Episode One: The Star Wars
by George Lucas
Summary of the Script
This summary describes the second draft script of the original Star Wars. Those wishing to simply refresh their memory of the original before reading Princess of Ondos may do so here. This summary contains a few details invented by myself which serve to make sense out of the sketchy details present in the Lucas script. These invented but logical details served to make writing a sequel much easier. –Brendon Wahlberg
Ancient History:
One hundred thousand years in the past, a holy man called The Skywalker became aware of a powerful energy field which he believed influenced the destiny of all living creatures…The “Force of Others”. After much study, he was able to know the force, and it communicated with him. He came to see things in a new way. His “aura” and powers grew very strong. The Skywalker brought a new life to the people of his system, and became one of the founders of the Republic Galactica. The Force has two halves, the Ashla (good) and the Bogan, or para-Force (evil). The Skywalker knew that weaker beings could be seduced by the Bogan. Therefore, he entrusted the secret of The Force only to his twelve children, and they in turn passed on the knowledge only to their children, who became known as the “Jedi Bendu of the Ashla”: “the servants of the force”. The respected Jedi were the most powerful warriors in the Universe. For a hundred thousand years, generations of Jedi Bendu knights learned the ways of the mysterious Force of Others, and acted as the guardians of peace and justice in the Republic. There were once several hundred Jedi families. The Republic spread throughout the galaxy, encompassing over a million worlds.
About a century in the past, a young Padawan-Jedi, a boy named Seig Darklighter, came to know the evil half of the force during one of his lessons, and fell victim to the spell of the dreaded Bogan. He ran away from his instructor and taught the evil ways of the Bogan Force to a clan of Sith pirates, who then spread untold misery throughout the systems.
Recent History:
About twenty years in the past, the Great Senate has grown to such overwhelming proportions that it no longer responds to the needs of its citizens. After a series of assassinations and elaborately rigged elections, the Great Senate becomes secretly controlled by the Power and Transport guilds. When the Jedi discover the conspiracy and attempt to purge the Senate, they are denounced as traitors. This is the tragic Holy Rebellion. Several Jedi allow themselves to be tried and executed, but most of them flee into the Outland systems and try to tell people of the conspiracy. But the elders choose to remain behind, and the Great Senate diverts them by creating civil disorder. Led by Senator Cos Dashit, the Senate secretly instigates race wars, and aids anti government terrorists. This slows down the system of justice, which causes the crime rate to rise to the point where a totally controlled and oppressive police state is welcomed by the systems.
Espaa Valorum, the chief disciple of Seig Darklighter and the First Knight of the Sith, takes his place as Bogan Master when Darklighter dies. Another powerful Sith Knight, Darth Vader, is raised to First Knight in Valorum’s place. Cos Dashit joins forces with the Sith in order to have a defense against his Jedi opponents, and Espaa Valorum becomes Dashit’s close ally.
The First Galactic Empire is born under the new Emperor Cos Dashit. The systems are exploited by a new economic policy which raises the cost of power and transport to unbelievable heights. Many worlds are destroyed this way and many people starve. The Sith become the personal bodyguards of the Emperor, and the Master of the Bogan, Espaa Valorum, moves to Alderaan to share power with the Emperor. The Jedi are outlawed and sentenced to death.
The Republic Galactica is now dead. Ruthless trader barons, driven by greed and the lust for power, have replaced enlightenment with oppression, and “rule by the people” with the Empire. But the Seers speak a prophecy that the Son of the Suns, the last of the Starkiller line, will bring down the Empire. “In the time of greatest despair there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as The Son of the Suns.”
One by one, the now outlawed Jedi are hunted down and destroyed by the deadly Sith knights until only two or three Jedi families remain in hiding, still fighting to free the systems from the grip of the Empire. In the campaign against the Jedi, Espaa Valorum kills four of the sons of the Starkiller, and thinks that he has killed all of them.
The Present:
Now, it is a period of civil wars. The Empire has begun to crumble into lawless barbarism. From the celestial equator to the farthest reaches of the Great Rift, seventy small solar systems (including Ogana Major) unite in a common war against the tyranny of the Empire. A mighty Jedi warrior known as The Starkiller returns to the fight, organizing the Rangers of Aquillae. Bail Antilles comes to his side. Under the command of The Starkiller, the Alliance wins a crushing victory over the deadly Imperial Star Fleet. The Empire knows that one more such defeat will bring a thousand more solar systems into the rebellion, and Imperial control of the Outlands could be lost forever. In response, the Empire builds the Death Star to use against the Starkiller’s forces.
