What Are the Whills? (How to Watch Star Wars: Part 1.1)
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2021
- For those of you waiting for Part Two of "How to Watch Star Wars"... This is that, but it's not the video about the Special Editions. Before I get to that, I wanted to expand on some things from my first "How to Watch Star Wars" video, and also include some new information that's come to light since then. The issues I address in this video about the Whills are, I think, the most important unanswered questions in Star Wars, and I really needed to clarify all of this for what I say in the next videos to make the most sense. So I'm calling this Part 1.1, because it's kind of a continuation of the first video, instead of what I planned for Part Two. But I think it's interesting and important to the series, so I hope you enjoy! (And Part Two is coming soon... thanks to everybody who has stuck around and waited!)
How to Watch Star Wars, Part One- The Prequels Are Better Movies Than You Deserve: • How to Watch Star Wars...
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/ rickworley - Розваги
Kinda funny to think that in the 6 first star wars movies the story is told by R2-D2, according to lucas, and in the disney trilogy R2-D2 seems to spend most of it shut down.
Well if R2 is the storyteller like Lucas was the storyteller, then I think it's fair to say that Star Wars with R2 shutdown is a nice way of showing Star Wars without Lucas. His stories to the greater universe kept us entertained for decades, and it'll never be quite the same without him. Let's hope that George's apprentices can carry on with his vision of a wider universe.
I think they already have. Sometimes successfully, sometimes less so.
I any case one thing I like about Star Wars is how everyone working on it seems to have a genuine passion for the material. As a result much of it feels authentic and thematically consistent with Lucas‘ work imo. I know Rick Worley strongly disagrees and I am really curious about his next video on the subject.
@@fgdj2000 I don't see much passion for the material in any of the Disney content except Rogue One - for instance, The Book of Boba Fett goes out of its way to say "no, I'm nothing like the character you saw in the original films, let alone like anything ANYONE has ever said about me"... or Obi-Wan... which destroys even Vader by making him seem completely impotent.
@@lumeronswift When was Vader impotent? He dominated every scene he was in, whether against Obi-Wan (first meeting), Reva or even the Path escaping… he did let his impulsiveness, anger and arrogance get the better of him, which is not only in line with his character in the prequels/ clone wars (and also why he lost to Obi-Wan again). This also incentivizes him to become more methodical (as seen in the OT) and simply makes complete sense to me.
Also, don‘t forget that Lucas himself says about Vader that he does have this imposing exterior and seems to be this powerful villain, when in reality he is this utterly pathetic man who has made bad decisions and lost everything and is just trapped without even realizing it.
Looking through these comments, people seem to have wildly different ideas about a lot of things here, many seemingly at odds from this creator.
On the topic of this video, I hadn't looked into the question too much itself, I always thought the Whills were just the writers (as meta as that may be), but the way this is presented it makes a pretty good case for what's being said, but I don't know if I buy it.
I really hope Lucas sees your videos Rick. He's gotten so much unnecessary hate, it's great that someone as smart and insightful as you is willing to fully engage with his work, uncovering the different layers.
It would be nice if he saw it and said, "Finally, somebody who understands everything!" Haha. I'm sure he might think I got some details wrong, but hopefully he'd like to see somebody trying to understand his meanings instead of dismissing it out of hand.
@@rickworley9081 I'll be honest, I think he'd just appreciate that you're asking WHY he put stuff in and trying to figure it out, instead of just assuming he's wrong. With his own story.
@@rickworley9081 Unfortunately, I don't think he even goes on the Internet. And gee, I wonder why.....
@@rickworley9081 You're like the Adam Curtis of filmmaking UA-cam. I think your videos are absolutely excellent, even if I disagree with your take on The Last Jedi haha. Keep up the fantastic work man. Very excited for Part 2!
I really do too my friend, I really do too. I wish Lucas saw them someday. I couldn't agree more wholeheartedly with your comment. This is exactly how I feel.
OT: "The Force is an energy field." So... science, then. Inside living things? And to some degree hereditary, like... science.
Qui-Gon: mentions midi-chlorians (which is an important part of his justification for chosing *this boy* when there are many, many younglings).
Fans: *freak out*
Also Qui-Gon: spends the *entire movie* talking about prophecies, trusting our instincts, balance and the will of the Force guiding everything
B-b-but that's not how imagined it. I want the films to be more spiritually fantastical!
Now allow me to explain why Anakin's immaculate conception is stupid.............
Oh, the irony :)
the fans killed star wars when they forced the creator out. @@onemoreminute0543
Wait till Star Wars fans learn that we do have tiny organisms in our body
I'm pretty sure a lot of them think George Lucas made this up 😆
@@rickworley9081 most likely. Love your videos. You’re amazing
@@bradybaker7650 Thanks!
No... That's not true! That's impossible!
the way Stuckmann says it really feels like he thinks its fiction
How ironic that fans complained about midichlorians demystifying the Force when it only added so much more to the mystery.
For real though.
I love how Rick ties it with the real science of the biomes within human bodies. There are some people who believe scientific understanding "demystifies" reality, but the deeper you look into the microscopic or the further you zoom at to examine the macroscopic you still find plenty of new questions and mysteries.
If you have to remain ignorant for something to stay mysterious, it's not a very good mystery. Good stories should become more interesting the deeper you go.
@@rickworley9081 That's pretty much how a mystery works. Once you solve it it's no longer a mystery.
It changed from a 'space magic' model which children lived with for decades, to one with a biological basis. It's not that scientific materialism isn't fascinating and mysterious in its own right, is that it fundamentally changed people's idea of it, which 'solved' something which didn't really need solving to OT kids.
Children understood this concept and somehow adults didnt, absolutely baffling
#OGLucas
Yep!
Definitely baffling to spend a large portion of my life watching people old enough to be my parents chuck hissy fits over stuff that made perfect sense
Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.
