Episode I KNIGHTS OF OLD. For thousands of years, peace and prosperity has reigned in the Galaxy.

Transcription

1 OPENING SCENES: Episode I KNIGHTS OF OLD For thousands of years, peace and prosperity has reigned in the Galaxy. However, due to the machinations of power-hungry politicians, the GALACTIC REPUBLIC has begun to rot from within. Despite this, the Jedi Knights continue to valiantly serve as guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy. The Mandalorians were a warrior race that was thought to be extinct, however, they survived, and have also acquired the means to build several massive cloning facilities. In the opening space scenes of the movie, they attack and invade the planet of Felucia. Side note: When Boba Fett is first introduced in the Empire Strikes Back novel, he is described as wearing a weapon-covered, armored spacesuit, the kind worn by a group of evil warriors defeated by the Jedi Knights during the Clone Wars. In other words, he s wearing old Mandalorian armour. So, he s either a surviving Mandalorian, or his father was. ACT ONE Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his father, Qui-Gon Kenobi (basically a carbon copy of Qui-Gon Jinn from The Phantom Menace) are Jedi Knights stationed on the beautiful planet Alderaan. Side note: In my trilogy, the way Jedis progress through the ranks is this: They are trained in the ways of the force (between ages 10-12) (this takes only a couple weeks), they then become Padawan apprentices for the next 5 years so they can learn to become a Jedi Knight (they shadow an older Jedi). Obi-Wan was trained by Yoda, and was apprenticed to his father. 35 Year-old Obi-wan [Ewan McGregor] is a General in the army of Alderaan, under the command of Alderaan s Senator & 1 st Chairman (Bail Organa), and his wife, the Queen. Alderaan is a beautiful and peaceful planet.

2 We are one year into the Clone Wars; however, not much actual fighting has taken place, mostly just Mandalorians making threats. The first large-scale invasion was that of Felucia. So far, Alderaan s army is basically nonexistent- it really only functions for ceremonial purposes. So, Obi-wan has been put in command of a group of young boys aged fifteen to nineteen. Under the watchful eye of Qui-Gon, Obi-wan will train them to become fighter pilots. Among this group is a fifteen year-old boy named Anakin Skywalker. In this movie he doesn t have a large role, but his introduction is important. Also (briefly) introduced to us is a Jedi Knight named Caddie Arkadia she will be important later on in the trilogy. On Felucia, the Mandalorians have completely secured control of the planet. The Mandalorian Warlords now occupy the throne room in the Felucian palace. A hologram appears of a mysterious creature named Lord Maul. Lord Maul tells the warlords that they need a bargaining tool Note: I like the idea of Sith Lords getting new names when they become Sith. What I don t like is the idea of them taking the title Darth. Why? A few reasons. I ll give one here: In A New Hope, Ben Kenobi refers to Darth Vader as Darth. If Darth is a title, then that s like Ben saying, You re only a master of evil, Mister. So, here, Darth Maul becomes Lord Maul, and Darth Sidious will be simply known as Sidious (when he eventually shows up in my trilogy). On Alderaan, Obi-wan continues the training of his pupils. This time, he trains them in low- Alderaan-orbit, in practice star fighters. Bail Organa, and some of his fellow senators and friends, are having a short meeting together about a political situation. Among these diplomats is everyone s favorite droid duo, R2-D2 and C-3P0. They then get in a cruiser to head to Coruscant, the ecumenopolis that is the capital planet of the Galaxy. However, their cruiser is hijacked and captured by the Mandalorians. So the politicians are taken to Felucia as captives. ACT TWO The Queen of Alderaan hears about her husband s capture, so she goes to Obi-wan for help. She believes that the Republic s lack of an army (all the planets have their own individual militaries) and the slowness of the Senate will make it so that her husband and the people he is with will not be rescued until it is too late. She then tells Obi-wan that it is his job to see to it that Organa s group is rescued. Obi-wan, along with his father and his students, prepares to go to Felucia. As fate would have it, Obi-wan finds out that Anakin is a native of Felucia. So, when they first arrive on Felucia, they land on the outskirts of the capital city (so as to avoid attention) right next to Anakin s house. They all go inside the Skywalker residence and we meet Anakin s parents (who are in their sixties) and Owen Lars (Anakin s 18 year-old half-brother). The group looks over a map of the surrounding area and plans their assault.

