Sci-Fi, Jedi's and White Lies

Here is a piece I recently wrote as Dan Tres Omi. You can pass it on and post it where you like just give me credit. Thanks for the love...


Sci-Fi, Jedi's and White Lies:
My Beef with George Lucas, etc.
by Dan Tres Omi

In the seventh grade, I was introduced to Frank Herbert's Dune. Before that, I never heard of this trilogy even though the movie adaptation was playing in theaters. I was immediately engrossed in the story of Dune and the Fremen or Free men of Arrakis. Here was a group of a hardcore warrior people who endured the hardships of a terrible desert. Like the Kushite Arabs discussed in Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empire by Drusilla Dunjee Houston, I imagined the Fremen being the same way. I understood that their eyes were blue because of their heavy consumption of the wonderful and life enhancing melange or spice, but I envisioned them to be a dark-skinned people because of the harshness of their sun. When I watched the movie adaptation, I found pale skinned white folks dominating the entire movie. I reread Dune and noticed that I glossed over how Herbert described his characters. All of the characters that were born and raised on Arrakis were pretty much of European stock. I read the rest of the trilogy and found the same thing. I was in shock. I don't really understand how I missed this when I watched Star Wars: A New Hope. Then again, I was only 4 years old. I forgot that Tattooine, the home world of Anakin and Luke Skywalker, has twin suns. Ironically, in either of the movie trilogies, expanded universe (EU), or Dark Horse comics, there is no mention of a dark skinned people inhabiting Tattooine. Okay, Lucas gave us the Tusken Raiders who wear masks but we know they are not human. We are not told whether they are dark skinned or fair skinned. They do grunt, huff, and make a bunch of noise. They also seem hostile to outsiders. The EU does get into their culture but most fans don't read past the movies. Yet I digress. We have to ask, why don't we see people of color in places like Tattooine?

Lucas gave us Lando Calrissian and later Mace Windu so maybe as fans who happen to be people of color, we should be grateful. Lucas, however, almost performed cinema genocide by introducing us to Jar Jar Binks played by Ahmed Best. Even white folks were offended by this character but to black people, Binks was sheer buffoonery. Binks was a throwback to Stepinfechit or a futuristic Mantam. Afrocentrists/Black Nationalists like Del Jones would say that Lucas is a “cultural terrorist.” Surely, folks like Lucas and Herbert seem to avoid the race issue entirely. Directors such as Steven Spielberg take it step further by making movies such as “Minority Report,” where a chocolate city such as Washington, DC is completely devoid of black folks. In my opinion, that is much more damaging. So a second question we have to raise is why is it that white writers create a future where those of European stock continue to dominate and people of color play second fiddle?

Some will argue that this is changing. Yes, there are a token few directors and writers who are producing forms of entertainment that give characters of color more light. Normally, the writers and directors who are people of color themselves so it would make sense that they would do this. The Wachowski Brothers are an example of “affirmative action” at work. Yet we have learned that they may have stolen that script so they may not be an exception but candidates by default. This idea would lead to an answer for the questions we have already asked.
Some would argue that a writer will write about issues that are near and dear to him or her. It's no lie that most science fiction writers and movie directors are white. So their heroes would look like and act like them. Contrary to popular belief, much of science fiction is based on science. There are a few glitches here and there such as explosions and noise in outer space but most of what we see or read is based on the same universal laws followed by scientists. With this in mind, wouldn't it be scientifically correct to see more people of color than whites? In several European countries, they are seeing a zero growth rate. This means that they are having just enough babies to make up for people who pass away. In the United States, more and more people of color are being born as compared to white people and the waves of immigrants are coming from non-white countries. Soon those of European descent in the U.S. will be the minority. The growth rate in Africa and Asia is not slowing down. I am not hinting that white folks will soon be extinct but I am pointing out that the idea of Europeans still running things in outer space is just not realistic. Sure, the United States and Russia are ahead of everyone in the space race, but countries like China, India, and Nigeria who have just started their space program are not far behind. There are quite of few people who are betting on China to surpass the United States in every corporate sector. Not to mention the fact that engineers who work for NASA and continue to innovate in almost every scientific field are coming from Asian and African countries. With all these trends happening for the last 30 years or so (let's not even talk about the Bandung Conference of 1955) one would think that sci-fi writers would be getting with the program.
Others would argue, with some merit, that this is just another form of white supremacy rearing its ugly head. In Demolition Man, we find Los Angeles dominated by white folks again and the only major black character is a villain. What is this movie implying? Others would say that it is white skin privilege since those who do write sci-fi tend to travel in circles with other white guys. They rarely hang with anyone outside of that group. Let's get even more technical. If a blonde haired, pale skinned and blue eyed boy grew up on a desert planet with twin suns, wouldn't we see some problems develop? I am sure that thousands of years into the future there would be some cures, but wouldn't people complain. We always hear Luke Skywalker and other characters in the Star Wars universe complain about Tattooine being a backwater planet run by the gangsta Hutts as if it is literally the Third World. So Lucas, what gives?

