I don’t know if Lucas did it intentionally or if it’s just my strange brain, but I’ve noticed a number of parallels between the two middle episodes of both Star Trek Trilogies.

Over-all Structure
In the first section of Empire Strikes Back all of the main characters are on Hoth. They separate in the middle section, with Luke and R2D2 heading for Dagobah while Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO try to escape in the Falcon. In the final section, everyone is back together in the vicinity of Cloud City.
Attack of the Clones follows the same structure. The main characters are (mostly) together in the opening section in Coruscant. In the middle section, they split up. Obi-Wan and the droid R-4 go to Kamino while Anakin, Padme and R2D2 go to Naboo. In the final third of the movie, the main characters are reunited in the battle on Geonosis.

Romance
Both movies feature a romance, although the romantic element is stronger in Clones, since that’s a major and necessary part of the plot. (Indeed, without this romance, there would be no Luke and Leia for the second trilogy.) In both movies, the romance follows a three-act sequence:

• In the first part of the movie, Anakin and Han are attracted to Padme and Leia, but the women are cool or actively discouraging.
  
• In the middle sections, the couples spend some time alone (or nearly alone) and we see Padme and Leia start to show interest.
  
• In the final sections, the women finally admit their feelings, but only when things are looking pretty bleak. Leia tells Han “I love you”, just before he’s put into carbon freezing. Padme tells Anakin the same thing as they’re both taken to face death in the area.

Saving the Senator/Princess
In Empire, Han takes Leia on the Falcon to help her escape from Imperial forces.
In Clones, Anakin goes with Padme to Naboo to keep her safe from assassins.

Going to the Rescue
In Empire, Luke leaves Dagobah to rescue Han and Leia, despite warnings from both Obi Wan and Yoda that he should remain with Yoda to complete his training.
In Clones, Anakin, despite instructions from Obi Wan that he should stay in Naboo, first goes to Tatooine to rescue his mother and then to Geonosis the rescue Obi-Wan (Granted, Padme was aiding and abetting him, especially when they went to rescue Obi-Wan.)

Loosing a Hand
In Empire, Luke looses his hand in the light saber duel with Darth Vader (the former Anakin).
In Clones, Anakin (the future Darth Vader) looses his hand in the light saber duel with Count Dooku.

Asteroids
In Empire, Han pilots through an asteroid field in an attempt to escape the Empire.
In Clones, Obi-Wan pilots through an asteroid field as he follows Jango and Boba Fett.

3PO Looses his Head
In Empire, he’s shot by the stormtrooper and disassembled
In Clones, he’s taken apart in the droid factory and his head is put on the wrong body.

Shooting at Fleeing Ship
In Empire, Leia shoots at Boba Fett’s ship as he leaves Cloud City with Han in carbonite.
In Clones, Padme shoots at Dooku’s ship as he escapes Geonosis.

Final Scene
In Empire, the movie ends with Luke and Leia standing together, looking out at the stars. R2D2 and C-3PO are behind them and to the right of the screen.
In Clones, the movie ends with Anakin and Padme standing together, kissing. R2D2 and C-3PO are behind them and to the right of the screen.

Can you think of any others?

Why the big deal about the children being the ones who realized that the missing planet, Kamino, was only missing because someone erased it from the archives? That seemed pretty obvious to me. Why was it such a problem?

Of course, maybe that’s the point. Like the children, I wasn’t aware that it’s supposedly impossible to delete anything from the archives, so it never occurred to me not to think of that possibility. Obi-Wan and the Librarian, however, took the library’s inviability for granted, so the missing planet posed a real mystery, as least to Obi-Wan.

We see what we expect to see. If we have no expectations, our minds are open and we can often see more clearly. (Indeed, Yoda tells Obi-Wan just that when Obi reports in after viewing the clones on Kamino.)

In some ways, this little incident is symbolic of the entire movie. The Jedi don’t expect certain things to happen (a planet being erased from the archives, the former Jedi Count Dooku turning bad) and so don’t look for them. Until it’s too late.

Yoda says the Dark Side conceals things, but in some ways the real culprit is the inability or unwillingness of people - even Jedi - to look beyond their expectations and preconceptions. (Or maybe you could say that’s part of our personal Dark Sides.)

