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Some Speculations on "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones"

There's a passage in the Publisher's Forward to Fletcher Pratt's 1948 novel The Well of the Unicorn that really should be included with every science fiction and fantasy story:

The reader is not introduced to this world in easy stages; it is a going concern when the reader arrives on the scene and he is expected to find his way around in it by the same process of keeping his mouth shut and his eyes and ears open that he is he frequently forced to use when he takes a new job or moves to a new community.

Skipping the sexism of the language, this emphasises a point that should be obvious: the story which follows doesn't take place in the world we know and that things are done differently there.

Of course, the reason that the passage or one like it isn't included with every story in these genres is because most fans already know it. The fact that the stories take place in another world is part of the attraction. One of the big joys of a good SF or fantasy work is being able to carefully sift through the material of the story in order to understand how the world works. Experienced fans are adept at "keeping their mouths shut and eyes and ears open" in order to learn as much as they can about a fictional world.

I saw Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones about two weeks ago. Since I'm thinking about running a Star Wars game later this year, I payed close attention to the film, in order to try and learn as much about the universe as possible. Since other patrons of this site are also likely to be running games set in this universe, I thought I'd share some of my conjectures. Even if Episode III ends up showing all my speculations to be wrong, people may still get some use out of what follows, since not everyone will feel bound by the canonical universe.

And exploring the Star Wars universe seems to be a much more productive way of responding to the most recent film than nitpicking it, as so many critics and reviewers have.

Disclaimer

Before proceeding, I think I should clearly state the various assumptions and presumptions I'm working under.

First, I'm treating Star Wars as a serial. That is, I'm assuming that each episode tells part of a larger story and the only way to understand the complete story is by considering all the episodes together. Specifically, I reject the notion that each film can be considered on it's own merits; each is only part of a greater whole. We're not dealing with a flim and a bunch of sequels, we're dealing with one story told over several chapters.

Ideally, once all six episodes are out, we should be able to sit down and watch them in order and get a complete story experience.

The problem with such an assumption is that it doesn't hold up under close scrutiny. When Yoda appears in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back it's so obviously the introduction of the character. The entire gag that the annoying little green alien turns out to be the great Jedi master really doesn't work if the audience has watched the first two episodes and seen him clomping around on his little cane. We know it's Yoda and when it's revealed that it's Yoda, it's no suprise. It could be argued that the gag still works somewhat because Luke Skywalker doesn't know it's Yoda, and that would be true, but the sequence works best when the disclosure of the little green alien's true identity is a revelation to both Luke and the audience.

Still, I'm going to assume that's the way the Star Wars saga works because a serial is what the films are trying to be. And some of the dramatic inconsistencies are no greater than those that can be found in actual old Saturday morning serials, and fans of those serials have been forgiving those failings for decades now.

Second, I'm going admit that I'm apparently the only person on the planet who actually likes Jar Jar Binks. Really. I thought he was a fun character.

Related to the above is the assumption that Star Wars is not an allegory. That is, I assume that the various alien races represent alien races, rather than real-world ethnic groups. Part of the whole exploring the world of the story approach is taking the fictional reality on its own terms rather than assuming it's just a sneaky way of commenting on the real world. I suspect that those who insist on seeing allegory in the films just don't get the notion of sub-creation.

Third, I'm confining myself only to the films. This isn't out of any sort of ideological objection to the expanded universe, so much as ignorance of it. While I like Star Wars, I also like other things, and that means that the films are pretty much all I've seen. I read some issues of the Star Wars comic Marvel did back in the late 1970s and I read one of the Han Solo novels by Brian Daley (Han Solo at Star's End if I recall correctly), but that's about it.

This means that I run the risk that some of what I've got to say below may have already been contradicted by material published in a Star Wars book, comic, computer game, roleplaying module or whatever. I'm sure that those who are familiar with the expanded universe will be more than willing to point out any such failings, so the risk that my speculations will lead anyone astray are pretty minor.

Finally, I'm going to assume that those reading this have seen the movie, because what follows is full of spoilers. Those who haven't seen the film and who don't want elements of it spoiled for them should stop reading now. You have been warned.

