Now it seems impossible, but there was a time when star Wars was not one of the largest entertainment franchises. A bloated budget, complicated special effects, and fears that it was nothing more than a goofy kids’ movie led 20th Century Fox to fear that the original film, directed by a New Hollywood maverick named George Lucas, would fail. Instead, the studio put most of its energy into The Other Side of Midnighteven to the extent that they demanded that all theaters that wanted to also have to order star Wars in an attempt to reduce any possible losses. But retrospective is a fascinating thing, and it’s fun to think about how 20th Century Fox is putting all its eggs in the wrong basket. star Wars opened May 25, 1977 in just 32 theaters. The film immediately broke box office records and, after a quick wide release, became the highest-grossing film of all time. Work began immediately on a sequel, in which Lucas created a story on a much larger scale than the original. The result was the 1980s. The Empire Strikes Backwidely regarded as the best film in the series and a record that solidified star Wars as a pop culture phenomenon without equal. The rest, as they say, is history.
But this story could have been very different. Although the original film was still in production, concerns about its box office performance led Lucas to hire Alan Dean Foster write a novel that could be the basis for a low-budget sequel, star Wars not be successful enough to warrant more extensive and costly follow-up. Foster, who had already written the novelization of the first film and was under contract for the second book anyway, was given a lot of creative control over the story, suggesting he sticks to the mantra that it can be done for a fraction of the cost. original budget. Roman became Mind Shard, but by the time it hit store shelves in March 1978, all plans for an adaptation had long since been abandoned, leading it to become just a fun diversion to distract fans between films. The book was the first in a long series star Wars the novels that shaped the now-discarded Expanded Universe, and its origins as a potential second film, are now nothing more than part of the fun stuff. But what were Foster’s plans for the sequel, and how would he change the franchise if Mind Shard was done, not The Empire Strikes Back? This is one of the biggest “what if?” questions. questions in the series, and one that would not only change star Wars as we know it, but cinema in general.
star Wars The sequel would be very different.
Plot Mind Shard as expected, much less than the previous escapade into this universe. Two years after the events of the original film, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are sent to meet a potential Rebel Alliance ally when they crash-land on the mysterious planet Mimban. Their escape is halted by the presence of the Empire, centered around a mine said to contain the Kaiburr crystal, an object of unknown origin that enhances the Force abilities of anyone who wields it. After a bar fight that ends up briefly imprisoning our heroes in an Imperial prison, Luke and Leia embark on a journey through the swampy wilderness of Mimban in search of the crystal. Along the way, they encounter various difficulties, such as running into a particularly aggressive Vandrella (a worm-like creature that grows up to 15 meters long) and a brief detour into the planet’s cave system, where they must improvise their way through the underworld. lake. They eventually arrive at the Temple of Pomohema, but their victory is interrupted by the arrival of Darth Vader and a group of stormtroopers. A battle ensues, culminating in Luke chopping off Vader’s arm. (Vader also falls into the pit, leaving his fate unknown.) With the crystal in hand, Luke and Leia recover from their injuries and then escape into the mists of Mimban. Supporting characters include Halla, a Mimban native with great knowledge of the Kaiburr crystal, as well as returning favorites R2-D2 and C-3PO, who resume their comic roles from the film.
Attentive readers may have noticed the absence of one of the franchise’s main characters: Han Solo. However, this was not an artistic choice on Foster’s part, but rather a choice forced upon him by necessity. Bye Mark Hamill And Carrie Fisher both signed contracts for three additional films during production star Wars, Harrison Ford didn’t have. Since Lucas was unsure if he would return for the sequel (and even if he did, whether the budget could afford it), he asked Foster not to include him in the sequel. Mind Shard. As a result, the core dynamic between our characters seems empty, missing a vital part whose meaning becomes clear only when it is no longer there. Khan was an “all man”, a character who did not rely on the Force or the tricks of a Jedi, but instead relied on his own skill and ingenuity. He was a classic smuggler with a heart of gold, whose cynical personality was the perfect contrast to Luke and Leia’s unwavering optimism that made every moment between them captivating. Without the witty charm that Khan brought to the film (or the jokes between him and Chewbacca, who also dropped out of the novel), the story lacks the joy that made star Wars such a success with the public, and attempts to bring back that lightning in a bottle (like the clumsily written play about the battle between Luke and Leia) seem more childish than anything else.
