For all you "Star Wars" fans complaining that Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi” wasn’t close enough to the fanfiction you wrote, it could have
been so much worse.
No one
was a fan of the whole midichlorians plot in Episode 1, AKA “The Phantom
Menace.” Midichlorians, if you forget, are microscopic symbiotic life things
that live inside Jedis and allow them to detect the Force. Anakin’s
midichlorians were off the charts, which is why he was recruited to be a Jedi.
New info from “Star Wars” creator George Lucas revealed he had big plans for
another midichlorian plot in the third and final trilogy, but was left out of
Disney’s plans. Bullet dodged, we did.
Lucas, who wrote and directed the prequel movies, was going to
dive further into this weird little subplot if he had been the one to wrap up
the Skywalker saga, but he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, as well as the rights to the "Star Wars" universe. Disney quickly put his existing ideas in the
circular file and recruited J.J. Abrams to tell his story of Rey and Kylo Ren, a
girl with the Force and the Skywalker/Solo offspring who turned to the dark
side.
In the companion book to the AMC series, “James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction,” Lucas revealed details for the first time:
Unhandled
Though I’ve always been curious about how Lucas would have
concluded the series, this is not what I was expecting. And, he's right: I do
hate it.
In the book, Lucas goes on to explain more about how Whills,
the Force and midichlorians are all connected:
Unhandled
Lucas has been publicly salty about his reaction to “The
Force Awakens” (Episode 7), Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed in his new book, “The
Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned From 15 Years as CEO of The Walt Disney
Company."
Iger wrote that “just prior to the global release, Kathy [Kennedy, Lucausfilm
president] screened ‘The Force Awakens’ for George. He didn’t hide his
disappointment. ‘There’s nothing new,’ he said. In each of the films in the
original trilogy, it was important to him to present new worlds, new stories,
new characters and new technologies. In this one, he said, ‘There weren’t
enough visual or technical leaps forward.'”
Kennedy, who has known Lucas since they collaborated on “Raiders
of the Lost Ark” responded in Rolling Stone to Iger’s book with a more sympathetic prospective. “I think there’s plenty
of examples where people create something that is fundamental to who they are,
where it’s difficult letting go and watching that become something different.
So I think initially, that was difficult for George -- I don’t think he
anticipated how hard that would be.”
She went on to say that Abrams came into the new movies
with his own perspective. “Every director who comes into a movie has to make
something their own; they have to find themselves in the storytelling. And then
that’s going to become a different point of view. And I think that’s all George
was reacting to.”
It’s not all sour grapes for Lucas. He was recently brought
in by Abrams to edit the final Skywalker film, “The Rise of Skywalker,” which
premieres Dec. 20.
“He had a lot of things to say about the nature of the
Force, the themes that he was dealing with when he was writing the movies,” Abrams told Total Film. “Yes, there were some conversations about Midi-chlorians -- he loves his Midi-chlorians. But it was a very helpful thing. Sitting with him
is a treat, just to hear him talk, because it’s f---ing George Lucas talking
about 'Star Wars.' I always feel it’s a gift to hear him talk about that
stuff. Because the effect that he had on me at 10 years old is utterly
profound."
I’m glad that Lucas has found balance in the Force, but I’m
also glad new faces have been brought in. If not,
we might never have gotten Kylo Ren’s high-waisted pants or baby Yoda. I’m
guessing that microscopic organisms aren’t nearly as adorable.