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Characters in Prequels How would you have done them

#1 User is offline   Taekochan Icon

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Posted 01 June 2005 - 10:02 PM

Sorry if this topic has already been done.

One of things I think the prequels lack more than anything, besides a good storyline, is interesting characters. Seriously, does anyone care about any of these guys?

Here's my question. How do you think the characters in the prequels should have been done? Specifically Anakin, Padme, Yoda, Obi Wan, and those other Jedi.
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#2 User is offline   Darth Sane Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 12:33 AM

QUOTE (Taekochan @ Jun 1 2005, 07:02 PM)
Sorry if this topic has already been done.

One of things I think the prequels lack more than anything, besides a good storyline, is interesting characters. Seriously, does anyone care about any of these guys?

Here's my question. How do you think the characters in the prequels should have been done? Specifically Anakin, Padme, Yoda, Obi Wan, and those other Jedi.


Thats a great topic question...ehgem...let me see......for Episode I: Anakin has never dreamed of being a Jedi, instead he humbly wants to be a farmer and buy a large parsec of land on the outskirts were he and his mom can live in peace. He loves nature and animals and wants to raise them at this ranch. The Jedi (Qui-Gon essentially) recognize the power of the force in him and try desperately to pursuade him but he wants nothing to do with it. His father was killed by some insignificant event (i.e. a poison plant) and his friends (who are gamblers and vagabonds, disapear in kidnappings and streaks of violence etc.) Art is his hobby and he paints portriates of people, the suffering and joys of people. He tells qui-gon (anakin should be introduced ate age 12-15) he wants no business in scorcery and that he feels that is the way of manipulating people and taking advantage of situations. He is a very wise and intelligent and witty boy yet is not sarcastic. Im getting carried away...qui-gon convinces him to come with him to train as "the force is also an art form that can also actively help and bring justice to suffering and curruption" in the galaxy. After living next to a forced labor camp and helping kids escape, his mother convinces him he must be a jedi and use his once in a lifetime gift not for himself but to help others.......Now for Episode II....

This post has been edited by Darth Sane: 02 June 2005 - 12:35 AM

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#3 User is offline   Darth Sane Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 12:51 AM

Episode II: He feels restrained by what he sees as the Jedi subservance to power-hungry elites in the republic. Anakin feels that the jedi do not spend nearly enough time trying to ease the suffering and bring harmony to the galaxy. After fighting in foreign wars, he disobays a direct order to save a medical transport ship at the expence of capturing a spy with plans to build the death star. he is repremanded but does not understand why. He falls in love with padme on naboo (which is still blockaded heavily and is a dying decrepid civilization) She convinces him to negatiate. He does not understand the nature of war and is against fighting throughout the clone wars. He is so powerful that he rarely needs to use his lightsaber as laser blasts are simply force deflected. He tries to reason with the seperatist leaders to end the hunger and starvation on their home planets. When they attack, he has them all killed in a fury. Again he is repremanded out of political pressure and he resignes as a jedi knight...Obi-wan tells him he must not go against the thousand year old council, but that his power is still valuble to the republic..anakin says he only cares about justice...obi wan says he cannot be the judge of that..anakin says his "heart will judge" this is when obi-wan has an inclination that he has fallen in love and is dealing with an internal delema. Because of his immence power, anakin must swear never to use it again lest the jedi have to kill him. He is allowed to return to tatooine to reunite with his mother and continue farming. Anakin packs and leaves (this is the aniclimax of the movie)...he says his goodbyes to padme who must return to naboo and remain as queen (non of this senator bull shit, she is an elected queen for life)...
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#4 User is offline   Darth Sane Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 01:25 AM