"Queen" Amidala

A simple one first -- "Queen" Amidala. It was revealed in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace that Amidala was elected Queen of the Naboo. In Attack of the Clones we discover that she in fact served two terms as Queen and that, as with the Presidency of the United States of America, two terms is the maximum that anyone is allowed to serve. We also learn that she is not the youngest person ever elected to that office, which is interesting since in The Phantom Menace she seemed about fourteen.

It was obvious from The Phantom Menace that the title "Queen" was being used to describe an office different to hereditary monarchies we generally associate with the title in english-speaking world. This is not unprecedented.

Ancient Egypt was divided into forty-two regions known as Nomes and ruled by officials referred to as Nomarchs. Many older popular texts dealing with ancient Egypt would translate "Nomarch" as "Baron". This made sense, since the Nomarchs were inferior to the Pharaoh (king) and the office was hereditary. However, Nomarchs were not "Barons" in the medieval western European sense and anyone who expected the office to be identical to the order of English nobility listed in Burke's Peerage was in for several surprises.

Similarly, anyone who expects "Queen" Amidala to be just like a contemporary royal or to be subject to Salic Law is clearly talking when they should be watching and listening.

So, in what ways is the ruler of the Naboo like a Queen? Well, she seems to wield absolute power. In The Phantom Menace we see Amidala agree to an alliance with the Gungans entirely by herself, with no suggestion that any such treaty would need to be ratified by some other body. This may have been just a concession to the exigencies of the situation though, since the Trade Federation's Droid Army was occupying most of the planet Naboo at the time.

The Queen has a council of advisers as seen in both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. Some of the same advisers are seen in both films, so the council would seem to provide an element of continuity from one Queen to the next.

On that subject, we have seen only two rulers and they were both females. It's scanty evidence to go on, but it may be that the office is sex-linked and only open to females, so that there are no "Kings" of the Naboo.

We don't know how the Queen is elected or how candidates are selected. Is the office open to anyone or are only certain individuals who meet particular criteria eligible? We don't even know who is eligible to vote, whether it's a universal suffrage or whether it's confined to certain electors. Interesting questions all, and certainly something anyone planning on running a game set on Naboo would need to consider.

Senator Amidala

One thing we do learn, though, is that once Amidala finished her two terms as Queen, she was asked to serve as "Senator" by the new Queen. This is interesting because, as The Phantom Menace established, Naboo already had a Senator in Palpatine. Since he's still a member of the Senate, it would seem that Naboo now has two Senators. Actually, since Jar Jar Binks is also a Senator, it would seem it has three.

Before proceeding to examine that, though, let's first deal with the fact that Amidala does not seem to have been elected Senator, rather she seems to have been appointed to it. This is similar to the old U.S. practice where Senators were appointed by state governments rather than by popular election. And it does fit in with the assumption that the Queens of Naboo wield absolute power.

However, the fact that Amidala does appear to have been appointed and that the planet of Naboo now has three representatives in the Senate does suggest that the Senate of the Republic does function differently to any of the Senates found in our world. Instead, the "Senate" in Star Wars seems to function like the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Consider:

In The Phantom Menace Palpatine defers to Queen Amidala, not only allowing her to address the Senate directly, but also to make a motion (the vote of "No Confidence" in Chancellor Valorum) and to cast his vote. This is highly unusual if Amidala is simply one of Palpatine's constituents, but makes sense if he is in the Senate as a representative of the planetary government of Naboo.

Ambassadors to the United Nations are not popularly elected. Rather they are appointed by their home governments and are expected to vote as their home governments tell them to. From this perspective, it makes perfect sense for Amidala to be appointed to be a Senator. (Of course, it could also be argued that ambassadors to the United Nations should be popularly elected to make that body more representative, but that's a different argument and, anyway, my assumption is that Star Wars is not allegory.)

Once Palpatine was elected Chancellor in The Phantom Menace he could obviously no longer serve as the Senator for Naboo, thus creating an opening for Amidala to fill. The position of Chancellor would seem to be like Secretary General of the United Nations, an administrative function that precludes allegiance to any one species or system. Actually, there was probably a Senator from Naboo between Palpatine and Amidala whom the story has just skipped over.

