I kinda like this alternate history

[james_davis_nicoll]

Something I posted elsewhere:

POD: 1970s: A healthy Leigh Brackett pitches an interesting twist to George Lucas.


1980: Audiences are somewhat taken aback when, during the confrontation scene between Vader and Luke, Vader takes Luke's head off like an offending dandelion flower. Now the fate of the Rebel Alliance, rescuing Han and all that jazz rests on the shoulders of the last Jedi, Leia.

Comments

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

I would watch that lots.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

And the lesson here is when Yoda say you need more training, you really need more training.

[botrytis.livejournal.com]

What conditions would have to convene to allow Hollywood of that era to both:

* Kill of one of the primary male protagonists.
* Promote the princess-to-be-rescued to the main protagonist for the final story (having to redeem Vader, ensure the Emperor's defeat, etc)

? I'm trying to imagine the differences in US culture and media...

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can see some Hollywood executive heads blowing up with that story line. (Not that it wouldn't have been ***awesome*** to have actually happened.)

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

I also liked bryant's alternate Episode Three.

[richardthe23rd.livejournal.com]

Never underestimate the latent sexism prevalent as late as those days. Even though it seemed to me that the filmmakers were making it blindingly obvious in the latter scenes of EMPIRE that the "another" Yoda mentions is Leia, I had an argument with a fellow fan who vehemently, almost violently, denied that it could be so, and for no other reason I could see besides she was, you know, a girl. And this was my girlfriend talking! Even in the face seemingly incontrovertible evidence, even many women couldn't seem to conceive of a woman as a Jedi Knight.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

This audience would probably still be watching that movie once a week or more, because God DAMN.

[gareth-wilson.livejournal.com]

Apparently the "Luke" character was female in one of the early drafts of Star Wars (and there was no Leia). I've always wondered how that version would have done.

[seawasp]

Empire was dark enough as it was; doing that would have lost a large chunk of the audience (me included). Nothing to do with Leia being a woman; you simply don't make a hero who's the clear focal point of a series, and then kill him OR her in the middle of their journey once you've gotten past a certain point. Kill off Luke in Star Wars, okay, you could probably do that, but you really should do it at most maybe 3/4 of the way through so that we can re-focus and find the REAL hero of the plot, but not after you've finished the first movie, and then gone through 95% of the second.

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

How about "Luke dies on the frozen wastes of Hoth"?

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Infinities:_The_Empire_Strikes_Back

[dexfarkin.livejournal.com]

There's a substantial chunk of fandom which really goes for the Leia, Jedi Knight revision - lots of fanfiction. Personally, I prefer Leia as she is. Luke is pretty much an ignorant farm boy and crack pilot who ends up picking up knowledge and wisdom as an acolyte of the force. He's a good commander, but it is clear through the fandom that the title 'General' is pretty much honourary beyond his talents with light ship squadrons like X-Wings.

Solo turns out to be a gifted strategist - not on the level of Ackbar, but still very good - and has the unique gift of unpredictability as a general.

But Leia is so much beyond the both of them in terms of her skills and talents. She's a gifted diplomat, an effective administrator, a natural leader in the political and inspirational sense. She's shown to be equally adept running small outposts as she is welding together fractious groups with individual mandates into a single purpose. As the canon goes, at one point she's the head of state of the New Republic. Turning her into a Jedi in a way diminishes that as her training would require her to effectively leave the Rebellion during their most fragile time.

It would be fun, but Leia's uniqueness is in part based on the fact that she has the greatest responsibility of the three titular heroes.

[burger-eater.livejournal.com]

You don't actually have to kill Luke to make Leia a more important part of the movie. Luke is a moisture farmer; Leia is a senator and the daughter of a diplomat. There's a more obvious choice for which one Vader would want to help him rule the empire.

I played around with this idea in my Star Wars reboot: Vader ought to threaten Luke to the point that Leia becomes furious and turns to the dark side.

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

I would watch the heck out of that. :)