“The Star Wars”
The Empire lays siege to Ogana Major. The Starkiller sends his sons Cliegg and Deak to get the Kiber Crystal from Owen Lars on Utapau and bring it and Luke to Ogana Major, to aid in the fight against the Empire. The Kiber crystal is a small diamond like object that intensifies either side of the force a hundred fold. The Bogan Force is becoming so strong that only the crystal can save the day for the weakened Starkiller. When Deak runs the blockade of Ogana Major and escapes, Darth Vader chases him. Near the amber desert planet of Utapau, Darth Vader attacks Deak’s ship with Four Star Destroyers. Vader is a seven foot tall black knight with flowing black robes and a grotesque breath mask, and his forces include white-armored Stormtroopers armed with blasters and laser swords.
Vader’s forces capture and board the ship. Aquillian Rangers defend it, but as the Bogan’s despair sweeps over them, they are overcome, and Deak’s brother Cliegg is killed. Unable to get to Luke himself, Deak commands all of the ship’s Artoo units to find Owen Lars on Utapau and bring a message to Luke, who is code-named “Angel Blue”. Deak fights off a horde of troopers, who are overwhelmed by his amazing Jedi skill with both blaster and laser sword. Then Lord Vader finds Deak and uses the Force to hurl loose objects at him. Deak taunts Vader that he is only a servant, but Vader presses the Bogan on him. Deak is overcome, drained of energy, and taken prisoner. The Imperials find a medallion of power showing the Starkiller’s crest on Deak. Vader thinks the Starkiller is dead, and that he has altered destiny by capturing the Son of the Suns.
The Empire attacks and destroys Ogana Major with the Death Star. The Starkiller and his forces, overcome by the Bogan, escape to Yavin Four. Deak is taken to the dungeons of Alderaan, where he is tortured. The cloud city of Alderaan is the Imperial capital city.
During the fighting, Deak’s droid Artoo Detoo receives Deak’s new prime directive. He and his counterpart See Threepio take an escape pod and crash on Utapau. Bickering over which direction to go, they split up. They both encounter small, hooded Jawa scavengers who imprison them in their giant Sandcrawler. When the huge vehicle is forced to a halt by a rockslide, all the droids on board escape together, rushing the Jawas. Threepio and Artoo make it to a power station in Anchorhead, and get directions to the Lars farm. But a Tusken Platoon scouting Utapau makes a report on the droids and their destination.
The two droids then find the Moisture Farm of Owen Lars. The farm houses Owen’s wife, Beru, and Lars’ sixteen year old daughter, Leia. Also living there are Luke Starkiller, who is short and a little chubby, and Luke’s younger brothers Biggs and Windy Starkiller. Luke likes to study fossils in the Dune Sea when he is not practicing with his laser sword.
Deak’s hologram is projected by Artoo, telling of the great need to bring the Kiber crystal to their father on Ogana Major, which is under siege by the Imperial Legions of Alderaan. Luke is afraid to go into such danger. Owen counsels that Luke is the son of a Jedi, not a researcher, and that he should accept his destiny. While the twin suns set, Luke visits the grave of his mother, to talk about the father he never knew, whom he must now meet. Luke is greatly intimidated by his legendary father. Owen has known a day like this would come, so he has taught Luke some of the skills of a warrior. But only Luke’s father can teach him the spiritual ways of the Jedi Bendu. Owen gives Luke the Kiber crystal, hidden in a belt buckle, and the young Starkiller goes to Mos Eisley Spaceport with the two Droids, to seek passage to Ogana Major.
In the seedy spaceport, Luke encounters an old seer, who predicts his success. In a cantina, Luke is forced to fight lowlife scum with his laser sword. He then meets Han Solo and Chewbacca. Solo is a young Corellian pirate, burly, bearded, and flamboyantly dressed. Chewbacca is a 200 year old Wookiee with baboon like fangs and large yellow eyes, who wears bandoleers and a flak jacket with brown cloth shorts. Solo takes Luke to his dingy slum dwelling, where a meal is prepared by a Boma named Oeeta, a five foot tall cross between a brown bear and a guinea pig. There, Han offers Luke passage to Ogana Major for a huge fee, and Luke offers payment from his father. But Han has lied – he has no ship of his own. Solo is only the cabin boy of the fat drunkard Captain Oxus (who has another fat crewman named Jabba the Hutt), and Oxus will never take on Luke as a passenger. Chewbacca and Science Officer Montross agree to help Han to steal Oxus’ ship. Montross Holdaack is an old portly cyborg who was once a great warrior, but who is now dying. The only original parts left of him are his head and left arm. Han makes it look like there is a disaster with the ship’s reactor, tricking the rest of the crew into evacuating, then blasts off with Luke and the droids on board, letting Luke believe the ship belongs to him.
