The Star Wars Saga - Past, Present and Future

               Researched by Richard Hewison

Part One - "The Story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi-bendu of
Opuchi who was related to Usby C. J. Thape, padawaan learner to
the famed Jedi"!

Now is a good time to be a "Star Wars" fan. It has recently been
announced that a new "Star Wars - Special Edition" is going to be
released in cinemas in 1997 with new effects shots and old
previously cut scenes restored. New computer graphic effects are
going to be used to show Han Solo's encounter with Jabba at Mos
Eisley spaceport. These techniques will also be used to populate
the infamous Cantina scenes which George Lucas was so displeased
with in the original movie.  At the same time, a completely new
"Star Wars" movie will also be in production, ready for release at
the end of 1997 or mid-1998. This will be "Star Wars - Chapter
One" and will be followed in less than two years by two other
sequels, filmed back-to-back (Chapter's Two and Three). More on
these in a later article.

For us computer owners there are also a sizeable amount of "Star
Wars" software to buy. IBM PC owners have the best choice - X-Wing
and its two data disks on floppy, or united together on CD-ROM.
TIE Fighter is about to give birth to two new data disks (Defender
of the Empire being the first), on floppy. CD-ROM owners can play
the arcade blaster "Rebel Assault" or move through a "Doom" style
game of "Dark Forces" (due out Easter '95). Windows users can
install "Star Wars Screen Entertainment" which contains music,
blueprints, drawings, paintings, photos and the complete "Star
Wars" script on-screen.

The original "Star Wars" film was released in America on Wednesday
May 25th 1977, and as we all know it went on to make a staggering
amount of money at the Box Office (over $524 Million worldwide).
It also spawned two direct movie sequels, a TV special, two TV
movies and two cartoon series. However, the making of the original
film was a torturous experience for the writer and director George
Lucas. Writing the screenplay took over two and a half years and
four very different drafts before filming could begin. This is the
story of how the screenplay evolved, and where George Lucas got
his inspiration. Hopefully, we will also be able to make some
educated speculation on what the next trilogy of new movies will
be about when they begin production in a few years time. For those
who are interested, the following two books have proved to be
invaluable in researching this series of articles: "Skywalking -
The Life and Films of George Lucas (Revised p/b edition) - By Dale
Pollock" and "George Lucas - The Creative Impulse (Lucasfilm's
First Twenty Years) - By Charles Champlin".

"American Graffiti" was a hit for Universal Pictures in 1972, and
it made George Lucas a 'hot property' in Hollywood. Despite this,
he was ready to retire from directing after facing the rigours of
making "American Graffiti". The physical toll it made on him just
wasn't worth the financial and critical rewards.  However, there
was another film inside him that he desperately wanted to create.
Ever since he had completed "THX 1138", George Lucas had yearned
to make a real epic romantic-space fantasy-adventure movie in the
spirit of the old swashbuckling Errol Flynn movies and Flash
Gordon serials of the 1930s. To prepare himself for the task, he
read up on fairy tales, mythology and social psychology. He tried
to get fairy tales, myths and religion down to a distilled state
so that he could study their pure form and see how they worked. He
also read the science fiction novels of Isaac Asimov as well as
the classic authors Edgar Rice Burroughs and Alex Raymond. As the
first draft developed, more research was made by reading Frank
Herbert's "Dune", E.E. "Doc" Smith novels and Carlos Castaneda's
"Tales of Power" (about a Mexican Indian Sorcerer). The latter
book inspired the whole approach to "the Force" as the sorcerer in
question (Don Juan) often referred to a "life force".

Before the first draft of the screenplay was written, George Lucas
penned a thirteen page story treatment. He had always found it
difficult to commit his ideas into a screenplay straight away, so
writing what was effectively an expanded story synopsis at least
allowed him to have something he could show to prospective
financial backers. By May 1973 he had completed a thirteen page
treatment.  Unfortunately, the only person it made any real sense
to was George Lucas. Others had great difficulty in comprehending
what it was all about. Hand-written on blue lined paper, the
treatment told "...the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi-bendu
of Opuchi who was related to Usby C. J. Thape, padawaan learner to
the famed Jedi". The story was set sometime in the 23rd Century, a
time when Jedi-Templar Warriors swore allegiance to the Alliance
of Independent Systems. Three main locations for the story were
described - a jungle world, a desert planet and a gaseous world
with a city suspended in the clouds. Every person, beast and
structure was named and described in detail.

The story went as follows: A rebel Princess (Leia Aguilea) flees
with her family from an evil sovereign who has taken control of
the Alliance and declared himself Emperor. With his friend
Annakin Starkiller, General Luke Skywalker (one of the two
surviving Jedi knights) leads Leia through a dangerous escape
route.  On the way they take two Imperial Bureaucrats hostage, who
add comic relief to the story at various points. A rebel band of
ten boys, aged between 15 and 18 join the group along the way.
Pursued by Imperial Troops, the rebels are chased across space and
hide in an asteroid belt. They eventually escape in a stolen
space freighter to a jungle planet where they are attacked and the
Princess is captured. General Skywalker then trains the boys to
fly one man "devil fighter" planes, free the Princess, engage in a
laser-blasting dogfight in space with the Imperial fleet, and
escape again into deep space. In the final scene, the General and
his small band are rewarded by the Princess on her home planet,
where she reveals her true "goddesslike" self. Other characters
that appear in the background are two workmen named See Threepio
and Artwo Detwo, Han Solo (a friend to the Jedi Knights), a Wookie
prince called Chewbacca, and two villains, General Darth Vader
and Valarium - the Black Knight. Sleek white vehicles called Land
speeders are also mentioned.

Already a number of familiar names and situations can be found in
this first treatment. The two workmen and the two Imperial
bureaucrats are eventually merged together to become the androids
C-3PO and R2-D2.  The other names remained throughout the genesis
of the treatment into a proper script. However, Leia would change
her surname from Aguilea to Organa and Valarium would be absorbed
into Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. (Quite how "Mace Windu"
and "Usby C.J. Thape" from the story title came into this
treatment is unclear).

The Saga Continues in the next edition of SynTax. Until then, May
The Force Be With You.

@~Yes, there'll be more in Issue 36.











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