The origin of magic occurred very early on in the timeline of the universe. While you could argue that magic existed in the early years when time had not yet solidified, this would be better classified as simple chaos, not quite magic. Mario might have been able to throw fire balls, but there was little structure to his magical abilities. Magic as we know it didn’t arrive until several billion years later.
Star Wars
Scene by Scene Breakdown of The Phantom Menace: Part 1, Jedi in Their Prime
Welcome to a new type of post here at All Timelines. In this series, I will provide a detailed analysis of a specific film. For starters, I’m talking about Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the first of the Star Wars prequels, released in 1999 and directed by George Lucas. In these posts I will provide a scene by scene breakdown of the film in extreme detail. Think of it as a audio commentary if you could pause at each couple of shots and talk about it. For me, it’s a way of getting all my thoughts on these films out in the open.
This analysis will be primarily textual, meaning that I will only use the “text” of the film. That refers to the dialogue, sounds, music, and visuals of the film itself. I will also draw from deleted scenes and the film script. These are my only primary texts. I may include links or references to other sources, but will only cite these as “fun facts” or “FYIs.” They will not become a basis for my analysis. I may also reference other Star Wars films where appropriate.
The Sequel Conundrum
A Problem with Change
Few groups of people can get as angry as a group of fans who feel betrayed. As a fan of many things, I have felt this way before. So many fans of science fiction and fantasy properties have a problem with change. The more popular it is, the more they will hate any changes made.
There are two types of change that I can think of, changes to the original material, or changes in subsequent material. The latter fosters much debate on staying true to the originals. I’m a Star Wars fan, and we have this problem all the time. In fact, one of my pet peeves involves people who say the prequels (or any other Star Wars material) are not Star Wars. They’re definitely Star Wars, they’re just not the original films. Additionally, fans don’t always appreciate the changes that George Lucas has made to the originals, even when he is absolutely in his rights to do so. J. R. R. Tolkien did the same thing to later editions of the Hobbit, in an attempt to fit better with The Lord of the Rings. People don’t criticize him for doing this. Why? Because the changes were better! But had we existed at the time of The Hobbit’s publications, we probably wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about him messing with our childhoods and changing the book.
I’m not sure I get it myself. Fans have a way of forming expectations in their minds, then get angry when those expectations are not exactly what happens. Expectations ruin many experiences. Even if the end result is very good, expecting something different can turn you off to that result.
Why the Old Republic Era Could be Canon
Not long ago, I wrote a post about how to compromise between die-hard Star Wars Legends fans, and those who want to see a completely new canon. Step one in my suggestion was to bring the Old Republic era into official canon. There are several reasons why I thought this was a good idea, and there are a few reasons why I think it might happen. While some of these reasons may seem like grasping at straws, I do feel that collectively there’s a good case to be made.
