Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII In the almost 40 years that the Star Wars franchise has been in existence I'm aware of the existence of just two members of Yoda' species: Yoda himself, and the younger female named Yaddle that served on the Jedi High Council during the timeframe of Episode I. I don't think there's ever been a novel or comic book depicting any other members of his species, and even Yaddle appeared just a couple of times combined on both the big screen and in the Expanded Universe.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII There was a Yoda Species Jedi in the KOTR game. He had a prominent role. Maybe I was thinking of Wookiee Jedi. I think I read this in an issue of Wizard back in the 90s.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Here's the Knights character via Wiki: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Vandar_Tokare and the TOR character: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Oteg
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII George himself once joked that they were the "Whills" referred to in his original script treatments of the first movie but nobody has ever pinned down what the species' official, canonical name is supposed to be. George probably wants it that way.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Didn't care for Vandar. The guy who did his voice is the guy who did Yoda's voice in TCM. (I forget his name at the moment.) And it sounded just like you'd expect: an impression. Oteg, OTOH, is loads of fun. And kind of adorable. Even if he does look like a Gremlin.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII One of the comics had a member of the species called Minch. It was speculated that it was actually Yoda-as-padawan but this was never confirmed. ( Minch was an early name for the Yoda character. ) And then there's this, but I have no idea what the hell is supposed to be going on there.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Yaddle was an adorable little scamp, wasn't she? I kinda wish they hadn't killed her off in the EU about halfway between the events of Episodes I and II because I wanted to know more about her and her species. At least we got to see "another" Yoda on the big screen, however fleeting and silent her appearance may have been.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII I have it on good authority that Wookies are actually the younger members of Yoda's race. As they age they shrink and go bald.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII It's probably no surprise to fans who felt her Episode VII character was going to be very prominent (possibly even the daughter of Han and Leia), but Slashfilm.com is reporting that Daisy Ridley will likely be reprising said role in both Episode VIII and Episode IX.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Yeah from the sound of it (and given the fact she was the only one filming scenes with Mark Hamill on that island), she's going to be the Luke Skywalker of the new trilogy.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Kind of interesting if true-Lucas briefly considered a female lead hero for the original movie (Which eventually evolved into both Luke and Leia). Hell she even eventually had an action figure (part of the Mcquarrie concept series around the time of the 30th anniversary). Also no wonder Sword Of The Jedi got shelved too.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Yeah, I wish we had gotten those books, but if we're getting some sort of nuJaina Solo in the movies, I'll be quite happy.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII If memory serves, that was only in the very early outline. The one that was quite nakedly a re-imagined take on Kurosawa's 'Hidden Fortress'. I think he may have considered gender flipping Luke after one of the later drafts, but never followed through with it. Mind you I have seen the same concept art labelled as an early version of both Luke and Leia in different places, so either it's something of a fan predicated myth or the art in question was intentionally made to look somewhat androgynous as Lucas may have still been on the fence at the time. Still, I do recall reading that a general outline for the sequel trilogy from *way* back did indeed have a female protagonist. The notion being that she was the "another Skywalker" Yoda spoke of, before Lucas decided to make that Leia instead.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII What I've heard is that during the writing and production of ESB, Lucas had intended for Yoda's "there is another" line to refer to Luke's previously-unseen sister, who had been secretly training as a Jedi on the other side of the galaxy. They scrapped the idea once Lucas decided that he wanted to wrap everything up in ROTJ, because they couldn't cover the whole story in one movie and still have time to end the saga. Hence, "Leia is my sister". I'm really happy that J.J. seems to be incorporating a lot of Lucas' ideas. Coming up with the big ideas and concepts of SW was always what George did best. He often stumbled when executing them, but he's a brilliant world-builder.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII ^^ Luke's sister was supposed to be in an entirely seperate galaxy that he would travel to in the next trilogy (7-9) to find. The Emperor wasn't even going to actually appear until Episode 9 when Luke and Sister finally face him. I believe he cut it down to three films because of his acrimonious divorce.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII that's not quite how I understand it - the spin-off films would be done by other people along with other films so that Lucas could get back to "serious" film making.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Yeah that really would have been a lot cooler. As it feels much more like what you expect after the revelation is made in ESB. Instead it becomes just this throwaway moment in ROTJ that not much is ever made of afterwards (other than to give Vader someone else to threaten when battling Luke). Which is a shame, because I think Leia would have looked pretty badass wielding a lightsaber.
Re: New Casting and Story Rumors re: EPISODE VII Vader/Anakin acts rather selfishly (again) when he kills Palpatine. He'd never have lifted a finger against the Emperor if it hadn't been his son that was about to die. But this would have been okay if the prequels hadn't shown us that it was also his selfishness that was the cause for the rise of the Empire and all that pain and tragedy; without his selfish acts Palpatine would never have become emperor but a corpse.