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Prequel Problems: Jar Jar Binks and the Curate’s Egg

I could name more than one (at least to me and some others) iconic track that I can immediately call to mind originating from any of the Lucas films, even if not on the same level -- "The Emperor Arrives" from Return of the Jedi, "Anakin's Betrayal" from Revenge of the Sith and "Across the Stars" from Attack of the Clones (one place where John Williams' music, no matter how brilliant, really only can do so much; "Across the Stars" literally played across a total lack of dialogue and imagery is better than what actually exists in terms of portraying Anakin and Padmé's tragic love in the films) to name the first that I can call to mind. There is no such for me for the sequels. That may be because even the most recent of the old films came out half my lifetime ago and they've had time to percolate with me while the sequels are all fairly recent, but I'm not sure I buy that -- certainly not with the top ones.

The weirdest thing about the "I don't like sand" line is that I can really understand why George Lucas must have thought that the line would work.

Padmé is talking about her very idyllic childhood, and when she mentions sand, she mentions it as one of these small things in life, the little details that puts an extra richness to everything.

Anakin, with his reply is not just communicating, but poignantly reflecting on, that he cannot relate to it, subtly bringing attention to his very tragic childhood and how his entire life has been a constant struggle. He mourns the loss of a childhood he never had, is also in a low key sense acknowledging of his stunted emotional development.

Anakin may have complained about Obi-Wan before (and admittedly it didn't make him look good doing so), but other than that, most of the conversation has been about Padmé's life the past ten years, and when Anakin is talking about how Jedis cannot love, he approaches the matter in a very theoretical matter. When Anakin says, "I don't like sand", he is letting his guard down, he is opening up.

The line probably could have worked had the love story in general been handled better.
 
The weirdest thing about the "I don't like sand" line is that I can really understand why George Lucas must have thought that the line would work.

Padmé is talking about her very idyllic childhood, and when she mentions sand, she mentions it as one of these small things in life, the little details that puts an extra richness to everything.

Anakin, with his reply is not just communicating, but poignantly reflecting on, that he cannot relate to it, subtly bringing attention to his very tragic childhood and how his entire life has been a constant struggle. He mourns the loss of a childhood he never had, is also in a low key sense acknowledging of his stunted emotional development.

Anakin may have complained about Obi-Wan before (and admittedly it didn't make him look good doing so), but other than that, most of the conversation has been about Padmé's life the past ten years, and when Anakin is talking about how Jedis cannot love, he approaches the matter in a very theoretical matter. When Anakin says, "I don't like sand", he is letting his guard down, he is opening up.

The line probably could have worked had the love story in general been handled better.

That line, by the way, works when it's delivered as "I didn't know there was this much green in the whole galaxy".
 
This is true. When I think "Star Wars music" in my head, the first three tracks that come into my head are "Binary Sunset" from the original, "The Imperial March" from The Empire Strikes Back and then "Duel of the Fates" from The Phantom Menace, which was not my first Star Wars but was my first Star Wars in theatre, as I saw it during its initial run.

I could name more than one (at least to me and some others) iconic track that I can immediately call to mind originating from any of the Lucas films, even if not on the same level -- "The Emperor Arrives" from Return of the Jedi, "Anakin's Betrayal" from Revenge of the Sith and "Across the Stars" from Attack of the Clones (one place where John Williams' music, no matter how brilliant, really only can do so much; "Across the Stars" literally played across a total lack of dialogue and imagery is better than what actually exists in terms of portraying Anakin and Padmé's tragic love in the films) to name the first that I can call to mind. There is no such for me for the sequels. That may be because even the most recent of the old films came out half my lifetime ago and they've had time to percolate with me while the sequels are all fairly recent, but I'm not sure I buy that -- certainly not with the top ones.
Agreed.

As I alluded to in the article, I have an odd relationship with Star Wars due to being more invested in the EU rather than the actual films; in particular, the track I think of (besides the ones you mention) is the one from the funeral pyre in ROTJ, not because of that scene itself, but because it was used prominently in Star Wars Supremacy (aka Rebellion). I really do think being able to use the original soundtrack with CD quality inherently elevated the Star Wars PC games of the 90s.
 
