This is a Fan Fic about what Episode 1 could have been.
First I’d like to do a quick list of the good and the bad of Episode 1:
The Good:
-Darth Maul (the looks)
-The Pod Race maybe?
The Bad:
-Jar Jar Binks
-Baby Anakin
-midichlorians
-Abundant CGI
-Abundant complex politics
-Messy/incoherent/complex story
-Not much relevance to the other 2 movies of the trilogy (I think that Episode 1 really should have been the start of the Clone Wars, it just makes a lot more sense to me).
Most fans agree that the real problem with the prequels was the tone. Star Wars should be a simple, focused story, with a clear protagonist. A big epic adventure, set in an old, mysterious, gritty world, away from cities and civilization, the "frontier". However, I think I understand what George Lucas was trying to do. He tried to make some kind of "chronicle" of events. A different world, with big, clean, prosperous cities. A civilized world, a Republic. I think its not a bad idea, its just a pitty that Lucas got carried away with CGI and cartoonish characters, and terribly miscasted Hayden Christensen.
I would also like to clarify that, however bad the prequels were, I completely love George Lucas. He is up there with JRR Tolkien, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and JK Rowling. He has one of the best imaginative minds of history and anyone who insults him is a traitorous douchebag.
A few basic changes:
-Replacing SL Jackson with Idris Elba as Windu (Fits the character. I never really liked SLJ's Windu, and Elba would just make such an awsome wise Jedi).
-Replacing Hayden Christensen/Jake Lloyd with Sebastian Stan. (Hayden's Anakin was just annoying. Sebastian Stan was 17 when Episode 1 came out, he really looks like a likeable young hero like Luke and he also has a darker side as seen on The Winter Soldier).
-Obi Wan will be the main character, the hero. He will be this trilogy's Luke, while Anakin's story progresses on the background of both trilogies.
-Palpatine is not from Naboo
Without further ado, here is the story for my version of Star Wars: Episode 1:
Star Wars Episode I: An Old Menace
It is a period of peace in the galaxy, but tension is rising in the Republic between The Outer Rim planets and the Core Worlds. The Outer Rim is primitive, less civilized, and practices slavery and repression.
The Republic’s government, located in the Core Worlds, has chosen to impose economic sanctions to the Outer Rim, causing threats, assassinations and overall political turmoil. The Republic Congress has just approved the creation of a Republic Army.
Padme Amidala, princess of Naboo and member of the Congress, is travelling back to her home world, escorted by two Jedis: Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi.
Obi Wan and Qui Gon share a conversation in which the padawan tells his master that he longs for the old days of war with the Sith. Qui Gon tells him that those were very dark times or something and we get to know the characters. Suddenly, the ship is attacked and captured by a bigger ship. Darth Maul, a couple of generals and their battle droids enter the Nabooan ship and after a brief interaction, Maul kills Qui Gon.
Obi Wan and Padme escape in a smaller ship, the Royal Nubian (which would be the prequel’s Millenium Falcon). Obi Wan is devastated about the death of his master and Padme comforts him. In the Nubian there is also a short, friendly and sarcastic droid called RQ-4 (or something), who will aid them for the rest of the story. His personality would be similar to TARS from Interstellar.
The ship is shot, but it manages to escape. However, it is unable to sustain its hyperdrive and lands for repairs on the desert planet of Tatooine. The communicator doesn’t work either. Tatooine is a Separatist, very primitive planet ran by Jiliac, a dictator that practices slavery. Here, Obi Wan, Padme and RQ4 meet Anakin Skywalker (Sebastian Stan, 19 years old and not a slave himself), who works repairing junk. They pay him to repair the ship and the four characters instantly get along really well. Obi Wan wants to lay low for a couple of days in fear of Maul, so they go to see Anakin's Pod Race. There should be a lot of chemistry in this part between the 4 characters.
They go to some bar where they see a man really mistreating his slave. This makes Anakin so angry that the light of the bar flashes for a couple of seconds and Obi Wan senses Anakin’s power. Anakin confronts Obi Wan about why do the Jedi not directly intervene in Tatooine, end slavery and Jiliac’s dictatorship. Obi Wan explains that their rule is not to intervene by force on Separatist civilizations because their objective is to maintain peace between planets as war would be worse for everyone. However, he says that deep down he does want the war to start so that he can kill his master’s murderer and all of his allies, but he knows it is wrong. Obi Wan, aware of the incredible power of Anakin, offers him to go to Coruscant to train as a Jedi. Anakin eventually accepts (no midichlorians or prophecies). Obi Wan keeps Qui Gon’s green lightsaber and gives Anakin his blue one. It would be really cool to get a shot of the 2 young heroes looking at the Tatooine sunset. They should share a conversation about their hopes and dreams. And Anakin should mention to Obi Wan how awesome he thinks Padme is.
