I was planning on posting a new draft of the Episode I summary that includes all of my latest notes and revisions first thing this morning, but it will have to wait until either late tonight or first thing tomorrow morning. Don't worry, I've been working on this throughout May and diligently all this past week. After that, I'll be posting new summaries of Eps II and III in early June, followed by at least the first full screenplay in June, and hopefully all three scripts. Stay tuned!

Edit: Still busy, maybe tomorrow the next day. Definitely soon. Sorry for the delay.

Alternatively, if you would prefer to vote for another option, leave your answer in the comments.

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I’m finishing up the first draft of Episode III as we speak. If you haven’t read the latest drafts of episodes 1 and 2, now would be a great time to catch up/refresh your memory. The 3rd and latest draft of Episode 2 has a new, much better ending, and it is very relevant to Episode III, which expects you to have read it.

Thanks to everyone who has inquired about Eps III these past couple years, I greatly appreciate all your interest and enthusiasm. Please, please stick around, as I plan to do multiple drafts of Episode III based on your feedback, as well as full screenplays, which are the next step, along with storyboards.

Also, some questions:

1. Do you prefer the name “Amidala” over “Aeris”?
2. Do you prefer the Clone Wars (2003) character of Durge over Crade Ragnos?

Thanks again!

but not us.

[Author's Note: For those of you who have read an earlier draft of Episode I, this is a minor update with 3 small, but important additions. Here's the TL;DR: 1. The main ship our heroes cruise around in is named "The Nova Rider" and is this trilogy's Millennium Falcon. 2. In act II, it is established that the Jedi have learned that the huge Kyber crystal kept on board the Republic's storehouse that was destroyed could have been stolen and used to create a weapon of unfathomable destruction. 3. One of the adventures that the Jedi recall to Anakin is that Obi-Wan defeated the notorious crime lord Crade Ragnos, which allowed the Jedi to dismantle his criminal organization. These changes are relevant to my new draft of Episode II, which I plan on posting shortly. Changes have been highlighted in bold.]

STAR WARS - Episode I - SCION OF THE FORCE

2nd Draft, 4th Revision - July 2019

Opening Crawl:

IT IS A TIME OF ENDURING PEACE. FOR THOUSANDS OF GENERATIONS, THE JEDI KNIGHTS HAVE BEEN THE GUARDIANS OF PEACE AND THE CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE IN THE PROSPEROUS GALACTIC REPUBLIC.

AGES AGO, THAT PEACE WAS DESTROYED BY THE EVIL SITH EMPIRE, WHEN THE REPUBLIC WAS CONQUERED BY THE VILE SITH LORDS. CENTURIES OF DARKNESS BEFELL THE GALAXY UNTIL THE JEDI ORDER FINALLY DROVE BACK THE FORCES OF TYRANNY AND DEATH.

NOW, THAT EVIL HAS SECRETLY BEEN RESURRECTED BY UNSEEN FORCES BENT ON REVIVING THE DARK PLAGUE THAT WAS ONCE DEFEATED LONG AGO....

ACT I

The blackness of space is pierced by a lone starfighter piloted by a Sith assassin named Maul. His ship is quickly closing in on its target: a secret deep-space fortress of the Republic. The hooded Maul, cloaked in shadow, wields a crimson-bladed lightsaber, its blood-red glow illuminating the darkness surrounding him as he cuts his way inside and forcibly boards the station. The outpost's naive attitude and lax security establishes the comfortable but vulnerable state of the Republic. The Sith lord mercilessly slaughters everyone, leaving no witnesses. He then steals the Republic's secret reserve of various treasures including a massive red Kyber crystal. Once completed, Maul activates the station's main holo-generator, contacts his Sith master and presents his work - priceless valuables surrounded by slaughtered bodies. The wrinkled visage of Lord Sidious, also obscured by his black hood, asks Maul about his mental state. Maul replies that the rage of the dead Sith lords of Korriban have filled him with hate which has allowed him to grow powerful, that the Jedi represent stagnation and repression, and that the Sith will bring order and justice to the galaxy; that the weak deserve to die; and that those who oppose them are evil. Darth Sidious replies that his time on the Sith homeworld has successfully unleashed his full strength, and he declares Maul's training complete, bestowing him the rank and title of “Darth.” Finally, Sidious states that soon the Republic will fall, the Jedi will die and the Sith Empire will finally be restored. Darth Maul then destroys the station in a massive explosion as he departs on his ship.

Wipe to the huge, towering junkyards of the planet Corellia, home to countless orphan slave children. Among them is our protagonist, a young teenager named Anakin. He is regaling the youngest boys with a story of a giant black, fire-breathing dragon with red eyes and impenetrable scales strong as steel, who terrorized the people and killed so many that no one dare oppose it. Until one day, a slave boy had the courage to stand up against the dragon. Anakin says the young hero made a make-shift sword and shield and took on the dragon when no one else would. But then one of the bullies interjects: "But then the slave was swallowed whole by the dragon!" Anakin sinks at first, but then retorts: "But the hero didn't die, he was too strong and powerful. He and the dragon became as one, and from then on he was as powerful as the great black dragon...and he used his power to free all the slaves of the galaxy." The bullies ridicule Anakin for changing the story from the legend they know, and scoff at Anakin as they climb back up to their lofts high among the junk stacks. Anakin's best friend Deak consoles Anakin, and reassures him that he likes his version better. The slave drivers show up, and all the boys scatter to their quarters. Accompanying the slave drivers are Anakin and Deak's owner, a fat, disheveled alien who demands they get back to work to make sure they're ready for tomorrow.

The two best friends head back to their make-shift motor shop, and resume working on Anakin's skyswoop. They bond over the various enhancements they each added to ensure Anakin's victory at tomorrow's big race. Deak promises Anakin that they're ready, and they wish each other good night. Deak leaves, and Anakin pulls out his own personal hover droid, about the size of a hockey puck, and says to it, "Remote Droid, Show me the Princess again." The hover droid projects a hologram of a strikingly beautiful young girl. He looks on in wonder for a moment, until we hear Deak's voice, "Hey, Starkiller! Stop staring at that thing. No way a Princess is gonna let a junkyard slave anywhere near her." - as we see Deak still lingering at the threshold. Anakin looks sad but ponderous, "There's a rumor the King of Alderaan is going to be there tomorrow. And if he's there...I mean...you never know." Deak looks at him like he's crazy - "Keep dreaming flyboy" and throws a rag at Anakin's face and leaves. Anakin then shuts off the lights and heads out to climb the highest junk tower in the stacks, while his droid follows. Once he reaches the top, he watches wistfully as ships freely leave the planet in front of the galactic core streaking across the night's sky, and we can feel just how deeply Anakin yearns to be free to explore the galaxy.

A luxurious starcruiser carrying the Alderaanian royal family arrives at Coronet, the capital city of Corellia, a core world with extreme inequality. They are here to see the famous skyswoop racer "Starkiller." Accompanying King Bail Organa are his wife Queen Breha Organa, their teenage daughter Princess Aeris, their brightly polished protocol droid C-3P0, and the rest of their entourage, including two Jedi Knights – Voncinot and Malirad – the royal's personal bodyguards, encased in armor and armed to the teeth. It is unusual for a prominent royal family from a core world to attend a skyswoop race, with its seedy reputation and illegality on most core worlds. However, King Organa insisted on seeing the hotshot rookie that is currently so revered, and skyswoop pilots usually don't live very long. They are also under the protection of their Jedi Knights, and thus safe from harm. We get a sense of the massive arena and sky-track as the royals find their deluxe balcony seats. A cloaked figure is seen moving in the shadows, appearing to perhaps be another villain like the one from the opening? A massive holo-reel plays overhead, setting up how dangerous skyswoop racing is, that this is the Galactic Championship race held only once a decade, and that “Starkiller” is the star rookie pilot, but is going up against the best racers in the galaxy. The royal's shady host suggests that their daughter, the Princess, offer the traditional kiss to the winner of the race, but she takes one look at the strange alien racers and is repulsed. He attempts to insist on the tradition, but is quickly rebuffed by the King, and then ejected by the bodyguards. But as he is escorted out, Aeris notices one of the pilots isn't so nasty-looking – Anakin. As he removes his flight goggles we see our handsome hero revealed at the starting line, and for an instant their eyes meet. Anakin is visibly taken by her beauty, and she by his rugged appearance.

Anakin and Deak continue to prep his skypod, which they spend all their free time improving. Deak asks Anakin if he wins, will they let him keep the winnings this time. Anakin insists - "It's the galactic cup. This much money...this many people watching... They have to...they just...have to." Anakin's ruthless owner tries to intimidate him before the race, demanding that if Anakin wins, he declare that they give his winnings to the Coronet Orphan's Fund (a Hutt front organization). Anakin refuses, saying that he's going to use the money to buy his freedom, Deak's freedom, and even buy the entire skyswoop industry. His owner threatens him if he doesn't comply, and sarcastically hopes he survives the race. Meanwhile, the rival skyswoop racing gangs decide they've had enough of Anakin's winning streak and set out to fix the race by using dirty tricks. It is an action-packed race: a break-neck roller-coaster ride above a variety of different areas of the sprawling mega-city - and filled with countless reversals of fortune. Princess Aeris finds herself rooting for our dashing young hero. Despite all the odds stacked against him, Anakin barely survives and wins at the last possible moment. For winning the Galactic Cup, he has won 10 billion Republic credits. Anakin is about to accept the winnings in the winner's circle, but just then, he sees a blinding reflection shining in his face from the shadows. It's his owner and his thugs, and they're holding a knife to Deak's throat. Deak looks utterly terrified. In order to save his best friend from being killed, Anakin announces that they should donate it to charity. The crowd cheers, but the pain of losing his freedom is visible on Anakin's face. Princess Aeris attempts to make her way to the winner's circle, but is dragged away by the Queen and their departing entourage. The Queen chastises King Organa for bringing their daughter to such a dangerous race as they quickly exit. Anakin spots the Princess leaving, and taps the shoulder of the host alien we saw earlier, asking him "What about the winning kiss? Do I get to kiss a princess?" He laughs in his face, "Ha! Keep dreaming kid." Anakin is crushed but tries not to show it.

Their owner activates Anakin and Deak's restraining implants, forcing them back to the massive junkyards where his slaves live and work. Once there, a crew of defeated skyswoop gang members are lying in wait, looking for revenge. First, they restrain Anakin and smash his skyswoop to pieces. Then the gang leader points a blaster at his head. But Deak throws himself at them in an attempt to save him. Anakin uses the distraction to try and free himself, but he and Deak are quickly surrounded and restrained again. But this time, their owner steps in, saying "This'll finally teach that runt a lesson!", activating Deak's neck implant, and sending electric shocks across his neck, face and flashing in his mouth as he cries out. Anakin screams and struggles as he is forced to watch his best friend slowly tortured. His screams are replaced with silence and tears streaking down his face at the sight of his only friend electrocuted to death. "Don't be sad, Annie, you're about to join 'em", one of the thugs plainly states as he lowers his blaster between Anakin's eyes. Just then, a flash of light and loud "woosh" interrupts the execution, and suddenly the thug is missing an arm. The thug screams in horror at his arm on the ground. The thugs turn to see a cloaked figure standing in silhouette at the edge of the shadows, his loudly humming blue lightsaber pointed downward at his side. The gang is too stunned to react, and the cloaked man uses it to his advantage, quickly taking out the two closest to him in one swift movement. The others attempt to fire at him, but he's too fast. Simultaneously, the slave owner attempts to shoot the cloaked man, but Anakin takes his revenge by grabbing his blaster away from him before he could shoot at the mysterious stranger, turning it on him instead. Before we know it, all the thugs are on the ground.

The cloaked figure removes his hood and introduces himself, he is Obi-Wan Kenobi [approximately 38 years old], a Jedi Knight and member of the Jedi Order, and explains that he was sent to find and investigate the young sky-racer with amazing abilities. Obi-Wan explains to Anakin that he is able to sense the turns in advance through the Force, giving him his amazing racing abilities. Obi-Wan then explains that the Force gives Jedi their powers, and that Anakin is an individual strong with the Force, and offers him to be evaluated as a potential Jedi. Anakin mourns Deak's sacrifice, blaming himself for his death and failing to win their freedom. Obi-Wan tries to reassure him, but we can see on Anakin's face that he is not truly convinced. Anakin finds that his remote droid was also smashed in the battle. He takes what's left apart and removes its CPU, and fashions it into a necklace. Kenobi asks him why he didn't use his winnings to buy his freedom, and Anakin explains that it was hopeless, the Hutts control everything and never would have let him keep any of the money no matter what. Anakin realizes that he has lost everything keeping him on Corellia, and thus accepts Obi-Wan's offer to come with him to Coruscant, the galactic capital. Kenobi uses the Force to diffuse his implant, then slowly removes it with a small tool, while he asks him how he came to be named "Starkiller," and he explains that it's just a nickname that the other racers gave him, and that his name is simply "Anakin". Obi-Wan explains that “Starkiller” is the name of the most evil dark-sider in history, and is a name that all Jedi fear. Obi-Wan suggests that Anakin might want to take a new name if he is accepted into the Jedi order, just as he did.

ACT II

Obi-Wan takes Anakin back to his medium-sized transport to depart for Coruscant. As they board, the pilot droid introduces itself as "PD-9C9" and welcomes them aboard "The Nova Rider." Anakin has never entered hyperspace before, and Obi-Wan positions Anakin to stand in the main window to see it first-hand. PD-9C9 activates the hyperdrive, and Anakin stumbles back in surprise at the sight of the galaxy bending before him. Meanwhile, the Organa family are boarding their luxury starcruiser to return to Alderaan, as she is ushered onboard by her entourage, Aeris turns back, looking wistfully at the city skyline, as her hair appears to move all on its own. She sighs and turns to enter the ship, and it soon departs and shoots into the stratosphere.

The Jedi's ship exits hyperspace and Obi-Wan shows off Coruscant to Anakin, describing the entire planet as one continuous megacity. Through Anakin's eyes, we experience being overwhelmed at the size, scale and multitudes of excess on the gargantuan city-planet. First, they arrive at a massive spaceport terminal. Anakin is left mouth-agape at the variety of aliens and creatures filling the concourse, as well as the chaos they create. Obi-Wan stops some petty crime, and we see the reverence and fear that the Jedi command, like seeing a demigod walking among them. Encountering a Jedi has become a very rare event in the galaxy. Meanwhile Obi-Wan continues to give more history and explain the nature of the Jedi. Anakin gets a quick glimpse of the grandeur of the galactic Senate through a holo-screen. Anakin takes in the amazing infrastructure and bustling crowds and he is awe-struck, but these are everyday events on Coruscant. First, Obi-Wan takes Anakin to get cleaned up and buy a fresh outfit, leaving his oily rags behind. They then visit the Jedi Arsenal - the Jedi Order's space-fighter hangar and armory, and Anakin asks Obi-Wan if this is where the Jedi live? Kenobi chuckles, 'No, we live in the sky...” and points upwards where we see a bright green moon floating far above.

Wipe to the Alderaanian royals in mid-hyperspace travel, on their way back to Alderaan. The King and Queen squabble over the merits of attending the lethal skyswoop race, and if Aeris is too young to be exposed to just how truly dangerous the galaxy is. The King insists that she needs to start facing brutal reality if she ever hopes to be a wise ruler, but the Queen thinks that's ridiculous as the galaxy has been at peace for ages. But as soon as they exit hyperspace, Darth Maul attacks their royal space cruiser - he had been lying in wait for them. Maul disables the ship, then forcibly docks and cuts his way on board. The lanky Republic security droids attempt to counter the assault, but Maul slices through them like butter. The royal Jedi Knight bodyguards protect the King and Queen, but Maul slices Malirad critically and disables Voncinot by using the Force to slam him into a bulkhead, knocking him unconscious. The family is cornered and utter terror grips their faces. Just as we think Maul is about to kill the royal family, we cut away.

Obi-Wan takes Anakin to the Jedi sanctuary moon above Coruscant, Edo - nearly every inch of which is an unspoiled wildlife preserve, save the Jedi temple. From space, Edo is the most brilliant, lush green marble you've ever seen, with sprawling, dense forests, perfectly tended massive gardens, and bodies of water that seem like they've been deliberately placed for maximum aesthetics. Obi-Wan explains that the moon has always been open to the citizens, but that hardly anyone ever visits anymore. Once there, we see the Jedi Temple and meet more Jedi masters, who are quite old, with most having white hair and beards, even many of the alien species. We start to realize that there aren't really any young Jedi around, no one even close to Anakin's age. The Jedi are discussing the mysterious recent destruction of the Republic's galactic storehouse, and how the giant Kyber crystal may have been stolen. They warn that Kyber crystals are items of incredible power, and it could be used to create a weapon of unspeakable destruction. Obi-Wan approaches and introduces Anakin to them, who greet them both warmly. The Jedi elders sing the praises of Kenobi as the young Jedi Knight who defeated the vile Crade Ragnos in combat, the most brutal crime lord in the galaxy, allowing the Jedi to dismantle his criminal empire, their most recent major victory. The Jedi swap war stories about old battles, ancient lost empires, the glory days of the Jedi Order when the Republic was young, and further explain the dark side and the Sith. When Anakin inquires when was the last time any of them have encountered a Sith lord, the Jedi reveal that years ago, there was a Jedi who was banished from the order for creating a living being, using forbidden Force powers, and later discovered they turned to the dark side and is rumored to be alive and the last Sith Lord. But other Jedi interject and insist that he is long dead. No one seems to know what happened to the child... But then Anakin's attention is drawn to a legendary lightsaber under glass, sitting prominently in the middle of the main foyer. They explain the saber once belonged to an ancient Jedi Knight named “Skywalker,” hero of the great Sith Wars, who defeated the Sith Supreme of the first Sith Empire, and one of the greatest Jedi to ever live. It will supposedly be wielded by Skywalker's worthy heir someday. Anakin expresses interest, and asks if they've ever tried it? The Jedi say go ahead and try it. Anakin removes it from the case, and hits the switch. It fails to light, and the Jedi all chuckle. Obi-Wan reveals that they all know that it hasn't worked in ages, but that supposedly it will activate for the Scion of the Force, a child born of the Force who is prophesied to restore the light during the Galaxy's darkest hour. But Obi-Wan doesn't really believe the legend, and says that saber will probably never work again, it's just a nice relic with a grand history.

