Another little sneak peak of my “Star Wars 1999” side project, which is a remake of the prequels only using SW information prior to Lucas’s prequels.
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#star warsA brief examination of George Lucas’s prequels and the purpose of Star Wars ‘99
There’s no shortage of explanations as to why George Lucas’s Star Wars prequels are considered a failure, but I personally believe the usual culprits (execution, screenwriting) are symptoms a more fundamental...
I’ve started a new Tumblr blog! It’s called Star Wars ‘99, and it’s an ongoing graphic novel project that re-imagines the prequels as if nothing Star Wars has happened since 1999. I’ve been working on this for over four years now, and decided now was the time to start sharing it!
There will be weekly updates of concept art and the like for a while, and then the actual comic series will start!
Here are some common questions I get about Star Wars: 1999
What is Star Wars: 1999?
It’s a personal project of mine that remakes the Star Wars prequels using only canonical information prior to Lucas’s prequels, as well as the 1997 “special editions.” Technically it should be called “Star Wars: 1997,” but 1999 has a ring to it and anyway, it’s a tentative title.
Everyone knows the prequels were horrible, but why a total remake?
George Lucas’s prequels are, in my opinion, completely unsalvageable if your intent is to make a coherent continuation of the Star Wars series. What I mean is that beyond poor scripting and filmmaking, the prequels actually undermine the existing mythology or directly contradict existing facts in the original films. My theory is that they’re mostly a symptom of lazy research and screenwriting on Lucas’s part. Examples include:
Some of these aren’t contradictions outright, but are still serious deviations from themes previously set up. While I know that there have been some talented writers who have done a decent job of retconning these contradictions (especially the 1,000 vs 25,000 years one), I feel that in order to make the prequels work, it’s best to scrap it all.
If you’re throwing out everything Lucas did since 1997, what’s your source material?
I’m mostly just using the original films. There’s actually a lot to go on, and if I need extra material I’m primarily going through the Dark Horse Star Wars comics of the early 90s like Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi. Visually I am holding to the original aesthetic established by Ralph McQuarrie, and heavily reference many of his unused concept painting for the original films.
Otherwise, I’m just making it up and trying to create a solid Star Wars trilogy that captures the sense of adventure and depth of the originals!
What’s the overall plot? Who is the main character?
I don’t want to give too much away just yet, but just as the original films focused on rebels defeating the Empire, the prequel story is about the heroes of the Republic defeating their enemies during the Clone Wars (a conflict that has no connection to Lucas’s other than the name). While the Empire will be established during this time, I’ll be keeping the political elements in the background, much like the original films.
The hero in all three stories is Obi Wan Kenobi, who is going through many ordeals as he both fights for the Republic and also deals with a growing Galaxy that seems to have no place for the mystical Jedi. Anakin Skywalker is also in there, but he is mostly in a supporting role with screen time on par with Han Solo.
What form is this going to take when it’s finished?
Good question! For now, I’m mostly just scripting it and doing the visual designs. I have no intention of making a film or anything profitable (for obvious copyright reasons), but it may eventually take the form of a comic series that I’ll put online. This is not something I get to work on very often due to my professional duties on my own comic, Dresden Codak, so it’ll get done when it’s done. It’s mostly a therapy project to deal with how awful those films were.
I hope that answers some of the bigger questions!
Some assorted Jedi and sketches from my Star Wars: 1999 project. Couple notes about Jedi in my version of the prequels: there is no Jedi Order or really even a recognizable council, nor do they wear robe uniforms and all carry lightsabers as they do in Lucas’s prequels. They’re a bit more diverse, a little more like a cross between wandering samurai and the Knights Templar, with enclaves and bases spread throughout the galaxy.
These Jedi, from left to right:
Previous SW: 1999 posts here and here.
This’ll be my last Star Wars: 1999 post for a long while, I hope you enjoy it. Here are some characters that may be a little more familiar (well, some):
The new Star Trek actually has me more excited about what J.J. Abrams could do to make some good Star Wars movies again. More importantly, Disney now technically has the power to remake those terrible, terrible prequels!
With that in mind, I thought I’d share again my old project, Star Wars 1999, which re-imagines a prequel trilogy only using canon material before Lucas’s actual (awful) prequels were made. Also, the visuals are based almost entirely on Ralph McQuarrie’s early and/or discarded designs from the original trilogy.
