Thanos and his bad Finger Snap Plan

 It bothers me that Thanos's plan was so bad because either the writers were not clever enough when making the claim that Thanos is a genius or it was actually a decent example of Dunning-Kruger which would not be a good choice in my opinion because the movie didn't make that the focus or explain it enough to communicate it to a general audience.  Now that I've mentioned why it bothers me, how am I so sure that the plan was bad?

Let's start with the near constant assertions by Thanos that his plan is fair.  He frequently claims his plan is fair because he's not deciding who dies.  But he completely skips past the part where he's deciding that people are going to die.  It's like a person firing shots into a crowd claiming it's fair because he was shooting people at random.  Don't shoot at people.  The claim of fairness is absurd.  Now either Thanos is stupid for not being able to make that simple connection; the writers have failed to make that connection; or the writers wrote something that they expected their audience to understand clearly without calling it out in the movie.  The lack of calling it out means we have to question whether they intended it or not.

So, we know the plan isn't fair, but is it a bad plan?  What's the goal of the plan again?  Thanos states that there are too many people compared to the resources available.  His plan is to murder half of living things so that there are ample resources for those who remain.  But it's simple to understand that removing half of a population also removes half of its production ability.  Half of farmers are gone.  Half of cargo haulers are gone.  Half of construction and maintenance crew are gone.  Half of teachers are gone.  Half of medical care providers are gone.  Half of plumbers and electricians are gone.  The ability to maintain existing infrastructure and to provide food, utilities, and health care for the people who remain is cut by half.

But that's not the worst of it.  If it's truly random who goes, some areas of need would be hit harder than others, and we need all of them.  So, even if a couple of them worked out, the others could fail completely.  And think about a farm with a set number of workers to tend to the farm.  Would the farm recover and just be able to produce half of its normal yield?  Or would the loss of workers mean the organization fails and then everyone who depends on that farm loses a supply?  Organizing the remaining work force to tend to the needs of the remaining people would be an insanely complicated task that would require people moving closer to resources and how many people could do that?  How many people could survive with half their family and friends missing?  Could they get food for themselves if grocery stores failed?  This situation is bleak.

Speaking of family and friends, how many of the survivors would be happy?  I would guess zero sane survivors would be happy at the loss of people dear to them.  How many people would just crumble to depression?  Are they thinking about maintaining societal infrastructure?  Or are they despondent over the loss of loved ones?  And if they manage to push forward, they're still not happy.

The plan Thanos enacts is unfair, unlikely to succeed, and unbelievably harmful psychologically.  It's a bad plan that I'm unhappy with the writers for.  We had what was a pretty good build up that lead to a disappointing time travel story that didn't even solve the problem of the harm that was done.  Infinity War and End Game have writing that is emotionally engaging, but logically disappointing.

Understanding PEMDAS and Order of Operations in Math

 The number of posts I see about equations that could have multiple results depending on how you parse the equation is too high.  People making those posts are likely happy about annoying other people.  But there is a correct way to parse equations.  And it's usually remembered with the acronym PEMDAS, or one like it (I think there's a version like BOMDAS or something).

• P = Parentheses: Anything INSIDE of parentheses is done first
• E = Exponents: You have to handle exponents next
• MD = Multiplication AND Division:  Note that these are the SAME priority level.  So, when there are several operations that are multiplication or division, you do them left to right regardless of whether it is multiplication or division.
• AS = Addition AND Subtraction:  Like multiplication and division, addition and subtraction are the same priority as each other, and you apply the left to right rule when there are more than one of this level of priority.

So, the equation...

7 x (4 + 5 x 2) = 98

7 x (4 + 10)

7 x 14

98

There are two other things I want to mention.  It is legitimate to write an equation with multiplication like...

7(3 + 2) 

That notation is shorthand for...

7 x (3 + 2)

When the number is right up against the parenthesis like that, it just indicates multiplication, and so when you apply PEMDAS, the stuff inside the parentheses happens first, and the multiplication happens after that.

The second important thing to mention is fractions.  That bar drawn with the fraction is a final separator.  The numerator is one term, and the denominator is one term, each to be sorted out before the fractional division is done.  It's like putting parentheses around the numerator and parentheses around the denominator.

3 + 4 / 3 x 7 is not the same as (3 + 4) / (3 x 7)

The first works out to 12.33 repeating (twelve and one-third) while the second works out to 0.33 repeating (one-third).  Writing on these single lines doesn't lend itself well to fractions.

Hopefully that was helpful in understanding order of operations.  As a point of reference for you, I am a software engineer of nearly 30 years.  What I described above (aside from fractions which aren't directly represented in code normally) is how computers do the math and order of operations.

I am the broken ashamed man

 Everything fell apart.  I'm mentally not well.  I made a mistake, and then some more.  And because I failed at addressing it as I grew up, people are suffering now.  A baby is going to miss a chance at a good happy life now.  I messed up so badly and so many people are hurting because I did.  Because I'm not good enough.

When I was a teenager, I knew I wanted a relationship.  I just didn't understand how to connect with a girl.  And I grew to believe that women were not interested in me.  I turned to porn.  And at the time, torrent was pretty new and I was just learning about it.  I searched for videos.  And I managed to find a set of 4 videos of a young girl... too young.  I'm estimating but I think I was in my early to mid 20s.  And I saw the videos... and... they aroused me.  It feels disgusting saying that now, but it's what happened.  And I saved the videos.

What I should have done was take those files to the police right then and there.  Maybe they could have helped that poor girl.  Maybe they could have found her and helped her.  Hindsight.  I didn't understand at the time.  I just didn't know.

Over time as I replaced computers and backed things up to external drives, I lost track of those files.  I forgot they existed.  But I was still heavily dependent on porn.  Nothing illegal... just young-looking actresses.  Not always.  But a lot.  And I was saving as much as I could.  I'm a hoarder.  I draw comfort from knowing I have stuff saved... even if I never see it again.

For roughly 2 decades I was single and lived alone for most of it.  And I still didn't have a clue about relationships.  When my current wife found me, she was already a friend, and I think that was the thing I didn't understand.  Women are people... I should have been hoping to meet people I have things in common with... people I can just spend time with and have it feel natural instead of feeling like I have to perform to earn attention.

At some point early on, my wife found some of the pictures of younger looking girls.  And she explained to me how that hurt her.  The next lesson I should have internalized better.  Prior to that conversation I didn't understand how porn could hurt a relationship.  Making my wife feel like she isn't what I want.  I deleted everything that was on the current computer.  But I didn't go through the electronics in the basement... those old drives that had been collecting.

Years later, and life is full of stress.  Twin children.  And a foster baby that I desperately want to give a good life to.  So many jobs that I hated.  Trying to contribute to chores and projects and keeping the house and family running and feeling like the only things that I had time for were mobile games and collecting pictures... My stress coping mechanism was pictures and videos.  I hadn't managed to change that.  I knew that if my wife understood how much I was saving, it would hurt her emotionally, but keeping it hidden meant in my head that I could still use it as a way to feel okay for just a few minutes in a life that I was drowning in.

The masturbation fantasies around the pictures... I had to explain why someone so young would be interested in me.  Why it was "okay" for that situation to be happening.  How I would have met them.  Or how I could accept it for the fantasy.  I'll be really clear here and say that the thoughts have never and will never translate to reality.  I understand that those thoughts are seriously unhealthy and that acting on a real-world situation like that would be emotionally and psychologically harmful to a girl.  But the fantasies in my head... they're not okay.

I brought one of those old drives up to my computer and copied the files onto my laptop, thinking I could go through them and see if anything was worth keeping.  Some totally normal stuff like old writings from when I was younger, but I knew there was likely porn on the drive.  What I didn't know was that it was a drive with the set of inappropriate files on it.  And I copied it into a cloud backup folder.  The next day, they cancelled my account.  And I was terrified.  It was my next set of mistakes.

I should have gone straight to the police again.  But I was scared and I hoped it would amount to nothing.  I should have told my wife.  It would have hurt her.  And that's why I didn't tell her I think, but I still should have.  I should have told her how much I was drowning and told her the mistake I had made.  I didn't.  I deleted the files and hoped to never have to think about them again.

In October, the police raided my house.  All my electronics were taken.  I didn't have a way to communicate with anyone.  I lost my job because the police took and kept my work computer.  I love that job and the people I worked with.  The foster people took the foster baby away.  Understandable, but it hurts so much that I failed her.  Child protective services told me I can't even communicate with my kids because of the nature of the investigation.  And I'm staying with my parents... because I hurt my wife so much.  And she's really been so much kinder that I likely deserve.  Kinder than I think I deserve now anyway.  I don't know what the future holds, but whether she lets me into her life again or not, I will always support her.  I owe her so much and in this time of reflection I have only confirmed just how much I love her.  Why wasn't that love enough to overcome that stupid coping mechanism?  I don't know.  But the therapy I'm getting back into is going to focus a lot on that and how to build myself better.

The police are still investigating me.  They told me that they're looking for criminal activity.  To see if I create and distribute that... uh... I can't settle on a word that sounds genuine and which I can bring myself to use... that illegal material?  And to see if I have ever had sexual contact with a minor.  I am not a content creator/distributor and I have not and never would hurt a child that way (or any way).  I would protect children.  Any child.  I'd risk my life to protect children.  I know and am confident that I am not a danger to anyone in the real-world.  I just need to figure out to fix my mindscape.  To fix how I deal with stress.

I'm not sure what conclusion this essay has.  Maybe it's just me venting like I would to a journal, but I'm posting this story to my blog.  Some part of me has thought I should record some videos of me talking... about my sickness.  I know people will hate me if they know.  But how can I move forward at all if I don't face the problem?  Maybe this essay is for people who have a similar sickness.  My advice to you is to ask for help.  Maybe you are clever and strong enough to fix yourself, but if you're hiding and feeling scared... find a therapist and ask for help.  My previous experience with therapy was a good one, but I was never brave enough to ask for help with this particular issue of porn addiction and liking younger-looking actresses.  I should have been.  It's another one of my failures.  I should have asked for help.