Malirad, the Jedi who suffered a mortal wound is dying in the King's arms, and apologizes for failing to protect the royal family. He delivers a heart-felt soliloquy that clues us into his long service to House Organa and his many exploits, battles and adventures, while the King re-assures him that he has served him well and fulfilled his duty as a Jedi Knight. He resigns to become one with the Force, and we see him die in the King's arms. The King and Queen are furious that Aeris has been taken from them. Bail, Breha and surviving Jedi Knight Voncinot discuss the situation and if this means the Sith have actually returned from extinction. The Jedi explains that they were caught off guard and so easily overpowered because no one has encountered a Sith Lord in over a century. No one has seen this kind of open assault in a core republic system in many years. They agree that it was definitely an extremely powerful dark side user and that they need to inform the Jedi council.

Aeris wakes up imprisoned, surrounded by cold, hard steel, black slab, and no windows. She explores her cell for a bit, but becomes despondent when she realizes just how secure her cell is. But then, her small pet is revealed to have been hiding in her hair, using its camouflage that allows it to change the color of its fur. It is a chipmunk-like, cute alien creature named Zamber, and it reacts to Aeris as though it can understand her. Aeris commiserates with Zamber over their seemingly hopeless situation.

Back on board the Royal starcruiser, the surviving crew reports that emergency repairs are complete and the royal starcruiser descends into Alderaan's atmosphere. They arrive at the royal palace and the King immediately orders his men, led by Voncinot, to track down Aeris, while the Queen and the coms experts work to try and isolate Aeris' personal tracking signal. Voncinot warns that if the Sith have returned, they will be no match for any army, and that only the Jedi can stop them. The King heads to the main holo-chamber in the throne room and contacts Alderaan's Senator Palpatine on Coruscant and informs him of the situation. The coms team reports that the enemy ship was tracked re-entering Alderaan's atmosphere, surprisingly not escaping to hyper-space. Everyone wonders aloud what could be going on?

Anakin is allowed to take an evaluation trial, and ventures into the forest with Obi-Wan to explore and test his character. Obi-Wan instructs Anakin to close his eyes and attempt to focus and learn how to feel and be in contact with the Force. He encourages Anakin to walk through the very uneven forest path, using just the force to guide him. Anakin succeeds at first, saying he thinks he can feel it, but then he stumbles and falls down a hole that was covered by leaves and brush. In his fall, Anakin accidentally disturbed a huge, hulking, violent monster. Anakin dodges its attacks and tries to escape, but is trapped. Obi-Wan rushes to Anakin, and tries to evade and deter the creature, but is forced to kill the beast to save Anakin. Obi-Wan uses the event to teach a lesson about life, death, difficult moral choices and the nature of the Force. Obi-Wan tries to explain that sometimes violence is justified in matters of self-defense or protecting others, but it is subtly implied that perhaps Anakin misinterprets the message, and that it is all too easy to justify violence for selfish reasons. As the sun sets, Obi-Wan sets up a ritual for Anakin to have a vision-quest, and tells Anakin that he must venture out on his own. After his near-death encounter, Anakin is afraid to go alone, but Obi-Wan rebuffs him. He tells him that to become a Jedi is to decide to conquer one's own fear and to choose putting the safety and well-being of others before yourself. Anakin reluctantly rises to the challenge and ventures out into the forest. As he wanders, Anakin becomes lost in the dark, and he has a vision of death and destruction.

Aeris and Zamber soon realize that he is small enough to squeeze out of the cell and they begin formulating an escape plan. Zamber reaches a control panel, allowing Aeris to break out of her cell and begin to navigate the labyrinthine corridors, trying to find a way out or communicate with the outside world. Just as she finally manages to get an outside door open, it is revealed she is actually trapped at the top of a surprisingly tall fortress tower, which is then revealed to be surrounded by dense, wild jungle. She's too far up, and even if she wasn't, she's in the middle of nowhere surrounded by uncrossable jungle as far as the eye can see. Maul is seen monitoring her via the facility's holo-surveillance and laughs at her helplessness.

At dawn, Obi-Wan finds Anakin returning, having found his way back to Obi-Wan's campfire. Anakin is reluctant to tell the truth of what he saw. He lies to Obi-Wan and says he had a vision of light illuminating the darkness of space and eclipsing evil. Obi-Wan is satisfied and tells Anakin he's doing quite well, and obviously strong with the Force, as they begin their journey back to the Jedi Temple.

Aeris, attempting to navigate her way through the labyrinthine tower, quickly rounds a corner only to find Darth Maul towering over her. Maul grabs her violently and drags her back to her cell. Then Maul threatens to torture her if she tries to escape again, igniting his lightsaber extremely close to her face, and she is utterly terrified, and a tear streaks down her cheek as she turns and winces in fear. Meanwhile, the Queen locks on Aeris' signal via satellite, and everyone discovers she's deep in the forbidden continent of Tartarus, in a mysterious tower that no one knew existed. The continent's dark, foreboding jungle is visually and strikingly distinct from the bright, beautiful, lush forests of the Jedi sanctuary. The King immediately barks orders for more holo-surveillance of the area, to alert the Senate, the Jedi, and to dispatch forces to the continent.

Kenobi and the Jedi council deliberate over what to do about Anakin, but acknowledge that they don't have much choice, as they are desperate for recruits, lest the Jedi Order die out. They admit they have not found a Force-sensitive child in over a decade. Anakin is provisionally accepted as a tentative apprentice with Obi-Wan as his mentor. Obi-Wan is charged with keeping Anakin in check, as they have many misgivings about a recruit who is in his teenage years, the most emotionally unstable years of a person's life. Just then, an alarm sounds, lights flash, and a voice comes over the PA: “Emergency dispatch from the Senate of the Galactic Republic, priority level 1.” They receive word that Alderaan is under attack by an "evil Jedi", and to expect Senator Palpatine to arrive shortly. The Jedi move towards the landing pad wing of the temple, where they greet Senator Palpatine and his aides, who reveals that the Jedi Knight Malirad has been killed (to their great shock) and then passionately begs the Jedi to send aid, as Alderaan has no standing army and only the Jedi can deal with a possible Sith lord. The Jedi discuss the possibility that the Sith have returned after over a century, while others question how they could have survived after being wiped out. Anakin asks why don't the Jedi just go to the Sith homeworld and defeat them once-and-for-all, to which one of the Jedi explains that the location of Korriban has been lost to the ages. In the discussion, Obi-Wan mentions that he just saw the royal family on Corellia, and that he sensed that there may have been something amiss, but didn't know what. Anakin gives a concerned and longing look as he stares at the princess's hologram displayed in the Jedi temple while they discuss her plight.

Obi-Wan, because he is the youngest and most able-bodied among the Jedi, is dispatched to Alderaan to help in the effort, make contact with the royal house's surviving Jedi Knight and take down the Sith Lord. Anakin is allowed to go, but Obi-Wan reassures Anakin that he will be kept far away from the fighting. It is subtly implied that Palpatine may have influenced this decision. Our heroes return to the Jedi arsenal, this time venturing into the armory where we meet the Jedi master-at-arms - a brutish, boulder-sized but good-natured alien, one who wears the ravages of a thousand battles on his visage. Behind him we see endless rows of lightsaber hilts and thousands of alien weapons of every kind imaginable. Anakin is given a learner's staff and shield in lieu of a lightsaber, to his disappointment. They explain that he won't have his own saber until he builds it during his Jedi Knight trials, when he studies under Master Yoda. Lightsabers are not handed out to rookies, as it takes years of practice to safely wield a lightsaber. The duo then quickly depart on the Nova Rider and hyper-jump to Alderaan.

ACT III

Landing on the shore, the Alderaanian security forces invade Tartarus - lead by Jedi Knight Voncinot. The hastily assembled platoon is a mix of security officers, armored militia men, and lanky Republic security droids. As the platoon approaches the tower, Sith droids and drones attack, scattering their forces and halting their advance.

Obi-Wan & Anakin arrive at the Royal Palace, and Kenobi greets the royals and is quickly briefed. Anakin stays behind in the launch bay, while Obi-Wan goes to the front lines to join the fight. Obi-Wan dons goggles and mounts a shiny chrome speeder-bike and thunders across the sea, spraying surf into the air as he departs.

Chaos spreads as the army is dispersed and the battle with the Sith droids intensifies. At the height of the battle, Obi-Wan shows up to turn the tide. The small army cheers and Obi-Wan and Voncinot warmly greet each other. They are good friends and have not seen each other in a long time, and they both take a moment to mourn their mutual friend, Malirad. He then tells Obi-Wan that the princess is trapped in the tower, as he can sense her presence.

Just then, the ominous Darth Maul emerges from the tower on his speeder-bike and engages the Jedi. At first, they are taken by surprise, but then Maul falls back. The two Jedi pursue, entering the tower, only to have the hangar doors close behind them. Then, a huge rumbling suddenly shakes everything. Is it an earthquake? To the great surprise of the army, the tower then takes off into the air, with its giant, roaring engines burning the trees and soldiers on the ground beneath it. Some of the soldiers try to flee back towards the shore. But then, like a blade from the sky, the tower fires its main canon, killing nearly the entire army, incinerating a few square miles of jungle, then floats towards the capital across the sea. The two Jedi run to the nearest window and gasp in horror at the aftermath.

The people of the palace react with shock and panic at what they are seeing on Tartarus via holo-satellite, the royal palace is put on full alert, royal starfighters are scrambled, in response Sith drones are released from the SkyBlade's launch bay and an aerial battle ensues. Anakin watches the excitement of all the pilots scrambled to their ships and launched. It's obvious from his expression that he wishes he could fly with them. Subordinates attempt to evacuate King and Queen Organa but both insist on staying in the command center. Anakin asks one of the remaining hangar crew members about the last remaining ship. The maintenance man barely looks up, saying that ship doesn't have a functioning navicomputer, and all the available astromechs just launched with the fighters.

Surprisingly, one of the soldiers survived the blast. The surviving ground troop repairs his comtower that was downed in the blast and informs the royal palace that the tower's main canon was so strong, it killed everyone and turned the jungle to ash. The King describes it as a "city-killer". Then he drops the terrible news that Princess Aeris is being held captive inside it. Anakin hears this news from the back of the command center, and runs back down to the launch bay. He runs to a pile of spare droid parts and tools sitting in the corner of the launch bay. King Organa orders the city to be evacuated, and his men inform him what he already knows - there's not nearly enough time to evacuate even a fraction of the massive city. He tells them to give the order anyway.

Meanwhile inside the SkyBlade, Maul orders the command droid to fire as soon as they are centered over the palace, and to lock out all future commands. The Jedi express their frustration with being lost inside the labyrinthine interior of the SkyBlade and debate their next course of action. Maul can see them wandering around on his display and orders more Sith droids to attack them. We cut back to the Jedi to find them quickly surrounded by waves of incoming attack droids.

Anakin uses his necklace of RD's surviving CPU to bring his new makeshift astromech to life as R2-D2, and then launches his beatup starfighter. Anakin joins the aerial battle for a bit, taking out some drones, but just enough to clear a path into the SkyBlade's launch bay to get inside the towering vehicle. He takes out the remaining drones still in the launch bay, then gets out to search for Princess Aeris, only to quickly realize the inside is like an impenetrable maze. He turns to a console to try and pull up a map, only for it to be locked out. He says to himself "I need a...droid!" He runs back to his ship and yells at his new astromech R2-D2 to come interface with the SkyBlade's computer. R2-D2 quickly locates the Princess's cell and Anakin orders R2 to open her cell as he runs off to save her. Meanwhile the royal command center reports that the "City-Killer" will soon reach the city.

We cut back to the Princess, and she has escaped her now-open cell and is determined to find a ship to get off the SkyBlade, while sneaking past Sith drones and attack droids. Maul is watching all of them wandering around on his holo-surveillance. He orders the droids to re-capture the Princess, and then we quickly see the droids take her by surprise, hold her at blaster-point, but she dodges and attempts to slip away. The droids then grab her and slam her against the wall. To her great surprise, someone flying kicks the Sith droid and goes sliding with it across the room. It's Anakin, and he's using his shield and staff to smash the droids and protect the princess. She yells, asking "Who are you?!" Anakin replies, "I'm here to rescue you." But they are quickly overrun and cornered by more Sith droids. Meanwhile, Darth Maul opens a set of blast doors to reveal himself to the Jedi Knights. He dramatically removes his cloak, ignites his double-bladed saber, and engages the two Jedi. Darth Maul demonstrates his power as he reverses their advance, keeping them on the defensive and sending them back down the corridor from which they came. They turn around to discover they're now also surrounded by more droids. As they fight on both fronts, suddenly they find Anakin and Aeris are with them, also fighting off the attack droids. Obi-Wan: "Anakin! How did you...? You must have taken one of their starfighters I suppose." Anakin: "I'm sorry master, I..." Obi-Wan: "There's no time! Get her out of here!" Anakin grabs Aeris and they run back to the hangar bay, while Obi-Wan rejoins Voncinot's fight with Maul. But Maul uses the distraction to his advantage. As Obi-Wan tries to attack, Maul gets the jump on them, cutting Obi-Wan's lightsaber in half, Force-pushing him away, and then trapping him behind one of the ship's force fields, then forces Kenobi to watch him kill his friend Voncinot right in front of him, while he is trapped and powerless. Voncinot puts up a good fight, but he is no match for Darth Maul. Obi-Wan screams at the sight of his good friend slaughtered.

Anakin takes out a few droids as they make their escape, and Aeris has a moment to recognize Anakin. "You're that boy from the race!" and Aeris embraces him and kisses him on the cheek, to his great surprise. Outside, the starfighters are becoming overwhelmed by the waves of reinforcement drones. Obi-Wan is noticeably worked up, uses the Force to destroy the field generators to escape and proceeds to dive right at Maul, seemingly in a rage. But he dodges Maul's swing and Force-pulls Voncinot's blade into his hand and activates it just in time to block Maul's next blow. Their wild saber slashes puncture coolant vessels around them during their fight, unleashing gas explosions all around. The fight ends up in the reactor core, where we see in the background the same giant, red Kyber crystal from the opening, now powering the super-weapon. The aerial battle is starting to encroach upon the city, as the SkyBlade gets within striking distance of the royal palace. Its secondary blasters begin firing upon the city from above, destroying buildings and scattering civilians. Finally, Obi-Wan cuts Maul in half and he tumbles down the SkyBlade's main reactor shaft.

Obi-Wan tries to disable the firing controls, but all commands have been locked out. The smoke forces him to leave, and he heads back to the hangar bay. Obi-Wan finds Anakin and Aeris stuffed into Anakin's starfighter, waving him on, waiting to take off while the SkyBlade continues to fill with gas explosions. There's no room in Anakin's ship for Obi-Wan, so Kenobi orders Anakin to take off with the Princess. Anakin radios the squadron leader, Captain Lars, to pick up Obi-Wan in his starfighter. Obi-Wan is choking, running from the smoke, and running out of time. Lars arrives to pick him up, and he and Obi-Wan are able to fly out just in time. But the SkyBlade is still set to fire, and we see the command droids inside continuing to execute the countdown. Captain Lars remarks that the reactor isn't shutting down, the safety systems must have been damaged. Obi-Wan adds, “...or deliberately switched off.” The fighters have been unable to deal enough damage to destroy it from the outside due to the SkyBlade's armor. No one can target the insides through the steam and gas that have filled the hangar bay. The SkyBlade has reached the palace and is about to fire. "Everyone I know and love is in there, you have to do something!" Aeris exclaims. So at the last minute, Anakin flies into the smoke and gas with his eyes closed, and he uses the Force to "see" through the smoke. He flies in very tight corners, just as we saw him do in the skyswoop race. He fires his torpedoes at the reactor core, and flies out just in time. With the SkyBlade destroyed, the drone reinforcements end and the tide turns in the battle. The palace command center rejoices.

But only for a moment, as now everyone begins to panic as debris begins to rain down. Obi-Wan uses the Force to push the SkyBlade debris towards the ocean and away from the palace, some of the ornate architecture is destroyed, but thankfully no one is hurt.

The Jedi council and Senator Palpatine arrive on Alderaan and greet the victorious survivors. The Jedi congratulate Obi-Wan on a job well done, but Obi-Wan points out that Anakin ultimately saved the day. The Jedi are impressed and the head of the council announces his evaluation period is over, and he is now a member of the Jedi order. Anakin tells the Jedi council that he has decided he will take the name "Anakin Skywalker".

Celebration sequence in the now restored and beautifully decorated palace courtyard. Obi-Wan, Anakin, and the rest of the Jedi humbly stand by while Captain Lars and the rest of the surviving pilots and soldiers are pinned with medals by the King and Queen. Anakin sneaks off with Aeris and they share a secret kiss in front of the gorgeous Alderaanian twilight.

END CREDITS

Continue to Episode II: The Clone Wars --->

This is an angry rant. You don't have to read it.

I've noticed that there is a pervasive believe out there that The Phantom Menace is the worst Star Wars film, and that Attack of the Clones is somehow "acceptable" or somehow "vital" or important to the story. I think this idea started with the fact that Jar-Jar Binks' role was greatly reduced in Attack of the Clones, combined with the fact that not much of consequence happens in TPM, leading many people to simply assume that Clones is a much better film without really stopping to think about it (I know that was certainly the case for me for a time). But then this idea seems to have been cemented in the cultural zeitgeist because of the "Machete Order."

For those of you who don't know, a blog post went viral sometime around 2012 about a superior watching order for the saga: 4-5-2-3-6, skipping TPM entirely. The idea is that it preserves all the twists and surprises of the original films, while still allowing viewers to recognize who Hayden Christensen is in the final scene of the RotJ. He demonstrates the slight improvements to the overall logic of the narrative of the larger saga, while completely glossing over the huge, excruciating negatives in general. To be fair, "Machete" is only talking about the official Blu-Ray versions of the films, and he even makes it clear that such arguments don't apply to those watching the original cuts of the OT. Nevertheless, this meme infected the world and now we have a problem - people seem to think Attack of the Clones is a movie worth watching.

#This is wrong.

