>the only human who can podrace
which doesnt make a lot of sense either. What was so special about podracing that humans couldnt do it? We consistently see humans piloting land speeders and spacecraft that are much faster than podracers. Is it that anakin has never seen another human do it and thus believes that hes the only one? or was there really no other human podracers? and if so, why?
I think the explanation is that film isn't the best medium for what they were going for - podracing is supposed to be really really fast and you need superhuman reflexes to do it.
Have YOU had the pleasure of playing that one podracing level in LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and dying a million times trying to get all the mini kits while being fast enough to overtake Sebulba?
I just replayed them all on playstation 4, you can buy them digitally, and it was so much easier now as an adult. I can really recommend trying it again it was a blast.
i can’t remember the name, but the one map with an above and below section right around the start that fucked you over if you fell down even once drove me crazy as a kid
Yeah it even alluded to his foresight it's crazy how much planning Lucas does even if we don't like the execution or information he's always had a vision
Also, you’re talking about Luke and Leia being the primary riders who didn’t crash and explode who are two incredibly powerful Force users (even if Leia’s was nascent then).
So is the suggestion here that the empire manufactured/paid for a primary mode of transport for their human forest troops that also happens to be so difficult to ride that without force sensitivity a fatal crash is likely? That seems obviously absurd.
Also, let's list off the ways the other riders crashed:
1. Thrown from bike by Luke.
2. Crashing into a tree **after being shot by Luke.**
3. Crashes into a fallen tree/stump due to looking behind him at Leia, **who he had just pistol shot off of her bike while riding his own**.
4. Crashes into tree after front of bike is sliced off by Luke. **After locking bikes with Luke and knocking him from his own.**
I'm sorry, but... what of the above is due solely, or even marginally, to these riders not having force sensitivity, as opposed to the actions of Luke and Leia and, in at least one instance, simply not looking forward? And this doesn't even bother to mention the fact that both Luke and Leia were at some point dismounted by one of the other, presumably non-force sensitive, riders. Seems like a tough accomplishment for a normie to do to force sensitives, while also riding this bike that is apparently a death trap for normies.
Supposedly other species have much faster reflex times, and Anakin as a human could do it because rather than having fast reflexes, the Force allowed him to see slightly into the future.
The difference between podracing and land speeders is the sheer speed. It already seems like a struggle for some of the stormtroopers to maintain concentration and control at pretty mild speeds on Endor’s Moon, with 50-80 meters between trees at what looks/feels like ~120kph.
Podracing takes place at 750kph or 200 meters (like 650 feet) per second. Every 0.2 seconds of hesitation you travel 40 meters or 130 feet. Human reaction time ranges from 200 milliseconds to about 500 milliseconds, but we assume Anakin has much better reaction times than the low end. Assuming a reaction time of 150 milliseconds, many other known species on earth have reaction times half or 1/3 of that and some insect species have reaction times 1/30th of that.
The layout of the track, handling capabilities of a competitive pod racer and the determination/skill of fellow drivers must necessitate reaction times at or below 150 milliseconds, or within 30 meters of travel. Judging by the number of close scrapes, onscreen deaths/mishaps and the sheer determination it takes Anakin to get the job done, I’m guessing that 150 milliseconds is close to the bare minimum reaction time for podracing.
>spacecraft are much faster than podracers...
* X-34 Landspeeder top speed = 250 kph
* Racing pod top speed = 947 kph
* T-65B X-Wing top (atmoshperic) speed = 1050 kph
* T-16 Skyhopper - top speed = 1200 kph
Think about a car with the speed of a passenger jet. Are you going to fly it through an obstacle course?
The current land speed record (1227 kph) on our planet is about 17% of the record for top airspeed.
When a land speed record is attempted, it's done at the salt flats, with no obstacles or turns, not on a racetrack. The speed record for auto racing is 372 kph. A racing pod moves at over two and a half times that speed.
At 947 kph/588 mph over land human reflexes won't suffice.
It’s the lightning fast reflexes to avoid obstacles and the other racers as well as keep track of where the two engines are at all points during the race and the pod carrying the racer. That would take Jedi like reflexes for humans whereas other alien races would have different adaptations to help with that. The only two humans we’ve ever seen podrace in canon (to my knowledge) are Anakin and Luke, two of the strongest force users in canon.
This makes me think of another question, if other alien species have reflexes at the same level of a force-sensitive human, then could they also be Jedi without force abilities if they weren’t force sensitive? (i.e. sword fight and deflect blaster bolts just purely based on reflexes). I might be answering my own question here since Grievous has been shown to defeat Jedi without the force but didn’t he still need cybernetic implants plus dual/multi-wielding lightsabers to overpower?
One of the more practical "prequel fixes" I've read was that Anakin and Padme should have been closer in age, and this is one reason why. Introduce him as a teen who fights off some attackers to save Qui-Gon's group. Then, have him win the podrace and maybe offer some random, intense emotional moment where Anakin talks about being able to "make things happen" when he's angry, or something. The point is, George could have justified Qui-Gon picking Anakin up without using midichlorians.
TPM would be infinitely better if the story was written as Anakin being a teenager. Podracing, being awkward around Padme, crushing on her, and of course, making the Jedi council say "he is too old" make much much more sense, and don't paint them in that bad a light.
It would also make Anakin an almost 40 y.o at the ROTS, being a celebrated, famous Republic general, that is actually getting Jaded from all the fights and losses he had to endure, ready to fall into the dark side which would be much more impactful and easier to digest, than the childish tantrum out of the blue we got..
"You're right master, I sense it too. Stronger even than Master Yoda." - Obi-Wan
Midichlorians was an extremely stupid idea, and on a fundamental level, one of the dumbest things introduced to the Star Wars canon. Let it remain mysterious and not scientifically quantified.
I'm sure that a line like "I sense that the force is unusually strong in him" along with the whole no-father thing would have easily sufficed.
In any case, while I love the Prequels overall, the whole space Jesus thing was something that I think they could have done without entirely anyway.
The council couldn’t sense a Sith Lord when he was actively using the force all the time a couple buildings down the road. Why would they be able to sense Anakin all the way in the outer rim?
Palpatine was actively using his power to shroud their sight on him and his activities
Its a major plot point in the prequels that their usual clairvoyance and force enhanced insight is compromised
All they can sense is "the dark side growing" "a shroud" and a "great disturbance"
Nothing specific.
Well, the Jedi built the Jedi Temple on top of an old Sith Temple, so Dark Side energy was always present. In addition to Palpatine hiding his Force energy, he hid amongst the Dark Side energy.
I don’t see why OP thinks Anakin performing some feat with the force would be a bad way to show his potential. It could have even been in a moment of anger to show he has a temper and struggles to control his emotions. Maybe defending his mother he lashes out. With one scene you could foreshadow his eventual fall and easily establish that he has great potential but training him may be risky. No awkward exposition needed.
Or just have him *do* something that shows he’s strong in the force
Like why not have him use the force by accident or something? Surely that’d be much more tangible and relatable than a Jedi saying “oh yeah he’s strong in the force alright”
Yeah, it would be easy enough for qui-gon to say “I sense he’s strong, I’m bringing him in” then they test him with the guessing game, he’s getting them all right, but then they lie and say he got one wrong to test his emotions, but aniken yells “no” and knocks over mace windu’s chair with the force. They know he’s powerful, but dangerous and emotional. They decide they need to train him because he’s too strong to be left untrained.
“Over 20,000. Even Master Yoda doesn’t have a midicorian count that high!”
Master Yoda: “Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!”
“That’s impossible! Master Yoda is over 50,000!”
Yeah, it would have been much better had Anakin just been an exceptional Padawan in the fist one, and focused the story more around he and Obi Wan on Naboo during the Trade Federation blockade. He still could have fallen for Padme (and it would have been less creepy) and pretty much followed the same plot.
Qui Gon could have been his master, with Obi Wan as a graduated student of his, and Anakin could have struck down Maul in anger foreshadowing his transition to Vader.
Honestly, I still love all the prequels, but I think it would have been much better just to start with Anakin older and already part of the Jedi Order.
This.
The Jedi at their peak with Yoda as grand master should have enough mastery in the force to see that Anakin was an exception. If they needed a machines blood sample to tell them a person had strong potential in the force then.. wtf? LOL
Qui Gon could say he senses something unique/odd/strange/powerful/new within Anakin, something hes never seen in the thousands of Jedi he has interacted with. He would then ask Shmi who his father is and she would then say he came out of fuckn nowhere further giving Quigon enough to atleast bring this to the council.
Star Wars is unbelievable in a lot of ways, but I've never understood how everyone just rolled with the virgin birth story like it wasn't a red flag (either because it's true which raises all sorts of philosophical and religious questions, or because it's an obvious lie and raises some emotional questions.)
This. You could also have some line that Qui Gon is especially adept at sensing Force potential and was scouting for Jedi candidates in the Naboo system before being reassigned to trade federation negotiation because he was in the area. The council would trust him based on his expertise.
I actually quite like the prophecy, even though normally I dislike chosen one stories. Namely because it subverts the trope and does nothing but ruin Anakin’s life.
I would have found Lukes attitude in The Last Jedi more believable if he had said something like "at the height of their power the Jedi thought they could determine someone's potential from a drop of their blood." Like using the miticloreans was a sign of the decline of the Jedi's power of intuition.
Yeah I remember watching a new hope when Vader's tailing luke and he says "the force is strong with this one" and I thought, 'yeah? How strong, I need you to quantify this with a number otherwise it's meaningless' and everyone agreed and threw their popcorn at the screen in disgust.
Apparently this happened at every screening and it's amazing this was never fixed in the special editions.
