SPECULATION You direct and write the Prequels: where is YOUR beginning?

Ok, I'll bite a little to get this going, and will likely add more later.

1. Anakin would be in his mid to late teens. He would embody many characteristics which make a struggle with the dark side logical. He won't be portrayed as flawlessly noble and innocent like young Anakin of the prequels, or whiney and full of angst like teenage Anakin of the prequels. He would be rough around the edges and have a circumstantial morality meaning he is noble in many ways, but can also justify doing the wrong thing if he thinks the reason is right. He would be a seasoned pilot, accomplished mechanic, notable amongst different circles for different reasons. Some would idolize him, others view him as little more than a working class street thug.

2. Some characters don't need to be removed, just adjusted. Anakin for example as detailed above. Padme would be played by Keira Knightly instead of Portman. She would be spunky, sarcastic, and rash. Her and Anakin would harbor marginal animosity in the beginning, exchanging snarky one liners, and yet be pulled together by the dramatic nature of their circumstances. Mandalorians would be more in the forefront, with a political figure head being the primary character of note, one whom would defend the Mandalorians use of clones in the senate. And although the Clone Wars really illustrated Jar Jar's potential as a character when written property, I think I would substitute his role in TPM with Akbar to A. created a bridge with the OT and B. to include a feud between the Mon Calamari and the Quarren (simular to what the clone wars did) as a major story line with the main contention between the two species being whether or not to break away from the Republic and join the separtists. I would also rewrite Asajj Ventress a bit and include her. She would be an apprentice to Dooku and be portrayed by a young Asian woman, and look rather normal at first. She would semingly be killed by Anakin when she falls into a molten vat, but would utilize a force power which protects the user with a force field, although apparently heat can still cause effects, giving Ventress her trade mark look. Anakin would figure out what she did and teach himself this power so when he actually falls in the lava on Mustafar, he can partially protect himself.

3. There are a few ways you create better continuity with the OT. First, visual continuity. Yoda did not look younger in TPM, he looked completely reworked, for example. Second, make the statements from the OT referencing the PT actually mean something. Luke should remember Dagobah because he was born there. Leia should remember her mother and not Luke because she was with her longer. Leia should say Obi Wan served Bail Organa in the clone wars because he served Bail Organa in the clone wars. The dynamic between Anakin and Owen should be shown in the PT to give statements like "he didn't hold to your father's ideals" more weight. My third point is a smaller one, but why are there no repurposed battle droids in the OT. Many would be reprogrammed versus just destrying them all. I think the "torture droid" from Jabba's palace would have made a better battle droid, and super battle droids would be like IG-88.

As to how epi 1 should start in the first place, Obi Wan would be an a mission to a Jungle planet to complete his Jedi trials and face a sith lord on the top of a temple with large purplish blueish moons in the background against a starry sky. After successful completion, he would be sent to Tatooine to investigate a "dark character" lurking about who is actually Darth Maul sent after Anakin. That is at least what I have so far.

 

I have already answered these questions elsethread, but I will summarize:

1. It starts with Anakin's boyhood, or possibly even with Anakin's conception, but by Act 2 of the first film Anakin is an adolescent padawan of Obiwan Kenobi, who is at least at journey rank when the film begins.

2. Anakin might have a rival apprentice (whom Vader eventually kills) who fulfills the "snarky older brother" role given in the PT to Obiwan. Obiwan, meanwhile, is a combination of Qui Gon Jinn and Ep 4 Obiwan, and Qui Gon either does not exist or comes into the trilogy as Obiwan's old master who by the end of Ep 1 turns to the dark side, becoming Sheev's apprentice (replacing Count Dooku who also does not exist) after helping Obiwan and Anakin to kill Darth Maul at the end of Ep. 2.

3. Episode 2 needs to be an ep 4-like space western full of fancy flying, lightsaber madness, and other heroics by LIGHT side Anakin. The only two people who doubt/fear Anakin are the rival (whose protests are dismissed as jealousy) and Yoda, who is less hands on and more guru. We do not see Yoda fight until the end of Ep 3, when he takes on Palpatine and is clearly the winner (thereby proving the light side stronger) only to have Sheev snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with some shockingly or at least amusingly dirty move (like maybe reanimating some of the recently slaughtered Jedi into Dark Jedi zombies or somesuch.