I understood the concept of the Midichlorians when I was a child just fine. Hell, my dad (the adult) also understood them and that's because we have a *BRAIN.*
@@briancatoni7000 I have one of those for my dog.
What I always find fascinating about Lucas' mythology is how he treats technology and science. Unlike you would see in other writers, he doesn't make any clear cut between what's fantastical and what's scientific; to him they are tools that he uses in an allegorical way: Star Wars can be symultaneously a story of the past, the present and the future. Time and age are not factors in his message.
That, I think, is what people stumbled over when it comes to midichlorians. They saw cells being mentioned in relation to a concept that they thought magical, something that wasn't meant to have any logic besides that of the story, and they took it for an attempt at explaining something away, at making it mundane, scientifical. But to Lucas that was never a problem, because he never thought through that dichotomy.
Its a universe driven by theological microbiology, which is a super neat and unique approach to fiction.
@@REDDAWNproject 'Theological microbiology' is one of the most beautiful sounding words I've ever come across. And a perfect way to describe the world Lucas created :)
Copernicus tried to show that the Earth rotated around the Sun, and he was vilified.
Yeah, but the scene where qui Gon tells Anakin about it is terrible, might be why people didn't like the idea honestly. If it was presented differently maybe it wouldn't seem as off-putting to people. The idea has grown on me over time, but that scene is pretty bad
Rick has shown me that Star Wars fans are as shallow as Disney portrays them. They deserve this treatment from the mouse
Fantastic video. You've outdone yourself, Rick. When l first saw TPM in 1999, I took particular note of the Midi-Chlorian scene between Qui-Gon and Anakin. I saw Midi-Chlorians as a conduit to the Force and to me, it all made perfect sense and still does to this day.
What pains me, is that we will never get to see Lucas's version of the sequel trilogy. This was something that I had waited more than half my life to see and sadly, we'll never get to see those concepts fleshed out. Instead, we got some corporate drivel, that was basically a soft reboot, of Lucas's first three films.
What a stunningly beautiful lecture. With how thoroughly researched this is, this has got to be the definitive essay on The Force that anyone has written to date. Rick's expertise and dedication to quality is second to none.
Thank you!
Also, really great choices for background music. Really adds a sense of foreboding and/or grandeur, depending on the mood.
@@aPonderousChain That's exactly what I agree. It also feels so professional and nostalgic; like a true tribute to cinema history.
The more i look into it, the more i'm convinced star wars is one of the greatest works of fiction of all time, not just for having all of these additional layers and thought put into it, but for being entertaining and passionate and deeply creative no matter what layer you observe.
Also, how goddamn cool is it that George estsblishes this idea of natural, cell like structures in Ep I consistently through the visuals, since episode 1 is the introduction to Star Wars.
@@REDDAWNproject examples? I think of Otoh Gunga.
@@cheerleadersonsafari Otoh Gunga (and all the Gungan shields and weapons, like the blue bombs), Coruscant (specifically the senate being one giant circle formed by hundreds of smaller circles circled around a podium, but also the planet itself has clear circles within the giant planet circle), The victory orb in the final shot. Even the Trade Federation control ship is an Orb inside a larger (almost) orb.
The senate one is even cooler when you think about it a little more, because its a direct representation of smaller organisms coming together to control a massive organism (the republic itself). It kind of shows how all these technological societies push themselves towards replicating the natural state of these concentric circles aiding each other despite the goal of being more civilized.
It's at least on the same level as something like Tolkien's work.
It's such a shame Lucas didn't make 7, 8, 9. We would've had some amazingly unique films.
Quigon is such a fucking GOAT he literally made sure all his homies made it to the afterlife what a lad
Thanks so much for this. This is a great showcase that George knew what he was doing with Star Wars, unlike Disney with the dismal parody of the Sequel trilogy. He didn't try to demystify the force, rather it greatly enhanced the mystical and esoteric nature of the Star Wars saga.
You still have some of the very best content about Star Wars I've seen, and I'm very excited to see what comes next. I've enjoyed Lucas's Star Wars even before, but your videos have given me a whole new appreciation for it.
Thank you!
@@rickworley9081 Rick, if everything what characters do is the will of the Force, does that mean that some Wills are evil and some are good, since one give advices to Sith and others - to Jedi? And is there actually free will in Star Wars?
The part where George talks about how when you rewatch the films you pick up on more and more hits to a big problem I have with the sequels. Where despite any problems the 6 main Star Wars films have, they have a deeper vision from an artist. While the sequels are just meant to get you in the theater and buy toys. Culminating in what I consider to be the worst Star Wars movie (episode 9) where all sense of cause and effect are lost and is only enjoyable if you don’t think too hard about what’s going on.
The prequels grow on me the more I think about them. The sequels become more sour the more I think about them.
I'd say TROS being enjoyable if you don't think too hard is giving it too much credit when you'd have to not think at all to not find obvious issues with even one scene of the film.
@@choueriito2548 I gave myself a headache trying to work out the logic about the parents taken on Jakku scene. You’re right really the whole movie is devoid of logic
I saw TROS on opening night (to avoid spoilers, not because I had high hopes or was invested in anything about it) and I figured the Leia scenes would be awful, but there might at least be something redeemable about it, like possibly a scene with Luke that helped explain... anything or tied into an aspect of the original movies, since they talked about tying all nine movies together. The main thing I remember is having a headache at the start, being bored and just hoping it would end, and the person in the seat next to me huffing loudly about every 10 minutes.
What a waste of time the sequel movies are to watch or discuss. IX just made the meagre offerings in VII and VIII even less interesting.
@@Ruylopez778 honestly if I had to give some praise, I thought the work they did with leia was surprisingly passable.