Check out the link for more details, I wrote quite a lot!
There is a contradiction of approach to the Force between the original Star Wars trilogy and the prequel trilogy, and it begins with midi-chlorians. Everyone hates midi-chlorians, but what makes them so offensive isn’t actually their half-hearted science, it’s that they introduce classism...
(Warning: my review has lots of spoilers!)
Star Wars has a problem, or, more accurately, the popular interpretation of Star Wars has a problem. Dismissals of Star Wars as being preoccupied with larger-than-life heroics, chosen ones, and destinies are common. The problem with this is that Star Wars, as a film series, has always been about how all of those things are terrible. Individualism and romanticism are always presented as chauvinistic and antithetical to the common good. Whether it’s the growing unity and cooperation of the Rebel Alliance, the catastrophic authoritarianism of the prequel Jedi, or the negligence of the New Republic, success and failure in every Star Wars film is measured by whether or not characters embrace and cultivate collective action. The Last Jedi follows firmly in this tradition, differing only from its predecessors in that it’s even more explicit. To quote the revolutionary Rose Tico, “That’s how we’re gonna win, not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
(Warning: my review has lots of spoilers!)
Star Wars has a problem, or, more accurately, the popular interpretation of Star Wars has a problem. Dismissals of Star Wars as being preoccupied with larger-than-life heroics, chosen ones, and destinies are common. The problem with this is that Star Wars, as a film series, has always been about how all of those things are terrible. Individualism and romanticism are always presented as chauvinistic and antithetical to the common good. Whether it’s the growing unity and cooperation of the Rebel Alliance, the catastrophic authoritarianism of the prequel Jedi, or the negligence of the New Republic, success and failure in every Star Wars film is measured by whether or not characters embrace and cultivate collective action. The Last Jedi follows firmly in this tradition, differing only from its predecessors in that it’s even more explicit. To quote the revolutionary Rose Tico, “That’s how we’re gonna win, not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.”
This is a fascinating take, and one which I mostly agree with enthusiastically. But I do disagree about Rey’s characterization. While the blog post notes Kylo Ren’s failure to sway Rey, it doesn’t note the more important failure to sway - Rey’s utterly disastrous failure to sway Kylo Ren.
That is the defining failure of The Last Jedi, and I think it’s important to understand why Rey fails. I do not agree that Rey has achieved a more nuanced view of her heroes. She hasn’t yet experienced much of the world outside of the harsh live-and-let-die meritocracy of her home world. Remember that she wan’t born a slave like Anakin, who would never have any opportunities no matter how hard he worked. Nor was she raised like Luke, who had a supporting loving family and could look forward to a new life of adventure just by waiting until he was old enough to apply for the Imperial Academy. No, Rey grew up with no one to take care of herself but herself, and she had gotten pretty darn good at it. She did have a path toward greater adventure, one which she’d have to work for by being tougher and smarter and more hard working than the next guy.
Rey has lived and thrived in this meritocracy her whole life. So, she is naturally inclined to equate greatness with worthiness. The great heroes she idolizes? Of course they must be worthy and tougher and smarter and more hard working than the next guy. Rey believes this unquestioningly.
Quintessentially, Rey has a similar world view as Obi-Wan, but whereas Obi-Wan was swept into a privileged ivory tower as a toddler, Rey had to work to get ahead. She has a flawed hierarchical view of the world, but she comes by it in a way that’s more understandable and more sympathetic as a character.
But it nevertheless leads to the same tragic failure - both Rey and Obi-Wan dismiss and ignore poor native yokels. They both concentrate their attention on important people. And in doing so, they fail to form any sort of ideological justification for the “good guys”. The only time Obi-Wan tries to improve the life of some unimportant person is when he compels a drug pusher to “rethink” his life. Obi-Wan expects that petty criminal to pull himself up by his own bootstraps, rather than doing anything about the corrupt rigged system that limited the life opportunities available to him. One suspects Rey may have a similar attitude…for now.
Rey isn’t Obi-Wan, who was set in his ways and already thought he knew everything already at his young age. No, Rey is uncertain about many things, even if she has hubris in some other areas. She has much to learn, and she knows she has much to learn.
