by Shawn Wells

Created on: July 01, 2010

I was a Star Wars fan back when I could lay down on the back dash of my father’s car at the drive-in.  Star Wars was just released, and it was the second part of a double feature.  I was hooked right away.

It goes without saying that Star Wars was one of the most influential movies of its time.  It was a genre changing film, setting the bar for the science fiction films to follow.  The special effects set standards that no one else had met at the time.  And the sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, continued the storyline in bigger and better ways to a satisfying conclusion.  They were movies you didn’t have to be a science fiction geek to enjoy.

Then comes the “prequels.”  George Lucas, genius that he is, realized there was much more story here to tell and that people wanted to see that story.  I just wish he had asked for some input from his fans before producing these particular sequels.

There are several small plot line holes now in the series if you look at them in chronological order.  Not big holes, not things that can’t be explained away, and Lucas actually did a good job in making the end of the third movie meet the beginning of the fourth (A New Hope as its come to be called).  Wiping C-3PO’s mind was a good and necessary touch to explain why the droid didn’t remember anything of what he had done in the first three films.

With all this praise being heaped on the movies, however, there is one glaring problem in the whole thing now.  Either Jedi have incredible powers, or they don’t.

You have to be careful when you create characters that have near god-like powers.  It’s difficult to make them appear human, to let the audience identify with them.  Luke Skywalker’s character had use of the Force and a lightsaber, but his powers were limited.  So, it appeared, were Darth Vader’s.  But look at the Jedi in the prequels: They can burn through solid steel walls with their lightsabers.  They can sense just about anything happening around them.  Leap tall buildings.  Fight off entire squads of robot soldiers by themselves.  Practically unstoppable.

Except, they are very stoppable.  A whole temple full of Jedi is put down by ordinary clone troopers and one Jedi (Anakin).  A whole temple’s worth?  That should have been enough to decimate a planet.  Why don’t the Jedi use the Force to throw things at their opponents all the time?  They do it sometimes to good effect, then other times it’s like they forget they can do it.  Why not use the Force to pull the weapons out of the hands of their enemies?  Apparently it’s easy to forget they can do this too.  Most of the enemy combatants in the prequels are droid soldiers.  Why don’t the Jedi just crush them like tin cans with the Force?  (“Jedi!  Blast ‘em!...erp*crush*”)

Of course, this wouldn’t have made a very dramatic movie if the Jedi had stayed true to form.  They would have walked through the Droid Armies in a few minutes and there would have been no war.  Nothing for them to be worried about, nothing for us to identify with.  And therein is the problem with giving your characters ultimate power.

George Lucas, genius that he is, is laughing all the way to the bank.

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