Horror Beyond Imagination

Sorry folks that I have been off the bloggers chair for such a long time. Watching the World Cup has been taking away most of my free time and I haven't had the right motivations to finish my piece on the Jedi Order which will be coming on it's way. Anyway let's cut the meat. 

Of all the rumors that we have seen of Episode VII, their have been some stinky ones, but none that come close to my fears of what I absolutely DO NOT want to see in the upcoming Star Wars Trilogy. This one really came close to terrorize my sanity and at the time of release and made me not want to even care about the future of Star Wars anymore. But how can I divorce myself from that? It would be like ripping a hand or something out of me. Thankfully, a well known guy from a respected Star Wars website debunked the most chilling part of the rumor. 

But anyway, here is why I consider it to be Horror Beyond Imagination, the rumor that the Inquisitors would be the villains of Episode VII, that they would try to resurrect the Sith, and that our heroes are still the Rebel Alliance and have been fighting a war for 30 years: 

1. The Prophecy of the Chosen One: Folks the truth is that whether you like this prophecy or not, it's pretty much the equivalent of Holy Trinity importance in the Star Wars universe. It's what the first six films rotated around and what arguably two of the most important arcs of the Clone Wars one way or another touched upon. This is one of the most important cruxes of the story that very few fans really understand, one which the EU certainly never did and decided to massacre it by bringing back the Emperor as a clone, having another Sith Empire take over the galaxy centuries later and so forth. So please JJ, for the love of Yoda and the Whills, DON'T BRING THEM BACK!!!!! Reducing Anakin's sacrifice to merely saving his son reduces the importance of the hero as a World Redeemer and merely makes it a family drama. It really reduces the weight and the importance of the character's act. 

2. So, Luke isn't very strong in the Force?: Here's the thing. The war between the Rebels and the Empire took about 4 years to be, in which they managed to destroy both Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, two of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. Are you seriously telling me that Luke Skywalker, a fully trained Jedi Knight, couldn't defeat a group of Force users that where probably weaker than Vader? AFTER 30 FREAKIN" YEARS? Talk about a Plot Hole the size of Jabba the Hutt. Talk about lazy and weak storytelling. 

3. What the hell was everyone Celebrating For?: So yeah, we all know that at the end of Episode VI a bunch of planets (including none other than Coruscant!) where celebrating the demise of the Empire, going so far as to bring down the statues of the Emperor and easily get rid of whatever Imperial  security was stopping them at the time. Sure, it's fairly possible the Empire didn't fall entirely, but not even in the EU did they last that long. With the Balance of the Force, it would be nice to think that the galaxy is a more peaceful and enlightened place, where war isn't breaking the toll everywhere and planets aren't getting destroyed and such. Which brings me to my next point...

4. Star Wars IS NOT meant to be a dark and depressing story at the end of the day: So you know, the generation of people in the prequels faced in the end something worse than what they could have imagined. The galaxy was left in a state of despair. But despite the fact that Star Wars deals with complex and dark issues, Star Wars has always been about seeing the goodness in people and having an optimistic outlook on life. It's very telling that when compared to many blockbusters of the last decade, Star Wars is one of the few that is life-affirming and has been for the most part, family friendly entertainment with only one film having a PG-13 rating. And contrary to many people who are so obsessed with violence and darkness, I commend George Lucas for having done that, which is something Steven Speilberg identified as what made Star Wars special, mainly it's "marvelous innocence and naivete". Making Episode VII having an apocalyptic backdrop makes the accomplishments by Luke and the Rebel Alliance worthless, ruins the beautiful ending of Jedi, and most of all isn't in accord with what Star Wars should be about. Having Luke's generation go through something just as bad, if not worse than the previous generation, is such a huge letdown and perhaps the biggest reason why the EU post Jedi was such a massive failure. 

