October 23, 2007

• Qui-Gon Jinn Should Have Turned to the Dark Side

  My friend and I were randomly talking the
  other day and the subject of Liam Neeson’s role in the movie Batman
  Begins came up. My friend said something along the lines that it was
  somewhat unsettling to have the mentor character turn evil.
  He said: “It was like basically having Qui-Gon suddenly turn on you and
  betray you!”  I responded almost without thinking: “That would have
  been so cool!”

  And the more I think about it, the more I really do think that. It
  would have been the perfect alteration to the plot of the three prequel
  movies. It would have been so awesome it may even have redeemed those
  movies from being the deplorable wretch of a film trilogy that they
  turned out to be.

  Really, if you think about it, one of the biggest of the many flaws in the prequels
  is that there aren’t any surprises in them. You don’t get that “Luke, I
  am your father!” moment that was so poignant in episode V. And nothing
  is really all that new to you. You meet Yoda but you’ve already met
  Yoda. You see the emperor, but you already saw the emperor. So it’s all
  a little bit old hat. The special effects are cool and sometimes
  unexpected, but plotwise you’re just sort of watching the story you
  always knew would unfold, unfold before you. Another problem with the
  prequels is that episode I has so little connecting it to episodes II
  and III.
  

  But if they had turned Qui-Gon to the dark
  side, oh what a different story it would be! You could fix both these
  problems. You would have Darth Maal appear to kill Qui-Gon in episode I
  in such a way that you the viewer really believe that he is dead. Then
  throughout episode II you’d see this shadowy jedi figure dealing with
  the enemy rather than Count Dooku, only you never see his face. Then at
  the end, as he confronts Anakin and Obi-Wan voila! Oh my god, it’s
  Qui-Gon!  Can you imagine the shock and amazement? I would forgive
  episode II all of its other sins just for that one incredible kickass
  moment where you find out the utterly unexpected truth. It would be so
  damn good.
  

  That scene would have perfectly echoed the first trilogy. We
  can imagine that in this scene Obi-Wan would refuse to fight his old
  mentor, much as Luke a true Jedi refused to kill Vader. Only when
  Qui-Gon tries to kill him, Anakin would save his life and the fight
  would proceed much the same as it actually did in episode II, except
  this time its Qui-Gon taking on both Anakin and Obi-Wan at the same
  time.  Why is he so awesome as to be able to do that? Well Qui-Gon
  always was pretty badass and now he’s gotten power ups due to releasing
  the dark side of the force and getting cybernetic enhancements plus
  training under the emperor for all the intervening years. So he’s
  owning Obi-Wan and Anakin in much the same way that Dooku did only this
  time the  dialog is soooo much cooler.  Qui-Gon would be imploring
  Obi-Wan and Anakin with phrases like: “Join me, and together we can
  bring balance to the force!” and “You are the chosen one Anakin!” and
  “It is your destiny” and “I have foreseen it.” And Anakin would be all
  like “I’ll never join you!” You know cool lines like that which would
  echo exactly the happenings of the original trilogy.

  And when everything looks bleak, and Anakin
  has lost a hand, Yoda shows up and oh what a cool verbal exchange that
  would be! Qui-Gon would be arguing how the Jedi council had become
  arrogant and weak and needed to be purged in order to bring order to
  the galaxy. Yoda would be all his quiet wisdom, telling Qui-Gon how he
  had succumbed to fear, and that the Qui-Gon he knew had died a long
  time ago. And they’d fight and it’d be badass just like the fight
  between Dooku and Yoda was, only this time you’d care a lot more
  because you like both fighters and aren’t entirely sure who you should
  be rooting for.
  

  Throughout it all you’d get that whole moral
  ambiguity thing going. Viewers would be wondering, is Qui-Gon really
  evil? Why did he turn? What did he see? What is the prophecy? The
  viewer would still think he is basically the good guy we met in episode
  I, it’s just that he has come to believe that the only way to really
  save the galaxy is to join the Emperor and fulfill the prophecy
  involving Anakin that the Jedi Council is too afraid to do. Much like
  the Harry Potter Snape thing, after episode II debates would rage
  through the world over whether or not Qui-Gon should be considered a
  bad guy or a good guy.

  Then in episode III you’d have a confrontation
  very much akin to the Luke vs Vader + Emperor moment only it’s Anakin
  vs Qui-Gon + Emperor and it happens much earlier in the film. And this
  time, unlike Luke, Anakin gives in to the dark side and kills Qui-Gon
  releasing his hatred and turning fully to evil. The killing of Qui-Gon
  who was the only Jedi who believed in him and was willing train him and
  was like a father figure for him would be a poignant and powerful
  moment in the film.There’d even be a sense of Qui-Gon letting Anakin
  kill him in much the same way Obi-Wan lets Vader kill him in episode
  IV. He’d die apparently at peace, believing that he has sacrificed
  himself to necessarily bring balance to the force. And the Emperor
  would cackle with evil glee at his triumph in turning the man destined
  to be the most powerful Jedi ever.
  

  Then the movie could proceed almost exactly the same way as it did,
  even with Qui-Gon in spirit form witnessing Anakins slaughter of the
  Jedi knights and being horrified by it, and imploring Anakin to stop,
  proving he wasn’t totally evil after all. In the final battle between
  Obi-Wan and Anakin there would be even more tension because Obi-Wan
  would blame Anakin for having killed the man they both saw as a father
  figure. And maybe at the final attack where Obi-Wan defeats Anakin,
  Obi-Wan is assisted by the voice of Qui-Gon in spirit form giving him
  this one last piece of advice in sort of penance for his evil acts that
  brought them there.  

  Now tell me, wouldn’t that have made for a better story?  Wouldn’t that
  have made for a more interesting trilogy? It’d be so different as to be
  almost unrecognizable from the story we were actually presented with.
  And it’d be better. Pretty much just strictly better in almost every
  way.

  It’s sort of scary that on such small little ideas can the entire quality of a story hinge.

  • 9:28 am
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