The Many Faces of Evil

Before I start in on this, please just note that this post probably isn't going to be as dark as the title may imply. Just bear with me for a moment and you'll find out why I called it this.

To start, has anyone heard of Jim Weiss? Anyone? (Rhetorical question.) Well, in case you haven't, Jim Weiss is a narrator, among other things (I think). He narrated The Story of the World and has a number of re-told stories on audio. During an IDEA curriculum fair here in Alaska, we had the privilege of getting to hear him speak on a topic that I was very excited about: villains, both in real life and in stories.

One of the things I liked about the talk was that Mr. Weiss made several references to Lord of the Rings. This having been said, he started off with what may be the most well-known type of villain: the Dark Lord uber-evil over-arching totally bad supervillain. And of course, he used a well-known example: Lord Sauron from LotR.

Sauron is obviously the over-arching villain of the trilogy. He created the One Ring, and the whole problem is that he now wants it back, for the purpose of destroying/enslaving/taking over the world.
[Insert totally off-topic rant about how Isildur is a complete jerk/idiot for not destroying the Ring when he had the chance here]. So we have Sauron, the supervillain.

But there is something interesting about Sauron that you will notice (at least once it's pointed out to you). J. R. R. Tolkien never actually shows us Sauron. We see Sauron's minions all the time, and we see what they're doing to Middle-Earth. We even know what Sauron looks like. So we know he's real, very real, and yet we never actually see him. 

Now the movies may have ruined this effect by physically showing us Sauron more than once. But in the books, this is very well-preserved.

The Warriors equivalent to this type of villain would be Tigerstar. In the Wingfeather Saga, it's Gnag the Nameless (to a very similar extent, in fact). In Harry Potter, the main villain is obviously Voldemort. And then there's Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine of Star Wars. The point is, most stories have a general over-arching villain.

Then there is the next type of villain. The suave, smooth-talking villain that promises he'll give you whatever you want... if you'll just do x for him. The way Mr. Weiss actually illustrated this is by using the example of Satan.

Satan, Satan himself, would fall into the category of the over-arching supervillain. We all pretty much know this. But what about Satan's alter ego Lucifer?

Lucifer, to answer my own rhetorical question, would qualify as the smooth-talking villain described above. He doesn't appear blatantly threatening--far from it, in fact. But he very insidious and very dangerous.

The character Sol from Warriors definitely qualifies as this type of villain. He is very smooth-talking and is frequently forgiven by characters that he wrongs. Yet he is a villain. Actually, this deceptive tactic of his is quite frustrating. The characters frequently see him as non-threatening, when most of the time he's behaving in a way that makes you want to drop-kick him right out of the story.

Another example I can think of is Grima Wormtongue from LotR. It's obvious--especially in the movie--that Grima is a lying creep, but the only person who tries to address this is banished, and no one else tries to resolve the matter until Gandalf shows up.

Another example is Semiramis from the series Dragons in Our Midst. Semiramis is the mother of a one of the villains, and she is a villain... I think. Seriously, half the reason I hate her so much is because it's been literally impossible for me to figure out which side Semiramis is on. First, she's helping  her son take over the world... but then he's brutally mutilated by the other bad guy, so she goes over to the good side and helps save a young girl's life. She even tells the good guys how to get around the bad guys' scheme... but wait, her 'solution' was really just part of the plan all along! Hah! She's a bad guy! Wait, hang on, no, she still hates the real bad guy, she's just trying to get what she can out of it too. No, she's a bad guy, she's trying to kidnap Bonnie. Oh wait, no, she's only helping her son, and now she's helping out the protagonist... Wait! She just kidnapped someone! Oh, wait, no... ARGH. See what I mean?

I'm sure there are many other villains who fall into this category, but I can't currently think of any, so I'll leave it at that and move on to the next category.

This third type of villain is perhaps the worst of them all. Mostly due to the fact that he is rarely recognized as a true villain. This is the villain who is evil, unfalteringly evil, and yet he looks just like one of us. He could be one of us. He was one of us. But he chose to be evil.

