ROGUE SECUNDUS
A
couple of days ago I read a blog piece by a guy called David Harris (who calls
himself Razor). He wrote about the alternate ending to Rogue One before the
final cut saw all of the movie end the way it did. If you haven’t watched the
movie yet, stop reading now to avoid spoilers. And seriously, go see it – it’s
the best one to date. If you haven’t even seen the first one (Ep IV), it’s been
thirty years so that’s on you.
The producers, according to screenwriter Gary Whitta, decided to forgo the one where some of Rogue One manage to escape. The original idea, or modified one of the original, supposedly had Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor called in a rebel uber and leg it to safety only to be blasted by Imperial forces and left floating in space in an escape pod, overlooked as space wreckage. Something about Disney being unlikely to approve such a dark ending as what, ultimately, was released in the final cut.
Harris ended his
short blog with the comment “We want to hear from you: What do you think of the
alternate ending to Rogue One that was never
filmed?” It had been posted a month earlier but nobody had replied. Seemed kind
of sad nobody had made a comment, so I wrote down some thoughts in the hope
others might contribute too. The next day, they were gone. I can only assume
Harris deleted them. It seemed odd, but no stranger than the behaviour of far
too many fanboys.
Fanboys are a weird bunch. Regardless of the topic.
Many of them lack people skills and are a little off. They tend to be
opinionated, but without real virtue, focussed only on their own bloated ego.
Often arrogant and pig-headed. Conceited. And no good with criticism unless
they are dishing it out with an abundance of hypocrisy as they troll others. My
comments in response to the blog by Harris contained no criticism at all.
Perhaps he was jealous of my ideas and writing style, a rather common response
from fanatics.
Still, it seems a shame my ideas were discarded so
callously and, since there’s a good chance they’ll appear in a blog by Harris,
claimed as his own, I’ve decided to post them on my own blog. After all, it is
a blog about flawed empires, and the folks behind Star Wars are at the centre
of this one. First up, it was idiotic to kill off all of the characters, even
if the darker ending was in keeping with the story-line to help set the scene.
It was idiotic for two reasons.
The first is that the movie was incredibly successful. All of the
characters were engaging. They were all flawed in some way. Troubled. Driven.
Lost. They were not idealistic heroes with a moral compass that kept them on
the politically correct side of issues. They were never going to get medals and
become leaders of the New Republic. The character of Jyn Erso was the goose
that laid the golden egg. You don’t kill that off. There’s an old book that
mentions that, warns folk of the negative consequences.
But it all links back to the failure of those at Star Wars to really capitalise on what they had. Sure, there’s a huge range of Star Wars novels, and a couple of other spin-off movies and more recent animated series, and they’ve made a lot of money, but Star Wars has been dithering about for over three decades while Star Trek, Marvel, and even Stargate kept producing a supply for a market where the demand has continued to increase in a mainstream television media that has replaced science-fiction with reality shows, despite so many viewers simply switching off. Imagine how much more money Star Wars could have made.
Marketing provides a very apt equation in regards to things like Star Wars. Demand plus Investment equals profit minus cost. Where profit remains in the black after cost, a product remains viable. Rogue One proved that that element of the Star Wars market was extremely viable. The fact that Disney paid a billion dollars (that’s billion with a small country wishing they had an economy that produced that) for it proves the point. But Jyn Erso and all her mates are dead, so the goose lies slaughtered: no more golden eggs.
But it all links back to the failure of those at Star Wars to really capitalise on what they had. Sure, there’s a huge range of Star Wars novels, and a couple of other spin-off movies and more recent animated series, and they’ve made a lot of money, but Star Wars has been dithering about for over three decades while Star Trek, Marvel, and even Stargate kept producing a supply for a market where the demand has continued to increase in a mainstream television media that has replaced science-fiction with reality shows, despite so many viewers simply switching off. Imagine how much more money Star Wars could have made.
Marketing provides a very apt equation in regards to things like Star Wars. Demand plus Investment equals profit minus cost. Where profit remains in the black after cost, a product remains viable. Rogue One proved that that element of the Star Wars market was extremely viable. The fact that Disney paid a billion dollars (that’s billion with a small country wishing they had an economy that produced that) for it proves the point. But Jyn Erso and all her mates are dead, so the goose lies slaughtered: no more golden eggs.
Some fanboy sites report rumours that Jyn Erso will appear in a movie with a young Han Solo (played by Alden Ehrenreich) as part of a pre-Rogue One Star Wars spin-off, or even be converted to the dark side and join The Inquisitorius or Knights of Ren, to become part of the very evil she fought against for which she sacrificed so much, but this really isn’t what the fans want. They wanted Jyn to survive. She had already sacrificed so much and fans wanted to see her get even with the Empire, to do more than suffer a brutal, pointless death inflicted by the weapon her mother died trying to prevent, her absent, martyred father helped build, and Jyn tried so hard to destroy.
