The Trajectory of the Jedi

Here are some random ruminations:

ON KANAN AND THE FORCE

I have tried hard to avoid any and all spoilers - outside what is officially released by Lucasfilm - and I have been mostly successful. I have really been enjoying the Star Wars Rebels series and have been thinking more about how Kanan instructed Ezra to be *more* connected to others. That it is these connections that make us human. This is very much a reversal of what the Jedi were instructed to be in the Prequel Era. They were supposed to be detached and aloof from others.

Of course, this was before the Season 1 finale, Fire Across the Galaxy, where his attachment to Ezra almost caused his defeat at the hands of the Inquisitor. I'll be curious to see how his character develops in season two. This one concept art picture certainly is telling:

ON REBELS AND THE TIMELINE

I wonder if either Kanan or Ezra survive through the Original Trilogy Era. They could be conceivably be alive in The Force Awakens if the don't meet an untimely end. I've heard that Rebels takes place five years before Episode IV (0 BBY). So using Wookiepedia as a reference, here are the projected ages of the main characters:

Character - Age as of Rebels /  ROTJ (+9) / TFA (+30)

Kanan - 28 / 37 / 67
Hera - 24 / 32 / 62
Ezra - 14 / 23 / 53
Sabine - 16 / 25 / 55

As you can see, all the human crew of the Ghost should be alive and kickin' if they haven't been killed. I excluded Zeb because we don't know his age nor do we know the typical lifespan of his race.

Here are some other interesting tidbits from the Legacy EU timeline about what happens during the year of Rebels Season 1:

• Han Solo leaves (kicked out of ) the Imperial Academy 
• Han Solo saves Chewbacca from slavery and receives a life-debt pledge from him
• Lando wins the Millennium Falcon in a game of sabacc (Han Solo would win the Falcon from Lando three years later)

We don't know if any of these events will be canonized, but how sweet would it be to see Lando win the Falcon?

ON EPISODE VII

I'm also wondering about what Luke's trajectory is after Return of the Jedi. He is the only Jedi in the galaxy, so far as we know. He knows that the battles between Sith and Jedi have torn the galaxy apart in war after war. I wonder if he decided to go into hiding and to remove himself from society in the hopes of protecting it. Perhaps it is the breaking of his solitude that is the cause or result of the Force awakening. We shall see!

Questions for Aftermath

The second Death Star has been destroyed. Rumors are flying that the Emperor and his enforcer, Darth Vader, are dead. A new government is forming to replace the Empire. But the galaxy is a big place, and the fallout of this cataclysm will affect different worlds in different ways. Does everyone accept the fall of Imperial rule? Has everyone even heard the life-altering news? What rushes in to fill the vacuum the Empire has left? And who will try to stop them? 

Thus is the premise of the next novel in the New Canon of Star Wars - Aftermath by Chuck Wendig. News broke on this over at starwars.com. The novel is part of the 20 book blitzkrieg called Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is a prelude to Episode VII film release.

I'm keenly interested in reading this novel when it is released in September. I hope this will wipe the Expanded Universe clean of the novel Truce at Bakura. I could only get fifty pages into that novel before I was so turned off by it that I gave up. I hope the Ssi-Ruuk and their entenchment technology winks out of existence like the crack in space-time in a Doctor Who episode!

However I wonder how much latitude they will be able to take with the concept that many did not know the significance of the Battle of Endor. The quote above asks if everyone has even heard of the fall of Imperial rule. Remember that with the special edition release of Return of the Jedi we had a montage of locations where crowds had gathered to celebrate the victory, namely Coruscant, Cloud City, and Naboo. So we know that word spread pretty far and wide. It will be interesting to see how Wendig and the Lucasfilm Story Group handles this part of the canon.

I am reminded about the debate among historians about how much support the rebels/patriots had during the American Revolution. A frequently cited letter written by John Adams suggested that there were plenty of people who remained loyal to the British Empire. Some say as many as a a third of the country were opposed to the revolution.

While we will never know the exact figures, this quote by Adams does ring true: "Divided we ever have been, and ever must be." If this statement echoes into the galaxy far, far away, I think we are in for many interesting stories!