This type of villain is very insidious, because they are so easy to pass up. They look normal, and usually act normal. There's nothing to suspect.

Or is there?

In other cases, this villain was originally a good guy/on the good guys' side/neutral. But he became a villain, and now he's in prime position to betray the good guys as soon as their backs are turned...

Do you now see why I occasionally yell at my books?

I'll use Lord of the Rings as an example for this one. Take Boromir. He begins lusting after the One Ring early on, and we see this when he suggests that the Ring be used for good (which is completely impossible, btw). From that point on, we slowly begin seeing Boromir's lust as it grows, up until the point where he threatens Frodo in an attempt to get the Ring. My point here, however, is that originally, Boromir's excuse for wanting the Ring was more or less "I'm going to use the Ring for good. I'm going to use it to save my people." The same with Denethor, in fact. But neither of these characters lived to see the end of the war.

Coincidence? I think NOT!

Ahem...
A fourth category of villain, which seems to be  fairly new, is demonstrated in the popular series The Hunger Games. What is this type of villain, you ask?

The system.

In Hunger Games, the system is the spider that sits at the center of the web. The system is what's brought about everything: Panem, the Districts, the Hunger Games, and the vicious cycle everyone lives in. To triumph, the rebels have to defeat the system and start from scratch. It's the same (at least I think it is) in 1984 (I say I think so because I've never actually read it).

As Mr. Weiss pointed out in his talk, this new villain known as 'the system' may stem from the growing amount of conspiracy theories today, which it turn may come from our desire to know why things happen. Why was President Kennedy assassinated? Who did it? Was it just one person, or were there more?

We may never know the answers...

In conclusion, there is more than one type of villain to be seen--both in stories and in life. There is more than one road to evil... which is why it pays to read stories. :-D

So what are your thoughts on villains in stories? What about villains in real life? Please tell me!

...And Then I Was Attacked By a Pine Tree

Ack! Help! Call the Riders of Rohan,
I'm being attacked by an Ent!

I love sledding. So do my sister and brother. Fortunately for us, we live in Alaska, and there's a small hill in our front yard where we can sled when it snows (which is often). The way we sled, though, you'd think we were getting bored. We have come up with many variations on sledding. For example...

• There's 'surfing', where we sled down the hill while standing up on the sled. (This is popular with my brother, who now calls it 'snowboarding'.)
• There's 'skiing' where we sled down, while standing up, with two sleds, one for each foot. (Fortunately, this has only actually been attempted once.)
• There's hold-my-hand, as we call it, where two people sled down side-by-side, while holding hands. (This is a particular favorite.)
• There's 'hold-my-hand-while-standing-up'. This consists of the normal hold-my-hand procedure. One difference: a third person is standing behind the two sledders, with one foot on each sled. (This is a rarer variety.)
• Lastly, there's three-person sledding (three people to one sled) and the extremely rare four-person sledding (four people to one sled; this has only been attempted once, since there are only three children in my family).

So, yeah. Now that I think about it, it's pretty much a miracle that none of us has gotten seriously hurt while sledding.
But wait--someone has gotten hurt while sledding. Wait for a moment, and you'll see what I mean...

It all started innocently enough. Mom had scheduled a playdate with some close friends of ours. Our friends were going to introduce us to one of their absolute favorite sledding hills. Us being the junior sled fanatics that we were, we decided to go. What could go wrong, right? If only we had known...
One twenty- or thirty-minute drive later, we arrived at the hill... and found that it was way bigger than we'd thought.

Mom? I'm starting to have second
thoughts about this...