4. Padme's relationship with Anakin is so perfect, loving and blissful that her doom is assured. Vader's fall to the dark side is precipitated not so much by her as by his attempt to cover up his accidental, moment of rage killing of his rival, which Sheev witnesses and blackmails Anakin about, while disingenuously telling him his dark secret is safe. Anakin is drawn farther and farther into Sheev's web of complicity until there is no escape. Padme flees for her life and is last seen hiding out on Alderaan ( twisting the knife further for Vader in ep 4, as he secretly knows where Padme has gone with Leia and does not know whether she is still alive when the Death Star blows up Alderaan).

For the opera-savvy, just as Luke and Leia are a chaste Siegmund and Sieglinde, Anakin and Padme should have been Siegfried and Brunnhilde, with Palpatine playing the dual role of Hagen and Gutrune. Anakin and Padme should have never been a wishy-washy Tristan and Isolde.

Re: the twins, perhaps there was an effort to make it look like a ship carrying them was destroyed, as they and their mother were spirited away to their respective hiding places. Maybe instead of going straight to Alderaan, Padme went with Leia to Dagobah, where they lived under Yoda's protection and shielding until the child of Organa and his wife died and was secretly replaced with Leia. Padme remains with Yoda, serving him like a Good Kundry character, until she dies or commits Hara Kiri like Madama Butterfly and.....hey! It's supposed to be a space opera!!

Monday morning quarterbacking.

 

Luke was not born on Dogobah.
He was born on an asteroid station.
even if he would had been born on Dogobah, he was brought to Tatooine as a baby. How could he possibily remember?

Leia remembers her adoptive mother, but only a little. NOTE: When Leia is talking about her mother in the OT, she reffers to her adoptive mother. She don't know that she is adopted. It is not clear when her adoptive mother died.

Leia says Obi-Wan served her adoptive father in the clone wars. Reffering to him as father ('cause she don't know she's adopted).

Assajj Ventress looks how she looks because she's a Dathomirian.

 

Leia's adoptive father = Bail Organa

 

Um...no.

You do realize that the point of this thread is to rewrite the prequels?? So that is what I did, as a direct responce to the original question. And obviously, this is all just my opinion on what I would have done.

I obviously know Luke was not born on Dagobah, but he should have been , to give some meaning to the statement "there is something familiar about this place". Again, this is just one example I gave of how you could have bridged the gap between the PT and the OT and create a better sense of continuity.

There will always be some ambiguity on why Leia would remember her mother and not Luke even though they spent exactly the same time together, so it would make more sense of Leia was with her longer.

Your statement about Leia remembering her mother is completely false. Luke clearly asks her if she remembers her "real" mother. And in terms of narrative it makes no sense any other way. Watch that scene again, and if you understand it, you will realize how your claim is false and makes no sense.

You can justify how they remember these things through the force. It would make sense that Leia remebers her mother if she spent more time with her than Luke, which was not done in the prequels. So, I would have had Padme still have Leia on Alderaan at the end of the film, but with the insinuation that she was critically ill, like lung damage from smoke, like if she was on a burning ship, but I'm still pondering this idea. It would be yet another way to create continuity between the two trilogies.

I realize Leia was refering to her adoptive father, but how is it shown in the prequels that Obi Wan is really "serving" him?? Its not. It would make sense if Alderaan was at the center of a clone wars battle and Obi was leading the campaign.

I realize what race Assaj Ventress is. For my purposes I would have changed her back story a little, so Anakin could see another force user use a force field and learn this skill so he could actually fall in the lava and survive. Because after all, if Anakin was set on fire on a Lava planet, you would think that the fire wouldn't stop until he was completely incinerated.

 

i didn't realize that you are rewriting the parts i mentioned in my post.

i always thought when Luke feels something familiar it is because the force is strong at that place. so he is actually not feeling something he knows but rather something like feeling warm when you are happy.
after all the force is in every living being, so that could also be the reason why he feels familiar on a force strong place.

as far as i remember Luke and Leia are just saying ”mother” and not ”real mother”. not sure about that though.

wasn't Aldeeran involved in the clone wars? Obi-Wan could have served Bail Organa on another place, too.

some time ago i watched an explanation why the fire went off after burning Anakin. but i can't remember exactly.

