For those who haven't seen them Belated Media on Youtube has proposed alternate stories for Star Wars episodes 1 and 2
to make them good. The problem is that this alternate story line is
hard to bring back to link into episode 4 which might explain why he
hasn't done a "What if " for episode 3.
So since it is the holidays, I thought I would take a crack at rewriting all three.
In the last episode, the Jedi were investigating and sabotaging the Separatist droid factories but were hardly making a dent in their droid production. Padme was leading the Senate opposition to the production of a clone army by the Republic to fight the Separatists' droids. Anakin and Padme were kidnapped by Dooku who tried to convert Anakin to the darkside. The Jedi manage to rescue them but arrive back on Coruscant too late and the Senate has approved the clone army.
Episode I
Episode II
Episode III:
We begin near the front lines of the Clone Wars which has been on going for about a year. Cities are flattened, forests have been burned, the sky is full of smoke. Air-raid sirens blare as a squadron of droid ships fly over the city, defensive cannons boom as they try to shoot them down. Anakin and Obi-Wan stand on the room of a small medical building manning huge blasters shooting down the droid ships. After a few minutes the sky clears and the closest air-raid sirens go quiet. Obi-Wan comments that the main attack is over the south of the City so the hospital should be safe the rest of the night telling Anakin to try and get some rest. Anakin walks down through the over-filled hospital wards filled with crying women and children. As he passes one door Padme calls out to him asking where the droids are attacking this time. He passes on the information that they should be safe for now, Padme almost collapses from a combination of relief and exhaustion. Anakin catches her and tries to convince her to take a break but she lists off another half dozen patients she still needs to see. He checks there are no other Jedi in sight then kisses her gently on the cheek whispering that sometimes she needs to take care of her own needs. She smiles and returns to her work and Anakin finds his bunkbed and collapses on to it.
Only a few hours later he wakes up screaming from a nightmare about the hospital being overrun by droids and everyone inside dying. He gets up and head to the small canteen for a drink, only to find Padme already there in her pyjamas drinking a cup of warm milk, he joins her and they talk. Shortly they are joined by Obi-Wan having finished his shift of guard duty. They discuss the state of the Republic revealing that Palpatine has been elected Supreme Chancellor and Padme and most of her allies in the senate, the only real opposition to Palpatine, have lost their seats as well as the implementation of restrictions on travel between worlds and the government take-over of some industries to support the war effort. Finally the distance booms of the on-going war fade to silence and the three head back to bed.
The next morning a relief force has arrived consisting of three Jedi and seven medics. The Jedi in charge of the mission explains that he must return to Coruscant with Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme because they have been called to testify before the Senate. Padme is protests because she wasn't supposed to be relieved for another month and there are many medics there who have been there longer than she has but relents when the Jedi explains that the Jedi Council has already delayed this summons by several weeks but that there is nothing more they can do.
On Coruscant, which is no longer the flashy, clean metropolis it once was, the Jedi Council try to prepare Obi-Wan and Anakin for their testimony before the Senate committee investigating the unauthorized use of force by the Jedi at Dooku's fortress. The Jedi are over-stretched because of their many evacuation & humanitarian security efforts and less than half of the Jedi Council are physically present at the meeting. They also discuss their own on going investigation for how the kidnapping happened in the first place, they have uncovered tampering with the Senate security systems but have been unable to identify the tamperer. They have a few suspects including Palpatine since he has benefited the most from the current war, but without proof there is little they can do.
After dismissing Anakin, the Council requests Obi-Wan to stay behind. They inform Obi-Wan that they have heard reports that Anakin's relationship with Padme has gone beyond friendship, which is forbidden by the Jedi code, and that they think he should be the one to tell Anakin he has to break it off. Obi-Wan questions the timing, since Anakin has been through a lot recently (spending 8 of the past 12 months on the front lines of the War) perhaps a little leeway could be given. The Council express their fears that the Sith have tried to turn Anakin in the past and may do so again and that they have seen romantic relationships lead Jedi to the darkside before. Obi-Wan reluctantly agrees to speak to Anakin about it.
