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The BS of Star Wars SPECULATION SPOILER ALERT: These pages contain a good bit of speculation about what will happen in Episodes II and III. No inside info of course -- just attempts to put 2 and 2 together. So if you think speculation might spoil your experience with the upcoming films, well...move along. In all the years since I first viewed the Original Star Wars Trilogy (OT), I’ve never been satisfied that I understand the Big Story (BS, tm) of Star Wars. For me, the BS in Star Wars comprises those critical parts of the tale that Lucas leaves to our imagination -- that he forces us to infer -- and it is those parts of Star Wars that fascinate me most. I seriously doubt that I’d still be interested in the story of Luke Skywalker and Anakin and Obi-Wan and all the others if it weren’t for the mystery aspect of the saga. I’d like to figure out such things as who these people are, where they came from, what the Force is, and other such things, if I can. Also, I’ve never thought I understood precisely what happened at the end of the OT. For example, I’d like to understand, when the unmasked Vader keeps saying to Luke, "You were right," exactly what he is saying Luke was right about. At various times I’ve blamed my puzzlement on either my inattention to details or Lucas’s shortcomings as a storyteller, but until recently I’d never really given much effort to figuring things out. Still, I’ve always thought that if I just carefully paid attention to all the OT’s references to prior events and the nature of the Force and so forth, I could reach some pretty logical conclusions about the BS. A few months ago, one of the more thoughtful contributors to the rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc newsgroup (RASSM), a Scottish fellow who calls himself Policrat, initiated a thread that made me stop and really think about all this again, and I decided to do something I’d been planning to do for a long time. I sat down with the Special Edition trilogy on LaserDisc and scanned through the three original movies, listening carefully to every discussion I could find that offered hints about the backstory. And to insure I paid attention to every word, I transcribed the conversations as best I could, typing them into a Word document for later reference. This process not only forced me to listen to what was being said, but also to take in vocal inflections, sound effects, musical cues, and the actors’ body language. I enjoyed the process; I did it for me -- nobody else -- but if anyone else can glean something interesting or helpful from my efforts, that’s just great. If it all seems too much, or too pointless, or if my conclusions seem obvious or totally off the wall, well just ignore me. As I said, I’ve done this only to scratch a personal itch. (OK, make your little joke. Yes, it would have been simpler to apply some Preparation H. Having said that, you can go about your business -- move along.) I used the novelizations to help me understand words and phrases that were difficult to pick out of the soundtrack. Sometimes this worked nicely, as when I needed help spelling words like "Bocce" and "Tosche." At other times the dialogue in the films differed markedly from the dialogue in the books, and I could not quite understand what I was hearing. In those cases, I guessed at the dialogue, and put the questionable word or phrase in brackets with a question mark [xxxxxx?]. And another thing: In comparing the book dialogue to the film dialogue, I also discovered some interesting discrepancies. For instance, in one scene in ANH, a character refers to the Force as a "religion." The same character in the same scene in the book refers to the Force as a "mythology." In another scene, shortly after meeting Luke Skywalker, See Threepio tells him that his previous master (and Artoo’s) was "Captain Antilles." In the novelization he says their former master was "Captain Colton." For the purpose of my transcripts, then, I decided to take a purist’s view and regard the films as the only canon. Where there were differences, I went with the films as best I could. I hope I’ve included a transcript of every scene in the OT that offers hints about the BS, but I’m certainly not ready to claim my transcriptions are complete. If anyone can suggest additional scenes that offer clues, I’d be very appreciative. Also, information from Episode I is almost completely absent from this effort. Why? Because I don’t own a copy of Episode I. Waiting on that DVD, doncha know. So if anyone wishes to provide Episode I information for this document, I’d be very appreciative. If not, I’ll do it myself later this year when the DVD is released <Bill grins wryly>. As I made my transcriptions, I concluded each major scene with personal comments on what I think the scene reveals about the BS. All of my comments assume that Lucas was being straight with us when he indicated that ANH has always been just one part of a much larger story that was already firmly established when the original movie was filmed. It’s certainly possible, though, that Lucas has been developing his story as he’s gone along, and some of the dialogue that seems significant in the OT will be rendered nonsensical by The Phantom Menace (TPM) and the upcoming films. But at this point in time (May, 2001) I prefer to believe that eventually the six films will fit together seamlessly; that some OT dialogue we think we understand now will take on new, exciting meanings; and that the first three films will add to the enjoyment of the OT for future audiences who experience Star Wars by watching all six films in numerical order. That’s what I prefer to believe. Yep, that’s what I prefer. Some of the comments and conclusions expressed in my document will seem completely obvious to any fan of the OT, but I’ve included them just for the record. Some of my comments and conclusions will also no doubt prove to be completely wrong, but they’re MY conclusions, and until further notice I happen to like them. I’m always open to other points of view, of course. I’d be very interested in reading anybody else’s interpretations of the passages I’ve transcribed -- Have I gotten things wrong? Missed something important? Should have included additional passages that pertain to the BS? I’d really appreciate it if someone could shed some light on the dialogue I couldn’t make out after listening over and over. The transcriptions and my comments occupy more than 50 pages of Microsoft Word text. So rather than post the entire thing on RASSM <Bill hears the distant sound of hearty huzzahs>, I’ve broken it into digestible sections and posted it here: http://users.rcn.com/weanderson. If you’re reading this on RASSM and you’d like to see the entire thing, go to the website and download and read and then come back to RASSM and criticize and flame to your heart’s content. And just in case you aren’t interested in the whole thing, here’s a list of the some of the conclusions that seemed most interesting to me. All the evidence and/or logical arguments I can offer for these conclusions are provided on the website:
Bill Anderson
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