Thankfully, there are writers both white and non-white who are keeping it real. The Sci-Fi channel when it comes to its senses and uses its budget to make some movies, has several shows that put people of color in the front. Writers like Ursula K Le Quin, Octavia Butler and Steven Barnes are being offered more gigs as writers and producers on TV shows. So we will see some change. Yet it is still happening to slowly. Until then, Lucas I got beef with you, son!

Q & A Wednesdays

Sorry, we are behind on the Q&A's. We had technical difficulties and family business to take care of. We promise it won't happen again. Remember, ask anything you want and we will research it for you and try to answer it by Friday (saturday morning the latest).

KG asked..

I heard Chewbaca dies in one of the books, how does that happen?

Our response:
In the words of the Almighty Billie Wheelz " they dropped a moon on him. He got to be a brother!" Which of course is very close to the truth. During the early stages of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, while the New Republic Senate pussyfooted around the issue and actually blamed the antagonism of the Yuuzhan Vong on the Jedi, Han Solo, Chewie, and Anakin Solo headed to the planet of Sernpidal to help out. The Yuuzhan Vong used a "device" that would take a planet's moon and smash it against it. So literally, a moon was dropped on Chewie. Solo went into a state of depression afterward and blamed Anakin Solo for Chewie's death (Anakin was flying the Falcon and did not go back for him). Chewie went out like a trooper saving total strangers and defiant until the end.


Jdid asked:

oh just realized i had another question. drop some science on this whole 'lost twenty' business

Our response:

The Lost Twenty were Jedi who left the Order voluntarily. They did not do it because they went to the Dark Side but because they were dissatisfied with the Republic Senate and the Jedi's subservience to them. Dooku was one of them. The others have yet to be revealed. We do know that they were all highly respected throughout the galaxy. Check "Jedi Rendezvous" to see how Dooku was highly respected throughout the galaxy.

Star Wars: The Joiner King by Troy Denning Review

WARNING: there are SPOILERS in this review. If you do not want to know what goes on, PLEASE skip this review...

Four and a half out of Five Stars...

Troy Denning, the author of the Star Wars novels Recovery, Star by Star, and Tattooine Ghost, delves further into the New Jedi Order with Star Wars Dark Nest: The Joiner King. Denning is already familiar with several of the major characters outside of Luke Skywalker, Leia and Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Wedge Antilles, and several other of SW fan favorites.

The story takes place 35 years ASW, and 5 years after the war against Yuuzhan Vong. Ben Skywalker, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker's first son, is now 8 standard years old. There is a new Jedi Council consisting of Luke Skywalker, Kenth Hamner, Corran Horn, Kyp Durron, and the Jedi healer Cilghal. Jacen Solo, one of Han and Leia's twins, is a traveling Jedi hermit who is studying with various Force sensitive adepts around the galaxy. The galaxy is in shambles after the war. Several races have been displaced because of the destruction the Yuuzhan Vong have caused with their terraforming.

The story focuses on the survivors of the ill fated Myrkr mission in which several young Jedi headed by the late Anakin Solo plan a suicide mission on a worldship (sort of like a Yuuzhan Vong capital ship) orbiting Myrkr to destroy a labratory that creates the Jedi killing Voxyn. Several Jedi including Anakin are killed in the process. In the beginning of Joiner King, several of the survivors are summoned via the force to the outskirts of Chiss space. Jaina Solo, Alema Rar, Lowbacca, Zekk, Tekli the Chandra Fan, Tezar (one of the few surviving members of his race), Tenel Ka (the current queen of the Hapes Consortium) and later Jacen Solo all head out to the Chiss border withouth consulting the Jedi Council.