After his dismissal Anakin meets up with Padme watching the Senate from the spectators box. Chancellor Palpatine is in the middle of a speech thanking the Senate for granting him special powers to procure military assets and initiate military action without Senate spproval to help bring the Clone War to a swift end. Anakin and Padme discuss this development, Anakin is clearly taken in by Palpatine's message but Padme stays true to her ideals pointing out that it is subverting the democratic process, but Anakin replies that democracy lead them too this mess, is it really something worth protecting? Padme storms out after hearing this and Anakin follows trying to apologize but a page intercepts him to inform him he is late for his interview by the Senate committee so he is forced to let her go.
Brief montage of the senate inquiry. The senate committee is clearly hostile towards the Jedi, with one of the loudest characters proposing that it was all a Jedi conspiracy to intimidate the Senate. While Padme and Obi-Wan manage to stay calm and collected Anakin loses his temper at starts shouting at them.
Next, we find Anakin alone practising his lightsaber skills in a Jedi gym. Obi-Wan joins him and they start sparring with plastic practice lightsabers. Obi-Wan brings up the subject of Padme and his relationship with her. They argue and Anakin gets more and more angry as they go on while Obi-Wan stays cool and collected. As Anakin gets more upset his skill in their sparing match gets worse and worse, at the start Anakin was easily beating Obi-Wan but by the end Obi-Wan has Anakin flat on his back with both toy-lightsabers at his throat, thus making his point. Anakin reluctantly agrees to break it off with Padme. As Obi-Wan leaves he mentions that he finds meditation is much better for clearing the mind than lightsaber practise.
Anakin is in his room trying to work up the courage to go and talk to Padme and rehearsing what he will say in the mirror, when there is a knock on the door. He opens it and to his surprise it is Chancellor Palpatine. Palpatine says he is there to check Anakin is ok after hearing about what happened at the Inquiry, he tells Anakin that the senators on the panel are actually upset because the Jedi ruined their assassination attempt on Count Dooku, because they believe that would cause the Separatist forces to fragment making them easier to defeat, and they trying to make the Jedi look bad to distract from their failure. Here we see a growing trust and friendship between Anakin and Palpatine.
This prompts Anakin to suggest to Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council he and Obi-Wan could assassinate Count Dooku thus proving how useful the Jedi are to the Senate. The Jedi Council is unsure about this, Yoda points out a fractured opposition might be less of a threat than a unified front but could also be harder completely eliminate and cause the fighting to drag on for years. But many others on the Council point out that as a unified force there is a very real possibility the Separatists will win, and that they could find evidence of who in the Senate is a Sith. They agree to send the two Jedi, telling Obi-Wan the known locations of Count Dooku's bases, Obi-Wan using his Force ability to find things identifies which of the bases Dooku is at. They prepare to leave the next morning.
That evening Anakin goes to see Padme to break off their relationship, as he promised Obi-Wan he would do. Padme is packing in her room, she tells him the war has reached Kashyyyk so she is heading there to man another emergency medical clinic. Anakin is worried about her safety but she says not safe for her on Coruscant anymore because apparently a few of her former allies in the Senate have mysteriously disappeared. Before Anakin can breakup with her she tells him she is 5 months pregnant with twin, his twins. After that he can't do it, he tells her its wonderful and he's really happy about it. But she's not sure she wants to keep them, because what kind of world would she be bringing them into, and what kind of home would she be-able to provide them. Anakin reassures her that for all they know the war could be over tomorrow and everything back to normal.