The fact people complained about Midichlorians and say it’s essentially the Force and that the Force was permanently ruined because midichlorians are now in Star Wars has always been completely ridiculous. Instead of watching behind the scenes documentaries, featurettes, interviews with George Lucas as well as maybe listening to commentaries where George Lucas explains things like midichlorians as well as the later interviews with Lucas regarding the Whills. If one begins to learn more about what the Whills is, then the midichlorians begin to make more sense then they initially did without much discussion beyond the little information we learned about them in the Prequels, which isn’t that hard to grasp within the confines of the prequels anyway. The force is still a spiritual and mysterious thing that the characters and the audience don’t know everything about. These things give us more of an idea of the grand scheme of things regarding the Force and how things like the Whills and Midichlorians are interwoven with the Force, but we still do not know everything, so there is still a mystery to the Force. Great work Rick, I can’t wait to see the next part in this series. Take care!
The thing is... noone even needed any of the documentaries to understand midichlorians... that single scene where Anakin asks about them was completely sufficient and self-contained...
Thanks! More videos coming soon!
@@lumeronswift absolutely. Homework shouldn't be required to understand something in a film.
I'm sorry, but if the audience has to consult sources outside of the movie (let alone such a large amount of them) to understand such an important element in the story then you've massively failed in the writing of your story.
All this proves is that Lucas did not properly explain or justify the Midichlorians to the audience within his own film.
It's great that this outside material exists, but it shouldn't be necessary for the audience to understand. Most people aren't going to read or watch anything outside of the movies.
@@jeggsonvohees2201 well the film gives us enough knowledge to know what the Midichlorians are and where Anakin came from. The Force and the Midichlorians are two seperate things as Quigon explained. The Force thru the Midichlorians gives a Jedi strength. Anything in books is just added lore.
honestly the sequel plans by Lucas are nothing short of fascinating, finally meeting the Whills would've been amazing. and of course you've got articles that are like "no thank you lol, glad that didn't happen" which is exactly how the Stuckmanns and the RedLetterMedias of the world would react. if anything, the actual sequel trilogy is a fitting punishment for a spoiled fanbase. at least we still have six great movies to enjoy.
I'm glad those OT Purists got exactly what they deserved, The Original Cast Back, X Wings, Tie Fighters, Stormtroopers, Rebels, Humour despite the new characters themselves being empty, and some of them being rip-offs of what came before.
Wanted Han back and being a badarse snarky bounty hunter again? Here you are, and his character arc shat on because that's all Han Solo is to you, A badarse who was a bad husband and a coward of a father who abandoned everyone he ever cared for and went back to being a shoot-first coward he was again, and his loathsome son gave him his just desserts for being the shitty coward he always was deep down.
@@myujokt733 It's a monster of their own creation
@@Dark6997 And they should live with it now.
@@myujokt733 They learned nothing, this trashfire of a trilogy is exactly what the "Stuckmanns and the RedLetterMedias of the world" wanted, a half of Star Wars without the vision nor passion of George Lucas.
Funnily enough, I was talking to my cousin earlier today about the Whills when we got into a conversation of laughing at the poor arguments prequel haters make against the midichlorians, so this video's both a coincidental delight and something I'll have to show him as he's interested in the cosmological aspects of Star Wars.
Also, one additional thing worth noting about those that erroneously believe midichlorians limit how much strength in the Force one can achieve (as though both RotJ and real world science didn't make it apparent genes play a heavy part in a successful life), it's worth noting one of the pieces of now Legends material cited Obi-Wan as having the lowest midichlorian count of any Jedi despite him becoming one of the most esteemed of his generation through hard work.
It's also clear in the movies that Anakin has more Midi-chlorians that Obi-Wan and is theoretically more powerful, but Obi-Wan defeats him because he's arrogant and impetuous. Natural ability isn't everything, it's about the choices they make.
I think it’s stupid that people complain about Padme dying in childbirth
@@bradendalhouse7247 I'd say that's one of the more valid critiques of the prequels when considering the highly advanced medical technology available. I'd still agree that it doesn't hold full weight when considering the Darth Plagueis scene and the cuts between Anakin and Padme make it apparent that her life is being manipulated, though it is one of the elements that requires more digging into the subtext and attention to the film than the common and easily debunkable complaints such as "politics bad, Jar Jar bad, midichlorians bad."
@@rickworley9081 Yeah, though that much is pretty obvious to anyone who watched the film. I was highlighting more so the gigantic difference presented in their potential in Legends, whereas those who had just watched the film may come to the conclusion Obi-Wan's midichlorian count would still be fairly high.
@@choueriito2548 people die of heartbreak all the time. And its literally impossible to stop. My grandma and my uncle passed away due to heartbreak, due to losing thier respective loved ones.
About the show Anakin and Palpatine go to, I have mainly seen it as a visual representation of procreation, conception, since Palpatine is talking about the midichlorians and how they can even create life, hinting at Anakin's mysterious origin. And in a sense it is the beginning of Anakin's new life, new self, as Darth Vader, planting the seeds that will later grow. But it does make sense for it to resemble things like mitochondria (or midichlorians) within a cell, or a solar system, too. That's what's great about Star Wars--always more layers to uncover! I hope my own fiction can accomplish the same thing, but it is difficult to do.
This is one of the most important videos about Star Wars on youtube. Magnificent work. Microscopic world is trully fascinating. I like idea that most powerful beings in the Star Wars are also smallest one.
Thank you!
God bless you, Rick. I pray to God Lucas sees your videos someday, before it's his time to leave and join the angels. I can't express how much I appreciate you as a person. Thank you so much for everything you do, for Lucas, and for us Lucas fans!
Hey you made another Star Wars video! We only had to wait a year LOL, hope the Special Editions video comes next since I’ve been so hyped for that one
It's coming, but it's a big one... have other short videos that might get finished first. Lots of stuff on the way!
My favorite thing about the prequels is the way it makes R2-D2 this all-knowing being. It completely enhances the opening act of A New Hope.
