I have thought about Star Wars a bunch recently. The Rise of Skywalker was good, but not a satisfactory ending. Then I started thinking “what if Disney called me and wanted to do a Star Wars reboot, how would I make it work?”
Episode I: A New Hope
The crawl starts by telling us how the Galactic Empire has dominated the citizens of the Galaxy for almost five hundred years. They are led by the evil Emperor Palpatine and his powerful Sith lords.
Allow me to explain my thinking here. The thing that has always bothered me has been the time scale. The Emperor rises up and conquers an entire galaxy in a few years (okay, when you watch the prequels, he does it by slow takeover). Did the average person really care who was in charge? Also, establish that Palpatine has been around the entire time and many fear his evil power and think he cannot die.
Back to the crawl…it goes on to say that the Jedi, the sworn enemies of the Sith, have been in hiding and helping to build a Rebel Alliance. The Alliance has dealt their first blow to the Empire and Princess Leia of Alderaan manages to steal the plans for a terrifying new weapon. She must get the plans to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine…
So the end of the crawl would be similar and the opening of the movie stays the same. That iconic shot of ship and then the enormous Star Destroyer in pursuit…yeah, definitely keeping that. I would change Leia’s meeting with Vader a bit. No mention of the Senate, just that she is a member of the royal family on Alderaan, Vader cuts her off and says he knows this ship fled the Battle of Scarif (we can keep Rogue One as is) and that Alderaan is part of the Alliance. I think this would be a great time to see him use the Force and attempt to pry the location of the plans from her mind.
The way we meet Luke and the droids should stay the same. The only thing I would change is when we meet Luke, his last name needs to be the same as Owen (change it from Lars, Luke Lars sounds dumb). I would change the relationship between Luke and his uncle, make Owen seem more loving. Also, we need to learn at some point that Owen is Obi-Wan Kenobi’s half-brother (more on that in a second). Maybe that is something Obi-Wan reveals to Luke when he tells him about his father dying. Something like “your father fought with me against the Empire, he was the best pilot I ever knew and a great Jedi. He was killed by my apprentice, Darth Vader. I brought you here to stay with my half-brother, Owen. Your real name is Luke Skywalker.”
Once that is out of the way, then R2 shows his message. Obi-Wan says that he has just recently returned to Tatooine, that he had been captured awhile back by the Sith and was tortured to give up the location and names of the Rebel Alliance members. This can be the spin-off movie/series about Obi-Wan. More on that in a second.
The Empire kills Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, Luke says he will go with Obi-Wan to Alderaan. The old Jedi Master says that Luke needs to train in the ways of the Jedi and that he is sorry that he took so long to begin his training. He was on his way to take Luke from Owen when he was captured by Darth Maul (again, more on that in a second), but that he knew Owen would instruct Luke in the basics of the Force (I think early in the movie when we meet Luke and Owen, we see Luke reaching out and feeling for moisture veins in the soil, something Owen has taught him).
This is when they meet Han Solo and Chewbacca, who agree to take them to Alderaan. I would keep all of that stuff the same. And Han Solo would definitely shoot Greedo first.
Quick aside. One of the things I would change in my reboot is the nature of hyperspace travel. The rules need to be somewhat set, obviously it is faster than light travel, but it would still take time to travel across the galaxy. If it did not take awhile, why would Obi-Wan and Luke start practicing with a lightsaber on-board the Millenium Falcon? It needs to be consistent during all of the movies.
During the training and travel scene, when Alderaan is destroyed by the Death Star, the only thing I would change is having Luke also feel what Obi-Wan feels. Maybe that is the moment that Obi-Wan realizes that Luke is more powerful than he initially believed. When they come out of hyperspace, they are captured by the Death Star and we have the rescue of Princess Leia. The battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader needs to be epic, like in the video from that EFX company. Obi-Wan dies and the Falcon is able to escape, but they are tracked. Again, I keep the whole Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the Death Star.
Episode II: The Empire Strikes Back
We learn during the crawl that the Emperor is furious with the destruction of his Death Star and has punished Lord Vader for his failure. Seeing the victory of the Alliance, many planets begin to join them against the Empire. The movie then opens with Vader’s Super Star Destroyer and he is kneeling before the holovid of the Emperor, but in the background we see Darth Maul, Darth Tyranus, and maybe a few others (some of the Inquisitors from Rebels). The Emperor tells Vader the same thing as before about the son of Anakin Skywalker and that he must perish or join the Sith.
I would keep the movie almost identical, except that when Luke arrives on Dagobah and meets Yoda, we learn that the old Jedi Master has been training Jedi here for years. He is not in exile, he is trying to keep hope alive. Obi-Wan brings him Force-sensitive kids when he can find them and Master Yoda gives them as much training as he can before they go out to fight the Empire. He tells Luke that he battled the Emperor once before and it nearly cost him his life. They train and Luke ends up rushing off to rescue Han and Leia. He loses his hand and nearly dies fighting Darth Vader, who reveals himself to be Luke’s father.