Well, there was no going back now. Out of the car we went. My sister and I grabbed a sled and started toward the hill.
The walk to the top of the hill should've clued us in on the danger. We were constantly on edge, as the hill was very steep and very slippery. But we pressed on, and eventually reached the top...
...where my sister immediately decided that no, we needed to get to the top of that hill... that hill over there... because it was required that we get the maximum thrill available. So, grudgingly, I agreed, and we started up a narrow, icy path to the top of a higher hill just next to us.
Well, after a short walk, we reached the top of the new hill. We got on the sled, at which point I began having second thoughts. However, my sister wouldn't let me back out. So we pushed... and pulled... and
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
That was our general reaction to the drop we experienced. But really, all was going well. We whipped past a couple patches of reeds on the hill, and then sort-of realized that we were close to the bottom.
Then it happened.
Somehow, the front of the sled caught in a rut on the side of the hill. One minute we were speeding along like normal, and the next, BAM! We went flying head-over-heels and landed in a heap at the bottom of the hill.
My sister popped up, completely fine. In fact, she wanted to do it again. Me? Not so much.
I had landed on top of my sister and face-planted into the back of her leg. One side of my face was numb, and I was bordering on a puffy lip. My legs had also gotten twisted around during the landing and now felt very weak. Amazingly, however, I had no serious injuries.
I tried sledding the hill a few more times, but eventually decided to sit it out. I just couldn't handle the fear of the hill.
Well, that sort of ruined me for big hills. But I'm still completely fine with sledding on the little hill in our front yard. Which leads me to the topic that inspired my title...

One fine, snowy day, my siblings and I were out sledding in our yard. We had started playing this new game: as we sledded down the hill, we would call out the name of a favorite book/movie character.
Of course, characters from LOTR and The Hobbit were immediately up for grabs. But I, being the Warriors nerd that I am, decided to do Warriors characters as well. I was about to leap down the hill while shouting the name of a favorite character (Bluestar ftw!) when I walked straight into a pine tree branch.


Yeah, this isn't exactly the best view when
you're trying to sled.

Well, I was completely fine. But it sort of ended me calling our Warriors characters.

What's really funny is the conversation my sister and I had about it later:

Me: ...AND THEN I WAS ATTACKED BY A PINE TREE.
Crista: You were not attacked by a palm tree.
Me: I said pine. AND YES I WAS.
Crista: No you weren't.
Me: It whacked me right in the face! Knocked my glasses right off.
Crista: It did not, you attacked it, so it acted in self-defense.
Me: I did not attack that poor innocent pine tree! It attacked me.
Crista: Well, obviously, it thought you were attacking it, and it acted in self-defense.
Yeah, we're quirky like that.

Of course, ask me tell either of these stories now, and I'll deny that they ever happened. This is my current version of the sledding accident story...

Alright, so I was with my sister sledding on a nice, sizable sledding hill. We were alternating between the highest hill and the second highest hill.
Well, eventually we decided to try going together. We climbed up to the crest of the highest hill, got on the sled, and leapt down.
Things were going well. We were near the bottom of the hill when it happened, thought. Were passing through a patch of grass when BAM! A group of karpoi [grain spirits from Greek mythology] attacked us and overturned the sled! Crista got away, but the karpoi picked me up and transported me far, far away--all the way to the Clans' lake territories! There the karpoi left me. Of course, a ShadowClan patrol came along right them. They attacked me, naturally, and I was forced to defend myself. They gave me enough scratches for me to feel, but not enough to seriously injure me. I leapt up, hitched a ride on Blackjack the pegasus, and flew back to the hill. There I kept right on sledding until we had to go home.

So, yeah. There's my version of the story. So... what are your thought on sledding, accidents, and pine trees?

What-If Scenarios

I know what you're thinking.

Oh no, you think. I bet this is just another boring blog about something that authors do.

Well, fortunately for you, that's not what this is about. This is about what-if scenarios in stories that can never and will never happened. But they're still fun... for us at least. *Evil grin*
For example...

Last night, my sister Crista and I were playing the most fun game ever. It goes like this:

1. We each randomly select a character. Neither of us knows the other person's choice.
2. We reveal our choices to each other.
3. One of us randomly selects a quest/task this pair of character must complete.