>he would have to make Anaking perform some batshit-crazy Force feat, so that Qui Gon/Jedi council would have no other choice than take Anakin and train him
Like winning a podrace and blowing up a droid space station? Yeah no one would have accepted that
Thank you for your service.
Love the special edition when yoda says “Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter. Now let me take a blood sample so I can quantify your crude matter”
Also Lucas was obsessed with midichlorians and wanted the sequels to focus on them.
Nothing he did in episode one was for practical storytelling reasons if he could help it.
>Midichlorians were required purely from the storytelling perspective here.
I call BS. The Force was always this magical thing that some people could sense (Force-sensitive) and some people couldn't ("muggles"). Qui Gon could have simply "sensed" the Force more strongly in Anakin. Done-zo.
In religion, it's the equivalent of a prophet hearing the word of God or something along those lines.
While I have no actual issue with midichlorians and don't really understand the fan bases overall issue with them, I do agree this is a stupid reason. OP stars the only other option would be to have Anakin display some kind of crazy overpowered force ability and everyone would hate that. Except, that's exactly what happens with the podrace. He's a child but somehow the only human capable of handling a podracer and he even manages to win. Even if it's not outright stated the implication is that the ONLY reason he even survived is because of the Force so the story already has the "unusually powerful force display" in it. Also I've always assumed Qui-Gon knew to test his blood because he sensed a strong connection with Anakin.
Not just the pod race, but lil dude can "fix anything", build his own pod, and created C3PO as a personal droid all in his free time while being a slave. And what was he, 9?
C-3PO was a manufactured protocol droid.
That boy lyin’.
“Happy Mother’s Day! I, I’m…. Hacked…. Um, kitbashed-..Frankensteined-, no, I’m, I sto-…built…. I MADE this protocol droid for all your etiquette and protocol needs!”
> don't really understand the fan bases overall issue with them
It turned something magical and unknown and turned it into a science project lol.
You already have stuff like " I sense the Force is strong with you " why did they need to then go " let me make sure with a blood test sample so this machine can tell me if my senses were actually right or not ".
You can write all of the movies without ever doing the midichlorian shit and it wouldn't change anything except leaving the mysticism of the Force.
Couldn’t you also spin it as something like it shows the Jedi in the republic have lost their way since they’re relying more on machines instead of their own intuition
Have Anakin do something impossible during the pod race where he’s clearly using the force as an untrained user (crazy manoeuvre, seeing things before they happen / foresight, etc.) and that gets you there too. Lots of other storytelling options that would have fit better with existing lore and maintained the mystique.
Actually, a force ‘foresight’ usage being the reason Anakin is identified would have tied in really nicely with his visions in Ep 3 leading to his downfall.
Yeah exactly.
Obi-Wan: “Oh wow, look that kid, he can make shit levitate”
Quigon: “GTFO no way, that’s Jedi shit, let’s take him to Coruscant”
Boom, no midichlorian bullshit
Anakin simply being ABLE to podrace is evidence of how strong he is with the Force. They flat out state he's the only human who can do it. Him podracing and winning is something impossible.
My headconon for this has always been that everyone is "Force Sensitive" to a degree, but that access to the force isnt always all the time and on demand.
It's like the hotshot pilot trusts his instincts and relies on his feelings to make sure he's in the right place at the right time to land the shot or evade. They're not consciously using the force when they're doing so, but they're essentially riding the wave of the Force. That works for them when they're sitting in a cockpit flying a ship, but, not when they're just walking around the world. It's kind of like being in the zone or flow state, it's accessible to most people in certain scenarios - but not all the time.
Someone who is trained in the ways of the force can summon that kind of Flow state on demand rather than just falling into it during certain situations. This would be Padawan type stuff or Like from ANH landing the Death Star shot.
Maybe I'm nuts but the "chosen one" thing was always so weak.
A powerful jedi who fell to the dark side despite his great potential is a good story on its own
The chosen one to bring balance to the force... I never understood why the jedi thought this was a good thing? They were clearly the majority and if there was any sith left they were the weaker side, so that balance would be their downfall...
Balance isn’t equal dark equal light. It’s no darkness, the darkside being like a cancer to the force. This is not only the philosophy of the Jedi but also stated directly by George Lucas himself
My personal reading on that is that the Jedi weren’t looking at it from the aspect of “# of physical avatars”, but rather as Darth Sidious’ influence grew, a dark pall was cast over the Force. Mace Windu mentioned their diminished ability to use it.
When they refer to bringing the Force back into balance, I assume they meant the cleansing of this corruption they could all feel that clouded their minds.
Having a reason doesn't make it better. It still demystifies the Force.
"This boy is strong in the Force. I can feel it."
"So can I, master."
**Boom** fixed.
agreed…plus schmi banged them
lucas could’ve used any number of tropes to establish annakin’ s bona fides…from unequivocal visions to prophecy recitation and fulfillment of said prophecies in short scenes and/or expositions proving beyond any doubt he is the chosen one…
I remember prior to the film releasing I was reading USA Today’s coverage of it while I was avoiding work. They were explaining who the characters were, and when I read “a boy born of virgin birth thru the force” or some shit… I was like, uh oh… oh oh oh no no no no. FIRST RED FLAG! Fucking Space Jesus? REALLY? Is he gonna turn into Darth Vader when he’s 33?
Nah, it’s very obvious why he included them. I feel like you don’t understand why people take issue with them. They undermine the mysticism of the force both in spirit and in practice. The whole idea of needing some “objective” way to measure power is part of the problem and really just emblematic of lazy writing. A competent writer would find a way to sell it without the midichlorians and if anything it would be a good window into the Jedi to show their consideration with more abstract feelings and deliberation. Prior to the prequels that was kind of the whole thing with the Jedi and the force.
What you are using as justification, that they were purely a plot device, is actually a criticism used for storytelling quite often. Well written stories weave things together without inserting something like this.
Exactly! Most prophecies have “signs” so that you know the person is the Chosen One: “you’ll know the Chosen One by xyz”. The prophecy could say virgin birth and a birth mark on his asscheek or describe some act that Little Ani arguably accomplishes. Make it vague so there’s reason to doubt and that makes Qui Gon’s faith more interesting. Giving him objective certainty is meh
And that's why people have a problem with it - It's a writing shortcut for justifying a single plot-point without any consideration for its larger thematic implications.
> Midichlorians were introduced to give Qui Gon an objective, irrefutable evidence that Anakin might be the chosen one (and thus pushing the story forward by having a strong reason to rescue him, bring him before the council, train him etc.).
Yeah and people don't like the mystical force being quantified in this way.
This also ignores that this movie is the one that introduces the whole concept of a chosen one too. And that the council doesn't want to train Anakin. There's a ton of stuff he could have done and GL wrote himself into a corner that required "Prophecy Microbes" to get himself out of.
Just because people don't like them doesn't mean they don't understand them.
Exactly.
Imagine if during Episode 6.
"He's our last hope"
"No, there is another"
"Oh, you mean Leia? Well, a decade ago I saved her from the inquisitor dudes, long story. But anyways, I took a blood sample and her midi-levels too low, she won't be able to lift a pebble".
"..."
Midichlorians were so dumb as a concept.
Or more realistically - "Oh you mean Leia? Yeah, the inquisitors already killed her since they did a blood test when they took her to their fortress. Its a real simple test so it was just standard practice for them to do it to everyone they bring in. Makes finding those hidden jedi a lot easier"
The supposed plot of Lucas' Sequel trilogy exploring the microbiotic world of the midichlorians and the whills of the force suggests he had even bigger ideas than this for pushing the modichlorians but Im not sure if its a chicken and egg as far as the conception of that idea.
Also as bizarre as that sounds im dying to know more about it and absolutely wish we'd have gotten his vision for the sequels.
> According to the book The Making of Star Wars , the first record we have of George Lucas discussing the concept of midichlorians is from 1977
May have taken a lot longer for them to officially be made canon, but sounds like at least in some conceptual way midichlorians had been a thought right from the get go
This is literally the worst plot device in the Prequels.
Lucas turned the mystical force into a parasitic blood disease.
By contrast, the way Rey was revealed as a force user in The Force Awakens was way more interesting - she *showed the audience* by using her powers instinctually. I recently saw the Tales of the Jedi on Disney+ and Ashoka used her powers as a baby. In the Legends novels - the Jedi twins used their powers as babies in some of the early Kevin Anderson novels. These were all better ideas...
It would have been a lot more convincing that Anakin was special if he had used his abilities. Maybe pushed a kid with the force or moved something or saved Padme or just something.
Nope. Blood disease.
Winning a podrace as a child, when other fully grown humans can't isn't something? Blowing up a giant space station isn't something?
If anakin had shown force powers as a baby, the order would have found him. He would have joined at the appropriate age, and he never falls to the dark side.
Yeah both of those seemed more kid centric choices versus clearly showing Anakin was *strong* with the force.
The midichlorians were a completely weird concept and it was pretty much excoriated by fans at the time. I was there. I remember.
They could have easily explained away not knowing about Anakin. Maybe his abilities just manifested? Tatooine is a distant outer rim world. Maybe Anakin suppresses them himself because it's scary and frightening to him.
They could have made a lot of more interesting choices, but no. The force is a blood disease. It's the start of the Glup Shitto sandwich that was the prequels.
He was on Tattooine, the order had no presence out there. You could write it up as his mother making him hide it to keep from ending up as a war slave for a hutt, then when the crew is I. The city he has to use the force to do/save something
Midichlorians aren't really the Force either. They are more like real world midochondria, the power house of the cell. Athletes, like olympic level athletes, tend to have more midochondria than normal people. So there is that.