Clones really, truly is significantly worse than Menace, and here's why:

• It's shot on a prototype digital camera, the cinematography is poor, much worse than TPM, and nearly every frame is loaded with bad CGI. The camera work is generally lazy and unprofessional. The CGI has aged horribly. None of the composites look real because of the limitations of the camera. Other than a few scenes shot on location in Tunisia and Italy, nothing in the movie looks real. Even the color schemes are off-putting. The combined result is that the entire movie just plain looks like garbage. It's less a proper, professional movie and more of an experiment in digital production - and it shows.
• It is truly awful screenwriting: The plot has no real setups and payoffs. The dialogue and acting are abysmally bad, worse than TPM. Characters speak on the most literal level, and just say what they're thinking and feeling. There are multiple instances of breaking character. The misdirection & mystery is initiated by the characters simply stating wrong information, then later it is revealed that they were wrong and we're supposed to be surprised. At least TPM had a somewhat competently plotted script, with proper setups and payoffs for most of the main characters and plot points.
• The movie is filled with tons of self-indulgent garbage from Lucas, from the American Graffiti diner to the casting of another Hammer Horror icon in Christopher Lee who famously played Count Dracula, here he's "Count Dooku." Ugh. He has two names in this film, and because the mystery doesn't work, it's just needlessly muddy.
• The character of Boba Fett is utterly ruined (Let's de-mystify a character whose entire appeal is his air of mystery!). The character of Yoda is irrevocably ruined (He contradicts his entire philosophy in the OT). Dooku is a garbage character, when we could have had Maul return instead. Jar-Jar is not only needlessly still included, but his only action in the film is to directly contribute to the creation of the Empire, which almost feels like a "fuck you" to the audience. Even R2 and 3P0 are seriously hurt by this film, utterly sapped of their charm, their comedic bits are all painfully unfunny.
• The mythology of the universe is further desecrated, just like the midi-chlorian nonsense in TPM ruins the Force, Clones ruins the Jedi Order. The Jedi are incompetent, unlikable and generally demystified as a bunch of bumbling fools that are extremely easy to manipulate. The order is so poorly treated, it almost feels like a parody of Star Wars. This film is the primary reason that the Jedi Order have such a terrible reputation now, whereas previously they were perceived as a highly benevolent, altruistic, legendary organization.
• The B-plot mystery is a gigantic, scatterbrained, incoherent mess with no tension, and it doesn't even resolve. We never discover who Sifo-Dyas is, and his name is never mentioned again. Dooku's allegiance is obvious from the start and the reveal that he's working for Sidious lands with the weight of a feather.
• The main plot of the film - the romance story - is utterly and laughably atrocious. The leads have less than zero chemistry. They have anti-chemistry. Anakin slaughters women and children, admits to Padme that he did this, and yet a few scenes later Padme still falls madly in love with him for no reason other than plot necessity. The most important aspect of the film is the worst aspect of the film. That's saying something.
• It gets worse: There's a scene with a room full of little kids all holding deadly lightsabers. The character of Dexter Jettster. The vehicle, robot and character designs are ugly and awful. Nearly everything about Kamino is awful. Genosis is even worse. The droid factory is long, boring, pointless and - embarrassingly - was actually added in reshoots. The Jedi are overpowered, making the battles boring. Mace Windu should have fought Dooku instead of Yoda. And there's the part where Padme says they "need to get to that hanger," even though she couldn't possibly know that because they clearly just filmed whatever on the fly without anyone caring or thinking. It's the moment that proves that no one was trying on this film.
• The main character is a charmless, unlikable asshole who then becomes a violent psychopath. Did I mention this is a love story?
• Like TPM, the film completely fails to capture the magic or tone of Star Wars, but out of all the films, it is the one that least feels like a Star Wars film. If not for the opening titles, R2-D2 and lightsabers, it would be utterly unrecognizable as a Star Wars film.
• TPM is at least technically competent. Even though the story, characters and dialog are terrible, the Pod Race and final lightsaber fight are technically quite good, and I can enjoy them on that level. However, there is no scene or sequence in all of Clones that even remotely works. There are simply no good scenes in Clones. None what-so-ever. It is unwatchable.

HONEST TRAILERS - STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES

There are no redeeming factors of Clones. It actively hurts the saga, characters, mythology,... It is loaded with horrible plotting, terrible world-building, and horrendous dialog. Yoda, the Jedi and Boba Fett are utterly and permanently ruined by this film. It should never be watched by anyone ever, just for that reason alone. And that's what makes it contemptible and indefensible - it has sullied the saga as a whole, and continues to do so, regardless of what order you watch them in.

And that is why I have a big beef with Machete order, because it includes the worst film in the series. I wish people would stop and realize that Clones is just as skippable as Menace. There's nothing you can't understand from just watching Sith between 5&6, and not having everything explained is a far superior way to experience the story, because unlike everything in the Prequels, it actually leaves something to the imagination.

Or better yet, just never watch the Prequels at all. Despite being far better than I&II, Sith still ruins Yoda, the Jedi, and still continues the tradition of awful, unwatchable dialog and acting (other than Ewan McGreggor, but even he can't save these films.)

What's up my fellow Prequel heretics!

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who has subscribed. I didn't think I'd reach over 100 subs without doing much, but the sub count has been slowly ticking up all on its own. If you're reading this, then you probably like what I've been writing and feel similarly about the Prequel films, so I really want to stress how exciting it is to have assembled a community of like-minded Star Wars fans. We are the Resistance! ✊ F🤬k the existing films! #NotMyPrequels 😈😝😂

I'm joking, but also half-serious, as writing these has really made me go from not liking the films to pretty much hating them, as I now see how great they could have been. These new stories are definitely my own canon of what really happened. This goes way beyond head-canon. This is like head-superweapon.

Some of you may have already noticed there's a new draft of Episode I up. I'm sure you're wondering how different is it and should I read it? I've added a lot to Act I to flesh out Anakin as a character, and I've converted most of the text into proper prose that reads like a real novella. I've also stamped out any small errors I found, and polished a few small details, but other than that it's largely the same.

I have also updated the Episode II draft with some minor changes. I thought I would be doing a major re-draft like Episode I, but I didn't really find that much that needed changing. But for those of you who really want to experience everything, go ahead and try and find the differences. Both Episodes have some changes with the Sith lords in order to be in-line with the latest work I've done on Episode III. I don't know how noticeable all the changes are, but I fixed a lot of little plot points that just make everything work better.

I've also updated the Subreddit style/theme for the recent Reddit redesign. I'm still learning how the new site works, so if you know details about updating the sub theme, or have any design/layout requests, please let me know.

Now some serious business. Let's talk Solo and the announcement of Clone Wars Season 7 yesterday. I hope everyone has seen Solo by now, if not SPOILERS!!! Spoilers! SPOILERS FOR SOLO!!!

Last year, I rushed to finish most of this rewrite before The Last Jedi came out, as I feared either plot conflicts or similar materials. As it turns out, there weren't any, and the prequels were only referenced in one line that didn't really conflict with anything. So, by the time Solo came out, I had my guard down. I did a lot of work on the Episode III outline before the movie came out, but I really wasn't expecting anything in the film that would have anything to do with my rewrite. BOY WAS I WRONG.

So between the resurrection of Maul at the end of Solo and now the resurrection of the Clone Wars cartoon, the Prequel era is no longer dead. It just won't fucking die. Ugh. It's like Jason Voohrees at this point. I hope I don't rub anyone here the wrong way when I say the Clone Wars 3D show really sucked. Yes, they did a lot to try and improve the material, and it's better than the Prequels, but at the end of the day, it was built on a foundation of pure garbage, and I hope you can clearly see that after reading my rewrites. (And don't get me started on how it completely fails to capture the tone, look, or magic of Star Wars.) I'm not happy about this turn of events, and I really don't understand what's going on at Lucasfilm right now. Yes, I know there's a huge fanbase for this show for those who grew up with it, but I really think it seriously hurts the larger fanbase to keep re-opening this wound.

I was always bothered by the announcement that the Prequels and Clone Wars were declared to be canon after the great EU purge. And now it's like they insist on keep rubbing salt in that wound. I don't mean to sound hyperbolic or dramatic, so I apologize, but I also wouldn't have written these if I didn't care about this issue.

What do you guys think about all this?

And finally, I bet you're all wondering "Where's Episode III?" Well, it's very nearly entirely plotted out, I just need to hammer out the Jedi purge sequence where Anakin is hunting down Jedi. After that, all I have to do is spend the time to write the whole thing out. I'm extremely happy with what I came up with in Palpatine's full reveal and confrontation scenes - it's even got a great twist. However, right now I'm focused on gaining subs and recruiting artists to submit art, sketches and storyboards to the project.

So if you'd like to see this project advance in the immediate future, here's what you can do: 1. Share the sub with your friends and on social media 2. I'd like to challenge this sub to send me storyboards of any scene in the trilogy. That would be a great milestone to mark off.

Thanks! And may the force be with you!

STAR WARS - Episode I - SCION OF THE FORCE

This is an older draft. Read the latest draft HERE.

2nd Draft, 3rd Revision - January 2019

Opening Crawl:

IT IS A TIME OF ENDURING PEACE. FOR THOUSANDS OF GENERATIONS, THE JEDI KNIGHTS HAVE BEEN THE GUARDIANS OF PEACE AND THE CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE IN THE PROSPEROUS GALACTIC REPUBLIC.

AGES AGO, THAT PEACE WAS DESTROYED BY THE SITH EMPIRE, WHEN THE REPUBLIC WAS CONQUERED BY THE VILE SITH LORDS. CENTURIES OF DARKNESS BEFELL THE GALAXY UNTIL THE JEDI ORDER FINALLY DROVE BACK THE FORCES OF TYRANNY AND DEATH.

NOW, THAT EVIL HAS SECRETLY BEEN RESURRECTED BY UNSEEN FORCES BENT ON REVIVING THE DARK PLAGUE THAT WAS ONCE DEFEATED LONG AGO....

ACT I

The blackness of space is pierced by a lone starfighter piloted by a Sith assassin named Maul. His ship is quickly closing in on its target: a secret deep-space fortress of the Republic. The hooded Maul, cloaked in shadow, wields a crimson-bladed lightsaber, its blood-red glow illuminating the darkness surrounding him as he cuts his way inside and forcibly boards the station. The outpost's naive attitude and lax security establishes the comfortable but vulnerable state of the Republic. The Sith lord mercilessly slaughters everyone, leaving no witnesses. He then steals the Old Republic's secret reserve of various treasures including a massive red Kyber crystal. Once completed, Maul activates the station's main holo-generator, contacts his Sith master and presents his work - priceless valuables surrounded by slaughtered bodies. The wrinkled visage of Lord Sidious, also obscured by his black hood, asks Maul about his mental state. Maul replies that the rage of the dead Sith lords of Moraband have filled him with hate which has allowed him to grow powerful, that the Jedi represent stagnation and repression, and that the Sith will bring order and justice to the galaxy; that the weak deserve to die; and that those who oppose them are evil. Darth Sidious replies that his time on the Sith homeworld has successfully unleashed his full strength, and he declares Maul's training complete, bestowing him the rank and title of “Darth.” Finally, Sidious states that soon the Republic will fall, the Jedi will die and the Sith Empire will finally be restored. Darth Maul then destroys the station in a massive explosion as he departs on his ship.

Wipe to the huge, towering junkyards of the planet Corellia, home to countless orphan slave children. Among them is our protagonist, a young teenager named Anakin. He is regaling the youngest boys with a story of a giant black, fire-breathing dragon with red eyes and impenetrable scales strong as steel, who terrorized the people and killed so many that no one dare oppose it. Until one day, a slave boy had the courage to stand up against the dragon. Anakin says the young hero made a make-shift sword and shield and took on the dragon when no one else would. But then one of the bullies interjects: "But then the slave was swallowed whole by the dragon!" Anakin sinks at first, but then retorts: "But the hero didn't die, he was too strong and powerful. He and the dragon became as one, and from then on he was as powerful as the great black dragon...and he used his power to free all the slaves of the galaxy." The bullies ridicule Anakin for changing the story from the legend they know, and scoff at Anakin as they climb back up to their lofts high among the junk stacks. Anakin's best friend Deak consoles Anakin, and reassures him that he likes his version better. The slave drivers show up, and all the boys scatter to their quarters. Accompanying the slave drivers are Anakin and Deak's owner, a fat, disheveled alien who demands they get back to work to make sure they're ready for tomorrow.

The two best friends head back to their make-shift motor shop, and resume working on Anakin's skyswoop. They bond over the various enhancements they each added to ensure Anakin's victory at tomorrow's big race. Deak promises Anakin that they're ready, and they wish each other good night. Deak leaves, and Anakin pulls out his own personal hover droid, about the size of a hockey puck, and says to it, "Remote Droid, Show me the Princess again." The hover droid projects a hologram of a strikingly beautiful young girl. He looks on in wonder for a moment, until we hear Deak's voice, "Hey, Starkiller! Stop starring at that thing. No way a Princess is gonna let a junkyard slave anywhere near her." - as we see Deak still lingering at the threshold. Anakin looks sad but ponderous, "There's a rumor the King of Alderaan is going to be there tomorrow. And if he's there...I mean...you never know." Deak looks at him like he's crazy - "Keep dreaming flyboy" and throws a rag at Anakin's face and leaves. Anakin then shuts off the lights and heads out to climb the highest junk tower in the stacks, while his droid follows. Once he reaches the top, he watches wistfully as ships freely leave the planet in front of the galactic core streaking across the night's sky, and we can feel just how deeply Anakin yearns to be free to explore the galaxy.

A luxurious starcruiser carrying the Alderaanian royal family arrives at Coronet, the capital city of Corellia, a core world with extreme inequality. They are here to see the famous skyswoop racer "Starkiller." Accompanying King Bail Organa are his wife Queen Breha Organa, their teenage daughter Aeris, their polished protocol droid C-3P0, and the rest of their entourage, including two Jedi Knights – Voncinot and Malirad – the royal's personal bodyguards, encased in armor and armed to the teeth. It is unusual for a prominent royal family from a core world to attend a skyswoop race, with its seedy reputation and illegality on most core worlds. However, King Organa insisted on seeing the hotshot rookie that is currently so revered, and skyswoop pilots usually don't live very long. They are also under the protection of their Jedi Knights, and thus safe from harm. We get a sense of the massive arena and sky-track as the royals find their deluxe balcony seats. A cloaked figure is seen moving in the shadows, appearing to perhaps be another villain like the one from the opening? A massive holo-reel plays overhead, setting up how dangerous skyswoop racing is, that this is the Galactic Championship race held only once a decade, and that “Starkiller” is the star rookie pilot, but is going up against the best racers in the galaxy. The royal's shady host suggests that their daughter, the princess, offer the traditional kiss to the winner of the race, but she takes one look at the strange alien racers and is repulsed. He attempts to insist on the tradition, but is quickly rebuffed by the King, and then ejected by the bodyguards. But as he is escorted out, Aeris notices one of the pilots isn't so nasty-looking – Anakin. As he removes his flight goggles we see our handsome hero revealed at the starting line, and for an instant their eyes meet. Anakin is visibly taken by her beauty, and she by his rugged appearance.

Anakin and Deak continue to prep his skypod, which they spend all their free time improving. Deak asks Anakin if he wins, will they let him keep the winnings this time. Anakin insists - "It's the galactic cup. This much money...this many people watching... They have to. They just...have to." Anakin's ruthless owner tries to intimidate him before the race, demanding that if Anakin wins, he declare that they give his winnings to the Coronet Orphan's Fund (a Hutt front organization). Anakin refuses, saying that he's going to use the money to buy his freedom, Deak's freedom, and even buy the entire skyswoop industry. His owner threatens him if he doesn't comply, and sarcastically hopes he survives the race. Meanwhile, the rival skyswoop racing gangs decide they've had enough of Anakin's winning streak and set out to fix the race by using dirty tricks. It is an action-packed race - a break-neck rollercoaster ride above a variety of different areas of the sprawling mega-city - and filled with countless reversals of fortune. Princess Aeris finds herself rooting for our dashing young hero. Despite all the odds stacked against him, Anakin barely survives and wins at the last possible moment. For winning the Galactic Cup, he has won 10 billion Republic credits. Anakin is about to accept the winnings in the winner's circle, but just then, he sees a blinding reflection shining in his face from the shadows. It's his owner and his thugs, and they're holding a knife to Deak's throat. Deak looks utterly terrified. In order to save his best friend from being killed, Anakin announces that they should donate it to charity. The crowd cheers, but the pain of losing his freedom is visible on Anakin's face. Princess Aeris attempts to make her way to the winner's circle, but is dragged away by the Queen and their departing entourage. The Queen chastises King Organa for bringing their daughter to such a dangerous race as they quickly exit. Anakin spots the Princess leaving, and taps the shoulder of the host alien we saw earlier, asking him "What about the winning kiss? Do I get to kiss a princess?" He laughs in his face, "Ha! Keep dreaming kid." Anakin is crushed but tries not to show it.

Their owner activates Anakin and Deak's restraining implants, forcing them back to the massive junkyards where his slaves live and work. Once there, a crew of defeated skyswoop gang members are lying in wait, looking for revenge. First, they restrain Anakin and smash his skyswoop to pieces. Then the gang leader points a blaster at his head. But Deak throws himself at them in an attempt to save him. Anakin uses the distraction to try and free himself, but he and Deak are quickly surrounded and restrained again. But this time, their owner steps in, saying "This'll finally teach that runt a lesson!", activating Deak's neck implant, and sending electric shocks across his neck, face and flashing in his mouth as he cries out. Anakin screams and struggles as he is forced to watch his best friend slowly tortured. His screams are replaced with silence and tears streaking down his face at the sight of his only friend electrocuted to death. "Don't be sad, Annie, you're about to join 'em", one of the thugs plainly states as he lowers his blaster between Anakin's eyes. Just then, a flash of light and loud "woosh" interrupts the execution, and suddenly the thug is missing an arm. The thug screams in horror at his arm on the ground. The thugs turn to see a cloaked figure standing in silhouette at the edge of the shadows, his loudly humming blue lightsaber pointed downward at his side. The gang is too stunned to react, and the cloaked man uses it to his advantage, quickly taking out the two closest to him in one swift movement. The others attempt to fire at him, but he's too fast. Simultaneously, the slave owner attempts to shoot the cloaked man, but Anakin takes his revenge by grabbing his blaster away from him before he could shoot at the mysterious stranger, turning it on him instead. Before we know it, all the thugs are on the ground.

The cloaked figure removes his hood and introduces himself, he is Obi-Wan Kenobi [approximately 38 years old], a Jedi Knight and member of the Jedi Order, and explains that he was sent to find and investigate the young racer with amazing abilities. Obi-Wan explains to Anakin that he is able to sense the turns in advance through the Force, giving him his amazing racing abilities. Obi-Wan then explains that the Force gives Jedi their powers, and that Anakin is an individual strong with the Force, and offers him to be evaluated as a potential Jedi. Anakin mourns Deak's sacrifice, blaming himself for his death and failing to win their freedom. Obi-Wan tries to reassure him, but we can see on Anakin's face that he is not truly convinced. Anakin finds that his hover droid was also smashed in the battle. He takes what's left apart and removes its CPU, and fashions it into a necklace. Kenobi asks him why he didn't use his winnings to buy his freedom, and Anakin explains that it was hopeless, the Hutts control everything and never would have let him keep any of the money no matter what. Anakin realizes that he has lost everything keeping him on Corellia, and thus accepts Obi-Wan's offer to come with him to Coruscant, the galactic capital. Kenobi uses the Force to diffuse his implant, then removes it with a small tool, then asks him how he came to be named "Starkiller," and he explains that it's just a nickname that the other racers gave him, and that his name is simply "Anakin". Obi-Wan explains that “Starkiller” is the name of the most evil dark-sider in history, and is a name that all Jedi fear. Obi-Wan suggests that Anakin might want to take a new name if he is accepted into the Jedi order, just as he did.