3 Meanwhile, back on the boring political planet of Coruscant, an emergency session of the senate is being held because of the kidnapping of the senators. In the meeting, Senator Palpatine (Felucia s Senator) begins a discourse about how the leadership of Chancellor Valorum [Sir Christopher Lee] has failed the republic. He remarks how the Mandalorians may have acquired the means necessary to build their cloning facilities from the Trade Federation- an establishment the Chancellor is on the payroll of. Palpatine succeeds in getting other Senators to call for a vote of no confidence, which means that a new Chancellor must be chosen. Palpatine confides to his aides that he will probably get a lot of sympathy votes since his planet is under occupation by the Mandalorians at the moment. (Hmm what a coincidence) As far as the rescue mission goes, Owen Lars agrees to come with the group to save the senators. Owen Lars is great friends with Anakin but isn t exactly on line with this war thing. He does want the Mandalorian occupation of his planet to end, so he agrees to assist them. The clever rescue mission is successful (during the battle, Owen Lars gains the respect of Obiwan) and the group departs on their transport, this time with the senators in tow. The Mandalorian Warlords contact Maul about this rescue. Maul is enraged he declares that the time for playing games with the Republic is over, and instructs the Mandalorians to withdraw from Felucia immediately and perform several vicious surprise attacks across the Galaxy. He says that while this is happening, he will hunt down and murder the senators. ACT THREE When Obi-wan s transport comes out of hyperspace in low-alderaan-orbit. They re slowly cruising towards the planet, when Lord Maul attacks them, rapid-firing at their ship. Since the Republic is (or, was) in a time of peace, Kenobi s ship has no guns. Frantically, they manage to (safely) crash-land the ship onto the surface of Alderaan.

4 So, they are not in the city part of Alderaan, but out in the beautiful, open planes. Their ship ruined (and all of their communication devices ineffective or broken), they camp out for the night. One of Anakin s friends tries to send out a homing beacon, but it fails. Meanwhile, Lord Maul lands on Alderaan and sends probe droids after the Jedis and their rescued prisoners. The next day, Kenobi s group manages to make it to an old abandoned energy generator building, where Bail says that an air barge stops every couple of days. Problem is, so do Maul s probe droids. Now that Maul knows where the senator scum is he unloads from the back of his star fighter a package of battle droids. Please note that these battle droids actually act like robots used as weapons (droidekas), not idiot roger roger soldiers that should have been recalled. These battle droids may not be the most effective thing ever, but they re convenient henchmen for Darth Maul at the moment. Lord Maul sends the battle droids to go straight to the energy generator. He however, takes a different way in. As luck would have it, the battle droids show up straight where the senators are. They start firing, and one of them is killed. However, the rest of them make it away with some of Kenobi s pupils. Obi-wan and Qui-Gon hear about the battle droids, so they rush to their aide with the rest of Obiwan s students. However, when the door opens to the center energy reactor (or whatever), Lord

5 Maul is standing right there! Obi-wan s students run off in a different direction, and the Jedis deal with Maul. So, in the students and senators vs. battle droids fight, all of the battle droids are killed, but not without a cost: a few senators and students are killed, and a couple more wounded. In the three-way duel, Obi-wan gets separated from Qui-Gon and Maul because of an energy door. Just like in The Phantom Menace, Maul kills Qui-Gon. However, after this, Maul books it- after all, it s the senators he s after. So, Obi-wan can only stand and watch as Maul runs away to go kill his students and the senators, who are no better than sitting ducks now. The energy door opens eventually, though and Obi-wan hurries out and keeps Lord Maul from killing anyone and brings his fight outside. Lord Maul notices that a large sky barge is in the sky. This scares Maul away (because he s afraid there is an army inside, not because he has a phobia of sky-barges), so he leaves on his hover bike. Obi-wan doesn t bother with the sky-barge; he s worried about his dad. He goes to find him, and is shocked when he finds nothing but his Jedi robes. Then ghost Qui-gon appears to Obi-wan and reveals how he learned the secrets of this ancient Jedi practice of disappearing and blah blah blah. Anyways, Obi-wan leaves later and we discover that in the Sky-barge was the Queen of Alderaan. Along with her she has brought Mace Windu and Senator Palpatine- who, we learn, is now Supreme Chancellor. Turns out, someone did get Anakin s friend s homing signal after all, and the Queen arrived just in time. As night falls, there s a mellow moment as the bodies of those who were died to set the fire. While the bodies are on fire, everyone boards the sky-barge. Two of the workers on the skybarge stay behind to put out the fire. On the sky barge, Obi-wan then tells Mace Windu [Samuel L. Jackson] about how the Sith, who were thought to be long gone, have survived. He s trouble by this (obviously). As everyone is gathered around in a circle, Palpatine says, in an informal way, that Obi-wan Kenobi and his pilots-in-training are to be commended for their bravery. He tells Obi-wan that people like them will be needed in the upcoming war- Palpatine is creating a Galactic army to counter the Mandalorians. So, the sky-barge moves closer to the Capital City of Aldera, basking in the glory of the mountains and fields surrounding it. Obi-wan, Anakin, Mace, Queen Organa, Bail Organa,

6 and the droids all gaze at the city in awe and then END EPISODE I This Adventure may have ended happily, but years of war are just beginning.