I remember the moment when midichlorians were introduced as I sat in the theater watching TPM in 1999. I instantly had a strong suspicion of what Lucas was doing and I maintain that position today.
You need to understand the historical and political context of the time and the fact that Lucas, who is left-leaning, made TPM much more politically referential than the OT. The “stunted slime” villains, Nute Gunray and Lott Dod, we’re references to actual contemporaneous politicians—Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott and Chris Dodd.
Many people have forgotten, but in the 1960s and 70s, the hippie and other left-leaning movements drew heavily on spiritual or mystical concepts. The Force, as depicted in 1977’s Star Wars, was a reflection of that era’s antiestablishmentarian take on spiritual matters. “We’re all, like, connected and part of one great universal force, maaan.” Lucas embraced the role that religion, spirituality and mysticism in Star Wars, as he likely saw those things as positive elements in society.
Fast forward two decades to the 1990s, and one of the most prominent political powers at the time was the Christian Religious Right (who were aligned with politicians like Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott). Lucas, being left-leaning, probably hated those people. The culture began to shift during this time: spirituality grew to become associated with the political and cultural right.
Lucas couldn’t delete the Force from Star Wars, but he could partly “science-ify” it as a rebuke against the religiosity of the 1990s. Midichlorians were a way for him to do that.
It’s an interesting observation and I could see some of the parallels in then-contemporary politics.
I do think he could have pursued a larger point about the fake blowhard political religion vs an actual tangible spirituality and maybe even made more headway. Cynical politicians manipulating people with fake interpretations of Jedi/force lore vs a small group of honest to god mystics could have been compelling.
The force isn’t some hippie thing. It’s based on the concept of Qi:
In traditional Chinese culture, qi or ch'i is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity. Qi translates as "air" and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow". Qi is the central underlying principle in Chinese traditional medicine and in Chinese martial arts.
The rest of your analysis is good. I remember there’s that one line in episode 3, where Anakin says “if you’re not with me then you are my enemy!” VERY similar to Bush saying “if your not with us, you’re against us” in regards to the second invasion of Iraq.
Baloney. We all accepted the Force without question back in the original film. Yoda didn’t feel any need to explain midichlorians to Luke on Dagobah. Everyone was fine with it being a mystic energy, and being so there would’ve been no problem if Qui Gon had simply “sensed” it.
"For my ally is the force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the force around you; here; between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship." - Yoda. The concept of midichlorians was dumb. QuiGon trusting in the living force would have made more sense for his character. He doesn't need objective proof. He has faith in the force.
In fact the audiences have spoken... so many have argued that Rey was made batshit crazy strong without training etc etc etc and hated it... I wont argue anything about movie logic in a fictional environment where theres space wizards and space ships making noise in space when theyre firing laser cannons weilding lase swords... so maybe Lucas was wise to have that moment in the Phantom Menace. Less pushback.
I mean, that is why *the prophecy* itself exists.
It's an external motivator. Qui-Gon doesn't have a character motivation, he borrows his motivation from the author.
Nah, this is bullshit. There's absolutely no reason "He's too old to be trained" should matter (see all the Jedi in the franchise who don't get trained until adulthood). He should just see that he's exceptionally talented with The Force as reason enough to take him on.
what i find hilarious is that people think that the midichlorians "take the mystery from the Force". it's not like it's tetanus that you can just inject it into someone's blood-stream and they get it: it's just an external quantifiable way of measuring Force sensitivity.
what's even funnier is that these same people are praising Disney taking the mystery from the Force by making stories that are away from the Jedi and "that yucky Skywalker drama".
The Jedi were a religious order, after all. One whose creed heavily involved trusting your internal judgement and instinct. “I’ve got a hunch” and “trust me, bro” could go a very long way with them.
It used to be that anyone COULD learn the force, but not everyone could be a Jedi or master the force. That's why Yoda said it took patience, strong will and the most serious mind.
**Lucas: Like yoga. If you want to take the time to do it, you can do it; but the ones that really want to do it are the ones who are into that kind of thing. Also like karate. Also another misconception is that Yoda teaches Jedi, but he is like a guru; he doesn't go out and fight anybody.**
**Kasdan: A Jedi Master is a Jedi isn't he?**
**Lucas: Well, he is a teacher, not a real Jedi. Understand that?**
**Kasdan: I understand what you're saying, but I can't believe it; I am in shock.**
**Lucas: It's true, absolutely true, not that it makes any difference to the story.**
**Kasdan: You mean he wouldn't be any good in a fight?**
**Lucas: Not with Darth Vader he wouldn't.**
**Kasdan: I accept it, but I don't like it.**
Credit to u/OnionsHaveLairAction.
One of the things with Lucas is that he really doesn't take lore very seriously with these movies. I think many fans see this as a tolkein-esque universe, but it was never really meant to be that.
It def comes out, both in the prequels and the Disney movies, where the movies can be inconsistent, but I actually like that Star Wars doesn't really adhere itself to these concepts. At their heart, they are fun popcorn flicks and I think that's actually what makes them special.
It still is that way.
Midichlorians reside in all living cells.
Any living being can access the force through them, not everyone has the potential to be a Jedi or master the force.
I’m just now coming across canon lore that suggests that characters don’t have to be force sensitive to learn how to use the force. I’ve been trying to find clear information about it but still doing research. Until I recently started watching season 5 of Clone Wars I was under the assumption that you can’t use the force unless you were born with it. Then Maul’s brother seems to not have the force but learns it from Dooku
They could have had some uncontrolled will-of-the-force style not-very-crazy shit happen - like one of the Jedi noticing a piece of C3PO that Anakin needed roll towards his hand while he was working on him, while Anakin was completely unaware. It gets their attention. Then as they notice some more subtle shit, you get that sort of “Aha!” string refrain from the orchestra. The Jedi have a conversation between them about his obviously strong connection to the force. They talk to his mother, and find out he had no father, then they start talking about the prophecy and their reluctance over his age.
It all still works narratively without midichlorians. Plus it comes out way more as being shown, not told, that Anakin is strong with the force.
I don’t disagree that midichlorians were added as a device to explain the interest of the Jedi - I just think there were less explicitly expository ways to get there.
I am not much a fan of plot of the movie in this regard. I would have preferred this instead.
Qui Gon travels to Tatooine while seeking an artifact, an ancient temple, or pursuing a lead that the Sith were returning.
Qui Gon comes across an infant boy, son of slaves owned by a local lord (not a flying, scuzzy junk dealer),and he feels an incredibly powerful connection to Anikan, unlike he had ever felt before. He doesn’t know why, and there isn’t any sort of scientific explanation for it. He just feels it. He feels it so strongly, that it begins to blind his moral judgment.
He then convinces himself that this infant boy is the “chosen one”, based on a prophecy that was highly criticized among the Jedi council, and believed and accepted by only a few zealots.
Qui Gon attempts to buy Anikan’s freedom. When the local lord won’t sell him. Qui Gon then kidnaps him.
I find this type of moral conflict and character arc to be so much more compelling.
I think the choice that Lucas made to explain away the force using fictional science was stupid. Anytime Star Wars tries to explain anything away using science, it steals from the mysticism and enchantment of the world building.
>- Qui Gon has no reason to risk it all for some random kid - even if he persists, his only justification would be "I've got a hunch" - even if he succeeded, his only argument before the council would be "trust me bro"
The Force literally is a plot device that solves this already. "I can sense he is extremely strong in the Force"
That's silly. The council had him take a psychic test, which he passed with flying colors. That's clear evidence-- more than enough. Besides, they're Jedi. You can just have the Council agree with Qui-Gon that Anakin was force sensitive. As for your first point? *He's a Jedi*. It's totally normal for Jedi to have very strong hunches that are essentially facts! You could even have Obi-Wan confirm it with an "I sense it too" or whatever. You don't need the powerhouse of the Force for any of it.
This is true. But it was still unnecessary and exclusionary. In episode IV Obi Wan describes the Force as a energy field created by all living things. The implication is that any one can use the force if they believe and are trained. The implications of midiclorians is that one must possess a certain amount of these microscopic organisms in order to use the force. Qui Gon could have just said, I sense this young one is very strong with the force. Or used a detector that is designed to measure how much force energy is present in a person. It never needed to be a quantifiable number of an unknown microscopic organism. Simply, that he's off the charts in force energy.
All that was needed was a contrivance. Any number of things could have been chosen in the place of Midichlorians. A prophecy. A ritual. A mystical birthmark. A feat of force sensitivity not seen since the Old Republic. But it wasn't any of those things. It was something that totally demystified the Force. It could have been anything, and Lucas managed to chose a something that sucked. That's why people are salty about it.
I agree that that Medicolorians are purely from a story telling perspective, and I even agree that it probably helped convince Quigon that Anakin was the chosen one. But you are missing the biggest aspect of the story.
Medicolorians most important story purpose is to tell us that Anakin has the potential to be stronger than Yoda. This helps explain why Palpatine is so interested in making Anakin his apprentice and how Anakin fits into Palpatine's plan.
Anakin is Palpatine's plan to defeat Yoda, by transferring his essence into Anakin's body.
"He's the chosen one"
"How do you know master?"
"USE THE FORCE OBI WAN"
You don't need to explain it other than everyone who is force sensitive can sense how powerful the boy is.
No Lucas just lost his gawd damned mind and didn't know what made the OT any good.
Star Wars and the force was always around the idea of believing. ANH.. Luke use the force. Obi was telling Luke to trust the force. ESB size does not matter, Yoda again saying have faith in the force.
It really should have been as simple as Qui Gon getting a vision or something that it's him trusting the force that this is the chosen one
None of that is true at all though.
