Free story idea – A Star Wars Story

I have a lot of ideas for stories.  Like, if I wrote a novel’s worth of them every month, I’d still most likely die before getting through them all.  I will admit that some of the ideas probably suck, but I think there are some that a good writer could make something of them.  I’ll just never get a chance to.  So, I give them to the world.  If you can make something of these, go right ahead.  And if these are the ideas I’m giving away, maybe check out the ones I keep.

About a week after I post this, will be May the Fourth.  So I figured now would be as good a time as any to tell the idea I had for a Star Wars series.

I don’t know if this would work as just a ten-episode miniseries, or a regular show with two or maybe three seasons.  Three seasons would probably be pushing it.  You could do more, shoehorning in other stuff from the movies and shows, but I think this show works best focused on this one town over the course of a year or two at most.

So where’s this town?  I figure it’s on a planet that looks a lot like the American Southwest.  Cacti would probably be too distinctive, so someplace with some indeterminate scrub, so it’s not just a straight up desert with sand.  Why is this town here?  There’s a mine.  What’s mined?  Some material used in some blaster component.  Like, this is the fifth largest mine in the quadrant for this mineral or crystal or whatever.  Important for the Empire, but not overly critical.

The population of this town is mostly human, but there are plenty of other races there.  The mining is probably done by criminals, with the safer processing done by locals.  There is a Stormtrooper garrison to watch over everything.  And there are the townspeople who do other things, like supply food to the mine and garrison, run bars, etc.  And in the town there is a small Rebel cell wanting to either disrupt the supplies or steal them for the Cause, as well as various criminal organizations who would like to steal stuff for themselves.

The first episode would introduce most of the main cast.  There would be Joe Stormtrooper who isn’t disillusioned with the Empire, yet, but can’t wait to leave.  Part of it is because his boss is a real asshole who screwed up somehow and was sent someplace where he wouldn’t be a problem but is determined to find some way back into the Emperor’s good graces.  Another reason Joe is getting tired of his job is because he has a girlfriend, uh, Jane, who’s a town local.  She might run one of the bars that is popular with off duty Stormtroopers.  Jane is sympathetic towards the Rebellion, but she likes Joe.  Her brother, Bob, unknown to her, is actually part of the Rebellion.  He runs a small freighter ship taking supplies to this other planet in the solar system, and he’s started smuggling some supplies or agents for the Rebellion.  The main Rebellion Cell in town, run by Lady, is only about 80% certain of his loyalties, and so is still testing him with some small missions to make sure he’s really on their side.  And Lady’s job right now is tough, because they had made plans for this operation that would destroy a large supply of this mineral, but then word came from higher up that they should steal it.  Which not only is an entirely different type of mission, but it also puts them up against some of the criminal gangs.

So the first episode shows Joe walking his beat, maybe stopping in at the bar and sharing a discreet word with Jane, before going back to the barracks to hear the latest rant/scheme from his boss.  And then we see Lady dealing with one of her lieutenants who just hates the Empire and wants to blow everything up, regardless of their orders, and then she goes to a meeting with a criminal gang who will help stealing this shipment if the Rebellion looks the other way as they make moves into the mine itself.  All kinds of stuff is going on, but the episode ends with word arriving that the Emperor has been killed when the Second Death Star was destroyed.

What does this mean for this town?  Well, I always assumed that the chain of command went from the Emperor to Darth Vader to a vast gap to various admirals or whatever, and that after the Emperor and Vader died, the Empire fractured as all these admirals decided that they should be the new one in charge.  So you end up with like a twenty-sided civil war.  What’s important in a civil war?  Blasters.  And the fifth largest mine in the quadrant for this mineral has become the largest supply of it in Admiral Dude’s area, so it is of vital importance that he secures it at all cost.

Episode two starts with everyone not sure what to do.  Maybe Joe sees someone with a Rebellion flag, and he just shrugs and walks away because does it mean anything anymore.  He might even be planning on just leaving and going to be with Jane, when Admiral Dude’s forces show up.  Joe’s boss is livid that this admiral is overstepping his bounds and will certainly face the wrath of the Emperor, but Dude says the boss is unfit to command and has him executed.  He may even have some of the Stormtroopers that left rounded up and either executed or put to work in the mines.  So it was lucky for Joe that he hesitated.

