I’m sure it was a great loss. Like the universe didn’t already have enough planets where people dress in robes and hang around in ridiculously tall spires.
Yeah, but on Alderaan you could take floaty dirigible tours of endless grasslands. Let’s see you do that on Coruscant.
But do they have Naboosian Ass Cows? I think not!
Much more importantly Alderaan had nerf-herders…
Anyway I much prefer the potrayal of Bail Organa as he appeared in The National Public Radio series to Jimmy Smits version. In many ways those first two radio dramatizations of A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back are the best thing IMNSHO that was ever done in the Expanded Universe. Its a shame that they don’t seem to be held in as high as regard as they should be by Star Wars fans. Not to mention that the radio dramatization of A New Hope had the Vader interrogating Leia on the Death Star scene which is pretty fucking intense in an awesome way.
I reckon I’ve listened to the radio series many more times than the film.
Maybe, but I don’t understand why that came as such a shock to people with Episode I. It seems pretty clear in the original movies that Luke is strong in the Force because his father was a Jedi. It’s never even slightly hinted at that just anyone can learn to use it.
No but it’s implied to be more of a spiritual affinity rather than a physical one. It’s constantly refered to as a religion in the original trilogy and the users need to learn to focus their thoughts and that there is a good and evil side to it.
I want to love Riff traxs but the damn things keep getting out of sync with the movie. If I have to pause, well then all bets are off.
As for Princess Cokenose Leia… Well it isn’t entirely goofy. A lot of real life monarchs have strange and difficult origins. Russia’s Catherine the Great comes to mind.
Electing kings from the nobility is not uncommon in European history. Nor is using “Prince” as a title, or even as a job description, rather than just as a name for the sons of a king.
The radio dramatizations are badass, and some of the expanded material are used in a few games (X-Wing comes to mind).
Leia’s princess-ness has nothing to do with Padme or Anakin or Naboo–remember she was the supposed daughter of Bail Organa. Considering he was a “viceroy” at some point and a Senator, one can assume that Alderaan had some sort of royal family or ancient bloodline (though remember Queens were elected on Naboo, which seems kinda not the point) or something like that, which made her a “princess” but the terms of course could be way off.
— Alan
Of course to actually answer the question truthfully from an original source perspective and not rely on the retcon stuff on that databank site, Leia was originally the daughter of the king of Alderaan (who was called Kayos at that stage in the initial drafts of the story), when Lucas was writing it back in the early 1970’s. Her character being a “Princess” survived the major reshuffles/renaming/addition/subtraction of planets/character names and so forth that took place between that first draft and filming. Somewhere along the way Kayos becomes Bail Organa and more of a Senator than a straight King but she still kept the title. There was another character called Bail Antilles, whose first name got chopped and given to the Senator and whose surname got given to Wedge.
In particular in George’s Original Synopsis for the movie the story was:
“It is the thirty-third century, a period of civil wars in the galaxy. A rebel princess, with her family, her retainers, and the clan treasure, is being pursued. If they can cross territory controlled by the Empire and reach a friendly planet, they will be saved. The Sovereign knows this, and posts a reward for the capture of the princess.”
http://www.starwarz.com/starkiller/scripts/thestarwars_synopsis.htm
No prizes for guessing why people point out the obvious influence of a certain Japanese film called “The Hidden Fortress” on the above, which Lucas has acknowledged himself, although the clan treasure became more symbolically the plans for the Death Star rather than a pile of fat loot. So its really Kurosowa’s fault.
Some of the early drafts (in particular this one)
http://www.starwarz.com/starkiller/scripts/thestarwars_rough_draft.htm
have quite a bit of stuff which you can see Lucas shelved and then dusted off for the prequels (the whole handmaiden thing for instance). Of course the whole bad side of the force being called “Bogan” is pretty funny today given its a real slang word. However the term “bogan” didn’t exist until the early 1980’s.
You are all trying to make sense of a world with little green men able to pick up a small ship the size of a fighter jet with the power of his mind.
Oh yeah forgot about the princess part, though the similarities to the Hidden Fortress is quite well known (hell it’s even on the DVD)… not to mention The Dambusters.
— Alan
Different from making sense of a world with little men with fur on their feet and wizards, goblins, and big giant fire eyeballs how…?
— Alan
Great post, Veefy! That’s just the sort of stuff I was wondering about.
-Tom
P.S. Fuck Star Wars.
YES.
Going by the radio show and the original novelization, there are a lot of basic plot threads that could have been developed in cool and logical fashion that got short-circuited because Lucas took shortcuts.
I don’t know what she’s princess of but she’s the Queen of my heart.
Its because only the republic operates as a democracy on interplanatary matters. The individual planets are allowed to handle their own domestic agenda’s kind like being a UN member.
At home, the smitts guy is not called Senator, but his Royal Majestic Lord High Master and Shit Dont Stinkiness. He acquired his power by harvesting sugar cane, after giving up a career in law many years earlier.
Ahh, so the last season if The West Wing was a prequel as well…
Pretty sure he was referencing the new series Cane.