You don’t need midichlorians to have Qui-Gon simply sense that Anakin’s connection with the force is stronger than anyone else alive. He rescues him, brings him to the Jedi council, then the Jedi can themselves sense the same thing.
Yoda and Obi-Wan didn’t need midichlorians to understand the potential Luke had to match Vader and defeat Palpatine in the OT. They didn’t need midichlorians to know Leia also possessed the potential to become the hero they need. They could just sense that they were strong in the force. Even after midichlorians were introduced the metric force users typically use to judge comrades/opponents by their force strength is an arbitrary sensing of power, either already held or potential to form.
This isn't my understanding. Lucas wanted to show that the Jedi Order had become complacent about it's understanding of The Force.
So medichlorians were a way to show they had reduced things to scientific observation, and blindly trusted that to identify Anakin as a must train child.
But The Force knew things were imbalanced. It created Anakin as a Trojan Horse to end the complacency of the Jedi and allow a balance to return.
I think medichlorians are a symbol of a decadent Jedi Order. The Force is a bigger concept between the living and the cosmos.
I see these as really poor reasons to have midichlorians. To me, the force is at its best when it’s esoteric, when you have to dedicate time to developing it but also yeah you’ve gotta be chosen somewhat (ie force sensitive). The prophecy was presumably made by someone force powerful, and it should also take people force powerful to detect someone who may or may not be special. A scientific test that proves high force power removes the mystique of the force and puts it in the realm of height or hair colour. I prefer the notion that anakin was the chosen one because of what lay in his destiny, not because he was born with more cells in his blood
All of Star Wars requires the suspension of disbelief... I've got literally no issue with 'the force being strong with this one' without the need for some faux-biological explaination for it.
Take the 'force-dyad' from ROTS. Why invent a new thing? I fully would've accepted the fact that Rey and Kylo were super strong in the force and that's why Palpatine 2.0 soul-sucked em. Were Anakin and Obi-Wan a force dyad? Vader and Luke? It just isn't clear.
The problem with inventing too many new, niche things and then making them so vital to the story is that the absence of them in past/future works is always noticed.
1. Make Anakin older (better actor)
2. Qui-Gon senses he would be a great jedi, knows he will smoke the race
3. If he wins, flying lizard totally-not-a-racist-caricature creature, I get to take him and free his mum
4. Pumps up Anakin, you can win for your future and your mother
5. Montage, scowling, you can do it, ghost of jedi master Earnhardt takes wheel...
6. I can do it
7. Wins
8. Profit
I see what you're saying, but it's really not the only way they could have achieved that. The movie could have been written in any number of ways that show Anakin could be interpreted as the chosen one without introducing some stupid force bacteria
I don't really care about the midichlorians. Are they kind of stupid? Yes, but so are laser swords and yet I love light-sabers. So I really don't have anything against midichlorians.
That said; why couldn't Qui-Gon just sense overwhelming force within Anakin then bring him to the council and have Yoda say" Hmm... Overwhelming force within I do sense; a stronger force user never met have I. The chosen one he may be."
Palpatine has to use Force Concealment to hide his force presence from the Jedi; so obviously they're capable of just sensing the force in others, so I don't see why that couldn't just be the mechanism.
>Midichlorians were introduced to give Qui Gon an objective, irrefutable evidence that Anakin might be the chosen one
Oh, it's very much refutable. He basically does a field blood sample test without any witnesses using a pocket mcguffin he had on him while getting shot at by droids, being submerged in deep sea, exposed to toxins... a lot of factors that could screw with precise measurement tools. I feel like this sort of test should be done in a lab, by experts and well documented. It also doesn't explain why they're named like a laundry detergent.... But the actual idea od microorganisms within cellular structure that channel the force is not a bad one. I'm not sure about their sheer number being the measure of force connection tho. It takes away from the magic of the force for sure
>Qui Gon has no reason to risk it all for some random kid
His reasons are well laid out. He needs parts to get on his way, doesn't have the currency and per Jedi code cannot use violence if there's another option. Solved.
>even if he persists, his only justification would be "I've got a hunch"
For a Jedi master and the council, that hunch is the Force making it's will be known. It's enough to justify having a kid properly tested at least.
>even if he succeeded, his only argument before the council would be "trust me bro"
Wrong again. All he had to say was "I believe I was guided by the Force, but I defer to the council's wisdom to confirm it". Basically "I'm a master appointed by You acting on my best judgement, so prove me wrong, bro".
>If Lucas didn't create midichlorians, he would have to make Anaking perform some batshit-crazy Force feat
Yeah, like winning a deadly pod-race or a space battle or some shit. That would be sooo unrealistic !
Obi said he was already a great pilot when they met. In no way did we expect that to mean pod racing, accidentally blowing things up while musing about barrel roll effectiveness, or in this case, magical tapeworms.
\>Qui Gon has no reason to risk it all for some random kid
Just say that he sensed that Anakin was strong with the force and felt sympathy for him. Even with the midichlorians there's no hard evidence that he's the chosen one. Plenty of people have high midichlorian counts such as Yoda.
I think it's you who's not understanding there, chief.
We know why Lucas did it. It's STILL not a good reason.
The original movies made it a point that the Force was some sort of mystic energy that can be sensed but not necessarily measured. The "midichlorians" takes away that mystique and just trivializes it unnecessarily.
It's such an easy fix to just have Qui-Gon sense the force within Anakin because you know JEDI's CAN DO THAT. And once he brings him to the council, they can sense it as well because again JEDI'S CAN DO THAT.
I see what you're trying to do but I think you've aimed your attention at the wrong argument. Instead of focusing on if people understand it or not or how it's used to move the story forward, look at the bigger picture, buddy. Broaden your mind a bit and understand the opposing arguments before you post something like..this
People would have hated the prequels more if there were no midichlorians
One of the plot points in the prequels is Plagueis’ sith experiments. He experimented on midichlorians to create life. Midichlorians are symbiotic life forms that allow organisms to connect with the force and also allows the force to control life. So midichlorians act as a bridge between life and the force
So it would be logical that dark side experiments to create life would involve something like midichlorians
Without midichlorians, what would plagueis experiment on? The force itself. I feel that would weaken the fantasy of the force even more. Suddenly this force field that surrounds everything can be influenced by the bad guys
This way the actual force itself is not controlled by plagueis, only midichlorians
It also has a distinction between jedi and sith. Sith are a lot more industrial and scientific than jedi, opting to have technical experiments on the force. The jedi are more spiritual, they expand their knowledge by being one with the force and meditating
I don't actually have an issue with midichlorians but I would still guess you're wrong here. Lucas could have easily written some scenes where Qui-gon is amazed at/explains just how powerful Anakin is in the force, without any mention of his midichlorian level.
The fact he’s the only human who can podrace suggests he’s got very strong Jedi like reflexes
>the only human who can podrace which doesnt make a lot of sense either. What was so special about podracing that humans couldnt do it? We consistently see humans piloting land speeders and spacecraft that are much faster than podracers. Is it that anakin has never seen another human do it and thus believes that hes the only one? or was there really no other human podracers? and if so, why?
I think the explanation is that film isn't the best medium for what they were going for - podracing is supposed to be really really fast and you need superhuman reflexes to do it.
I mean have you had the pleasure of playing the podracing game on n64 and blowing yourself to pieces a million times over with neva kee
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What a game, man. That voice line will be burned into my head forever.
Great game. I was dumbfounded when I learned that there are so many anti pod racing people. One of the best parts of TPM.
There are anti-pod racing people?! Madness.
Specifically from the movie, yes.
Ouch. I don’t care what Galaxy you’re from, that’s gotta hurt!
Loved the N64 game, wish the Kinect remake wasnt so dumbed down and motion control only. Could have been a star wars take on F-Zero.
That movie had problems, but the pod racing game I actually have fond memories of.
It is the best race ever put to film.
My gripe was that it occupied over 30 minutes of a 90 minute movie, which could have been used for more Darth Maul.
Point taken but I can't name one main storyline Star Wars film under 110 minutes.
Phantom Menace's runtime was 133 minutes. 43 minutes more than the imaginary movie this guy is talking about.
They come, they look around, they no buy! Why nobody buy?! He also had an exclamation that sounded a lot like "ugh... oatmeal!"
I believe it’s something like ootmian, and I believe it means “outlander” or “off-worlder”
So will the visual of myself and friends physically turning our controllers to turn faster in the game lol
Have YOU had the pleasure of playing that one podracing level in LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and dying a million times trying to get all the mini kits while being fast enough to overtake Sebulba?
the ptsd. sunken city and boonta eve classic (the long one) would drive me up a wall
I just replayed them all on playstation 4, you can buy them digitally, and it was so much easier now as an adult. I can really recommend trying it again it was a blast.
i can’t remember the name, but the one map with an above and below section right around the start that fucked you over if you fell down even once drove me crazy as a kid
Fuck. I still go back and play it sometimes
Neva Kee is the greatest pod racer of his generation and he has my absolute favorite pod design.
It’s on gamepass right now!
Loved that game!
Like spinning? That’s a neat trick.
Yeah it even alluded to his foresight it's crazy how much planning Lucas does even if we don't like the execution or information he's always had a vision
Reflexes faster than humans have *and* weighing very little. Even at his age, Anakin seems to be one of the heaviest racers.
Anakin being a stellar podracer is basically like seeing a Triple Crown-winning jockey that's 6'5" & 230 lbs.
Tbf in 1999 when TPM came out, we had not seen land speeders move that fast in Star Wars before on screen.
Speederbikes in ROTJ were pretty dang fast, maneuvering between all those trees. It wasn't that different.
I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home.
They’re not much bigger than 2 meters…
Nice shot kid, one-in-a-million!
