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Quick Question About Midi-Chlorians


Zerimar Nyliram
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Yes, hyphenated is the correct spelling.

There's something in the book The Making of Star Wars that has always had me skeptical: George Lucas includes a line he supposedly said to Mark Hamill back in '76 regarding midi-chlorians. Now, we all know that George Lucas has a penchant for changing his mind like most people change their socks. There's nothing wrong with that, but he tends to insist that his current position on something is the one he's held all along, when documented history frequently proves otherwise.

My question to you is, do you believe this quote--completely unknown to the world until the late 2000s and never referenced by anyone--to be legitimate, or is it a fabrication? I have always leaned toward the latter, but I've always wondered about the logistics of it. Did his maybe pay Mark to keep his mouth shut? Or does Mark simply not care?

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It wouldn't surprise me if Lucas had come up with the concept back in the 70s, went back and forth with the idea for 20 years, and then put it into The Phantom Menace claiming it was his plan all along. It's not like he didn't discard ideas only to reuse them later.

 

I can't say I know the truth of it though.

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I doubt he paid Mark to keep his mouth shut, I mean why would he? Why would Hammill have any interest in throwing George under the bus? I mean whats the worst that could happen Mark says "I don't remember that" and the George says "well we had a lot of conversations, I wouldn't expect him to remember every single one?"

 

Either way, if the idea was thought of in the mid 70s or the mid 90s it was a bad idea.

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Yes, hyphenated is the correct spelling.

 

There's something in the book The Making of Star Wars that has always had me skeptical: George Lucas includes a line he supposedly said to Mark Hamill back in '76 regarding midi-chlorians. Now, we all know that George Lucas has a penchant for changing his mind like most people change their socks. There's nothing wrong with that, but he tends to insist that his current position on something is the one he's held all along, when documented history frequently proves otherwise.

 

My question to you is, do you believe this quote--completely unknown to the world until the late 2000s and never referenced by anyone--to be legitimate, or is it a fabrication? I have always leaned toward the latter, but I've always wondered about the logistics of it. Did his maybe pay Mark to keep his mouth shut? Or does Mark simply not care?

I believe him, but if we are going to be sticklers, a bit of documentation from GL's working notes or draft scripts would be helpful. If he just had a conversation with Hamill about the biological side of the Jedi connection the force, maybe he didn't have the full-blown midi-chlorian concept in mind, but every idea starts somewhere.

 

I don't hate the midi-chlorians as a concept. How else could the force be strong in family? If there weren't a biological component to it, then wouldn't people be randomly force-sensitive? Even in the old EU, there were sensors for detecting force sensitivity in beings. What were they sensing if not some biological aspect of the force?

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Guest El Chalupacabra

It wouldn't surprise me if Lucas had come up with the concept back in the 70s, went back and forth with the idea for 20 years, and then put it into The Phantom Menace claiming it was his plan all along. It's not like he didn't discard ideas only to reuse them later.

 

I can't say I know the truth of it though.

Pretty much my opinion too, and couldn't have phrased it better.

 

Lucas has a long history of recycling concepts and even names that weren't used for whatever reason in the OT, or used on other works (EG the girl on the cartoon Droids looks exactly like Rey, there is a character in Ewok adventure named Mace, Princess Leia was originally supposed to be a 14 year old Queen like Amidala, etc). Maybe in 1976 midi-chlorians weren't quite the same as in the PT, but in the same ball park, would be my guess.

 

I just don't see a reason to lie about it, either, so I believe it. I think the real question was at what level was his idea fleshed out in 1976.

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I can't recall anything specific regarding midi-chlorians, but that Lucas kept paring back the nature of the Force to present it mythically in the OT. (That's a timeline quibble I have between the OT and PT.) I think there's some conversations between Lucas, Charlie Lippincott, and Alan Dean Foster that have a little bit of direction for portrayal in the Star Wars novelization.

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This is why the whole idea that Rey got her powers too quickly or easily in TFA is silly. Rey actually did things to show she is powerful, whereas with Anakin we are essentially just told he is powerful and asked to accept it.

Everything you just said there was wrong.
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This is why the whole idea that Rey got her powers too quickly or easily in TFA is silly. Rey actually did things to show she is powerful, whereas with Anakin we are essentially just told he is powerful and asked to accept it.

1. Only human capable of even handling a pod racer, and won a race.

2. Built his own pod racer and C-3P0

3. Passed the Jedi Council's test for reading their mind easily.

4. Did all the above at age nine with no training.

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What did Rey do to show she was powerful? She showed she was resourceful. She lived in a rough area and she knew how to take care of herself. However her force skills do come a little too easy in TFA. Especially considering she didn't even believe the Jedi existed a few days earlier. Fast forward a WEEK, and she's taking down Snoke's elite guard.

 

Anakin in TPM shows a skill that was aided by the force. His biggest accomplishment in the movie comes off as a stroke of luck. Far forward TEN YEARS, and Anakin has honed his skills training as a Jedi. And in his biggest moment he gets his arm cut off. It's not until he gives into the dark side that he perfects his skills.

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This is why the whole idea that Rey got her powers too quickly or easily in TFA is silly. Rey actually did things to show she is powerful, whereas with Anakin we are essentially just told he is powerful and asked to accept it.

1. Only human capable of even handling a pod racer, and won a race.

2. Built his own pod racer and C-3P0

3. Passed the Jedi Council's test for reading their mind easily.

4. Did all the above at age nine with no training.

 

Well, I mean we are essentially told that he is the only human who can race a pod. I wouldn't say building things has ever been a sign of strength in the Force. The Jedi just say he passed their test, which was a terribly exciting scene of him standing still and saying words.

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Well, I mean we are essentially told that he is the only human who can race a pod.

 

That and we then see a whole race where there aren't any other humans participating.

 

 

 

I wouldn't say building things has ever been a sign of strength in the Force.

 

No. But it certainly is the implication that Anakin's affinity with machines is a manifestation of his raw Force sensitivity in this case.

 

 

 

The Jedi just say he passed their test, which was a terribly exciting scene of him standing still and saying words.

 

Actually, that scene's one of the more important in The Phantom Menace as immediately afterwards Yoda quizzes Anakin and discovers the fear of losing those close to him that will be his downfall. More or less the entire trilogy is built around that character flaw.

 

The test was just a brief beginning to the scene, but it does establish in passing that Anakin's untrained abilities are already strong. I'd mark that down as a elegant way of establishing Anakin's strength without having to weigh down the movie in constantly proving it.

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Nothing you are saying is technically wrong really, although we also don't see any wookies in the pod race does that mean no wookies can? The real problem is having Anakin be so young in the movie, which is a problem that permeates the entire trilogy.

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Nothing you are saying is technically wrong really, although we also don't see any wookies in the pod race does that mean no wookies can?

 

From what I can tell, you're complaint is that they're telling, not showing. But you're negating a long action scene dedicated to showing Anakin's prowess because of a bit of dialogue that gives the audience simple context to the accomplishment.

 

And I'm not sure how else to make that context known short of somehow showing every other pod racer in the galaxy and hoping that the audience gets it.

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Amount of total screen time where midi-chlorians are mentioned or referred to: 90 seconds, give or take

 

Amount of time fans have spent bitching about them since: *calculator blows up*

 

That and Ani's sand comment are weird situations in that both are really stupid but the completely over the top reactions and dead horse beatings have actually transcended them in being annoying.

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