The "Kid Show" Concern

There is a segment of fandom that is very concerned that Star Wars Rebels will be a "kid show". These people likely base if off the fact that Lucasfilm is owned by Disney and that the show will be on the Disney XD channel, which has a target segment of pre-teen/young teenage boys.

For me, I am hoping it *is* a "kid" show. Let's face it, while the Clone Wars featured fantastic animation and frequently very good storytelling, it was really not meant for kids - teenagers and adults, yes, but not for younger kids. When watching some Clone Wars episodes with my nine year old son recently on Netflix, he asked me if there was an episode without so much killing. This was why I stopped watching the show with him during season one. I thought a few years later he would be more comfortable with it. But I must conclude that no, this show is just not meant for kids.

I think it is telling that a recent Star Wars blog posted the top five kid-friendly episodes in the Clone Wars series. I agree with the list and I also think that the reason it is a top five list and not a top ten list is because those are the only episodes out of 122 that really are kid friendly.

Honestly, what is wrong with a "kid" show? I know popular culture is telling us the only way you can tell appealing stories for adults is to fill it with gratuitous violence, sex, and foul langauge (see Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and practically every other television series). But I completely disagree. One of Walt Disney's guiding principles when developing his entertainment - whether it was movies or amusement parks - was that it appeal to both children and adults. It was entertainment that everyone could enjoy together. How is that a bad thing?

I can offer up at least one prime example of a great television series that we all watch together as a family, on Disney Channel no less - Phineas and Ferb. Think of it as a more light-hearted Simpsons without the off-color humor or cynicism. There are funny references in there that adults can chuckle at and plenty of action that the kids can really get into.

Episode IV did have some dark elements to it, but it was also fun and adventurous. It's a movie that I know the whole family can enjoy. I saw the recent clip from Rebels and I am very encouraged that the show will follow in its style. Bring on the kid show!

Data Analysis for the GFFA

One of my favorite blogs I have discovered recently is FiveThirtyEight. It is a blog started by Nate Silver for data analytics oriented toward a general audience. Today the folks over there published a blog analyzing results of a Star Wars survey. One of the great things about this site is that most of the data they report on is made available via the code sharing site, GitHub.

You can hop over to their site to read the article. It is a great write-up, but I wanted to dig a little deeper. So I pulled the data and did my own analysis, which I am posting here. I didn't have much free time so this is just an initial study. But, I think you will find these preliminary results interesting!

One aspect I was curious about is how both the Star Wars (SW) fan and the Non-SW fan views the major characters in the films. This was a topic of heated debate between Jason Swank and Jimmy Mac of the must-listen Star Wars podcast, Rebel Force Radio. There was a "spirited" debate as to how  recognizable Boba Fett was versus Han Solo or other characters. We now have some hard data to add to the discussion!

In terms of the survey data itself, it comporises a sample of 1,186 participants. Of those surveyed, 79% have seen at least one Star Wars film and 47% identified themselves as fans. So this looks like a healthy sample of data of both fans & non-fans for studying.

First let's start with the fans. Below is my graphic showing how the fans view the characters as requested in the survey:

Many characters come as no surprise in terms of favorability: Han Solo tops the list, followed closely by Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke, Leia and Artoo make a strong showing with Threepio a step behind. Seeing Jar Jar Binks at the bottom of the rankings is also no surprise!

Vader's lower position on the list is a little surprising, but he is a villain so I'd think many would skew to a negative vote in light of that fact. This wouldn't necessarily mean they did not like the character.

What I found most interesting is Boba Fett. Not only is he towards the bottom of this list but that the distribution of favorability is also across the spread evenly across the spectrum. Our perception of him as being such a huge fan favorite may be due to how a vocal a subset of fandom is relative to the broader fan base.

Now let's turn to the non-Star Wars fan:

Wow! Han Solo is much lower on the favorability list even with Harrison Ford's marquee name. In contrast, Luke, Leia and Artoo - despite having not been on screen in thirty years - are still ranked as the most favorable Star Wars characters among non-fans. Vader and Yoda are well up on the list as well. Vader's distribution of favorable and unfavorable ratings again is likely driven by his status as a villain.

