Darths and Droids V: Thread IV Was Eaten By Dogs

[Mando Knight]

Here's a question: how do power generators in Star Wars work? Do they have really angry sith chained up constantly trying to get out using force-lighting?

For small-level power needs, it's fusion cores and batteries. For continuous large-scale power, they use Hypermatter, an exotic fuel source that powers everything from hyperdrives to planet-killer death rays (though in the new canon, the energy-amplifying properties of Kyber crystals are necessary to reach planet-exploding output levels with a station only 120km-ish in diameter).

[Peelee]

Yet as he was dying he was muttering at Luke to tell his sister that he was right. I can only assume that he meant about Luke's earlier claim that he could feel the good in Vader. Yes, it would have been a long, hard row to hoe for Vader to not be an intrinsically evil overlord, but without the Emperor, I think he could have done it. Or at least he could have tried to atone for his crimes by using force lightning to power the galaxy.

Here's a question: how do power generators in Star Wars work? Do they have really angry sith chained up constantly trying to get out using force-lighting?

In Legends, at least, this could work. Galen Marek used Force Lightning to power up power cores in The Force Unleashed

[GAAD]

Can I just order a half-hour thematic summary of II+III and skip the dreck?

I can get you two and a half hours of actual movie, skipping the dreck! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RTtst_ebcA

[Lethologica]

Color me dubious. Can't edit out Anakin as acted/directed. Can't edit in believable companionship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, or believable romance between Anakin and Padme. Can't edit in material that would powerfully show the Jedi's spiritual and moral precarity, or Anakin grappling with same. Can't edit in a political situation that isn't a clown's sideshow. The ideas are there, but there just isn't enough actual good footage to reach a good movie by subtraction.

[eschmenk]

There's one guy who is planning to do a "fan edit" of the prequels who might fix some of those things. He might even be finished in a couple of decades.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Color me dubious. Can't edit out Anakin as acted/directed. Can't edit in believable companionship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, or believable romance between Anakin and Padme. Can't edit in material that would powerfully show the Jedi's spiritual and moral precarity, or Anakin grappling with same. Can't edit in a political situation that isn't a clown's sideshow. The ideas are there, but there just isn't enough actual good footage to reach a good movie by subtraction.

Well I mean if you grabbed some of the good episodes of The Clone Wars and replaced Episode I's runtime with those...

But I mean, the point isn't that you can make the prequels good movies by chopping them up, but you can improve them with some judicious editing. Darths & Droids did what it did with them, amazing as it was, by basically throwing out the entire script and plot and writing new ones from scratch that kinda sorta matched the visuals with entirely different "actors" in an entirely different medium.

[Rockphed]

Well I mean if you grabbed some of the good episodes of The Clone Wars and replaced Episode I's runtime with those...

But I mean, the point isn't that you can make the prequels good movies by chopping them up, but you can improve them with some judicious editing. Darths & Droids did what it did with them, amazing as it was, by basically throwing out the entire script and plot and writing new ones from scratch that kinda sorta matched the visuals with entirely different "actors" in an entirely different medium.

Yeah, making the prequels "good" would require going all the way back to the drawing board. Making them less bad would involve cutting some of the really stupid political set-dressing. Actually, I cannot think of anywhere in the original trilogy where the exact nature of the politics is discussed. We get told about the Empire and the Senate and the days of the Old Republic, but we don't actually get told anything about the politics thereof, which I think is a good thing.

[Peelee]

Yeah, making the prequels "good" would require going all the way back to the drawing board. Making them less bad would involve cutting some of the really stupid political set-dressing. Actually, I cannot think of anywhere in the original trilogy where the exact nature of the politics is discussed. We get told about the Empire and the Senate and the days of the Old Republic, but we don't actually get told anything about the politics thereof, which I think is a good thing.

Look, at its core, it's a movie about a space wizard with a laser sword who flies a spaceship. I don't really see how the politics of trade disputes aren't integral to the story.

[Lethologica]

The politics were explicitly discussed in two or three scenes between Empire men in ANH, but the upshot was that the politics didn't matter anymore because Death Star politics were more betterer.

Well I mean if you grabbed some of the good episodes of The Clone Wars and replaced Episode I's runtime with those...

But I mean, the point isn't that you can make the prequels good movies by chopping them up, but you can improve them with some judicious editing. Darths & Droids did what it did with them, amazing as it was, by basically throwing out the entire script and plot and writing new ones from scratch that kinda sorta matched the visuals with entirely different "actors" in an entirely different medium.

