Support NeoGAF

[SteveMeister]

The Jedi aren't able to see the bad coming as the growth of the Dark Side is like a cloud that impairs their vision. Lucas has said "The Phantom Menace" name refers to that.



Also, the Jedi don't know the full prophecy. There is one little detail they don't know:
Minor Revenge of the Sith spoiler

Spoiler

It is learned that in order for balance to be restored to the Force, the apprentice of the Sith Lord must fall. When the apprentice does, so will the Dark Lord. This scene may or may not make it into the final cut of Episode III. So basically, it IS Anakin who restores balance to the Force (not Luke), but to do so he must turn to the Dark Side and become the apprentice of the Sith Lord.

The full prophecy is basically "There is one who will bring balance to the Force, but in order to do so he must first become an agent of evil."

Spoiler

If that were true, then the Force would have been balanced when DARTH MAUL was killed in Episode 1. He was Palpatine's apprentice! Or by "fall" do you mean "turn to the opposite side -- i.e. evil turns to good?

Also, the Dark Side is *NOT* more powerful than the light side. Yoda says that in ESB:
Luke: Is the dark side stronger?
Yoda: No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.
Note he's saying this in Episode IV, when he's living in exile in a mud hut in the middle of a swamp.
The "problem" is that anger, fear and aggression are fuel for the Dark Side. The Jedi must always struggle against their emotions and even in the heat of battle remain calm or risk the pull of the Dark Side. But as the Light Side is yin to the Dark Side's yang, neither is really "more powerful" than the other.

As far as balance goes, you will find that the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. To some of the Jedi, "balance" means swinging the pendulum towards the light. Since it is the duty of the Jedi to uphold the light side of the Force, balance to them means an absence of evil. But not all Jedi felt that way. Besides Dark and Light, there are two other aspects to the Force -- the cosmic Force and living Force. The cosmic Force is what Yoda talks about -- an energy field that surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together. It's all about the physical -- telekinesis, seeing (albiet not always clearly) into the future, etc. The living Force on the other hand has to do with life. Connections to each other, such as Luke being able to communicate with Leia, intuition, those are of the living Force. Most of the Jedi dimiss the living Force's importance, which is why Qui-Gon was considered something of a renegade. Anyway, Qui-Gon's different beliefs might give him a different perspective on what balancing the Force is than other Jedi because his priorities were different.

That's the problem with the movies -- they BRIEFLY mention these things and don't really explain them much. Lucas knows the whole story, and he lets the book authors know what they need to to expand on the ideas, but the movies have only touched on the very surface of these issues. Maybe more will be revealed in Episode III.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

you guys are reading WAY too much into these movies.

 

[SteveMeister]

you guys are reading WAY too much into these movies.

No, most of the expanded information comes from the books. There's a lot of "official" info out there -- it's not just a set of movies.

 

[Spiritreaver]

Thanks Steve, you summed up my ideas about the living force much better than I could as well as other points. Makes much more sense that way. Though I don't entirely feel comfortable with saying both forces are equal (I meant in terms of one person's power, basically Palpatine's), but I would agree with you if you meant the cosmic power of each side.

Also to you first question, I do believe he was mentioning that latter. "Fallen" is used for when someone is in one position and then falls to a nother, usually the opposite. (Dooku was a Fallen Jedi, and so on).

Spoiler

Vader is the only sith apprentice in the films that falls to the light side and thus destroy his master.

.

Anyways, you rock.

 

[BojTrek]

I know those light-sabers Ani and Maul are using are gonna be for sale... but do you know if you can actually make contact with them... do you think they are swinging and missing?

It would suck to buy one of those things and bust it on your first swing...

 

[ManaByte]

I know those light-sabers Ani and Maul are using are gonna be for sale... but do you know if you can actually make contact with them... do you think they are swinging and missing?

It would suck to buy one of those things and bust it on your first swing...

They are making contact with them as they can withstand some abuse, but if you really whack them with your full strength they won't hold up.

 

[Phoenix]

That's the problem with the movies -- they BRIEFLY mention these things and don't really explain them much. Lucas knows the whole story, and he lets the book authors know what they need to to expand on the ideas, but the movies have only touched on the very surface of these issues. Maybe more will be revealed in Episode III.

I would hope so because it would be unreasonable to have to read the books for it to all make sense. I mean, you had 6 movies in which to explain it

 

[Prine]

Really enjoyed reading this thread.

 

[ManaByte]

Connections to each other, such as Luke being able to communicate with Leia, intuition, those are of the living Force. Most of the Jedi dimiss the living Force's importance, which is why Qui-Gon was considered something of a renegade. Anyway, Qui-Gon's different beliefs might give him a different perspective on what balancing the Force is than other Jedi because his priorities were different.

Expect that to factor into the "Jedi Spirits" thing and why Qui-Gon's voice was heard when Anakin was slaughting the Tuskins.

 

[DrLazy]

What I'm pissed off about in the sequels is they are making the coolest, most bad ass character off all time in Darth Vader into a pussy. I'd get chills when I heard the song. The man could choke a bitch from across the room. Yes I know he turned good at the end, but he was still awesome. Now he was supposed to be seduced by the Dark Side. Guess what, Lucas is going to make him go to the Dark Side for love, if I see it right. That's just wrong. They're pussifying the greatest bad character ever. Stooge is right, vince does it better.