If, rather than representing electoral districts, each Senator represents a species, planetary government or inter-planetary alliance such as the Trade Federation, it makes sense that the Gungans would be entitled to a Senator as a separate government from the Naboo. The implication in The Phantom Menace was that the Gungans were looked down upon and not recognised as an intelligent species until the Naboo acknowledged them as such with the alliance forged between Queen Amidala and Boss Nass. It also makes sense that Boss Nass would appoint the individual most responsible for bringing about that alliance -- Jar Jar Binks -- to serve as Senator.

The Army of the Republic

This brings us to what was to me one of the big revelations in Attack of the Clones: the Old Republic had no armed forces of its own. The opening roll-up tells us that the political crisis that has engulfed the Senate has to do with a vote to create an Army of the Republic. Obviously, if the Republic already had armed forces, there would be no need to create them.

I don't know about anyone else, but ever since I saw Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (or just plain old Star Wars without any other qualifiers to old farts like me), I assumed that the Imperial forces were the lineal descendants of the Old Republic forces. Well, that turns out to be true, but the Old Republic forces have much shallower roots than I expected. Rather than having a long and proud tradition within the Old Republic, the Imperial forces seem to be almost entirely the creation of Palpatine. Perhaps that's why all those Imperial officers display such loyalty to the Emperor; without him they wouldn't have a job.

This is another parallel between the Senate of the Republic and the United Nations. The UN doesn't have any armed forces of its own either. It depends on member states contributing to peace-keeping forces out of their national armies, navies and air forces. If the Senate of the Republic is the same, it would explain why it didn't intervene militarily when the Trade Federation blockaded Naboo in The Phantom Menace -- though various Senators may have been willing to condemn the Trade Federation's actions, no-one was prepared to commit troops to the defence of Naboo.

It is also suggested that the Galactic Republic has known thousands of years of peace and, from the maps seen in Attack of the Clones, it's obvious that the Republic controls most of the Galaxy. Only small areas such as those controlled by the Hutts seem to be outside the Old Republic's domain. Given these facts, it makes sense that the Republic would not have any armed forces. They wouldn't need any. The governments of those portions of the galaxy not part of the Republic would have to be suicidal to attack the Republic, and the threat of extra-galactic invasion would be minuscule.

That's probably why Senators such as Amidala are opposed to the creation of an Army of the Republic. They recognise that the only enemies such a force could be used against are internal. And, indeed, that's what happens. As the roll-up in A New Hope tells us, the creation of an Army of the Republic ultimately leads to a period of Civil War in the galaxy.

Also, the name of the overall work is Star Wars. As more and more of the story is revealed, it becomes clear that the saga focuses on a period of military conflict in the galaxy after a long period of peace.

The Old Republic does seem to have some pre-existing military forces though. First are the blue-clad guards seen around the Senate Chamber in Attack of the Clones and accompanying Chancellor Palpatine to Naboo in The Phantom Menace. These probably become the red-clad Imperial guard seen in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Second, the captain and pilot of the cruiser that delivered Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn to negotiate with the Trade Federation at the beginning of The Phantom Menace were wearing uniforms very similar to those seen on various members of the Imperial navy in later episodes. This suggests that the Imperial navy may have deeper roots than the Imperial army and that there was an Old Republic navy.

However, the ships seen at the end of Attack of the Clones are much smaller than the Star Destroyers associated with the Imperial navy in the initial trilogy. This suggests that the navy of the Old Republic was a much smaller force than the Imperial navy and that it probably served primarily as a courier service for the Senate. If individual systems maintained their own naval forces, there wouldn't be much else for it to do.

Third, there are the Jedi Knights.

The Jedi

The Jedi are one of the central elements of the saga. In many ways, the story of Star Wars is about their fall and return. Some have even suggested that the saga is structured like a Greek Tragedy with the Jedi in the role of the hero with a tragic flaw. This may be, but it doesn't answer a fairly basic question: What do the Jedi do?

The Jedi hang around and interact with the force. They wave light sabres around. They say cryptic, zen-like things. They are really, really cool. Lots of people want to play one. But what do they do?