This set of events has blown up my life and the lives of my family.  It's a bad thing that hurts so much.  But maybe it was the only way to make me face my problems.  So, maybe my last piece of advice is to not wait until everything explodes.  Face the demons.  Ask for help now.  I'm sorry.  One more.  Don't give up.  I've thought about harming myself.  I don't think much of myself at this point.  Giving up has appeal.  But my kids deserve so much better.  I'll face whatever consequences I have to for my failures.  I'm not robbing them of their dad.  I'll do anything for them.  And I hope I can find a way to help the foster daughter I want to adopt.  I suspect I won't be allowed and it might be too much for my family to carry, but I don't want to fail her.  There are people I refuse to give up on.  I'm going to keep trying, even if it hurts me.  Don't give up.

The difference between sympathy and empathy as I understand them

Both sympathy and empathy are about feeling concern, care, understanding, and wanting to support a person who is going through something unfortunate and/or unpleasant. The difference as I understand it is that a person who has never experienced that situation themselves can only feel sympathy while a person who has gone through it themselves will feel empathy.

For example, John's dog just passed away. Eric never had a pet before but he understands that losing one is tragic and so he feels sympathy for John. Mark had a dog pass away a year ago, and so he knows exactly what John is feeling. Mark feels empathy for John.

Saying, "I have sympathy for you", is saying that you care, but admit that you don't have the experience to feel what they're feeling. In some cases that might be the more respectful thing to say because the person suffering might believe in that moment that no one can truly understand. Empathy would seem like presumption.

The super rich are the cause of all of humanity's problems

On an individual level, the super rich affect all of us. They require us to work around 40 hours per week to earn a wage that is not enough to live on. They own the huge companies that set the standard on everything. Consider Jeff Bezos. Sure, he created Amazon, but does that mean that the profit that the company produces should have gone 95% to him and 5% to the employees? I made up that percentage, but think about how many billions of dollars Jeff Bezos has and then remember that Amazon paid its shipping people little enough that there were stories of some living in their cars. He created the company so he got to decide, but what he decided is arguably evil. In fact... I'm asserting that Jeff Bezos and every other billionaire is evil.

Let me remind you what a billion is. It's really hard to picture it just based on the word. And the time example is helpful so I'll use it again...

• Thousand: 1,000 seconds = 16.67 minutes
• Million: 1,000,000 seconds = 11.57 days
• Billion: 1,000,000,000 seconds = 31.71 YEARS

... so, when someone has a billion dollars, compared to someone that has one million... they're doing unecessarily well.

Keeping that in mind, the owners of these companies that are deciding where the money goes would have none of that money without the people working for them. Their companies don't function without the employees. The employees are generating that profit. That money is from the labor provided by the employees. The owners and CEO's of companies have tricked us into thinking we're lucky to have a job at all. It's actually that they're lucky we haven't woken up to the financial abuse we're suffering at their hands.

Let's use some more numbers. Last I checked (in May of 2024) the AVERAGE CEO is making 16.7 million dollars per year in the United States. Their average employee is making approximately 61,400 dollars per year. That's a ratio of 272 to 1. Is the CEO worth 272 of the company's employee? If you removed the CEO, would the company have any trouble at all? If you removed 272 of those average employees do you think the company would function differently? I think so. Other employees trying to pick up that slack would mean burnt out employees who are still being paid too little while the company is claiming that it's operating costs are down so their stock goes up.

How many households now require multiple jobs to live paycheck to paycheck? We're not talking about living a comfortable life that affords us vacations and some frivolous spending. We're talking about barely surviving AND having to spend the bulk of our waking hours tending to our jobs or survival needs like eating, buying groceries, and doing chores at home. This situation is not how our lives should be. Wait... that's worth saying bigger...

This is NOT how our lives should be.

The only life we know that we get is this one. Through whatever trick of chemistry we are thinking beings that have hope and can feel joy. Life is NOT meant to be spent laboring so that someone else can have billions of dollars while we give too much time and energy for a pittance. We should have money enough to be comfortable for the work we do and we should have enough time left over to spend it with family and friends and traveling to experience more of the world. And it CAN work that way. The billionaires just need to stop being selfish pieces of garbage. Or government needs to step in and protect the people they're supposed to protect instead of the billionaires.

A 24 hour work week for maybe 6 hours per day, 4 days per week would mean more time on those work days for normal folks to handle the needs of those days, and we get a 3 day weekend every week. The time spent working is less, so perhaps the employer is hiring a second person at the same rate. So, they're paying double what they were before, for the same amount of work completed. That's okay. Let's do a little more math...

• Let's say we have a company of 300 people where the owners are getting 60 million to split between them; the Chief Level officers are getting 40 million to split between them; and the employees account for 20 million.
• The company is paying out 120 million in total between 300 people and that puts the revenue per employee at 400,000 which is pretty good according the searching I just did.
• We need to double the number of normal employees to cover the work the company needs, so lets add 270 for a total of 570 employees.
• If we now split the profit evenly... EVERYONE at the company is making 210,526 dollars per year. The people making ~61,000 per year are now appropriately paid and only have to spend 24 hours per week on their jobs.
• We can massage that a little so upper management gets a little more... like 300,000 per year. And the owners can have a little more. Maybe employees end up with 180 to 200 thousand a year instead of 210 thousand. But this way... a company could be genuinely good. And EVERYONE involved has plenty of money. The millionaires and billionaires might be unhappy they don't get to have their ridiculous and unnecessary amounts of wealth, but they would have plenty to live a genuinely good life. And literally hundreds of other people just in their company would get to have good lives too.

Now imagine if all the big companies pulling in millions or billions of dollars ran that way. More people employed and hundreds of millions of people able to afford to live comfortably and happy. Able to spend back into the economy. Able to enjoy this one life we get. How much less crime would there be? How many fewer people would give in to stress and depression? How many fewer people would lash out because they can't take it anymore? How many wars would no longer need to be fought? If we could just smack down those selfish idiot billionaires who run the world, literally EVERYTHING gets better.

What about jobs where you kind of have to work 40 or more hours per week? What job are you thinking of? Doctors? Nurses? What if the healthcare system was fixed so that it wasn't dependent on you having a job to have coverage? Healthcare costs go down. Pharmaceutical companies get severely limited so they can't charge stupid prices for the medicines and costs go down. Operating costs for hospitals go down and the owners aren't allowed to try to make millions off of healthcare. The staff of the hospital gets paid more and there are twice as many to cover the time. Medical professionals get to be less stressed and have more time to recover.

Teachers? What if teachers only had to work 4 days a week, and there were twice as many of them? Smaller class sizes mean less time outside of school hours they have to spend grading student work and preparing for the next day. Higher pay means teachers don't have to take second jobs to survive. Seems like this should work for Teachers.

Why isn't this happening? Why can't we make this happen? Everyone's lives would be better. But billionaires are straight up selfish evil.

Succinct Review of Star Wars

I've written a lot about Star Wars including in this blog. But it always ends up being overly long to get in all the detail. I'm going to try to do something different. I'm going to try to make it short enough to actually read. Quick Note: I'm ignoring the special editions because the content changes sucked.

Episode 4: A New Hope

Fantastic movie that has me on the edge of my seat for the Trench Run every time even though I've seen the movie 30 or 40 times. My most significant quibble is that the trench run doesn't make sense. Missiles that lock on and then maneuver to the target don't need to be fired at the right time depending on user reflexes. Turning off the targeting computer would mean the missile wouldn't know to turn itself down the shaft. Also, an exhaust port ofr excess heat in space would have to have a medium to carry that heat. So, the exhaust port doesn't make sense. All Lucas had to do is make it into a maintenance tunnel where you can fly maintenance craft into the interior to do work on the power plant in the middle. It's covered by a big door and surrounded by too many defense turrets. Then the rebels need to fly close enough to fire missles such that the missles can't be shot down. They use the Y-Wings first to try to blow the door open, and when they succeed but are shot down for the effort, the X-Wings have to make a desperate effort to get close enough to fire their missiles. Gold squadron tries and fails. Luke ends up being the only one that can evade being shot down well enough to get close enough to fire missiles down the maintenance shaft.

Episode 5: Empire Strikes Back

Fantastic movie that tells a really good set of character growth arcs and shows us that the Empire is actually a threat. My most significant quibble is that the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive was broken when leaving Hoth and they they travelled to another Star System in some unspecified amount of time that is likely a week to a month... but which shold have taken years. If you're travelling slower than the speed of light, and star systems are usually several light years apart at least... it should have taken them years. What Lucas should have done instead is have Han scan for the imperials that got left behind on Hoth and when he detects them, he realizes he can't land and just finish repairs with all the crap that got left behind. So, he finds a capacitor or something from another system on his ship and jury-rigs it to his hyperdrive. He'd have a line like "I think this will get us one short jump and it won't be at our normal speed. We need to find a place to get real repairs." And that would be it.

Episode 6: Return of the Jedi

This is my favorite of Star Wars. It has the most moving set of scenes in all of Star Wars. The confrontation between Luke and Vader on the second Death Star is the best. Just the best. I don't like using the word perfect, but I have a hard time coming up with something wrong with it. The lightsaber fighting choreography conveys the messages well. It changes to match the moment. When Luke loses control because Vader goads him with a threat to his sister... I am sitting here stimming just thinking about it. I love it. And John Williams is put music to this perfectly. It's still my favorite Star Wars music. But even RotJ did something I am not a fan of. When George Lucas first planned it out, Wookiees were going to be the primitive species on the forest moon, and Lucas couldn't get past the idea of it being a primitive species (and Chewbacca was already a thing). So, he invented Ewoks. And Ewoks SHOULD fail against Stormtroopers. It became too implausible. What Lucas should have done is stick with the story of the Empire using Wookiees as slaves which is how we get the story of Han rescuing Chewbacca. There should have been a huge slave labor force of Wookiees on the Forest Moon doing work for the Death Star in orbit. It would obviously be unsafe to keep them up on the station. So, when the rebels get there, they free the wookiees and give them some gear and then wookiees tear apart imperial troops. Way more believable.