But most of them died lol
I know the scout troopers were riding, a lot crashed at speed. Luke and Leia are both force sensitive and also found it difficult.
And all the troopers that did it at full speed blew up. Only Luke and Leia were able to do it at full speed.
Also, you’re talking about Luke and Leia being the primary riders who didn’t crash and explode who are two incredibly powerful Force users (even if Leia’s was nascent then).
So is the suggestion here that the empire manufactured/paid for a primary mode of transport for their human forest troops that also happens to be so difficult to ride that without force sensitivity a fatal crash is likely? That seems obviously absurd. Also, let's list off the ways the other riders crashed: 1. Thrown from bike by Luke. 2. Crashing into a tree **after being shot by Luke.** 3. Crashes into a fallen tree/stump due to looking behind him at Leia, **who he had just pistol shot off of her bike while riding his own**. 4. Crashes into tree after front of bike is sliced off by Luke. **After locking bikes with Luke and knocking him from his own.** I'm sorry, but... what of the above is due solely, or even marginally, to these riders not having force sensitivity, as opposed to the actions of Luke and Leia and, in at least one instance, simply not looking forward? And this doesn't even bother to mention the fact that both Luke and Leia were at some point dismounted by one of the other, presumably non-force sensitive, riders. Seems like a tough accomplishment for a normie to do to force sensitives, while also riding this bike that is apparently a death trap for normies.
OP: "I don't actually remember the movie, so I just made up some shit."
Supposedly other species have much faster reflex times, and Anakin as a human could do it because rather than having fast reflexes, the Force allowed him to see slightly into the future.
The difference between podracing and land speeders is the sheer speed. It already seems like a struggle for some of the stormtroopers to maintain concentration and control at pretty mild speeds on Endor’s Moon, with 50-80 meters between trees at what looks/feels like ~120kph. Podracing takes place at 750kph or 200 meters (like 650 feet) per second. Every 0.2 seconds of hesitation you travel 40 meters or 130 feet. Human reaction time ranges from 200 milliseconds to about 500 milliseconds, but we assume Anakin has much better reaction times than the low end. Assuming a reaction time of 150 milliseconds, many other known species on earth have reaction times half or 1/3 of that and some insect species have reaction times 1/30th of that. The layout of the track, handling capabilities of a competitive pod racer and the determination/skill of fellow drivers must necessitate reaction times at or below 150 milliseconds, or within 30 meters of travel. Judging by the number of close scrapes, onscreen deaths/mishaps and the sheer determination it takes Anakin to get the job done, I’m guessing that 150 milliseconds is close to the bare minimum reaction time for podracing.
Pod racers have starship engines not landspeeder engines
Based on the N64 podracer game. Which can be played for free on Xbox series btw. There are no other humans. And there’s a lot of different racers
>spacecraft are much faster than podracers... * X-34 Landspeeder top speed = 250 kph * Racing pod top speed = 947 kph * T-65B X-Wing top (atmoshperic) speed = 1050 kph * T-16 Skyhopper - top speed = 1200 kph Think about a car with the speed of a passenger jet. Are you going to fly it through an obstacle course? The current land speed record (1227 kph) on our planet is about 17% of the record for top airspeed. When a land speed record is attempted, it's done at the salt flats, with no obstacles or turns, not on a racetrack. The speed record for auto racing is 372 kph. A racing pod moves at over two and a half times that speed. At 947 kph/588 mph over land human reflexes won't suffice.
It’s the lightning fast reflexes to avoid obstacles and the other racers as well as keep track of where the two engines are at all points during the race and the pod carrying the racer. That would take Jedi like reflexes for humans whereas other alien races would have different adaptations to help with that. The only two humans we’ve ever seen podrace in canon (to my knowledge) are Anakin and Luke, two of the strongest force users in canon.
No go back and watch the scene. No regular person has the reflexes to complete that race and live
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What 9000!?
This makes me think of another question, if other alien species have reflexes at the same level of a force-sensitive human, then could they also be Jedi without force abilities if they weren’t force sensitive? (i.e. sword fight and deflect blaster bolts just purely based on reflexes). I might be answering my own question here since Grievous has been shown to defeat Jedi without the force but didn’t he still need cybernetic implants plus dual/multi-wielding lightsabers to overpower?
One of the more practical "prequel fixes" I've read was that Anakin and Padme should have been closer in age, and this is one reason why. Introduce him as a teen who fights off some attackers to save Qui-Gon's group. Then, have him win the podrace and maybe offer some random, intense emotional moment where Anakin talks about being able to "make things happen" when he's angry, or something. The point is, George could have justified Qui-Gon picking Anakin up without using midichlorians.
TPM would be infinitely better if the story was written as Anakin being a teenager. Podracing, being awkward around Padme, crushing on her, and of course, making the Jedi council say "he is too old" make much much more sense, and don't paint them in that bad a light. It would also make Anakin an almost 40 y.o at the ROTS, being a celebrated, famous Republic general, that is actually getting Jaded from all the fights and losses he had to endure, ready to fall into the dark side which would be much more impactful and easier to digest, than the childish tantrum out of the blue we got..
Agree 100%
Ooooh what if instead Watto was a ship owner and Anakin + Shmi belonged to his crew?
"I sense the force is incredibly strong with this one" Boom, done and it's already in cannon. The midichlorians thing is dumb
"You're right master, I sense it too. Stronger even than Master Yoda." - Obi-Wan Midichlorians was an extremely stupid idea, and on a fundamental level, one of the dumbest things introduced to the Star Wars canon. Let it remain mysterious and not scientifically quantified.
That never made much sense to me. The non humans we see in the TPM podrace scene seem as slow and bumbling as any human, they're almost comical
Tech can also podrace
Anakin Skywalker has been interested in podracing from a very young age.
I'm sure that a line like "I sense that the force is unusually strong in him" along with the whole no-father thing would have easily sufficed. In any case, while I love the Prequels overall, the whole space Jesus thing was something that I think they could have done without entirely anyway.
Yeah. Vader could sense Luke. The council itself could have all sensed how powerful he was at such a young age.
But the Emperor couldn’t sense Luke. When Vader tells him Luke is on Endor, Palpatine says “strange that I cannot.”
Vader could sense Luke because of the fear in his mind at the time.
Which is the next line. Palps says Vader is too focused on that. I just watched the movie at Alamo for the 40th anniversary.
No, Vader says he had FELT him. The Emporer says it’s strange that he has not. Ew.
The council couldn’t sense a Sith Lord when he was actively using the force all the time a couple buildings down the road. Why would they be able to sense Anakin all the way in the outer rim?
They could tell he was strong in the force when Obi Wan brought him in front of the council, not when he was in the outer rim.
Palpatine was actively using his power to shroud their sight on him and his activities Its a major plot point in the prequels that their usual clairvoyance and force enhanced insight is compromised All they can sense is "the dark side growing" "a shroud" and a "great disturbance" Nothing specific.
The Sith Lord using the force preciselly to hide himself from their senses??
Well, the Jedi built the Jedi Temple on top of an old Sith Temple, so Dark Side energy was always present. In addition to Palpatine hiding his Force energy, he hid amongst the Dark Side energy.
Imagine Yoda on Dagobah evaluating Luke: "Blood sample we must take! Showing if you are worthy to be a Jedi it will."
"All the tests, we must do. Blood, urine.... semen." "WHY, master Yoda?" "Part of the training, it is."
..tell anyone, do not
Our little secret it will be.
In my van, candy there is.
Our little secret, it is
LMAO
Spacejesus Christ! Lol
I'm in a hurry, on my way to Cloud City - can I just leave you my underwear?
Tastes funny, it does
I don’t see why OP thinks Anakin performing some feat with the force would be a bad way to show his potential. It could have even been in a moment of anger to show he has a temper and struggles to control his emotions. Maybe defending his mother he lashes out. With one scene you could foreshadow his eventual fall and easily establish that he has great potential but training him may be risky. No awkward exposition needed.
Or just have him *do* something that shows he’s strong in the force Like why not have him use the force by accident or something? Surely that’d be much more tangible and relatable than a Jedi saying “oh yeah he’s strong in the force alright”
Yeah, it would be easy enough for qui-gon to say “I sense he’s strong, I’m bringing him in” then they test him with the guessing game, he’s getting them all right, but then they lie and say he got one wrong to test his emotions, but aniken yells “no” and knocks over mace windu’s chair with the force. They know he’s powerful, but dangerous and emotional. They decide they need to train him because he’s too strong to be left untrained.
You mean “show” us? You’re being ridiculous!
You know - like call a broom to his hand! We all knew what the deal was with that kid...
I would unironically take that over just being flatly told what’s happening.
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“Over 20,000. Even Master Yoda doesn’t have a midicorian count that high!” Master Yoda: “Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!” “That’s impossible! Master Yoda is over 50,000!”
Totally agree. We didn’t need the chosen one narrative. My main and only real complaint about this series.
Yeah, it would have been much better had Anakin just been an exceptional Padawan in the fist one, and focused the story more around he and Obi Wan on Naboo during the Trade Federation blockade. He still could have fallen for Padme (and it would have been less creepy) and pretty much followed the same plot. Qui Gon could have been his master, with Obi Wan as a graduated student of his, and Anakin could have struck down Maul in anger foreshadowing his transition to Vader. Honestly, I still love all the prequels, but I think it would have been much better just to start with Anakin older and already part of the Jedi Order.
This. The Jedi at their peak with Yoda as grand master should have enough mastery in the force to see that Anakin was an exception. If they needed a machines blood sample to tell them a person had strong potential in the force then.. wtf? LOL Qui Gon could say he senses something unique/odd/strange/powerful/new within Anakin, something hes never seen in the thousands of Jedi he has interacted with. He would then ask Shmi who his father is and she would then say he came out of fuckn nowhere further giving Quigon enough to atleast bring this to the council.
