LogFAQs > #939509843

2015
Star Wars: Episode VII - Specter of an Old Republic

Star Wars is at its best when it opens with a space battle, and thats what were going to do, but first we have an opening crawl. The Jedi and the Sith are dead, but the Republic remains. Reborn from the ashes of the fallen Empire, Coruscants Senate floor is alive with the buzz of new Senators, galvanized in a call to action by Chancellor Leia Organa. Even with this sign of new light, the outer rim of the galaxy is rife with smuggling and holdovers from the Empire. Loyalists lurk among the outer reaches, and rumors of a planned strike back by these loyalists has led to the Chancellors brother traveling to the mosaic world of Actia to track the looming threat.

Scroll complete, lets roll the film. We drop from the starry sky onto a world that seems like chunks of islands floating in the middle of space. Water seems to loop through rivers and falls, and gravity seems to emanate from a distant floating core. This world has purple-pink foliage everywhere, and each of its large islands has small biomes or cities. Its something new to the Star Wars universe; what seems to be an atmosphere-empty world with nothing that separates the void of space from the world itself. This is the setup for the world of Actia, where our Rogue Squadron is introduced. Rogue Leader to Green-One, three minutes to drop.

Our setup is this: Wedge Antilles and a group of Rogues are pushing through the system of islands, chased by a horde of drone-ships, designs based on the vulture crafts from Episode III. Wedge is also carrying a missile under his craft which seems to be weighing it down. This lumbering vehicle is dangerously close to destruction throughout the scene, with other Rogues forced to take body blow after body blow in order to prevent the destruction of the missile. Running up on a city-island, Wedge releases his missile. Green-One, drop initiated. The missile falls, sliding effortlessly between two thin columns above which the city is perched, jamming perfectly into a canyon. Pieces begin to release, and soon we see that a single individual was being contained inside. They roll out as the last chunk of the missile casing sheers from its hull, revealing Luke Skywalker, lightsaber in hand.

A battle under this city, with the peril of falling into the void of the planets mantle area ensues. Luke fights towards a leader of what seems to be a red-painted Stormtrooper legion, and he reclaims a stolen item from the Republic Archives - a holocron.

Cut to Han Solo, hand holding his slowly nodding head aloft. Hes jolted by an elbow belonging to Leia. Han blinks his eyes open and were injected into a meeting with several delegates from the lower arm of the galaxy, complaining about territorial disputes being exacerbated on neutral worlds by Imperial holdovers. You have to do something about Zsinj, they cry. His forces, though depleted by the fall of the Empire, remain staunchly loyal to the idea that one day the Emperor will rise again. The threat has become very real; with the fledgling Republics forces stretched thin, several planets are threatening to secede from the organization and consider independence, pledging their resources to bounty fleets, a new menace that is beginning to arise in the more lawless regions of the galaxy.

Leia and Han walk and talk afterwards, and Han chastises Leia for having a soft touch. Leia, in reply, claims that at some point Han needs to start playing the role of general. Han reminds Leia that he never wanted to be a general and that he only took on the job for her sake. There are definite tensions here.

This is all broken off by the return of Luke who seems rather erratic and frustrated with his most recent mission. Luke and Han eventually make their way to the abandoned ruins of the Jedi Temple, where we run into R2 and Threepio. Luke has yet to resurrect the Order; Han questions this casually - clearly, the topic has been brought up before. The prophecy that Vader was meant to bring balance to the Force weighs heavily on him still. Is balance, ultimately, the eradication of two extreme opposing forces? With no Sith and no Jedi, perhaps moderation is the ultimate key to balance. Nevertheless, the fact that thieves have absconded with holocrons from some of the far-reaching abandoned Jedi safehouses in the galaxy concerns him, and he uses R2 and Threepio to research what the value of this holocron is. The holocron is a fragmented file, spread between several others in an effort to ensure the security of the file, and if Zsinjs Crimson Guard is after these Holocrons, there must be a reason why. When Luke asks Threepio what the Holocron holds, Threepio simply replies with, A weapon.

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"It is too easy being monsters. Let us try to be human." ~Victor Frankenstein, Penny Dreadful