They arrive at Ogana Major only to find it destroyed by the Death Star. Luke assumes the Starkiller might be dead. Han is angry that he will get no money. Playing on Han’s greed, Luke tries to convince everyone to try to rescue Deak from Alderaan. He implies that Deak could still provide payment, and entices Solo by appealing to Solo’s ego as a daredevil.
Solo and the others hide in secret compartments while their “rag-tag, custom-built” Corellian ship is captured drifting near Alderaan. The ship is towed inside, and Sith Knights board it, finding only Threepio. Han and company emerge from hiding and steal Imperial uniforms. Han and Luke bind Chewbacca and take the droids, while Montross stays behind. They take over a control room, find where Deak is, and go to the detention area. Chewbacca pretends to be loose, and the heroes capture the detention area in the resulting chaos. Finding the horribly tortured Deak, they then escape deeper into the dungeons, fighting past a horrible Dai Noga monster, a cross between a spider and a squid. Chewbacca takes Deak and heads for the ship. Cornered by Sith knights and troopers, Han and Luke jump down into a Garbage room. When the walls close in, the droids are able to stop them in time. Everyone makes it to the hangar, where Luke and Han take hostages. Finally, they board the ship and blast off. Fleeing in their ship, the group fights patrol TIE fighters with turret canons.
Luke begins to heal Deak with the Kiber crystal, and gets a telepathic message from The Starkiller to come to the fourth moon of Yavin, new home of the Rebellion. Still chasing a reward, Han Solo takes them there. But Darth Vader is also on his way to Yavin with the Death Star, hoping to finish off the Starkiller. On the emerald green moon is the rebel outpost of Masassi. Bail Antilles, an Aquillian Ranger, greets them. Waiting for them at the outpost is the Starkiller, an aged charismatic figure who has a long silver beard, flowing white robes, and penetrating eyes. The Force has shown the Starkiller a weakness in the Death Star battle station. General Dodana is planning an attack on the station, based on a strategy of pinpointing a small thermal exhaust port that leads to the main reactor. Commander Grande Mouff Tarkin, a birdlike alien, and General Aay Zavor doubt the Ashla’s strength to fight off the despair-inducing Bogan Force, and push for a computer-designed strategy. After all, the Ashla failed them at Ogana Major. But the Kiber crystal brought by Luke changes things. Now The Starkiller is strong enough to hold off the Bogan Force. Luke meets his father, who embraces him. Luke’s spiritual training will have to wait, and Luke must face the Death Star as a warrior. The Starkiller rewards Han richly, but Han refuses to stay and help; it’s not his battle. The human and alien Rebel pilots take off, as the Starkiller tells them, “The Force is with you.” The Rebel starships approach the Death Star. Luke is in one as pilot, with Bail Antilles and Threepio as gunners. A dogfight ensues between TIE fighters and the Rebel ships (code-named Bomas and Bantas). The Starkiller uses the Kiber crystal to fight the Bogan force of the Sith on the Death Star, enabling the Rebel fighters to try for the exhaust port.
Vader goes out in his own fighter with two wing men. Vader destroys two of the three remaining Rebel ships, and is about to destroy Luke’s, when Solo, who has had a change of heart, returns to rescue Luke at the last minute. Vader collides with Solo’s ship. Han, Montross, and Chewbacca escape their ship in a lifepod. Luke heads for the exhaust port one last time, and gunners Threepio and Antilles manage to hit it. The Death Star explodes. The proud Starkiller greets them back at the base. A thousand new systems will now join the rebellion, causing a significant crack in the great wall of the powerful Galactic Empire.
August 19, 2012 at 3:10 pm
You know…. I bet this could be made into one hell of an animated movie. I can see why producers were skeptical about a live-action version being made, but using modern animation techniques (oddly, I think non-CG animation would work better for this) this story could really be brought to life (and be distinct from the original Star Wars trilogy). Seriously. Get Pixar in on this.