You may notice that the last several names have a mostly invisible bar on the right hand side of each stacked bar column. This indicates the survey respondent marked this character as uncertain (not known). Poor Padme, the mother of Luke Skywalker is unknown to a large swath of non-fans. Even Lando! Oh the humanity!

...and then there is Boba Fett. You can see he is among the lesser-knowns and those that do known him are mostly indifferent. This data is hardly a compelling case for the much-rumored Boba Fett spin-off film.

Before I warp up this blog post, I thought I'd show you an interesting comparison of how fans and non-fans ranked the six films.

For the fans in this dataset, the interpretation is clear and predictable. They love the original trilogy with The Empire Strikes Back as their top favorite. The chart below is the mean (average) rating given ranging from 1 (best) to 6 (worst). The light blue bars indicate the prequel films:

For the non-fans, the results are surprisingly different. The Phantom Menace is, on average, ranked higher than Return of the Jedi! Attack of the Clones ranks higher than A New Hope! Wow....

Threads: Luke Skywalker

I am starting up a new series of blog posts that studies the story threads left available that could tie to Episode VII. The announcement that the prior EU is firmly not canonical has now opened up the future beyond Return of the Jedi to almost limitless possibilities.

What I will attempt to do here is look exclusively at the Story Group canon - the six films and the Clone Wars series - and see what are the plausible trajectories a specific character might follow, leading into Episode VII. Let's start with the principle hero from the original trilogy, shall we?

How Does Luke Continue to Grow in His Knowledge of the Force?

"No more training do you require. Already know that what you need."

One aspect of Luke we don't see in the OT movies is how he learns more about being a Jedi without a teacher. For example, we don't know how Luke learned to move objects when we see him get his lightsaber to defend himself against the Wampa on Hoth.

Is ghost Obi Wan instructing him? I tend to think not because he only appears to Luke when he is on the verge of collapse and it was just a faint image - the first time we have seen Obi Wan since the Death Star. Some theorize that Obi Wan's Force ghost appears more strongly to Luke as he himself becomes a more powerful Jedi. Other potential sources of training could be holocrons, which was an EU creation but canonized in the Clone Wars. Also there could be Force sensitive people out there who are not Jedi but have an affinity towards those type of beliefs. I think of it like the Clone Wars Nightsisters, but good instead if evil. 

This question training is one of the chief reasons why I want to read Kevin Hearne's Heir to the Jedi when it comes out next March. It will be a canonical book so we should hopefully get some answers from this. This factoid can be a major factor in determining the trajectory of Luke's story. 

I wonder, after Return of the Jedi, if the ghostly triumvirate of Anakin, Yoda, and Obi Wan will continue to exist and give Luke council over the years leading up to Episode VII. Over the course of developing the original trilogy, Lucas toyed with the idea of having the ghost of Obi Wan disappear and merge into what is now called the Cosmic Force. Will that have happened when we see the sequel trilogy?

Does Luke Reestablish the Jedi Order?

"Luke, when gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be. Pass on what you have learned."

The EU assumed Luke would follow Yoda's request to pass this knowledge on by recreating the Jedi Order. They had him traveling around the galaxy looking for force sensitives to join him at his court of Camelot. Oops, sorry, wrong franchise. 

Seriously though, this may not be necessarily the case. If we consider Luke's actions in Return of the Jedi, we see him reject both Yoda's and Obi Wan's instructions to kill Darth Vader. Now that know what happens in the prequels and the Clone Wars, we see how the Jedi Order became corrupt and deceived. They were generals of a slave army to ensure star systems don't try to become independent. They were aggressive. They killed people. They did not embrace what Yoda would later instruct Luke that the Force was for knowledge and defence, never for attack. 

