#that doesn't exist for the tpm novel

[jewishcissiekj]

the three genders: Mustafar choking scene (movie), Mustafar choking scene (novelization) and Mustafar choking scene (script)

[wandringaesthetic]

I think it builds character for a piece of media you were really, really looking forward to to totally disappoint you.

Do you know how much tiny me looked forward to the Animorphs TV show? Online video basically didn't exist at that time, so I watched Nickelodeon all day to try to get a glimpse of one of the TV commercials for it. It was like 30 seconds long and it didn't show much and I think the network was already not confident in it because it didn't air often!

And when the show came out, it was bad. It was very bad. It was a pretty high concept sci fi thing that had a shoestring budget. They could have saved it by leaning more into the horror/suspense that everyone you know might really be an alien brain slug but they were not that smart. The writing wasn't good. Only a couple of the actors were good. It didn't have much respect for the characters or the plot or continuity or tone of the books. Of its twenty something episodes there are maybe 2 that are kind of tolerable! I never watched the last few of them!

(the opening is good. I do like that theme song)

Animorphs fandom was some of my earliest internet experiences , so I went to the Animorphs forums on the official Animorphs Scholastic website, and I want to be clear, this place was usually not very strictly moderated if it was moderated at all before this. I think it had some filters for language but beyond that it was the wild west in there. And all of the comments about the show were positive! Even fifth grade me knew to call shenanigans. They were deleting negative posts about the TV show!

And I had to deal with the little "watch Animorphs on TV!" stamp on the covers of the books for a couple years there, thinking "no. don't." whenever I picked them up

And you know, I'd like to say I learned from this, but I didn't, because a couple years later the Star Wars prequels happened. Now, I actually quite liked The Phantom Menace, and 25 years later I stand by that, but Attack of the Clones....

I was pretty online and absorbed general fan jabber about Phantom Menace so by the time Clones came out, you know, I was a high schooler instead of a callow middle schooler, I knew things, I was beginning to doubt my earlier stance about TPM.

but Clones made me feel this sweaty cognitive dissonance. I liked it less than TPM, but like, fans and mainstream media alike seemed to like it better than the last one, and I already had a poster for this movie on my wall and....

To this day I am of two minds about that movie. I can explain why better now but I'm still not sure what Lucas' intentions were with parts of it, so....

To me, the Star Wars prequel trilogy is Phantom Menace, the soundtrack to Attack of the Clones, a hundred and twenty whatever episodes of Star Wars The Clone Wars and some mishmash of the Revenge of the Sith movie and the Matt Stover novelization.

Anyway. I feel these experiences gave me perspective. Gave me confidence in my own opinions while also not feeling like I have to make them known to everyone. A fandom where most of the people are unhappy with the piece of media they're gathering around is not a fun place to be. I'm very capable of walking away from things that aren't making me happy without complaining about them ceaselessly or acting like my distaste is a moral issue or needing to convince myself that this part is actually good, really! None of this is that serious and we're supposed to be doing this for fun.

I won't say that I haven't felt betrayed by any piece of media since, but it's rare, and when it happens I'm really good at shutting up about it and pretending it doesn't exist unless someone specifically asks me about it. I don't want to yuck anyone's yum. It also makes me cautious about getting on hype trains.

[this-acuteneurosis]

I kind of want to get you started on mind tricks. cause like weak minded to strong minded dynamic and the blur away, but also the sith back in the day were for SURE a Caste system of force sensitive rulers and non force sensitives, and the jedi were their ENEMY off and on for thousands of years, cultural bleed through and dynamics of their own power systems but Ben we are not the droids you are looking for go away so I dont have to kill you, versus Qui hey I want this thing trade it for me.

Alright, Oct anon, it's been a while, but I have not forgotten you definitely forgot this ask in my drafts for who even knows how many months but it's found again, whoo!

It's taken me a while to get this together partly to try and arrange my thoughts in a logical order but also...

Guys, I really, really care about the use of agency in stories. Like, I've ranted about it in relation to droids, I've explained some of my problems with it in the context of the thematic changes between the OT and the PT, I stew over it constantly in my brain, it's a central theme of many of my own stories (including DLB).

I really don't like mind control, and not just in Star Wars.

Now, just because I don't like a thing doesn't mean it doesn't have a place in story telling. As a device, mind control/manipulation can be useful or important to a plot. To a theme. Overcoming it can be powerful or cool (Ella Enchanted-I prefer the novel personally, Tanjiro in Demon Slayer: Mugen Train), watching someone succumb to it can be agonizing (Frodo in Return of the King, anyone? Princess Euphemia in Code Geass?).

So, what is the point of Mind Tricks (and that naming choice, "trick," making it sound almost...harmless) in the Star Wars story, and maybe in the universe?

I feel like in its initial reveal, the mind trick was supposed to a) convey how "magical" Jedi were and b) get the plot from point A to B. Obi-Wan waves his hand, someone believes something hideously untrue, move along move along, don't think about it too hard.

Like, literally, audience, please. Don't.

Luke uses it in RotJ for pretty much the same reason. To convery a) Luke is well on his way to being a "magical" Jedi now (oh but wait, there's more character growth he needs!), and b) Luke needs to get into Jabba's palace and why would they let him in? Because he says so, so we will take him to Jabba now. Move along, move along.

I don't like the implications of this power existing, and as an adult who has been in situation where I have to report to higher powers, the disregard of the consequences of these things are a bit darker if I look too closely, but like...move along, I guess. It's fine as long as we're only using these powers on space nazis and slavers. Right?

