10 Star Wars Controversies That Divide Fans
From Ewoks to the 'real' Chosen One, these are Star Wars' most controversial aspects.
Transcript
00:00 The Star Wars fandom is one of the largest communities built around a fictional universe,
00:04 and while those Trekkies certainly come close, I mean I hear they've even got some pretty good
00:08 YouTube channels up and running these days, plug plug plug plug plug, nobody beats Star Wars when
00:13 it comes to controversies that divide the fandom. Speaking of which, I'm Josh from WotCulture.com
00:19 and these are 10 Star Wars Controversies That Divided Fans.
00:22 Number 10, did Luke use the dark side on the Gamorrean Guard?
00:27 Return of the Jedi marked the end of the first trilogy in the Star Wars franchise.
00:31 Here, our central protagonist was in the final stages of his hero's journey. He was no longer
00:36 the naive idealist who sought adventure and kinda fancied his sister. Instead, he had become a
00:42 battle-season starfighter and a confident Jedi Knight. Episode 6 saw Luke entering Jabba's
00:48 palace before using a most un-Jedi-like technique on a pair of Gamorrean guards,
00:53 that being of course, force-choking. This triggered a long-running debate about whether or not Luke
00:59 channelled the dark side in this scene, and this is a debate that has been fuelled by all the
01:04 contradictory material surrounding it. See, in Empire Strikes Back, Yoda specifically taught Luke
01:09 that the Jedi use the force only in defence and never to attack. So throttling a few helpless
01:16 pig guards seemed a little bit out of character. In later Star Wars Legends novels though,
01:21 Luke's actions were somewhat redacted. In The Heir to the Empire for instance, one line reads,
01:26 "Walking into Jabba's palace on Tatooine five years ago, using the force to befuddle the Gamorrean
01:32 guards." Indicating that Luke's actions were some kind of mind trick rather than an act of violence.
01:38 On the other side of the argument, this action is indicative of Luke's entire struggle. I mean,
01:43 after all, he was dabbling in the dark side throughout Return of the Jedi, even channelling
01:48 hatred to cut off Vader's hand in their final duel.
01:51 Throughout the first trilogy, the force was presented as a mystical energy not dissimilar
01:59 to magic. Indeed, those who believed in the force were considered to be superstitious.
02:04 Vader was described as having a quote "sad devotion to that ancient religion" and even
02:08 Han Solo dismissed it as "hokey". Although it becomes clear that the force is very real in
02:14 this universe, it was never quite clear what it was. It was just one of the features that
02:19 blurred George Lucas' epic sci-fi tale into the realms of fantasy. With the prequels however,
02:25 Qui-Gon Jinn explained that the force was largely to do with microscopic intelligent lifeforms
02:30 called midichlorians. They attached themselves to force-sensitive beings, forming a symbiotic
02:35 relationship which gave Jedi their power. One could even measure someone's midichlorian count
02:40 through scientific testing. For many fans though, this explanation seemed to ruin the magic of the
02:45 force entirely, demystifying it with a load of scientific-sounding jargon. It also begs the
02:51 question, why was everyone in the original trilogy so sceptical about the force's existence when
02:56 there were established scientific ways of measuring it just years before?
03:00 Each Star Wars trilogy has had their own controversial alien species. The original
03:09 movies had the Ewoks, the sequels contained the Pogs, and the prequels contained Jar Jar Binks.
03:14 When the prequels dropped in the early 2000s, they were bombarded with criticism and Jar Jar
03:20 became a central target of this ridicule. He was described as clown-like silly and even accused of
03:27 playing into racial stereotypes. For those who were old enough to see the original trilogy when
03:31 it came out, the childish aspects of Jar Jar simply trivialized the Star Wars universe.