I am gobsmacked to learn Sith and Darth aren't EU things, I always assumed that's where they'd started! It's bloody obvious too in Star Wars that Darth is meant to be the man's actual first name
Belated reply as I didn't see this post till now - I had a feeling someone would have that reaction! I had the similar thing in reverse when I saw someone play Star Wars Chess for the Sega Mega CD (Thande level: significant) and saw people referring to the Emperor as "Darth Sidious". It just feels wrong to me for anyone to use that name when talking about any media made before 1999.
 
Teen Anakin does make a lot more sense of the plot, but I can see why Lucas wants Anakin to start off as the same age as a significant target demographic & to be whisked away to the amazing fantasy stuff like they'd dream about, but hanging over is "it will all go wrong." Unfortunately, turbo-revving young punk Anakin makes more sense for the later films! (Also "rhymes" with Luke, also a restless teen)

I am gobsmacked to learn Sith and Darth aren't EU things, I always assumed that's where they'd started! It's bloody obvious too in Star Wars that Darth is meant to be the man's actual first name

Darth is of course a change, but the concept of Darth Vader as a "Sith Lord" as a title rather than just an evil Jedi of some kind is so original that he is explicitly called such by two Imperial officers in part of the briefing room scene from the original that was, in the end, cut (and rightly so; while it's not actually a bad bit of exposition in itself, it screws up the pacing of the scene which is much better in its final, shorter form). You can find the uncut scene on YouTube. Though "Sith Lord" may not have always meant what it means now, Lucas clearly had some kind of idea of the title's existence and meaning from a very early stage.
 
Darth is of course a change, but the concept of Darth Vader as a "Sith Lord" as a title rather than just an evil Jedi of some kind is so original that he is explicitly called such by two Imperial officers in part of the briefing room scene from the original that was, in the end, cut (and rightly so; while it's not actually a bad bit of exposition in itself, it screws up the pacing of the scene which is much better in its final, shorter form). You can find the uncut scene on YouTube. Though "Sith Lord" may not have always meant what it means now, Lucas clearly had some kind of idea of the title's existence and meaning from a very early stage.
As I said, though, evidently this wasn't communicated to the writers. Which is not surprising considering plenty of other things that were either cut scenes or early draft stuff in Star Wars went in very different directions. (I think one obscure thing from the EU bizarrely borrowed from an abandoned draft of ROTJ in which the Empire is building two (2) Death Stars, and originally Luke was going to seemingly join the Emperor but betray him and use them to destroy Had Abaddon Coruscant, because killing a trillion people is OK if it's the enemy capital apparently. It was just left as a vague reference to the Empire starting to build two Death Stars at once somewhere.)
 
As I said, though, evidently this wasn't communicated to the writers. Which is not surprising considering plenty of other things that were either cut scenes or early draft stuff in Star Wars went in very different directions. (I think one obscure thing from the EU bizarrely borrowed from an abandoned draft of ROTJ in which the Empire is building two (2) Death Stars, and originally Luke was going to seemingly join the Emperor but betray him and use them to destroy Had Abaddon Coruscant, because killing a trillion people is OK if it's the enemy capital apparently. It was just left as a vague reference to the Empire starting to build two Death Stars at once somewhere.)

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if trillions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

"What did they say?"

"Yeah, way to go, Hero! Thanks a lot!"
 
Darth is of course a change, but the concept of Darth Vader as a "Sith Lord" as a title rather than just an evil Jedi of some kind is so original that he is explicitly called such by two Imperial officers in part of the briefing room scene from the original that was, in the end, cut (and rightly so; while it's not actually a bad bit of exposition in itself, it screws up the pacing of the scene which is much better in its final, shorter form). You can find the uncut scene on YouTube. Though "Sith Lord" may not have always meant what it means now, Lucas clearly had some kind of idea of the title's existence and meaning from a very early stage.

Yes, the name “Sith” was already there in earlier drafts of the story.

Until the recent GREAT REBELLION,
the JEDI BENDU were the most
feared warriors in the universe.
For one hundred thousand years,
generations of JEDI perfected their
art as the personal bodyguards of
the emperor. They were the chief
architects of the invincible
IMPERIAL SPACE FORCE which expanded
the EMPIRE across the galaxy,
from the celestial equator
to the farthest reaches of the GREAT RIFT.

Now these legendary warriors are
all but extinct. One by one they have
been hunted down and destroyed as
enemies of the NEW EMPIRE by a ferocious
and sinister rival warrior sect,
THE KNIGHTS OF SITH.​
 
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