Episode III: here it gets tricky but bear with me...He returnes to a stagnant life at the farm. He is plowing in the feild one day when he senses a huge disturbance in the force. He tries to ignore it but he has visions of suffering and pain. Allready you can tell he has used his powers to better the life on tatooine. His mother is healthy looking and they have the land they always wanted. It is populated by a vast array of freed slave children. He cannot let go of his vision and leaves stowed away a space ship one day. He returnes to the jedi temple while the jedi are in intense meditation. things have gotten worse and the senate is even more currupt, the empire is forming. the jedi are in a fix. they have lost a feel for the living "will" of the force and are in dissagreement as to the nature of many things ever since anakin left and created a hugh force power vacuum. More, a supernova has altered the shift of two planets and seperatists are blaming the instance on the jedi and the trade etc...Anakin localizes a "vergence" in the force around chancellor palpatine. the jedi go to arrest palpatine and anakin visits obi-wan, his work done, to say goodbye. He finds out from obi that padme has been murdered and is linked to the sudden assasination of several world leaders in the galaxy. The jedi are in a divide and have sence lost their ability to affect the situation. Anakin is driven made at the news of padme's death. He tells obi-wan that he "will end all suffering" and in a great momment of clearity he shifts back the orbits of the planets, renders natural disasters on the sepreatists home worlds and saves and resurects the padme from death for only a brief moment. the sky's part and become clear. Obi-wan is afraid...he tells him "he cannot bend the will of the force," and that "fate is the force's chosen destiny." Anakin rebukes with "I am the force!" and that he will finally bring truth to a clouded galaxy. the sky turns dark and coruscant experiences massive earthquakes. Anakin rebukes that it is "his struggle!" to bring balance to the force. Obi-wan tells him to let go of his hate and that his concience has been twisted by the temptations of the dark side. Palpatine, seeing the threat of anakins power, sends his best trained apprentice to murder him. The jedi, reluctantly, realize they must do the same or risk civil war. Anakin confronts both sides and kills Mace and a few others. Anakin returnes to palpatine who is initially afraid of anakin but realizes that anakin does not know of his affiliation with the apprentice. He realizes that annie could be an asset and tells him that the only way to end all suffering and bring peace is to end the reign of the robber barrons and their protectors (jedi). He tells annie of the struggles of the sith to use all their "will" to "bend" the force to serve what is right while the jedi are slaves to the forces random streams. Anakin becomes Darth Vader and hunts down the jedi....WOW, I guess I am just a little bored.

This post has been edited by Darth Sane: 02 June 2005 - 01:35 AM

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#5 User is offline   Darth Sane Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 01:47 AM

Padme= In Ep I: a spoiled, pampared and cynicle queen, she does however put the needs of the citizens above her. Her character puts up a front of nonchalance but at her core she is a deeply compassionate person. she meets anakin briefly and quickly disregards him as "a dirty boy."

EP II. she does most of the fighting dispite her aids pleads to stay in safety. She is resourcefull and sassy (like leia but to a greater extreme). She is totally in control of every situation and hands out orders like a god. though she comes of as a bitch but her people know she cares about them. She falls in love with anakin (opposites attract) she calles him her "little slave boy" and he calls her "my queen bee." anakin finds her to be accentric and hyper yet pretending to be stable. She taunts anakin for putting up a front and acting all calm when he really "relys on her." This plays of as an inside joke sub-theme between the two of them."

EP III the bitch is killed off early.
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#6 User is offline   Twig Bear Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 01:49 AM

The story surrounding Anakin Skywalker, and the whole prequel trilogy really, could have been improved so much it isn't funny. Its sad. The story right now is that Anakin Skywalker, who later becomes the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, is conceived in this wild force-fuckfest between midi-cholrians, a Dark Lord of the Sith, and some horny slave girl on death-sticks? Then he becomes a demi-god toddler, rivaling even Herakles himself? He can race hovering, instable vehicles at over 600 mph, create an artificial intelligence that can communicate in over 6 million languages, and somehow got an education and incredible dental hygiene on his Momma's slave wages? Yeah right! Guess what, I don't think the Hutts a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away treat their slaves any better than white folk did in the 19th century South.

The story could have been much better. Anakin Skywalker could have been the child of an influential noble on Corellia or Coruscant, and then be left at the steps of the Jedi temple. Obi-won, as padawan to Yoda, could discover the child, after all the Jedi feel this force strong fella on their front steps. He could be brought in for training, and slowly, due to his incredible power, go to the dark side.

Skywalker's present fall to the dark side is unconvincing. Where is the anger? The fear? The aggression? It ought to take a while, starting slowly, allowing himself to lash out at dangerous criminals and other despicable types, using his anger and aggression, to focus the force, then watch as it slowly grows. Then he could meet Padme, an influential woman in galactic affairs. The bodyguard idea works... the let-me-stare-at-your-hot-body-natalie-portman-because-I'm-a-jedi-pervert does not. If she had been more od a seductress, that would have worked. Then he ought to have children, then confrontation with the Jedi themselves, and fear of losing his children, or perhaps his wife, or fear that he could not do what he was supposed to do as a Jedi. Any kind of fear, mixed in with that anger, that hate, that aggression, until he would be forced to leave the Jedi order out of pure confusion. He'd be really torn between the dark in himself and the light he is supposed to reach. This is when the real darkness should begin. He should even leave the Order, giving his lightsaber to his Obi-won to give to his children, should they ever join the order.