At first, Lady and the other Rebellion people are overjoyed that they’ve toppled the Emperor, and they expect the townspeople to cheer them.  But then another thousand Stormtroopers show up with a new tyrant wanting to use their town as the source of the weapons to build his new Empire.  So the townspeople are pissed off at the Rebellion for making their lives worse.

And that’s pretty much all I had figured out.  There would be no Jedi, and only mentions of great space battles.  The show would focus on the turbulent time after the death of the Emperor.  Which, there is plenty of material there for some high-quality drama.

Reboots, reboots, reboots

In the last few weeks, I’ve heard about attempts to reboot Quantum Leap, Babylon 5, even Jaws.  I understand that the entertainment business is a business, and they know they can safely make money by rebooting a beloved classic.  Even though half the money they make will be from people who only watch it so that they can bitch online about how the original was better, it’s still money.  And while they could make billions if an original project is successful and launches a franchise, it’s more likely an original project will only do okay, or even lose money.  I understand all of that, but it still hurts that there are countless fantastic movies and shows out there that will never be made because the risk on an unknown property is too great.

Having said all that, here are some thoughts I’ve had for a reboot of Star Wars, because you know it will happen someday. 

First things first, this idea is for three trilogies, with the idea that the nine movies would be released over nine years, none of this decades between trilogies crap.  Each trilogy would focus on one character, these being Anakin, Leia, and Ben.  The Force would also be a little different.  Everyone would have midichlorians, but there would be levels.  Like below 500 you’re just an average human.  Between 500-1000 you’re pretty agile and have quick reflexes, so you make a good pilot, or shooter.  Han is like a 900.  But when you have midichlorian levels over 1000, then you can start doing all the cool Jedi stuff.  And in my version the Jedi are monkish, but they do marry and have kids; that’s where the majority of new Jedi come from.

So I haven’t thought much on the Anakin Trilogy, but basically you start with an average Jedi kid who falls under the influence of Palpatine who is staging a decades long coup to take over the Galactic Republic.  Episode III ends with Padmé (also a Jedi) giving birth to Leia and Obi-Wan saying he’ll keep her safe, because they’ve all seen what Anakin is falling into.  Obi-Wan goes off to put her on a shuttle with all the other Jedi kids, but there’s a problem.  Or maybe Yoda stops him because he has seen a glimpse of the future.  But Anakin/Vader shows up at Padmé’s room wanting to see his child, but she tells him she’s fleeing with the other kids.  Anakin/Vader is upset, because Palpatine had him set a bomb on the shuttle.  They have a convenient window to watch the shuttle take off and then explode.  Anger at thinking his child is dead because she didn’t trust him, Vader kills Padmé.

Obi-Wan takes Leia to Bail Organa whose wife has just had a son, Luke, but they announce that she had twins to hide Leia.  Only the Jedi knew that Anakin had betrayed them, so Obi-Wan tells Bail that Anakin died a hero trying to save the children from Vader. 

The Leia Trilogy is set seventeen or so years later.  Luke and Leia are going around the galaxy learning the family business of politics.  But secretly, they are gathering information for the Rebellion.  In this version, the Rebellion is basically the Empire grinding out the last bits wanting to return to the days of the Republic.  And after almost twenty years, there’s not much left.  In their journey they come across Han and Obi-Wan.  Obi-Wan starts teaching Leia and Episode IV ends with her using her new abilities to save a bunch of prisoners on, say, Hoth. 

Episode V will center on how the Hero of Hoth has injected new blood into the Rebellion.  At first, Luke is happy for his sister, but he starts getting annoyed when she keeps overshadowing him.  Also, he’s upset that he doesn’t have the midichlorians to be a Jedi. 

Episode VI starts with the birth of Ben, who is then taken away from the warzone.  The Empire builds a Death Star and use it to destroy several planets in rebellion.  So there’s a big mission to destroy it and kill Palpatine.  Along the way Vader turns back to the Light Side before dying. 

The Ben Trilogy is set fifteen or so years later.  Things haven’t gone all that well.  Leia wants a return to the Republic, but Luke has the idea that a less evil Empire is the way to security, with him as Emperor, of course.  Since she spent so much time fighting a war, Leia never fully went into the Jedi side of her life.  But she wants Ben to be the core of the new Jedi Order that will help keep the New Republic in line.  Which is a lot for a teenager, especially one who just wants to spend time with his girlfriend Rey. 