It is clear that the Yoda of the OT is different than the Yoda of the PT. The difference? Qui Gon Jinn's instruction from beyond. So in some ways we shouldn't be surprised that Luke took a different path. I contend that Yoda and Obi Wan's instruction to kill Vader was Clone Wars era thinking. They did not believe someone could be turned back to light. This is understandable because all Jedi saw attachment, and therefore strong relationships, as a bad thing that led to selfish behavior and ultimately to the dark side.

Yet what does Luke do? First, he senses good in Vader which apparently no one else (Yoda, Obi Wan, even Sidious) could either see or truly consider possible. Second, even though Luke clearly has attachment to his father and his sister, he chooses to sacrifice himself as a Jedi rather than succumb to the dark side. The Emperor did not see that coming! Lastly, Luke redeems his father and turns him back to the light by appealing to their attachment of father and son. Had Luke followed the ways of the Jedi Order, he would have failed and the Emperor would have triumphed.

I can imagine Luke researching the past of the Jedi Order with all the resources available on Coruscant and the core worlds and not like what he saw. Kyle Newman, director of Fan Boys and regular contributor to the fantastic podcast, Rebel Force Radio, has stated his belief that Luke would *not* reestablish the order. He thinks Luke will become essentially a hermit, like Yoda. I don't think that is will be the case. I think he will create some kind of Jedi organization, but not in the same form as we have been accustomed to seeing them.

Will Luke Become a Force Ghost When He Dies?

This is something I think most fans from the OT generation, like myself, have always assumed. Prior to the prequels, we thought all Jedi lived on after death in these ghost forms. Now we know that it is incredibly rare in the history of the Jedi - practically unheard of! Should we assume that the ghostly triumvirate will teach Luke this ability? Will they be allowed to do so?

Our last look at Luke Skywalker in the films shows him seeing the force ghosts of Yoda, Obi Wan, and his father as they celebrate their victory over the Emperor. We now know, thanks to the prequels and the Clone Wars, that these three are the only Jedi in the universe who can exist like this (one could argue for Qui-Gon Jinn if you want to be technical). 

How did these Jedi gain such knowledge? They were taught from beyond by Qui-Gon, under permission of the priestesses as shown in the Yoda arc for Season 6. Yoda was allowed to be taught because of the imbalance of the Force - that the light side cannot be allowed to be extinguished. But now with Vader redeemed and the Emperor gone, will the special ability still be taught? Will these Force ghosts even still exist or will they fade away into the Cosmic Force?

Will Luke still have these teachers?

Lucasfilm Finally Deals With The EU

The first book published as
new offical cannon

Huge news coming out of Lucasfilm today. They have finally come out and said that the EU is not canon. They will use it as possible source material to inspire future storytelling, but it is not part of the official continuity. This is similar to how the EU material was treated by the Clone Wars, which is now definitive canon by the way - if there was any doubt.

With that I breathe a big sigh of relief. While certain stories of the EU are great, such as the Thrawn Trilogy, there is a greater proportion of mediocre or just plain bad content out there. The thought of having the 300+ novels be all part of the canon is prohibitive for both new and old school fans to get into. Fanboy wars arguing over subtle points in obscure novels is not what Star Wars is all about. The old novels are not going away. They will continue to be published, but under the moniker of Star Wars Legends. So the authors will still get residuals. That is a nice way to classify this older non-canonical works going forward. 

Now I just hope Del Rey and Marvel publishing arms will show a little restraint and not hit us with too much new content each year. The stakes are higher now because all future publishing *will* be canonical. This will become essential reading for all passionate Star Wars fans. 

In fact, this begs the question of will this backfire for fandom? For those who have held to a G-level canon, it has been pretty easy. Just know the six films and you are done. Now it is not so clear. You have the films, the 121 Clone Wars episodes, and every new Star Wars publication across the spectrum - from adult novels to comic books to young adult fiction. Plus the new trilogy and spin-off films. It will be a lot of content to keep track of. I can already hear the obnoxious fanboys' dismissive attitude toward anyone who has not consumed evey part of this content.

Del Rey has already announced four books in the adult novel line. I think 4 books over a 12 month period is plenty. I hope they keep it this way. 