It’s even possible - and I’m really stretching here - that the whole “bring balance to the Force” thing that Anakin is supposed to do has something to do with this blindness. Most of the Jedi have become too complacent, too sure of themselves, too sure the Dark Side is not a threat. When Anakin becomes Darth Vader he forces the Jedi to face the darkness rather than ignore it.

In the short run, this causes hatred and fear of the Dark Side in general and Vader in particular. (Not to mention lots of pain, suffering and death.)

In the long run, Luke goes beyond this as he faces and acknowledges both the darkness and his father. Even though Obi-Wan tells him that he must kill Vader, Luke refuses. His faith in the essential goodness of Anakin not only redeems this man, but shows us that the only way to truly conquer the darkness is to look it in the face and embrace it as part of ourselves. Only then can we mingle the Dark with the Light and be truly balanced.

Note: I wrote this before Episode III came out.

One of the books I’m currently reading is the Star Wars novel, Labyrinth of Evil, by James Luceno.

The story takes place shortly before Episode III, and this book has been billed as the first of a trilogy, followed by the Revenge of the Sith novelization and Dark Lord (which takes during and shortly after Episode III.)

Labyrinth is an entertaining and compelling book, giving insights into characters we know and events yet to come. However, as I read, I’m filled with a sense of sadness, for even as I watch Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi search for the mysterious Sith lord, I know they won’t find him in time. I know what will ultimately happen….

This doesn’t stop the book from being entertaining along the way. There’s one brief exchange when Anakin and Obi-Wan are in a bar in pursuit of a pilot who is the next link in the chain leading to Darth Sideous. They start talking about Zam Wessel, the shapeshifter from Episode II, and Obi-Wan tells Anakin he knew she would follow him. Anakin: “Implying that shapeshifters have a special fondness for me?” Obi Wan: “The way you were strutting around, what female could help herself?”

And I particularly enjoy the scene where Obi-Wan and another character disable a tractor beam. Obi-Wan makes a flicking motion with his fingers; this creates a noise which distracts the guards — sound familiar? Obi-Wan watches carefully as the other character disables the tractor beam. He obviously commits the procedure to memory, which serves him in good stread many years later on the Death Star. I chuckled when, a bit later, Anakin mentions disabling the beam and Obi-Wan says, “Not a skill I expect to draw on again.”

One of the most compelling aspects of the book is how it tells us something of the background of General Grievous. We learn who he was before he became a tool of the Sith, why he hates the Jedi and what really caused the accident that resulted in his half-mechanical existence. All-in all, it makes me much more sympathetic to him, although I still enjoy his demise at the hands of Obi-Wan in Episode III.

I thought these quizzes were silly until I found a bunch about Star Wars and Star Trek!

You have earned the Green Lightsaber. You are wise and skilled as a Jedi. The force is strong with you. Other Jedi look up to you for information. You would rather teach others the way of a Jedi than fight. But if you are needed you are up to the challenge.

Which Star Wars Lightsaber Should You Have?
brought to you by Quizilla

I was just watching Star Wars Episode II (for the zillionth time), and was reminded once again of this issue:

Except for the very beginning of Attack of the Clones, when she’s in disguise as an escort pilot, Padme wears long dresses, even at times when pants would be more practical (riding the little boat to the island or traipsing around on Tatooine, for example).

But at the funeral for Anakin’s mom, she wears that tight white pants outfit. Now it’s handy she did because right after that, they get the message from Obi-Wan and go traipsing off to Geonosis. It would have been a bit difficult for her to dodge the machine and then fight the beasts in the arena if she’d been wearing her usual long, flowing dresses.

But when she dressed for the funeral, she didn’t know all this was going to happen! And since she’d been wearing dresses all the time previously, why did she suddenly decide to change into pants? One would think a dress would be more appropriate for a funeral.

And she would have had time to change into pants during their journey to Geonosis, so there’s not even a plot reason to have her wear pants in the funeral scene.

Did you know that near the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope , you can see Kenny Baker’s eye inside R2-D2?

It happens during the scene where R2-D2 is hiding in the rocks after the Sand People attacked Luke. Take a good look when there are close ups of the little droid, and you’ll see a human eye behind R2-D2’s lens.

Sometimes I can watch this scene without seeing the eye, but sometimes it jumps out at me and I have to put my hand over the screen because it looks so creepy.

Donna Dolezal Zelzer