I’m not sure exactly what happens, but after forty some years of civil war, the younglings of the galaxy want to move on, let the past die, and not be stuck with the dreams of their parents.  Whatever happens, Episode IX ends with the birth of Ben and Rey’s boy, Anakin.  Is the cycle of war and darkness over, or is a new cycle just beginning?

So those are my basic thoughts on the Star Wars reboot.  I know it’s not the real Star Wars, but hey, nobody’s perfect.

Random Writing Tips – A deeper meaning

One of the books I had to read in high school was Lord of the Flies.  I did not care for it.  In college I was talking to one of my friends and he said that he loved the book.  I started talking about how I didn’t like it for the, was it Simon as Jesus bit, and my friend was like, “What are you talking about?” Turns out the interpretation of the book my English teacher had wasn’t the only one. 

A few years later, I read The Metamorphosis which I found … different.  Anyway, the copy I had had at the end these essays about the story.  One went into great detail about this one scene – which I had likely forgotten – where the poor guy’s dad throws a couple of apples at him.  The author of the essay went on and on what the apples – being from the Garden of Eden – represented and how there were two of them, which naturally meant testicles and symbolic castration and whatnot.

Every now and then I’ll see something on Twitter or Facebook where it has, “What the author wrote: The curtains were blue.” And then it has a paragraph each on what Groups X, Y, and Z interpret that to mean.  And then it ends with, “What the author actually meant: The curtains were blue.”

I was thinking about all this recently because of The Last Jedi.  I’ve read and watched some reviews of people who loved the movie, and some who hated the movie.  One thing I noticed about both is that often the reasons for why they loved or hated the movie usually stemmed from a sort of reading between the lines.  It wasn’t because of a specific scene in the movie, but the person’s interpretation of that scene.  For example, the scene where Holdo doesn’t tell her plan to Poe.  Some see it as why should an admiral have to answer to this hothead, but others see it as since she is being secretive that justifies Poe’s actions.  It’s like one time in college – back before the prequels – where a friend wrote a paper on the philosophy in Star Wars.  I jokingly told him that he should write another paper arguing for the opposite of what he had in the first paper, but still use examples from Star Wars.  He thought for a moment, then said, “I could probably do that.”

So what does all this mean for writers?  No matter what deeper meaning you write into your stories, people will find others.  I’m not saying that you shouldn’t write deeper meanings into your stories, just realize that no matter how much time and effort you put into your work, someone will see something you never thought of. 

I’m working on a fantasy story.  When I started it, it was just a fun exploration of this world.  But as I figured out the ending, I realized that the way I was going it was about nuclear terrorism.  (Basically, there’s a magic “spell” that any competent mage could use to destroy a city.  They just need a few materials and knowledge of this spell, which is known only by dragons.)  Figuring out that connection to our world isn’t required to enjoy the story, it’s more of an Easter egg.  That is my opinion as the author. 

When I started writing this post, as an exercise I tried to think of what someone else could read into my story.  What I came up with was the Prometheus legend.  Our hero – knowing only that the dragons have a secret – sets out to discover it and share it with humanity.  Eventually she learns the secret – and vows never to share it – but she is also “punished” for her search.  It’s not a perfect fit, but it’s what I came up with after five minutes of thought.  The Prometheus legend was in the back of my head, but it was never a conscious part of the story. 

So if you’re writing a story with a deeper meaning, or message of some sort, take the time to think of some other messages people could read into your story.  And try not to be too angry when your haunting tale of the dangers of addiction will be seen by some – pounding a square peg into a round hole – as an authoritarian manifesto.

What I would have done with Episode VII

Let me begin by saying that I was a Star Wars fan.  I don’t know how many times as a teenager I’d be flipping through the channels over Thanksgiving and come across a marathon on some station.  Regardless of how far in they were, I’d spend the rest of the day watching the movies.  And then the same thing would happen over Christmas.  I was a fan, but I’ve grown out of it over the past few decades.  Yes, the Prequels were a part of that, but I think the bigger aspect is that my tastes changed as I matured.  If I saw the original trilogy now, I’d probably not be that big a fan because I’d notice all the little inconsistences of poor writing that stand out like a sore thumb to me.  For example, some people wonder why the Death Star just didn’t destroy Yavin and then destroy the Rebel base.  But the Death Star can fly between star systems in a matter of hours or days, but it can’t just move a few thousand kilometers to the right and has to wait for a planet to slowly get out of the way?  Some may say that the hyperdrive engines needed to cool down or something, but they could have driven better so that they came out with a clear shot.