Episode 1: Phantom Menace

What Lucas should have done is follow his pattern that he set up with the Story Obi-Wan told in Episode 4. There should have been no Quigon. Obi-Wan should have been a Jedi that had chosen to participate in the war, and most Jedi should have chosen to stay out of it... a monastic order trying not to abuse their power. The war should have been on-going when Episode 1 started, and it should have been about clone rights. The good guys are trying to make the Galactic Republic make slave cloning illegal, and to try to free the existing clones who were slaves. Then the separatists whose economy depends on the slave clones resist. They pump out a huge army of clone soldiers because they're the ones who have that technology. The good guys are like "oh crap... we need a military", and droids are the quickest way to bulk up a fighting force. So, they have living military forces, but it isn't big enough... living military commands big groups of droids as supplemental forces. Obi-Wan runs into Anakin Skywalker who IS a spice freighter pilot (medical uses only of course), and Obi-Wan notices the crazy piloting and finds out Anakin is strong in the Force. He offers to help Anakin learn the ways of the Force and we get to see Anakin having a conversation with Owen... where Owen gets to say he doesn't think his brother should get invovled. Obi-Wan asks Yoda if he will train Anakin and Yoda says no... having a bad feeling about Anakin. Obi-Wan thinks he might be able to train Anakin as well as Yoda, and he starts Anakin's training. Whatever war effort Obi-Wan was helping with at the beginning of the movie comes to a head and he and Anakin go in and save the day

Clone Wars (animated series)

Since the clones and droids are switched for sides, the series can focus on the clone soldiers that the good guys rescued, deprogrammed, and offered freedom to. They are offered help building a life, or they can join the Galactic Republic military to help rescue their fellow clones. Many choose to fight, and we get to have a bunch of the same basic stories we got. The Jedi aren't a military organization though and they don't command military groups. They are just a rare thing. We see Jedi like Obi-Wan and Anakin helping where they can. Maybe it's even that Obi-Wan and Anakin offer help to a particular clone unit and we follow the grouping. And Obi-Wan is having trouble with the recklessness of his student. An opportunity presents itself when they find Ahsoka. Obi-Wan suggests that Ahsoka be his student rather than Obi-Wan's saying that understanding becomes much deeper when you have to help someone else understand... so it's a way to continue Anakin's training. But really, Obi-Wan is hoping that having responsibility for another person might temper Anakin a bit.

Episode 2: Attack of the Clones

What this should have been... The fighting intensifies in the Clone Wars. There's a world being fought over that is particularly full of casualties. Senator Bail Organa wants to see the front line for himself. He wants a resolution and isn't sure what to push for in the senate. We don't get boring scenes in the senate... we're just told it's there. Bail Organa's personal pilot is Padme Amidala... a Force Sensitive woman who has been able to keep Bail safe in the sky for a long while. Anakin immediately falls for Padme and she is interested in him too. When Anakin asks her to join the small group of Jedi to learn to use her abilities, she's interested, but won't give up her work with the senator. She believes in that work too much as he's trying to affect the war from a high level and it has potential to save a lot of people that way. But during their time there, Anakin and Padme spend a lot of time together. She is learning a few simple things to improve her control, but really it's just fundamentals. The story progresses as the good guys lose that star system to the separatists... so it can act as the effective Empire Strikes Back of the prequel trilogy.

Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith

We see that Anakin is getting frustrated with his slow progress. He's powerful, but not skilled. He's too rash, and not controlling himself well enough. Padme (maybe in a communication) is separating from Anakin emotionally and she doesn't tell him she's pregnant. I haven't fleshed out all the details yet, but this is the movie where the Sith are discovered, and maybe Anakin sees how strong they are giving in to their emotions, and feels a taste of it, and maybe Anakin catches Padme talking to Obi-Wan and he assumes the worst, and maybe he finds out Padme is pregnant and thinks he's been betrayed by his closest friends. Palpatine has heard of Anakin before due to his efforts in the war, and hears rumor of Anakin being emotional... Anakin is already upset and wants more power... Palpatine just has to say that he'll show Anakin a path to power that the Jedi don't understand, and when it works, Anakin goes to confront Obi-Wan... and we get our big fight between the two friends. As the closing details of the movie, Padme is giving birth to Luke and Leia, and she lives through it just fine. That way there is room for Leia to not be making things up when she says in Return of the Jedi that she remembers her mother a little. Maybe we even get another cartoon series between Episode 3 and Episode 4 that gives us a bit of the story of how Luke and Leia get separated in a way that makes sense... like Vader hunting down the Jedi and also occasionally putting his attention pestering Padme. Obi-Wan ends up taking Luke to protect him because he has the stronger connection to the Force already and Vader can more easily sense him. Leia stays with Padme on Alderaan. Luke goes to family on Tatooine which hides his signature in the Force because Vader can't separate it from his own history there. Padme hates being separated from her son, but it seems to be working. Maybe Vader is even involved in Padme's death when Leia is 5 or 6 so she has those memories.

Episode 7: The Force Awakens

Most of the prequels and sequels should be renamed in addition to changing them completely. Anyway, what we should have gotten for Episode 7 is opening with a familiar view of Yavin IV from space, and the obligatory space ship that opens so much of Star Wars. It's the Millennium Falcon, right off the bat. It enters the atmosphere and heads toward a familiar area of ancient temples, but we see that there has been a fair amount of development such that there's a good sized town. The Falcon lands at a pad, and the music carries us to the ramp opening for us to see Leia, Han, and Chewy walking off the ship. Cut to Luke with some new faces on the edge of the Landing pad, and they're all smiling as they start approaching the Falcon and its disembarking passengers. Smiles, hugs, and greetings. We hear Ben Solo saying "hi mom" and "hi dad" to Leia and Han. Rey says "hi uncle Han" and "hi aunt Leia". Mara Jade is there with Luke and she part of the greetings too, but there's no convenient introduction yet. It's a family reunion and we get the impression that Luke and Mara have things running pretty smoothly at the Jedi Academy. We learn that Luke has learned from the past (and from the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin) to make the Jedi different than they were before. They're still monastic (as they were in my version of the prequels), but instead of retreating from the galaxy in an effort to avoid abusing their powers, they participate in community (NOT government) to help where there is need. But Leia is there partly to ask Luke if he and the Jedi can help with something. Republic intelligence has discovered a growing threat. Maybe it's Thrawn... just adjusted in time from the original Thrawn trilogy. Thrawn has been working quietly for 20+ years to re-build imperial military strength. Luke seems dubious about pushing any of his Jedi into a military role, but Leia is determined and points out that the Jedi could help stop this from becoming too big a thing if they act now. Rey and Ben are eager to join in. We get our introduction to the new characters. Leia has a team already assembled to check out a lead that might benefit from having a couple Jedi along. Luke picks a couple of his more experienced Jedi Knights and asks Rey and Ben to stay behind. They of course hide away on the ship and come along. The old gang is there mostly to supervise at their age. Whatever planet they head to, to check out the lead, we get our adventure story. Poe is one of the pilots on the team, and we get to see him being an insanely good pilot. Finn can still be a bad guy that wakes up and decides to defect. And we get introduced to a new Sith Order or maybe the Knights of Ren or whatever. They are Force users with the classic Red (and maybe orange and purple) lightsabers. The experienced Jedi Knights likely fall in battle while Rey and Ben escape back to Luke and Leia. Luke and Leia pretty easily scare off the dark Force users and Luke reluctantly says something like, "I think it's time to change your training... dark things are coming... and you'll need to be ready." The awakening of the Force is the return of conflict the Force will play a role in, I guess.

Episode 8: Thrawn's Empire

Yeah, the existing name is and was dumb. Episode 8 is by a good margin the worst of all of Star Wars. Rian Johnson makes me angry. So since I've switched to just saying what they should have done, this should be the episode where the New Republic gets its first taste of an Empire that uses good strategy and tactics instead of sheer size and numbers. Thrawn attacks ship yards and other sources of important resources for the New Republic. He uses old Star Destroyer fleets to make hit and run attacks, and uses troops supplemented with Force users when a finer scalpel is needed. The New Republic has a big military, but it's spread out to protect the various member worlds and doesn't have resources to focus well on Thrawn or to go on the offensive. It's kind a of a reverse of the Rebellion versus the Empire. Luke and the Jedi get more involved, especially in trying to counter the dark Force users. New Republic worlds are getting nervous because Thrawn seems to be having too much success. And as the middle episode, the bad guys are shown to be doing well and to be a genuine threat. Ben Solo and Rey Skywalker are getting more combat oriented training along with the other Jedi. The big battle at the end of this movie might be where New Republic intelligence finds word of Thrawn's next big attack, so they send lots of resources there, and of course it's a trap... Thrawn leaked the information and he very nearly wipes out the entire group the New Republic sent. The main characters along with a few others barely escape.

Episode 9: Legacy of Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker's grandkids feature in this. Since the numbered Star Wars episodes are supposed to be the story of Anakin Skywalker, we'll cap it off with Rey and Ben being the featured players in this endcap of the story. Along with Poe and Finn, the descendents of Anakin Skywalker take on Thrawn in a big climactic encounter. Big space battle, and big melee combat with lightsabers and blasters. Thrawn almost wins, but an act of sheer will from the good guy Force users accomplish something Thrawn couldn't have accounted for in his plans. He acknowledges defeat, and disappears in an explosion or dies calmly on the end of a lightsaber. We get a final scene which is another family reunion. The original trilogy heroes are sitting at a table watching the new generation of people having their own animated and happy conversation off a small way. Han, Chewbacca, Leia, Luke, Mara, and maybe Lando sit there and someone something along the lines of, "I wonder if we'll ever have a time when there's no danger to deal with". Some conversation about how there's always a new danger. Luke gets the final line of the movie and says something like, "We're ready when that next thing shows itself. More importantly, they're ready. The story will go on." Luke is of course nodding toward the kids. It's the indication that the Anakin Skywalker story is done but that there is more new story to tell.