Then he could be contacted by Palpatine, who could be Chancellor, I liked that part, the playing of the Republic and Seperatists to get himself in power. That was clever. But he needs an apprentice. Who better than the somewhat mad, dark jedi Anakin Skywalker? An exile? Persuade him, manipulate him to join you.

Then get him to do the evil stuff. Start it off small, uncontrollable evil... destroying the Jedi... then his wife going into hiding... etc.

The dark side is within us all, Anakin Skywalker didn't need Palpatine to persuade him to begin down the dark side. He ought to have found himself on Korriban or some other place, or discovered some dark knowledge in the Jedi archives, or a Sith holocron, or something to peak his interests in addition to the anger he already felt.

Obi-won could have been more noble as well. He should have been the padawan of Yoda and Yoda alone. All these other Jedi are great, but they shouldn't have had a major role. And the fall of the Jedi came to quickly. Religion is under attack in our society these days, why not before the rise of the Empire? Just when the Jedi were their weakest, yet had some of the strongest of their Order, the Sith strike out and barely make it... yet they do. Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader, hunts them all down and kills them all, HIMSELF.

Then BAM the old trilogy.
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Posted 02 June 2005 - 02:10 AM

QUOTE (Twig Bear @ Jun 1 2005, 10:49 PM)
Religion is under attack in our society these days, why not before the rise of the Empire? Just when the Jedi were their weakest, yet had some of the strongest of their Order, the Sith strike out and barely make it... yet they do.
Then BAM the old trilogy.


thats right twig bear. the PT should have started while the jedi were already in a major decline. when technology, the vastness of the republic and dark side influences etc. have made them almost obsolete. HELL! The republic of the PT is LESS THAN 30 YEARS before the OT. It makes no sense that power structures and civilizations throught an ENTIRE GALAXY could alter that abruptly. All in all, it makes the galaxy seem smaller.
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#8 User is offline   Twig Bear Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 02:42 AM

So here is the new story I'm thinking about for Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin Skywalker is the child of some kind of noble or powerful person and his servant or slave. The mother leaves the child at the steps of a Jedi temple or monastary and eventually comes under the guidance of Obi-won Kenobi. Throughout their travels together Anakin gains a simple understanding of the force, but because he is so strong in it, it is more primal, more instinctual, so he is somewhat wild and rampant. He seeks excitment unlike the Jedi. These lead him to clash with other Jedi. He slowly begins to use anger and aggression to focus his power over the force. Then he would meet his wife, a lady of influence, and have two children by her. He would be confused, between love and hate, the Jedi teachings and his emotions, etc. But in a much more convincing manner.

Then one fateful evening he would come across a book in the Jedi library, archives, or some other such place, that would cause him to be scolded by the librarian or some other such sweet lookin' old lady jedi, who he could lash out and kill in cold blood. Or some other important event could take place... raping his love interest for example. Killing an innocent. Then he would be injured in the battle, and by Obi-won, and be given his suit, or at least some of it. I say the suit ought to go on before he becomes a Sith because of the inscription on the breastplate which suggest redemption is very possible for a lost jedi... but not for a Sith:

His deeds will not be forgiven until he merits. May the Force be with you, Anat.

Anat, Anakin. Its the difference between an earth goddess and a demi-god jedi, but whateva. No biggie. Anyways, Anakin would then go into exile, with hate for the Jedi, for his wife, for his children, for all that he once held so dear, then would be found by the manipulative Chancellor Palpatine, one part of the story I do like. Then he would hunt down the already weak, and somewhat hated Jedi Order, until only two survived. He would then be overthrown by his son, and a new Jedi Order, and guerilla armies of super-savage Ewok monsters... not teddies. I'm thinkin' short and fuzzy, with hidden fangs.
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#9 User is offline   Casual Fan Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 08:08 AM

Like everyone else here, I've thought of how I would do the prequels, but after I saw ROTS I realized this was somewhat of a pointless excercise. The actual, real life prequels are so bad that just about anything would be an improvement. Putting song-and-dance numbers into the movies would be an improvement. A story in which Obi Wan is the villain would be an improvement. You really just need to produce something with an internally consistent story and some style.

Even the actual prequels with the same plot but with better acting would be better.

That said, in terms of how I would do the characters differently you have to distinguish between the characters that have to be in the prequels and the ones that don't. For the characters that have to be in the prequels:

ANAKIN SKYWALKER -this is obviously the key character, which if you screw up the entire project collapses. So the first thing I would have done would have been to take some of the weight off the character, by making the movies about something other than the corruption and fall of Anakin Skywalker. That still exists, but its a subplot, maybe ONE of the three movies has that as a subject. The main theme would be something else and of course more would be spent on the fall of the Republic and the clone wars. So my version of Anakin/ Vader wouldn't even appear in at least one of the movies.

