Star Wars

A Disturbance in the Force

Every author took extreme care in regard to the Jedi and the Force. No Jedi Master wields a lightsaber in the Tales of the Jedi comics, just as neither Master Yoda nor Palpatine have one in the original trilogy. The Force is their ally, and a powerful ally it is. Jedi Knight elaborated on the abilities of a Force user, distinguishing between neutral, Light side, and Dark side powers. The neutral and Dark side powers are derived from scenes in the movies, but there wasn't any demonstration of Light side abilities to draw from. So Light side powers had to be invented based on Yoda's teachings: "The Force is for defense, never for attack." Eventually Kyle Katarn, the protagonist, must choose the Light side or the Dark side and obtain the rank of Jedi Master. By the last half-dozen levels, Kyle's Force powers are so powerful I didn't need to bother with conventional weapons on my way into the Valley of the Jedi, truly reinforcing the image of a powerful Jedi Master.

There were some black sheep in the family - the Star Wars Christmas Special, anyone? - but overall Star Wars thrived in the Expanded Universe. And then came the great divide, throwing fans around the world into disarray. We all know exactly where we were when it happened: the exit of the movie theater. After the amazing "Duel of Fates," after the lights came back on, after the endorphin rush of seeing the first new Star Wars movie in 16 years, questions arose, as if a million voices suddenly cried out in terror. Didn't Obi-Wan say Yoda trained him? Why didn't the aliens speak their native languages? And what's up with Jar Jar Binks? Then it dawned on us: that wasn't anything like the Star Wars we grew up on. We had to either accept this disappointing new world or rebel against it.

But rebellion is futile when the LucasArts marketing colossus is fully operational. The prequel movie immediately bled into new books, comics and games. The Phantom Menace novel came out a month before the movie, and the game Episode I: Racer on the day of the film's release. Fans new and old flocked to expand the universe of the prequels, using them as another monolithic source of material, one which seemingly stood in opposition to the Original Trilogy instead of beside it. The most egregious point of dispute came from a single word: "midi-chlorians." It wasn't uttered since Episode I, but the damage was done. The word is etched by the tip of a lightsaber inside every fan's brain, a scarlet letter warning future generations of sci-fi creators that it's possible to ruin the best part of your invention.

Some fans have been able to reconcile the new movies with the established universe, or at least accept them as wholly and truly Star Wars. I heard two kids at my local GameStop discuss how the Borg would react to assimilating midi-chlorians. Those two, at least, had no problem with Lucas' embellishments - it's all Star Wars to them. But there are those of us who feel uneasy about anything associated with the prequels. We speak of them in hushed tones, either to pretend they don't exist, or to ignore the small part of us that accepts the prequel universe, flaws and all.