Han Solo: A Star Wars story

This should have been one of the new live action shows. They tried to cram too much story into one movie. There's so much material there. We should have gotten a season or two. It should have started with Han already having joined the Empire. Maybe the first episode is how Han is helping to set up an operating base, and there is Wookiee slave labor. Han can't accept it, and he ends up freeing them, and helping them escape... effectively quitting the Empire. When they get back to Kashyyyk, Chewbacca takes on the burden of the life debt and swears to accompany and protect Han. Han isn't sure what to do, but knows he has to stay away from imperial space. The Wookiees give them a small shuttle, and Han and Chewy take off looking for their path. Looking for work, the series continues with how Han meets Lando and gambles with him. It includes how he got involved with Jabba the Hutt. And the series could end with the episode where Han is trying a big smuggling run for Jabba and gets boarded by an imperial patrol so he has to dump the cargo.

Rogue One: A Star Wars story

This should also have been one of the new live action shows, a lot more like Andor (yes, I know Cassian comes from Rogue One). It should have been the spy-story of rebel leadership learning of the Death Star, and sending people to try to get information about it. The weakness should NOT have been built in intentionally and the engineer shouldn't have relegated his daughter to a suicide mission. Probably a one season show. And it should have included telling us why the information, once obtained, couldn't just be sent by long range transmission. We know they have the bandwidth and speed to do full holographic image and voice communication in real-time between star systems... so... the data should have been sendable. Maybe the data they stole is on a USB drive essentially, but it's proprietary imperial stuff that is encrypted and the storage medium doesn't allow the contents to be copied anywhere without the right code. So, the good guys have this physical thing they need to bring to a rebel base. They successfully steal it midway through the series, and then Vader is assigned to hunt them down. This way, we get some awesome stuff with close calls with Darth Vader AND we get the impression that Vader has been hunting the plans for a while (like they imply in Episode 4). The immediate transition from the actual Rogue One movie of escaping the planet to Vader in pursuit with a Star Destroyer doesn't line up with what is said in Episode. So, this way, the rebel spies who stole the plans get in touch with rebel leadership, and they hatch a plan. If Leia, as a representative in the Senate (at least as a senate aid to her adopted father), goes to some planet in an official diplomatic capacity, the spied can pass off the physical plans to her. She's also given the task of asking Obi-Wan for help and to bring him back to the rebel base if possible. This is the last episode of the show. We end with the hand-off, and Vader realizing the hand-off has occurred, so he chases Leia's ship...

Mando-verse stuff

For me, Mandalorian, Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka are about half-good and half-bad. Book of Boba Fett was just terrible. It didn't focus on Boba Fett and didn't come up with a good story for him. It included Luke/Grogu stuff that was awful... just... a terrible choice for Luke's character... he's an overconfident person who makes the same moves as the broken Jedi instead of a person trying hard to learn and do better. Awful. And then for some reason we get more Din Djarin's story without it being support for Boba Fett's story. Just awful flailing. Anyway, the Mandalorian show does okay overall. I like the Grogu character well enough, but it adds needs to the story that I'm a little sad about. Yoda was supposed to be a mystery and have it stay that way. I didn't really want to open that door. It was perfect as-is. But the Grogu/Din relationship is good and told well... so... yeah... I'm okay with Grogu and the Mandalorian story. I feel like later seasons got scattered a bit and didn't know what it wanted to be... but I'm okay with it. Ahsoka... uh... I don't know. Some of the small scale content was cool. But the planning for the story. Why do we need to include other galaxies? It is one of my problems with the Yuzahn Vong... Galaxies are so big... there's no reason to spill over into other galaxies. And this version of Thrawn is okay, but in 8(?) episodes they managed to make very little progress. It feels like they used the Seinfeld approach to a show. A show about nothing. And honestly, Ahsoka is too over-confident too. Her departure from the Jedi Order should have left her questioning everything. Should have made her a person who doesn't assume her stance is the best one. Her characterization in the Mandalorian is the same. Like she thinks she has all the answers. I want to see that hopeful spunky person tempered with uncertainty. She always wanted to be involved and to help people. When Grogu came around, I wanted Ahsoka to react differently. Maybe her reaction and saying she won't help because she doesn't think she is the right person because she doesn't know what she's doing. Less of a confident "the Force tells me Grogu should go find Luke", and more of a "I'm not good enough to be his teacher" kind of reaction. Oh... also... Sabine Wren shouldn't have been made Force-Sensitive at all. She's an awesome character without it. Eh... anyway... I don't have a specific plan in mind for how to change _all_ of this, but I have issues with it.

Andor

I like that this didn't include Force users. I like the deep character story and the extra background on the rebellion forming. I think Cassian's motivations in a few places followed by the choices he made in the story didn't make logical sense, but overall I liked the show. I also really disliked how over-powered the older behind-the-scenes guy who's name I can't recall had a ship that was so powerful. Like... how did that happen? Why can his little ship do so much more than any other ship? Eh.

Kenobi

I really like Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan. Possibly the best thing that came out of the prequels. And I like the Obi-Wan is a bit disillusioned... but... I think it was odd to invent a story about something that happened to Leia. Maybe this could have been better as a story called "The Twins". We get two stories in each episode, one focused on Luke, and one focused on Leia. We see Kenobi in the Luke stories and we see Bail Organa in the Leia stories. And in my version of the prequels, if it's while the kids are 5 or 6 years old... Padme is part of it. So, it's Padme and Leia and we get to see more of Leia's upbringing. And with Obi-Wan and Luke, we see Luke being a farmboy and having run-ins with the Tuskens and we see Owen pushing Ben away... thinking he might be able to save Luke from following Anakin's path. And at the end of the first season, we see Padme pass away and that information is here instead of the other place I put it. Whatever. I liked seeing Kenobi. I just think the framework for the story could have been better.

Wrap-Up

I think that's all I've got for now. Yes... that's succinct compared to the rest I've written.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's latest artifact

I'll start with the assertion that I liked and enjoyed the movie. It was maybe a little heavy on chase scenes, but overall the movie felt good. I recommend seeing it if you like Indiana Jones movies. That's what I'll say in case you here looking for a movie review.

What this post is about though is my thoughts on the artifact... and more specifically what it can do. If you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want any spoilers, you shouldn't read past this paragraph. Okay. Going to put a break in there and then get on to the stuff I want to write about.

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The Dial of Destiny was thought to be able to calculate the locations of tears in time that essentially act as bridges between two spots in time. I say "spots" because "points" is too precise and these tears last minutes. All you have to do is show up at the right coordinates at either end of the tear in time, and you can pass through and as long as it's open you can pass through back and forth. The one tear we get to see in the movie happens to be up in the air and they had to fly through with planes. Here comes the biggest spoiler: The bad guy in the movie thought he'd be able to find a tear in time that leads to a point he wanted to go back to so that he could change history. But the dial was set up to figure out where to find the right place to find one particular time tear that lead back to where and when it was created. So, the bad guy failed pretty hard.

What do I want to write about then? Time travel. It's used in a lot of sci fi and fantasy. Sometimes I like it (Doctor Who for example). Sometimes I hate it (Avengers: End Game for example). In Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, I like it. They don't make a big deal out of it and aren't using it to cover up lazy writing. It's just a feature in a setting where a holy relic can send ghost-like things out to kill anyone that looks at them and a priest can pull a heart from a person's chest without breaking the flesh and without killing the person... somehow. Oh, and the Holy Grail is real and is capable of keeping a person alive for centuries and healing gunshot wounds in a second.

Part of me is still unhappy because I don't think time-travel is possible except via time dilation and that's forward only. For time travel like what we see in Dial of Destiny to work, multiple points in time would have to exist at the sme time. This could be because the movie is saying that all points in time always exist simultaneously so that there's a place to travel to. I suppose you could say it's handled with multiple realities and each tear is between realities at whatever point in time they happen to be at, but the movie is about using that time travel to change history of that world... so, I'm going with the idea that all points in time exist simultaneously. And that seems implausible in reality, hence one of my dislikes of using time travel in stories. But I can accept it here because it's not used to cover lazy writing... it's used as a tool to tell a good story. And now that I have all that out of the way...

As a ruleset to govern time travel in a setting, I think I really like this one. It's severely limited. You can't just travel back and forth to and from any time you like. There are specific difficulty to predict tears that appear and no one controls them. If you predict one and can get to the place and maybe you can tell if it's moving forward or back and prepare... and if you stay longer than 10ish minutes, you're stuck there unless they also have the knowledge to predict and locate these tears... and you won't ever get back to the same spot you left from unless you're immortal and can simply live until then or the times connected are close together. And it's plausible as a natural phenomenon. Without some pretty crazy effort, this time travel is nearly useless. This might be my favorite rendition of time travel in fiction.

Stress of having to be a grown up

I think I'm operating day to day burnt out. Just... completely burnt out. And I keep doing what I'm doing because my family needs me to. I have twin 5-year-olds. I have a 16-year-old step-son. And I have a pretty amazing wife who is also bearing the burden of stress. We both work full-time jobs, and both of us let the job bleed over into our personal time. We work from home, so there isn't really great cut-off, and that might be the very best argument ever for working from the office. Having some separation between home life and work life might actually help. But working from home has become something of a necessity for us with the twins. Being able to handle it when they have colds/fevers they have to stay from pre-K for is pretty key. But it's things like being able to start a load of dishes or laundry, and take care of the dogs, and run errands if needed during business hours, and more.