We did it four or five times last night, and a couple of times this morning. Here are our top favorites:

• Gaea (Percy Jackson & the Olympians) and Pippin (Lord of the Rings) must learn to drive a car together.
• Drew (PJatO) and Legolas (LOTR) must cross the Misty Mountains together.
• Flynn Rider (Tangled) and Tom Bombadil (LOTR) must build a car... together.
• Merry (LOTR) and Cluny the Scourge (Redwall) must stay in a cage together for three days without harming each other.

So, yes. We also do 'What would happen if...' a lot, though I must say most of them are totally unrealistic. Crista and I really like the movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (and you can see my review of it here)... so a lot of our what-if scenarios end up like that. We seem to have a strange obsession with disco balls and Irish jigs... so take any scene in The Hobbit and add a disco ball/Irish jig. That's what we like to talk about after bed. Once we turned the final battle at the end of The Hobbit into a party with a disco ball (of course), a waitress, fireworks... and a bunch of cats from warriors.

Just picture Warriors and The Hobbit combined with this.

But, on the more serious side, sometimes we also talk about what we'd like to see in the two upcoming Hobbit movies. Here's a scene I'd like to see:

• So Thorin has just been captured by woodland elves and dragged into the throne room of their king, Thranduil (who happens to be Legolas's father). In the course of his interrogation, Thorin insults Thranduil. Legolas takes offense at this and challenges Thorin. Thorin takes Legolas up on this challenge, and Tauriel is forced to break up a potential fight.

Fascinating, eh?
So what 'What would happen if...' scenarios do you think about? Do you wonder what's going to happen in upcoming movies? I love hearing from you!

The Continuing Story of the Life of Anakin Skywalker (Season II, Part I)

You've got the right to remain right here with me,

I'm on your tail in a hot pursuit,

Love is a high speed chase racin' down the street,

Woo woo woo,

I'm comin' after you.

 

And that up there is the song I cannot get out of my head! Thanks a lot Owl City!

 

Okay, we all know I didn't really mean that. But as you may or may not have gathered, I have finally listened to Owl City's new album. And it wasn't all that bad, despite my expectations. My favorite song is I'm Coming After You, which I just typed the chorus to. It's great... I highly recommend it. (That link will take you to a lyrics video on YouTube).

 

But anyway, today I intend to write a synopsis to Season II of the Continuing Story. Now, keep in mind that I remember the least about this season. Season I episodes were recorded in one of my notebooks because we had, and still have, hopes of filming them. Season III happened far more recently, so I can remember most of those episodes. Season II, however, is the least well known, so there may be later updates to this post. But I'll do my best to remember most of it now.

 

BTW, here's a link to the first season synopsis in case you haven't seen it yet.
 

*****************************************************************

So, episode eleven... well, I'll just start with the first 'Season II' episode, or rather, group of episodes, that I can remember.

Episodes eleven through thirteen were a three-part story entitled 'Anakin Meets Anakin'. Apparently, Anakin from The Phantom Menace had time-travelled into the Clone Wars. The results were... well, interesting.

I honestly can't remember much about this series, but one bit I can remember was a scene where young Anakin decides to take a joyride in one of the starships. Several high-speed antics ensue, and Anakin barely makes it back to the station in one piece. At this point, Clone Wars Anakin discovers what the young version of himself has done and gives, well, himself a thorough chewing out.

This is one of the most well-remembered lines in the entire three seasons of the Continuing Story:

(Clone Wars) Anakin: WHAT IN THE NAME OF JANGO FETT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!?!?!?

Younger Anakin apologizes and promptly vomits. You see, in the Continuing Story, young Anakin gets motion sickness. Or at least, he used to. I'm not sure if he still gets it.

Anyway, we sort of copied Back to the Future, despite never having seen it, by having the Anakins narrowly avoid changing the Clone Wars forever. But eventually everything got straightened out, and Young Anakin went back to his own time period.

A Note: At this point, our naïveté had somewhat gone down, because I had attempted to write a Star Wars novel and thus learned a lot about the faraway galaxy.

Though honestly that novel was nearly as bad as Season I in terms of naïveté.