03:36 For those who were children during the prequels though, Jar Jar was a favourite. He was the comic
03:41 relief in a story that became very dark. So this divide in opinion kinda comes down to just being
03:48 an age thing. The backlash received by the character though actually did lead to George
03:52 Lucas discarding a plot point that gave the Darth Jar Jar theory some credence. Ahmed Best as well,
03:58 who played Jar Jar, admitted that the character was actually supposed to have a much more sinister
04:02 story arc. There was even a scrapped scene in which Palpatine confided in Jar Jar about his
04:07 plans for the Empire. But Lucas rightly didn't push his luck with this character anymore.
04:12 Does the Holdo Maneuver Make Space Battles Redundant?
04:17 No matter how you felt about the sequel trilogy, it must be admitted that those movies were visually
04:22 stunning. And no scene was as awe-inspiring as the moment when Vice Admiral Holdo committed the
04:27 ultimate sacrifice. Piloting her ship into the oncoming First Order fleet, she engaged the
04:33 hyperdrive and utterly destroyed her force. It was a kinda take your breath away moment, but this also
04:39 had huge implications for not only the future of Star Wars, but all the previous movies to date,
04:44 and the fandom jumped right on it. And that's because if using a hyperdrive in this way was
04:49 possible, then why was it the first time anybody had done it? With just a simple push of a button,
04:55 the Rebel Alliance could've avoided losing dozens of ships during both attacks on the Death Star.
05:00 Of course, the Reddit community is filled with counter-arguments about why this was. Namely,
05:06 that although it is possible, the logistics of such a maneuver are so complex that it simply
05:10 would be too difficult to replicate on a regular basis.
05:13 The retrospective changes George Lucas made to his original trilogy have long been a topic of
05:23 contention among fans. The theatrical cuts of A New Hope, Empire and Return of the Jedi were all
05:28 considerably different to the 1997 special editions. Previously, cutscenes were added in,
05:34 including Han's confrontation with Jabba in A New Hope, and other additions included digitized
05:39 backgrounds and characters. Just prior to the release of Revenge of the Sith, Lucas made
05:45 further changes for the 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy. As you might remember,
05:50 the climax of Return of the Jedi saw Luke share a touching moment with the false ghosts of his
05:55 former teachers and father. It was heartwarming stuff, and originally, Sebastian Shaw, who played
06:01 Darth Vader, appeared as the redeemed Jedi Anakin Skywalker, but after the DVD release,
06:06 Hayden Christensen was spliced in. On the one hand, this seemed like a clever way to tie the prequels
06:12 and the originals together. On the other hand, it felt like a slight to the actor who portrayed
06:16 Vader in his moment of redemption. Not only that, but if Anakin really did bring balance to the
06:21 force, surely his false ghost should represent him at the age at which it happened.
06:26 Number 5 - Luke's Regressive Story Arc Reducing Luke Skywalker to a bitter old hermit who drinks
06:34 alien sea cow milk and has no interest in battling the Sith was one hell of a thing to do to the
06:39 former savior of the galaxy. On the one hand, this subversion of expectations reminded audiences that
06:45 even legendary heroes were susceptible to falling into despair. It also offered Rey a serious
06:51 character development moment as well, as through Rey's steadfast tenacity and her willingness to
06:55 resist the dark side and save Ben, Luke was encouraged to renew the fight against the Sith.
07:00 Well, that's what the filmmakers were going for, and that's how some interpreted this plot point,
07:05 but others didn't take kindly to it at all. Instead, they were perhaps rightly annoyed that
07:10 Luke essentially just sulked on his island refuge until the ever predictable force ghost of Yoda
07:15 showed up to give him a pep talk. Huge numbers of fans, including Mark Hamill, thought Luke's
07:21 character was at best pitifully underused, and at worst had his legacy dragged through bantha crap.
07:27 Number 4 - The Ewoks Just like Jar Jar Binks, your perception of the Ewoks likely comes down
07:34 to the age you were when you first saw them. If you were a kid, the cute little fuzzy things made
07:39 for a great cuddly toy, but if you were older, you likely saw them for what they ultimately became,
07:44 a merchandising opportunity. It wouldn't be the last time George Lucas was accused of
07:48 introducing characters that could later be used as a money grab either.