I hate my job. I'm not looking to burn bridges, so I'll leave out who I work for in this post. If you figure it out from somewhere else, then congratulations on your hard fought knowledge. When I got hired, I was pretty desperate for work. I had been laid off from my previous job when the pandemic hit and the owners of the previous company didn't want to dip into their profits to be kind to their employees. Ten percent of us had to go. And in the tech industry where demand for online services might go down in a pandemic... they weren't willing to risk their precious comfortable income to protect us. Yes. I'm bitter about rich people who don't understand that their employees are what make their company possible, and choose to keep all the money we generate. Inhumane, inconsiderate, greedy, garbage human beings. Where was I? Oh right...

So, I was desperate for work during the height of unemployment near the beginning of the pandemic. A person at my wife's company on another team was looking to hire someone. It was not the right fit. The technology stack was completely different and the work was less software development and more dev-ops. I was a long time software engineer who could learn, and they were an employer. I took the offer, and have been here for about 2.5 years. The group we work for is the remnants of a company that got bought by a bigger company. And because of management indecision, lack of foresight, lack of care, and lack of understanding the group has been abused pretty much the entire time they've been owned by the big company. Demands for excellent work and customer service with the promise of our product being shut down being made over and over. We get told the product is going away, and then they remember how much their own internal teams use our product and depend on it. And then they try again, and change their minds. And then new people get involved and they try again and still can't make it happen. All the while, the domain knowledge experts keep leaving. The demands to keep the service running are put entirely on their shoulders, and then when things don't go perfectly, they're scape-goated. We get punished when things don't go well, and they won't hire anyone to help us. And they don't understand that losing those domain knowledge experts makes this WAY harder to do. Service incidents occur, and they slap us with a change freeze and make it harder for us to do our jobs. And my favorite recent thing was my current (fairly new) manager telling me what some deadline was on my project and telling me to "act like it"... as though it's my fault the deadline got chosen without any basis in reality and without any consideration for the super long approval processes they imposed.

The current situation is that my job sucks. It sucks for all of us on my team and my wife's team. All the stress of high expectations without even 10% of the resources we need... AND we'll get the blame when things go wrong. What a stupid arrangement. I'm job hunting, but that's not going great. I interviewed at a place that seemed to like me, but then the company decided to cancel the job rec. Pretty much like the company I work for. It feels to me like people are hesitant to hire and spend that money. Guessing it's more rich people that don't want to accept a little less pay for themselves so that their employees can have less stress. Last I checked, the average CEO was paid 361 times what their average employee was paid. So, if the national average for yearly pay is around $50,000, the average CEO would be making $18,050,000. Per year. Assuming they pay any taxes, they easily have 5 million left over. Outright buy a huge freaking house. That's the first year. What other big expenses do they have? What do they need all that other money for? And if they were fired and replaced with someone making a quarter of what they were making, would the company suffer at all? Is that CEO really providing over three hundred times the value of their other employees? Really? The answer is very clearly "no". Losing the CEO wouldn't slow the company down. Losing 300 employess would. And what those people at the top SHOULD do is chop their own salary down. With that average example, if the CEO chopped just their own salary down to 3 million, they could bump 300 employee salaries up by just over 50,000. If they're at the average, that doubles their pay. Suddenly, people don't need to get second job and can actually live their lives.

Okay. Yes. Very bitter at the rich people who run this country for screwing over everyone with less money than them. It's actually a big source of stress for me. It bothers me that rich people are such awful human beings. But (to move on to my next source of stress), it also bothers me how little effort some people make to avoid delusions. Millions of people in this country think Donald Trump is a good person who did good things for them. Obviously to anyone paying attention, Donald Trump is a horrifying human being that did everything in his power to line his own pockets without any care at all about how many people died because of his inept, ignorant, and damaging efforts as president. His business savvy with China lead to a failed trade war where our farmers had to be given 12 billion dollars in tax money to save them financially. Trump is stupid. He's a terrible business man, terrible president, and terrible human. But people believe him over any other information source. Even when he says stupid stuff on live TV about how windmills cause cancer and have a huge carbon footprint. Or that tax evasion makes him smart (which he said during the presidential debate with Clinton). Do his disciples not understand that rich people evading taxes means the burden of taxes is shifted to them? Seriously... we have public school, police, fire departments, the military, road and bridge maintenance, and more that are all tax-funded programs to benefit all of us (socialism). Do people want our government to stop providing those things? Now I can agree that we need to take money out of the military... that thing is ridiculous. We need universal health care and child care. And we could use an organization that helps with situations the police have no idea how to deal with... so... reduce tax money going to the corrupt violent bullies, and give it to people who are actually trying to help. But anyway, yes, our tax money should be spent better, but when super rich people evade taxes, we get to cover their portion. And Trump's supporters think he's brilliant for dodging taxes.

But my point was that almost half the population thinks Trump is good. And with all the information available they went with the conspiracy nuts and for-profit-fear-mongering at Fox News. They are literally delusional and will angrily argue that they are correct about their stance. It's hard for me to accept so many people would support a man who flippantly said he wasn't going to wear a mask, resulting in too many people not being careful, which resulted in so many more people dying than would have without the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people. An idiot braggart conman. And so many people not only fell for it, but continue to argue it... like it's their new religion. Another harmful thing based on the lies of a few people who want to stay in power. Do so many humans really need the comfort of an easy lie to deal with life? Does it really help to carry so much hate for people different than you accept your idol will punish those people despite them having done nothing wrong?

I'm stressed about how many people in the society my children are growing up in would consign kids to hell because the gun lobby says gun violence in school is okay; because a kid is trans; because a kid is black; because they think the word socialism is bad without understanding it... I just... what kind of nutty world do we live in where DeSantis can make wearing women's clothing a crime in Florida? Or ban books because there are black kids or trans people represented? Or ban the teaching of actual history because his white pride thinks we can sweep the atrocities against black people under the rug? Or take pride in the idea of smashing the concept of "woke"? So many people supporting him that just don't care that being woke means caring about other people... about being awake to the fact that there are people suffering in what's supposed to be a powerful society. We can be better than DeSantis. That guy is seemingly worse than Trump... a zealot pile of selfishness and hate for anyone not like him. Trump opened the door, and so many people just jumped in line behind him. Ugh... what a terrifying world, and I genuinely hope we're not too late to save the country... I hope enough of us stand against people like Trump and DeSantis to make things better... long enough for the younger generation to take over, because while we might have opened some doors to move things in a better direction, the young generation is going to have to step up and take over. The old pieces of conservative garbage in the political power positions need to be taken to the curb and sent to rest in the dump.

That's the big external stuff. Job, politics, and religion. It all actively causes me anxiety every day. But the sources of stress don't stop there. I want to be a good dad to my kids; a good husband to my wife; a good friend to the people in my life; and to be of some help to people in need. I want to help kids in the foster system. I want to help people of color and LGBTQ+ people. And I don't have the resource to be more than a passive ally to people far outside my life. But I can try to help my kids. I want more than anything to give them a happy and healthy childhood. I know... I know I'm going to mess up some things. I already feel guilty about how much time I spend working and about those times I'm just too tired to play. I feel terrible about those times I lose my temper and yell. I try to apologize and try to remember so next time I won't yell. I'm trying so hard, and I hope I never do or say anything that diminishes the light I see in my children's eyes. I hope they can both be fierce beacons of light as adults. It sounds cheesy even as I type it, but it also feels right. I don't want anything to beat their sense of hope down. I want their spirits to be strong and healthy enough to whether the world should it place as much burden on them as it does to us. Worrying about the well-being of my kids and their futures is on my mind every day too.

I've been running on empty for years. Probably decades. I think I'm clinically depressed. I know I don't feel energy any day. Even on vacation... I had time away from work, but that just relieved the pressure for a little while. But even while on vacation, I didn't feel strong motivation to do anything. I wasn't energetic. It wasn't enough to recover. I'm still burnt out. I'm job hunting, but the market is low and I can't very openly job hunt for fear of my employer finding out I'm trying to leave like so many others. I want to leave but can't. I just have to keep trying to get just enough motivation to do some work. Day after day. The same thing I don't want to be doing because I have to wait until I can find a way out.

I find myself staring out the window a lot. I want to write my book. I want to write table-top role-playing game material. I want to start my own company. I want to open up a little gaming shop with awesome table-top gaming rooms that can be used for LAN parties. I want to travel and see more places than I already have. I don't know. I do know that I'm out of fuel. My engine is running on empty and has managed a surprisingly long time. And I think my situation is probably not unique. Probably most people are worn out. We have to find a way to make the oligarchs of this country fix the problem. Or get out of the way. I think that was my stream of consciousness for today.

Finally watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars

 I'm a big fan of the original trilogy of Star Wars.  I enjoy a fair amount of the Extended Universe novels.  I like what some of the video games bring to the table.  I like The Mandalorian series, and love the season 2 finale.

The Han Solo movie should have been a series.  They crammed way too much of his story into a movie.  It could have easily been a limited series, nicely ending with the story of how Han got in trouble with Jabba.  I guess the movie was okay.  Just disappointing.  And Rogue One... well... it had pretty good characters that made me like them, and I admit I enjoyed seeing Darth Vader cut loose, but the idea that the weakness had to be designed in and that the dad assigned his daughter the task and fate instead of just sending the information to the active rebels is weak.  I also don't like how it bled directly into the beginning of Episode 4.  When you watch Episode 4, the impression they give is that Darth Vader has been hunting the plans for a while... not one day.

I very much dislike the Prequel Trilogy.  I dislike the Sequels too, especially episode 8 which harmed the setting and characters I love.  I dislike the Book of Boba Fett series for having very little to do with Boba Fett and for portraying Luke Skywalker in a stupid way.  I should add too that I don't like how Ahsoka Tano is written in The Mandalorian or Book of Boba Fett.