This was lovely! These essays always wind up explaining things I've only ever been able to understand on a gut level from watching the six Star Wars films over and over throughout my life. It's almost cathartic to have these abstract emotional understandings finally put into words and sort of made concrete in my mind. I really have to get ahold of those star wars archives you mentioned. They seem like a treasure trove of information. While literally living in the woods and not getting the internet to my house until 2019 helped shield me from direct exposure to the mind poison that is digital discourse, it's also left me completely unaware of supplementary materials like the archive books, interviews, etc. Thank you again for another fantastic video!
I always knew R2 was supposed to be the POV character, but the way you explained it and included the "Voices" scenes made it so much more fascinating. The Whills and midichlorians are definitely underrated. Great video!
Nice to see a video like this, I’ve become increasingly irritated over the years that people think they’re the force when I says it’s how we communicate. And there’s always been science stuff with the force. “The force is strong in my family.” How? Genetics, cells etc. idk how people don’t immediately know this.
The description of the Force as an "energy field" is itself scientific.
even more interesting that Jedi don’t normally have kids either, so this is actually quite rare atleast in canon, so it makes the Skywalker family even more special
I don't recall feeling confused about midichlorians when I first saw Episode I as a kid, but I don't think I thought much about them and their implications. Then, years later, I saw the Plinkett reviews and such, and not having seen the movies in a while, I fell for the nonsense representation. But later, I saw the relevant scenes again and it was clear that midichlorians are NOT the Force but a way for the Force to communicate with the individual living being. It is not a hard concept to understand if you actually pay attention to the movies, but I guess that's too much for some people.
RLM and their ilk simply don't care to understand Lucas' concepts, they're only concerned with bashing him because they have a big chip on their shoulder.
Everyone understands the concept they just don’t like it
@@jchud13 No. Many people over the years have misrepresented the midichlorians as actually being the Force.
We see this in Christianity as well. Greco-Roman philosophy has pervaded so much that we only seek spirituality and despise created matter. Yet, the Bible consistently shows God working through his creation, through dirt, people, bread, wine, water, and ultimately becoming man himself.
I think I followed the same path as you with plinkett. I can't say for sure, but I never loved the concept of the midicholorians as I thought it demystified the Force, but now I look at it and the Force is still a mystery, it just works, obviously, through means.
Sorry for English, not native, but i had goosebumps for the whole video. Amazing job. Whills will be pleased.
RIP Mr Rinzler. I just looked him up, and what a focused, pregnant life he led. He had an enviable privilege and carefully exacted his responsibility to report upon the making of one of the defining sagas of modern literature.
You undeniably have the best Star Wars content on the internet. Not too meta, looking around the content of the story. But also not completely ignoring the creator. Perfectly balanced.
Rest in Peace Rinzler well see you again once we join the force ourselves!
How is this such a “complex” idea? The force can be channeled by living things bc of the mediclorians in our cells. More mediclorians = more force potential. Pretty simple and clean.
And science has always been apart of the force. “The force is strong in my family.” And people born of force sensitive people, particularly strong ones has always been a known thing. Those are both genetics…….cells………clorians actually make things make more sense, while allowing the force to still be what’s always been and letting it still be mystical. And we are made up of cells and matter, idk why this is so confusing for people
I think it's incredibly funny that JJ Abrams tried to get away from 'chlorians, but still made Episode 9 all about how the Force and it's powers are passed through bloodlines.
Can you make a bioweapon to kill midichloreans? Can you transfuse them into something else? Can you breed people/animals through eugenics to be better at force stuff?
The Midichloreans also don't answer the question of why some people can use the force and others can't. Why are some people born with midichloreans and others are not?
@@davidspektorov8262 in the movie it's literally said that Midiclorians are in all life, it's what links living things to the force. The number of Midiclorians varies between living things, and that's what determines their force affinity
@@ntfoperative9432 And you didn't read what I said. If midichloreans are effectively sentient, why do they choose some people to have more chlorians and some not? It only moves the mystery up a spot, it doesn't solve it.
It's so nice to see someone else FINALLY understand George Lucas, man. He isn't a hack, he's a god damn genius savant.
My brother found that exact same book you mentioned at the start!! He found it at Half Price Books. What a gem
You're the best UA-cam channel I've ever found, let alone the best Star Wars and film channel. Thank you so much for your documentaries and essays man, they truly are wonderful. Everything about them - from the way they are written, to the way they are crafted - are just a sheer joy to experience. Really excited for Part 2 :)
The best sci-fi is always based on real concepts be it scientific, political, or metaphorical. It's crazy how so many people can miss the point of star wars and just want a fun space thing they don't have to think about.
Its incredible that the thing that "utterly ruins" Star Wars is a complete background detail that's rarely mentioned explicitly that they don't even attempt to understand because they're convinced their completely wrong understanding is good enough to dismiss it
In the revenge of the sith novelization Obi-Wan and Padmé had this interesting dialogue:
Padmé: "But the will of the force... isn't that the guide of the Jedi?"
Obi-Wan: "Of course. But remember: not even the jedi know everything there is about the force. No mortal has such knowledge. We speak of the will of the force like someone who knows nothing about gravity says that it is the will of the river to flow into the sea. It's a metaphor that describes our infinite ignorance."
