The Discrepancies That Irk A Star Wars Enthusiast: Part One

Dear Mr. Lucas,

I have admired your work since I was ten years old. On my tenth birthday, in 1978, my father and I saw Star Wars during its re-release; we did not see it in 1977. I have been an artist since I was four years old, but my experience with Star Wars that afternoon is what encouraged me to apply my art talent to filmmaking.

Much of what I know about filmmaking, I learned from studying your work. I also— for two years— attended New York University Film School. One piece of instruction that left me with an indelible memory came from one of my film professors, Rick Litvin. He taught: “If your film intends to ask the audience to believe something that is not believable, then you MUST make it believable! One way to make your film believable is to establish a set of rules for your film, and then adhere to those rules throughout the film, and throughout any sequels.”

I now must apologize in advance; I am sorry if my following questions are offensive. It is not my intention to be insulting in any way. However, despite the fact that you are my favorite artist— and for the purposes of helping all of us aspiring filmmakers to improve our storytelling skills— I must ask you about the discrepancies that irk a Star Wars enthusiast:

1. In Revenge Of The Sith, General Grievous is in possession of light-sabers that he took from Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters whom he had slain. He revealed that he learned how to sword-fight from Count Dooku. In various interviews, you state that because much of Darth Vader’s body is damaged or destroyed, his midichlorian-count is significantly reduced, thereby greatly reducing his ability to use The Force. Because General Grievous has a much greater proportion of artificial bodyparts than Darth Vader, and because Grievous never had any Force abilities from the outset, then how could he possibly defeat Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters?

2. In A New Hope, the light-saber duel that occurs between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader is slow and inept, in contrast to the sword-fights that occur in Episodes 1-3. In various interviews, you state that the reason for this is that Kenobi is an old man, and Vader is mostly mechanical. Hence, they do not have the physical ability that they possessed when they were young and healthy. However, this explanation does not make sense. In Episode 4, Obi-Wan is perhaps in his 40s or 50s. In Episode 2, Count Dooku/Lord Tyrannus is 70-80 years old, and he makes short work of Obi-Wan and Anakin, who are 1/3 to 1/4 his age. Referring again to Episode 3, General Grievous has no Force abilities, and he has even less of an organic body than the re-built Darth Vader, yet Grievous is able to defeat Jedi who are in their prime. How so?

3. In The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul is only a Sith Apprentice. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a Jedi Apprentice, and Qui-Gon Jinn is a Jedi Master. So, how is a Sith Apprentice able fight a Jedi Apprentice and a Jedi Master to a draw, and then defeat the Jedi Master?

Again, I am sorry if these questions are offensive, but I am asking them in the interest of cinema-studies, with respect to screenwriting and story development.

TO BE CONTINUED…