Well, anyway, episodes fourteen through sixteen were, guess what, another series. Are you seeing a pattern here?

The premise was that one day in the Jedi Temple, Anakin is tinkering around with the security system. Perfectly safe, right? But then the alarm goes off, and guess who everyone blames? Anakin. Anakin then tries to convince them of his innocence by igniting his blue lightsaber (because everyone uses your lightsaber color to determine which side you're on), but then--GASP! His lightsaber is red of all colors!

Anakin is thrown in jail to await his trial before the Council.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Now the Council gives trials? When did this happen? And why? Did the Jedi decide that the Republic wasn't good enough? Or are Mace Windu and Yoda just being control freaks like usual?

Resent that, I do.

Be quiet, Yoda. Or is that Midnight? I really can't tell...

Well, anyway, apparently the Council does give trials, because Ahsoka is chosen to be Anakin's lawyer. Why the Council let an eleven-year-old Padawan do it, I have no idea, but Ahsoka loyally does her best to defend her Master, but the entire Council seems to be against Anakin--even, I might add, Obi-Wan.

Ha! I knew it! It just proves the theory that Obi-Wan never liked Anakin! It was a conspiracy the whole time!

Ahem... so the Council decides that Anakin really is a Sith and decide to... throw him in the lava pit.

Whoa whoa whoa, wait just a parsec. First of all, doesn't this go against the Jedi rule of don't kill unless you absolutely have to? Secondly, where the sprink did the Jedi get a lava pit? Thirdly, why isn't Emperor Chancellor Palpatine sticking up for his potential next apprentice? Fourth, why isn't someone else protesting, like Padme? I know Anakin is an introvert, but doesn't he have any friends at all?

Apparently he does have one friend left, because Ahsoka decides to attempt to save her Master. She steals borrows rents a speeder and, right as Anakin is about to fall into the lava, heroically rescues him. They escape to a faraway planet, planning to lie low until things quiet down again.

And scene.

Next I'll introduce the Continuing Story Prequel, which was set in the time period just before the Phantom Menace. It chronicled the adventures of young Anakin Skywalker, and was just as ridiculous as the original.

S1: E1 starts with an idyllic day on Tattooine. Young Anakin is sitting at his lemonade stand, watching the sand erode.

I'm not even going to point out how implausible Anakin's having a lemonade stand is.

And then VRRRM! A podracer flies by. As we find out shortly, three kids are practicing for a larger podrace: Random Kid #1, Random Kid #2, and The Genius Kid Who Always Wins (often simply shortened to The Genius Kid). We never find out the kids' actual names. Also, I should note here that it has been suggested that Random Kids #1 & 2 grow up to be the guys who try (and succeed) to kidnap Anakin in Season I.

So, the Random Kids have two junky, thrown-together podracers, and The Genius Kid has a motorcycle. Every time we got a better Lego set, The Genius Kid got an update in technology. He currently has a cross between at ATV and monster truck. It has an inbuilt Wii, Xbox-360, Playstation 3, limitless game options, iPod Touch function, high-def speakers, limitless music options, Blu-ray player, limitless movie options, inbuilt Kindle with read-aloud function, limitless book options, Angry Birds Live function, auto-pilot, and a voice-activated computer. That voice-activated computer actually caused a lot of trouble in the most recent episode of Season III... but that's a different story.

So anyway, as one of the Random Kids passes Anakin's lemonade stand, he makes a, er, rude noise (henceforth referred to as a 'raspberry'). This distracts him, and he crashes into a rock that looks a whole awful lot like a plastic container.

Crashing through the snow! On a pair of broken skis! O'er the hills we go! Crashing into trees! Ow ow ow--

Shut up, me. It's not even Christmas.

So the kid bangs on the side of the apparently hollow rock, knocking it over. The next Random Kid drives straight into the container-like rock. Then the 'lid' slides shut and voila--two kids in a jar. Anakin (henceforth referred to as Ani) has the nerve to laugh, but the kids yell at him and he upshuts.