More of a workaround than a sequel
This need to remove core elements from the original film in order to lower the cost of a potential adaptation not only affected the main characters, but the story as a whole. If star Wars was a galactic epic that set the stage for a multi-year franchise, Mind Shard seems like nothing more than a workaround that exists solely to fill the time between movies. Gone is the vast variety of natives to emphasize how vast this universe is, replaced by a single planet so shrouded in mist it’s hard to tell what you’re looking at. While this gives Mimban an eerie vibe where danger lurks around every corner, it’s hard to shake the feeling that this decision was made in the first place because the production team could have simply turned on the smoke machine and avoided having to create elaborate sets. The action also takes a shortened approach, favoring one-on-one battles against the monstrous creatures that inhabit Mimban, a far cry from the climactic space battle in star Wars which showcased some of the greatest special effects ever used in films. Interestingly, Foster intended to create a similar scene early in the novel to explain why Luke and Leia crash-land on Mimban, but Lucas demanded that it be removed for budgetary reasons.
The performance also suffers. Whereas in the original film, Luke had a complete arc, from a simple farmer on the primeval world of Tatooine to a major figure in the Rebel Alliance, here he appears to be completely immobile, simply moving around without any significant development. . Even the final scene with Vader echoes his ending in the original film (where his TIE fighter crashes into space with no specific answer as to his status)—a moment that embodies the central issue of the novel. It’s like what many spin-off novels to larger franchises are like: a fun excursion into a universe the reader already loves, populated by characters who can’t go through any significant development lest the series start to alienate all but die-hard fans. Not that such stories are inherently bad, of course. Shows how Secret materials And Star Trek proved that monster of the week episodes can work great in the right context, giving writers a reason to play with the possibilities of the universe without having to tie everything into the same ongoing narrative. While this approach works great when learning Mind Shard as a novel, as the second film in the franchise, it would not have been able to significantly move the series forward, and it is unlikely that the series would have captivated generations in the way that it ultimately did.
Mind Shard It probably wouldn’t affect The Empire Strikes Back
Compare this to The Empire Strikes Back, which eschewed the original film’s childish fun in favor of a more complex and mature storytelling that challenged notions that people are exceptionally good or bad, and featured a shockingly dark ending with one of the most iconic plot twists in cinema. It’s the ending that stunned the world, and it set the precedent for sequels with a darker tone and thrilling endings that continue to this day. The more complex storytelling also allowed it to be better characterized than its predecessor, moving its main characters far beyond where the previous film had left them. Luke transitions from trainee to Jedi Master and learns a dark secret about his past that will fundamentally change who he is as a character, while Han and Leia finally confess their love for each other moments before Khan freezes in carbonite, closing one archway. which started in the previous movie and also started a new one that carries over to Return of the Jedi. New characters are introduced, such as Yoda and Lando Calrissian, each adding their own unique dynamic to the action, making it feel less like a replay. Compare them to Halla, whose role as an elderly, Force-sensitive conduit is too similar to Obi-Wan Kenobi from the previous film, or to a pair of friendly yuzzems named Hin and Key, who just feel like Chewbacca with a different name. (star Wars lore even says that the Yuzzem and Wookiee are believed to have a common ancestor because they are very similar).
TThe Empire Strikes Back not only is it the best film in the franchise’s 45-year history, it’s also one of the most groundbreaking films in history. And while it’s impossible to know what the live version is Mind Shard would look like this, the ground provided by Foster could hardly come closer than a hundred miles from Empire. Simplicity compared to star Warswhile fine in the context of a spin-off novel, it wouldn’t translate well to the big screen. star Wars it’s best when it explores the vast universe created by Lucas, where the only limits are the writer’s imagination, not history on just one planet so shrouded in mist that it just feels like a low-budget imitation. And without any outstanding action scenes for Industrial Light & Magic to show off their talents as Hollywood special effects masters, or twists like empires which would solidify his place among canceled movie histories, probably Mind Shard would end the series abruptly if it became Star Wars 2. For fans of the series, this makes for an enjoyable read, if predictable, but it’s probably for the best that it never made it off the page.
Source: Collider
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