Anyway, when it was announced that they were making more movies, I figured they were beating a decrepit cash cow.  So I wasn’t really looking forward to Episode VII.  And when I did get around to watching it, I thought it was okay, but not great.  Better than the Prequels, but that isn’t saying much.  After letting it settle a bit, my feeling on it now is that it was an okay movie that did not deserve all the hype it got.

Now you can’t toss the severed head of Jar-Jar around on the internet without hitting videos of people pointing out some of the errors of the Prequels, editing them into a more compelling story, or massive rewrites so that theydidn’t suck.  Now unless Episodes VIII and IX truly suck, I doubt as much will be done with the sequel trilogy.  But back in December I made a video giving mythoughts on Episode VII, but also theorizing what I would have done with it.  And with The Force Awakens finally coming out for download and Blu-ray, I figured it was time to give an update of my version of Episode VII with more of Episodes VIII and IX.  This includes things I’ve thought of in the past few months.  The reason I’m not making another video of this, is that – if you watch my video – you’ll see that I’m a better writer than a talker, plus I’ve been writing this post on and off for months as new things came to me.

So we’re all on the same page, my main issue I have with The Force Awakens are all the references and similarities.  If used sparingly they can be a great tool.  For example, the view of the rusted out AT-AT that Rey lives in is a fantastic bit of world building.  And the holographic, monster chess game was another fantastic bit of world building; in Episode IV.  I found its inclusion in Episode VII a bit of groaning nostalgia. 

The biggest bit of groaning nostalgia was the Starkiller Base.  It makes sense that the Empire would see a reason to spend the resources building a Death Star.  And after the first one was destroyed, it makes sense that they would build another one.  But why does the First Order need AN EVEN BIGGER ONE?  And how did they have the resources to build it?  And if the first Death Star was destroyed by a missile being able to fly into the reactor core, why make the second Death Star with openings large enough that ships could fly right up to the reactor core before firing their missiles, and why build the Starkiller Base with this super sensitive thing that keeps the whole thing from blowing up right on the surface where any schmuck in a ship could shoot at it instead of burying it ten miles under a mountain?  But it’s protected by a force field, you say.  So was the second Death Star.

When I saw the Starkiller Base on the poster and some early comments mentioned it, it just gave me the feeling of the reported Alien 3 where fifty guys in powerloaders were fighting fifty alien queens.  If you can’t make your sequel good and interesting on its own, just redo the first one but only make it BIGGER.  Because that always works.

Anyway, so what story would I have done if they had asked me to write Episode VII?  I have no idea what I would have thought of a couple of years ago, but after watching The Force Awakens, these are my thoughts.  I take characters from the actual movie, but use them in a way that I feel is more original.

First off, it made sense in the original trilogy why the Sith and Empire were closely related, because Palpatine was both Sith and Emperor.  But why does that storyline need to continue?  In my version of Episode VII, the Jedi storyline and the Empire storyline would be separate, with only some small crossover.  It would almost be like two movies at once.

Starting with the Jedi storyline.  My understanding is that people who are force sensitive pop up all the time in the general population.  If they are trained, then they become Jedi.  This explains why, in Episode IV, Vader isn’t all that surprised when he finds someone strong with the Force.  So in my movie version, Luke has a small group he is training as Jedi.  He has them set up on some uninhabited planet so there are no distractions.  Perhaps after some ghost chats with Yoda, he has an idea how things were done in the past.  But he feels he can’t just have one apprentice at a time.  But he also doesn’t want to get overwhelmed, so he has three. 

The oldest apprentice is Ben Solo.  He is a slightly troubled teenager because he is the child of two of the biggest heroes in the galaxy and nephew of a third.  All of that would put a bit of a chip on anyone’s shoulder.  This isn’t helped all that much by Luke who, not wanting to give him preferential treatment, does give him a bit of a cold shoulder at times.  And there’s another reason, I’ll get to.  The youngest apprentice is just some random alien.