ACT II

Obi-Wan takes Anakin back to his Jedi medium-sized transport to depart for Coruscant. Anakin has never entered hyperspace before, and Obi-Wan positions Anakin to stand in the main window to see it first-hand. Obi-Wan activates the hyperdrive, and Anakin stumbles back in surprise at the sight of the galaxy bending before him. Meanwhile, the Organa family are boarding their luxury starcruiser to return to Alderaan, as she is ushered onboard by her entourage, Aeris turns back, looking wistfully at the city skyline, as her hair appears to move all on its own. She sighs and turns to enter the ship, and it soon departs and shoots into the stratosphere.

The Jedi's ship exits hyperspace and Obi-Wan shows off Coruscant to Anakin, describing the entire planet as one continuous megacity. Through Anakin's eyes, we experience being overwhelmed at the size, scale and multitudes of excess on the gargantuan city-planet. First, they arrive at a massive spaceport terminal. Anakin is left mouth-agape at the variety of aliens and creatures filling the concourse, as well as the chaos they create. Obi-Wan stops some petty crime, and we see the reverence and fear that the Jedi command, like seeing a demigod walking among them. Encountering a Jedi has become a very rare event in the galaxy. Meanwhile Obi-Wan continues to give more history and nature of the Jedi. Anakin gets a quick glimpse of the grandeur of the galactic Senate through a holo-screen. Some more unbelievably amazing things happen, and Anakin is awe-struck, but these are everyday events on Coruscant. They then visit the Jedi Arsenal - the Jedi order's space-fighter hangar and armory, and Anakin asks Obi-Wan if this is where the Jedi live? Kenobi chuckles, 'No, we live in the sky...” and points upwards where we see a bright green moon floating far above.

Wipe to the Alderaanian royals in mid-hyperspace travel, on their way back to Alderaan. The King and Queen squabble over the merits of attending the lethal skyswoop race, and if Aeris is too young to be exposed to just how truly dangerous the galaxy is. The King insists that she needs to start facing brutal reality if she ever hopes to be a wise ruler, but the Queen thinks that's ridiculous as the galaxy has been at peace for ages. But as soon as they exit hyperspace, Darth Maul attacks their royal space cruiser - he had been lying in wait for them. Maul disables the ship, then forcibly docks and cuts his way on board. The lanky Republic security droids attempt to counter the assault, but Maul slices through them like butter. The royal Jedi Knight bodyguards protect the King and Queen, but Maul cuts Malirad critically and disables Voncinot by using the Force to slam him into a bulkhead, knocking him unconscious. The family is cornered and utter terror grips their faces. Just as we think Maul is about to kill the royals, we cut away.

Aeris wakes up imprisoned, surrounded by cold, hard steel and black slab. She explores her cell for a bit, but becomes despondent when she realizes just how secure her cell is. But then, her small pet is revealed to have been hiding in her hair, using its camouflage that allows it to change the color of its fur. It is a chipmunk-like, cute alien creature named Xerp, and it reacts to Aeris as though it can understand her. Aeris commiserates with Xerp over their seemingly hopeless situation.

Obi-Wan takes Anakin to the Jedi sanctuary moon above Coruscant, Edo - nearly every inch of which is an unspoiled wildlife preserve, save the Jedi temple. From space, Edo is the most brilliant, lush green marble you've ever seen, with sprawling, dense forests, perfectly tended massive gardens, and bodies of water that seem like they've been deliberately placed for maximum aesthetics. Obi-Wan explains that the moon has always been open to the citizens, but that hardly anyone ever visits anymore. Once there, we see the Jedi Temple and meet more Jedi masters, who are quite old, with most having white hair and beards, even many of the aliens. We start to realize that there aren't any young Jedi around, no one even close to Anakin's age. The Jedi swap war stories about old battles, ancient lost empires, the glory days of the Jedi Order when the Republic was young, and further explain the dark side and the Sith. When Anakin inquires when was the last time any of them have encountered a Sith lord, the Jedi reveal that years ago, there was a Jedi who was banished from the order for creating a living being, using forbidden Force powers, and later discovered they turned to the dark side and is rumored to be alive and the last Sith Lord. But other Jedi interject and insist that he is long dead. No one seems to know what happened to the child... But then Anakin's attention is drawn to a legendary lightsaber under glass, sitting prominently in the middle of the main foyer. They explain the saber once belonged to an ancient Jedi Knight named “Skywalker,” hero of the great Sith wars, who defeated the Sith Supreme of the first Sith Empire, and one of the greatest Jedi to ever live. It will supposedly be wielded by Skywalker's worthy heir someday. Anakin expresses interest, and asks if they've ever tried it? The Jedi say go ahead and try it. Anakin removes it from the case, and hits the switch. It fails to light, and the Jedi all chuckle. Obi-Wan reveals that they all know that it hasn't worked in ages, but that supposedly it will activate for the Scion of the Force, a child born of the Force who is prophesied to restore the light during the Galaxy's darkest hour. But Obi-Wan doesn't really believe the legend, and says that saber will probably never work again, it's just a nice relic with a grand history.

Malirad, the Jedi who suffered a mortal wound is dying in the king's arms, he delivers a heart-felt soliloquy that clues us into his long service to the royal family and his many exploits, battles and adventures, while the King re-assures him that he has served House Organa well and fulfilled his duty as a Jedi Knight. He resigns to become one with the Force, and we see him die in the King's arms. Then the King, Queen and surviving Jedi Knight Voncinot discuss the situation and if this means the Sith have returned. The Jedi explains that they were caught off guard and so easily overpowered because no one has encountered a Sith Lord in over a century. No one has seen this kind of open assault in a core republic system in many years. They agree that it was definitely an extremely powerful dark side user and that they need to inform the Jedi council. The surviving crew reports that repairs are complete and the royal starcruizer descends into Alderaan's atmosphere. They arrive at the royal palace and the King immediately orders his men, led by Voncinot, to find Aeris, while the Queen and the coms experts work to try and isolate Aeris' comlink. Voncinot warns that if the Sith have returned, they will be no match for any army, and that only the Jedi can stop them. The King heads to the main holo-chamber in the throne room and contacts Alderaan's Senator Palpatine on Coruscant and informs him of the situation. The coms team reports that the enemy ship was tracked re-entering Alderaan's atmosphere, surprisingly not escaping to hyper-space. Everyone wonders aloud what could be going on?

Anakin is allowed to take an evaluation trial, and ventures into the forest with Obi-Wan to explore and test his character. Obi-Wan instructs Anakin to close his eyes and attempt to focus and learn how to feel and be in contact with the Force. He encourages Anakin to walk through the very uneven forest path, using just the force to guide him. Anakin succeeds at first, saying he thinks he can feel it, but then he stumbles and falls down a hole that was obscured by brush. In his fall, Anakin accidentally disturbed a huge, hulking, violent monster. Obi-Wan rushes to Anakin, and tries to evade and deter the creature, but is forced to kill the beast to save Anakin. Obi-Wan uses the event to teach a lesson about life, death, difficult moral choices and the nature of the Force. Obi-Wan tries to explain that sometimes violence is justified in matters of self-defense or protecting others, but it is subtly implied that perhaps Anakin misinterprets the message, and that it is all too easy to justify violence for selfish reasons. As the sun sets, Obi-Wan sets up a ritual for Anakin to have a vision-quest, and tells Anakin that he must venture out on his own. After his near-death encounter, Anakin is afraid to head out alone, but Obi-Wan rebuffs him. He tells him that to become a Jedi is to decide to conquer one's own fear and to choose putting the safety and well-being of others before yourself. Anakin reluctantly rises to the challenge and ventures out into the forest. As he wanders, Anakin becomes lost in the dark, and he has a vision of death and destruction.

Aeris and Xerp quickly realize that he is small enough to squeeze out of the cell and they begin formulating an escape plan. Xerp reaches a control panel, allowing Aeris to break out of her cell and begin to navigate the prison corridors, trying to find a way out or communicate with the outside world. Just as she finally manages to get an outside door open, it is revealed she is actually trapped at the top of a surprisingly tall fortress tower, which is then revealed to be surrounded by dense, wild jungle. She's too far up, and even if she wasn't, she's in the middle of nowhere surrounded by uncrossable jungle as far as the eye can see. Maul is seen monitoring her via the facility's holo-surveillance and laughs at her helplessness.

At dawn, Obi-Wan finds Anakin returning, having found his way back to Obi-Wan's campfire. Anakin is reluctant to tell the truth of what he saw. He lies to Obi-Wan and says he had a vision of light illuminating the darkness of space and eclipsing evil. Obi-Wan is satisfied and tells Anakin he's doing quite well, and obviously strong with the Force, as they begin their journey back to the Jedi Temple.

Aeris, attempting to navigate her way through the labyrinthine tower, quickly rounds a corner only to find Darth Maul towering over her. Maul grabs her violently and drags her back to her cell. Then Maul threatens to torture her if she tries to escape again, igniting his lightsaber extremely close to her face, and she is utterly terrified, and a tear streaks down her cheek as she turns and winces in fear. Meanwhile, the Queen locks on Aeris' signal via satellite, and everyone discovers she's deep in the forbidden continent of Tartarus, in a mysterious tower that no one knew existed. The continent's dark, foreboding jungle is visually and strikingly distinct from the bright, beautiful, lush forests of the Jedi sanctuary. The King immediately barks orders for more holo-surveillance of the area, to alert the Senate, the Jedi, and to dispatch forces to the continent.

Kenobi and the Jedi council deliberate about what to do about Anakin, but acknowledge that they don't have much choice, as they are desperate for recruits, lest the Jedi Order die out. They admit they have not found a Force-sensitive child in over a decade. Anakin is provisionally accepted as a tentative apprentice with Obi-Wan as his mentor. Obi-Wan is charged with keeping Anakin in check, as they have many misgivings about a recruit who is in his teenage years, the most emotionally unstable years of a person's life. Just then, an alarm sounds, lights flash, and a voice comes over the PA: “Emergency dispatch from the Senate of the Galactic Republic, priority level 1.” They receive word that Alderaan is under attack by an "evil Jedi", and to expect Senator Palpatine to arrive shortly. The Jedi move towards the landing pad wing of the temple, where they greet Senator Palpatine and his aides, who reveals that the Jedi Knight Malirad has been killed (to their great shock) and then passionately begs the Jedi to send aid, as Alderaan has no standing army and only the Jedi can deal with a possible Sith lord. The Jedi discuss the possibility that the Sith have returned after over a century, while others question how they could have survived after being wiped out. Anakin asks why don't the Jedi just go to the Sith homeworld and take them out, to which one of the Jedi explains that the location of Moraband has been lost to the ages. In the discussion, Obi-Wan mentions that he just saw the royal family on Corellia, and that he sensed that there maybe something amiss, but didn't know what. Anakin gives a concerned look as he stares at the princess's hologram displayed in the Jedi temple while they discuss her plight.

Obi-Wan, because he is the youngest and most able-bodied among the Jedi, is dispatched to Alderaan to help in the effort, make contact with the royal's surviving Jedi Knight and take down the Sith Lord. Anakin is allowed to go, but Obi-Wan reassures Anakin that he will be kept far away from the fighting. It is subtly implied that Palpatine may have influenced this decision. Our heroes return to the Jedi Arsenal, this time venturing into the armory where we meet the Jedi master-at-arms - a brutish, boulder-sized but good-natured alien, one who wears the ravages of a thousand battles on his visage. Behind him we see endless rows of lightsaber hilts and thousands of alien weapons of every kind imaginable. Anakin is given a learner's staff and shield in lieu of a lightsaber, to his disappointment. They explain that he won't have his own saber until he builds it during his Jedi Knight trials, when he studies under Master Yoda. Lightsabers are not handed out to rookies, as it takes years of practice to safely wield a lightsaber.

ACT III

Landing on the shore, the Alderaanian security forces invade Tartarus - lead by Jedi Knight Voncinot. The hastily assembled platoon is a mix of security officers, armored militia men, and lanky Republic security droids. As the platoon approaches the tower, Sith droids and drones attack, scattering their forces and halting their advance.

Obi-Wan & Anakin arrive at the Royal Palace, and Kenobi greets the royals and is quickly briefed. Anakin stays behind in the launch bay, while Obi-Wan goes to the front lines to join the fight. Obi-Wan dons goggles and mounts a shiny chrome speeder-bike and thunders across the sea, spraying surf into the air as he departs.

Chaos spreads as the army is dispersed and the battle with the Sith droids intensifies. At the height of the battle, Obi-Wan shows up to turn the tide. The small army cheers and Obi-Wan and Voncinot warmly greet each other. They are good friends and have not seen each other in a long time, and they both take a moment to mourn their mutual friend, Malirad. He then tells Obi-Wan that the princess is trapped in the tower, as he can sense her presence.

Just then, the ominous Darth Maul emerges from the tower on his speeder-bike and engages the Jedi. At first, they are taken by surprise, but then Maul falls back. The two Jedi pursue, entering the tower, only to have the hangar doors close behind them. Then, a huge rumbling suddenly shakes everything. Is it an earthquake? To the great surprise of the army, the tower then takes off into the air, with its giant, roaring engines burning the trees and soldiers on the ground beneath it. Some of the soldiers try to flee back towards the shore. But then, like a blade from the sky, the tower fires its main canon, killing nearly the entire army, incinerating a few square miles of jungle, then floats towards the capital across the sea. The two Jedi run to the nearest window and gasp in horror at the aftermath.

The people of the palace react with shock and panic at what they are seeing on Tartarus via holo-satellite, the royal palace is put on full alert, royal starfighters are scrambled, in response Sith drones are released from the SkyBlade's launch bay and an aerial battle ensues. Anakin watches the excitement of all the pilots scrambled to their ships and launched. It's obvious from his expression that he wishes he could fly with them. Subordinates attempt to evacuate King and Queen Organa but both insist on staying in the command center. Anakin asks one of the remaining hangar crew members about the last remaining ship. The maintenance man barely looks up, saying that ship doesn't have a functioning navicomputer, and all the available astromechs just launched with the fighters.

Surprisingly, one of the soldiers survived the blast. The surviving ground troop repairs his comtower that was downed in the blast and informs the royal palace that the tower's main canon was so strong, it killed everyone and turned the jungle to ash. The King describes it as a "city-killer". Then he drops the terrible news that Princess Aeris is being held captive inside it. Anakin hears this news from the back of the command center, and runs back down to the launch bay. He runs to a pile of spare droid parts and tools sitting in the corner of the launch bay. King Organa orders the city to be evacuated, and his men inform him what he already knows - there's not nearly enough time to evacuate even a fraction of the massive city. He tells them to give the order anyway.

Meanwhile inside the SkyBlade, Maul orders the command droid to fire as soon as they are centered over the palace, and to lock out all future commands. The Jedi express their frustration with being lost inside the labyrinthine interior of the SkyBlade and debate their next course of action. Maul can see them wandering around on his display and orders more Sith droids to attack them. We cut back to the Jedi to find them quickly surrounded by waves of incoming attack droids.

Anakin uses his necklace of RD's surviving CPU to bring his new makeshift astromech to life as a R2-D2, and then launches his beatup starfighter. Anakin joins the aerial battle for a bit, taking out some drones, but just enough to clear a path into the SkyBlade's launch bay to get inside the towering vehicle. He takes out the remaining drones still in the launch bay, then gets out to search for Princess Aeris, only to quickly realize the inside is like an impenetrable maze. He turns to a console to try and pull up a map, only for it to be locked out. He says to himself "I need a...droid!" He runs back to his ship and yells at his new astromech R2-D2 to come interface with the SkyBlade's computer. R2-D2 quickly locates the Princess's cell and Anakin orders R2 to open her cell as he runs off to save her. Meanwhile the royal command center reports that the "City-Killer" will soon reach the city.

We cut back to the Princess, and she has escaped her now-open cell and is determined to find a ship to get off the SkyBlade, while sneaking past Sith drones and attack droids. Maul is watching all of them wandering around on his holo-surveillance. He orders the droids to re-capture the Princess, and then we quickly see the droids take her by surprise, hold her at blaster-point, but she dodges and attempts to slip away. The droids then grab her and slam her against the wall. To her great surprise, someone flying kicks the Sith droid and goes sliding with it across the room. It's Anakin, and he's using his shield and staff to smash the droids and protect the princess. She yells, asking "Who are you?!" Anakin replies, "I'm here to rescue you." But they are quickly overrun and cornered by more Sith droids. Meanwhile, Darth Maul opens a set of blast doors to reveal himself to the Jedi Knights. He dramatically removes his cloak, ignites his double-bladed saber, and engages the two Jedi. Darth Maul demonstrates his power as he reverses their advance, keeping them on the defensive and sending them back down the corridor from which they came. They turn around to discover they're now also surrounded by more droids. As they fight on both fronts, suddenly they find Anakin and Aeris are with them, also fighting off the attack droids. Obi-Wan: "Anakin! How did you...? You must have taken one of their starfighters I suppose." Anakin: "I'm sorry master, I..." Obi-Wan: "There's no time! Get her out of here!" Anakin grabs Aeris and they run back to the hangar bay, while Obi-Wan rejoins Voncinot's fight with Maul. But Maul uses the distraction to his advantage. As Obi-Wan tries to attack, Maul gets the jump on them, cutting Obi-Wan's lightsaber in half, Force-pushing him away, and then trapping him behind one of the ship's force fields, then forces Kenobi to watch him kill his friend Voncinot right in front of him, while he is trapped and powerless. Voncinot puts up a good fight, but he is no match for Darth Maul. Obi-Wan screams at the sight of his good friend slaughtered.