There is a race of insect like beings, the Killik, who are infringing on the outskirts of Chiss territory. So the Chiss, who are a military race of beings which the infamous Admiral Thrawn hailed from, are forced to push the Killiks back. The Killik are joined as one by a Jedi thought killed during the Myrkr mission. There are also dark jedi who were thought dead after being rescued by Anakin and the others. This leads to the discovery of a Dark Nest. Luke, Mara, Saba Sebatyne, Han and Leia all head out to the Chiss frontier to investigate. They later return with several members of the Jedi council to avert a war with the Chiss.

The book is well written by a veteran of the SW Expanded Universe (EU). Unfortunately, a reader unfamiliar with the New Jedi Order series, particularly with the Myrkr Mission, would be lost. If one did not read Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn would be missing out in certain cultural tidbits about the Chiss. So it is important that they read at least a few books centered around the Myrkr Mission and the last few books of the New Jedi Order.

Denning throws several surprises at us like the re-emergence of Raynar Thul, a jedi knight who was kidnapped by two dark sider Jedi's during the Myrkr mission and many thought was shot down. Ben Skywalker is strong in the force but because of the trauma he felt during the Yuuzhan Vong war, he has cut himself off worrying his parents. Luke Skywalker gives a delegate of the Chiss a tour of the new Jedi temple which has been relocated to Coruscant (which still shows evidence of the Vong terraforming). This gives insight to how the Jedi run things much differently than the Jedi of the BSW era. Jacen Solo's concept of the force continues to develop.

The only reason why the book does not get a full 5 stars is because much of what happens to the galaxy after the war is left out. The Yuuzhan Vong destroyed several worlds, killed billions, and displaced billions more. Denning does discuss the plight of the Ithorians, one of the first race of beings to lose a planet to terraforming but thats about it. He also leaves out characters such as Lando (even though his company, which is raking in millions of credits is mentioned several times) , Wedge Antilles, and Gavin Darklighter. Yet it is only part one of a three part series. The Jedi are also grappling with thier new approach to the Force. People are beginning to notice. I have no beef with the latter part but the Jedi are slipping into the same problem their predesscors did in the Old Republic era. That's wack

Overall the book is a dope read.

Terms and concepts...

Before we go any further, Billie Wheelz and I felt it was important that we go over some terms. Of course, we will explore many things outside of the six movies. The movies will be our reference points.

SW -- Star Wars
ASW -- After Star Wars: A New Hope, or Episode IV
BSW -- Before Star Wars: A New Hope
SE -- Sith Era, takes place 5,000 BSW
RE -- Republic Era, begins 1,000 years BSW and ends in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
NJO -- New Jedi Order, many argue when this happens but in our case, it begins 30 Years
ASW
Jedi vs. Sith -- a battle between the Jedi and the Sith... it began 1,004 years BSW
and ended with the destruction of the Sith except for Darth Bane and his apprentice. Here is
where Darth Bane began the concept that there should only be one Sith Lord and his/her
apprentice.

For more information, you can check Dark Horse comics for a timeline. You can also check The Force.net, they have a timeline as well.

Force Sensitive -- someone who is sensitive in the Force. this may not mean that they are learned. There have been incidents of people who could feel the force but not 'utilize' it in anyway. Some races are force sensitive due to evolution such as the indigenous people of Haruun Kal or some folks from Kiffex.

Sith -- Dark sider Jedi's that study Sith lore. Not all dark siders are Sith. One of Dooku's henchwomen, Asajj Ventress, was a dark sider but not a sith. Sith magic was kept a secret when Darth Bane came to power.

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Primero: big up to Jdid... that brother asks some really good questions. Thanks for the love. What we decided to do with questions is to handle them on Friday night. So that way, EVERYONE will see the answer and won't ask the same question twice (as a veteran blogger, I realized that heads don't read comments...). Plus, it gives us more ideas. THanks Jdid, for being a true Jedi.

Here was his question:

how many lightsaber forms are there or rather are there more than 7?

at this point just 7... i am sure that in the future, heads will make more and say its always been that way. FOr more information check here on the 7 lightsaber forms. We hope that helps.

KG asked :

My only question is was he really whippin Darth Sidious ass, or was Sidious just bluffing so he could get Anakin to get closer to the dark side. The three Jedi who accompanied Mace should have been working in the Jedi mail room becasue they didn't get a whiff of action before they got chopped up.