Then we would finally get a look at the Jedi Temple. It is a very mysterious and ancient place. The Jedi council is introduced. (I would really like to replace SL Jackson for Idris Elba as Windu. I never really liked SLJ as Windu and Elba would just make such an amazing wise Jedi). The Jedi are having a discussion with Chancellor Palpatine about the recent law that authorized the Republic Army of Clones for actual battle. They have always fought the idea of a Republic Army and they confront Palpatine. Palpatine says he did everything he could to stop it. Palpatine also tells them that he is leaving for Kamino to do a report on the state of the Republic army.
On the next scene, Darth Maul is talking to Darth Sideous via hologram. He confesses that he failed at killing Padme. Sideous says he is very disappointed, but that it doesn’t matter now. “It is time to put our plan in motion. You know what to do, I hope you don’t fail me again” he says, and the hologram disappears. Maul is enraged and uses the force to just destroy some of the stuff in his ship. When one of his generals tries to talk to him, he starts choking him with the force, but eventually lets him go. “Im sorry Admiral Therus, I just can’t believe this, I wasn’t good enough and I failed him. I will kill them Admiral, I will kill them all”. Admiral Therus tells him that the Nubian is heading to Tatooine and asks him if they should follow them, but after a brief moment, Maul replies “No, I am heading to Geonosis, but I do have a very interesting mission for you Admiral”.
After some time on Tatooine, The Royal Nubian is repaired and Obi Wan, Padme, RQ4 and Anakin leave for Naboo. However, as soon as they leave the planet, the ship is attacked by a bigger ship. At first they think its Maul but then they realize its actually space pirates. After a brief fight, the Nubian is captured. Very outnumbered, Obi Wan decides to temporarily surrender. The Pirate Captain introduces himself. He is some kind of alien Jack Sparrow: a cool, badass, comic-relief character. I think it would be cool for him to be played by Andy Serkis in Mo-Cap. After a brief interaction, an awesome fight begins. Obi Wan uses the green saber, chopping off some limbs, Padme has a blaster, RQ4 deploys some cool guns from his arms, and Anakin reluctantly grabs the blue saber and manages to kill a droid or something. Eventually, the Captain surrenders and asks Obi Wan not to kill him, offering some information that might interest Obi Wan, which involves a “Sif Lord” (which are supposed to be just a Legend).
Very intrigued, Obi Wan says "Fine, talk, and I'll let you live", to what the Captain replies "Leave, and I'll talk. Promise that you'll leave my ship and crew, a Jedi can't break a promise after all, huh?". Obi Wan agrees, and the Captain tells them his story. A couple of weeks ago, he received information about a big payment in the planet Geonosis. He and his crew planned to steal the money, and at the place of the payment, they found a “red man in a black cloak”, meeting with a Geonosian. They attacked, but the cloaked man immediatley ignited a red double-lightsaber. He killed many of the pirates, and The Captain barely escaped with some of his crew. Obi Wan immediately realizes that the cloaked man is the one who killed Qui Gon, Darth Maul, and he is enraged. Obi Wan also asks how he found them, as it was odd that the pirates found them as soon as they left Tatooine. The Captain answers that he met an alien with grey skin and yellow eyes at a bar in a nearby planet. The alien told him about a rich princess travelling in a damaged Royal Nubian heading to Tatooine, and thus he tracked them and found them.
Obi Wan finds this very suspicious and thanks the Captain. He appears to be about to leave, but he suddenly ignites his lightsaber and just destroys all of the pirate ship's control panel, disabling it to either move or fight and effectively leaves them with the only option of contacting the Tatooine authorities to come for them. The Captain tries to grab his blaster but backs down with a resentful face when Obi Wan point his lightsaber towards him. Obi Wan, with a smirk says goodbye to the Captain and the pirates and, keeping his promise, enters the Nubian again (followed by Anakin, Padme and RQ4) and leaves for Naboo.