07:52 With this one then, it all kinda depends on a matter of perspective. Sure, they look kinda dumb
07:57 and they get totally manipulated by the rebellion, and there is the small detail of them wanting to
08:02 cook and eat our heroes, but their miraculous victory over the stormtroopers also represents
08:07 a central theme of Star Wars, that being the triumph of the underdog over the oppressor.
08:13 Number 3 - The Ambiguous Moral Compass of the Jedi
08:17 The Jedi have long been considered the most noble and honourable people in the Star Wars universe.
08:23 They wield extreme power but only use it for good, or at least supposedly. They are the keepers of
08:29 peace and the last and only real defence against the ever-rising dark side. Having said all of
08:34 that though, the Jedi did do some pretty reprehensible things, leading many in the
08:38 fan community to reconsider their thoughts about these light side force users. For starters,
08:44 young force-sensitive children were torn away from their parents at an extremely young age
08:48 by the Jedi Order. This was purely so the individual could be indoctrinated,
08:53 having the notions of love and attachment driven out of them, which does sound a little cult-like
08:58 to me. The Jedi also became extremely dogmatic and rigid. The idea of individuality or autonomous
09:05 thought was so rejected that it led them to shun extremely wise Jedi like Qui-Gon Jinn.
09:10 Their ways even forced individuals like Count Dooku and Anakin Skywalker to join the dark side.
09:15 Number 2 - Was Anakin the actual Chosen One? The Chosen One prophecy is the catalyst that
09:22 triggers the entire Skywalker saga. The central conflict of the story is all about bringing
09:27 balance to the force. In the original trilogy, Luke is presented as the one who will overthrow
09:32 the Sith and restore balance, but as it turns out, Darth Vader actually does this when he
09:36 kills the Emperor. For all of their issues, the prequels did a wonderful job of giving
09:41 background to these events. Although Qui-Gon Jinn did not see the horror that Anakin would
09:45 bring to the galaxy, he was correct in believing that he would ultimately destroy the Sith and
09:50 fulfill the prophecy. That was until the sequel trilogy anyway. With the return of Darth Sidious
09:55 and the rise of Skywalker, all of that kinda went out the window. Now this film skips over
10:00 exactly how he came back, merely offering a line from Poe Dameron that says "Somehow Palpatine
10:06 returned". No matter the intricacies of how this happened, Palpatine did come back and Rey
10:12 eventually destroyed him, once again bringing balance to the force. But if Palpatine wasn't
10:17 really dead at the end of Return of the Jedi, then were the Sith ever really destroyed by Anakin?
10:23 You can see why this one divided people. I mean, the Chosen One prophecy is that plot point that
10:28 underpins the entire conflict of the first two trilogies, and Anakin's redemption arc is what
10:32 made this story so loved, and the sequels kinda undermined that.
10:37 Number 1 - Who Shot First?
10:40 We've already discussed how George Lucas went about altering his original movies over the years,
10:45 and for the most part, these changes were kinda inconsequential. But one change that will forever
10:50 keep fans talking is the infamous faceoff between Han Solo and the bounty hunter Greedo. In the most
10:56 readily available versions of A New Hope, Han is forced to shoot Greedo after he pulls a blaster
11:02 on him. Dodging the bounty hunter's shot, Solo returned fire with deadly accuracy. In the
11:07 theatrical release of course, Solo just blasted Greedo while he was flapping his mouth. This all
11:12 boils down to Lucas' concern that he'd originally depicted Solo as a brutal killer. Thus he altered
11:18 the scene to make Han more sympathetic, and over the years this has been altered numerous times
11:24 further, with the firing rate being sped up or slowed down to make the scene that bit more ambiguous.
11:29 Outro So that's our list,
11:32 I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below, please give me your take on
11:35 these controversies, and are there any divisive moments I missed off here? While you're down there
11:40 as well can you please give us a like, share, subscribe and head over to What Culture Star Wars
11:43 for more lists and news like this on the regular. Even if you don't know it, I've been Josh,
11:47 thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.
11:50 Take care.