The movie ends with Luke heading to Jabba’s planet (can we get a new planet, does everything have to happen on Tatooine?) to prepare for the Han Solo rescue.
Episodes III and IV: The Rise and Fall of Skywalker
The movie starts with Luke meditating and continuing his training. He opens his eyes to see the Force ghost of Obi-Wan standing there. Luke asks why he lied to him about his father and as the ghost begins to explain about Anakin Skywalker, we get a flashback. The entire movie is the prequels condensed. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn find this boy, who has intense raw Force ability and they rescue him from his home.
I do not know how to change his story though. I guess you keep that he falls in love with Padme and they marry. She is pregnant and becomes sick, which is when the Emperor reaches out to him. Also, make sure we see flashes of his anger throughout the movie and then have the Emperor seduce him with the idea of saving her through the Dark Side. Obviously it fails and she dies (maybe have Obi-Wan interrupt whatever he was attempting). They battle and Kenobi leaves his friend for dead.
During this part of the movies, we learn about the Sith. Get rid of the Rule of Two. We learn that the Sith Lords hate each other and constantly try to gain favor of the Emperor. Darth Vader while the newest of the Sith, wants to impress his new master and he begins hunting the Jedi that Yoda has trained. We see him battling many different Jedi Knights and killing them all. Maybe there should be some kind of Force mind-trick that wipes a Jedi’s memory of the location of Yoda, which is why the Sith want Kenobi so badly, since he is the only one who knows where they Jedi are trained. This quickly puts Vader above the highest Sith (Darth Tyranus and Darth Maul).
This would be where my story needs the most work. But I think this story being a flashback from Obi-Wan to Luke would work, which would also be useful information for Luke later.
Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi
Luke rescues his friends from Jabba the Hutt and we learn that the Emperor is building a second Death Star (hey, why build one, when you can build two for twice the money…isn’t that the line from Contact?). Luke heads to Dagobah to seek help from Master Yoda and to complete his training before facing off against the Emperor and the Sith.
Once there, we have a similar Yoda death scene. This time though, before he dies he gives Luke some information. First, he gives him a way to connect to any of the Jedi Knights still alive that Yoda has trained. Second, he tells him that Padme gave birth to two children and that Obi-Wan took the boy to his half-brother on Tatooine and their friend Bail Organa took the girl to Alderaan. Luke realizes that Leia is his sister.
Luke then sends out the message to the Jedi that the Emperor and the Sith are at their weakest point. The Jedi Order must band together and defeat evil once and for all. At the meeting for the attack on the new Death Star, a bunch of Jedi Knights show up and volunteer to help Luke (maybe twenty or so). Before you ask where they have been, let me explain. They have been fighting the Empire in their own ways. Yoda has tasked them each with different missions and they have never known about each other (easier to keep them all alive).
The Jedi and Rebels are ambushed on Endor by Tyranus and Maul. The Ewoks help them out while Luke battles his father on the Death Star. The Jedi are able to defeat the Sith lords (barely, many are killed in the battle). During the fight with Vader, Luke reveals that his mother was not killed by Obi-Wan, but instead by the Emperor. They use some shared Force trick to see the truth and as the Emperor unleashes his power on Luke, his father turns on his master throwing him down the shaft.
The movie ends with the celebration, but then we pan back to Endor, where the wreckage of the Death Star has come crashing down. One of the minor Sith lords is seen combing through the pieces when he hears laughter. He moves a piece of metal and the Emperor is there, but badly hurt, but still cackling.
A few minor things here and there that I would change…
-Keep the Force mysterious. I like Yoda’s explanation that it bind the galaxy and is in everything. Keep it simple and yet also allow room for it to be used in a variety of ways.
-There is plenty of room here for side stories (movies, books, comics, cartoons) about different characters. Darth Tyranus, Darth Maul, the Adventures of Obi-Wan (I think you could do a whole show/movie about him finding Force kids and taking them to Yoda, and how he is constantly keeping tabs on the Rebellion, as well as having some minor battles with Darth Maul, who did kill Qui-Gon Jinn, and then ending with him being captured and tortured, and how he escapes….actually, the escape could be the point where he kills Maul and if that happens, then just remove him from the battle I mentioned above and how he would be in there).
-I would not change too much, but like I said, tweaking things here and there would give the whole thing more continuity. For example, when Obi-Wan and Vader meet for their final battle, Kenobi should not say “Only a master of evil Darth.” He knows his real name and would definitely call him Anakin to rattle his former pupil. Also, the whole droids connection to everyone…that is a little tenuous and hard to believe at times (especially when Obi-Wan has no memory of R2 at all).
Okay, that is probably enough for now. Stay tuned for the next part when I tackle the conclusion to this saga.
