#yuhzan vong

[david-talks-sw]

So I have a question abd you just might be the only one who can answer it

So I recall reading at one point about a "what could have been" TCW arc, something about encountering the Yuuzhan Vong out in the far reaches of the galaxy with a whole alien abduction approach to it, albeit the Vong themselves would have been changed somehow to better fit in with Lucas' view of the Force

So my question is do you know what it is that makes the Vong not work with the George Lucas Force? I assume it's their own lack of the Force in them, but I can't find anything definitive and was wondering if you knew, or if it was just something that we don't know

Well, you've pretty much summed up all we know publicly about it:

At Celebration Anaheim 2015, they revealed this episode involved the Vong in a very minimal way. A scout ship tries to assess the strength of the Galactic Republic and what the Jedi were.

Dave Filoni said it'd be pretty creepy. Pablo Hidalgo stated it'd have an alien abduction vibe, cited "X-Files" as a comparable.

On Twitter, PH added that their depiction would have differed from what the books said, for instance the Vong weren't Force-immune.

Dave Filoni - big EU fan - had started drawing sketches of the idea, basically reasoning that "hey, we made the Mandalorians pacifists and brought Maul back from the dead. Anything's possible."

If I had to hazard a guess as to why the Vong wouldn't jive with Lucas' view of the Force and the Star Wars universe, I'd assume it's because - like you said - there is no Force in them, they're "outside" the Force.

And George Lucas stated it's in everybody. Back during story meetings for Empire Strikes Back:

"The idea is that the act of living generates a force field, generates energy. That energy surrounds you; when you die that energy joins with all the other energy and there is a giant ball of energy in the universe that has a good side and a bad side to it."

And even more recently, in The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005.

"The Force is the energy, the fuel, and without it everything would fall apart."

One might say: "but the Vong come from a different galaxy!"

Okay? The Force is in the whole universe.

"I like to think that there is a unified reality to life and that it exists everywhere in the universe and that it controls things, but you can also control it."

To be fair, Lucas uses "universe" and "galaxy" interchangeably, at times, but the point still stands.

If you go by GL rules, the Vong only work if they're not Force-immune. Otherwise, they're walking, talking contradictions to the narrative.

[david-talks-sw]

Star Wars went past George's vision way before TCW S7.

That process started in 1991 when a little book called "Heir to the Empire" gave us a story of what Luke, Han and Leia did Post Endor and launched 20 plus years of EU material that had nothing to do with Lucas's "Vision"

In a weird way the Prequels and TCW were Lucas almost reclaiming his "Vision" back but by then it was kinda to late, people associated Star Wars beyond George with those books and tie-in material and dozens of Post Endor stuff with the Vong and what not.

To be fair, I think the Bad Batch arc of TCW Season 7 had already been written while GL was still there (with minor differences). But yeah, the point still stands.

Surprisingly enough, in a post-EU Star Wars era, I find that most old EU fans associate that part of Star Wars with Lucas' vision as well, not realizing that he was so uninvolved with the EU that he would've erased stuff like the Yuhzan Vong from canon regardless of the Disney sale, to make space for his own Sequel films.

I talk about this subject in more detail on this verrrry lengthy post:

"Lengthy" because it's a big subject, but also because it features 30 pictures, many of which are quotes from both Lucas and other SW creators and executives, total quotes: 109.

I'm also gonna take this opportunity to add here 5 more quotes I found to support the notion, since I wrote that post:

When told about sequels to the Original Trilogy in the EU, he said: "They're done outside my little universe."

When an interviewer asked if he could name any good SW stories other than the films: "No, I don't think so."

Take from that what you will.

[david-talks-sw]

Does bringing Palpatine back REALLY make Anakin’s character arc redundant?

I’ve probably hinted at this previously (here), but TROS is my least favorite Sequel film. I don’t despise it, necessarily, I just think more could have been done with what we were given.

But there’s this argument I keep seeing popping up, which is the notion that Anakin’s arc and the prophecy of the Chosen One are essentially pointless or redundant, now.

And, uh, I disagree.

Anakin’s character arc happened on both a personal, emotional level, and a cosmic one.

Personally, Anakin needed to learn to let go of his fears, his anger, his guilt and his pain. He needed to learn to accept that he can’t possess people, they have free will, and that he can’t repress his emotions, he must, instead, confront them.

Cosmically, Anakin was the Chosen One, aka he was created, chosen by the Force itself to destroy the Sith (whose only goal is to enslave the Force and destroy its naturally balanced state) and bring Balance.

From an emotional point-of-view, the Emperor coming back or not is irrelevant. Anakin finally managed to let go of his pain, release his guilt, cease being selfish an greedy and decided to instead show selfless compassion, saving his son’s life at the cost of his own. The Emperor surviving or not doesn’t change the fact that Anakin became a better man one last time, and sacrificed himself to save his son.

From a cosmic point of view, the impact is undoubtedly diminished… but not as undone as it was in Legends, for instance.

In Legends, Anakin’s sacrifice results in Luke surviving the 2nd Death Star, and that’s it.

Palpatine comes back after, like, 5 years.

The galaxy is at war for an extra 26 years - against the Imperial Remnant and then the Yuhzan Vong - before there’s finally a momentary peace.

Hundreds and hundreds of Sith Lords pop out after Sidious, even a century later.

Legends Anakin never really brought Balance to the Force.

In canon, Anakin did much more.

He basically condemned Palpatine to 30 years of pure agony. The Sith Lord was out of the game, for the most part. He may as well have been dead, because his impact on the galaxy was almost equal to none, Snoke and Hux Sr. were the ones doing all the work.

Because of Palpatine being trapped in a decaying clone body, there was around 28 years of peace, including a 6-year period of tension, followed by a year of chaos, which was quickly ended once Sidious was killed for good.

A couple of darksiders arose, sure, but none of them had the “fuck the Balance” philosophy of a Sith.

Canon Anakin brought Balance to the Force, and the Force stayed balanced for 30 years, before it needed to find a new champion to restore it (Rey). The Balance was restored in the span of a year. In the long run, the events of the Sequels are a parenthesis at best. Take from that what you will.

So no, not really.

TROS doesn’t make Anakin’s character arc redundant.

Yes, I do think it diminishes it a bit (instead of the Force being balanced forever, it’s balanced for 30 years, then unbalanced for a year, then balanced again)…

… but not nearly as much as the previous continuity did.