April Fools 2015: MovieRob

Well, here we are again–another Monday. Fortunately, I have a little something to soften the blow: one last guest review for April Fools! I’ll be wrapping up the series and thanking all of my glorious guests later this week, but before all that my friend MovieRob has a little something to say about a franchise so many of us adore. That’s right. He’s talkin’ ’bout Star Wars. However, Rob is taking a different approach to April Fools. Rather than a twist ending, he’s chosen to talk about a franchise twist. Sound interesting? Then check out what he has to say!

When Cara announced her idea for this year’s April Fool series, I was a little apprehensive.

I am a firm believer that reviews should try and stay as spoiler free as possible because that is one of the wonders of movies; that anything can happen when you least expect it.

We all love to discover those surprises on our own while viewing the movie instead of having someone tell us what to look out for. (even it isn’t done in a malicious or intentional way)

This is also another reason why I tend to try and not watch trailers for movies these days because they usually tell us too much about the plot and in many cases reveal things we might not want to know just yet.

I therefore decided to think a bit out of the box and instead of discussing a shocking reveal of a given movie, I decided to discuss how the focus of a revered movie franchise was completely changed 22 years after it begun.

Of course I’m talking about The Star Wars saga…..

From 1977 when Episode IV came out until 1999 when Episode I premiered, everyone, myself included were convinced that the focus of the entire story was on Luke Skywalker and his training to become a full Jedi and revitalized the whole Jedi Order across the galaxy.

The Original trilogy movies support that theory as do ALL of the Star Wars books that came out thru the early part of the 21st Century (there were lots, trust me, I read them all).

But then a strange thing happened when Episode I came out in 1999, we start to see that the focus has shifted to Anakin Skywalker (spoiler alert for those of you who don’t follow it at all) Luke’s father and eventual nemesis Darth Vader.

Ok, you may say, that makes sense because Luke wasn’t born yet, so maybe they are two completely different stories; one about the father and one about the son.

Watching Episode II and III continue to support that theory until you rewatch The original trilogy and you notice (very quickly) that the entire 6 movies together are trying to show the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker as the main and central focus.

WHAT A WAY TO FOOL US ALL!!!!

The question remains as to whether George Lucas had it planned like this from the start or if it just happened miraculously (like a woman becoming pregnant by midichlorians). 🙂

So what is the truth?

The answer seems to be revealed in the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force:

“The prophecy of the Chosen One was an ancient Jedi legend that foretold the coming of a being who would restore balance to the Force. The idea of balance of the Force, a central tenet of the Jedi Order, referred to the ideal state in which the Force existed in nature, namely as the light side. According to Jedi dogma, the presence of the dark side corrupted and destroyed this natural balance, and the Jedi viewed it as their duty to restore it. The prophecy was one of hundreds of obscure legends maintained by the Jedi Order, though its origins and actual content remain unknown. It was thought to have been created by the earliest Jedi philosophers, after the creation of the Galactic Republic but before the Jedi assumed an active role in it.” Quoted from the Star Wars Wiki  

We all know that Anakin/Darth Vader brings balance to the Force only after he destroys the Emperor after many years being until his tutelage and being corrupted by the Dark Side, but that journey took him his entire lifetime to fulfill his destiny.

The assumption is that the new movies will once again change the entire focus of the whole series and it will be very interesting to see where they all take us.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks again to the amazing Cara for organizing this.