The roll-up for various of the films informs us that Jedi were the "guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy" but it wasn't until Attack of the Clones that I actually got a feel for what it is that Jedi do: they're cops. They're the descendants of an elite military order who have come to serve as an FBI-CIA-Secret Service or Scotland Yard-MI5-MI6 for the Old Republic. Whenever there's a problem that the local authorities can't handle, a couple of Jedi (probably a Knight and an apprentice) are dispatched to deal with it. That's what Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are doing in The Phantom Menace and that's what Obi-Wan and Anakin are doing in Attack of the Clones. They guard, they investigate, they mete out justice. Given their mind powers, I'm sure that Jedi make great lie detectors. Given their sensitivity to the Force, I'm sure that they make great crime scene investigators. Given their prowess in hand-to-hand combat, I'm sure that there's no-one who can bully or intimidate a Jedi.

In a way, I'm surprised that it took me so long to figure out. Star Wars clearly draws inspiration from E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman novels and the Lensmen were explicitly police officers -- albeit ones who took the idea of a "war on crime" rather literally. The Jedi resemble the Lensmen in various ways, so it should come as no surprise that they, too, are police officers.

That's why Anakin can tell the crowd in the nightclub in Attack of the Clones that it's a "Jedi matter" and that they should go "about their business." It's like waving a badge. Or invoking "National Security".

This also explains why Qui-Gon doesn't do anything about freeing the slaves in The Phantom Menace -- Tatooine is established as being in Hutt space and so outside the borders of the Old Republic. It's outside his jurisdiction. The Jedi serve the Senate and function within the borders of the Old Republic. They may disapprove of what happens in other areas of the galaxy, but they don't have the legal authority to change things. They're bound by the rule of law.

It also suggests why Mace Windu is so confident when he confronts Count Dukoo. The count tells him quite clearly that the Jedi are out-numbered and Windu responds "I don't think so." Now, while this is a nice, macho response, it's also completely unrealistic. The Jedi obviously are out-numbered. Why doesn't Windu see that? Or is his response pure bravado?

My idea is that Mace Windu views the engagement as a police raid and feels that the fifty or so Jedi backing him up are more than sufficient to deal with the miscreants he is facing. Count Dukoo, on the other hand sees the engagement as a military battle, and he recognises that even if each Jedi is worth ten or so Droid soldiers, the fact that the Jedi are out-numbered twenty-to-one, gives his side the advantage of numbers. Different interpretations of the same situation. The Jedi have gotten so used to acting as an elite police force that they aren't capable of making the shift to thinking in military terms as quickly as they need to.

I don't know how other people feel about it, but this is definitely an interpretation I'm going to run with. There are some players who will be annoyed to discover that along with the cool Force powers and combat abilities, Jedi suddenly have real duties and responsibilities, but those Jedi have been a drag on Star Wars games for too long. About time they started earning their keep.

As a final point, in Attack of the Clones we learn that, in addition to the established red, blue and green blades, lightsabres also come with violet blades. That's the colour of Mace Windu's blade. Not a biggie, but interesting. And the question remains of why those assoiated with the Sith (Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Count Dukoo) all use red lightsabres and they are the only ones to do so. Is there significance in that? Or is it just a white-hats/black-hats thing to help the audience tell the protagonists from the antagonists?

Palpatine's Plan

One of the things that I'm most enjoying in these new Star Wars movies is the sense of a competent bad guy. So many movies feature villains whose actions can be, charitably, described as crazy. Whatever their goals are, they go about achieving them in the stupidest -- and most blatant -- way possible. Many of them even seem to lack any sort of survival instinct, acting in ways that are suicidal. It's not surprising when most of them die.

By contrast Palpatine/Darth Sidious is working to a deliberate plan. He's careful not to overreach himself. The way he handles Amidala in Attack of the Clones illustrates this perfectly.

The film opens with assassination attempts on Senator Amidala. However, once Amidala leaves Coruscant, the assassination attempts stop. Even though Palpatine knows where Amidala is going and that she's being guarded by a single young and inexperienced Jedi. Question: why doesn't he send another assassin after her to finish the job? Answer: because that's not what he wants.