Anakin takes out a few droids as they make their escape, and Aeris has a moment to recognize Anakin. "You're that boy from the race!" and Aeris embraces him and kisses him on the cheek, to his great surprise. Outside, the starfighters are becoming overwhelmed by the waves of reinforcement drones. Obi-Wan is noticeably worked up, uses the Force to destroy the field generators to escape and proceeds to dive right at Maul, seemingly in a rage. But he dodges Maul's swing and Force-pulls Voncinot's blade into his hand and activates it just in time to block Maul's next blow. Their wild saber slashes puncture coolant vessels around them during their fight, unleashing gas explosions all around. The fight ends up in the reactor core, where we see in the background the same giant, red Kyber crystal from the opening, now powering the super-weapon. The aerial battle is starting to encroach upon the city, as the SkyBlade gets within striking distance of the royal palace. Its secondary blasters begin firing upon the city from above, destroying buildings and scattering civilians. Finally, Obi-Wan cuts Maul in half and he tumbles down the SkyBlade's main reactor shaft.

Obi-Wan tries to disable the firing controls, but all commands have been locked out. The smoke forces him to leave, and he heads back to the hangar bay. Obi-Wan finds Anakin and Aeris stuffed into Anakin's starfighter, waving him on, waiting to take off while the SkyBlade continues to fill with gas explosions. There's no room in Anakin's ship for Obi-Wan, so Kenobi orders Anakin to take off with the Princess. Anakin radios the squadron leader, Captain Lars, to pick up Obi-Wan in his starfighter. Obi-Wan is choking, running from the smoke, and running out of time. Lars arrives to pick him up, and he and Obi-Wan are able to fly out just in time. But the SkyBlade is still set to fire, and we see the command droids inside continuing to execute the countdown. Captain Lars remarks that the reactor isn't shutting down, the safety systems must have been damaged. Obi-Wan adds, “...or deliberately switched off.” The fighters have been unable to deal enough damage to destroy it from the outside due to the SkyBlade's armor. No one can target the insides through the steam and gas that have filled the hangar bay. The SkyBlade has reached the palace and is about to fire. "Everyone I know and love is in there, you have to do something!" Aeris exclaims. So at the last minute, Anakin flies into the smoke and gas with his eyes closed, and he uses the Force to "see" through the smoke. He flies in very tight corners, just as we saw him do in the skyswoop race. He fires his torpedoes at the reactor core, and flies out just in time. With the SkyBlade destroyed, the drone reinforcements end and the tide turns in the battle. The palace command center rejoices.

But only for a moment, as now everyone begins to panic as debris begins to rain down. Obi-Wan uses the Force to push the SkyBlade debris towards the ocean and away from the palace, some of the ornate architecture is destroyed, but thankfully no one is hurt.

The Jedi council and Senator Palpatine arrive on Alderaan and greet the victorious survivors. The Jedi congratulate Obi-Wan on a job well done, but Obi-Wan points out that Anakin ultimately saved the day. The Jedi are impressed and the head of the council announces his evaluation period is over, and he is now a member of the Jedi order. Anakin tells the Jedi council that he has decided he will take the name "Anakin Skywalker".

Celebration sequence in the now restored and beautifully decorated palace courtyard. Obi-Wan, Anakin, and the rest of the Jedi humbly stand by while Captain Lars and the rest of the surviving pilots and soldiers are pinned with medals by the King and Queen. Anakin sneaks off with Aeris and they share a secret kiss in front of the gorgeous Alderaanian twilight.

END CREDITS

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STAR WARS - Episode II - THE CLONE WARS

This is an older draft. Read the latest draft HERE.

Revised 2nd Draft - July 2018

Opening Crawl

YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE RETURN OF THE SITH. FEAR AND CHAOS HAVE GRIPPED THE ONCE PEACEFUL GALACTIC REPUBLIC, AS INSURGENTS HAVE INVADED THE MONTROSS SYSTEM, TERRORIZING THE INNOCENT AND WITH NO END TO THE SLAUGHTER IN SIGHT.

YET THE VIOLENCE HAS REMAINED FAR AWAY FROM CORUSCANT, WHERE OFFICIALS PREPARE TO HONOR THE LONG SERVING AND BELOVED SUPREME CHANCELLOR, WHO HAS BEEN RE-ELECTED TO AN UNPRECEDENTED 7TH TERM.

MEANWHILE YOUNG ANAKIN PREPARES TO JOURNEY TO THE EDGE OF THE GALAXY TO FINALIZE HIS TRAINING AS A JEDI KNIGHT. LITTLE DO THEY KNOW WHAT TREACHERY PLOTS AGAINST THEM...

ACT I

A squad of mercenary Mandalorians break into the Republic's most secure space prison and release a few of the galaxy's worst criminals as well as a huge brute, cyborg super-criminal, Crade Ragnos, who is infamous as the most dangerous being in the galaxy. The Jedi spent years bringing him down and dismantling his criminal organization. As the Mandalorians release him, a figure steps forward from the shadows. Crade asks him what he wants from him. The leader of the Mandalorians, clad in red armor, looks up, offers a blaster and says “I want you to kill Jedi.” Crade smiles and takes the weapon. The Mandalorians free all the inmates and the prison is overrun with a full-blown riot, with blaster bolts flying everywhere. The chaos crescendos with everyone escaping in ships and destroying the prison as they depart.

Coruscant: A celebration honoring the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, Vantos Ophuchi, celebrating his re-election to his 7th term as Chancellor, while presiding over an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity. The festivities are a who's-who of major galactic players, VIPs, leaders, warriors and celebrities. It seems like everyone is here, as well as a few Jedi Knights who are tasked with additional security, including our heroes, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. The Alderaanian Royal family arrives, and greets Palpatine and the Jedi. Anakin and Aeris' eyes meet and they give each other a very knowing smirk. Everyone notices. A massive, bear-sized creature leaps in front of Anakin and growls at him, startling him. It's Xerp, who has now grown to adult size and has assumed the position of the Royal's personal bodyguard. The Queen whisks Aeris away and Obi-Wan gives Anakin a stern look. Dragging her, the Queen reprimands Aeris and reminds her “that boy” is a slave and that she is not to speak with him, nor be seen anywhere near him. Aeris protests, pointing out that Anakin is an ex-slave who won his freedom, and insists that he is the most talented Jedi in the galaxy. The Queen scoffs, and is noticeably annoyed and angered by her defiance. The Queen says that if she is ever seen publicly with him, her subjects will never fully respect her as their ruler. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan reminds Anakin that it would be a scandal on Alderaan if he is caught with the Princess, and that there is a very strict moral code regarding the Jedi and romantic relationships. A serving Jedi does not put one person's needs above the needs of the people, nor allow oneself to be vulnerable to extortion or blackmail. Anakin responds that he understands, it's just that he can't always control his feelings the way the older Jedi do. Obi-Wan attempts to reassure him and tells him to put his focus into his training and devotion to serving the greater good of the galaxy.

Meanwhile, Admiral Tarkin is trying to convince members of the Galactic Senate that the terrorists attacking Montross in the mid-rim need to be taken seriously, and that the Republic needs an armada to counter these insurgents. But his war-mongering is dismissed, as everyone insists that the Republic is at peace and the time of the endless wars is in the past. Palpatine interjects to echo Tarkin's concerns. But the Senators are not surprised, as his pro-war reputation in recent years is well-known. One of the senators warns Palpatine to keep his pro-war stance in-check, lest the famously anti-war King Organa replace him.

The Jedi are discussing Anakin, as his performance as a trainee has been stellar, and all the Jedi there agree that he is ready to leave and begin his training as an official Jedi Knight, and away from all these “distractions.” Anakin is well-respected as the hero of Alderaan, but Obi-Wan points out that they never discovered who was supporting the mysterious Sith Lord who tried to destroy the city. Just then, the head of the Council, Jedi Master Drayden Kortu, confirms that the council have voted and agreed that Anakin is ready to study under the tutelage of the greatest living Jedi Grand Master. Anakin is thrilled to hear the news, and Obi-Wan and Anakin celebrate with a strong, brotherly hug. Master Kortu elaborates that to become an official Jedi Knight, Anakin must travel to a secret planet, known only to Jedi Knights, to study under Master Yoda, for as many years as he sees fit. There he will face his greatest fears and weaknesses, construct his own personal lightsaber, and only if he meets Master Yoda's very high standards, will he be allowed to become an official Jedi Knight of the Jedi Order, so that he may dedicate his life to the pursuit of peace and justice in the service of all living things. Obi-Wan takes him aside and gives Anakin some reassuring words of encouragement. Master Kortu expresses his concern to a fellow council member that one new Knight is hardly insuring the future of the Jedi Order, and they worry aloud about the fate of the Jedi.

The Supreme Chancellor congratulates Palpatine on his recent ascent to President of the Senate, and it is subtly implied that perhaps he didn't win the vote entirely fairly. Palpatine spots Anakin in the crowd, and signals to him. They sneak over to a corner. Palpatine says that he has a happy surprise for him, and takes him into a back passageway. There, Palpatine opens a door to reveal Aeris waiting for him. They rush to embrace, and awkwardly smile and beam at each other, not sure what to do with themselves. Finally, Anakin turns to Palpatine, thanking him genuinely. Palpatine says not to mention it, as he was once young and in love too. He promises them that their secret is safe with him, and closes the door as he leaves. They nervously, but passionately kiss. But then Anakin pulls away. Aeris asks him what's wrong, and he explains that he will be leaving soon. They discuss the situation, their respective authority figures keeping them apart, and Aeris insists that they enjoy what little time they have together, and they embrace again. Aeris asks Anakin why he has a jewel around his neck, and he explains it is a Kyber crystal that he retrieved from the planet Illum as part of his preparation, and that he will use it to construct his lightsaber while he finalizes his training as a Jedi Knight.

The celebration is interrupted by a terrorist attack, and the Supreme Chancellor is assassinated, turned to vapor in a flash. In the chaos, Xerp leaps in front of the Royals, saving them, but is severely hit by doing so. We see that a squad of Mandalorians are firing indiscriminately, and the Jedi rush to engage, joined by a few Republic security droids and various personal security. The Mandalorians are using disintegrators, leaving their victims nothing but piles of ash and vapor, a truly terrifying weapon, and one that only the most savage militants dare use. The commotion alerts Anakin and Aeris, and they rush back, only to find unspeakable violence everywhere. They painfully look into each other's eyes as they both know they have to separate, as they can't be seen together. Anakin is unarmed, so he yells at the bystanders, ushering them inside. Aeris runs to try and find her parents, but is stopped by security personnel, who usher her away, towards an awaiting transport, where she sees her wounded parents being rushed over from another direction. They pile in, and the King yells at the droid pilot to leave. Aeris yells “No! We have to wait for Xerp!” Queen Organa replies that Xerp is dead. Aeris turns to look out the window, mouth agape in horror at the chaotic scene.

The Jedi are driving the Mandalorians back, causing them to flee on both their jetpacks as well as swoop bikes. Obi-Wan pursues and a chase sequence unfolds. During the chase, he places a tracker on one of the Mandalorians. Obi-Wan manages to crash a couple of them. But Obi-Wan is forced to abandon his chase as the Mandalorians dive into a massive chasm and he takes heavy fire from the guns guarding the gaping maw. Obi-Wan is stopped in his tracks, while the camera pans over the gap, and reveals the endless abyss below.

Back at the Jedi temple, the Jedi regroup and discuss the attack, many of the Jedi say they were wearing Mandalorian armor, a race of warriors turned mercenaries and assassins. Master Kortu enters and announces that the Supreme Chancellor is dead, and gasps and murmurs fill the room. As they are speaking in the foyer, Anakin approaches the Skywalker saber, and removes the glass casing. Obi-Wan reveals that he placed a tracker on the mercenaries, and that they have fled deep into the underworld. Anakin picks up the saber and unfurls his tool-belt. The Jedi react with noticeable concern, noting that it's too dangerous to pursue. No Republic security goes beyond level -1000, and that no Jedi has been down that far in ages. Anakin opens the lightsaber and starts to tinker with it. Obi-Wan requests permission to pursue the assassins. "By yourself?!" Master Kortu asks. "Out of the question!" Anakin snaps the crystal off his neck. Obi-Wan insist that Anakin is ready for this, and they don't have anyone else able-bodied enough to even think of going down there. Master Kortu refuses. “He doesn't even have a lightsaber.” The conversation is silenced by the roar of a lightsaber igniting. Everyone turns around, shocked, and the music swells as Anakin has repaired the legendary lightsaber that hasn't ignited in ages, standing heroically with blade outstretched. Obi-Wan ends the argument: “He's ready.”

Obi-Wan and Anakin step into a large elevator, and begin discussing strategy, the attackers, and the peril they face. He explains that the mercenaries are wearing Mandalorian armor, the fiercest and most feared warrior race in the galaxy, despite being believed to have been wiped out in wars long ago. Anakin flippantly retorts, "like the Sith?" Obi-Wan questions that the Sith have returned, as there haven't been any reports of any "dark Jedi" since the battle of Alderaan. While they are speaking, the windows behind them continue to reveal more and more exotic and surprising levels, seemingly never ending. Finally, a massive chasm opens up like a huge cave, revealing another underground city just as massive and sprawling as on the surface. Obi-Wan describes this as the underworld, and that the multitudes of underclasses live down here. But the elevator just keeps going, to Anakin's surprise. "We're not stopping?" He asks. Obi-Wan sets Anakin straight, telling him that they're not just going deep, they're leaving the civilized world and entering the lawless underworld, where there are no police, no security, and the only law and order is the one that they themselves bring. They continue past the industrial levels that keep the planet alive, as Obi-Wan checks his tracker once again.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the elevator settles into a hellish, deep underworld, glowing red and more exotic than imaginable. Obi-Wan leads the way. Anakin passes stranger aliens than he has yet encountered, amazed that anything is even living this deep. Here, for the first time, we see Anakin and Obi-Wan working together as an effective team. Eventually, they find the trail of the Mandalorians. Obi-Wan and Anakin chase the assassins again, but they are not willing to be taken alive. One of them blows himself up, another throws himself into an incinerator, and the one in green escapes with the help of a cloaked figure using the Force, who appears to be a Sith Lord, and Obi-Wan locks eyes with dark figure as it ascends on an elevator out of reach. Obi-Wan examines the armor of the fallen Mandalorian, looking for clues. He scans the Mandalorian's armor's various markings, recording them in his pocket holo-scanner. The Sith enters a dark chamber, we know not where, turning to reveal Darth Sidious waiting for them. "You have done well, my apprentice." The figure remains silent. "And now, I have a new task for you..."

ACT II

Palpatine has been named the new Supreme Chancellor, and the Galactic Senate is voting on whether or not to create a standing army and armada to fight the terrorist insurgents from the outer rim that are terrorizing the mid-rim, and have now attacked the capital of Coruscant, assassinating the Supreme Chancellor himself. Palpatine gives an impassioned speech to protect the Republic, preserve Chancellor Ophuchi's legacy, and bring these terrorists to justice once and for all. The Senate erupts in applause as the motion passes overwhelmingly. With this, the Republic agrees to join the fighting in the Montross system.

Captain Owen Lars, who now lives on Coruscant, is packing his gear in his home while he argues with his wife Beru about joining the newly created Republic Starforce. She argues that he'll die out there, and she insists that his place is to stay with his young children, but he argues that he just lost some of his closest friends and best pilots to these savage terrorists, and that he can't stand by and do nothing. He's a pilot, and that's all he's ever been and all he knows how to do. Finally, she relents, and he kisses her goodbye, finishing on a moment of sharp unease and conflicting emotions.

The Jedi council are deeply concerned over the recent passing of the war act, and have misgivings about the galaxy returning to a state of war after so long at peace. Obi-Wan arrives and presents his findings to the Jedi council: He suggests that the Sith may have returned again and may be using the Mandalorians to sow chaos in the galaxy. And that these assassins may have come from Montross, the planet that has been under siege by the insurgent terrorists. Master Kortu reveals to that they attempted to research the Mandalorians, only to discover that all the Jedi archives on the subject have been erased. Murmurs fill the chamber. "Outragous!" ... "Impossible!" One of the Jedi interjects: "We have a traitor in our midst!" The murmurs grow louder. "Brothers!" Kortu raises his voice. "There is only one who was among us who could have or would have done this. You know of who I speak." The murmurs become whispers, as slowly, all the Jedi fall silent as their eyes all settle on Anakin. Eventually Anakin weakly whispers "Why is everyone looking at me?"

Admiral Tarkin arrives and requests the Jedi's assistance in the war. Master Kortu rebuffs him, insisting that the Jedi are peace-keepers, not soldiers and will not serve as pawns of the military. Tarkin insists that the Jedi would not be pawns, but be given the rank of General, and each given their own army to command. They would be giving orders, not taking them, and that this conflict would come to a quick, decisive end with the Jedi's help. This offer causes great divide between the Jedi. Ultimately, Obi-Wan, Anakin and the other younger Jedi accept their offer, with majority older Jedi rejecting it. Obi-Wan requests of the council that Anakin's training be deferred so that he can join the war effort. The council grants his request, but says that as soon as this conflict is over, Anakin should leave for his training. Obi-Wan takes Anakin aside and explains to him that there are some in the order who believe that Anakin may be the lost child created using the Dark Side of the Force by the banished ex-Jedi. He could be the Sith Master we're looking for. Anakin asks, "Do you believe it?" Obi-Wan explains that he may not know where Anakin came from, but he is adamant that people are in control of their own destiny.

The Jedi don armor, and as they depart, Master Kortu warns the Jedi Knights against embracing violence when there are other alternatives available. Obi-Wan promises him that he will not succumb to vengeance, as their transport takes off. Tarkin briefs the Jedi about the situation on Montross as they journey back to Coruscant.

King and Queen Organa argue about the outbreak of war, and worry aloud about the fate of the Republic and fear return of the endless galactic wars, all while mourning Xerp. Ultimately, the King decides that he should try and help the people of Montross, before the fighting spreads any further. Aeris is upset at how fast everything is changing and runs off. She meets up with Anakin in another secret rendezvous. The Princess is scared and vulnerable now that she's lost her bodyguard and best friend, fears her father has turned from anti-war to pro-war, and confides in Anakin. After discussing it, she decides she needs to toughen-up to survive and she attempts to be more like the warriors around her. Aeris is most interested in learning about the mysterious Force. Anakin warns her that most people are not Force-sensitive. Anakin and the Princess bond while he teaches her how to defend herself. First, Anakin shows how to properly fire a blaster, and they share some romantic looks while he holds her hands aiming. She struggles at first, and Anakin grows a bit impatient. So he teaches her a trick he knows – how to use the Force to steady your aim and guide your bolt. She tries it, and it works - she is finally able to bulls-eye the droid practice target. She says that she felt “it,” and Anakin reveals that must mean she is Force-sensitive, to their mutual delight. Next, Anakin shows her some basic hand-to-hand combat and defensive techniques, and before long, she is able to flip him and they end up in a compromising position, they pause for a moment, and then they are about to kiss. But then, Anakin yells “ouch!” Anakin was hurt by that tumble, and he lifts his shirt to reveal a cut on his side. Aeris caresses his chest, puts on a serious expression as she stares at his wound, then uses the Force to heal his cut, and Anakin is shocked. She asks him what's wrong, and Anakin reveals that she's a Force-healer - one of the few skills that he lacks. Anakin reveals that even the Jedi that have that ability rarely use it, as it drains your life-force and shortens your life-span. If you're not careful, you could die while healing another. Anakin then explains that his training has been deferred and he has to leave to join the war, and Aeris begs him not to go, for fear he will die. Anakin insists he must do his duty as a Jedi, and tearfully leaves.