That's my setting of expectations so you know where I'm coming from in my review of The Clone Wars series.  I don't think I can avoid spoilers, so I'll give the short review quickly here.  There's a lot of illogical junk in the series as well as weird decisions made by the writers in some places, but they do manage to tell some good stories in there.  And they do end it well.  I'm glad I watched the whole thing.

New Star Wars Prequels Mistake In My Opinion

 Most of the time these days when I complain about something in Star Wars it centers on the sequel trilogy.  Especially Episode 8, where Rian Johnson gleefully tore apart the setting like it was his job.  Oof, I have to be careful not to start ranting about how much Episode 8 sucks again.  No, this time I'm going to point a finger back at George Lucas for messing up the prequels.  And I think I might have a new angle to complain about them from.

I'll start with the old angles.  Lucas wanted the movies to be children's movies, so he made them revolve around convoluted political plots, which is a good start.  The political plots not making any sense is another.  The waste of time meeting Anakin as a child instead of as a functioning adult who was a great pilot and a cunning warrior.  The stupid romance between Anakin and Padme that made zero sense (especially that stupid scene in the field with the cow creatures).  The 417 minute lightsaber fight swinging on ropes over lava that SHOULD have been one of the most emotionally engaging scenes in the entire setting.  The strange use of Jedi as generals in a military (aren't they supposed to be mystic monks closer to diplomats than military commanders?  Why are jedi government agents?).  The odd moment where Darth Sidious decides his apprentice should attack the jedi for no gain, but losing any secrecy he had.  The useless character of Qui Gon Jinn who is supposed to be the maverick that is a better example of what a jedi should be, but who is totally comfortable with using his power to cheat and steal.  The pointless waste of time with the pod races (seriously... we only get a small number of the numbered episodes of Star Wars and this is what we wasted it on?).  The hard to believe motivation for Anakin falling to the dark side (he slaughtered children because he was too scared to ask for help to save Padme directly).

I'll stop there.

One of my previous complaints that I have seen only hints to in other places is the fact that what Lucas gave us for something called the Clone Wars wouldn't really have been called the Clone Wars.  It could as easily have been called the Droid Wars.  Each of those two names would suggest the war was about that thing though.  And what we got would probably best be described as the Separatist War because it seems to have been about some star systems trying to separate from the Galactic Republic.  My complaint is that Lucas should have come up with something about the concept of cloning and its use.  It could easily have been that Separatist systems had economies dependent on clone labor force, and the Galactic Republic was finally getting around to considering it immoral... so you end up with a war about the use of clones.  That would have made sense to me.  And it leads to my new thought about how Lucas failed with the prequels.

Clones are living beings with feelings who can be hurt and killed.  They are bred, genetically altered, and indoctrinated from birth to be willing servants.  They are created and never given a choice.  They are slaves.  And the clone troopers given to us in the prequel trilogy are slaves expected to risk their lives and casually die with little effort to protect them.

Why would the jedi accept that?  Aren't the jedi the good guys?  Sure, Lucas says they're supposed to remain emotionally detached, but using slave soldiers is outright evil.  Lucas just skipped over the part where someone told the jedi that they'd be commanding slave soldiers in battle.  They were already made by request of some now gone jedi years ago?  Oh it must be okay.  And since they're here, we might as well use them.  What kind of stupid thing is that?  I get that the Jedi were getting complacent and losing their edge with the apparent disappearance of the Sith... but... this one seems so simple.

If you combine my desire for something called the Clone Wars to make sense, and the idea that jedi SHOULDN'T use slaves, there's actually a really good path Lucas could have taken.  Do as I said with respect to making the political situation be that many systems rely on slave clones for labor (as teachers, medics, maids, child care, waiters, cooks, and anything that people enjoy a living interaction for instead of a droid).  More enlightened people come to enough power to challenge that institution, and you have your political tension.  Separatist worlds try to leave the Republic before they are forced to find a new way and under guidance of a particular sith lord, they build an army of clones.

This is a perfect fighting force for the separatists.  It uses a resource they have a ready ability to produce and it forces the Galactic Republic to fight and kill the people they're trying to save.  I think that's clever.

The Galactic Republic doesn't have a standing military big enough for an interstellar civil war, so it begins cranking out non-sentient droid soldiers.  Military units are reinforced with them and the Jedi are asked to help on missions or big battles where their power with the Force can make a big difference.  We can get the idea that monks with power aren't automatically military trained and capable, which was a weird leap in the prequels.  And we get to see scenes where the jedi watch as unfeeling machines kill the poor clones forced into a life of servitude and death.

At this point I'm thinking about how Anakin's fall to the dark side has to be a different story.  I want to make Padme into a Force-sensitive pilot (who never got training with the Force) for Senator Bail Organa, and that's how Anakin ends up meeting her.  She's an incredible pilot who seems able to pull the senator out of some pretty scary situations with her benefits from being Force-sensitive (lightning reflexes and intuition).  I'm playing up the relationship there because it explain far better why Bail would be interested in helping Padme's children later.

Padme and Anakin meet and have their relationship develop.  Anakin continues to serve in the war with the jedi, but it's becoming clear he's not great at controlling his anger.  He even benefits from using it and Obi-Wan and Padme both start to recognize the danger.  Padme is pregnant and she's pulling away from Anakin, which makes him more angry.  During this time, Sidious has heard of Anakin and is orchestrating situations where Anakin has to fight especially hard to save his comrades and/or himself to give him plenty of experience using his anger.  And then Sidious sets up a meeting with Anakin where he offers to teach Anakin how to use that great power.  Maybe Sidious even gives Anakin dreams about losing his comrades and Padme.  And he feels like he's losing them already so the dreams just bolster the effect.

At this point, Anakin (and everyone else really) doesn't know that Sidious has been helping and guiding the separatists.  He just knows that Sidious is supposedly a bad guy because he's a Sith, but so far has only had an offer of help from him.  Anakin keeps it to himself because he wants to decide for himself, knowing that the Jedi would go after him.  And his turn to the dark side becomes about feeling like the jedi are trying to limit him and like Sidious is supporting him.  At this point Padme is pretty distanced from Anakin and Anakin is angry.

Anakin's duties keep him away from Padme and he finds himself increasingly asking Sidious for advice.  He wants power enough to end the war and convince Padme she should stay with him.  Enough time passes that Padme gives birth.  Obi-Wan is there.  No stupid death by sadness for Padme.  And Leia's line about remembering a bit about her real mother can make sense.  Anakin tries to visit what he thinks is his only child, and Padme stops him saying he has to go fix some things before he can participate in this relationship.  He nearly loses it and Obi-Wan has to step in to prevent him from doing damage.  Anakin makes wrong conclusions about what's going on and swears he'll return to get his child.  Says he can sense his son already and that his son is strong in the Force.  Then he leaves and heads straight for Sidious where his dark path continues.  This is all during maybe episode 2.

Realizing that the Padme and the kids aren't safe there, they put her in hiding, but Anakin finds them again citing that he can sense his son.  It leads to the point where the Jedi advise Padme to let them take Luke far away to be raised by his Uncle and Aunt on Tatooine... the Jedi believe Anakin's past there will hide Luke effectively.  Padme of course says she'll just move there too, but the Jedi warn about just how much that protection might be able to hide.

Padme stays working for Senator Organa, and Leia lives at the Organa household since Padme is so close to the family.  Leia is super young when her mom dies (possibly at the hands of Anakin who has come to find his son and who is told that the Jedi took him to hide him).  Anakin doesn't know Leia is his daughter and the Organa family adopts her and gets the papers doctored to suggest she's been their kid all along.

Obi-Wan keep vigil over Luke; the Organas raise Leia; and the original trilogy is set up with clone wars that make sense.

Modifications to the Skywalker Saga (ep 1, 2, and 3)

 I started this essay over in my ideas for modifications blog post for episodes 4, 5, and 6.  So, that's where to start if you haven't read it already.  I'll also be writing one of these for the sequels and for the standalone movies (Solo and Rogue One).  This one is for the prequels though.  Episodes 1, 2, and 3.  I'm going to try to stick with presenting what I consider a good idea instead of re-hashing what I think are the bad aspects.  So, when you see that my version of the prequels has little to do with the version we got, just understand that I think the prequels did almost everything wrong.

Episode 1: The Clone Wars

For the opening imposing shot, we see a massive carrier space ship parked on the ground with entryways open and people going inside.  There are some people in uniforms guiding the crowd and handling any processing (like handing out temporary ID cards).  We start to realize that this huge crowd is composed of a small number of different looking people.  Everyone in the crowd looks like dozens of others in the crowd.  These are all clones being helped.

We're on Tatooine and Obi-Wan Kenobi is working with a relief organization that is trying to help enslaved clones gain some identity and the opportunity for freedom.  These clones were produced and used by the Hutts in control here and the Republic has used military force to stop the Hutts.  This is the effort to help the slave clones rebuild.  But the fighting isn't over.  Obi-Wan is there offering his help to the military forces protecting this evacuation.

A local shuttle pilot hired to help bring the clones to this big ship from different places on Tatooine turns out to be Anakin Skywalker.  He's taken a job as a "bus driver" essentially because it's the only way he can follow his passion for piloting.  His family are moisture farmers.  When Anakin delivers a group of the clones, and attack happens.  Anakin manages to maneuver his transport to avoid a nasty fate or something in a way that indicates he knew the attack was coming.  Obi-Wan notes this and moves on to helping the defense personnel deal with the attackers who are obviously not happy with the slave clones being taken away.  We get our first Star Wars battle and we see Obi-Wan in his prime doing really impressive things.

We also see Darth Maul who is hiding but observing Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan finds Anakin after the fight to find out if he was involved somehow since he knew to dodge the attack... but realizes Anakin is Force sensitive.  Obi-Wan offers to train him.  Darth Maul observes this too and seems unhappy about it.