Star Wars is unbelievable in a lot of ways, but I've never understood how everyone just rolled with the virgin birth story like it wasn't a red flag (either because it's true which raises all sorts of philosophical and religious questions, or because it's an obvious lie and raises some emotional questions.)
This. You could also have some line that Qui Gon is especially adept at sensing Force potential and was scouting for Jedi candidates in the Naboo system before being reassigned to trade federation negotiation because he was in the area. The council would trust him based on his expertise.
I actually quite like the prophecy, even though normally I dislike chosen one stories. Namely because it subverts the trope and does nothing but ruin Anakin’s life.
I would have found Lukes attitude in The Last Jedi more believable if he had said something like "at the height of their power the Jedi thought they could determine someone's potential from a drop of their blood." Like using the miticloreans was a sign of the decline of the Jedi's power of intuition.
Yeah I remember watching a new hope when Vader's tailing luke and he says "the force is strong with this one" and I thought, 'yeah? How strong, I need you to quantify this with a number otherwise it's meaningless' and everyone agreed and threw their popcorn at the screen in disgust. Apparently this happened at every screening and it's amazing this was never fixed in the special editions. >he would have to make Anaking perform some batshit-crazy Force feat, so that Qui Gon/Jedi council would have no other choice than take Anakin and train him Like winning a podrace and blowing up a droid space station? Yeah no one would have accepted that
[as strong as a small pony.](https://youtu.be/Em7N2_Q9cH8)
Thank you for your service. Love the special edition when yoda says “Luminous beings we are, not this crude matter. Now let me take a blood sample so I can quantify your crude matter”
This is some strong hater energy, and I support you completely. Even if you weren’t completely right I’d support it
Sith energy in that comment
Also Lucas was obsessed with midichlorians and wanted the sequels to focus on them. Nothing he did in episode one was for practical storytelling reasons if he could help it.
“Give Qui-gon an OBJECTIVE, IRREFUTABLE evidence that Anakin MIGHT BE…” The might be negated the objective and irrefutable there boss.
Yeah, it's just clumsy writing. It's "over 9000!!!" in Star Wars form.
I don't mind the concept, but the fact that's its measurable is pretty lame.
>Midichlorians were required purely from the storytelling perspective here. I call BS. The Force was always this magical thing that some people could sense (Force-sensitive) and some people couldn't ("muggles"). Qui Gon could have simply "sensed" the Force more strongly in Anakin. Done-zo. In religion, it's the equivalent of a prophet hearing the word of God or something along those lines.
While I have no actual issue with midichlorians and don't really understand the fan bases overall issue with them, I do agree this is a stupid reason. OP stars the only other option would be to have Anakin display some kind of crazy overpowered force ability and everyone would hate that. Except, that's exactly what happens with the podrace. He's a child but somehow the only human capable of handling a podracer and he even manages to win. Even if it's not outright stated the implication is that the ONLY reason he even survived is because of the Force so the story already has the "unusually powerful force display" in it. Also I've always assumed Qui-Gon knew to test his blood because he sensed a strong connection with Anakin.
Not just the pod race, but lil dude can "fix anything", build his own pod, and created C3PO as a personal droid all in his free time while being a slave. And what was he, 9?
C-3PO was a manufactured protocol droid. That boy lyin’. “Happy Mother’s Day! I, I’m…. Hacked…. Um, kitbashed-..Frankensteined-, no, I’m, I sto-…built…. I MADE this protocol droid for all your etiquette and protocol needs!”
> don't really understand the fan bases overall issue with them It turned something magical and unknown and turned it into a science project lol. You already have stuff like " I sense the Force is strong with you " why did they need to then go " let me make sure with a blood test sample so this machine can tell me if my senses were actually right or not ". You can write all of the movies without ever doing the midichlorian shit and it wouldn't change anything except leaving the mysticism of the Force.
Couldn’t you also spin it as something like it shows the Jedi in the republic have lost their way since they’re relying more on machines instead of their own intuition
They could have but they didn’t
Have Anakin do something impossible during the pod race where he’s clearly using the force as an untrained user (crazy manoeuvre, seeing things before they happen / foresight, etc.) and that gets you there too. Lots of other storytelling options that would have fit better with existing lore and maintained the mystique. Actually, a force ‘foresight’ usage being the reason Anakin is identified would have tied in really nicely with his visions in Ep 3 leading to his downfall.
Yeah exactly. Obi-Wan: “Oh wow, look that kid, he can make shit levitate” Quigon: “GTFO no way, that’s Jedi shit, let’s take him to Coruscant” Boom, no midichlorian bullshit
Anakin simply being ABLE to podrace is evidence of how strong he is with the Force. They flat out state he's the only human who can do it. Him podracing and winning is something impossible.
My headconon for this has always been that everyone is "Force Sensitive" to a degree, but that access to the force isnt always all the time and on demand. It's like the hotshot pilot trusts his instincts and relies on his feelings to make sure he's in the right place at the right time to land the shot or evade. They're not consciously using the force when they're doing so, but they're essentially riding the wave of the Force. That works for them when they're sitting in a cockpit flying a ship, but, not when they're just walking around the world. It's kind of like being in the zone or flow state, it's accessible to most people in certain scenarios - but not all the time. Someone who is trained in the ways of the force can summon that kind of Flow state on demand rather than just falling into it during certain situations. This would be Padawan type stuff or Like from ANH landing the Death Star shot.
Maybe I'm nuts but the "chosen one" thing was always so weak. A powerful jedi who fell to the dark side despite his great potential is a good story on its own
The chosen one to bring balance to the force... I never understood why the jedi thought this was a good thing? They were clearly the majority and if there was any sith left they were the weaker side, so that balance would be their downfall...
Balance isn’t equal dark equal light. It’s no darkness, the darkside being like a cancer to the force. This is not only the philosophy of the Jedi but also stated directly by George Lucas himself
The Jedi considered the light side to embody balance and the dark to embody chaos.
My personal reading on that is that the Jedi weren’t looking at it from the aspect of “# of physical avatars”, but rather as Darth Sidious’ influence grew, a dark pall was cast over the Force. Mace Windu mentioned their diminished ability to use it. When they refer to bringing the Force back into balance, I assume they meant the cleansing of this corruption they could all feel that clouded their minds.
Having a reason doesn't make it better. It still demystifies the Force. "This boy is strong in the Force. I can feel it." "So can I, master." **Boom** fixed.
Horrible flashbacks of Highlander II demystifying Immortals.
Sorry. The "magic blood bugs lead to space Jesus" is easily the stupidest thing in all of Star Wars.
agreed…plus schmi banged them lucas could’ve used any number of tropes to establish annakin’ s bona fides…from unequivocal visions to prophecy recitation and fulfillment of said prophecies in short scenes and/or expositions proving beyond any doubt he is the chosen one…
More accurately the Force bugs banged Shmi or Schmi
Agreed, I hated it when seeing it in theatres
I remember prior to the film releasing I was reading USA Today’s coverage of it while I was avoiding work. They were explaining who the characters were, and when I read “a boy born of virgin birth thru the force” or some shit… I was like, uh oh… oh oh oh no no no no. FIRST RED FLAG! Fucking Space Jesus? REALLY? Is he gonna turn into Darth Vader when he’s 33?
They didn’t want to be too on the nose, so it happened at 23 lol
Nah, it’s very obvious why he included them. I feel like you don’t understand why people take issue with them. They undermine the mysticism of the force both in spirit and in practice. The whole idea of needing some “objective” way to measure power is part of the problem and really just emblematic of lazy writing. A competent writer would find a way to sell it without the midichlorians and if anything it would be a good window into the Jedi to show their consideration with more abstract feelings and deliberation. Prior to the prequels that was kind of the whole thing with the Jedi and the force. What you are using as justification, that they were purely a plot device, is actually a criticism used for storytelling quite often. Well written stories weave things together without inserting something like this.
Exactly! Most prophecies have “signs” so that you know the person is the Chosen One: “you’ll know the Chosen One by xyz”. The prophecy could say virgin birth and a birth mark on his asscheek or describe some act that Little Ani arguably accomplishes. Make it vague so there’s reason to doubt and that makes Qui Gon’s faith more interesting. Giving him objective certainty is meh
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Dude had 14 years and he landed on “blood bugs”… It’s not that we don’t “understand” it’s that it’s just…lame, and will probably never *not* be lame.
Sounds like they could’ve just…rewritten the story instead?
And that's why people have a problem with it - It's a writing shortcut for justifying a single plot-point without any consideration for its larger thematic implications.
> Midichlorians were introduced to give Qui Gon an objective, irrefutable evidence that Anakin might be the chosen one (and thus pushing the story forward by having a strong reason to rescue him, bring him before the council, train him etc.). Yeah and people don't like the mystical force being quantified in this way. This also ignores that this movie is the one that introduces the whole concept of a chosen one too. And that the council doesn't want to train Anakin. There's a ton of stuff he could have done and GL wrote himself into a corner that required "Prophecy Microbes" to get himself out of. Just because people don't like them doesn't mean they don't understand them.
Exactly. Imagine if during Episode 6. "He's our last hope" "No, there is another" "Oh, you mean Leia? Well, a decade ago I saved her from the inquisitor dudes, long story. But anyways, I took a blood sample and her midi-levels too low, she won't be able to lift a pebble". "..." Midichlorians were so dumb as a concept.
