark times between the end of the original Kenner line and POTF2 so I was starved for content as a kid. I LOVED the OT, and never thought I would get new Star Wars.
I've seen this multiple times over the years (probably the least of all the older 6 though) but this is probably the first time I've really sat down and focused on watching this (rather than having it on in the background or while doing something else) in probably 20 years.
Honestly much better than I've given it credit for. It FEELS like Star Wars. There is a lot of fun subtle stuff with the Padme/Amidala swaps and also with Palpatine.
While watching the scene of Qui Gon "mind" tricking Boss Nass I noticed, for the first, that Boss may be pulling one over on Qui Gon. It seems like Boss may not be susceptible to the mind trick, but allows Qui Gon to think he is.
Noticed all sorts of little sound and visual effects I hadn't noticed prior.
leading up to the original release I was infinitely hyped for this. I was a child in the dark times between the end of the original Kenner line and POTF2 so I was starved for content as a kid. I LOVED the OT, and never thought I would get new Star Wars.
I've seen this multiple times over the years (probably the least of all the older 6 though) but this is probably the first time I've really sat down and focused on watching this (rather than having it on in the background or while doing something else) in probably 20 years.
Honestly much better than I've given it credit for. It FEELS like Star Wars. There is a lot of fun subtle stuff with the Padme/Amidala swaps and also with Palpatine.
While watching the scene of Qui Gon "mind" tricking Boss Nass I noticed, for the first, that Boss may be pulling one over on Qui Gon. It seems like Boss may not be susceptible to the mind trick, but allows Qui Gon to think he is.
Noticed all sorts of little sound and visual effects I hadn't noticed prior.
Episode 1 is bad, but not as bad as it's often portrayed as. If it originally came out at a time like now when there are 15 different Star Wars things all going on at once, it would be considered a mediocre if forgettable movie.
But because it was the first "real" new Star Wars media released in what seemed like forever (I had to look it up and I can't believe that it was only 16 years between RotJ and TPM. That doesn't jive at all with my internal chronometer), to an amount of hype and fanfare rarely seen before or since, it being kinda bad was an ENORMOUS letdown, which really unfavorably colored everyone's memories of it.
But because it was the first "real" new Star Wars media released in what seemed like forever (I had to look it up and I can't believe that it was only 16 years between RotJ and TPM. That doesn't jive at all with my internal chronometer), to an amount of hype and fanfare rarely seen before or since, it being kinda bad was an ENORMOUS letdown, which really unfavorably colored everyone's memories of it.
I was in college when Episode 1 came out and I was hyped and liked it. I don't like Jar Jar or any of the Gungan stuff. They fixed the bad Yoda puppet later. I liked the movie less over time, but really when I think back on it there isn't a lot that I dislike. Mostly just Gungan stuff. After reading Darth Plaguis I wanted to watch it again for the first time in quite a while and I liked it again. I don't rate it super high on my Star Wars list, but I don't expect to ever watch Episode 8 or 9 again and I would watch Episode 1 again. I might even start with it when my girls are old enough to watch Star Wars. The good stuff in it is really good.
I've also had an evolving relationship with it. I went from disliking it (never that strongly) to simply liking it the least, to respecting it.
Back when I disliked it or liked it the least, I just felt it was an unnecessarily early starting point that answered questions I didn't have. If Anakin were just another jedi without an elaborate backstory of being discovered late, his downfall could have been paced out better. Because I thought it needed to be paced out better.
Boy was I wrong. The turning point for me was watching fan edits of the prequel trilogy with every usable deleted scene added back in. In the extended Attack of the Clones, it's clearer that Anakin is failing as a jedi. It's not what he had in mind. And he's homesick. And Obi-Wan is holding him back. It becomes so much more important that the story started before he became a jedi, and has an outsider's view of what jedi are supposed to be. I think if he saved Shmi there's a strong chance he would have stayed on Tatooine and left the jedi order. And this wouldn't be walking away from the dream. This would be a fulfilment of the dream he describes in Phantom Menace. He'd use his powers to make life on Tatooine better. I think that's why Duel of the Fates plays when he searches for her. It's not just Shmi's life or death, and it's not that her death makes his fall inevitable. The two fates are stay a jedi or leave the jedi, right here right now.
The increased importance of Anakin's pre-jedi backstory helps Revenge of the Sith too. In Phantom Menace he thinks becoming a jedi means he's going to fly around the galaxy helping people. In Extended Attack of the Clones he almost leaves the jedi to live the dream. In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine tells him there's still a chance. There is another option for a life where he uses his powers to help the people he cares about, without any code telling him no. There is nothing abrupt about Anakin's turn if one film ago he was already on the verge of walking away from the jedi. It's another chance at the life he wanted in the first place.
The story needs Phantom Menace.
Back when I disliked it or liked it the least, I just felt it was an unnecessarily early starting point that answered questions I didn't have. If Anakin were just another jedi without an elaborate backstory of being discovered late, his downfall could have been paced out better. Because I thought it needed to be paced out better.
Boy was I wrong. The turning point for me was watching fan edits of the prequel trilogy with every usable deleted scene added back in. In the extended Attack of the Clones, it's clearer that Anakin is failing as a jedi. It's not what he had in mind. And he's homesick. And Obi-Wan is holding him back. It becomes so much more important that the story started before he became a jedi, and has an outsider's view of what jedi are supposed to be. I think if he saved Shmi there's a strong chance he would have stayed on Tatooine and left the jedi order. And this wouldn't be walking away from the dream. This would be a fulfilment of the dream he describes in Phantom Menace. He'd use his powers to make life on Tatooine better. I think that's why Duel of the Fates plays when he searches for her. It's not just Shmi's life or death, and it's not that her death makes his fall inevitable. The two fates are stay a jedi or leave the jedi, right here right now.