But the fanboys have all lined up on either side of the debate, the sycophants shouting down dissent with claims that Ep IV indicated that all of those involved in the retrieval of the Death Star plans were killed, and Jyn can clearly be seen in her final moments on the shore as the blast wave approaches. They also point out that she never received a medal with Han and Luke at the end of Ep IV. What they told us was all true… from a certain point of view.
The more open-minded, imaginative fanboys are smart enough to think before towing the company line in their mindless efforts to obtain some possible, highly improbably pat on the head from Star Wars royalty. Seriously, what is it with fanboys that bully and troll others in such sad, desperate efforts for control or an unlikely reward from on high? Dialogue in Ep IV never actually mentioned how the plans were obtained, only that they were stolen. In Ep VI there’s a vague reference from Mon Mothma about “many” Bothans having died to steal the plans for the second one though. Also, we never actually saw Jyn die. And why would Jyn get a medal even if she lived?
All wars need two forms of hero, from all factions involved: those who
get medals, and those that die as martyrs. The first gives the fighters hope,
that they may one day be rewarded and recognised for their efforts. The second
provides a means to stoke the fires of nationalism or patriotism, righteous
anger and a thirst for vengeance. Jyn was a spy. Public awards would undermine
her ability to act covertly. Infiltrating the enemy ranks is kind of hard when
you’re the pin-up child for the Rebel Alliance.
So did she actually die? Can she be brought back in a sequel? If so, how? Some fanboys are focussing on the necklace Jyn’s parents gave her, something to do with the crystals Jedi use in their light sabres. They seem to think Jyn may be force sensitive and that it may grant her some magical powers. Some even think it may be some kind of force-field generator that can protect her from a planet destroying death ray blast. Not bloody likely. It’s not like she some kind of incredible, omnipotent Warhammer 40K Primarch.
There is a much, much better alternative. It links in with previous material and expands the whole story in the process. Until now, the audience has been under the misguided impression that everything in the Star Wars universe hinges upon the Solo-Skywalker franchise. That nothing else happens outside of this little arrangement. Storm Troopers and rebels simply stop, gather around the water-cooler and share inane banter. “So I says to Gary, “Gary,” I says…”
So did she actually die? Can she be brought back in a sequel? If so, how? Some fanboys are focussing on the necklace Jyn’s parents gave her, something to do with the crystals Jedi use in their light sabres. They seem to think Jyn may be force sensitive and that it may grant her some magical powers. Some even think it may be some kind of force-field generator that can protect her from a planet destroying death ray blast. Not bloody likely. It’s not like she some kind of incredible, omnipotent Warhammer 40K Primarch.
There is a much, much better alternative. It links in with previous material and expands the whole story in the process. Until now, the audience has been under the misguided impression that everything in the Star Wars universe hinges upon the Solo-Skywalker franchise. That nothing else happens outside of this little arrangement. Storm Troopers and rebels simply stop, gather around the water-cooler and share inane banter. “So I says to Gary, “Gary,” I says…”
http://www.space.com/36713-star-wars-force-still-strong-with-fans-at-40.html
In reality, what the Solo-Skywalker collective do is
just a small, if somewhat well-connected, part of an overall messy conflict.
Jyn and her mates rock-up at Scarif, an Imperial controlled tropical paradise
that also serves as a data repository for everything Empire, to raid their
archives and crim the Death Star plans in a last minute effort to prevent
catastrophe. But are they alone in missions of daring espionage? Are they the
only anti-Imperial forces active in the galaxy?
There is a very real possibility they were not the
only infiltrators on that world, merely the most recent and barely organised
arrivals. It is this possibility that provides a means for Jyn’s escape.
Everybody seems to have forgotten about the Clone troopers from Eps I-III two decades
down the track. At this time they are relatively obsolete, the few survivors
rumoured to be dying off because of some kind of malignant cancer or
spontaneous degradation of their organs, a built-in flaw to eliminate them once
the Empire is formed.
But the Empire did not end the internal resistance
from the remnants of the former Republic and Rebellion. Sure, the Clones
were modified with implanted bio-tech to override their moral and ethical
values, their ties and loyalty to the Old Republic, reducing them to
unquestioning, psychotic sycophants, but the backstory suggests they would
eventually suffer psychological breakdown anyway. But not all of them had
completed their training by the end of the clone wars, when Order 66 was
issued.
And not all of them remained part of the Grand Army. Some deserted. Some turned traitor. Some of them removed the implants that activated Order 66, or were otherwise able to resist it. In my efforts to find some kind of background literature to support this idea I actually hit the mother-lode to move it from plausible to sustainable. The novel by Karn Traviss, 501st, reveals that some of those clones felt used and discarded, embittered, and got about as freelance thugs, joining forces with the Mandalorians or Rebels, while others became Storm Trooper commandoes tasked with hunting down their wayward kin.