So Rey failed to way Kylo Ren, because she had no ideological argument to justify why the Resistance was any better than the First Order. This reflects the way Obi-Wan’s “You’re on your own” attitude failed to impress Anakin. Neither Rey nor Obi-Wan had any argument to justify why the “good guys” were good. But Rey, I think will learn better. If Finn can learn from Rose what makes the Resistance a worthy cause, Rey can learn also.
Dang, that’s really good! I do think Rey comes out of TLJ with a more balanced view of the Jedi, but her arc is much more substantial and interesting than I gave it credit.
I do think Rey is self-reliant to a fault, leading to her problems and her elitism, though I think “thriving in a meritocracy” on Jakku might be taking it a bit far, especially when the price of her labor is arbitrary (the same junk yielding different food portions on a whim). That said, Rey’s merit-obsession is evident and central to her flaws.
Also I’d say Rey’s failure isn’t so much a failure to turn Kylo Ren, but rather a failure to think Kylo Ren *can* r should be turned. She’s basically in an emotionally abusive relationship with him, it’s not on her to fix him. She makes the right call at the end to shut the door on him.
A key component to correctly fighting fascists is to not hope fascists will come around, but instead look to recruit/mobilize people who sympathize with your cause. Rey’s fixation on Kylo Ren being a “last hope” is a massive blunder. He’s not Vader, nor (ironically) was Vader’s “turn” what defeated the Empire.
If you’re following the Star Wars ‘99 project, you’re probably also interested in The Force Awakens. Without getting into plot details, I’d like to offer my thoughts, and how the release of this film may affect SW ‘99.
The Spirit of Star Wars
Star Wars is one of the most accessible and influential modern fantasy stories, and I think it’s actually only partly because of the films themselves. Despite their influence, the original trilogy isn’t all that impressive from a filmmaking perspective. While I’d consider The Empire Strikes Back a masterpiece, it’s actually an anomaly in the franchise. A New Hope is stilted, poorly edited, and sometimes clunky, and Return of the Jedi is an uneven tornado of last-minute script revisions and merchandising cash-ins. And yet, these movies are important to me and countless other people, because their spirit was unlike anything else. The essence of what Star Wars created was something new and unique, and it allowed for decades of amazing science fiction and fantasy attached to the franchise. A film doesn’t have to be “perfect” (whatever that even means) for it to have an impact on you.
The reason so many fans hated the prequels, I believe, has less to do with the filmmaking (which was still objectively worse than any of the originals) and more to do with the lack of spirit. The fire was gone, and everything felt lazily and cynically stapled together to cash in on nostalgia and brand loyalty. There was no heart and soul.
Thankfully, J.J. Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan, and many other people decided to correct this.
Sharing the Star Wars Spirit With More People
The Force Awakens is probably the best Star Wars film next to The Empire Strikes Back, but more importantly, it recaptures the sense of wonder and adventure to share with a new generation. It has lovable and engaging heroes, compelling villains, and an immersive world that’s never over-explained.
Equally important is the diversification of the cast and intended audience. The original Star Wars films were largely a fantasy aimed at white men (Leia’s essentially the only woman in the series, and even she ran out of things to do after A New Hope). This obviously doesn’t mean that there aren’t countless non-white-male fans of Star Wars, but this is the first time one of the films has actually made people besides white men its focus. Expanding who you actively include in an allegedly “universal” story should be a given, but I’m glad it’s finally happening.
What This Means for Star Wars 1999
With this new film, the tone and direction of the franchise has changed. Since the prequels and up until recently, Star Wars fandom has been divided between George Lucas apologists and people trying to redefine or recontextualize the canon, with Star Wars ‘99 being in the latter camp.
The problem is both attitudes dealt with the past, and The Force Awakens means Star Wars is now, with so many new people becoming fans, firmly focused on the future. This is the direction Lucasfilm is taking in a general sense, too, and I do find myself questioning the relevance of my project. Star Wars is good again, and the continuity stain of the prequels seems a lot less important than it did even a few months ago.
I don’t plan on cancelling the project or anything like that, at least for now, but I am considering retooling the story and scope to better fit with what Star Wars has actually become. This may involve distancing my story from the “prequels” entirely, and instead framing them as the ancient stories of the Jedi. Tales of the Jedi isn’t canon anymore, so they’d actually fit very well as a new substitute.
Anyway, I’ll keep everyone posted. And go watch the movie!
Here’s my spoiler-free review of The Force Awakens.
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