The increased importance of Anakin's pre-jedi backstory helps Revenge of the Sith too. In Phantom Menace he thinks becoming a jedi means he's going to fly around the galaxy helping people. In Extended Attack of the Clones he almost leaves the jedi to live the dream. In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine tells him there's still a chance. There is another option for a life where he uses his powers to help the people he cares about, without any code telling him no. There is nothing abrupt about Anakin's turn if one film ago he was already on the verge of walking away from the jedi. It's another chance at the life he wanted in the first place.
The story needs Phantom Menace.
I don't think I've seen the Attack of the Clones deleted scenes.
It could be done different ways. I don't think you were really wrong before. I can see your point about how it helps explain Anakin. I don't think that's really what Lucas had in mind. I think he just wanted to have an origin story to tell as complete a biography as possible and the trouble with Episode 1 always will be that a prequel trilogy to tell Anakin's backstory doesn't tell us much in the first 1/3 and opened up a lot more questions, many of which did not get answered. A lot of people leaving Episode 1 probably thought that they would find out more about midiclorians and how Anakin was born, but those threads were mainly dropped, at least in forefront canon. The quiet inconsistency of Qui-Gon not disappearing when he died had me scratching my head, having always believe that this just happens when a Jedi dies, even though in hindsight Episode 4 already set up what would eventually become the explanation because it seems at least mostly clear that Vader did not know what happened when Ben disappeared.
While the Kenobi show did some damage control, the prequel trilogy has an Owen Lars problem. Owen isn't really Luke's uncle and it is hard to really explain why they took Luke in. The missing piece would have to be that Owen or Beru (and it practically has to be Beru) had great compassion for the situation. They certainly have no duty to take care of Luke. The problem starts with Episode 1 because Anakin leaves Tatooine to hardly ever return and has no sibling being left behind. This was necessary for the virgin birth angle of the story, but the story didn't need the virgin birth angle and if there was something they wanted to make of that, they never did it. I think the best thing to have done would have been for Beru to be Anakin's older sister, maybe almost grown in Episode 1 and already dating Owen. Owen would have known kid Anakin pretty well already and not approved of him going off on an adventure and seeing how it affected Shmi and Beru and having been left to pick up the pieces only to have him show up again 10 years later, not manage to save Shmi, do an over-the-top revenge thing that has its own local fallout, disappear again and THEN find out he went and got himself killed and left behind a son that needs the only family he has. THAT Owen acts just like the Owen in Episode 4.
CoffeeHorse said:
It could be done different ways. I don't think you were really wrong before. I can see your point about how it helps explain Anakin. I don't think that's really what Lucas had in mind. I think he just wanted to have an origin story to tell as complete a biography as possible and the trouble with Episode 1 always will be that a prequel trilogy to tell Anakin's backstory doesn't tell us much in the first 1/3 and opened up a lot more questions, many of which did not get answered. A lot of people leaving Episode 1 probably thought that they would find out more about midiclorians and how Anakin was born, but those threads were mainly dropped, at least in forefront canon. The quiet inconsistency of Qui-Gon not disappearing when he died had me scratching my head, having always believe that this just happens when a Jedi dies, even though in hindsight Episode 4 already set up what would eventually become the explanation because it seems at least mostly clear that Vader did not know what happened when Ben disappeared.
While the Kenobi show did some damage control, the prequel trilogy has an Owen Lars problem. Owen isn't really Luke's uncle and it is hard to really explain why they took Luke in. The missing piece would have to be that Owen or Beru (and it practically has to be Beru) had great compassion for the situation. They certainly have no duty to take care of Luke. The problem starts with Episode 1 because Anakin leaves Tatooine to hardly ever return and has no sibling being left behind. This was necessary for the virgin birth angle of the story, but the story didn't need the virgin birth angle and if there was something they wanted to make of that, they never did it. I think the best thing to have done would have been for Beru to be Anakin's older sister, maybe almost grown in Episode 1 and already dating Owen. Owen would have known kid Anakin pretty well already and not approved of him going off on an adventure and seeing how it affected Shmi and Beru and having been left to pick up the pieces only to have him show up again 10 years later, not manage to save Shmi, do an over-the-top revenge thing that has its own local fallout, disappear again and THEN find out he went and got himself killed and left behind a son that needs the only family he has. THAT Owen acts just like the Owen in Episode 4.
Last edited:
I think establishing Owen as Anakin's step-brother (Owen's father DID marry Anakin's mother, after all) establishes enough of a familial relationship. I never questioned his taking Luke in.
If anything, that goes a long way to explaining why old Owen is kind of a dick to Luke in New Hope. He never wanted him to begin with.
Step-brother who found Shmi still alive (briefly) after they'd all given up on her. She was still alive out there while they'd stopped looking. You don't think they wrestled with some major guilt about the whole thing?
To be fair, C3PO didn't recognize him either.
Yes.
Point is, how would Owen recognize a droid that didn't recognize him? Protocol droids aren't an unusual sight.
Point is, how would Owen recognize a droid that didn't recognize him? Protocol droids aren't an unusual sight.