(Lucas' influence on that book: "we spent quite a bit of time talking about the specifics of Anakin’s fall - what, exactly, drives him over the edge, when it happens, and what has led him to it. And, of course, we had to talk a bit about the dark side… The one place where I really had no freedom at all was in the characters’ motivations: Mr. Lucas had an exceptionally clear idea of exactly why everyone was doing what, and he wasn’t about to allow me to mess around with that even a little bit. I mean, he literally went over it word-by-word, even to the point of altering descriptives to adjust the characters’ inflections. As I mentioned earlier, he trimmed a number of the EU references - especially ones that harkened back to some of the older material that I’m guessing he’d rather not re-avow as part of Official Continuity, if you see what I mean. There was only one cut - actually a series of cuts, of a continuing metaphor of which I had been particularly proud - that surprised me (and, in fact, upset me; I don’t mind telling you that this was the first time in my career that I’ve thrown an actual Full-Blown Diva Hissy-Fit, in a conference call with LucasBooks, howling that they go back and tell Mr. Lucas that "He just can’t do this to My Book!"). The funny thing was that after I had calmed down - and survived the migraine I’d given myself - I realized that not only was Mr. Lucas right and I was wrong (in the sense that making this series of cuts tightened the book and cleaned up the thematic arc), but that doing it his way also brought into much clearer focus a powerful moral point… and I found I had been arguing against something I actually really agreed with. Oh, it was embarrassing!").
Now I should point out that since the staging differs somewhat in the novelization from the film, one could argue that the specifics of what happens in the novelization do not really matter. Even if this is true, I would still argue that the novelization is relevant because Lucas approved it, and novelization shows the overall intent.
I like how Disney bragged about their story group and how every novel, comic, film and tv show is connected in their Star Wars canon. And yet they forgot that they also kept the prequel films and the Star Wars the clone wars series as part of their canon.
I like the attempt in theory, but also really liked the old expanded universe, where we could build our own star wars universe next to the offical, where we could decide what comics and novels were part of that series.
I appreciate that you're not one of the old EU heads that says that ALL THIER STUFF WAS CANON BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WAS.
I always thought the pick and choose nature of the EU was neat.
Its sad because Lucas never got to finish his metaphor for life
I’ve become interested in the human microbiome. There’s scientific evidence that the bacteria in the gut can influence what the host eats. That’s why it’s beneficial to eat things that increase the good bacteria in your body. Loved Star Wars since 1977 and I sorely miss George’s creative genius.
These videos are so good. Watching them all for the third time now. I would love more videos like this explaining things you like and why you like them. Its really fun.
Fuck me literally every person who's ever watched Starwars should see your stuff it's criminally underrated sigh
Beautiful as always. You're care for the explaining that I try to do, but just frustrated with people's refusal to open their minds, is always greatly appreciated.
Give me part 2 or I’ll make you watch the last Jedi on repeat forever
I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
@@rickworley9081
What about Rise of Skywalker?
@@JinxTheLooneyToon915 To quote Captain Blackadder:
"Ah yes. A fate worse than a fate worse than death" 🤣
If only the most popular cinema essay channels made videos half as good as this one.
Great work like always
Every video you put out is well thought out and very well made. Thanks for making such high quality stuff
Thanks, I'm glad you like them!
Thanks for making this. I always felt crazy trying to explain this to people, and you've made me see a lot more that I never even considered. Good job!
Midichlorians were quite an interesting addition to the story, even though Rinzler confirmed that they were not planned from the very get go.
I’m less concerned with the stuff underdog messages and more concerned with consistency in power systems. If a certain advantage is established in-universe, then the ability should be consistently proven superior and its ability and effectiveness should not fluctuate and vary to accommodate the plot. The plot should work around the established power systems, not the reverse. I have no problem with inborn advantages so long as the story is consistent with them: I have no problem with Force-users being stronger than non-Force users, I have not problem with wizards having magical abilities when muggles don’t, I have no problem with demigods having powers humans don’t, I have no problem with aliens having special powers regular humans don’t, etc. I don’t mind imbalanced systems where certain people groups have a natural superiority in some area in comparison to other “regular” humans so long as the story is consistent with them. That isn’t to say that I don’t mind the occasional exceptional person rising above them and proving to be more skilled in some way than a person with special abilities, but it has to be done right. For example, Han Solo beating Luke Skywalker in a lightsaber duel may show that “anyone can be special” but to me it would just feel stupid and unearned; Force-users are established as having quicker reflexes and in my opinion that rule shouldn’t bend just to make Han Solo look cool or prove that anyone can be special.
I guess a lot of people felt like the Midichlorians seemed to give a certain limit to how powerful a person could become in the force, no matter how much they trained, which would go against their power fantasies. Even though the force is both the result and the birth of the physical world, so it having some connection to biology doesn't seem that far off.
The interesting thing about rules of magic systems, for example, is to have those rules and see how the characters try to work around them.
In Aladdin, the main character can't use magic to make the princess fall for him (and he shoudn't), yet he can use the magic in an attempt to get her to notice him.
People may have a certain limit in the force (as we all have a certain limit in regards to different things), yet the Jedi still face a lot of challenges after the Sith returned, for example. And Sidious controlled Maul pretty much from birth, making him more of an extension of himself rather than a self thinking and happy person. So in a way, Sidious used Maul to expand his own Midichlorian count (sort of).
Thank you so much for these videos. They’ve taught me so much more not just about Star Wars but life itself.
Keep em coming man 🙏
Thank you, that's a really nice compliment!
Another good video. You don't need to worry about justifying referencing the Clone Wars, if you look into the production and behind the scenes of that show, you would know that Lucas was extremely involved with pretty much every aspect of the show all the way through Season 6. Only the final season 7 was done without heavy Lucas involvement.
And even then, he still had a hand in how the final product would ultimately turn out (before The Clone Wars got cancelled for the 1st time, anyway). That's why in the Siege of Mandalore episodes, the credits have "Created by George Lucas": it was the very last piece of Star Wars media that George was involved in. And the final product really shows that.
I’ve never understood why people bash Lucas. The guy invented the whole idea of Star Wars. Why be a fan and bash the artist. Fools. You are why he sold it to Disney.
Although I agree, Lucas said himself that he knew he was getting too old and wanted to spend time with his family. So he always was looking for a way out
Hey someone linked me your video on my Plinkett response series and I thought I'd check it out. This was a wonderful watch and I was genuinely fascinated by it. Even as someone who loves and regularly defends the prequel trilogy, I didn't know about the depth and effort put into some of these concepts. It's pretty awesome to see it all put together like this.