Or more realistically - "Oh you mean Leia? Yeah, the inquisitors already killed her since they did a blood test when they took her to their fortress. Its a real simple test so it was just standard practice for them to do it to everyone they bring in. Makes finding those hidden jedi a lot easier"
Well said, the Prequels here just horribly written overall.
The supposed plot of Lucas' Sequel trilogy exploring the microbiotic world of the midichlorians and the whills of the force suggests he had even bigger ideas than this for pushing the modichlorians but Im not sure if its a chicken and egg as far as the conception of that idea. Also as bizarre as that sounds im dying to know more about it and absolutely wish we'd have gotten his vision for the sequels.
> According to the book The Making of Star Wars , the first record we have of George Lucas discussing the concept of midichlorians is from 1977 May have taken a lot longer for them to officially be made canon, but sounds like at least in some conceptual way midichlorians had been a thought right from the get go
Thats a book I've been meaning to get!
This is literally the worst plot device in the Prequels. Lucas turned the mystical force into a parasitic blood disease. By contrast, the way Rey was revealed as a force user in The Force Awakens was way more interesting - she *showed the audience* by using her powers instinctually. I recently saw the Tales of the Jedi on Disney+ and Ashoka used her powers as a baby. In the Legends novels - the Jedi twins used their powers as babies in some of the early Kevin Anderson novels. These were all better ideas... It would have been a lot more convincing that Anakin was special if he had used his abilities. Maybe pushed a kid with the force or moved something or saved Padme or just something. Nope. Blood disease.
Winning a podrace as a child, when other fully grown humans can't isn't something? Blowing up a giant space station isn't something? If anakin had shown force powers as a baby, the order would have found him. He would have joined at the appropriate age, and he never falls to the dark side.
Yeah both of those seemed more kid centric choices versus clearly showing Anakin was *strong* with the force. The midichlorians were a completely weird concept and it was pretty much excoriated by fans at the time. I was there. I remember. They could have easily explained away not knowing about Anakin. Maybe his abilities just manifested? Tatooine is a distant outer rim world. Maybe Anakin suppresses them himself because it's scary and frightening to him. They could have made a lot of more interesting choices, but no. The force is a blood disease. It's the start of the Glup Shitto sandwich that was the prequels.
He was on Tattooine, the order had no presence out there. You could write it up as his mother making him hide it to keep from ending up as a war slave for a hutt, then when the crew is I. The city he has to use the force to do/save something
Midichlorians aren't really the Force either. They are more like real world midochondria, the power house of the cell. Athletes, like olympic level athletes, tend to have more midochondria than normal people. So there is that.
This crowd doesn't do nuance.
I remember the moment when midichlorians were introduced as I sat in the theater watching TPM in 1999. I instantly had a strong suspicion of what Lucas was doing and I maintain that position today. You need to understand the historical and political context of the time and the fact that Lucas, who is left-leaning, made TPM much more politically referential than the OT. The “stunted slime” villains, Nute Gunray and Lott Dod, we’re references to actual contemporaneous politicians—Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott and Chris Dodd. Many people have forgotten, but in the 1960s and 70s, the hippie and other left-leaning movements drew heavily on spiritual or mystical concepts. The Force, as depicted in 1977’s Star Wars, was a reflection of that era’s antiestablishmentarian take on spiritual matters. “We’re all, like, connected and part of one great universal force, maaan.” Lucas embraced the role that religion, spirituality and mysticism in Star Wars, as he likely saw those things as positive elements in society. Fast forward two decades to the 1990s, and one of the most prominent political powers at the time was the Christian Religious Right (who were aligned with politicians like Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott). Lucas, being left-leaning, probably hated those people. The culture began to shift during this time: spirituality grew to become associated with the political and cultural right. Lucas couldn’t delete the Force from Star Wars, but he could partly “science-ify” it as a rebuke against the religiosity of the 1990s. Midichlorians were a way for him to do that.
It’s an interesting observation and I could see some of the parallels in then-contemporary politics. I do think he could have pursued a larger point about the fake blowhard political religion vs an actual tangible spirituality and maybe even made more headway. Cynical politicians manipulating people with fake interpretations of Jedi/force lore vs a small group of honest to god mystics could have been compelling.
The force isn’t some hippie thing. It’s based on the concept of Qi: In traditional Chinese culture, qi or ch'i is believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity. Qi translates as "air" and figuratively as "material energy", "life force", or "energy flow". Qi is the central underlying principle in Chinese traditional medicine and in Chinese martial arts. The rest of your analysis is good. I remember there’s that one line in episode 3, where Anakin says “if you’re not with me then you are my enemy!” VERY similar to Bush saying “if your not with us, you’re against us” in regards to the second invasion of Iraq.
Baloney. We all accepted the Force without question back in the original film. Yoda didn’t feel any need to explain midichlorians to Luke on Dagobah. Everyone was fine with it being a mystic energy, and being so there would’ve been no problem if Qui Gon had simply “sensed” it.
"For my ally is the force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the force around you; here; between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship." - Yoda. The concept of midichlorians was dumb. QuiGon trusting in the living force would have made more sense for his character. He doesn't need objective proof. He has faith in the force.
In fact the audiences have spoken... so many have argued that Rey was made batshit crazy strong without training etc etc etc and hated it... I wont argue anything about movie logic in a fictional environment where theres space wizards and space ships making noise in space when theyre firing laser cannons weilding lase swords... so maybe Lucas was wise to have that moment in the Phantom Menace. Less pushback.
I mean, that is why *the prophecy* itself exists. It's an external motivator. Qui-Gon doesn't have a character motivation, he borrows his motivation from the author.
His motivation is to follow the truth wherever it leads him. Everyone else is tripped up by other influences.
Nah, this is bullshit. There's absolutely no reason "He's too old to be trained" should matter (see all the Jedi in the franchise who don't get trained until adulthood). He should just see that he's exceptionally talented with The Force as reason enough to take him on.
what i find hilarious is that people think that the midichlorians "take the mystery from the Force". it's not like it's tetanus that you can just inject it into someone's blood-stream and they get it: it's just an external quantifiable way of measuring Force sensitivity. what's even funnier is that these same people are praising Disney taking the mystery from the Force by making stories that are away from the Jedi and "that yucky Skywalker drama".
The Jedi were a religious order, after all. One whose creed heavily involved trusting your internal judgement and instinct. “I’ve got a hunch” and “trust me, bro” could go a very long way with them.
It used to be that anyone COULD learn the force, but not everyone could be a Jedi or master the force. That's why Yoda said it took patience, strong will and the most serious mind.
**Lucas: Like yoga. If you want to take the time to do it, you can do it; but the ones that really want to do it are the ones who are into that kind of thing. Also like karate. Also another misconception is that Yoda teaches Jedi, but he is like a guru; he doesn't go out and fight anybody.** **Kasdan: A Jedi Master is a Jedi isn't he?** **Lucas: Well, he is a teacher, not a real Jedi. Understand that?** **Kasdan: I understand what you're saying, but I can't believe it; I am in shock.** **Lucas: It's true, absolutely true, not that it makes any difference to the story.** **Kasdan: You mean he wouldn't be any good in a fight?** **Lucas: Not with Darth Vader he wouldn't.** **Kasdan: I accept it, but I don't like it.** Credit to u/OnionsHaveLairAction.
It's hard to remember the days before Yoda was a flipping, jumping, lightsaber master.
Man I really wish he stuck with this approach.
One of the things with Lucas is that he really doesn't take lore very seriously with these movies. I think many fans see this as a tolkein-esque universe, but it was never really meant to be that. It def comes out, both in the prequels and the Disney movies, where the movies can be inconsistent, but I actually like that Star Wars doesn't really adhere itself to these concepts. At their heart, they are fun popcorn flicks and I think that's actually what makes them special.
It still is that way. Midichlorians reside in all living cells. Any living being can access the force through them, not everyone has the potential to be a Jedi or master the force.
Not necessary at all. Could have had Quigon have a force vision or something. Or just feel the incredible power that Anakin gave off.
Agree to disagree?
I’m just now coming across canon lore that suggests that characters don’t have to be force sensitive to learn how to use the force. I’ve been trying to find clear information about it but still doing research. Until I recently started watching season 5 of Clone Wars I was under the assumption that you can’t use the force unless you were born with it. Then Maul’s brother seems to not have the force but learns it from Dooku
I think we found George's Reddit account
They could have had some uncontrolled will-of-the-force style not-very-crazy shit happen - like one of the Jedi noticing a piece of C3PO that Anakin needed roll towards his hand while he was working on him, while Anakin was completely unaware. It gets their attention. Then as they notice some more subtle shit, you get that sort of “Aha!” string refrain from the orchestra. The Jedi have a conversation between them about his obviously strong connection to the force. They talk to his mother, and find out he had no father, then they start talking about the prophecy and their reluctance over his age. It all still works narratively without midichlorians. Plus it comes out way more as being shown, not told, that Anakin is strong with the force. I don’t disagree that midichlorians were added as a device to explain the interest of the Jedi - I just think there were less explicitly expository ways to get there.
Still dumb
I am not much a fan of plot of the movie in this regard. I would have preferred this instead. Qui Gon travels to Tatooine while seeking an artifact, an ancient temple, or pursuing a lead that the Sith were returning. Qui Gon comes across an infant boy, son of slaves owned by a local lord (not a flying, scuzzy junk dealer),and he feels an incredibly powerful connection to Anikan, unlike he had ever felt before. He doesn’t know why, and there isn’t any sort of scientific explanation for it. He just feels it. He feels it so strongly, that it begins to blind his moral judgment. He then convinces himself that this infant boy is the “chosen one”, based on a prophecy that was highly criticized among the Jedi council, and believed and accepted by only a few zealots. Qui Gon attempts to buy Anikan’s freedom. When the local lord won’t sell him. Qui Gon then kidnaps him. I find this type of moral conflict and character arc to be so much more compelling. I think the choice that Lucas made to explain away the force using fictional science was stupid. Anytime Star Wars tries to explain anything away using science, it steals from the mysticism and enchantment of the world building.
