Gettin' Sithy with it

[sigma7]

Okay, so I've been playing "Knights of the Old Republic" -- enjoying it thoroughly, btw -- and I think the thing I like most about it is the fleshing out of the pre-movie history. It actually answers the age-old question of who the "Sith" are. No, I don't read the novels or the comics, and I know a game isn't canonical, but that's a question that's never been even touched upon canonically. There were a lot of backstory questions I wanted the prequels to answer canonically, even though I found some of the answers quite lacking (see Fett, Boba and the whole every-stormtrooper-looks-like-Temuera-Morrison implication). KOTOR gives me background on the evolution of the Sith -- including a basic definition -- and even how the Mandalorians fit into it all, too, for which I'm grateful. But there are a few still-outstanding questions I wanted "Revenge of the Sith" to address....

-- Accents. I've been figuring that the (pseudo-)British accent is a sort of formal speech, which would explain why a few characters seem to turn it on and off (and Obi-Wan would be the type to always have it turned on, at any rate).
-- So how in the hell does a Sith Lord get himself appointed Chancellor right under the Jedis' collective nose?
-- Before daethkow says it, I will -- how the hell does Leia remember her mother? Is she hallucinating? Lying? Going all Force-y?
-- When Obi-Wan announces that, if struck down, he'll only be more powerful than ever -- where the hell did this come from? Has he been meditating for years in the desert while harassing sandpeople?
-- I thought Obi-Wan said he trained Anakin.
-- For that matter, did Palpatine arrange to have Shmi bumped off?
-- So assuming every stormtrooper's a Jango-clone -- are they all old? Are there new batches? Did they have obedience programmed in? Tell me there's at least recruiting. I need to make more Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy jokes. (And yeah, there must've been two decades of genetic drift between Obi-Wan's prime and his assertion that the blast points on the sandcrawler were too accurate for anyone but stormtroopers. By now the rejects from the Clone Trooper Maker must have two left feet, no fingers and a persistent twitch. Hell, even those they accept bang their heads on doors and emit quite unheroic Wilhelm screams.)

[Aside: I'm also still disappointed that Yoda ever picked up a lightsaber. Note that in ESB, Obi-Wan describes Yoda as a Jedi master, never as a great warrior -- that's entirely Luke's baggage and his perception of mastery. I was hoping Yoda would've proven to have transcended a need for violence with Zenlike placidity and empathy.]

I'm glad that the latest cut of ROTS answers a few of those questions, including one I'd never thought they'd get to. So an ethereal Qui-Gon (!) teaches Obi-Wan how to "merge with the Force." That's a nice touch. I could've used a few more of these instead of umpteen pod-racing and clone-marching sequences, George. You can be so good, but you can also be so bad.

Comments

[faithx5.livejournal.com]

The games are sort of canonical. I mean, the game characters and events are treated with the same sort of canonicity as the books. If you read "The Essential Chronology" (puts all the events in both movies and extended universe materials into one hit-the-highlights narrative), events that only appear in the "Jedi Knight" games are in there. It's one of my favorite things about the universe...there aren't gigantic contradictions all over the place.

*not reading the spoilers!*

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

You sure you don't wanna see what the big big event is on "24" next week? It's just a page or two away.... ::tempt tempt::

Sorry, I'm evil that way.

But yeah, I've run across some really interesting stories and characters in the games that often ring more "true" than a lot of the more recent canon material. And like you noted, the out-of-canon continuity is impressive, which is a good thing, when you're looking for backstory that you want to not be negated somewhere down the line.

Really, everything short of the Star Wars Holiday Special has been integrated well, and I still wouldn't have been too surprised to see "Life Day" pop up in one of the prequels.

[faithx5.livejournal.com]

*holds hands over ears* No!! I don't!! :p

I'm somewhere in the middle of KOTOR II (I want to say half, but it's difficult to tell). I think my favorite part is getting to see other planets first hand that only get talked about in the movies. Like Kashyyyk. And Dantooine.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I've toodled around on Kashyyyk while playing ST:Battlefront, but that's all so far. I do appreciate seeing more of the galaxy only alluded to. Wish I'd see Corellia....

Used to collect the Marvel comics -- they were pretty decent when they tried. They tried hard to steer clear of future movies and introduced their own peculiar aspects of the galaxy, few of which I think were ever canon -- but they could tell some interesting stories.

[daethkow.livejournal.com]

I'm preparing a monologue on "everything that is wrong with the prequel trilogy." Basically it boils down to sin #1 being: Hayden Christiansen.

BIG fan of KOTOR eins und zwei. Better movies than the last two movies.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Dude, my cardiac abnormalities would preclude me from even attempting a tome such as that. It pains me to see such incredible detail on the side of the effects teams and the costume designers and the production designers and for the story and dialogue to read like a seven-year-old's fanfic.

Here's a list of seven things -- not conclusive, just random, off the top of my head.

--Three goddamn words, and two of them are "Jar"
--Jake Lloyd
--WTF "Sith"? I want to hear the KOTOR explanation in the movies, dammit!
--racial stereotypes as new species
--names, from the "clever" (Nute Gunray, Lott Dod) to the moronic ("My five-year-old came up with that name!" "That's great, George, I'm sure nobody will be able to tell.") to the wonder and the glory of Kit Fisto. Can't wait for Sledge McGrointhrob and Fridge Largemeat
--Hayden Christiansen, who can act ("Shattered Glass"), apparently choosing to emote like an airhorn (reminding me of Dan getting writer's block on "Sports Night" -- "...Why did that happen?")
--podracing, ten goddamn hours of podracing

But yeah, Moosie Moo just got invited to join the Jedi in KOTOR. Its cutscenes are very cinematic. Pre-prequel cinematic. Hooked.