In the newer extended edition of this episode, Ani goes to fetch Watto and his mother to get the kids out of the jar, but it should be noted that this scene was not originally included in the episode.

Next, the kids all line up to buy lemonade from the stand. Apparently there's a rule of 'losers buy for the winner', and therefore the Random Kids are very grumpy. While fetching the lemonade, Ani accidentally steps on a lemonade squirt gun he's been tinkering with and squirts lemonade all over the Random Kids. They promptly beat him up, and then run to tell Watto.

And scene.

The next episode I can remember is Christmas Special I, so we'll go with that. It wasn't actually Christmas when we did the special--it was the middle of the year, but we didn't care. I refer to it as Christmas Special I because we recently did another Christmas Special, sometime around the Christmas of 2012. But enough going on.

It starts on Tattooine, in the Continuing Story Prequel era. Somehow, battle droids get transferred onto the planet and a republic army shows up. A huge battle ensues, and somehow Ani, the Random Kids, and The Genius Kid are involved.

We have the perfect song picked out for this scene: Christmas Sarajevo 12/24. It's basically a mixture of Carol of the Bells and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen--played on electric guitar. Oh yes. (The link will take you to a video of the song on YouTube.)

But then, just as the battle reaches its climax, guess who shows up?

Santa Claus.

His sled lands and he dismounts.

Line:

Santa: Where's the snow?

And scene.

Christmas Special I, Part II opens right where Part I left off. Santa has landed on Tattooine, in the middle of a big Republic vs. Separatist battle.

Ani and the Random Kids run up to Santa, asking him to give them presents. And thus begins a story-hopping adventure as Santa tries to fulfill the wishes of three kids. All I can remember was that the story hopping involved the Wingfeather Saga, and that it all descended into chaos after a while. But eventually, our heroes made it away unscathed.

And scene.

Next up, episodes 20-22 were yet another series. In this one, Ani had to make some sort of delivery to Mos Espa. And for whatever reason, he wasn't living in Mos Espa at the time.

So he loads up with lemonade and wiia (a type of bread we made up) and heads off for Mos Espa. When he finally reaches the town it's dark. Unable to find the house he's delivering to, (A house? Come on! This is Star Wars!) young Anakin slumps against a house and falls asleep.

And scene.

When Ani wakes up in Ep. 21, two guys are apparently robbing him of his lemonade and wiia. Terrified, Anakin complies with the guys' demands--until the strangest thing happens. Out of nowhere, a random girl flies down, windmill-kicks the guys in the face, grabs Ani, and swings back up onto a rooftop.

Line:

Mysterious Girl: Come on, Luke!

So then... wait wait wait, hold on a minute. Did she just call him Luke? FORESHADOWING! Hey, cool. It strikethroughes it whenever I type foreshadowing. Hey, did it again. Foreshadowing. Okay, I'll stop.

Anyway...

Mystery Girl brings Ani up to a house built on the rooftops. She promptly finds out that he isn't Luke, and then introduces herself as Fern. She then introduces her five siblings: Maraly (Wingfeather Saga reference!), Ben, Luke, Han, and Leia.

MORE FORESHADOWING!

Fern invites Ani to stay with her family. Ani excepts.

Thus begins a new, more pleasant adventure for Ani. Maraly is an excellent cook, and she teaches Ani her secret wiia recipe. Luke, who Fern originally mistook Anakin for, frequently wanders around Mos Espa, and he shows Ani around. Han and Leia... well, they're the five-year-old twins. Who always fight.

EVEN MORE FORESHADOWING!

And Ben is the kid who always gets stuck baby-sitting his younger siblings.

EGADS! EVEN MORE FORESHADOWING!

Now, here I'd like to point out an interesting fact. In the most recent episode of Season III, young Anakin got trapped on The Genius Kid's podracer with the voice-activated computer. Several characters from Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit kept magically appearing in the podracer. Every time this happened, Ani would yell 'Stranger danger!' and the computer would do something weird (like banging the new arrivals with a frying pan).