So Anakin and Obi-Wan go and assassinate Dooku, with lots of sneaking around and light-saber fighting. Anakin mortally wounds Dooku with his lightsaber. As Dooku lies dying Obi-Wan questions him about who the inside man was in the abduction of Anakin and Padme while Anakin searches his office for any incriminating evidence. Dooku reveals it was Darth Sidious aka Palpatine. Dooku dies then Anakin calls Obi-Wan to check out the communication device in Dooku's office. Obi-Wan extracts the records of several communications to similar device on Coruscant, if they find the matching device in Palpatine's possession they could prove Palpatine is behind it all. Obi-Wan then uses the communication device to call the Jedi Council to report and they decide to recall all the Jedi Masters to confront Palpatine since he is likely the Sith Lord in the Senate as well. While As he turns to leave Anakin finds a picture of Dooku's wife and pockets it. Revealing his empathy toward Dooku.
Meanwhile Palpatine is speaking in the Senate announcing the recent losses by the Republic are due to poor moral so he is making speaking out against the war illegal and making refusing to contribute to the war effort a treasonable offence. Many seats in the Senate are now empty suggesting many have been 'disappeared'.
On the trip back to Coruscant, Anakin is alone in his room pondering the picture of Dooku's wife, which he quickly hides when Obi-Wan enters. He says the ship received a private message for him from Coruscant and would he like take it here in his room alone of if he would like Obi-Wan's company and tells him he did the right think breaking up with her, mistakenly assuming it is a message from a heart-broken Padme. Anakin thanks Obi but chooses to see the message in private, since he knows he hasn't broken up with Padme, who is on Kashyyyk not Coruscant. The message is actually from Palpatine who warns Anakin that despite his effort that many of the Jedi Masters have been charged with treason and will be disbanded shortly after they arrive on Coruscant. He offers Anakin a way out, by becoming his right-hand man, promising with Anakin's help they will be able to end the war quickly now that the Senate has been brought to heel, and that it is the only way he can keep Padme safe.
When they return to Coruscant they learn the Republic has lost Kashyyyk, the medical clinic Padme was at wasn't evacuated in time their fate is unknown. Anakin excuses himself from the Jedi who are discussing their confrontation with Palpatine given the impending announcement from the Senate Inquiry, mentioning that the Academy has been closed and the children sent home. He heads to Palpatine's office outside the door he pulls out the picture of Padme from the list of the missing from Kashyyyk, then heads in and pledges his allegiance to Palpatine. Palpatine accepts but convinces Anakin that he must prove his loyalty by joining his chief of security, Darth Maul, to arrest the Jedi Masters - and kill any who resist. Palpatine then goes to the Senate to announce that the Jedi are officially disbanded and the leaders face charges of treason, and then moves to vote on an indefinite suspension of elections.
Meanwhile the Jedi Masters have collected in the courtyard between the Senate and the Jedi Temple. They resist arrest declaring that Palpatine a Sith Lord and accuse him of helping the Separatists. But the Senate Inquiry has destroyed their credibility, and Palpatine's new treason laws prevent anyone from coming to their aid. The Jedi are killed one by one except Obi-Wan who flees, as he escapes he and Anakin lock eyes and Anakin turns away to rejoin the main fight. Maul sees the exchange and starts chasing Obi-Wan after Anakin decides to let him go, Anakin seeing his chance in the chaos of battle grabs a fallen clone's blaster and shoots Maul in the back killing him. Palpatine heads to the Temple to ensure it has been vacated himself there he meets Yoda. They battle using force lightning and by throwing objects at each other (no lightsabers) but they are evenly matched neither can hit the other. It is then that Yoda realizes the only way he can 'win' is to cave in the roof of the temple. Upon hearing the cracking sound from the Jedi Temple, Anakin rushes in to try to save it. The fire, electrical discharges, and dust caused by the collapse of the Jedi Temple melt Palpatine's face and cripple & severely burn Anakin. While Yoda was shelters under a large ceremonial bowl. When it is over, Yoda slips out and escapes, hidden by the piles of rubble and clouds of dust.
The End