 

[ManaByte]

What I'm pissed off about in the sequels is they are making the coolest, most bad ass character off all time in Darth Vader into a pussy. I'd get chills when I heard the song. The man could choke a bitch from across the room. Yes I know he turned good at the end, but he was still awesome. Now he was supposed to be seduced by the Dark Side. Guess what, Lucas is going to make him go to the Dark Side for love, if I see it right. That's just wrong. They're pussifying the greatest bad character ever. Stooge is right, vince does it better.

Padme has NOTHING to do with Anakin turning to the Dark Side. It is pretty much all Palpatine's doing.

 

[Synbios459]

Meh, it would've been better if it was Return of the Sith, just to parody Episode VI.

 

[Escape Goat]

Meh, it would've been better if it was Return of the Sith, just to parody Episode VI.

Do you mean parallel Episode VI? Not sure thats really a parody :/

 

[Laurent]

I know George Lucas intend to make Episode VII, IIX and IX before turning The Phantom Menace. Does anyone knows what was his official reason not to do so? Did he suddently realise that making a movie was a lot of work?

 

[ManaByte]

I know George Lucas intend to make Episode VII, IIX and IX before turning The Phantom Menace. Does anyone knows what was his official reason not to do so? Did he suddently realise that making a movie was a lot of work?

Because the events of VII, VIII and IX were condensed into what became Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

For Lucas, the Star Wars story he wants to tell ends when Luke burns Anakin's body on Endor.

 

[Laurent]

"The first Star Wars movie was one of six original stories I had written in the form of two trilogies. After the success of StarWars, I added another trilogy. So now there are nine stories. The original two trilogies were concieved of as six films of which the firstfilm was number four."

- George Lucas, 1979

"STAR WARS is really three trilogies, nine films. The first trilogy covers the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, the middle trilogy the fall of the Empire, and the last trilogy involves the rebuilding of the Republic. It won't be finished for probably another 20 years."

- George Lucas, 1980

"For the third trilogy, I don't know if I will still be alive when it comes the time to make them."

- George Lucas, 1993

"Star Wars is a saga of Good vs. Evil, divided into nine parts."

- George Lucas, 1994

"It wasn't long after I began writing StarWars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of the Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell- three trilogies- and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to make the middle story."

- George Lucas, 1995

"From the outset, I conceived Star Wars as a series of six films, or two trilogies."

- George Lucas, 1995

"The next movies are prequels. It's the story of Darth Vader. EpisodeOne is a pretty light movie- it's the introduction and everything goes downhill from there. The next ones are more about who did what to whom... Finally, there may be three more movies to conclude the epic some years down the road."

- George Lucas, 1997

"Let's just get past the first three before we worry about the last three."

- George Lucas, 1997

"I never had a story for the sequels, for the last trilogy. That's not really part of the plan at this point, and I'll be at the age where to do another trilogy would take 10 years. I'd always envisioned it as six movies. When you see it in six parts you'll understand that it really ends at part six."

- George Lucas, 1999

"When I wrote the first Star Wars film, I was determined to finish the story, the trilogy. After that, I was done, I didn't want to do this anymore. I did have an idea for a prequel and sequels after that, but then I thought I'd be doing this for another hundred years. That was not going to happen. So after the first three episodes I was ready for a break. I had a family and I wanted to do some living.

"I came back to do EpisodeI because I'd reached a point where I could tell the story I always wanted to tell in a way that I wasn't able to before because of the technology required. So I thought, this will be fun. I can tell the story any way I want, as if I were writing a book. In the other films I was constantly saying I can't do that, it's too expensive, too hard or technically impossible. I wanted to tell the story of Darth Vader because he'd become such an icon. And I was driven by being able to move around in his world technically. It's been enjoyable taking a new medium and pushing it to its limits.

"But there is no way that I'll do Episodes 7-9. After EpisodeIII, I guarantee that I'll move on."

- George Lucas, 2001
complete interview

"Episode III may not be very successful because it'll be so dark- but at least the whole thing will be finished and it will have been good to me."

- George Lucas, 2001

"Each time I do a trilogy it's ten years out of my life. I'll finish EpisodeIII and I'll be 60. And the next 20 years after that I want to spend doing something other than StarWars. If at 80 I'm still lively and having a good time and think I can work for another 10 years between 80 and 90, I might consider it. But don't count on it. There's nothing written, and it's not like I'm completing something. I'd have to start from scratch. The idea of a third trilogy was more of a media thing than it was me."

- George Lucas, 2001

"The rumors were a manifestation of the media, but it would be fun to come up with a new Star Wars trilogy when Harrison is 70 and have everyone as old people."

- George Lucas, 2003

http://theages.superman.ws/users/whills/7/

 

[ManaByte]

The storyline for Episode IX was Vader and Luke as father and son team up to defeat the Emperor while a massive ground battle takes place with Wookiees.

That was put into Episode VI with Ewoks replacing the Wookiees.

Lucas doing that was part of what caused the fallout with Gary Kurtz as Kurtz was drooling over the money he'd make on three more movies.

 

[robertsan21]

does someone have the video where they reveal the name of the new SW EP III from Comic convention

i would like to watch it