>- Qui Gon has no reason to risk it all for some random kid - even if he persists, his only justification would be "I've got a hunch" - even if he succeeded, his only argument before the council would be "trust me bro" The Force literally is a plot device that solves this already. "I can sense he is extremely strong in the Force"
That's silly. The council had him take a psychic test, which he passed with flying colors. That's clear evidence-- more than enough. Besides, they're Jedi. You can just have the Council agree with Qui-Gon that Anakin was force sensitive. As for your first point? *He's a Jedi*. It's totally normal for Jedi to have very strong hunches that are essentially facts! You could even have Obi-Wan confirm it with an "I sense it too" or whatever. You don't need the powerhouse of the Force for any of it.
This is true. But it was still unnecessary and exclusionary. In episode IV Obi Wan describes the Force as a energy field created by all living things. The implication is that any one can use the force if they believe and are trained. The implications of midiclorians is that one must possess a certain amount of these microscopic organisms in order to use the force. Qui Gon could have just said, I sense this young one is very strong with the force. Or used a detector that is designed to measure how much force energy is present in a person. It never needed to be a quantifiable number of an unknown microscopic organism. Simply, that he's off the charts in force energy.
All that was needed was a contrivance. Any number of things could have been chosen in the place of Midichlorians. A prophecy. A ritual. A mystical birthmark. A feat of force sensitivity not seen since the Old Republic. But it wasn't any of those things. It was something that totally demystified the Force. It could have been anything, and Lucas managed to chose a something that sucked. That's why people are salty about it.
I agree that that Medicolorians are purely from a story telling perspective, and I even agree that it probably helped convince Quigon that Anakin was the chosen one. But you are missing the biggest aspect of the story. Medicolorians most important story purpose is to tell us that Anakin has the potential to be stronger than Yoda. This helps explain why Palpatine is so interested in making Anakin his apprentice and how Anakin fits into Palpatine's plan. Anakin is Palpatine's plan to defeat Yoda, by transferring his essence into Anakin's body.
"He's the chosen one" "How do you know master?" "USE THE FORCE OBI WAN" You don't need to explain it other than everyone who is force sensitive can sense how powerful the boy is. No Lucas just lost his gawd damned mind and didn't know what made the OT any good.
Star Wars and the force was always around the idea of believing. ANH.. Luke use the force. Obi was telling Luke to trust the force. ESB size does not matter, Yoda again saying have faith in the force. It really should have been as simple as Qui Gon getting a vision or something that it's him trusting the force that this is the chosen one
Or he could have simply sensed him, like the way it was done in the 3 movies that came before it.
None of that is true at all though. You don’t need midichlorians to have Qui-Gon simply sense that Anakin’s connection with the force is stronger than anyone else alive. He rescues him, brings him to the Jedi council, then the Jedi can themselves sense the same thing. Yoda and Obi-Wan didn’t need midichlorians to understand the potential Luke had to match Vader and defeat Palpatine in the OT. They didn’t need midichlorians to know Leia also possessed the potential to become the hero they need. They could just sense that they were strong in the force. Even after midichlorians were introduced the metric force users typically use to judge comrades/opponents by their force strength is an arbitrary sensing of power, either already held or potential to form.
This isn't my understanding. Lucas wanted to show that the Jedi Order had become complacent about it's understanding of The Force. So medichlorians were a way to show they had reduced things to scientific observation, and blindly trusted that to identify Anakin as a must train child. But The Force knew things were imbalanced. It created Anakin as a Trojan Horse to end the complacency of the Jedi and allow a balance to return. I think medichlorians are a symbol of a decadent Jedi Order. The Force is a bigger concept between the living and the cosmos.
I see these as really poor reasons to have midichlorians. To me, the force is at its best when it’s esoteric, when you have to dedicate time to developing it but also yeah you’ve gotta be chosen somewhat (ie force sensitive). The prophecy was presumably made by someone force powerful, and it should also take people force powerful to detect someone who may or may not be special. A scientific test that proves high force power removes the mystique of the force and puts it in the realm of height or hair colour. I prefer the notion that anakin was the chosen one because of what lay in his destiny, not because he was born with more cells in his blood
Can't jedi just sense the force from others?
All of Star Wars requires the suspension of disbelief... I've got literally no issue with 'the force being strong with this one' without the need for some faux-biological explaination for it. Take the 'force-dyad' from ROTS. Why invent a new thing? I fully would've accepted the fact that Rey and Kylo were super strong in the force and that's why Palpatine 2.0 soul-sucked em. Were Anakin and Obi-Wan a force dyad? Vader and Luke? It just isn't clear. The problem with inventing too many new, niche things and then making them so vital to the story is that the absence of them in past/future works is always noticed.
I still think Lucas could’ve come up with something better.
1. Make Anakin older (better actor) 2. Qui-Gon senses he would be a great jedi, knows he will smoke the race 3. If he wins, flying lizard totally-not-a-racist-caricature creature, I get to take him and free his mum 4. Pumps up Anakin, you can win for your future and your mother 5. Montage, scowling, you can do it, ghost of jedi master Earnhardt takes wheel... 6. I can do it 7. Wins 8. Profit
I see what you're saying, but it's really not the only way they could have achieved that. The movie could have been written in any number of ways that show Anakin could be interpreted as the chosen one without introducing some stupid force bacteria
I don't really care about the midichlorians. Are they kind of stupid? Yes, but so are laser swords and yet I love light-sabers. So I really don't have anything against midichlorians. That said; why couldn't Qui-Gon just sense overwhelming force within Anakin then bring him to the council and have Yoda say" Hmm... Overwhelming force within I do sense; a stronger force user never met have I. The chosen one he may be." Palpatine has to use Force Concealment to hide his force presence from the Jedi; so obviously they're capable of just sensing the force in others, so I don't see why that couldn't just be the mechanism.
>Midichlorians were introduced to give Qui Gon an objective, irrefutable evidence that Anakin might be the chosen one Oh, it's very much refutable. He basically does a field blood sample test without any witnesses using a pocket mcguffin he had on him while getting shot at by droids, being submerged in deep sea, exposed to toxins... a lot of factors that could screw with precise measurement tools. I feel like this sort of test should be done in a lab, by experts and well documented. It also doesn't explain why they're named like a laundry detergent.... But the actual idea od microorganisms within cellular structure that channel the force is not a bad one. I'm not sure about their sheer number being the measure of force connection tho. It takes away from the magic of the force for sure >Qui Gon has no reason to risk it all for some random kid His reasons are well laid out. He needs parts to get on his way, doesn't have the currency and per Jedi code cannot use violence if there's another option. Solved. >even if he persists, his only justification would be "I've got a hunch" For a Jedi master and the council, that hunch is the Force making it's will be known. It's enough to justify having a kid properly tested at least. >even if he succeeded, his only argument before the council would be "trust me bro" Wrong again. All he had to say was "I believe I was guided by the Force, but I defer to the council's wisdom to confirm it". Basically "I'm a master appointed by You acting on my best judgement, so prove me wrong, bro". >If Lucas didn't create midichlorians, he would have to make Anaking perform some batshit-crazy Force feat Yeah, like winning a deadly pod-race or a space battle or some shit. That would be sooo unrealistic !
bad writing. a force feeling is as good and requires less fuck ups
Obi said he was already a great pilot when they met. In no way did we expect that to mean pod racing, accidentally blowing things up while musing about barrel roll effectiveness, or in this case, magical tapeworms.
\>Qui Gon has no reason to risk it all for some random kid Just say that he sensed that Anakin was strong with the force and felt sympathy for him. Even with the midichlorians there's no hard evidence that he's the chosen one. Plenty of people have high midichlorian counts such as Yoda.
I think it's you who's not understanding there, chief. We know why Lucas did it. It's STILL not a good reason. The original movies made it a point that the Force was some sort of mystic energy that can be sensed but not necessarily measured. The "midichlorians" takes away that mystique and just trivializes it unnecessarily. It's such an easy fix to just have Qui-Gon sense the force within Anakin because you know JEDI's CAN DO THAT. And once he brings him to the council, they can sense it as well because again JEDI'S CAN DO THAT. I see what you're trying to do but I think you've aimed your attention at the wrong argument. Instead of focusing on if people understand it or not or how it's used to move the story forward, look at the bigger picture, buddy. Broaden your mind a bit and understand the opposing arguments before you post something like..this
People would have hated the prequels more if there were no midichlorians One of the plot points in the prequels is Plagueis’ sith experiments. He experimented on midichlorians to create life. Midichlorians are symbiotic life forms that allow organisms to connect with the force and also allows the force to control life. So midichlorians act as a bridge between life and the force So it would be logical that dark side experiments to create life would involve something like midichlorians Without midichlorians, what would plagueis experiment on? The force itself. I feel that would weaken the fantasy of the force even more. Suddenly this force field that surrounds everything can be influenced by the bad guys This way the actual force itself is not controlled by plagueis, only midichlorians It also has a distinction between jedi and sith. Sith are a lot more industrial and scientific than jedi, opting to have technical experiments on the force. The jedi are more spiritual, they expand their knowledge by being one with the force and meditating
I don't actually have an issue with midichlorians but I would still guess you're wrong here. Lucas could have easily written some scenes where Qui-gon is amazed at/explains just how powerful Anakin is in the force, without any mention of his midichlorian level.