Obi-Wan consults with the Jedi Master-at-arms while he and the other Jedi prepare for war. The Master tells him what he knows of the lost Mandalorian empire, and to be very careful now that the Sith have returned, as the Dark Side clouds everything, as does the fog of war. He advises Kenobi, now that he's a general, to check the Republic's military intelligence archives for any information he's looking for.

Aeris runs back home, to find King Organa preparing to leave to join the fighting in the Montross system. Aeris decides to sneak aboard his ship and brings her personal droid, C-3P0, with her.

A montage sequence begins of citizens enlisting, army volunteers boarding troop carriers, various ships taking off from Coruscant, joining others arriving from hyperspace, and forming an armada in orbit. The music builds as the armada enters hyperspace in formation. Once in hyperspace, the pilots scramble to their fighters. The music climaxes as the ships exit hyperspace, only to find themselves in the middle of an already in-progress space battle. The Republic starfighters pour out of the carrier ships. Anakin's squadron is tasked with clearing a way for Obi-Wan's division to land on the surface. Anakin and Captain Lars punch a hole in their blockade to get Obi-Wan through. Obi-Wan lands his first brigade where the fighting is most intense, and then leads a company to take a village near to their target, the insurgent base. Obi-Wan removes the helmet of one of the fallen enemy soldiers - they are Sith-species. He explains to his captain that the Sith have become an extremely rare and nomadic species, scattered across the galaxy. Then he notices that this is not just a Sith, but a Sith Mavassi, the Sith elite warrior race. “But they were wiped out a thousand years ago, and yet we are surrounded by them...” Obi-Wan lines up two other Sith bodies side-by-side, and their faces are identical. Close-up on Obi-Wan: “Clones.” Obi-Wan radios to Anakin that the Sith are somehow involved, but he doesn't have time to talk. Anakin continues to take out enemy ships, as the intense space battle rages on. Obi-Wan leads his brigade to take the insurgent base. He sees a cloaked Sith Lord at a distance, who quickly disappears, He takes a platoon and pursues. They travel deep into the base, where they find that the Sith have been mining for Kyber, and that's why they've invaded and occupied Montross. This time Obi-Wan spots two Sith Lords, and continues his pursuit with his men, only to be stopped by Crade Ragnos, who takes out his Platoon. Obi-Wan drives him back, then radios for re-reinforcements. Obi-Wan and his re-reinforcements pursue it a larger chasm, and discover a massive green Kyber crystal, even more massive than the one he saw in the City-Killer on Alderaan. It's already been extracted and is being lifted up, back to the surface. Before Obi-Wan can try and stop it, he hears loud metal footsteps. He turns, and it's the Sith Lord. He removes his hood, and to Obi-Wan's shock and surprise, it's Darth Maul, seemingly back from the dead. They engage for a bit, but then Crade and more clones join the fight. Obi-Wan quickly realizes he's out-matched, and orders a retreat. As he is leaving, he throws a tracking device on the crystal ascending overhead. Once back on the surface, Obi-Wan orders his men to halt their advance and hold their ground, then calls Anakin and tells him that they have to warn the council that the Sith have returned.

ACT III

Obi-Wan, Anakin, King Organa, Tarkin and the other leaders meet on King Organa's Alderaanian starcraft carrier, the fleet's flagship. Via hologram, Obi-Wan informs the Jedi council that the Sith have returned and are cloning Sith Mavassi warriors, and Darth Maul has somehow survived. The council can scarcely believe it, but grant his request to find the cloning facility and destroy it immediately, before the Republic is overrun by Sith insurgents. Tarkin reacts to the word “destroy,” shooting Obi-Wan an intense glance. One of the Jedi Masters then interjects, and says she doesn't like the idea of the chosen one spending so much time on the front lines, risking his life, and that he must complete his training. Obi-Wan begs the council's forgiveness, as Anakin is still very much needed in the war effort. Obi-Wan says he is confident that he can adequately continue Anakin's training while serving in the Republic military. Jedi Master Kortu reluctantly agrees, and signs off - “May the Force be with all of you.” Obi-Wan reveals that he planted a tracker on the giant Kyber crystal they extracted, and that he will use that to find track down their base. Admiral Tarkin interrupts, and reveals that Republic intelligence has been spying on the insurgents for some time, and have now triangulated the source of their infantry and main base as a gas giant orbiting a remote star system in the mid-rim. Obi-Wan checks his scanner quickly, then says “Fine. I'll take the next army there immediately.” He turns to one of the other Jedi Generals, and asks him if his army is ready, and he responds that they are, but that it's only a brigade. Kenobi orders him to take command of his division on Montross, and to tell his men to prepare for departure under his command. Obi-Wan takes Anakin aside and reveals that his tracker is pointing towards another sector of remote space known as “The Hornet's Nest,” where there is an uncharted nebula, and to go investigate. He warns Anakin that the Sith could be trying to build another super-weapon with the crystal, or that it could be a trap.

Obi-Wan takes a new troop ship carrying another brigade to the gas giant Gorta in the remote Xanthos system. Meanwhile, Anakin is prepping his ship to leave for the Remex nebula. Once Anakin enters hyperspace, he hears a noise from the ship's hold, and is shocked to find Aeris has stowed-away. Obviously he is surprised and disturbed and warns her where they are going. She explains that she just couldn't sit by while everyone she cares about leaves for war, and that she couldn't stand to be away from him any longer. She refuses to sit around waiting to hear if he is alive or dead. Anakin pushes his worries aside for a moment and allows himself to be thrilled to be with her again, and they kiss passionately. C-3P0 interrupts, asking “what was that part about flying into certain death?”

Obi-Wan's ship arrives at Gorta and they spot the expected space station in orbit around the gas giant. Captain Lars's starfighter squadron launches to intercept incoming Sith drones and clear a landing path for the troops.

Anakin and Aeris arrive at Remex, a gargantuan, glowing, nebula that looks like it's made of thorns and storm clouds. Anakin navigates his way in cautiously, until finally they find what they're looking for, a massive construction facility. We see Corellian freighters towing supply containers around a massively long structure surrounded by a construction drydock. As we traverse the length of the structure, it's starting to become clear that it's some kind of engine or canon, until we spot the same massive Kyber crystal being slowly dropped into place and it becomes clear – it's a massive superlaser, much larger than the City-Killer. Anakin and Aeris both share a knowing look, as they know what kind of unspeakable destruction this new weapon could unleash. Anakin says he's not going to let the Sith use this on Coruscant or any other defenseless planet. Aeris insists on going with him to help. Anakin slowly docks at the quietest corner of the structure.

Obi-Wan and his battalion land on the space station and fighting breaks out. They encounter more Sith Mavassi, but they are largely getting the drop on them, as many are not fully armored or equipped. They make their way into the cloning facility where we see rows and rows and floors and floors as far as the eye can see of clones in stasis behind glass. The facility is greyish slate and steamy, like an old pumping station. Then, their advance is halted when they encounter Crade Ragnos once more, and this time he traps them inside like he was expecting them.

Anakin, Aeris and C-3P0 sneak into the facility, and we see officers conducting business as they discuss the successful extraction of Kyber from Montross, but fear the Republic's new military and recruiting of the Jedi. [Since Rogue One came out, it would make sense for this discussion to be between Commander Krennic and Lead Designer Galen Erso] They mention something about the “DS-1 Project.” There is a bit of levity as a pair of officers walk by, Anakin and Aeris duck behind some crates, leaving C-3P0 alone in the corridor, but is ignored by the officers. Anakin and Aeris turn to each other and breathe a sigh of relief.

Obi-Wan's soldiers are slowly defeated by Crade and his Mavassi warriors, as more and more of them emerge from their cloning tanks, ripping their own breathing tubes out as they emerge.

As they make their way down the length of the facility, Anakin, Aeris and 3P0 are stopped in their tracks by a huge gap leading directly into open space, with no visible way across. They start to discuss their options, but before they can say much, they are spotted by a squad of Mandalorians. Anakin ignites his saber and Aeris un-holsters her blasters. Anakin does well at first, but more of them show up, and quickly they are overwhelmed. C-3P0 is caught standing in the middle of the cross fire and is in full-blown panic mode, yelling 'we surrender! we surrender!' Anakin Force-pushes him out of an incoming blaster bolt, then in one smooth motion, grabs him by the head and, jabs an eject button, expelling a cartridge from C-3P0's back, then he slams in a new cartridge. The droid immediately stands up, his eyes change from yellow to red, and in a totally different, deeply intimidating voice says "Deadly threats detected. Eliminating targets." Then, with robotic precision, bull's-eyes one after another. Anakin turns to Aeris and says how he's always hated 3P0's personality card, then grabs her arm and tells her to “come on, they probably heard the blaster fire.” Anakin takes out space-suits he spotted stored nearby and they quickly put them on while C-3P0 stands guard. As they make their way into the airlock, more Mandalorians and security droids arrive, and 3P0 holds them off. Anakin and Aeris activate their rocket packs and fly around the facility, making their way down the superlaser structure, with Mandalorians in hot pursuit. After an intense fight, Anakin and Aeris are able to take them all out, with the last one, in green armor, taking a knock-out blow to the helmet, leaving an infamous dent in the front-left. They have arrived at the other end of the superlaser, where the main reactor and crystal core are contained.

Crade and his Mavassi close in, forcing Obi-Wan and his soldiers to dig in to make their last stand, setting up turrets and mounted heavy guns.

Anakin and Aeris make their way through the reactor core area, which is dark with eerie red lighting. Just then, we hear the same metal footsteps from earlier, echoing in the distance. Aeris falls back and covers Anakin from a distance. As Anakin approaches the green glow of the Kyber core, his advance is interrupted by a cloaked figure. The cloaked man advances, this time with the footsteps echoing loudly, filling the chamber. Darth Maul removes his hood, to reveal he has even longer horns than before, then he removes his cloak, revealing a cybernetic lower-body. Anakin ignites his lightsaber. Maul ignites his. Aeris is frozen in fear at the sight of the monster who terrorized her still alive. Anakin says “You're supposed to be dead.” Maul retorts, “The dark side sustains me, even in death.” They duel. It becomes clear that Maul is toying with Anakin, as he is no match for Maul. Maul taunts him: “You cannot possibly win.” If I kill you, I will have proven myself to my master as the worthy heir to the Sith throne. If you kill me, you will turn to the dark side and will serve my master.” Anakin insists that he will never fall to the dark side. Maul then becomes more aggressive, as Anakin takes multiple blows. It is an absolutely brutal fight, with both of them taking serious injuries and cuts. Maul steps back, and this time, his legs unfurl, and now he towers over Anakin. The fight becomes even more intense, both of them are now noticeably bleeding. Then, with Anakin straining to hold Maul's saber back, Maul taunts him further: “You have no choice, my master created you. You are born of the Sith.” Anakin's face drops: “What?” Maul: “He created you using the dark side. You are as much his servant as I am.” Anakin: “You lie!” Maul laughs, cackling in his face. Maul: “The Sith have their own prophecy - A boy will be created by the greatest Sith lord, using the darkest Force powers, to destroy the Jedi and restore the Sith Empire to its former glory, this time conquering the entire Galaxy once and for all.” Anakin's calm is broken, and he unleashes on Maul with anger. Maul holds his own, then lets Anakin know he means business – slicing off his right arm, losing his saber in the process. Anakin screams. He has never felt pain like this before. Aeris is watching from the gangway above, and grabs her mouth to silence her screams, as tears course down her cheeks. Maul uses the Force to levitate him. Maul: “Why do you think you are an orphan? The greatest Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, infiltrated the Jedi, learned everything about them...then he created you, the perfect weapon... and when the Jedi found out, they abandoned you on Corellia.” Maul drops him and he collapses on the grates. Anakin: “How are you...gasp...so powerful...how is this possible?” Maul Force-chokes Anakin. Maul: “Through the dark side, all things are possible.” Then Maul recites a Sith litany: “Fear gives me anger. Anger feeds my hate. Hate makes me powerful...hate has made me very powerful.” Terror and panic grips Anakin's eyes. Just then, Aeris fires at Maul from the rafters, but Maul deflects it in time. Aeris screams: “Get away from him!” She fires a series of bolts at him, and he blocks them in quick succession. Finally, he uses the Force to destroy the gangway, and she comes tumbling down. Maul grabs her by the throat and picks her up. Maul: “Ah, so you have a girlfriend...not such a perfect Jedi after all... Allow me to free you of your attachments!” Maul lifts his saber to Aeris' face. And with that, Anakin's eyes switch from fear to absolute fury. With a newfound rage, Anakin uses the Force to crush Maul's legs. Maul is disabled, and Anakin uses the Force to pull his lightsaber back into his good left hand. Aeris crawls away. This time, Anakin has the upper hand, towering over Maul's torso, and Anakin easily disarms him, cutting off his saber hand. Total rage grips both their faces, both of them breathing so heavily they are practically barking at each other. In extreme close-up, we see that Anakin's eyes are now the same glowing red and orange as Maul's. Maul screams: “DO IT!” But before he even finishes yelling, Anakin decapitates him. Anakin falls to his knees, screams in both total physical and emotional anguish and then collapses.

The last of Obi-Wan's men are killed, and just as it looks like Crade is about to kill Obi-Wan, the sealed door blows open and reinforcements pour in. Admiral Tarkin has sent another brigade to back them up, led by one of the Jedi Generals. The troops rally, and Obi-Wan and the other Jedi General take down Crade, his body slamming to the ground like a felled tree. The Republic troops cheer, having taken the cloning facility.

Aeris runs to Anakin, who is bleeding out on the metal grate floor. They are both crying uncontrollably, Anakin asks forgiveness for failing the Jedi order, for failing Obi-Wan. He begs Aeris to tell them and beg their forgiveness. Aeris screams no, he can't leave her. She yells that she loves him, and he coughs and says that he loves her too. They kiss, all while on the verge of hysteria. Aeris panics as she sees how badly he is bleeding, with blood all over her hands as she holds him. Anakin is dying from his wounds. She screams that she refuses to lose him, and she parts his vest and places her hands on his heart and head. Anakin, gasping to speak, protests, saying no! But Aeris closes her eyes, the Force theme swells, and time seems to stop as Aeris uses the Force to heal Anakin's wounds, draining her own life-force, with her hair turning bright white in the process. Anakin gasps and breathes heavily, then sits up, and they look at each other in disbelief and amazement for a moment, before crying and kissing again. Aeris helps Anakin back onto his feet, and they limp out of the chamber.

Obi-Wan orders the soldiers to begin placing charges and prepare to destroy the cloning facility. Tarkin orders them to stop. He tells Obi-Wan that this is now a Republic military facility, and will become part of the war effort. Tarkin: “Relax General, we'll take it from here.” Obi-Wan gives a concerned look, but walks off. He meets up with Captain Lars on the way out, and they celebrate their surprising victory. Obi-Wan asks if there's word from Anakin, and Lars says they haven't heard from him. Obi-Wan says that he senses something terrible has befallen him. Just then, they are passed by officers wearing the same flat grey uniforms we saw the officers wearing on board the superlaser facility. They look on, confused as to who they are, as they begin to talk to Tarkin, before the facility's main door quickly slams shut in front of them.

Anakin and Aeris are trying to escape. Anakin pulls out his com-link and radios to R2-D2, telling him to bring the ship as close as he can. As they make their way to the closest docking port, a door blasts open, and Anakin and Aeris both panic, frozen, only to discover that it's C-3P0, who simply walked here through the vacuum of space. Just then R2 arrives, and they all pile in. Anakin yells to R2 to get them the hell out of here, and Anakin and Aeris collapse against one another on the ship's cot in the hold. R2-D2 flies away, evading the Sith drones and the facility's turbolasers, until finally making it to hyper-space. Back inside the superlaser reactor room, the other Sith lord approaches, and we expect it to be Sidious. Instead, the Sith removes her hood to reveal it is a red-skinned Sith Twi'lek, also with black body markings, and she stands over Maul's body and cries a single tear, before looking up and staring with eyes full of rage.

Ending montage: Darth Sidious watches Anakin decapitate Maul via hologram. He smiles, then laughs manically. Obi-Wan, Captain Lars and other Generals and heroes are pinned with medals by King Organa in a military ceremony after liberating Montross. Tarkin is now using the facility to clone humans, as we see all the glass tubes are now filled with human fetuses. Anakin and Aeris marry in secret, with Anakin now having been fitted with a cybernetic right hand. R2-D2 and C-3P0 are the only witnesses.

END CREDITS

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STAR WARS - Episode I - SCION OF THE FORCE

This is an older draft. Read the latest draft HERE.

Opening Crawl

IT IS A TIME OF ENDURING PEACE. FOR THOUSANDS OF GENERATIONS, THE JEDI KNIGHTS HAVE BEEN THE GUARDIANS OF PEACE AND THE CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE IN THE PROSPEROUS GALACTIC REPUBLIC.

AGES AGO, THAT PEACE WAS DESTROYED BY THE SITH EMPIRE, WHEN THE REPUBLIC WAS CONQUERED BY THE EVIL SITH LORDS. CENTURIES OF DARKNESS BEFELL THE GALAXY UNTIL THE JEDI ORDER FINALLY DROVE BACK THE FORCES OF TYRANNY AND DEATH.

NOW, THAT EVIL HAS SECRETLY BEEN RESURRECTED BY UNSEEN FORCES BENT ON REVIVING THE DARK PLAGUE THAT WAS ONCE DEFEATED LONG AGO...