5. OT 2.0 and so much for "Moral and Philosophical Issues": Basically what this argument amounts for is saying that if this rumor would be true, it would be basically another version of the Original films, with little regards to change the story or make it original, or even throw curveballs. It throws into question if Lucas's ideas for the Sequels are even being applied to this new series. Worst of all, it makes you think what exactly JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan have been doing for this past year writing that script, considering the fact that this plot is basically an EU fanfic. I mean, why would I even want to watch another film series about the Rebel Alliance destroying the Empire, when that is literally what we saw previously in the other trilogy?

The good news, as I guess could be said is that Eric Geller from The Force.Net was informed by an unnamed source (probably Pablo Hidalgo or someone at Lucasfilm) that the Inquisitors hell bent on resurrecting the Sith would not be the villains. However, it still leaves the Empire part of the story unknown. Several other rumors have been pointing towards the direction that an Empire, albeit changed stylistically and more modern, might be the villain of the film. This could only work within the context of the story if it is a) a New Empire inspired and created from the previous one or b) a Remnant that went into hiding until the time was right. So you know folks, let's not give up hope yet.

New Info on Star Wars Rebels

Most of you probably know already the info that was released about Star Wars Rebels in the New York Comic Con. However, I still would like to analyze and say my own opinion on the matter. 

For starters, we got to see the first look on one of the main villains of Rebels, and that will be the Inquisitor, a dark Jedi tasked by Darth Vader to hunt down the remaining Jedi Knights. 

He striked to me at first as looking too much like the Son from the Mortis Trilogy, but I later got over it to realize that the two would be very different characters. 

It's also important to note a couple of things: Pablo Hidalgo is known to have said at some point that there would be Inquisitor(s) not just an Inquisitor. Perhaps this guy will be the main focus of the show, but then it brings into question the grand-scheme of things-when will these guys be killed off? And by whom, if so few Jedi are left? It's certainly interesting to see what approach they will take, to see, if the Inquisitors are killed before A New Hope or after. 

Dave Filoni goes on to talk more about it on the video, about how it's going to be Empire-centric with it's villains. It's important to note that many Clone Wars veterans, including Joel Aron and Killian Plunkett, will be involved in the making of the show. New, as well as old vehicles and ships will make appearances in the show. Rebels will take place 14 years after Revenge of the Sith and 5 years before A New Hope.

Another interesting bit we got to know was that George Lucas's ideas for the time period would be incorporated into the show, but he would no longer be directly involved. Dave Filoni has taken the helm as the storyteller, which is a great thing, because he has now been assigned the rank of ''Master'' after 8 years of working with George in Clone Wars, and George can now go happily into retirement with Mellody and their daughter, Everest. 

One of George's ideas for the time period, would be that the Stormtroopers would be made up of ''brainwashed'' civilians, mainly because the clones were too individualistic for the Empire. Due to accelerated aging, the Jango Fett clones are no longer serving as soldiers, and are instead training the Stormtroopers, or are retired and abandoned by a galaxy that never really cared for them. All of these implications put into question the execution of Order 66, which will be further explained in the upcoming bonus content, to be released in 2014. 

Another interesting concept is the fact that much of the show will take place in Lothal, a planet that wasn't involved in the Clone Wars and is instead now being occupied by the Empire. With the promise of economic prosperity, the Empire soon becomes a military and crushing force on the planet, recruiting Stormtroopers and building TIE fighters. It's fairly possible that this show could go on to be a critique of Imperialism and Industrialization, and may touch on environmentalism, something that wasn't really explored in the Clone Wars. 

The Jedi did come to be mentioned by Hidalgo, saying that with the Inquisitors goals, ''The fact that there is one in the series...the Empire has reason to believe there are Jedi somewhere.'' Hidalgo recognized that ''There is a presence for the Jedi in the show but we are being very cognizant of the fact  that Order 66 signifies something.'' They also want to keep in mind the importance of Luke Skywalker being the only Jedi a few years after this show is set. 

That does bring to question one thing...Ahsoka. Will Ahsoka still be a Jedi, or not in this show, or will she appear? That remains to be answered, along as to which famous film characters will make an appearance. 

So far this is probably the best thing to have come out of the Disney acquisition.