General Star Wars Thread

In the (sadly no longer canon but still excellent) novel Darth Plagueis that aspect of it is played up a lot more. The situation that Palpatine exploits when he comes to power has been building for a very long time, the Senators vote for favours and deals instead of any political belief, corruption is high and the whole thing is pretty much a façade of democracy when really it's the deepest pockets that tend to win votes.

"These 'no-nonsense' solutions of yours just don't hold water in a complex world of jet-powered apes and time travel."

Yeah, I remember that. To be honest the Republic needed some form of shakeup but the Clone Wars was the wrong kind of shakeup.

The Republic has gone through many shake-ups, yet the fundamental issue is that long periods of peace (sometimes centuries) simply makes you terrible at dealing with possible existential threats and major wars.

edited 27th Sep '16 9:40:56 AM by TerminusEst

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele

Sticking with politics, one of the things that bothered me about Bloodline was the complete lack of any sort of social liberalism in the New Republic's political language — the Populists are essentially Space Dixiecrats, being a "Planetary Rights" party that seeks to neuter or outright destroy the federal apparatus and the Centrists are self-explanatory Space Fascists. There's no one in the NR talking about the Senate being a bully pulpit for the people to go over the heads of corrupt local authority and appeal directly to the entire galactic government, or of the Senate as a humanitarian organization that exists to promote sentient rights in all forms. I'm not even sure why Leia is a Populist — she seems to find nothing appealing about the party's ideology and it's an exact reversal of her position from Aftermath.

edited 27th Sep '16 10:08:14 AM by CrimsonZephyr

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Maybe she's a Populist because there's no Federalist party, and her other option is literally fascist. We're seeing similar problems in real life two party systems. When your options are bad and terrible, you go with the bad.

As for why the New Republic was written to have no Federalist party, that's harder to figure out. I haven't read the comic (or is it a novel?), but it could be any number of things. Maybe it's a sign of the writer's political leanings, or maybe they decided that have a strong federal government would make the New Republic military stronger than they wanted for the movies. Or maybe they just figured it was a logical backlash against a fascist empire.

In some of the reference books it's implied that Palpatine was so awful he's essentially made the entire galaxy really central government-phobic. That's why the capital was moved as well: Coruscant was seen as one of the ultimate symbols of Imperial oppression.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

A brief look at Claudia Gray's twitter account tells me that she's almost certainly not a conservative in any way shape or form. So you're kind of wrong there.

Just because a person lives in a red state doesn't mean they're a Republican.

Then, adding in what Hamburger said, I'm guessing the New Republic just has a hate-on for a strong central government. Which makes sense. An entire generation equates "strong central government" with "those assholes who kill anyone who speaks up."

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Can you please stop with that already??

Seriously, Zephyr. Enough with the racism and anarchist talk.

Seems I didn't miss anything out of his usual playbook, then. What's the Star Wars equivalent of demanding Pureblood Genocide?

My various fanfics.

Probably not wise (or polite) to dwell on it.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."

I kind of wonder if the New Republic between Episode 6 & 7 is intended to be a bit like the United States under the Articles of Confederation.

The Articles of Confederation were written as an overreaction to the strong central government of Great Britain, and established an extremely weak national government with no formal executive or national court system. Just a congress that didn't have the powers it needed to govern effectively, even in the few areas it was theoretically supposed to.

Ultimately the Articles of Confederation proved such a terrible governmental framework that it was replaced by the Constitution a mere 8 years after they were fully enacted.

In Star Wars the initial form of the New Republic's government lasted a fair bit longer. Bloodlines attributes this mostly to Mon Mothma keeping things running smoothly through raw charisma. However if I'm correct, then I could see part of the ST be the rise of a stronger New Republic. One the preserves the spirit of it's founding but in a way that produces a government capable of fighting back the First Order.

I would say so. All that emphasis on regional authority with a weak central government definitely seems to point towards the Articles.

I really wish Disney used Lucas's treatments for the sequel trilogy. With the brand recognition of Star Wars, there's really no reason to play it as safe as they have so far.

Make mine Marvel.

That's probably the best case scenario... but if I had to place my bets, I'd wager the Republic will remain in blissful drama-preserving non-existence functionally, while the emphasis will be on the Jedi in particular being essential to the whole galaxy, because... reasons. At least the old canon had them serve in a supplementary role and slowly phased out Imperials as primary enemies (thanks, Tim). And it had a functioning Republic, even with all the squabbles. Here, the government seems like a rehash of TPM, while the First Order are essentially Palpatine's "Miss Me Yet?" party. All in all, the New Republic just doesn't seem worth the Ewok victory dance anymore.

Well, good news, because Rian Johnson is not the kind of guy who "plays it safe".

Lucasfilm says that they used a lot of what they got from George though. The general concepts and a lot of the characters are the same, according to them.

Based on some of the statements made I get the sense that 7 played it safe so 8 and 9 could be a bit more experimental.

The controversy over Lucas's Episode VII treatment never fails to get a laugh out of me.

• George Lucas Makes a Star Wars Movie: Oh my god, you guys, George Lucas DOES NOT understand Star Wars AT ALL. He's the worst writer ever and I don't know why anyone permits him to keep making movies in the franchise he created!
• A Star Wars Movie is Made Without George Lucas: I can't believe they would make this movie without George Lucas! Lucas IS Star Wars! You can't just IGNORE him!

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

Oh, don't worry, I can and will ignore/disregard George's bad writing, especially during the prequels. :D

Which makes the First Order Shay's Rebellion x10. Hopefully that means we'll get a Constitutional Convention soon.

Actually, that reminds me - The Republic's capital hops from planet to planet on a regular basis. Back before Washington, DC was around there was a big argument over where to put the US capital. One newspaper suggested they just put the government buildings on wheels and have them move from state to state.

The Articles of Confederation are hilarious. They're like the Ed Wood of constitutions.

Back then it took all thirteen states to pass an amendment. We'd be even more doomed now.

edited 28th Sep '16 10:29:19 AM by Tuckerscreator