ACT I

A space battle rages - Maul and his old, decrepit master Darth Sidious break into a secret deep-space fortress and steal the old republic's reserve of Kyber crystals, including a massive one, foreshadowing the creation of the super-weapon we see later in the film. The outpost's naive attitude and lax security establishes the comfortable but vulnerable state of the Republic. The Sith lords mercilessly slaughter everyone, leaving no witnesses. Sidious also steals a Sith artifact that restores his youth and vigor. But we only see his hands and extreme closeup on his eyes as both are revitalized, as Sidious keeps his cloak obscuring his face throughout this entire sequence. Sidious asks Maul about his mental state, and we see how Sidious is poisoning his mind. Maul replies that he is filled with hate and rage and how that has allowed him to grow powerful, that the Jedi are evil and represent stagnation and repression, and that the Sith will bring order and justice to the galaxy; that the weak deserve to die; that those who oppose them are evil, etc... He declares Maul's training complete and “knights” him, bestowing him the rank and title of “Darth.” He gives Maul a mission: journey to the ancient Sith homeworld, Korriban, as he once did, to seek out the ancient Sith Holocron “The Dark Codex” and where he will grow powerful from feeding on the hate and rage of the spirits of the dead Sith Lords. Before leaving, Sidious states that soon the Republic will fall, the Jedi will die and the Sith Empire will finally be restored. They destroy the station in a massive explosion as they depart.

Fade To: [ TITLE: “10 Years Later” ]

A luxurious cruiser carrying the Alderaanian royal family arrives at the capital city of Corellia, a core world with extreme inequality, and they are here to see the famous skyswoop racer "Starkiller." With King Bail Organa are his wife Queen Breha Organa, their teenage daughter Aeris, their protocol droid C-3P0, and the rest of their entourage, including two Jedi Knights – Voncinot and Malirad – the royal's personal bodyguards, encased in armor and armed to the teeth. It is unusual for a prominent royal family from a core world to attend a sky-swoop race, with its seedy reputation and being illegal on most core worlds. However, King Organa insisted on seeing the racing champion that is currently so revered, this is the championship race, and sky-swoop pilots usually don't live very long. They are also under the protection of their Jedi Knights, and thus safe from harm. A cloaked figure is seen moving in the shadows, appearing to the viewer to perhaps be another villain like the ones from the opening? A massive holo-reel plays in the background as our characters find their seats in the arena, setting up how dangerous skyswoop racing is, that this is the Galactic Championship race held only once a decade, and that “Starkiller” is the star rookie, but is going up against the best racers in the galaxy. We get a sense of the massive arena and sky-track as the royals find their front balcony seats. Their shady host suggests that their princess offer the traditional kiss to the winner of the race, but she takes one look at the weird alien racers and is repulsed. He insists, but is quickly rebuffed by the King, and then ejected by the bodyguards. But as he is escorted out, Aeris notices one of the pilots isn't so nasty-looking – Anakin, as he removes his flight goggles we see our handsome hero revealed for the first time – and for an instant their eyes meet. Anakin is visibly taken by her beauty, and she by his roguish appearance.

Anakin and his best friend Deak, who are both slaves, continue to prep his skypod, which they spend all their free time improving. Anakin's ruthless owner tries to intimidate him before the race, demanding that if Anakin wins, he declare that they give his winnings to the Coronet Orphan's Fund (a Hutt front organization). Anakin refuses, saying that he's going to use the money to buy his freedom, Deak's freedom, and buy the entire skyswoop industry. Meanwhile, the rival swoop gangs decide they've had enough of Anakin's winning streak and decide to fix the race by using dirty tricks. After an action-packed race, and despite all the odds stacked against him, Anakin barely survives and wins at the last possible moment. For winning the Galactic Cup, he has won 10 billion Republic credits. His owner has been keeping Anakin's winnings previously, but he knows that this win is too public for his owner to keep all the money again. Anakin is about to accept the winnings in the winner's circle, but then sees a light shining in his face from the shadows. It's his owner and his thugs, and they're holding a knife to Deak's throat. Deak looks utterly terrified. In order to save his best friend from being killed, Anakin announces that they should donate it to charity. The crowd cheers, but the pain of losing his freedom is visible on Anakin's face. Princess Aeris attempts to make her way to the winner's circle, but is dragged away by their departing entourage.

Their owner activates Anakin and Deak's restraining implants forcing them back to the massive junkyards where his slaves live and work. Once there, the surviving swoop gangs are waiting for them looking for revenge. A battle breaks out in the junkyards, surrounded by trash towers the size of skyscrapers. Deak is killed while saving Anakin. Anakin is about to be killed as well, but the cloaked figure interferes, saving him. There is a short fight, we see that Anakin has some skill in combat, and in the aftermath, Anakin's ruthless owner is killed. The cloaked figure introduces himself – he is Obi-Wan Kenobi (aprox. 38 y/o), a Jedi Knight and member of the Jedi Order, and explains that he was sent to seek out and investigate the young racer with amazing abilities. Obi-Wan explains to Anakin that he is able to see the turns in advance through the Force, giving him his amazing racing abilities. Obi-Wan then explains that the Force gives Jedi their powers, and that Anakin is an individual strong with the Force, and offers him to be evaluated as a potential Jedi. Anakin mourns Deak's sacrifice, blaming himself for his death and failing to win their freedom. Obi-Wan tries to reassure him, but we can see on Anakin's face that he is not truly convinced. Anakin realizes that he has lost everything keeping him on Corellia, and thus accepts Obi-wan's offer to be evaluated as a potential Jedi trainee. Obi-Wan asks him how he came to be named Anakin Starkiller, and he explains that it's just a nickname that the other racers gave him, and that his name is simply Anakin. Obi-Wan explains that “Starkiller” is the name of the most evil dark-sider in history, and is a name that all Jedi fear. Obi-Wan suggests that Anakin might want to take a new name if he is accepted into the Jedi order.

ACT II

The Organa family leave to return to Alderaan, meanwhile elsewhere in the city Obi-Wan takes Anakin back to his Jedi transport to depart for Coruscant. Anakin has never entered hyperspace before, and Obi-Wan positions Anakin to stand in the main window to see it first-hand. Obi-wan activates the hyperdrive, and Anakin stumbles back in surprise at the sight of the galaxy bending before him.

The ship exits hyperspace and Obi-Wan shows off Coruscant to Anakin, describing the entire planet as one continuous city. Through Anakin's eyes, we experience being overwhelmed at the size, scale and multitudes of excess on the gargantuan city-planet. First, they arrive at a massive spaceport terminal. Anakin is left mouth-agape at the variety of aliens and creatures filling the concourse, as well as the chaos they create. Obi-Wan stops some petty crime, and we see the reverence and fear that the Jedi command, like seeing a demigod walking among them. Encountering a Jedi has become a very rare event in the galaxy. Meanwhile Obi-Wan continues to give more back-story on the Jedi. Anakin gets a quick glimpse of the grandeur of the galactic Senate through a holo-screen. A few unbelievably amazing things happen, and Anakin is awe-struck, but these are everyday events on Coruscant. They then visit the Jedi space-fighter hangar and armory, where we meet the Jedi master-at-arms - a brutish, boulder-sized but good-natured alien, one who wears the ravages of a thousand battles on his visage. Anakin asks where do the Jedi live, and Obi-Wan replies “in the sky,” and points upwards where we see the lush, bright green forest moon.

Wipe to the Alderaanian royals in mid-hyperspace travel, on their way back to Alderaan. We have some more dialogue here establishing them as characters. But as soon as they exit hyperspace, Darth Maul attacks their royal space cruiser - he had been lying in wait for them. Maul disables the ship, then forcibly docks and cuts his way on board. The lanky republic security droids attempt to counter the assault, but Maul slices through them like butter. The Royal Jedi Knight bodyguards protect the King and Queen, but Maul slices Malirad critically and disables Voncinot by using the Force to slam him into a bulkhead, knocking him unconscious. The family is cornered and utter terror grips their faces. Just as we think Maul is about to kill the royals, we cut away. [In this sequence Maul is cloaked, mysterious, and stays in the shadows. We don't get a better look at him until later.]

Aeris wakes up imprisoned, surrounded by cold, hard steel and black slab. Her pet is revealed to have been hiding in her hair, using its camouflage that allows it to change the color of its fur. It is a chipmunk-type cute alien creature named Xerp, and it reacts to Aeris as though it can understand her. Aeris commiserates with Xerp over their situation, attempting to formulate an escape plan.

Obi-Wan takes Anakin to the Jedi Sanctuary moon of Coruscant - Edo - nearly every inch of which is an unspoiled wildlife preserve, save the Jedi temple. From space, Edo is the most brilliant, lush green marble you've ever seen, with bodies of water that seem like they've been deliberately placed for maximum aesthetics. Obi-Wan explains that the moon has always been open to the citizens, but that hardly anyone ever visits anymore. Once there, we see the Jedi Temple and meet more Jedi masters, who are quite old and most of them have white hair and beards, even many of the non-humans. We start to realize that there aren't any young Jedi around, no one even close to Anakin's age. The Jedi swap war stories about old battles, ancient lost empires, the glory days of the Jedi Order when the Republic was young, and explain the dark side and the Sith. When Anakin inquires when was the last time any of them have encountered a Sith lord, the Jedi reveal that years ago, there was a Jedi who was banished from the order for creating a living being, using forbidden Force powers, and later discovered they turned to the dark side and is rumored to be alive and the last Sith Lord. But other Jedi interject and insist that he is long dead. No one knows what the Sith Lord did with the child. We also see a legendary lightsaber under glass, sitting prominently in the middle of the main foyer. The blade once belonged to an ancient Jedi named “Skywalker,” one of the greatest Jedi to ever live. It will supposedly be wielded by the chosen one someday. Anakin expresses interest, and asks if they've ever tried it? The Jedi say, go ahead and try it. Anakin removes it from the case, and hits the switch. It fails to light, and the Jedi all chuckle. Obi-Wan reveals that they all know that it hasn't worked in ages, but that supposedly it will activate for the chosen one, a young Jedi who is prophesied to bring balance to the Force during the Galaxy's darkest hour. But Obi-Wan doesn't really believe the legend, and says that saber will probably never work again, it's just a nice relic with a grand history.

Malirad, the Jedi who suffered a mortal wound is dying in the king's arms, he delivers a heart-felt soliloquy that clues us into his long service to the royal family and his many exploits, battles and adventures, while the King re-assures him that he has served his house well and fulfilled his duty as a Jedi Knight. He resigns to become one with the Force, and we see him die in the King's arms. Then, the King, Queen and surviving Jedi Knight discuss the situation and if this means the Sith have returned. The Jedi explains that they were caught off guard and so easily overpowered because no one has encountered a dark Jedi in over a century. No one has seen this kind of violence in a core republic system in many years. They agree that it was definitely an extremely powerful dark side user and that they need to inform the Jedi council. The ship lands on Alderaan and the King contacts Senator Palpatine on Coruscant and informs him of the situation. Voncinot warns that if the Sith have returned, they will be no match for any army, and that only the Jedi can stop them.

With Xerp's help, Aeris manages to break out of her cell and begins to navigate the tower, trying to find a way out or communicate with the outside world. Just as she finally manages to get an outside door open, it is revealed she is actually trapped at the top of a surprisingly tall fortress tower, which is then revealed to be surrounded by dense, wild jungle. She's too far up, and even if she wasn't, she's in the middle of nowhere surrounded by uncrossable jungle as far as the eye can see. Maul is seen monitoring her via the facility's holo-surveillance. Meanwhile, the King orders his men, led by Voncinot, to find Aeris, while the Queen and the coms experts work to try and isolate Aeris' comlink. The enemy ship was tracked re-entering Alderaan's atmosphere, surprisingly not escaping to hyper-space. Everyone wonders aloud what could be going on?

Anakin is allowed to take an evaluation trial, and ventures into the forest with Obi-Wan to explore and test his character. They encounter a great monster, and Obi-Wan tries to evade it, but is forced to kill the beast to save Anakin. Obi-Wan uses the event to teach a lesson about life, death, difficult moral choices and the nature of the Force. Obi-Wan tries to explain that sometimes violence is justified in matters of self-defense or protecting others, but it is subtly implied that perhaps Anakin misinterprets the message, and that it is all too easy to justify violence for selfish reasons. As the sun sets, Obi-Wan sets up a ritual for Anakin to have a vision-quest, and tells Anakin that he must venture out on his own. After his near-death encounter, Anakin is too afraid to head out alone, but Obi-Wan rebuffs him. He tells him that to become a Jedi is to decide to conquer one's own fear and to choose putting the safety and well-being of others before yourself. Anakin reluctantly rises to the challenge and ventures out into the dark forest. Anakin's vision is of death and destruction, but upon his return at dawn, he is reluctant to tell the truth of what he saw. He lies to Obi-Wan and says he had a vision of light illuminating the darkness of space and beating back evil.

The Queen locks on Aeris' signal via satellite, and everyone discovers she's deep in the forbidden continent of Tartarus, in a mysterious tower that no one knew existed. The dark, creepy jungle is visually and strikingly distinct from the bright, beautiful, lush forests of the Jedi sanctuary. The King is all over this and immediately barks orders for an investigation, more holo-surveillance of the area, alerting the Senate, the Jedi, and dispatching forces to the continent.

Obi-Wan and Anakin return, and the Jedi council deliberate about what to do about Anakin, but acknowledge that they don't have much choice, as they are desperate for recruits, lest the Jedi order die out. They admit they have not found a Force-sensitive youngling in over a decade. Anakin is provisionally accepted as a tentative Padawan apprentice with Obi-Wan as his mentor. Obi-Wan is charged with keeping Anakin in check, as they have many misgivings about a recruit who is in his teenage years, the most emotionally unstable years of a person's life. Just then, an alarm sounds, lights flash, and a voice comes over the PA: “Emergency dispatch from the Senate of the Galactic Republic, priority level 1.” They receive word that Alderaan is under attack by an "evil Jedi", and to expect Senator Palpatine to arrive shortly. The Jedi move towards the landing pad wing of the temple, where they greet Senator Palpatine and his aides, who reveals that Malirad has been killed (to their great shock) and then passionately begs the Jedi to send aid, because Alderaan has no standing army and only the Jedi can deal with a Force-user. The Jedi discuss the possibility that the Sith have returned after a century, while others question how they could have survived after being wiped out, meanwhile Anakin asks why don't the Jedi just go to the Sith homeworld and take them out, and one of the Jedi explains that the location of the Sith homeworld has been lost to the ages. In the discussion, Obi-Wan mentions that he just saw the royals on Corellia, and that he sensed that there maybe something amiss, but didn't know what. Anakin gives a concerned look as he sees the princess's hologram displayed in the Jedi temple while they discuss her plight.

Obi-Wan, because he is the youngest and most able-bodied among the Jedi, is dispatched to Alderaan to help in the effort, make contact with the Jedi in the charge of protecting the royal family, and take down the Sith Lord. Anakin is allowed to go, but Obi-Wan reassures Anakin that he will be kept far away from the fighting. It is subtly implied that Palpatine may have influenced this decision. Anakin is given a learner's staff and shield in lieu of a lightsaber, to his disappointment. The Jedi explain that he won't have his own saber until he builds it during his Jedi Knight trials, when he studies under master Yoda. Lightsabers are not handed out to rookies, it takes years of practice to safely wield a lightsaber.

ACT III

Landing on the shore, the Alderaanian security forces invade Tartarus - lead by the surviving Jedi knight, Voncinot. The army is a mix of security officers, armored militia men, and lanky Republic security droids. As the army approaches the tower, Sith droids and drones attack, scattering their forces and halting their advance.

Obi-Wan & Anakin arrive at the Royal Palace. Anakin stays behind in the launch bay, while Obi-Wan goes to the front lines to join the fight. Obi-Wan dons goggles and mounts a shiny chrome speeder-bike and thunders across the sea, spraying surf into the air as he departs.

Chaos spreads as the army is dispersed and the battle with the Sith droids ramps up. At the height of the battle, Obi-Wan shows up to turn the tide. The army cheers and Obi-Wan and Voncinot warmly greet eachother. They are good friends and have not seen eachother in a long time. Obi-Wan asks where's Malirad? Voncinot painfully reveals that he was killed by a Sith lord. He then tells Obi-Wan that the princess is trapped in the tower, as he can sense her presence.

Just then, Maul emerges from the tower on his swoop-bike and engages the Jedi. At first, they are taken by surprise, but then Maul falls back. The two Jedi pursue, entering the tower, only to have the hangar doors close behind them. Then, a huge rumbling suddenly shakes everything. Is it an earthquake? To the great surprise of the army, the tower then takes off into the air, with its giant, roaring engines burning the trees and soldiers on the ground beneath it. Some of the soldiers try to flee back towards the shore. But then, the tower fires its main canon, killing nearly the entire army, incinerating a few square miles of jungle, and then floats towards the capital across the sea. The two Jedi run to the nearest window and gasp in horror at the aftermath.

The people of the palace react with shock and panic at what they are seeing through the satellite, the royal palace is put on full alert, royal fighters are scrambled, Sith drones are released from the tower's launch bay and an aerial battle ensues. Anakin watches the excitement of all the pilots scrambled to their ships and launched. It's obvious from his expression that he wishes he could fly with them. Queen Organa is evacuated while the King insists on staying in the command center. Anakin asks one of the remaining hangar crew members about the last remaining ship. The maintenance man barely looks up, saying that ship doesn't have a functioning navicomputer, and all the available astromechs just launched with the fighters.

Surprisingly, one of the soldiers survived the blast. The surviving ground troop repairs his comtower that was downed in the blast and informs the royal palace that the tower's main canon was so strong, it killed everyone and turned the jungle to ash. The King describes it as a city-killer. Then he drops the terrible news that Princess Aeris is being held captive inside it. Anakin hears this news from the back of the command center, and runs back down to the launch bay. He runs to a pile of spare droid parts and tools sitting in the corner of the launch bay. King Organa orders the city to be evacuated, and his men inform him what he already knows, that there's not nearly enough time to evacuate even a fraction of the massive city. He tells them to give the order anyway.

Meanwhile, inside the City-Killer, Maul orders the command droid to fire as soon as they are centered over the palace, and to lock out all future commands. The Jedi express their frustration with being lost inside the labyrinthine interior of the tower and debate their next course of action, but before they can decide they are attacked by droids. We cut back to the Princess, and she is determined to find a ship to get her off the tower, while sneaking past Sith drones and attack droids. Maul is watching all of them wandering around on his holo-surveillance. He orders the droids to re-capture the Princess, and we see the droids take her by surprise, hold her at blaster-point, but she dodges and attempts to slip away. The droids then grab her and slam her against the wall. Meanwhile, the Jedi make short work of the sith droids with their lightsabers.

Anakin builds R2-D2 from spare droid parts and then launches his imperfect starfighter. Anakin joins the battle for a bit, taking out some drones, but it's just to clear a path to into the tower's launch bay to get inside the tower. He then takes out the remaining drones still in the launch bay. Anakin gets out to search for Princess Aeris, while Obi-Wan and Voncinot finish off the Sith attack droids. The royal command center reports that the tower will soon reach the city. Maul gets the jump on them, cutting Obi-Wan's lightsaber in half, Force-pushing him away, and then trapping him behind a force field, then forces him to watch him kill his friend right in front of him, while he is trapped and powerless. Voncinot puts up a good fight, but he is no match for Darth Maul.