Wow, over two years since part 1 xD But I waited patiently, and it was worth it (even if it is "only" part 1.1). I think that was an important topic. And it's cool to see how you tied into the Ring Theory. Paul Duncan's books are really great and yes, they definitively confirmed that theory and Lucas' ambition. Also, nice to see you included the great J. W. Rinzler. His death really hit me, even though I knew he had cancer. A huge loss. RIP.
I felt the same way about Mr. Rinzler. I always enjoyed interviews with him(including here on Rick's channel)
literally just commented on another video about how we need more people like rick! It's like I made this video appear out of thin air
I wish these videos appeared out of thin air... this one took me weeks and it was meant to be a simple one 😆
@@rickworley9081 after having watched the video, i can say for sure that those weeks of editing paid off!
That intro is gold, frick it's gold, as a medical student Midichlorians are not weird at all as a concept.
Everyone has proteins like myosine but if i have more myosine my muscle would grow faster, i think Midichlorians function the same.
I never had a problem with midi-chlorians as a concept. They were necessary to explain why some people can use the Force and others can't, and to what extent your genes play a role in that. I do wish Lucas got the chance to fully explore the cosmology of Star Wars through what would have been his third and final trilogy. Selling the franchise to Disney was a mistake, as was appointing Kennedy to be its curator.
You hit it with “they are necessary to explain why some people can use the Force and others can’t.” TPM is about finding Anakin, a young boy who has a lot of “the Right Stuff,” to borrow a phrase. But how do we know he’s got the Right Stuff unless there’s some kind of “stuff” we can measure? That’s the midi-chlorians.
George Lucas deconstructed the laws of physics, biology and cosmology of our own universe, and redefined the laws of those elements to create this insanely phenomenal world in space fantasy, from the ground up while also webbing the Hexalogy into one contained overarching story, and it's worldbuilding is essential to that. The Force is STILL this useable, unknowable element. The Midichlorians basically explain HOW life feels the force rather than being the force themselves. Midichlorians are pretty much little satellite dishes that live in your blood, and they act as receivers for the force. -To say it "demystifies the force" is a total misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what the films are representing. Keep up the good work, Mr. Worley.
Part of me wishes that R2 meeting the Whills and relaying the story of the saga to them (thus completely recontextualizing the opening crawl of each movie) had been worked into Episode VI as the fitting conclusion for the saga. :}
I'm just blown away by your content. Another great video.
Midichlorians aren't no where near as big a deal as people made out. I saw it as Qui-Gon just giving Ani a quick explanation because he was a child. Never understood how this would have ruined the mysticism of the OT.
And Anakin was was asking what midi-chlorides are not what the force is, which again is more proof that we didn’t even need any MCs are not literally the force.
I did not watch any behind the scenes videos or interviews, but 8 year old me understood that midichlorians are just the connection to the mysterious force. The more you had the greater your connection to "god"
That's why I can't understand why grown man, adults even, could misunderstand something so simple.
Yeah, it's kind of baffling how harsh a response they got. For me, the concept went over my head when I was younger but I understood them when I got older , and never saw the issue.
One thing that I've noticed about Lucas over his films is how he rarely differentiates between the physical sciences and mystical spiritualism.
Take the Force itself as an example. The way many of the Jedi describe it sounds really spiritual and mystical, but the way Obi-Wan first describes it in ANH is as an 'energy field', which is more scientific.
It reminds me of criticisms I've seen of introducing aliens in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Granted, I haven't seen the film so I can't judge all its merits/flaws, but the alien criticism never sat right with me.
People claimed that Indiana Jones should only be about human mythologies and mystical items, but somehow aliens was a step too far. But is there really much difference?
There's a law from writer Arthur Clarke which best sums this up : "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".
Or as I saw someone in the comment section perfectly describe Lucas's worldbuilding, it's 'theological microbiology'
:)
I just realised that the Pod Race in Ep.I. with its repeating rounds acts as another visual clue reinforcing this idea of circles within circles. Great Video!
It's ironic how people complained about the Midiclorians when Quigon introduced them, leaving the mystique of the force intact. And yet, no one protested when in The Mandalorian, Grogu's M-Factor(Yeah we got it) is mentioned, and how it would serve to stabilize an individual, and we intuit that for the use of force. Since the Clones that we know of would never have needed such an M-factor. So, in The Mandalorian, they reduce the force to a miserable blood transfusion and all these hypocrites say nothing.
People simply make excuses to hate things they hate and justify the flaws of things they love
Not too long ago I've been finding and searching videos, essays and more and more information about a sort of theory where the Earth and the whole universe could be one (intelligent or conscious) super-organism. And about sacred and fractal geometry, which are closely related to those theories.... and... Oh well, it's like a rabbit hole I've fallen into lol.
Despite thinking and doing research about all of this until my head exploded, the thought of midi-chlorians being related to this in one way or another, even though it's a fantasy concept, has never once crossed my mind. This made me rethink a lot of thoughts I had about Star Wars, even though I already came to the conclusion that Star Wars has a lot more under its surface. These kind of videos have also helped me with writing my own fantasy stories, and how I want to portray the universe I have created in my head to be written down on paper. These kind of videos have also made me rethink everything I think I know and life itself, and that's no exaggeration... My head's gonna explode again lol
Thank you for another superb video, Rick!
Oh, wow, I hope you'll tell us if you go through with the fantasy stories. I'm writing fantasy myself and it's a wonderful thing.
I remember star wars book by Paul F. McDonald talking a lot about the symoblism and the connection between the physical and the spirital in Star Wars.