The other points with Anakin Skywalker are the fairly obvious ones that his character should be consistent with what we learn in the OT; ie he is a great pilot, a good man and a good friend, he wanted his son to have his lightsaber, Owen didn't want him to get involved in the Clone Wars, he confronted the Emperor at some point and the Emperor was too strong for him. If Anakin has to be a good man, then he has to turn to the Dark Side for a really good reason. This could mean Dark/ Light are not actually Good/ Evil (if so this shoud be explicit). It could be a real personal connection with the Emperor -I'll even accept he is the Emperor's son if that is what it takes.

We need to get the sense that Anakin is really powerful by actually seeing "good Anakin" doing something remarkable. I've always thought of the character as starting out as middle-aged, who knows what he is doing when going to the Dark Side but does so because he is faced with a terrible choice. He should try to confront or actually stop the Emperor at some point. Finally, it would be good that by the time we are done with the prequels he looks like he is dead -the imaginary viewer seeing all six movies for the first time would not make the connection that Anakin is Vader when Vader appears, and that Vader is Anakin should come as a surprise.

PADME -OK, Luke's mother has to be in ithe movies, but she does not have to be named Padme or Amidala. And all we know is that she loses or gives up Luke to Owen, but stays around a little to raise or make a connection with Leia, and she is very "sad".

The plot problem here is that if Luke's mother is "good" but still married to Anakin/ Vader, then she is a dupe. If she is "evil" or connected with the Dark Side, then the movie has to explain how her children wound up with Obi Wan and as a leader of the rebellion. I would actually take the second course and make Luke's mother "bad" or on the "Dark Side". I think the discrepancy is easier to explain (ie Owen could kidnap Luke, while Leia is actually raised to support the new order but rebels). It would also give an added inducement for Anakin, her husband, to go over the the Dark Side. It would make some sense for Luke's mother to be the daughter of the Emperor. She could be married to Bail Organa, a high official of the empire, and have an affair with Anakin; they know that Luke is their son but for some reason think that Leia is Organa's. And she dies offscreen.

THE EMPEROR -I actually think Palpatine is a good name, and I like the idea of the Emperor being the Chancellor and the institutions of the Republic undermining it and turning into the Empire. I also think that is a clever idea. In fact, Lucas' Emperor isn't too bad and could still be used, straight, in the new story.

Still, I would give the Emperor more of a back story and, again, I don't think the "Dark Side" should necessarily be evil. And as for how got his force powers, either he can be a renegade Jedi or a mutant. Also, I think the prequels might be better focusing on how the Emperor turned to the Dark Side and began undermining the Republic, than putting the entire burden on Anakin.

OBI WAN -Again, the character in the actual prequels is fine. I would probably make his role even more central, ie Obi Wan is the jedi who sees how things are actually going and tries to stop them, but no one will listen to him. However, he himself botches Anakins' training. He should be more like Qui Jonn in the actual prequels.

OWEN -Surprisingly, this character is needed. Luke winds up with him and he also urges Anakin not to "get involved". He has to reperesent the path Anakin could have taken if he hadn't turned tothe Dark Side. It may not be a bad idea to make him a jedi himself, though that introduces the problem of how he got killed on Tatooine so easily in ANH. Even if not the Jedi, he should take the lead in getting Luke away from Vader. And it should be established that Vader for some reason has no reason to suspect that Owen did this or that he will "work" with Obi Wan.

BAIL ORGANA -Again, this character is needed as the father/ foster father of Leia. But this is a blank slate. He could actually be a close aide to the Emperor and still fit the storyline. Or he could lead the rebellion. The actualy reason he adopted Leia....well, never mind.

As for the characters that are not required in the prequels:

YODA -Not needed except to have Yoda involved. Before I saw the execution, I thought the idea of Yoda as the head of the Jedi was pretty good. Now I know better. If he is in the movies, he should be a creature who lives on Dagobah, who is not Jedi himself but strong with the force, who trains Obi Wan outside the Jedi order. The point is, the use of characters should add depth to the movie while keeping the storyline consistent.

QUI JONN -actually a good character in the Lucas movies, but completely unnessary.

MACE WINDU, COUNT DOOKU, DARTH MAUL, JAR-JAR: None needed. None sufficiently interesting to include in a revised prequels. Well, Jar-Jar is interesting and memorable. He still should not be in a revised prequels.