But the third apprentice is Rey.  Now, in my version Rey is an alien.  Not CGI, just the actress with some makeup and funny ears, or something.  The reason is, just as I’m annoyed with the Jedi/Empire continuing to be linked in the real movies, I’m also annoyed with the Skywalkers being the heroes of the galaxy.  (I’m basing this on the 99.9% certainty that Rey is Luke’s daughter.)  I’m looking for some diversity in my version, both from the Skywalkers and from the humans.  Now Rey is maybe a year younger then Ben, but she is a Jedi natural.  So much in fact, that Luke figures it’s time to make her a Jedi Master.  This rubs Ben wrong and takes away from his fantasy of being the greatest Jedi ever.

Before Luke makes Rey a Master, they all go on a bit of a road trip to Dagobah so that Rey can go into the dark cave.  This is because of Luke’s limited training so he doesn’t fully know what else to do, and because it was the one test that he failed.  Yoda’s hut has long since been taken over by the jungle, but the cave remains.  Rey goes in, and has a really freaky experience.  She comes out rather shaken, and goes to talk with Luke.  Ben figures that he is ready to go in, so he rushes in and the experience snaps him.  He comes out of the cave in a rage and cuts the third apprentice in half with his lightsaber, and Luke and Rey are barely able to contain him.

They return to their training planet, and then Han and Leia show up from their side of the movie.  Luke explains what happened, and they go to Ben to talk to him.  He’s just locked in his room.  They talk, and at first everything seems to be going okay, but after too many, “Luke says that …” Ben goes nuts accusing them of always taking Luke’s side.  He then force chokes both of them, then flies off in one of the apprentice ships.

Luke is completely distraught over the death of his sister and friend, and Rey promises to bring Ben back so that they can return him to the light.  She then flies off, possibly with Chewy, in the Millennium Falcon. 

Now, on to the Empire storyline.  My thinking is that in the Empire’s hierarchy there was Palpatine, Vader, then a big gap down to governors or whatever.  So after Return of the Jedi, there was a huge power vacuum in the Empire’s structure.  I’d think that a lot of units would surrender to the New Republic, possible even joining the New Republic Military.  Other units would kill each other off fighting for power.  In the end, there would be a small, fanatical bit of the Empire left.  They might call themselves the First Order, but I found that name a bit odd.

Anyway, my movie would start with the new Emperor meeting with Phasma.  She berates him for being weak, and then stabs him.  As he dies, he says, “I’m proud of you, daughter.” So right from the start we see that Empress Phasma is a badass.

In this diminished Empire, they are desperate to hold on.  So they use regular humans as Stormtroopers, but they also have clone troops and even droid units.  They use everything they can to stay in the fight.  And after several decades, they have a pretty secure little realm.  And after decades of fighting, the citizens of the New Republic are getting tired of the war.  There are even rumbles of wanting to make peace with the Empire.

So the Chancellor wants to win the war, and sooner if possible.  There is a War Council with Han and Leia on it.  Often in opposition to them is this General X, I don’t really have a name for him, or her.  They had been an Imperial officer who surrendered to the New Republic and then joined the Republic military.  They have served with honor and distinction for over a decade.  This General X has a young aide, we’ll call Finn. 

Anyway, Han and Leia have sent a team – led by Po – into the Empire to see if they can determine which planet has their cloning facilities.  Their plan is that if they can knock that out, this war of attrition might start going their way.  So Po has some adventures, but comes back with the information.

Han and Leia propose this massive invasion to take out the planet, but General X is wary.  But the Chancellor is persuaded and the invasion goes off.  There are hundreds of ships, with Han and Leia on the Millennium Falcon which has been outfitted as a command ship. 

There is a big battle – while Ben is in the cave – and they deal the Empire a blow but they don’t manage to take out the cloning facilities.  Could the Empire have known they were coming? 

While it wasn’t a defeat, it wasn’t the promised victory.  The Chancellor kind of needs someone to take the blame.  Leia knows something happened with Ben, so she and Han announce that they are going to go see Ben, and then retire to some quiet, out-of-the-way planet. 