Lucas must have thought about this movie day in day out there is so much to it that is why it will last throughout time. Its an alien place but really it's a mixture of cultural ideas, symbolism, science, philosophies and realisum... designed in a way to be a tale of both warning and hope... which is told to us so we can understand as children and only grow our understanding in time with knowledge as we experience and learn about the world. Great job Rick. 👏
Finally someone with analysis and something meaningful to say on the matter, without spreading the same pontless critiques how Lucas had no idea what he was doing.
I hope one day you can interview George Lucas. I think he would enjoy having a conversation with someone who has this level of knowledge about what he has created, and can appreciate it for what it is - a masterpiece worth contemplating.
God, I'm so excited for Part 2.
SAME! I'm sure it'll make waves when it drops. You have lots of videos defending the prequels, but barely any defending the special edition changes
:)
Now these are eyes that analyze mov-
Midichlorians were necessary the second Luke said, ‘The force is strong in my family.” Period.
Yes, finally he has returned.
You're going to lead a new era of understanding for starwars. I've had a very blurry understanding of these things for a while but its hard to explain to people since they're understanding comes from external creators that have retconned the Saga a billion times over.
I saw a commenter quote a character from kotr (which wasn't Canon to begin with) that was actually a quote from a fanfic to support a theory. Apparently there are layers within layers of uncanonized material too. lol
This is was so good! I think what bothers me about people complaining that George is making the Force “too scientific” is that the terminology is sloppy and it shows how little these people know about writing. If any of these big name critics were as artistically literate as they claim, they would know about the types of magic systems.
At its most basic level, magic systems can be split into Soft and Hard Magic Systems, and whether a system is considered hard or soft depends on how defined and established the rules, limitations, usage, and etc are. To me, it seems like Lucas wanted to make a hard magic system by explaining all the nuances of how the mystical energy surrounding the universe works, the beings that are able to use and communicate with it, and how they affect the world, its people, and the life they are destined to live.
Meanwhile, too many fans want it to stay as undefined as possible, so they can keep this idea of a malleable set of video game style superpowers in their head. It’s a way of creating the illusion that they are thinking of these things in a far more spiritually complex level than George can possibly imagine, when in reality their vision of the Force is so simplistic compared to the fleshed out universe George made that it’s like an ant standing next to a skyscraper.
It'd be like complaining that Newton found gravity because things just falling to the Earth was an easier idea
In terms of the idea of a “bigger fish” I find it especially interesting when you consider that our vessels for the story, the droids, are themselves smaller fish when compared to the humans.
Another great walk-through by Rick. Thanks for the content
Glad you liked it!
Been a while since I rewatched Star Wars, and your clips reminded me just how beautiful these films are.
It's great to see an analysis on the Whills, I always thought that was such a fascinating concept. I wish we could've learned more about them - maybe Disney will at least have the decency to someday release Lucas' sequel treatments in book form or something. Doubtful though.
Great video as always!
Thank you for this thoughtful analysis. Love how you draw out the deeper themes of these movies.
i love your star wars videos. so much amazing research and thought and detail to get it all. i imagine between this and the part 1 )2 hour video) you likely spent 1000 plus hours putting these toghter. very nice
Probably the most interesting Star Wars video I've ever seen. Makes me want to rewatch all of them now with this meta-story in mind.
14:30 wow, i had picked up on r2 or c3po being around for every major event, but this is so cool that r2 is this knowledge hub explaining the history to someone in the future.
Brilliant breakdown & video. By far the best one done on this subject - great job. Thanks for sharing.
Ah this will be good. Been looking forward to this!
Personally, I think the introduction of midi-chlorians also relate to the different themes between the original and prequel films:
The originals were the fairy tales of the swashbuckling young hero and wizards, and that's why the Force was described as a mystic all-encompassing energy. The prequels were a more grounded and real story introducing politics, the flaws in the Jedi Order which we thought of as perfect, and the midi-chlorians were like saying "This is how the Force actually works"
Re: “the flaws in the Jedi Order,” there’s a great essay about this by a Sci-Fi author, called “The Son of Skywalker Must Not Become an Asshole.” It points out that Yoda and Obi-Wan, the old Jedi Order, are imperfect teachers and represent the type of Jedi which Luke must NOT become. The Old Republic Jedi mis-handled Anakin thereby setting a dangerously powerful Sith on the loose, they lied to Luke about his parentage, then tried to USE Luke to kill Vader and correct their mistake. Luke’s journey actually involves IGNORING their instruction and becoming a NEW kind of Jedi: one who demonstrates love and loyalty to his friends and unwavering faith in his father’s potential redemption. They counsel “don’t go help your friends,” but he does. They say “your father is beyond saving; kill him for us,” and Luke doesn’t; he saves his father. Luke becomes a Jedi, but not in the Yoda and Obi-Wan mold; he becomes a Jedi DESPITE their instruction, not because of it.
excellent work, Rick. glad to see some content from you and hope the book is going well!
Out of the park again, bro. Cannot wait for the rest of this series.
This just makes me realise why I never watch the Disney sequels when I rewatch Star Wars. They don't understand Star Wars. Nobody but George Lucas really does. Anything without his influence is real Star Wars to me.
I would love to sit and talk with GL for hours, pick his brain. I bet there's tonnes about the Star Wars universe we don't know. I'd especially love to hear what happened after Episode 6.
*isn't real star wars
It's crazy how Star Wars fans hated midichlorians. I'd even go as surface level as to say how the Force is described as an energy field created by all living things, and then when Episode 1 says that the Force is created by living things, people somehow are baffled by this and cannot believe their ears.
Just discovered this channel and feel like my artistic IQ doubled
That's a nice compliment!
With all this in mind, I think a proper Sequel Trilogy’s villain should be challenging the Whills. Perhaps finding a way to sever their connections to midi-chlorians. This gives the main characters - presumably the grandkids of Anakin - an excuse to learn about the Whills.
Darth Plagueis!
Kreia.
After watching your video and rewatching TPM I really saw things to it than I never saw before. The ending scene now when they're all celebrating has so much menace and tragedy to it with them cheering what is the beginning of the end of the Republic and the beginning of the empire.