Palpatine's goal in Attack of the Clones is to (i) get the Senate to vote him emergency powers so he can rule by decree and (ii) use those powers to legitimately create and equip an Army of the Republic which he can use to subjugate the galaxy. Amidala concerns him only in so far as she's the leader of the faction of the Senate opposed to the creation of such an army. Thus the assassination attempts. They're not designed to kill her so much as frighten her. Palpatine knows Amidala well enough not to expect the attempts to cow her into abandoning her opposition, so he encourages her to leave Coruscant "for her own safety". Once she's gone, she's not there to rally the opposition to the Army proposal, so there's no need for any more attempts on her life. Palpatine's got what he wants.

What's more, he manoeuvres Jar Jar Binks -- the other Senator from Naboo -- to actually propose that he be granted the emergency powers he wants. Surely that served to demoralise those opposed to the motion -- abandoned by the system they thought was at the centre of the resistance -- thus speeding the vote through.

And he even organised for an old Jedi hero to arrange for the creation of a clone army that would be ready "just" when the Republic needed it. Hail, hail, the mighty Jedi. Brilliant is their foresight. Unwavering their commitment to the Old Republic. Are the Jedi going to turn down such praise and admit that they knew nothing about the creation of the clone army? After all, the clone army does save the day.

Masterfully done. It's almost a shame when he dies at the end of Return of the Jedi. Almost.

The other thing I'm enjoying in the pre-quel movies is the sense of muddled politics that Palpatine's plans and manoeuvres imply. It makes the Old Republic seem like a real republic; a functioning democracy. For all that it features Queens and Princesses (and, as we've seen, those titles don't seem to mean what most people assume they mean), Star Wars comes across as one the more populist science fiction series out there. While most SF series pay at least lip service to democracy, most of them are also set in very militarised structures.

Around the time that The Phantom Menace came out, science fiction writer David Brin wrote an article for Salon titled "Star Wars" despots vs "Star Trek" populists. While I agree with his stated preference for democracy over despotism, I think he seriously misread the two series he used as examples.

The only Star Trek series that I can think of which regularly featured civilian characters was Deep Space Nine. All the other shows focus on members of Star Fleet -- that is, on members of an elite service that is strictly regimented and with a clear chain of command. While that's entirely appropriate for a show dealing with various military vessels (as the different Star Trek series do), it's hardly a paean of praise to democracy. With its strict regimentation and a rank for everyone and everyone with their rank, it might be seen as quite the opposite.

By contrast, Star Wars features farmboys, independent traders, domestic servants (the robots), slaves, moisture farmers, exiles, elite warriors, a princess and so on. Certainly seems like a larger cross-section of society to me. And there aren't any chains of command; these characters argue all the time.

I must admit that the impression I get from watching odd episodes of the various Star Trek shows is that Star Fleet runs the Federation. I mean, I've seen treaties being negotiated by Star Fleet Admirals, not civilian ambassadors, and I don't think that I've ever seen any kind of civilian oversight for the actions of the various ships. If that's the case, then adding in the Klingon and Romulan Empires, it would seem that Star Trek portrays a galaxy dominated by various military juntas. The Republic shown in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones clearly has it's problems, but I think it's infinitely preferable to the strictly defined hierarchies of Star Trek.

Mind you, Brin's comments are quite reasonable when compared to The Case for the Empire, which makes a case for the Empire by suggesting that Palpatine is a relatively benign dictator -- like Chile's Augusto Pinochet. But then, that article did appear in the Weekly Standard, which, to the best of my knowledge, has never met a fascist it didn't like.

Star Wars captures a basic political truth once summarised by Sir Winston Churchill: "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all of the other forms which have been tried from time to time." The frustrations of the Old Republic make it feel like a real democracy, just as the atrocities of the Empire make it the best argument for restoring the Republic.

Bringing Balance to the Force

Finally, some ideas on what "the prophesy of the one who will bring balance to the Force" means. Mace Windu mentioned this prophecy in The Phantom Menace.

Presumably, Anakin is the prophesied one and he will bring balance back to the Force. The question is: how? We know that Anakin becomes Darth Vader and, as Vader, commits some pretty horrible acts. Is that what's necessary to bring balance back to the Force? If so, is an unbalanced Force really all that bad a thing? You know, no matter what the metaphysical arguments are, I much prefer a galaxy that lives in peace and prosperity and in which the Force is unbalanced to one rent by Civil War, full of death and destruction, but in which the Force is balanced. In that sense, a balanced Force may be a luxury the Star Wars galaxy really can't afford.