I don't disagree with what you say, but we're working off of different 'points', possibly because of my poor phrasing. The initial premise was 'without the dreck', and there just isn't enough separation between the dreck and the important stuff to edit one out and keep the other.

[keybounce]

...basically throwing out the entire script and plot and writing new ones from scratch that kinda sorta matched the visuals with entirely different "actors" in an entirely different medium.

So, "What's up, Tiger Lilly?" ?

[eschmenk]

I don't disagree with what you say, but we're working off of different 'points', possibly because of my poor phrasing. The initial premise was 'without the dreck', and there just isn't enough separation between the dreck and the important stuff to edit one out and keep the other.

Maybe the difference was that you are thinking of traditional movie editing, while Nerd-o-rama is thinking of anything digital editing can do? You originally asked for, "a half-hour thematic summary of II+III." No doubt, you meant a summary of the movies as they were released. Nerd-o-rama praised Darths and Droids, but as a satire, it's a very different beast than the original movies. That's why I think he may have been talking about editing in a much broader sense than you were. Unfortunately, creating something that's too different from he originals is not going to help you appreciate how powerful the scene between Luke, Vader and the Emperor become thanks to the revelations contained other movies, which was the context for your (snarky) request.

Without investigating it, I suspect that the 2.5 hour movie was made largely by traditional cutting and splicing, even if done digitally, so yes, it's probably going to have a lot of "dreck" remaining in it. If not, it would almost certainly have huge holes in it. Earlier, I linked to a guy who's intending to create a lot of new material and promises that the result will be very different than the original prequels, so yes, he's doing more than traditional editing. But he he won't be finishing the prequels any time soon, if ever, and I doubt any final result would keep all of the relevant material you would want while removing all you wouldn't.

[Lethologica]

Nerd-o-rama presented Darths & Droids as a contrasting example--that is, "improving the series as much as Darths & Droids did required a lot more than <chopping up the prequels>/<judicious editing>." Our understanding of editing is pretty much the same as far as this conversation is concerned; the difference is what I described previously.

With respect to my original ask, there are two other important differences between a summary and an edit (or a rewrite, which that guy you mentioned seems to be doing). First, a summary doesn't have to be the complete storytelling experience of a movie. Second, and consequently, a summary doesn't have to keep any of the actual material.

[runeghost]

Color me dubious. Can't edit out Anakin as acted/directed. Can't edit in believable companionship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, or believable romance between Anakin and Padme. Can't edit in material that would powerfully show the Jedi's spiritual and moral precarity, or Anakin grappling with same. Can't edit in a political situation that isn't a clown's sideshow. The ideas are there, but there just isn't enough actual good footage to reach a good movie by subtraction.

On the Anakin and Padme front, my headcanon for a while now has been that starting in Episode II, he's force-whammying her to love him. It actually makes more sense than the traditional (intended?) viewing.

[eschmenk]

Our understanding of editing is pretty much the same as far as this conversation is concerned; the difference is what I described previously.

Then I don't think there was any difference.

I don't disagree with what you say, but we're working off of different 'points', possibly because of my poor phrasing. The initial premise was 'without the dreck', and there just isn't enough separation between the dreck and the important stuff to edit one out and keep the other.

In the quote that you were replying to:

But I mean, the point isn't that you can make the prequels good movies by chopping them up...

It seems that Nerd-o-rama was going out of his way to say that he wasn't disagreeing with what you had said about what someone could accomplish by cutting and splicing. Why would he have done that if he didn't understand that you had said it? He seemed to understand what you said perfectly, as far as I can tell, so I don't think you needed clarify what you were trying to say. It wasn't at all difficult to understand, at least not once you gave some examples of what you considered to be "dreck."

With respect to my original ask, there are two other important differences between a summary and an edit (or a rewrite, which that guy you mentioned seems to be doing). First, a summary doesn't have to be the complete storytelling experience of a movie. Second, and consequently, a summary doesn't have to keep any of the actual material.

Yes, of course. I can easily think of yet another way the guy's project wouldn't match what you specified and there may be more. I don't see a need to list them all, though.