Our initial response:

Mace Windu was really giving sidious a beat down, what the movie does not tell you is that vaapad is not just a lightsaber style, it is a state of mind, so when sidious is attacking, mace is absorbing his dark side enegy and throwing it right back at him, this is one of the advantage of vaapad. A person has to have the discipline of the highest level, so far there has been only one to master vaapad and as for the other two, vaapad mastered them.

Our update:

About the other Jedi Masters that accompanied Mace Windu: Kit Fisto (the green one with all the brain tails), Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin (with the two long horns on the side of his head). Kit Fisto is a formidable fighter with the lightsaber. Of course, he should not have been taken out. Master Tiin is a telepath and he could not even read Palpatine. Yet the former Senator turned Emperor was able to kill them with ease.

As Billie Wheelz discussed before, the dark side (which we will discuss later) was clouding everything. Even Yoda could not see the paths the future laid for them. Since Episode I, he made references on how the Sith had clouded everything (actually since the Stark Hyperspace War which took place about 40 years BSW). So that coupled with the element of surprise was how Palpatine was able to defeat at least one Jedi Master with one swipe.

Remember that Palpatine/Sidious is very powerful in the Force. There have only been a handful of Jedi/Sith throughout the entire history of adepts who can actually 'remove' themselves from the Force meaning they can not be detected by Jedi/Sith as 'Force sensitive.' One would also have to be very powerful to do this. THe most recent has been Vergere, an Old Republic Jedi who lived well up until the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. He actually lived and worked a few kilometers from the Jedi Temple. So that says alot.

He watched the Jedi for decades and probably knew what forms each of the Masters he fought knew and practiced. The only one he did not know much of was Vaapad, which we peeped in Star Wars: Shatterpoint. We also know that Sith such as Dooku master Form II which is used to battle other lightsaber wielders. That can explain more.

Mace Windu

Unfortunately for the average Star Wars (SW) fan, the movies do not have the time to really get into the characters who are important but only play in the significant background. For our blog, it is important that we discuss Mace Windu, who under Master Yoda, is pretty much the head of the Jedi Council. Matthew Stover in "Shatterpoint" does a wonderful job of covering the melinated and feared Jedi Master.

Master Windu hails from Haruun Kal, a jungle planet that pretty much makes up the Al' Har system located in the Mid Rim territories inbetween Malastare and Sullust on the Gevarno Loop. just off the Rimma Trade Route. Due to the harsh jungle environment, Windu's people, the Korunnai (uplanders) are force sensitive. The Korunnai travel in small nomadic bands called ghosh. This has allowed them to adapt to the jungle and form a symbosis with several fierce creatures for protection. Before the Clone Wars, several offworlders began to encroach upon their lands causing several on and off conflicts. The revered Jedi Master also hails from the clan Windu and is one of its last descendants.

Master Windu and his former Padawan, Deepa Billaba, are the only masters in Vaapad, or form 7 of the lightsaber. There are a few who have studied it but only two have mastered it. It is the most dangerous because it leans towards the Dark Side. Oh, i forgot to mention that Master Windu created it.

The Lando Calrissian debacle

Someone asked about the Lando Calrissian deal. Let me say this, as a "unconscious" 10 year old, I was happy to see a brother in a Sci fi movie especially Star Wars. It was messed up that white folks still assume that a brother would be in outer space in the future still wearing a conk and a cape a la Dolemite style. What made it worst is that Lando Calrissian (played by none other than Billie Dee Williams aka the Colt 45 poster boy) sold out his homie Han Solo to Darth Vader AND Jabba the Hutt.

Looking back, I am like WTF was I thinking! But let's probe deeper. Lando Calrissian, like Han Solo, was a well known smuggler with a heart. He built his reputation on his word. He was also a well known and successful gambler. Unlike Han Solo, Calrissian was able to flip his money and invest in lucrative ventures. Thus, he was able to maintain a lavish lifestyle and get out of the smuggling business way before Han Solo joined the rebellion. Heads also forget that Calrissian later became a general in the rebellion and like Han Solo gave up his commission. He also helped destroy the 2nd Death Star at the Battle of Endor. Not to mention that Calrissian was vital to that campaign that was put together by the renowned Mon Calamarian Admiral Ackbar. Many Imperial capital ships were lost and many infamous Imperial commanders were captured or killed (especially when that Super Star Destroyer the Executor -- which was Vader's flag ship -- crashed into the Death Star) at that battle.