Anakin is excited about the prospect of getting to do something other than moisture farming and bus driving, but he goes and talks to his family.  We get the scene that Obi-Wan described in Episode 4 where Anakin's brother tells him to not get involved for fear of following Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade.

Anakin of course chooses to go with Obi-Wan who has since consulted with Yoda, who has advised against training Anakin.

The climax of the movie is Darth Maul trying to convince Anakin that he can offer a better path.  Obi-Wan arrives and is shocked... he thought the Sith were gone or at least nowhere near here.  Maul and Obi-Wan fight, but Obi-Wan is calm and keeps asking questions... he's trying to interrogate the Maul while fighting.  Maul mistakes the fact Obi-Wan hasn't attacked in any convincing way for him not being much of a threat.  Obi-Wan eventually just cuts the staff-saber in half thinking it'll inform Maul that Obi-Wan has been holding back and that the fight is over, but Maul just keeps using his two swords.  Maul finally realizes that Obi-Wan IS a threat though, and starts trying to use other tricks since straight sword fighting hasn't been working.  We get the moments where it looks like Darth Maul has the advantage and Obi-Wan asks his questions one last time.  Maul mocks him, and Obi-Wan cuts off one of Maul's hands (a signature move).

The end of the movie is Anakin going with Obi-Wan to begin training in earnest.

Episode 2: Dilemma of Pride

This one has to contain a lot.  We need to see that Anakin is being trained by Obi-Wan, but also that his attention drifts elsewhere.  The two main paths are the Force training and Anakin meeting a Senator's pilot... Padme.  Padme is also strong in the Force but untrained, and it is how she has done well at protecting the senator from danger on multiple occasions.  He ability to react to danger before it's too late has helped quite a bit.  Anakin is smitten and he finds himself making excuses to spend time with her.  Obi-Wan is getting impatient and says that Anakin has too much training that needs attention since he wasn't trained from a young age.  And there's still the efforts fighting against clone slavery.  At the same time, Anakin is getting frustrated with training because it's not going fast enough.  Keeps asking when Obi-Wan is going to teach him the good stuff.

Anakin and Padme have something of a whirlwind romance that results in her being pregnant.  At first, Anakin is very happy for this.  Obi-Wan is upset by the distraction, but realizes that training Padme might be helpful too, and that if he can train both of them, Anakin might pay more attention.  But it back fires in two ways.  Padme picks up the lessons quicker because she actually listens and Anakin gets jealous.  He begins seeing Obi-Wan and Padme talking to each other without him there and Anakin starts to imagine something else going on.

Enter another one of Palpatine's students.  Possibly Dooku.  Dooku calls Maul a fool and says that he used to think like Obi-Wan until he realized how easy power came to him when he stopped restraining himself.  Where a Jedi keeps calm and exercises restraint, he had found that letting emotion fuel his efforts was much more effective.  Maybe Dooku even sets up a situation where Anakin is afraid to move forward in a combat because he doesn't trust his own abilities yet, and then with Dooku there as a guide, they wade into battle with Dooku shouting to let go of his control and just feel.  Anakin relishes this and demolishes the bad guys (slavers?).  He feels the power of using his anger.

He goes back to Obi-Wan and Padme and accuses Obi-Wan of keeping valuable information from him.  Accuses Obi-Wan of trying to hold Anakin back.  And accuses Obi-Wan of trying to steal Padme.  He then asks Padme to go with him... he found a better teacher that can help both of them.

Obi-Wan pleads with Anakin not to go and pleads with him to wait long enough to discuss it.  Obi-Wan looks hurt and confused at the accusations of trying to steal Padme.  But when Padme lays into Anakin about how she isn't a possession to be stolen and that Anakin should have talked to her... Anakin loses his temper and leaves... angry at both of the people he loved.

The end of the movie is Anakin going to be trained by the dark side.  Obi-Wan and Padme have a closing conversation that includes what to do next, intent to ask Yoda and the council for help, the fear that Anakin will attack them or come back for the unborn child... stuff to set us up for the next one.

Episode 3: Birth of the Empire

Palpatine is shown in conversation with other politicians in the Republic worlds that don't want to give up the worker clones that are genetically modified to happily accept slavery.  They talk about how their military strength is close to enough to overcome the liberal Republic worlds, but the Jedi keep foiling efforts.  Palpatine assures them that it will not be a problem much longer.

Dooku is still in charge of Anakin and we can see him with new scars and grim visage.  Dooku explains to Anakin that they need to begin hunting Jedi.  At first Anakin is resistant, but Dooku continues his explanation.  The Jedi claim to be fighting to protect the clones and give them freedom, but all they're doing is helping to kill the clone troopers they face.  If the Jedi are so powerful, why haven't they figured out how to help those clones instead of killing them.  Dooku suggests that Anakin begin traveling to the major ground battles to find the Jedi there and challenge them to do better.  If they refuse or try to excuse their actions, Anakin can decide how best to protect more clone lives.  And thus begins Anakin hunting down and wiping out Jedi.

At some point, some clue causes Anakin to realize Dooku isn't the top of the pyramid.  Dooku tries to deny it, and the two end up fighting, with Anakin demanding to know who it is.  Anakin ends up winning, and Dooku begs for his life.  Anakin is about to do something when Darth Sidious enters the room all hooded up.  He pulls his hood back and we see it IS Palpatine.  Palpatine says "I am the master.  You don't need him to tell you anymore.  You can kill him now."  Dooku looks shocked and terrified, and Anakin casually beheads Dooku.

Anakin tries to attack Palpatine too, thinking this might just be some other lackey.  But Palpatine draws his red sword and easily defends.  And when he gets bored, he just uses the Force to batter Anakin until he drops his lightsaber and then hits Anakin with lightning.  Anakin realizes he's not a match and this guy is pretty powerful.  Palpatine tells him to continue hunting and killing Jedi.

Padme is working with the senator again and looking far enough along in the pregnancy that she's likely to take a break soon.

Obi-Wan is on some other world with good-guy military fighting against clone/storm troopers.  At some point in the battle, Obi-Wan gets a pensive look on his face and he turns to look into the distance.  A blue lightsaber is there.  I guess this has to be Mustafar.  Anakin walks toward Obi-Wan casually deflecting blaster bolts aimed at him.  Obi-Wan tries to talk to Anakin and ask him what he's doing.  Anakin challenges him with the idea that Jedi are the bad guys.  Obi-Wan tries to break through his confusion at Anakin's words, and tries to say he can still come back... that Padme misses him.  The mention of Padme makes Anakin more angry, and he lashes out at Obi-Wan.  The fight begins and Obi-Wan keeps trying to talk.  He begs Anakin to talk instead of fighting.  And we see the same sort of fight developing that Obi-Wan and Maul had in Episode 1.  Anakin doesn't understand just how good Obi-Wan really is.  Anakin press the attack and mocks Obi-Wan and spits vitriol at him for corrupting Padme.  Anakin says that when his child is old enough, he will take the boy away.

When Obi-Wan realizes Anakin is not himself anymore and that there is no helping him, Obi-Wan dismembers Anakin... and Obi-Wan cries as he tells Anakin that he was like a brother.  Obi-Wan picks up Anakin's lightsaber looking at it as though it somehow explains what's happening.  Seeing their Force-user cut down, the storm troopers rush in.  Obi-Wan backs off.  He asks his side to pull back, and the Storm Troopers drag Anakin to get medical treatment.  The two sides are moving away from each other and we get a very visceral shot with the two focal points.

The epilogue is of the birth of the kids and the montage of their early growth.  While still toddlers, Darth Vader comes after Padme unsuccessfully, and Luke is the stronger of the two kids with the Force... so he only senses him.  Obi-Wan suggests that he take Luke to a far away place.  Luke has an Uncle and Aunt that can raise him.  And Obi-Wan says he will stay with Luke to help him and even teach him when he is ready.  Padme wants nothing to do with splitting up the kids, or being separated from Luke.  Obi-Wan insists that it's only long enough to figure out what to do about Vader.  Padme has to keep up working for the senator who is one of the major anti-Empire politicians.

Maybe it's too much to include in the movie, but we should get the idea that Padme dies when the kids are about 5.  Obi-Wan lets Luke stay with his Aunt and Uncle and the Senator swears to raise Leia as his own and protect her.  Maybe it's even that Anakin finally comes for Padme saying he wants his son.  They fight and there's some kind of precarious situation where both of them might die.  When Padme tells Vader that Luke is with Obi-Wan in hiding, Vader snaps.  He saves himself and walks away.  Padme is unable to save herself from whatever situation it was and she dies because Vader didn't saver her.

The Empire is born as Palpatine announces his huge clone army and fleet of star destroyers.  They position themselves near the major republic worlds that oppose clone slavery and begin taking over.

Other Star Wars Movies

Already linked near the top...

• Episodes 4, 5, and 6
• Episodes 7, 8, and 9
• Standalone movies

Modifications to the Skywalker Saga (ep 4, 5, and 6)

 I love the Original Trilogy; I greatly enjoy some of the Extended Universe; I like some of the video games (though I specifically dislike Revan); and I like some of the Star Wars series (animated and live-action).  The Prequels are bad.  The Sequels are bad (especially episode 8).  That's a kind of foundation for you to understand my point of view as I write this blog essay.  Instead of just writing about the mistakes I think were made in the movies, I'm going to try to just write my ideas for how things could have gone that I would have been happier with.  And since this is one essay trying to address 11 movies (I'm including Solo and Rogue One), it'll be a framework rather than a treatment.

I'm doing it in release order partly because that's how I experienced them, but also because there's some importance to the story being told that way in the form of the big reveal in Empire Strikes Back.  And seeing how long this is getting, I think I'm going to break it up into 3 posts for the original trilogy, the prequels, and the sequels.