• The first book, Star Wars:A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller, will be a Star Wars Rebels lead in book out this September. 
• Then there is Star Wars:Tarkin by James Luceno featuring that baddie from Death Star I out November. 
• In January next year, we will get Kevin Hearne's Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi, which is a first person Luke story taking place between Episodes IV and V. We may get some tantalizing little character tidbits that might show up in Episode VII. 
• Then in March 2015 we will have Star Wars: Lords of the Sith by Paul Kemp, featuring the Emperor and Darth Vader teaming up. It is a buddy story the likes of which have never been seen before! Maybe?

Oh and do you think they will eventuall drop the "Star Wars:" from future book titles? It will get pretty annoying.

All this is interesting but also safe. Everything is kept within the confines of the OT. I'm wiling to bet these books were in development long before the rethinking of the EU. Perhaps there was a few tweaks of story lines but I don't think there will be much here that impacts future canon. 

We shall see!

Thrawn Trilogy as Animated Film

I have been watching the final season, The Lost Missions, of the Clone Wars on Netflix and I must say the animation and storytelling are just incredible. The quality is practically on par with what Pixar, Dreamworks, and Walt Disney Animation are currently cranking out. All of this got me thinking about the future. 

Right now we know we are getting the sequel trilogy, which starts 30 years after Return of the Jedi. We are also going to get spin-off films that we speculate will follow the Marvel Cinematic Universe approach of single character stand-alone movies interspersed with an ensemble picture. We do not know in what time periods these stand alone films will occur, but they won't necessarily be constrained by the Sequel Trilogy timeline.

Meanwhile on television, we will have the regular animated series of Rebels that takes place during the dark times leading up to Episode IV. This looks to be a fun and very kid-friendly series with an all original cast and setting.

All these developments are exciting, but wouldn't it be neat if we got an animated theatrical Star Wars film? I know it was done before with the debut of the Clone Wars series, but that was ill advised since honestly the animation wasn't very good and the team that was put together was just getting started. I dare say that had a theatrical release been held until the end of the series, it would have had a much different reception from fans and critics alike.

I believe Disney-Lucasfilm has all the creative and technical resources to create excellent animated feature films. I think that if they do pursue this type of movie, the Thrawn trilogy would be a fantastic story to bring to life on the big screen.

Why?

First, it would side-step casting issues. Disney was able to create a youthful version of Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy, but these were only a handful of scenes. Attempting this technique over the course of an entire film with main characters like Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher would be foolhardy. The alternative of trying to recast those parts with new young actors would not be accepted because, let's face it, Han, Luke, and Leia are icons. Yes, you could use a different actor to portray a young Han Solo, but the Thrawn Trilogy takes place just a short time after Return of the Jedi. Animation avoids these visual problems and you can still use the principal actors as voices or even tap into the rich talents of a wide range of voice actors. 

Second, it is continuity-safe. With Episode VII jumping 30 years into the future and knowing that the Thrawn Trilogy doesn't have galaxy-disturbing events, such as the death of a major character, this story can be easily told. I am all for rebooting the EU, but I'd say of any of the 300+ EU novels, most people would put the Thrawn Trilogy at the top the essential reading list. 

Third, it will tap into the well-known demand for movie adaptations of books. Films like Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, and Harry Potter have racked up at the box office. The Thrawn books are well-known, loved, and are New York Times best sellers. It would also be the first Star Wars production where we will know the entire story, not just the ultimate ending, which will keep the snobby fan boy critiques quieted down (if that is even possible).

Fourth, it throws a bone to the EU fans. I expect the legion of fans who have read the legion of Star Wars novels and comic books will be disappointed as vast areas of the EU continuity are erased from the Star Wars galaxy in the Disney-owned reality. It would be an olive branch to those fans and open up the possibility of future animated films looking into other remnant pieces of the EU that could be dubbed "official" by Disney-Lucasfilm.

Last, Disney knows animation. The billion dollar movie, Frozen, proves that once again. Animation provides so much creative freedom you can't get with a live action film. I would love to see the combined forces of Disney and Lucasfilm for a project like this!