Palpatine arrives at Kamino, its raining. This part would be similar to the part in Episode 2 where Obi Wan arrives at Kamino. A tall alien receives Palpatine and shows him the massive Clone Army, with the Imperial music in the background. Palpatine asks if they are ready to fight, and the alien answers that they are.
The Nubian finally arrives at Naboo, and they are finally able to communicate with the Jedi Council. Obi Wan tells them everything that happened and the Captain’s story to a hologram of the Council. The Council decides to send Obi Wan to Geonosis to find out what was Maul's payment to the Geonosian for. Even though Anakin and Padme want to join him, Obi Wan says he has to do this alone. He tells Anakin that when he is finished, he will come back for him and take him to Coruscant, but that he must meanwhile wait in Naboo. Obi Wan leaves for Geonosis in a small Nabooan ship.
At Coruscant, the Jedi Council is discussing the situation. One of Jedi says to Yoda, “Master, you can’t believe this was an actual Sith, they have been extinct for a millennium!” Windu (Elba) says that he has actually felt the Dark Side approaching. And Yoda replies “Hard to see the Dark Side is. Very careful we must be from now on. A very old menace the Sith are, and we must stop it before the darkness covers us all”.
At Naboo, Padme and Anakin (who should have really good chemistry) walk around the gardens and she tells him that she cant stop thinking about who the grey alien with yellow eyes was. Suddenly, she seems to have an idea and tells Anakin to "Come, quick!". They go to the Royal Nubian and they start watching the ship's tapes from the time of Maul's attack and murder of Qui Gon (the ship had some kind of camera that recorded everything that happened near it). She pauses the tape at one point and looks shocked. Behind Darth Maul, there is the grey alien with yellow eyes that the pirate Captain described (Admiral Therus). Padme is shocked. “It’s a trap” she whispers breathlessly. Maul must have found the Captain after he escaped from him, and now used him to lead Obi Wan to Geonosis. Maul knew that a Jedi (Obi Wan) would easily defeat the Captain’s pirates and that the Captain would tell Obi Wan all about his meeting with the Genosian. They realize Obi Wan is heading into a trap and they tell this to Padme’s father who barely listens and doesnt believe them, telling them not to listen to a pirate and that he won’t hear another word from them. They decide to steal the Royal Nubian and head to Geonosis with RQ4 to save Obi Wan.
Obi Wan arrives at Geonosis. Like in Episode 2, he explores the place. He finds there is a huge factory of droids. Beside it there is a big building that appears to be its power source. Nearby, there are many gigantic Core Ships filled with billions of droids, meant to store and transport them, ready to leave the planet. Finally he sees a tall tower, where he supposes he’ll find Maul.
Admiral Therus informs Darth Maul that “The Jedi has arrived”, to what Maul answers “Perfect, wait for him to contact his superiors. War is upon us Admiral, and they will be the ones to start it”. Obi Wan does try to contact the Jedi Council but fails due to a strange error in the communicator. Instead, he is only able to contact Palpatine, who is at Kamino. Palpatine tells him that they cannot let the droid army leave Geonosis. He says that the Jedi are too far away and that there is no time, they just have to act now that they have an advantage, they have to invade Geonosis”. Suddenly, Obi Wan is hit on the back of his head and captured. Palpatine is seen ordering the Kaminoans to ready the army. Darth Maul tells Therus to prepare for battle and the army of droids deploys.
Anakin, Padme and RQ4 arrive at Geonosis on the Royal Nubian only to find a huge starship fleet. We see a cool dogfight as Anakin shows his amazing ability as a pilot, shooting and dodging Separatist ships.
To continue reading, I recommend listening to Duel of the Fates by John Williams.
Eventually, Anakin manages to get through the starship fleet and lands on the surface of the planet near the place where Obi Wan is being held captive (which they find thanks to a tracker). They manage to free Obi Wan, who is relieved to see his friends. He tells them that Palpatine is coming with the army of clones. Suddenly, in the distance, a door opens, and out comes Darth Maul, who ignites his double lightsaber and starts slowly walking towards them.
“RQ4, there is a big building about a mile north from here, I believe it’s the factory’s power source. Get into the Nubian and blow the hell out of it. Anakin and Padme, go to the nearby tower, you’ll find Therus, Maul's Admiral, there. Stop him, he cannot escape this planet. I’ll handle Maul. Anakin, I trust you, trust yourself. May the force be with you all.” As Anakin, Padme, RQ4 and the Captain run to their respective tasks, Obi Wan stares angrily to his former Master’s killer, and it is on. The two clash into an epic duel.