[Lethologica]

Nerd-o-rama's point was about good movie vs. improved movie. My premise, and therefore my point, was about absence of dreck (among other things), which is a different state from both of the above. I accidentally slipped into discussing whether the fan edit could make a good movie in my reaction to it, and this probably motivated Nerd-o-rama's comment using that paradigm. Hence I made a clarifying remark reestablishing what it was that I cared about, despite my previous phrasing.

I am entirely uninterested in continuing this line of discussion. Anyone who still takes issue with my clarifying remark is welcome to talk about something else.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Yeah I didn't even think we were arguing so much as delineating different things that can be done.

Anyway, you can definitely summarize the prequels and have it sound like a good story. Obi-Wan does exactly that in bits and pieces over the course of the Original Trilogy. Drops vague hints about the Clone Wars and his and Anakin's role in the Jedi Order, generally describes (in riddle terms that allow him to not face the truth while still not abandoning responsibility for it) the arc of what happened to Anakin Skywalker, things like that. But if you want details, sadly, the details we've got are presented in a manner that's generally regarded as deeply unappealing.

[eschmenk]

New comic

Is the orb doing that? I wouldn't be surprising if the thing that R2-D2 wanted so badly was too dangerous to have.

On second thought, they probably want some way to explain Anakin's ghost appearing later, so it's probably him.

[137beth]

Which actor will be Anakin's ghost? (Probably Hayden Christensen since this game started with the prequels).

[eschmenk]

Which actor will be Anakin's ghost? (Probably Hayden Christensen since this game started with the prequels).

Old comment:

The FAQ says that they are grabbing screencaps from the 2004 DVDs, so now I would expect him to look like Hayden Christensen, rather than Sebastian Shaw.

Another old comment:

As for Anakin appearing at the end of RotJ, I'm betting his "midichlorian cloud" is trapped in the body of Vader. When Mom Vader dies, he'll be freed.

Slight possibility it's trapped in Palpatine's, which explains that weird funky explosion when he dies.

What if Padme got the midiclorans (that's definitive now) and Palpatine got the ghost? Can that happen? Palpatine is the one going insane. Or maybe Anakin is haunting Vader, but deliberately only bothers Palpatine and Palpatine never noticed that it only happens when Vader is around?

[Rogar Demonblud]

After the "I am your Mother" twist, I've stopped trying to figure out where the Irregulars are going and am just enjoying the ride.

[eschmenk]

Yeah. My latest thought is that maybe it's Vader doing it. After all, if Palpatine was right about the voices, may be was right about Vader intending to overthrow him. She said she was evil, so I couldn't put it past her. It could also explain some of her non-responses.

That's at least three different ideas. It doesn't look like I'm accomplishing much by trying to figure it out. OK, I'll stop.

[stsasser]

What if Padme got the midiclorans (that's definitive now) and Palpatine got the ghost? Can that happen? Palpatine is the one going insane. Or maybe Anakin is haunting Vader, but deliberately only bothers Palpatine and Palpatine never noticed that it only happens when Vader is around?

That's part of the reason why I think it is Qui-Gon: those are not Padme's or Anakin's or Luke's midiclorans; they are Qui-Gon's. Haunting could be one of those nasty side-effects mentioned about resulting from transfusing midiclorans. I also think it's likely that the Menacing Phantom comes from a character that died in The Phantom Menace. For motivation, Palpatine got Valorum to send Qui-Gon and Obi Wan to Naboo and employed Darth Maul, who killed Qui-Gon.

[keybounce]

What is the current state of the path to the light side?

[stsasser]

Spoiler

Show

"Don't say that about your father!"

*sigh* I was really hoping it was Qui-Gon, but, yeah, it's Anakin...unless!...Obi-Wan is the father!!
Revenge sex in-character for being abandoned...and who knows what was happening 'IRL' while Jim and Annie were having problems...

[Kantaki]

Spoiler: new comic

Show

„You stay out of this! This is a family matter!” Oh the irony...

And R2/Pete becoming your Grand Vizier is a really compelling argument not to take over the galaxy.

[137beth]

New comic.

So Anakin will take part in the duel. Maybe he feels slighted since he didn't get to duel Luke in the last movie.

[ThePhantom]

Well I did not see this coming.

[Yana]

Sally's campaign was Jurassic Park?!

[Kantaki]

Sally's campaign was Jurassic Park?!

Jurassic Park had Robot Dinosaurs?

[The Glyphstone]

Apparently her version had the dinosaurs being sapient animatronics instead of genetic experiments.