Monday, February 16, 2015

This needs to happen

OK internet, I have a task for you.  The following is a scene that needs to happen in the new Star Wars movie.  And yes, I am at work but the day is almost over and I came in really early and can't think anymore so I've decided to check-out 10 minutes early and put this all up (don't tell Lara).
Before present the screenplay below, I need to preface this by saying that there are some rumors that Han Solo is going to die in the next movie.  I’ve decided this is OK since Han needs to die some heroic death that doesn’t involve hanging out in a rest home because he’s Han “Freaking” Solo and deserves better. How much better?  That’s where my vision comes in.

NEW STAR WARS SCENE:
The scene opens on Tatooine where Han and Chewie are hanging out in a cantina with Lando talking about the good old days when they were lawless mercenaries/smugglers.  You know, before Leia came along and reformed/ruined Han.  As they leave the cantina and walk out onto the street, a shadow passes over them and you hear the roar of engines.  The trio looks up and follows the sound as a ship flies overhead and lands on the opposite end of the main strip running through town.  It’s at this point we see that the ship is a Firefly class vessel that has seen better days.

Once the ship lands, out walks Malcom Reynolds.  From Firefly.  If you know the reference, good.  If not, your nerd knowledge sucks and you need to work on this.  Come back after you've watched the series and the movie.  I'll wait.

Back?  Good.  So, it turns out that Mal and Han used to be partners in the smuggling trade way before Han caught up in the rebellion, but in the middle of one of their jobs things turned south.  Jaba had sent out some goons to capture Han and Mal but Han got away.  In the scuffle, Mal got captured and was stuck in carbonite as bait in hopes that Han would come try to save his buddy (this didn’t work out because Han that Mal died in the attack).  Unfortunately, Mal ended up staying in the carbonite, forgotten for decades beyond Jaba’s death, only to end up being released due to a random and completely unrelated power surge that killed Jar-jar Binks (this has nothing to do with the whole story, but it needs to happen.  Actually, Jar-jar was cloned by the same people that made the clone troopers and this power surge somehow ripples across the galaxy killing all of the Jar-jar clones in a glorious video montage that lasts for at LEAST 30 minutes).  Upon emerging from his decades old slumber (having not aged a day and thus explaining why he’s still so young while Han has aged), Mal sets out to get revenge on Han, thinking that Han had turned him in to Jaba in exchange for his freedom.

This brings us back to the street outside the cantina on Tatooine.  Mal calls out Han, challenging him to a shoot-out to which Han willingly obliges (if we need to give Han some motivation, we could add in some dialogue in which Mal insults Han’s looks, cooking, hygiene, etc.).  This leads to an epic, old-west style shoot out but with blasters instead of revolvers.  Han shoots first.  At one point, Han even rips off C-3PO’s arm and uses this as a weapon, but I haven’t figured out the details of how this would work yet.

In the end, though, Han gets one to the chest and falls, dying in Chewie’s arms.  Mal runs back to the Serenity and flies off into the sunset.  Maybe Chewie hunts Mal down in a later movie, or maybe he ends up getting PTSD and becoming an alcoholic, or maybe he just gets into a whole non-violence thing, gets a bunch of dreadlocks, and decides to live with the Ewoks as their supreme leader.  That can wait for another movie.

So, hope you enjoyed that.  I think Disney should totally use this and pay me a million dollars for it (you hear this, JJ?).  Also, I think Benedict Cumberbatch should play the role of an imperial admiral like Tarkin’s grandson seeking revenge on the rebels for his father’s death, but this is mostly just so Cumberbatch can round out his dominion over all nerdom by adding Star Wars to his resume of Sherlock, Star Trek, The Hobbit, and now Marvel. 

Let me know what you think in the comments.

2 comments:

T.M. said...

Best blog post ever. You need to post concept art pictures though. Have the kids dress up and act out the parts, story board it for us full low budget glory. George would be proud.

Marci Jensen Stoffer said...

I'm for anything that brings Firefly back.