Anakin finds Aeris and frees her from the droids holding her, and she embraces him and kisses him on the cheek, surprising him. But then she recognizes him as the boy who won the race, but Anakin insists there's no time to explain. The fighters outside become overwhelmed by the waves of reinforcement drones. Obi-Wan gets pissed, uses the Force destroy the field generators to escape, and proceeds to attack Maul in a rage. Their wild saber slashes puncture coolant vessels around them during their fight, unleashing gas explosions all around. The fight ends up in the reactor core, where we see in the background the same giant Kyber crystal from the opening. Finally, Obi-Wan cuts Maul in half and he tumbles down the tower's main reactor shaft. The aerial battle is starting to encroach upon the city, as the the City-Killer gets within striking distance to the Royal Palace. Its secondary blasters begin firing upon the city from above, destroying buildings and scattering civilians.

Obi-Wan tries to disable the firing controls, but all commands have been locked out. The smoke forces them to leave. Obi-Wan escorts Anakin and Aeris to the hangar bay while the tower continues to fill with gas explosions. The squadron leader, Captain Lars, spots them in the hangar bay, picks up Obi-Wan and Aeris in his fighter, Anakin gets in his, and they fly out just in time before the hangar fills with smoke and gas. But the tower is still set to fire, and we see the command droids inside continuing to execute the countdown. Captain Lars remarks that the reactor isn't shutting down, the safety systems must have been damaged. Obi-Wan adds, “...or deliberately switched off.” The fighters have been unable to destroy it from the outside due to the tower's armor. No one can target the insides through the steam and gas that have filled the hangar bay. So at the last minute, Anakin flies into the smoke and gas with his eyes closed, and he uses the Force to "see" through the smoke. He flies in very tight corners, just as we saw him do so in the sky-swoop race. He fires his torpedoes at the reactor core, and flies out just in time. With the tower destroyed, the drone reinforcements end and the tide turns in the battle. The palace command center rejoices.

But only for a moment, as now everyone begins to panic as debris begins to rain down. Obi-Wan uses the Force to push the tower debris towards the ocean and away from the palace, but it isn't perfect, and some of the ornate architecture is destroyed, but thankfully no one is hurt.

The Jedi council and Senator Palpatine arrive on Alderaan and greet the victorious survivors. The Jedi congratulate Obi-Wan on a job well done, but Obi-Wan points out that Anakin ultimately saved the day. The Jedi are impressed and the head of the council announces his evaluation period is over, and he is now a member of the Jedi order. Anakin tells the Jedi council that he has decided he will take the name Anakin Skywalker.

Celebration sequence in the now restored and decorated palace courtyard. Obi-Wan, Anakin, Captain Lars and the rest of the surviving pilots and soldiers are awarded medallions. Anakin sneaks off with Aeris and they share a secret kiss in front of the gorgeous Alderaanian twilight.

END CREDITS

Continue to Episode II: The Clone Wars --->

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Please continue the discussion in any newer post in this subreddit.

Last year, I shared my Prequels rewrite summary over at a small trending sub r/fixingmovies. To my great surprise, everyone loved it, it became one of the top posts there, and it landed me my first real writing gig on a real movie. Here's a sample of some of the feedback I've received so far:

"This almost makes me kinda sad.....i love this....it will never be."

• u/Ghostinthecorner

"That was Amazing. It perfectly captures the spirit of the OT, while mixing elements from Lucas' inspirations such as Kurosawa, Flash Gordon, and classical mythology. It's good shit."

• u/reallifelucas

"I almost wish I hadn't read this because it's just too good. It pains me to know I will never see this 😢"

• u/OfficerBlkIronTarkus

I've been working on this in my spare time for the better part of a decade, dedicating more and more time to it in the past couple years, building to the point where it is polished enough to share with everyone in a major subreddit community. So by popular request, here is my updated, revised & expanded comprehensive Prequel Trilogy rewrite, as my gift to the Star Wars community right before the release of The Last Jedi.

There are a lot of prequel re-write proposals out there, but the most common problem with them is that they are often just another draft of the existing movies, instead of page-one rewrites. So forget everything you know about Naboo, Gungans, space politics, annoying CGI characters, and all that nonsense. My version has more fundamental changes, and attempts to not just preserve the original trilogy, but enhance it.

[NOTE: This post is NSFPF - Not Safe For Prequel Fans. If you still defend the prequels, this probably isn't for you, just a heads up!]

• Scarier Villains - Episode I opens with Darth Maul taking on a large Republic starbase with his small Sith star-fighter. A cloaked and hooded Maul lays siege to the outpost, forces his way on board, single-handedly cuts his way through all of their defenses and kills nearly everyone, sparking the first major war in a generation. [The villains in this trilogy are galactic terrorists, being manipulated by the Sith, not "separatists". And none of this "there are heroes on both sides" bullshit. This is Star Wars, the villains have to be evil AF.]
• Underdog heroes (Nerf the Jedi order) - The Jedi order is aging and is mostly composed of elder Jedi at the time of Anakin's discovery. The Jedi have had a harder and harder time finding Force-sensitive younglings. It has been over a decade since they've found a new potential. Obi-Wan, a man in his late 30's, is one of the youngest Jedi, and the Jedi Order is under threat of dying out and is one of the main reasons why they're willing to train Anakin, despite his age. The people of the galaxy are starting to forget about them. The Jedi Order are largely considered to be an antiquated institution, a relic of a bygone era, the early days of the Old Republic.
• Preserve Yoda's Reveal - Yoda never appears in the prequels, EVER. He is referenced multiple times as the most powerful and wisest of the Jedi, but he is never seen. The elder Jedi Council members fill his role in the trilogy. [For the last time Prequel defenders, Yoda was completely ruined by simply appearing in the Prequel Trilogy. Everything he says and does contradicts his entire character in the OT. Even what he looks like is a spoiler for ESB. And this is the part that no one talks about - Yoda is a failure who just runs away from his fight with the Emperor in the Prequels, simply because he is still alive later in the story. Yoda has no place in the Prequels, period. It's just mindless fan-service, instead of writing new, interesting, memorable Jedi Master characters.]
• Fix Anakin's Character - When we meet Anakin, he is a young teenager, and isn't a bad seed, he's a fundamentally good, heroic person who is corrupted by the Sith. He goes through hell, and we see and understand why he succumbs to the dark side. [In the existing films, not once does Anakin ever do anything selfless. He accidentally saves the day in Episode I, and he's just a jerk after that. He spends the entire trilogy being a whiny, angry, completely unsympathetic a-hole. In this version, he's clearly and prominently the very heroic and noble main character.]
• Embrace the Hero's Journey - Anakin is a teenage slave on a remote planet, beyond the jurisdiction of the Republic, where he is forced to race in the popular Sky-Swoop races that draw huge crowds due to their spectacular crashes, dangerous nature, and the fact that they are illegal on core worlds. Anakin has become famous as the only human who is able to not only survive a race, but win one. After the championship race, we see Anakin also works as a mechanic in his owner's Sky-Swoop shop, located in a massive junkyard, where he is routinely abused. Just as Anakin is about to be jumped by a gang whom he just out-raced, Obi-Wan intervenes and saves Anakin, who we see is not so helpless in a fight - we see him demonstrate his raw potential as a warrior. In the aftermath, Obi-Wan reveals that he was sent to find a fabled boy with amazing abilities, and he convinces Anakin to journey to Coruscant to be evaluated as a potential Jedi. Through Anakin's eyes, we experience the thrill of being brought into the larger world of the Republic capital, and then the Jedi Temple, which is located on the forest moon in orbit above Coruscant, where we learn just how magical and wondrous the Jedi were at the peak of their glory days. The Jedi are reluctant to train someone so old, but agree, as they are desperate for new recruits. Obi-Wan tells Anakin epic, swash-buckling tales and legends of the Jedi, and eventually explains the Dark Side and the Sith. It is established that years ago, there was a Jedi who was banished from the order for creating a living being, and later discovered they turned to the Dark Side and is rumored to be alive and the last Sith Lord. Also established is the legend of "the Chosen One", a young Jedi who will take up an ancient lightsaber that will activate for them alone, and at the galaxy's darkest hour will restore balance to the Force. [Focus and build the story around Anakin as the main protagonist. Better to attempt to do the traditional mythic story structure as well as possible, instead of trying to re-invent the wheel, as we saw what happened the first time when Lucas decided to experiment...]
• More Dark Side Lore - We see Darth Maul's advanced Sith conditioning by his master - being fully brainwashed that the Jedi are evil and represent stagnation & repression, and that the Sith will bring order & justice to the galaxy; that the weak deserve to die; that those who appose them are evil, etc... Then later in Episode II & III, we see Anakin's early Sith conditioning - survival of the fittest, selfishness is a virtue, questioning the Jedi, pacifism promotes violence and empowers the enemy and makes the Jedi weak. We are then left to imagine the severe brainwashing that Sidious unleashes upon him in the intervening years.
• Delete "Padme" Aeris is a beautiful, young Alderaanean princess. Alderaan is a peace-loving, thriving core world, and an easy target for the Sith. Anakin rescues the princess after the royal palace is attacked and she is held hostage by Darth Maul in his mobile fortress. During the battle, Maul slaughters some of our new Jedi friends that we had met earlier and bonded with, and who were also like family to Obi-wan. And as before, Obi-Wan defeats Maul by cutting him in half, seemingly killing him. Episode I ends with the princess sneaking a kiss with her savior, Anakin - unbeknownst to anyone else. [Alderaan replaces Naboo as a major location, with much of the action taking place there, giving weight to the planet's eventual destruction in the Original Trilogy. Aeris is much closer in age to Anakin, thus allowing the romance to work in the first episode, and her love is another temptation for Anakin, leading him astray from the Jedi path.]
• Legends - The Prequels need to also feel like part of a larger world, with more unseen backstory and lore, just as the OT had backstory and lore that was left mysterious and unexplained. So for example, early on Korriban - the Sith homeworld - is introduced and eluded to as the fabled evil and possessed Sith homeworld, haunted by the fallen Sith Lords of old, and it is established that the secrets of the greatest dark side powers are hidden there. Anakin is tempted by said fabled powers, and eventually Anakin and Obi-wan have their final showdown there. [Thus combining Korriban and Mustafar]
• Episode II opens years later, and Anakin is finally ready to face the trials to become an official Jedi Knight. To do so, he must travel to a secret planet known only to Jedi Knights to study under the legendary Master Yoda, for an indeterminate length of time. Only those who study under Yoda and meet his approval are granted the title of "Jedi Knight". BUT THEN total war breaks out in the Republic and Anakin's abilities are desperately needed, and thus his training is deferred. Later, as the war drags on, Obi-Wan decides he will complete Anakin's training himself, while they serve together in the Clone Wars. [Obi-Wan in RotJ: "I thought I could instruct Anakin just as well as Yoda... I was wrong." I love this change, because it accomplishes so much at once: Yoda is hyped yet preserved; the first major step to Anakin's fall is a matter of unfortunate circumstance and not a moral failing or character flaw; and the OT can now be seen as just as much a redemption of Obi-Wan's failure to keep Anakin on the light side as it is a redemption of Anakin himself...all while staying very loyal to OT continuity and dialogue.]
• Bring Back the Good Vs Evil Morality Tale - None of this clones vs. droids shit where we don't care one bit about the cannon fodder. Clones are on the evil side in my version, secretly bred by the Sith to take over the Republic, and regular, volunteer Republic soldiers are the heroes, and we actually care when they fight and die by the thousands for the cause of defending the Republic. For example, in RotJ, there's a moment where the movie stops and makes us care about one Ewok in particular dying, and for 3 movies we had robots and clones dying, where there wasn't even a hint of emotional weight to any of the fighting.
• Get the love story right - Anakin is barred from romancing the Princess by the Jedi code, and the Princess is forbidden to socialize with a man who is so low on the social ladder as an ex-slave, thus creating a classic forbidden-love story. Throughout Episode II, a Romeo and Juliet-style romance unfolds, and we see Senator Palpatine secretly pulling strings to facilitate these trysts. As the Senator from Alderaan, he is uniquely suited to arrange such meetings, and thus Anakin and Palpatine secretly become very close friends. Anakin and Aeris' love grows naturally from bonding over his teaching her how to defend herself, about the Force, and helping each other survive the war. While giving Aeris a quick lesson, Anakin discovers that Aeris is Force-sensitive.
• More Character Arcs Owen Lars is introduced as an adventurous, gung-ho pilot, who flies with our heroes, and becomes a hero of the Republic starforce. He romanticizes combat a bit. Admiral Tarkin is introduced as the head of the war effort, and requests the Jedi's help in defeating the Sith clones, offering them the rank of General. He seems genuinely interested in ending the conflict as soon as possible.
• Make it personal - Darth Maul returns with a robotic lower-half and is the main villain of Episode II, where he leads the clone armies into battle with the Jedi, and the personal rivalry with our heroes is intensified.
• "The Sith believed that the avoidance of conflict – like the pacifist teachings of the Jedi – resulted in stagnation and decline." We see the Jedi avoiding conflict and using violence as an absolute last resort - and this results in the Sith forces gaining ground at all turns, threatening control of the galaxy - and leaving us sympathizing with Anakin's desire to fight.
• Foreshadow & Connect the Trilogies It is revealed that the Sith armies are stealing Kyber crystals and then using them to build a prototype superlaser, which eventually becomes the Death Star.
• Reveals and Twists - At the end of Episode II, Anakin and Darth Maul have their final showdown. The twist ending is that Maul reveals that Anakin is the fabled child created by the dark side of the Force, and that his master created him, thus Sidious is the Sith lord who infiltrated, then was expelled from the Jedi order 2 decades ago. Needless to say, Anakin is devastated to discover that his father is a Sith lord, and that he was abandoned as a child. Maul claims that he is prophesied to destroy the Jedi and destined to restore the Sith Empire. Their duel is absolutely brutal, and they critically injure each other. Then, Maul threatens Aeris, causing Anakin to let loose, embrace his anger and this time hold nothing back - and then decapitating Maul. Anakin lays dying from his wounds, and Aeris uses the Force to sacrifice her own life-force to heal his wounds, saving him, but shortening her life-span in the process. Anakin is saved, but he is emotionally broken, not knowing what to believe anymore. [Episode II now has a tragically romantic ending - she literally sacrifices her life for her love of Anakin. This also explains how Leia remembers her mother, with Aeris dying off-screen between trilogies from her sacrifice.]
• Episode III begins similar as before, with a massive attempted invasion of Coruscant, that is successfully repelled by our heroes. However, upon returning home, Owen Lars discovers that his penthouse apartment has been destroyed by flaming debris, and his wife and kids have been incinerated right in front of him. Owen swears off fighting forever, and then confronts Obi-Wan and proceeds to curse the war, the Jedi, the Republic and warns them that they are all on a path to total destruction. Obi-Wan can see that he is packed and leaving, and asks him where he is going, and he replies that he's getting as far away from here as possible.
• The Jedi learn that Anakin has broken the Jedi code by having a secret relationship with the Princess, revealed when she can no longer hide the fact that she is visibly pregnant. The Jedi forcibly take her away from Anakin and hide her from him, thus giving Anakin a reason to hate the Jedi. The Jedi feel they have no choice, as they now know that Anakin is the child who was created by the Sith to destroy the Jedi, and fear that the Sith will seek control of his off-spring. Anakin confronts the Jedi over the fact that they abandoned him as a newborn. He feels completely betrayed by the only family he has ever known. He unleashes his full strength again, breaks free from his prison, kills the Jedi guarding him, and runs to the only person he has left in the galaxy - Palpatine.
• At the same time, the Jedi discover that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is the Sith Master they've been looking for, and attempt to arrest him. They actually seem like they might pull it off at first, but just then Anakin joins the fight. It is a slaughter, but one of the Jedi survives. He flees to warn General Tarkin that Palpatine is a Sith Lord, only to have Tarkin suddenly shoot him point blank with a blaster. Tarkin then radios Palpatine. Palpatine orders him to use the superlaser prototype on the Jedi temple, and the forest moon is soon turned to nothing but embers.
• It is also revealed that the Sith were the cause of the lack of recruits. Obi-Wan discovers they had been finding and killing Force-sensitive younglings, setting up the downfall of the Jedi.
• Anakin goes on a rampage throughout the galaxy hunting down Jedi in an attempt to find where they've taken Aeris. Eventually he grows frustrated, and Palpatine reveals the location of Korriban, and sends him there to learn the Dark Side in order to grow more powerful than any Jedi. However, Obi-Wan is hot on his trail.
• After Obi-wan defeats Anakin on Korriban, Anakin is dangling off the mouth of a Volcano. Obi-Wan has won and he could easily let Anakin die, but instead reaches out to save him. Just as he is about to, a huge ball of smoke and ash consumes them, and when it clears, Anakin is gone, his fate left ambiguous. [Obi-Wan doesn't leave Anakin to die, and we never see Anakin get in the Vader suit, preserving as much of the plot of the OT as possible.]
• The film ends with the traditional montage - Palpatine crowns himself the immortal emperor of the eternal Sith empire in a grand fascist ceremony, with streams of officers saluting him, TIE fighters screaming overhead, and finally we see the half-completed Death Star reigning above where the Jedi moon once was. The final scene is actually identical to the existing film, with Obi-Wan delivering Luke to Owen and Beru on Tatooine, deep in the outer rim - far, far away from the Empire.

To get an idea of how I envision the Prequels, check out the Knights of the Old Republic cinematics, that's basically what I'm imagining, but with the visuals in the style of the classic, non-digital feel of the OT. I hope to try and convince people that these could not just be good movies, but great movies, and open their minds to the idea of remaking them. I consider them a permanent stain on the saga and the brand, and one that should be undone, hopefully by the most passionate fans.

If you enjoyed reading this and want to know where to go next, you can read the full summary of Episode I as well as view the first batch of concept art I've gathered here on this subreddit I created for posting updates - /r/PrequelsSE - making it easy for people to follow the project. If you like what you've read so far, you might want to subscribe. If enough people show interest in the project, I would like to continue working on it. I'm hoping that this inspires a few artists to create storyboards and concept art, with the hope that the project will begin to take shape.

Would anyone out there be interested in seeing this completed as a graphic novel series? An illustrated screenplay? Animated? The next stage of this project is in the hands of the fans. PS - If you are a filmmaker anywhere near Chicagoland, feel free to send me a DM.

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