The Star Wars "Blue Ghost" Theory
Memory jogged. I originally read this in Brunching Shuttlecocks.
David Brin has written an excellent series analyses on the whole "Star Wars" saga. He points out numerous troubling issues that strike at the very core of Star Wars: namely, why the Light Side says that the Dark Side is motivated by fear and anger but seem quite a lot more angry and afraid than their enemies. Or why "getting angry at evil" supposedly turns you evil.
I've got a much better explanation: Any Jedi or member of the Skywalker family who dies while Luke Skywalker is looking at them turns into a blue ghost and hangs out high-fiving each other for the rest of the movie. It's possible that this isn't my theory, but I developed/discovered it so long ago that the way I came upon it is a little fuzzy.
There are spoilers here, but honestly if you haven't found the time to see the most successful movie franchise of all time in the 30 years it's been out I have no sympathy for you.
EP4 starts with Skywalker telling Owen and Beru that he wants to leave the farm. They look at each other and tell Luke "you can't leave right now" and give each other knowing looks. Luke realizes they're never going to let him leave and he takes off in a huff.
Luke runs into Obi Wan Kenobi. Keobi sees Luke and says "Oh, hey, it's you. I'm getting pretty old and I'm gonna die soon. You'd better stick around me".
While Luke is away the stormtroopers show up. Owen and Beru die without Luke looking at them. No blue ghosts.
Kenobi's first decision is to remove Luke from Tattooine. He rents a spaceship from Han Solo and they head straight for the most dangerous place in the galaxy: the Death Star. They get sucked in with the tractor beam and Kenobi tells Luke "I'm gonna go look for Darth Vader - you sit tight in case I find him". Kenobi and Vader find each other and fight fight fight. Kenobi waits until Luke's looking right at him and then suddenly throws his hands in the air like he just don't care. Vader kills him while Luke's looking at him and Kenobi turns into a blue ghost. Victory!
Then Blue Ghost Kenobi tells Luke "So I've got this buddy named Yoda. He's really old. He's gonna die soon. You have to go to Degobah and look at him for a while."
Luke goes to Dagobah. Hangs out with Yoda, who tells him "being a Jedi is hard - hard enough that it'll probably require you to hang around with me until I die". Yoda invents a bunch of time-wasting busy work exercises to keep Luke around, but Luke gets bored. He tells Yoda, "I've gotta head off for a while, I'll be back later." Yoda tells him "You can't do that - I'm going to die really soon and you won't be around to look at me. Also, it's going to totally ruin your training. Also, nothing you can do is going to help them at all." Luke leaves and helps them quite a bit, allowing Chewie, Solo, and Leia to escape. Then Luke comes back and completes the training that wasn't ruined at all, proving that Yoda is full of it. Yoda hangs on just long enough for Luke to come back and look at him. Yoda dies and into a blue ghost and hangs out high-fiving Kenobi for the rest of the movie.
Meanwhile the Emperor has been looking for Luke. Why? Would it surprise you to know that the Emperor is really old and is concerned about dying soon? The Emperor orders Vader to bring Luke to him. Then, once Luke's standing right in front of him, the Emperor tells him "OK now kill me". Luke doesn't want to and Vader is jealous. Vader steps in and throws the Emperor off the balcony and down into a series of tubes - where he will die where Luke can't see him. No blue ghost action for the Emperor. Then with the Emperor out of the way Vader and Luke share the most bizarre and revealing dialog ever.
Vader: "Luke, see this helmet? The thing that keeps me alive?"
Luke: "Yeah."
Vader: "Take it off. I want you to see me."
Luke: "But you'll die with me looking at you!"
Vader: "That's kinda the idea."
Luke takes off Vader's helmet, Vader dies while Luke is looking at him. Vader turns into a blue ghost and sits around the Endor muppet party high-fiving his two "enemies" Yoda and Obi-Wan as if they'd been in on this plan together the whole time.
Roll credits.
David Brin has written an excellent series analyses on the whole "Star Wars" saga. He points out numerous troubling issues that strike at the very core of Star Wars: namely, why the Light Side says that the Dark Side is motivated by fear and anger but seem quite a lot more angry and afraid than their enemies. Or why "getting angry at evil" supposedly turns you evil.
I've got a much better explanation: Any Jedi or member of the Skywalker family who dies while Luke Skywalker is looking at them turns into a blue ghost and hangs out high-fiving each other for the rest of the movie. It's possible that this isn't my theory, but I developed/discovered it so long ago that the way I came upon it is a little fuzzy.
There are spoilers here, but honestly if you haven't found the time to see the most successful movie franchise of all time in the 30 years it's been out I have no sympathy for you.
EP4 starts with Skywalker telling Owen and Beru that he wants to leave the farm. They look at each other and tell Luke "you can't leave right now" and give each other knowing looks. Luke realizes they're never going to let him leave and he takes off in a huff.
Luke runs into Obi Wan Kenobi. Keobi sees Luke and says "Oh, hey, it's you. I'm getting pretty old and I'm gonna die soon. You'd better stick around me".
While Luke is away the stormtroopers show up. Owen and Beru die without Luke looking at them. No blue ghosts.
Kenobi's first decision is to remove Luke from Tattooine. He rents a spaceship from Han Solo and they head straight for the most dangerous place in the galaxy: the Death Star. They get sucked in with the tractor beam and Kenobi tells Luke "I'm gonna go look for Darth Vader - you sit tight in case I find him". Kenobi and Vader find each other and fight fight fight. Kenobi waits until Luke's looking right at him and then suddenly throws his hands in the air like he just don't care. Vader kills him while Luke's looking at him and Kenobi turns into a blue ghost. Victory!
Then Blue Ghost Kenobi tells Luke "So I've got this buddy named Yoda. He's really old. He's gonna die soon. You have to go to Degobah and look at him for a while."
Luke goes to Dagobah. Hangs out with Yoda, who tells him "being a Jedi is hard - hard enough that it'll probably require you to hang around with me until I die". Yoda invents a bunch of time-wasting busy work exercises to keep Luke around, but Luke gets bored. He tells Yoda, "I've gotta head off for a while, I'll be back later." Yoda tells him "You can't do that - I'm going to die really soon and you won't be around to look at me. Also, it's going to totally ruin your training. Also, nothing you can do is going to help them at all." Luke leaves and helps them quite a bit, allowing Chewie, Solo, and Leia to escape. Then Luke comes back and completes the training that wasn't ruined at all, proving that Yoda is full of it. Yoda hangs on just long enough for Luke to come back and look at him. Yoda dies and into a blue ghost and hangs out high-fiving Kenobi for the rest of the movie.
Meanwhile the Emperor has been looking for Luke. Why? Would it surprise you to know that the Emperor is really old and is concerned about dying soon? The Emperor orders Vader to bring Luke to him. Then, once Luke's standing right in front of him, the Emperor tells him "OK now kill me". Luke doesn't want to and Vader is jealous. Vader steps in and throws the Emperor off the balcony and down into a series of tubes - where he will die where Luke can't see him. No blue ghost action for the Emperor. Then with the Emperor out of the way Vader and Luke share the most bizarre and revealing dialog ever.
Vader: "Luke, see this helmet? The thing that keeps me alive?"
Luke: "Yeah."
Vader: "Take it off. I want you to see me."
Luke: "But you'll die with me looking at you!"
Vader: "That's kinda the idea."
Luke takes off Vader's helmet, Vader dies while Luke is looking at him. Vader turns into a blue ghost and sits around the Endor muppet party high-fiving his two "enemies" Yoda and Obi-Wan as if they'd been in on this plan together the whole time.
Roll credits.