This post has been edited by Casual Fan: 02 June 2005 - 08:12 AM

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#10 User is offline   Michel Orla Icon

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Posted 02 June 2005 - 10:56 AM

Read The Approaching Storm and Cloak of Deception for two PT EU novels that get the characters done so much better than the three movies do
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Posted 02 June 2005 - 02:15 PM

Alright, Hello all this is my first post so bear with me if im a little choppy here, but when i saw this thread i had to throw in my two cents. If lucas had given any thought to character developement or plotline in these movies he would have figured out a few key points. In addition, the movies could have made a lot more sense, ie. Leia remembering her mother, Anakin being a pilot, Yoda training Obi Wan, but i dont want this to turn into an anti lucas rant, so lets get right to the meat and potatoes:

If my quotes are not dead on I apologize but i think you guys can get the hint

Anakin Skywalker... The Pilot. We know he has to be from tatooine, because Owen tells him he never should have followed Obi Wan. We know Tatooine is a remote farming community, and in EP IV run by the Hutts. How about Anakin Skywalker is a very young pilot in the Tatooine militia, providing escorts for local exports from the planet and protecting shipments from pirates, Hutts etc. So before Mos Eisly becomes the wretched hive, and Jabba takes over, Tatooine is just a frontier farming community struggling to survive. Anakin is an extemely good pilot and dreams of leaving Tatooine to join the republic navy. This would fit in nicely with Beru later saying of Luke's desire to leave "He has too much of his father in him."
Possibly the most important aspect of Anakins character is his belief in the Republic, and what it stands for. Freedom and Justice and all that. Anakin envisions a galaxy where people do not have to live in fear of wars and pirates and crimelords, the Republic has the potential to "Bring order to the Galaxy." The whole point of Anakin Skywalker was that he was a good man that was led astray, or took the wrong path. Where skywalker will go wrong is that he takes this quest for Order and Peace too far. That is what will lead him to the dark side. At this point i feel obligated to insert a side note:

THE FORCE: What is all this talk of learning powers and all this crap? I thought the whole point of turning to the dark side was "letting go with your hate" if the dark side is just powers someone could teach you, why dont sith just go to their local library? Anakins discovery of the dark side should go a little something more like this: Anakin is in a battle, his enemy is obviously an extremely bad person, and anakin, furious (because of the lives lost in the war, the threat to the republic, possble threat to Amidala) lets go with his anger. How awesome would it be to see Anakin, in the middle of a heated battle let loose with force lightning without even realizing or intending it?... we move on.

As the trilogy moves on Anakin will move further and further away from the Jedi order. Obi Wan will try to reach out to him to bring him back, but Anakin will become obsessed with winning the war. Eventually Anakin will come to regard the Jedi as too weak to serve a purpose. He will blame the Jedi for not being strong enough to defend the republic in the first place; and finally he will judge the republic as being too weak itself to maintain the order and peace he had fought for. From there of course we have the birth of the empire. At this point Anakin knows the Jedi will never allow him and Palpatine to take control of the galaxy, so he turns on them, choosing instead to leave behind the man he was and become a dark lord of the sith.

I know thats pretty bare bones, and it doesnt account for Amidala, Owen, Kenobi and Bail Organa, I'll explain more when i post for those characters indiviually
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Posted 02 June 2005 - 09:01 PM

As for me and how I would do them - well I've already got a rewrite going.
I wouldn't do Qui-Gon - it's strange that the best character of Phantom Menace was the one that had no right to be there.
Padme was Anakin's lover and that's that - she had nothing else to do. However, Han and Leia fell in love because something was keeping them together - the Rebellion. The only thing that would be keeping Anakin together with someone would be his duties as a Jedi - so I kind of had the idea that his wife would be another Jedi Knight.
Anakin should have been introduced much older - 15 years older than he was in TPM. Obi-Wan should have been older too, by 15 years at least again. Yoda would have been a reclusive Jedi on some faraway planet who doesn't fight until they are sure and rightly so about who the leader of their enemy is, and even then doesn't fight with a lightsaber.
As for the Jedi I wouldn't have had Jedi Masters floating around a dime a dozen, but very few Masters who seek solitude to train new Jedi, and groups of Knights, primarily loyal to the Master who trained them. Also the Jedi should have ben rarer, and not so much in the public eye.
Jar-Jar wouldn't have even been a pile of steaming corpse by the side of the road, Anakin and Owen would have had a real relationship and Anakin would have had a normal family, rather than being conceived by Midichlorians.
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