The movie ends with General X going to the Chancellor and saying that perhaps they need an old solution to the problem, and holds up a little holographic display of a Death Star.

The opening crawl of my Episode VIII would state that with the Republic Death Star, the New Republic was able to destroy the clone and droid facilities of the Empire, which caused it to splinter and break up.  There are still bands of troops out there – some commanded by Empress Phasma – but they are no longer a serious military threat.

So the movie opens with the Republic Death Star, which would probably be just bare-boned because it was a rush job (Ideally, I’d love to see them build a frame around a couple mothballed Super Star Destroyers and have the gun, but that’s probably not nostalgic enough of a Death Star).  The camera pulls back to a bunch of fancy delegates on a ship.  The Chancellor gives a speech about how a Death Star is too much power, even for his hands.  There’s a laugh, and then he hits a button and the Death Star self-destructs.  General X is upset about destroying it, but the Chancellor points out that the Empress and her followers are little more than terrorists and you don’t fight terrorists by destroying planets.

Speaking of the Empress, she’s in hiding on some world.  Perhaps she’s standing on a balcony berating one of her lieutenants, when she sees a stranger walking in the alley below.  Some roughs jump them, but the stranger pulls out a lightsaber and cuts off their arms.  So later, the Empress is “attacked” by some ruffians as Ben – maybe going by the name Kylo Ren for some reason – walks nearby.  He saves her, and she then uses her Machiavellian nature and female charms to wrap him around her finger.  She drafts him in her fight against the New Republic and against the one who betrayed her.  There was someone who was sending her information, letting her defeat attacks, such as the one Han and Leia led.  But this source never mentioned a Death Star.  So she wants to take her revenge on this person, and then go on to conquer the galaxy.  And now she has her own fallen Jedi.  She may even suggest that, since he is obviously the most powerful Jedi ever, he should set up his own school to train a new order of Ren Jedi.

Meanwhile, Rey lands on some remote planet and starts looking around.  She comes across some ruffians attacking a kid, and she makes them stop.  The kid explains that the ruffians work for some crime boss who runs that corner of the planet, and figures that Rey is there to save all the little people from him.  But she tries explaining that she isn’t there to fight their war, and the people point out that if she leaves, the ruffians will just come back and take revenge on them for what she did.  So not able to think of anything else, she goes to the crime boss to try to talk things over, and it ends up being a giant fight and she cuts up most of his men.  Perhaps a lucky shot cuts her cheek, giving her a bit of a scar.  She’s not all that happy about things, but the people talk about how they can now live without fear and all that.  At the end of the movie, she’s on another planet, when she sees some ruffians attacking a woman.

Now that the war is over, General X is a galactic hero.  And now that there are just some minor terrorism cells to mop up, there isn’t much for him to do.  So his aide Finn starts pushing him into politics.

About the only thing I have for my Episode IX is that Rey has become this folk hero.  She lands on a planet and she takes out any crime bosses so the people can live free.  So she’s now hounded by assassins and anyone wanting to make it big with the crime syndicates.  And she doesn’t discriminate, whether they’re typical thugs or New Republic thugs in charge of some minor planet.  So now Senator X isn’t all that happy with her.  He feels the New Republic should clean their own house, not have some outsider do it.

Part of the general idea is that Finn was the one leaking info to the Empress.  Because he needed the war to stalemate, so that he could then give a solution – the Republic Death Star – to General X.  This makes General X a hero, gets him into politics, and perhaps eventually the Chancellorship.  All with Finn in the background pulling all the strings.  Finn isn’t the Big Bad, he’s just power hungry, and intelligently methodical about going about getting it.  In one version of my idea, Finn would turn out to be non-Sith Sith, or something.  But I wanted to get away from the black/white that comes up so often in Star Wars. 

For example of how, in my version, not everything would be Light or Dark, Rey does let pride and power go to her head, but she’s nowhere near what we think of as Sith.  Ben – on the other hand – goes dark out of depression and self-loathing, but in Episode IX starts seeing how the Empress is using him.  So perhaps he and Rey join forces to take out the Empress’s latest scheme and put the final nail in the Empire.  And perhaps Finn gets away with everything?

I’ll let this sit, and after the real Episodes VIII and IX come out, I’ll revise this again, finally coming up with a complete alternate version of the trilogy.