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Rough Draft Revealed
24th July, 2000

You must have heard that aspects of the original rough draft of Star Wars, though did not have the same storyline as the final film, had a lot of things that carried over to all the films of the classic trilogy; and now the prequels too.

Well its true; and you are about to learn how.

This rough draft was prepared by Lucas in 1974, and was originally named "The Star Wars". Boy, am I happy we got rid of "The". It was followed by three more before the final draft used in the film. Though this draft had very little in common with the any one of the films, it has a lot of similarities some aspects of all the films.

First of all, the characters. Who was Luke Skywalker in the original draft? A sixty year-old 'Jedi general' of the 'rebellion' (a term not exactly used in the draft) that opposed the Empire. So who was the main character? A young man called Annikin Starkiller. Name sound familiar? Of course it does!

Han Solo was a green colored creature with gills; WHAT? It's true, he was Skywalker's old friend; and yes there is a scene where they meet in a Cantina. But that's where the comparison stops. Han is an underground contact for the 'rebellion'. And he doesn't have a friend named Chewbacca :-(

Princess Leia is around, and whines just as much! She is the princess of Aquillae, the last planet holding out against the empire. She has a brother named Biggs! 3PO and R2 are around; and wonder of wonders, R2 can talk human-speak! Cool! And 3PO introduces himself to everyone as "Hello, sir. I am C3-PO, human cyborg relations. Your kindness is greatly appreciated." Hilarious stuff.

There is an army of wookies that help the rebellion in their war by piloting starships! The wookies are pretty much the same, except they are grey (personally, I prefer brown!). Sort of like inteligent Ewoks! And Chewbacca is one of them! They help because they think Annikin is god; sound familiar? Has Ewoks written all over it.

In other character details, there is an imperial officer named Valorum, a general from the past named Darklighter, a religious leader named Grand Mouff Tarkin, a galactic trader named Bail Antilles, a starfighter pilot named Chewie, another pilot named Mace and Vader ain't no heavy-breathing Jedi. He's just an ambitious general. And the emperor is just about the same; though I doubt he is as disfigured. No Obi-Wan though, which might please Alec Guiness greatly! Owen Lars is an anthropologist who helps them on Yavin.

Locations; well, Tattooine is called Aquillae. Alderaan is the capital of the Imperials. Yavin is the place where the Wookie army is found; and the reason why they land on the planet is EXTREMELY similar to the way the Qui-Gon, et al land on Tatooine ("What's the nearest star system?"). There is a place called Jundland in Dune Sea on Aquillae!

In events, well, there is a garbage chute! And they are saved in about the same way. There is a scene in the beginning where a Sith (thats right) pursues a Jedi which reminded me of Maul's pursuit on Tatooine. The Cantina scene is similar. The "he doesn't like you" scene is there in it's entirety. The starfighter squadron is called Devil ("Devil 5, stay on target"). There is also a chase scene where the heroes lead there ship into an asteroid belt; and surprisingly, Han is telling everyone else that it's too dangerous!

Other than that, there's a bit of Jedi Bendu and Sith legend. In case you're wondering, the Jedi are called Jedi Bendu in this draft.

Finally, what can we expect in the two films to come? Well, TheForce.net just reported (and Joshua there tells me his source is extremely good on this one :-)) that there is a character named Count Durko in Episode II played by Christopher Lee. Well, they also pointed out that the rough draft has a reference to a corrupt count named Count Sandage. Name sound familiar? Well, one of the Pod Racers was name Wan Sandage; there's some Star Wars trivia for you!

Some names you might see in the coming episodes; Windy, Kayos, Deak, Kane, Whitsun (my pick), Hoedacck, Breha, Prue, Montross, Mina (handmaiden), Datos, Occo...

Some places, well, Aquilae and Utapau.

Oh, and yeah, there was a celebration scene in the end! :-)

Download the Rough Draft here. I will be writing a similar analysis of the First Draft of 'The Adverntures of Starkiller' pretty soon. That draft resembles the first film (not to be confused with the episode I!) a lot more.

Remember you can always keep track of the latest Star Wars news, views and reviews at GalaxyFarAway.com and PodRaceArena.com

<DevanJedi thinks Aquilae was a planet in the Episode I Racer game but cannot remember correctly at the moment!>