 

Anakin would be roughly same age as Luke. He would be an established pilot and it would begin in the Clone Wars.

Anything before that should be backstory. No midichlorians. Qui Gon still discovers him and desires to train him.Yoday says too old then Qui Gon dies exactly as he did in TPM and Obi Wan trains him. It would show a better friendship. He would meet Padme again and know each other from childhood and then would he begin his attachment and dreams.

Palpatine still sees the best in him and how the Jedi never uses his gifts. They are very good friends too. This establishes a more likely explanation why he more easily lets Pals become his master. Because in reality he seemed more of a friend than Obi Wan was. Needs a balance that shifts.

Jango Fett is out, or at least let him live longer. GL made too many disposable characters. Just when you get to liking or disliking someo e they ain't around long.

Bail Organa needed a little more background.

Padme would not die of a broken heart. She would die later on when Leia rememberd her some. In my movie she gets assasinated

Obviously no Jar Jar

Anakin does not build 3PO.

Count Dooku would still die by Anakin but in a duel that would be a bit more valuable. Not a fake kidnapping. Count Dooku senses he will become the new Darth and he can't have that. A plot to kill Anakin.

Anakin would not have killed children

Anakin pledges himself to the darkside not just because of his dreams and wanting to save Padme. But because of a dilemma. A choice no matter what it's damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. Anakin has to turn or else. He turns because he thjnks it is the right thing to do.

Mace would not die.

Chewie and Yoda would not have known one another.

 

In the future, make sure you carefully read through the posts and you can avoid misunderstandings like this. The OP asked if you were the writer /director what would you do different, citing three points of interest, and I answered him in the spirit of the request. Clearly, if I'm saying 'I would do this' or 'I would do that', and the items I reference were not shown in the movies, it should be plainly obvious.

But what did you think the thread was even about?

With Dagobah, shouldn't all the things you reference be reason why Luke actually remembers it in a way, because he is force sensitive and the planet is full of the force? Jedi can pick out specific presences. Darth Vader for example knows Obi -Wan is on the death star, just because he can feel him with the force. So in other words, things that are full of the force still have a specific signiture to those who are sensitive enough to identify them. I see your point, I just don't agree with it. Would it also not make sense, considering Yoda was able to hide on Dagobah inspite of initiatives to hunt and kill the jedi because of the strong force energy there, that Padme would be taken there to give birth in order to prevent the presence of the birth being detected, and then Yoda could just stay. It would also provide a more clear reason why Obi Wan knows Yoda is even on Dagobah, and gives the opportunity for an emotional send off. But again, it is just one of my ways I would help tie the two trilogies together.

In regards to Leia referencing her mother, your version simply does not exist. Watch the movie. The exact line is " Leia, do you remember your mother...your real mother?"

With Obi serving Organa, and with any of the OT statements referencing the PT, sure you can come up with weak inferences, but the material is better served if included statements actually have meaning within the narrative and are not just white washed over. If you are going to bother saying Obi wan served Bail Organa, then specifically show that. But instead Lucas glossed over story points that didn't interest him, and gave us unnessisary explanations of midichrlorians and chance cubes.

As far as Anakin on Mustafar, no explaination is going to make sense on why the fire went out, because in reality everyone should be incinerated entering the atmosphere because of how hot it is. So, a fire going out before something is completely burned, on a fire planet, doesn't hold.

 

Physics, schmysics, Darth Arth! Seriously, it was the lesser of two evils to have Anakin catch fire on the hot sand, because my impression from the OT was that he actually fell into the lava.

 

I guess I'll have to have you elaborate, because I don't really know what you mean by any of that.

 

You were talking about how Anakin should have burnt up completely instead of the fire going out.

 

I know what I was talking about, what were you talking about??

Are you trying to say its even remotely plausible that a fire would randomly go out...on a fire planet?

I know there is a suspention of disbelief based on the fact they are not instantly burnt alive, but even within the premise that they could withstand the heat, and touch metal that is contacting lava, flames going out randomly before something is completely burned just seems to stand out to me.