Now where, I ask you, was Ani's obsessive sense of stranger danger when he met Fern? Why was he perfectly okay with strangers when Fern invited him over, but was freaking out later on the series... FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON?!?!?!?!

Please forgive my Caps Lock rage. It's just that stuff like this really bothers me.

Anyway, eventually Ani left Fern's house, got in some minor trouble in Mos Espa, and then stowed away on some spice smugglers' ship for a reason I can't remember.

In the newer extended edition of this episode, the smugglers are chased by Republic troopers (not to be confused with clone troopers). Anakin gets motion sickness and starts... well, vomiting. The... well, vomit flies back and hits the troopers' windshield, effectively keeping them from following the smugglers.

Random Smuggler #1: Somehow, I have the strange feeling that someone in our hold is vomiting right now.

Random Smuggler #2: You really are going crazy!

Well, the smugglers finally land, and for whatever reason, they've landed on Hoth. *Facepalm* Why Hoth? Why not some other planet? I mean, of all the places, they pick a deserted planet that's stuck in endless winter? Just what is wrong with these guys?

Well, anyway, they overhaul the ship to get their secret load of spice out. Why did they have to do this, you ask? Well, really it was only because we only had one ship at the time: a boxy-looking freighter that I built from scratch while writing my Star Wars novel. It did have a smuggling compartment on the bottom, but the only way to get anything in or out of that compartment was by overhauling the ship and pulling the bottom off.

So the smugglers flip the ship over... somehow... and then start arguing for some arbitrary reason (Is anybody else thinking story convenience?), giving Ani a chance to escape.

But keep in mind that this is a kid from Tattooine, a desert planet, going to Hoth, an ice planet. HUGE climate shock. So Ani stumbles around, feeling cold, until he stumbles into a door. He opens it and stumbles into a small shelter.

I just used 'stumbled' three times in two sentences. Lady Redundant Woman strikes again! (Word Girl reference!)

So Ani sits down on some random chair. But now come some continuity problems. You see, presumably the lights are out, because Ani doesn't see two Jedi sneaking up on him. How a Force-sensitive kid doesn't notice two guys sneaking up on him is totally out there--unless the lights are out, in which case it's perfectly logical because he wasn't expecting them in the least. But then--

Qui-Gon Jinn: I don't think you're supposed to be here.

Anakin: {Gasps}

Qui-Gon: Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. What's your name?

Anakin: A-Ani.

Now, the only record we have of someone turning on the lights is Obi-Wan Forcing a lamp on. So how, I ask you, did two Jedi manage to surprise Ani with the lights on? And if the lights were actually off, why on Earth Hoth didn't they turn them on afterwards? Argh!

Well, whatever the case, Ani and Qui-Gon have a short conversation. Ani mentions that he got there by stowing away on a smuggling ship. At this, Qui-Gon tells Anakin to stay there, and then leaves with Obi-Wan to investigate. Of course, Ani just can't leave well enough alone and secretly follows them.

So the two smugglers are still arguing near their still-overturned ship (STORY CONVENIENCE!). Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan sneak up on the smugglers, then confront them about the smuggling. The smugglers deny everything, and since they haven't yet unloaded anything from their ship, the Jedi can't prove anything.

But during this argument, Ani crawls under the wing of the ship. Now, there's a gun mounted on the wing. When Ani crawls under the wing, the gun locates him and tries to shoot him. Ani escapes just in time, and the ship blows itself up.

Line:

Smuggler #1: I have no idea what you're talking about--

Ship: {Explodes}

Spice: {Rains down through the air}

Qui-Gon: Then what do you call this? {Catches spice}

And scene... I think. In fact, I'm pretty sure there was more, but I have no idea what actually happened, so I'll just cut it off here.

 

At this point, I'd like to point out something in the title. That's right, the title of this blog. Look at it. It says, (Season II, Part I), doesn't it? Well, you know what that means. It means I'll have to continue this later, because Season II was way longer than I thought it would be, and I'll have to continue it later. So, hasta la vista!

 

To Be Continued...