As Mandalorians, like Jenga Fett, their gene-father, it is even plausible that some joined the reformed Death Watch, that organisation of vicious mercenaries whose covert abilities are in high-demand, a band of nasty little buggers who excel in sabotage, hunting down whoever has a price on their head, and getting even with whoever crosses them. Aside from occasional megalomaniacal leaders, the Death Watch itself was not evil, simply a military force dedicated to the ideologies of the Mandolorian culture.
As bounty hunters, those renegade clones would be well aware of who Jyn and her mates were. As former employees of the Sith, and resentful ones at that, they might well see that particular rebel as a potential asset to be exploited rather than traded to their former masters. And they might well see the repository archives on the same Imperial world as something of value. Now we have a potential crossing of paths as both the renegade clones and Rogue One descend upon Scarif.
Former Clones, now members of the Death Watch, they would have little trouble posing as Storm Troopers. Imagine their surprise, and irritation, as months of careful plans lie in tattered ruins when Rogue One show up and start raising hell. Imagine them suddenly grabbing what they could, adapting to change, and spotting Jyn Erso on a beach, left to die. They already have a way off the planet, an excuse to evacuate with whatever data they can, and their cover is intact. Opportunity knocks.
The Imperial fleet was monitoring transmissions. Vader himself pursued the vessel that intercepted the data stream. Other Imperial vessels remained to pick-off rebel vessels and recover Imperial survivors from the surface. It made no sense to destroy Scarif without a back-up plan to retrieve what data could be salvaged, or murder loyal troops without some form of contingency. It’s bad for morale. Scorched earth is also a bad precedent: a simple rebel raid sacrifices a handful of rebels as the Empire murders thousands of its own.
Cover-identities in place, the clones board an Imperial vessel, secure prisoners and retrieved data, then wait for the opportune moment to commandeer it and vanish into the inky black. Mission accomplished with bonus prize being Jyn. Mandoloria would be the home and family Jyn never had, where disenfranchised, broken, flawed loners gather together to make the most of what they had and carve out some corner of the galaxy as their own, unleashing revenge whenever opportunities arose.
Exhausted, injured, resigned to pointless death, Jyn is snatched up by Storm Troopers and assumes a grizzly end of torture and execution, only to discover her captors are not what they appear as they smuggle her aboard an Imperial vessel. A plausible escape, a backdrop for the second movie, and tantalising questions about that necklace. Jyn is a spy. She doesn’t get medals. She goes undercover and causes mischief. Why haven’t we seen her name in other stories? Doesn’t this chick forge documents? A Jyn by any other name is still a pretty little flower with vicious barbs to make her enemies bleed.
What might she have been doing when the Solo-Skywalker collective dropped onto the forest moon of Endor? Was all the damage to the Imperial Fleet around the second Death Star the result of the rebel fleet? Were Jyn and Mandalorian infiltrators aboard some of the Imperial vessels? What happened to those Imperial ships after the Death Star was destroyed? Maybe some were commandeered, whatever data and secrets they carried about Imperial outposts stolen with them. Maybe Jyn and her necklace are the key to unlock something her parents put in place long ago, the force guiding fate.
Jyn did not get to be a ruling member of the New Republic. At least, Jyn Erso didn’t. She may have had a different name. But what did the Clones want on the world from which they rescued Jyn? Why did they need her? Perhaps a cure for whatever was killing them? Perhaps a means to finish what they started, to unite the galaxy under the dreams of the Old Republic, or to regain Mandolorian independence. Maybe they intended to resurrect the fallen Mandolorian empire in the ashes of the Empire.
After all, as Alex Knapp so cleverly demonstrated, the
Empire was doomed to failure. The Star Wars saga progressed in a methodical
‘how to’ display of moral, ethical and financial bankruptcy. A leader desperate
for power for its own sake and a sycophant so desperate to control others he
will stoop to the very lowest of acts, neither capable of controlling
themselves let alone others, ruling through fear and intimidation, and blaming
everyone else for their own failures instead of learning from them.
What would the plot be for Rogue Secundus? Jyn helping the renegade Clones use the data they recovered from Scarif to continue the fight they had been bred to wage: to defend the Republic, against both internal and external threats. Vader and the Emperor had become a threat. They had turned against the ideologies and taken away the freedom of the Republic, so Jyn and the renegade Clones could make the Empire bleed by using the inability of the Emperor and Vader to adapt to the brutal guerrilla warfare behind the scenes, to bring the Empire to its knees for the Solo-Skywalker hammer blow to end it in Ep VI.
Comments