Edit: Never mind, I see you were poking fun and just being a little sarcastic, I missed that the first 8 times. I guess thats what having a new born and a toddler in the house does to your brain. We won't even talk about the 84 year old grandmother...

 

Sorry, Arth! Didn't mean to make you feel bad. Hope things go better soon!

Yeah I was just underscoring that Star Wars science doesn't always match up with the science you learned in school.

 

All I would change from this would be Qui-Gon.he wasn't needed.

 

While I agree Qui-Gon and to the same extent, Darth Maul were both uneeded, I enjoyed both characters on screen. I probably would have started with Obi-Wan taking on Anakin as his padawan with Qui-Gon only appearing in "Force Visions" or some way of Obi-Wan reflecting on his master's teachings.

 

I would start anakin about 16 yrs old. Young, hot headed, jerk professional upstart pod racer. Watto is a main character and functions as his manager; no slave issue. Anakin is good w/ machines and worked for Watto to support his mother. Ultimately Watto figures out he's go a knack behind the throttle. They function in the first movie as two scoundrels.
Movie should start with action: The pod race would be on Alderaan. At some point during or after the race alderaan is attacked. Anakin is forced to save the alderaan queen by fleeing with her in his pod, resulting in an interesting action sequence full of hijinks.
Ultimately they encounter a Republic fleet coming to their aid. At the helm are 'crusader aspect' Jedi Obi-wan Kenobi, Master Mace Windu, and Luminaria Unduli with her padawan barriss offee. The republic army does not consist of clone troopers.
It doesn't take long for Kenobi to notice Anakin's gifts, and tests him. No, not a blood test. I see him laying anakin down and clasping his hand over Anakin's face the way he did with Luke in Episode IV. This is akin to what Kevin J Anderson thought up for Luke to use in "Jedi Search" from the old EU but the specifics aren't necessary. We learn through exposition that Anakin is extremely potent in the force.
Anakin is (somehow) introduced to the Jedi Order which is split into two factions. The 'old guard' representing the undying force ideology is represented by Jedi Master Dooku. The upstart living force faction represented by Dooku's old apprentice; Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Master Yoda, the figurehead of the order, is caught in the middle of these two factions, playing the soft spoken referee.
Kenobi has been close friend of Jinn in the past, though his own ideology is that of more old guard than Jinn's. Kenobi is not really in either faction; he adheres more to a martial ideology of the force despite having been Yoda's padawan. Jinn thinks Anaking is part of the Prophecy, and that recent galactic events only reinforce this. Dooku will have nothing to do with the young lad.
In the end Alderaan with be liberated.. haven't figured all that out yet. Haven't even figured out how Palps plays into all of this.
Kenobi will use his victory to persuade Master Yoda directly to let him train Anakin.
Anakin and Padme kiss goodbye and the movie ends.
UPDATE: I've decided to go with the Mandolorians as my villians for episode 1. Not just one Mando, but several. Maybe Pre Visla's death watch. I would apply a sort of "Predator" mentality to them; customise each one's armor and weapons. It would look really badass.
I'll update as I get more thought up.

 

Here's all I have to say to the PT haters/bashers, which are by the way really in the minority (as I'm about to prove) but have the loudest mouths spewing nonsensical and irrational stamements as they troll throughout the Internet making others fell bad for liking the PT due to their miguided feelings of nostalgia. One cannot carry an intelligent conversation with them because they act like conservative Republican who are afraid of change and are out out of touch with society. One can't take these PT haters/bashers seriously as the Star Wars fans they claim to be; I'll even go as far as calling their fandom into question:



http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/1645247/mobile/

Note that I'm not stating that one shouldn't point out flaws in the PT, nor am I'm stating that people shouldn't have the right to form opinions. I'm referring to those that are just downright hating, stating that the PT are bad/horrible/terrible films, stating that they don't consider the PT as part of SW or pretend that they didn't happen, or any combination of these things


By the way, only PT haters/bashers are considered trolls, NOT the other way around.

Come at me PT haters/bashers! I'll destroy any argument that you throw at me.

 

I found this exact same post by you on another thread:
I refuse to show my 5 year old the PT
Why are you spamming this?

 

To make sure my message gets across to everyone where I stand. And I'm not backing down in defending myself.