Episode 4: Star Wars, A New Hope

The only thing I'd change is some of the details.  When Han delivers the lines: "The engines are at full power. I'm going to have to shut down.  They're not going to get me without a fight", it sounds like those things are connected and somehow shutting down IS the beginning of fighting back.  It just sounds weird to me, but the fix is easy.  The tractor beam is overpowering the engines so Han says the first part about the engines being at full power and needing to shut down, possibly adding something about preventing them from burning out or breaking.  Then Han pauses and starts looking around like he's desperately thinking.  He turns to the other people in the ship and flatly states that they're not going to get him without a fight.  The pause and body language tell us that the engines are no longer the focus and we get the clearer idea that Han is intent on not giving up.  It also makes the following line from Obi-Wan, "You can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting", make more sense.

I would also adjust the Death Star wait-time reason when it is trying to destroy the rebel base.  Instead of being blocked by a planet and orbiting until you can see the moon you want to destroy, why not put in the detail that the hyperspace jump took all the power from the capacitors and they need to charge again before they can fire?  Hyperspace jumping a moon-sized station from the Alderaan system to the Yavin system has to take a lot of power.  It would make sense that the station couldn't jump and shoot a beam powerful enough to destroy a planet-sized moon in rapid succession.  Instead of the line that explains they need to orbit the gas giant to shoot at the moon, have a line that says something like, "15 minutes to charge capacitors for firing the main cannon", and move on.

The trench run is one of the best scenes in all of Star Wars.  Great story telling for getting the viewer on the edge of their seats.  I've seen it at least 50 times and it works on me every time.  But logic underlying it needs to be fixed.  Since an exhaust port implies releasing a gas like an exhaust on a car, and losing resources out an exhaust port into space doesn't make sense (what kind of power plant can handle a small moon sized ship that has exhaust?  Is that thing burning fuel?), I'd change that to a maintenance tunnel.  For a huge power plant you might need to fly maintenance ships into the moon base for (carrying large machines and supplies), you just have a ship sized tunnel.  It's no longer a flaw in the design... just a weakness the rebels figured out to exploit.

The weakness isn't perfect for the rebels.  It is covered by massive doors when not in use and because it is a known entry point to the station, it is surrounding by a ridiculous number of turrets.  There's no trench, just that the closer you get, the harder it is to not get shot down.  And missiles fired from too far away get shot down before they can be helpful.  So, you have to get people close enough to fire the missiles.  The first run is a bunch of Y-Wings with the sole purpose of blowing a big hole in the door (possible secondary of blowing up shield generators around the door).  The second run is to take the shot if the path is clear, or to at least clear more of a path.  The third run is only needed if the second run didn't blow up the power plant.  Everyone has a computer lock for the guided missiles to use long in advance, and the obstacle is getting close enough to fire such that the turrets can't take out the missiles.  Luke's use of the Force to save the day isn't about "timing" a shot for a guided missile (that makes no sense).  It's about flying evasively enough to not get shot down by enemy fighters or the surface turrets on his way close enough to get the shot off.

(Quick side note: Greedo never shoots)

Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back

The Battle of Hoth just needs to explain better why Star Destroyers that can level cities can't just break down the rebel base shield, but for some reason, AT-ATs can walk up to the generator and shoot it.  And do the Ion Cannons ignore shields?  Or did the Star Destroyer not have its shields up despite the situation?  If Ion Cannons ignore shields, why don't Star Destroyers have them too?  Couldn't they have shot the shield generator from space and then just pummel the base?  Or if Vader's purpose includes capturing Luke, why not just bounty hunters in the first place?  Or if not bounty hunters, why do the military leaders think it's important that the shield can withstand bombardment?  Why aren't they immediately talking about sending down resources to capture people?

I think to maintain the desired ground battle, we let the imperial military leaders think it's about wiping out the rebels while Vader has his own plans, and it's just convenient the rebels have what is described as an umbrella shield that protects them from bombardment from space, but appears to have been put up in a hurry because there's a lot of space at the ground level where the shield wasn't lined up.  The AT-ATs go down to blow up the shield generator still because they can walk under the umbrella.  Vader is shown realizing Luke is on the ground and takes the chance to say something like, "someone at this rebel base is to be brought in alive.  There will be no bombardment.  I will be joining the ground assault.  Capture any ships that attempt to flee."

When the rebel ships are ready to flee, they say something about redirecting the power for the shields to the ion cannons to give some indication of how powerful it is.  They then say they need to hit the Star Destroyers multiple times to make sure shields are knocked out and then to knock out enough systems to cripple them temporarily.

The second thing I'd like for ESB is more clarity around the lesson Luke is supposed to have learned at the cave.  If Luke had listened to Yoda and not brought weapons with him, what was supposed to happen that Luke would have learned from?  What would have been the ideal way it would have transpired?  Luke is faced with Darth Vader and then what?  Or was it always known Luke would bring his weapons anyway, and part of the lesson is that using weapons was the wrong choice?  Was Luke's face inside the helmet a foreshadowing of familial relation, or a warning of some kind that he could end up on the dark side like Vader?  Was it a more blunt message that if he chooses violence, he'll be the one that gets hurt?  And then Yoda describes it as a "failure at the cave".  How was it a failure?  Just that Luke didn't listen to the suggestion to leave his weapons behind?  That Luke drew his lightsaber first and struck down Vader?

So, I looked it up to see what other people came up with and the answer that clicked with me the most was that Fear was Luke's failure.  His fear of what he might find made him take his weapons with him; his fear of Vader made him draw his lightsaber first; and he was confronted with his fear of falling to the dark side in seeing his own face behind the mask.  I found an answer on starwars.com that seems like it might be accurate and includes mention of the fear bits, but is WAY TOO INVOLVED for what an average movie-goer (including me) would be familiar enough with to recognize it the way the movie presents it.  Then again, I can really only speak for myself, so maybe this whole segment of clarification I'm yearning for would only be useful to me.  Anyway, the succumbing to fear explanation works for me, especially since fear of Vader dragging Leia to the dark side is what makes Luke lose control in Return of the Jedi.  He almost fails again, but seeing his father's stump wrist jolts him out of it... the connection between the movies is really good this way.

If I were adjusting the cave scene for clarity without making it blunt to the point of losing impressiveness, I think I might have added a scene prior to the cave where Yoda addresses it.  Something maybe with Luke growing impatient because he feels like he needs to get back out there and Yoda digs a little to make Luke say the words that he's afraid of what will happen to his friends if he's not helping them.  It leads nicely to the point where Luke has a vision of his friends being hurt that sets him off to go help them.  I might need to think this one through a bit more, but as it stands, the cave scene feels a little to obscure to me.

Episode 6: Return of the Jedi

This is my favorite of the Star Wars movies, though the original trilogy movies are all very close.  This one edges the others out because it has the duel between father and son that the whole story is built around... I mean... it's the story of Anakin Skywalker.  It's his hero's journey.  Luke gets a kind of mini one, but Lucas's original intent for Star Wars was 9 episodes that focused on Anakin.  When he got to make a movie, he started in the middle thinking it was the most exciting part and not knowing if he'd get to make any more movies.  He crammed his episodes 4 and 5 into the one movie that he labeled as episode 4.  Anakin story episodes 6 and 7 became movie episode 5, and 8 and 9 became movie episode 6.  Lucas finished telling his story with Return of the Jedi and the scene where Anakin faces his son and is saved from the dark side by his son... it's the best scene in all of Star Wars.

That said, there are two things I'd like to change about Return of the Jedi.  First is that the plan to rescue Han from Jabba is much too convoluted.  Implant Lando as a guard; get the droids there so the lightsaber would be there; get Chewy captured which maybe implants Leia (but why wouldn't Lando just be the one to unfreeze Han?); try to bargain with Jabba (including using the Force) and if that worked, try to extricate Chewy and the droids (and Leia since she got captured); and then finally just fight your way out with the lightsaber?

I think I would have rather seen them get Lando in there to do the unfreezing at the most opportune moment and he'd have a way to signal that he needs the cavalry.  Lando unfreezes Han, but another guard happens upon them trying to leave.  Lando sends the signal, and the Millennium Falcon comes in hot and blows open the front door.  They land and fight their way part way into the building, but stop when the bad guys show Lando and Han on their knees with blasters to their heads.  They get captured.  Jabba keeps Leia because he's into that sort of thing.  But then he plans a grand party on his barge where he is going to execute Han and the friends who tried to rescue him.  The good guys are told that they are being thrown into the Pit of Carkoon and that they will be immobilized and digested slowly as they die of dehydration unable to escape.  Jabba keeps Luke's lightsaber because it's a super rare item and he can say he captured and executed a Jedi.  When Luke takes his lightsaber back, it's not because R2 had it.  It's because Luke just takes it back from Jabba in a way Jabba wasn't expecting... didn't have enough experience with Jedi.

The second thing I'd change is to put back Lucas's original intention for Endor with a modification.  His original intent was to use wookiees as the primitive species that the rebels get help from.  He decided to change that because Chewbacca was already technologically advanced and for some reason Lucas couldn't get past the idea of the species on Endor being primitive.  Unfortunately, ewoks are not believable as a fighting force that could defeat storm troopers, and the fact that it worked out that way just hamstrings storm troopers even more and ruins any tension they might bring.  So, I want to put wookiees back in.

Wookiees in the lore and known to be a species that the Empire enslaved and Chewbacca befriended and promised a life debt to Han based on Han having rescued Chewy from slavery to the Empire.  It would have been so easy to say that the Empire just put a huge slave force of wookiees on Endor to do work to build the second Death Star.  Ewoks can even still be native to the planet and help the rebels to free the wookiees... and then the wookiees start fighting back and taking weapons and we have a believable fighting force that can take on storm troopers.  No stupid traps that the ewoks set up.  No storm troopers panicking as arrows bounced off their armor.  Just big terrifying wookiees freed from restraints and pulling apart storm troopers.  Way better.  I'm sad that that's not what we got.

Other Star Wars Movies

Already linked near the top...

• Episodes 1, 2, and 3
• Episodes 7, 8, and 9
• Standalone movies