Every once in a while I re-watch these older vids while I wait for the next installment of the understanding Star Wars series and something different sticks with me each time. This time it was the whole idea of "a bigger fish" and the universe as a fractal or mandala, and that got me thinking about what it really means to "reduce the mysticism out of something."
You often see a certain kind of reasoning in our real world where someone will have the bright idea that people are nothing but cells and cells are nothing but atoms and atoms are nothing but empty space and so basically we're all just a bunch of empty space that doesn't matter. But going in the other direction it's precisely the opposite: from mostly empty space, some atoms, and some cells (which all seem so small and simple) you get people (who seem so big and complex) and that's practically a miracle. What could be more interesting or more important than that, and what does that suggest about the value of these tiny objects that something like us with all our complexity can emerge out of them?
I feel like maybe the same logic applies here to the Force. If you want to take things apart and deconstruct and reduce then sure you strip the Force down to some cells and energy fields and then you're left with nothing very special. But why not go the other way? Or both ways at once? People make up organizations like rebellions or republics, and individuals determine how those institutions behave just as much as the institution determines how the people in them behave. And that same relationship holds between our cells and ourselves. Presumably this is the relationship Kenobi was describing in ANH while training Luke where he said the Force partially controls your actions but it also obeys your commands.
Thinking of the Force as a kind of motivational energy acting on and reacting to the least significant agent at each layer of reality (midichlorians are to the Jedi what a Jedi is to the wider world - a conduit to the Force acting as a small component in a larger system) is some pretty wild stuff. And that kind of complex system filled with emergent behavior ought to leave you more mystified, not less! The great irony here seems to be that people want a Force they don't understand (so it can be mystical) but they already don't understand any of this and that's precisely the problem. They confuse explaining something with explaining it away and prefer to have the Force as a power fantasy.
Anyway, hoping for the next installment soon!
You're like the Adam Curtis of filmmaking UA-cam. I think your videos are absolutely excellent, even if I disagree with your take on The Last Jedi haha. Keep up the fantastic work man. Very excited for Part 2!
What is his take on the movie
Rick, I must say that even though I enjoy your content on it's face, what I enjoy most is how you make a case that the sequel trilogy is what Star Wars fans deserve for the shallowness and impudence. All the depth they petitioned to be removed from the movies is gone and now all they have is spectacle and space battles because they were too ungrateful for what an artistic visionary gave them.
And those of us that actually did like the Prequels and appreciated them as the visionary works of art that they were are now stuck with all the Disney bullsh*t (I will say that some, SOME Disney Star Wars works have been good, such as Andor, The Bad Batch, Tales of the Jedi, The Mandalorian, and a few others, but for the Sequels, where it really counted, they utterly sh*t the bed).
I agree with you. I don't watch the shows because of the bad taste the movies gave and I just don't have time really. I am always reading some obscure things these days. But from the little I have seen there were good elements. @@occam7382
The return of the king.
The Lord of the Circles: Return of The King
@@mmmdule The Lord of the Circles: The Two Suns ,;)
And since we don't understand R2D2, he can be telling all sorts of information throughout the original trilogy & C3PO's response is always that he doesn't know what he's talking about or that he's crazy or speaking nonsense. R2D2 is trying to explain things and C3PO refuses to translate it.
I like to think on Dagobah R2 is going, "Luke! Luke, this little guy is Yoda! Why are you acting this way, Yoda? Is this a bit or something? Hello? Hey, stop ransacking the camp, what's wrong with you?"
@@nineleafclover I know. People love to see stuff like this as a contradiction, but for me it just recontextualizes the SW saga in completely different way.
I can never look at R2's interactions the same again....... for the better :)
Honestly anytime I ever hear anyone actually complain in a non-joking way about
Midichlorians I simply dismiss them as ignorant. It doesn’t take the magic away from the force at all, it simply gives a good reason why not everyone can harness the force. I genuinely think some people see a concept based in science and instantly reject it whether because they don’t understand it, or disagree with it in the real world.
For a few years now, my theory was that "the will of the Force" phrase used by the Jedi is something that got "mistranslated" from the "sacred Jedi texts" or got distorted over the past thousands of years and the real, original phrase was "the Whills of the Force". From this video it looks like I wasn't far off with the idea. The quotes from Paul Duncan's Star Wars Archives are pure gold. I'm gonna need to get my hands on that book.
If that is correct, makes you wonder what role the Whills played in the ancient Jedi Religion. Gods? Intermediaries? Something else? Then it makes you wonder, Are there Dark side Whills? Microscopic creatures effected by radiation that tends towards entropy. Maybe?
@@factfiend1000 Well, I don't really believe that there is an actual Dark Side. The Force is an energy field. What we call its Light and Dark side are merely just the intent of its user. I'd rather say that there could be Whills who were corrupted by the Force's power. I think the Whills were either gods or maybe some kind of angels, I don't know. As I understand it, intermediaries would be the Midi-chlorians. I wonder though if Midi-chlorians can get corrupted... they are supposed to be cells. Could they become cancerous?
Lucas was right all along. Thank you for this video.
Hopefully we get his Whills vision realized some day by proper talented filmmakers acquainted with his vision.
Out of all the star wars lore, content, analysis, and readings of the text I've ever encountered, this one is by far the most important. This video changed how I looked at Star Wars entirely, really interesting stuff, and you helped me make sense of things I wasn't sure how to articulate before, while reading from the original texts and quotes from Lucas himself. Amazing work, really
Another incredible video. Thank you!
Thanks, glad you liked it!
What a great channel!!! Keep up the great work
Thanks!
Chris Pratt should play Chris Stuckman in a movie.
George Lucas Vs the People
I can't hear Ani's line without hearing Qui-gon's response in the Auralnauts dub:
"It's heroin."
I was about to say that...