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Grand Moff Tarkin declares to Vader early on that "The Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion." Han Solo later in the same...
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Over the noon hour today, I was celebrating the break in the deep cold snap by walking along the neighborhood streets behind my clinic. As I walked down a hill into the next neighborhood, I passed the...
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Palpatine craved unlimited power. Anakin Skywalker sought galactic order. Ben Solo's motives are murkier but seem to be a combination of the former with an additional desire for perfect isolation....
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I very much dislike the term "Force ghost". It's a very commonly used description in the wake of The Last Jedi. I find the term trite when considering modern use of ghost to mean something of...
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In the Star Wars universe, money is never associated with power but rather a consolation prize for those who don't have power. Watto, a slaveholding junk dealer on Tatooine, is motivated by money but...
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The interludes between Star Wars movies are tantalizing. Fans are left to agonize on what will happen next. Fanboys take their angst and create a combinatorics wet dream of possibilities in print,...
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I return again to Tarkin and his incredulity that Obi-wan Kenobi might still be alive. "The Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out of the universe." Such a peculiar quote. So certain of a total...
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The Jedi Trials are only mentioned in the prequels. Very little detail is given. The implication is that a Padawan learner can only become a Jedi Knight after standing for the Trials. I don't think...
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Revenge of the Sith. The newly confirmed Darth Vader and a battalion of clone troopers slaughter the Jedi younglings. Cruelty is sealed by death. Preparation 3: The practical Jedi's basis is in...
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Return of the Jedi. The observation deck of the second Death Star. Emperor Palpatine sits on his throne away from throne and taunts Luke Skywalker, moaning half-mockingly and half-erotically about...
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Revenge of the Sith. The twins are born in the cold darkness of space. Yet they are shielded by the covert and quiet warmth of a station hewn into an asteroid. It didn't happen how it was supposed...
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The pod race on Tatooine from The Phantom Menace is the only example of a sport in the Star Wars movies. Much of the sporting is removed via deadly collisions and murderous cheating by Sebulba....
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Rogue One. The Guardians of the Whills, Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus, remain at posts which no longer need tending. They are the remnants of continuity after the great Fall. Baze Malbus has lost...
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Slaveholder Watto, Anakin Skywalker's owner, is small, unpleasant to look at and foul-tempered in The Phantom Menace. After falling on hard times, the Toydarian is all of the above and unhygienic in...
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Revenge of the Sith. Darth Sidious is revealed and fights off four Jedi before capitulating to Mace Windu, only to be undone by Darth Vader's betrayal. As Windu is electrocuted, Sidious cackles...
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After the great revelation, when Luke Skywalker is physically and emotionally drained, he falls through the central core of Cloud City and dangles tenuously against the abyss on an antenna. He is at...
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Many movie watchers disliked The Phantom Menace because it lacked the magic of the mythology. The Trade Federation, slavery, treaty disputes, politicians, committees and hyperactive/omnipresent...
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The Last Jedi is of course so new that there is much to ponder. Even months later, very few dwellers in the Star Wars universe have crystallized their feelings about and opinions of this most...
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The latter half of Return of the Jedi leans very heavily on Luke Skywalker's gambit that he can "save" Darth Vader and return him to his true self Anakin Skywalker. You remember how this turned out....
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The Star Wars universe as depicted in the movies is an extremely limited cross section of the larger society. The doctors and translators are robots. Traditional teachers are absent. Broadcasters...
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The Star Wars universe is largely devoid of a Robin Hood philosophy. The Jedi do not rob from the rich and give to the poor. Rather they seek balance and preserve a dispassionate sense of justice....
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Hurry now! We must work more quickly. Our candle burns ever more thinly. The invasion of Hoth. The airlift from D'Qar. It's not clear that we're going to make it, but we still must try.Practicum...
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Think about the opera scene from Revenge of the Sith. Anakin Skywalker seeks the counsel of Chancellor Palpatine, whom he knows as a friend and extracurricular mentor. Coolly and with almost no eye...
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A New Hope. Alderaan. Think about Alderaan and the destruction of an entire planet. No survivors.Practicum 4: The practical Jedi, moment to moment, reaffirms a commitment to see human beings with...
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Compare Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda in the original Trilogy to Master Luke Skywalker in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. The old masters are calm, self-contained and focused on both task and legacy....
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