Except then we get more movies. And cartoons. It's fine if Obi-Wan mind controls a person into not smoking, right? Smoking is Bad and Obi-Wan is Good.

Only.

Only...

Who taught Obi-Wan to use mind tricks?

Ah yes, my old nemesis.

To all you Qui-Gon fans out there, you may wanna leave. This analysis is probably not for you.

So like, Qui-Gon Jinn. Qui-Gon "I'm friends with the current Chancellor and thus an obvious, notable representative of the Jedi Order but I don't get along with my higher ups" Jinn. The thing you have to understand about my opinion of him is that, as a young, first time watcher of TPM, I liked him. He was funny, irreverent, direct. He was wise, or at least seemed to know things no one else did. He was a maverick, ready to go against all orders and advice for what he knew was right. And everyone around him was just stuffy and uninformed.

And to be fair, he wasn't wrong about everything. He's set up to be sympathetic. He's trying to treat with the gungans and they won't listen? Well he and Obi-Wan are right, the Trade Federation does go for the gungans. The Order says there are no Sith? Oops, wrong on that one. The Council makes the ambiguous assertion Anakin is "too old" to train. We've seen the OT. We know "too old" is nonsense.

But like, what does Qui-Gon do when he's thwarted?

He takes away people's agency.

Oh, you don't want to help us, Boss Nass, political leader? Cool, well I'm gonna undermine you in front of your entire court and you're gonna give us a whole ship (that we won't return) to help us defend a people you've been in an active war with for centuries. Oh, my currency doesn't work on this planet? I think it will mister small time junk dealer with a gambling problem (jokes on you for that one, sir).

This to me is a huge red flag in a story that is about literal slaves. I know people will defend the above examples. It was necessary. There were lives at stake.

You wanna know who would have suffered if Qui-Gon had been able to con Watto out of that part?

Anakin and Shmi.

Worthless (or event mostly worthless) currency on a planet where you have to buy water is literal death under the right circumstances. And who do you think Watto's going to reduce rations on. He's got cash flow problems? What's the quickest way for him to make back what he just lost? I'll give you a hint, he gambles on them later in the exact same movie.

So like, well before we get to "weak minded" or anything dubious like that, there's this awkward question of, "Why are the good guys always using powers to make people do things? And not worried about the consequences?"

And like, if we go back to simple story narratives, and trying to move things from point A to point B, that's fine I guess. I enjoy the OT. I'll move along.

But if you ask me to stop and think about it.

Well...

[the-far-bright-center]

So glad you agree! SW fandom can be really bizarre about Qui-Gon's character. They fixate on the weirdest things, make bad faith interpretations, and completely miss the point of his role in the story. Yes, absolutely, it is implied Qui-Gon would have gone back for Shmi. He was in a very difficult position in TPM....he was pressed for time to get back to Coruscant and then to Naboo (a war zone). When he said he hadn't come to free slaves, he didn't mean that he personally didn't WANT to free the slaves (on the contrary, he goes out of his way to try to free both Shmi and Ani). In my opinion, that statement is NOT supposed to be an indictment of Qui-Gon as an individual; it is more of a commentary on the priorities of the Jedi Order and the Republic that the Order serves. (See also Padme’s surprise and dismay that slavery still exists in the galaxy.) What Qui-Gon is saying is that his official *mission* is to help Naboo and to get back to Coruscant—that's what he was sent to do. It’s just a fact. He wants to be HONEST with Shmi so she doesn't have false hopes or expectations, especially since he's not yet sure if he can intervene with her and Ani at that point. All his interactions with Shmi are very warm and affectionate, to the point that 13 year old me shipped Qui-Gon x Shmi really hard! They had amazing chemistry. All their scenes are portrayed as though they are a adoptive family (sitting around a table, his hand on her shoulder, him being fatherly toward Ani, etc). There's no way Qui-Gon would just forget about Shmi and never come back to free her. But he had to get back to Coruscant and I'm sure he knew it would already be quite fraught to bring Ani back to the Temple as it was, let alone with his mother in tow. Qui-Gon asks Shmi if she will be alright, and she says yes. Shmi wants Ani to go with him, she trusts him completely to care for her son, based on how she's seen him be with Anakin during his time on Tatooine. (And don't forget Padme is there too, Shmi sees how kind Padme is. In the TPM novelization, Padme even feels that Shmi wants her to look out for Ani.) And Shmi is not wrong to trust Qui-Gon, if we base things simply on a judgment of his character and actions. He DOES stand up for little Ani in those cold Council chambers. He puts Ani's needs first. It's just the twist of fate and the fact Qui-Gon doomed by the narrative that removes him from that much-needed protective position in Ani’s life. But if Qui-Gon had lived, I have no doubt he'd have gone back for Shmi. How would he have continued caring for Ani so warmly and NOT at least made sure Ani knew she was ok, you know? My headcanon has always been that if he survived the Duel of the Fates, he'd have taken Ani and trained him elsewhere, outside of the Jedi Order. This would have kept Ani from Sidious’ grasp. And this would have also allowed them to go back for Shmi, free her, and even have her live with them or near them while Ani trained. And then, yes, everything you say above is certainly how things would pan out in that Happy (or at least, Happier) AU scenario. :')

Qui-Gon Jinn: the ideal teacher of Anakin Skywalker

an excerpt from TPM novelization

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