Then we would just see a bunch of fight scenes of RQ4 in the Nubian fighting other ships, Anakin and Padme fighting in the tower (Anakin with the blue lightsaber, Padme with a blaster), and Obi Wan fighting Maul. After some brief success, it becomes evident that RQ4, Anakin and Padme are being outmatched, and this is when they see a massive amount of ships arrive to aid them, ships full of Clone Troopers.
Now the battle is really on. The battle would look very similar to the one in Episode 2. Anakin and Padme continue to go up the tower to capture Admiral Therus, only they are now aided by Clones. Here we see Anakin use the force for the first time. A piece of debris is about to fall on Padme and he catches it mid air. They finally capture Therus, and Anakin quickly rushes to help Obi Wan. RQ4 is in the Nubian fighting other Separatist ships alongside Republic ships and he is the one to finally destroy the Power Source. Meanwhile, Obi Wan and Maul are fighting in a place similar to the one where the final duel takes place in Episode 1, the one with all the blue bridges. It is an epic duel, but Maul appears to be superior.
When Anakin arrives, he finds that Maul has disarmed Obi Wan, and is about to kill him. Anakin bravely stops him with his lightsaber. Maul looks at him and easily lifts him with the force. After a second, he throws Anakin away. But as Maul is distracted with Anakin, Obi Wan sees his opportunity and, after force-recovering his lightsaber, pierces Maul with it. Maul falls to the floor in pain. Obi Wan stands by him with anger, about to strike the final blow, but suddenly remembers Anakin. As he turns back, he sees Anakin is hanging form one of the “bridges”, about to fall. Obi Wan immediately jumps to aid him and barely grabs Anakin’s hand before he falls to a certain death. He pulls him up. But when they turn around again, they see Maul is not there anymore. There is blood on the floor leading to the end of the bridge, where they see Maul, bleeding, jumping into a ship that was waiting for him to escape. They try to chase him but it is too late. He escapes, staring at the two heroes with an evil look. Obi Wan shouts at him “I’ll find you, you coward! I’ll find you”.
Anakin and Obi Wan go outside and find that the remaining Core Ships are taking off. When they get to space, they enter hyperspace and the battle finally ends. The Republic ships finish the remaining separatists and Obi Wan goes to have a conversation with Palpatine. The War has started.
In the end, our four heroes get back into the Royal Nubian. Now, I am totally stealing from an awesome scene from a Belated Media video that I will link below: As they fly off the surface off Geonosis, Padme can’t help but remark that they’re surrounded by darkness and they just seem so alone. And as Anakin comforts her, Obi Wan says, “Yes, war has fallen upon us, upon the Galaxy. Hate and intolerance has filled the hearts of many”. (As he says this, we get images of the dead soldiers and burning buildings of Geonosis. But then we start getting happier images. The Republic awarding the 4 heroes for their bravery at the battle, Anakin training at the Jedi Academy, the Jedi Council discussing the battle plans and Anakin just talking and laughing with Padme in a sunset). With these images, Obi Wan continues his speech: “But it is not all darkness, there are glimmers of hope all around us, there is good people out there, tiny acts of kindness, people fighting for what is right. Its true Padme, we are surrounded by darkness, but there is also light, we just have to find it.” As he says this final line, we get back to see Obi Wan in the Nubian, staring at the vastness of the galaxy. And that is how we finish the movie.
Final Thoughts:
-Now Obi Wan's character has developed. In the beggining he just wanted adventure. His Master dies and all he wants is revenge. But in the end, he chooses to save Anakin instead of killing Darth Maul.
-Anakin's motivation for turning to the dark side (that I will be exploring in the next two articles) will make sense. Instead of that whiny stuff about saving Padme that doesnt make sense because she dies anyway, this will make sense. Like most dictators, Anakin just wants "the greater good", he believes in order and force. He believes that the Jedi just dont do enough, that they allow chaos and disorder. He believes that the ends justify the means and he will do everything he can to control the galaxy.
Stay tuned for Episode 2!
(The last scene was almost entirely borrowed from one of Belated Media's videos, 'What if Episode 1 was good?' so here you have a link to his channel in case you haven't seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/user/belatedmedia)
Please let me now what you think in the comments below!