Those were my feelings after The Phantom Menace, but watching Attack of the Clones suggested another possibility to me. Perhaps it's not what Anakin does as Darth Vader that brings balance back to the Force, perhaps it's his actions while he's still Anakin.

Let's step back from the question for a moment to get some perspective. What do we know about the Force? Well, we know that it "...is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." We also know that it has a Light Side and a Dark Side and, presumably, if there is an imbalance, it is between these two aspects.

The other thing we know is that to gain power in the Dark Side is by "giving in to your hate." Okay, then, how do you gain power in the Light Side? Presumably by doing the opposite; by giving in to your love. That certainly seems to fit and Love is often held up as one of the great forces of the universe.

The trouble is, as one of the posters for Attack of the Clones tells us, "A Jedi shall not know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love". If I'm right and the Light Side of the Force is fed by love (and other similar "positive" emotions) and the Jedi (the major users of the Force) have systematically shunned such emotions for fear of being drawn to the Dark Side, then the Light Side of the Force is, in effect, starving to death. That would certainly explain why there's an imbalance in the Force. And why the hatred of a couple of Sith is enough to upset the stability of an entire galaxy -- ignoring for the moment, Palpatine's effectiveness as a political schemer.

Consider for a moment Shmi, Anakin's mother. She was left in slavery in The Phantom Menace and, apparently no-one in the Jedi order thought to go and obtain her freedom in the ten years since then and Attack of the Clones. Why? In Attack of the Clones Obi-Wan dismisses Anakin's dreams about his mother, even though Jedi know that feelings and dreams are often communications from the Force. Again why? I think it's because the Jedi have no grasp of the nature of the bond between a child and its mother. We know that Jedi are recruited at a very young age -- at nine, Anakin was considered too old to be taken in for training -- so it's likely that they are raised in creches and never really form an attachment to a primary care-giver. The Jedi probably know on an intellectual level that such a bond exists, but, lacking direct experience, they don't understand it. People raised in such circumstances also have difficulty forming other sorts of attachments later in life.

And, of course, in The Phantom Menace Yoda tells young Anakin that his fear of losing his mother could lead him to the Dark Side. Clearly, the Jedi consider Anakin's ties to his mother as unhealthy and dangerous.

So, how does Anakin bring balance to the Force? I'm sure you're all way ahead of me here, but let me say it anyway: he falls in love. The big event happens in Attack of the Clones. He expresses himself awkwardly -- as is to be expected from someone who has spent his formative years living and training with a bunch of cold ascetics -- but he gives in to his love.

At the of Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader destroys the Emperor by again giving in to his love -- this time for his children. Palpatine spends all his time trying to get Luke to give in to his hate, and so be drawn to the Dark Side, but he never considers what effect this will have on his henchman. And that's why he loses. For all his cunning and political savvy, Palpatine loses because he overlooks the power of love.

It's a pretty saccharine conclusion, but, based on his other work, it is the sort of thing that George Lucus would do.

Luke Skywalker represents a rebirth for the Jedi Order because, since he's largely self-trained, it never occurs to him not to care for his friends and family.

Of course, if this interpretation is right, it's going to mean that a lot of people have been playing their Classic Era Jedi wrong. When the "A Jedi shall not know (...) love" poster first started appearing, I asked one local player what it felt like to discover that his character was a member of a monastic order with apparent vows of celibacy. He responded by saying that Jedi in his game took that whole idea as more of a suggestion, than a strict vow. A valid interpretation -- it's their game, after all -- but going with the above interpretation could lead to some interesting dramatic territory.

One of the things I'm hoping Episode III will address is the source of the animosity between the Jedi and the Sith. What, exactly, is the beef between them? What is it that the Sith want revenge for? And why wasn't counselling an option?

In Conclusion

This isn't a traditional review, I feel that I should probably end off with a recommendation. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a fun movie and well worth seeing. I've seen it only once, but have gotten many, many hours of entertainment out of it.

If you keep your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open, you will probably get the same. It is a film that does reward thought and consideration. There is lots of meaty goodness for those looking for material for their Star Wars games -- or, indeed, any space opera RPG.