What heads also forget, or did not know, is that Calrissian was the original owner of the Millenium Falcon, the old Corellian YT-1300 freighter flown by Han Solo and Chewbacca.
He lost the freighter to Solo in a game of Sabacc.

Throughout the timeline after Star Wars: A New Hope, Calrissian continued to invest in ventures that the Rebellion and later the New Republic continued to SNAFU. But Calrissian continued to support them. Take for example Cloud City in Bespin. Bespin is a gas giant that contains Tibbia gas (did i spell that right?). It's a gas used to power blasters and rifles. Being the hustler he is, he was able to get in on it. What happens? Han Solo brings the rebellion to Cloud City. Vader, through Boba Fett, was able to track Solo, Princess Leia and crew over there. So Calrissian was forced to do what he had to do. Folks don't know that Vader eventually destroyed Cloud City for Calrissians transgression.

Didn't Calrissian help Luke save Solo? Isn't that redemption enough?

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By the way, the entry posted before this one (the second one), was done by the master himself, Billie Wheelz.. I just wanted to make sure he got the props for it. We are still working the kinks on this thing. He is unfamiliar with the blog world. But we got this...

P.S. big up to Jdid for finding an error on here ... what you are reading now is edited.

Your Father wanted you to have this when you were old enough

Jedi Holocron entry July 14 2005 Subject
What better way to start this blog off with this line.
Star wars is American Mythology at its best!
The statement above is what Obi Wan said to Luke in a new hope when Luke was learning more about his father, it is not the truth in the physical sense because Jedi during this era were not allowed to have children they would have been considered attachments. (unless you were from a planet short on males like Master Ki adi mundi who was from cerea which we will discuss at a later date) . That's what makes Obi Wan a great Jedi his definition of truth from a certain point of view, anakin would have not talked to his master about having kids, so the question is why would he tell him this and it is simple, while in hiding Obi Wan started to understand the living force during the jedi purge, Qui Gon Jin Became Obi Wan and Master yoda Teacher, also he may have also taught the Dark Woman. Obi Wan knew he had to give Luke bits and pieces about his father, he was the best pilot and a cunning warrior and good friend and saying that Anakin/Vader killed him was pure genius because not only did Luke develope love for his father and hate vader but when Luke finds out the whole truth which Obi WAn knew would happen, Luke would not give in completely to his hate because of the man his father was, in the end one emotion won and that is love and that was the lesson, so you see by Obi wan picking up that lightsaber and keeping it for Luke who was the new hope, Obi Wan was the Messenger, saved the galaxy. The real jewel here is one need not tell the whole truth about someone, in time you will learn, my nephew father died from gun violence on the streets of Detroit and he always asks me about his father and I have been giving little bits here and there for example I would say he was a good dancer and my nephew became a good dancer as a matter of fact he plays capoeira and I told him his father was the best mechanic I have ever met and it is the truth, he was pimping rides before the show, the dark side to this was he was a drug dealer and he starting being violent. So you see what if I told him the bad attributes about his father first like some people say like your daddy is not nothing you are not going to be shit, I remember my friend Roger mother telling him that and right now he has life in prison. She never had anything good to say about his father. How we tell the truth is important indeed.

The Beginning...

I always wanted to do something Star Wars based for those of African descent. My partner in the Force, Billie Wheelz aka Quilan Vos, and I always throw ideas around. It seems like once a week we come to the conclusion that Lucas, despite all of his finite wisdom (i said finite), really neglects his fans of a darker hue.

After posting a few entries on my first blog, I realized that we needed to do something from that angle. On my first blog, whenever i posted an entry on the Star Wars (SW) Universe, I alienated my other readers. I also ran into another blogger who posed as Darth Vader. His posts were very good but I felt we could do much better.

Between Billie Wheelz and myself, we are some hella SW historians. We kick mucho ass when it comes to building on SW. For our readers, we hope that you join in our building sessions. We want to hear your criticisms, questions, and kudos. We doing this for you.

On that note, I hope my partner in the Force goes ahead and posts something right after this. Please pass the word out to your cronies, ya'll. Let's make those connections and may the Force be with you.