[Editor's note: Dexter is trying to remain as unspoiled as possible for Episode III. Please do not email him with spoilers for the film or disillusion him about things in his article that you KNOW are wrong.]

That Sound You Hear in the Distance Is Probably Mr. Lucas, with a Chainsaw

Again, I have taken it upon myself to predict the contents of an un-seen Star Wars film. This time, much longer before the film is scheduled for release than last time, and while on a spoiler-avoidance regimen even more rigorous than that I followed for Episode II.

Not even the Jedi always get the future right -- and they not only have the Force for an ally, they get to read the script. I worked with considerably less information: the films themselves; and a few books, primarily Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas, by Dale Pollock, and Star Wars: the Annotated Screenplays, by Laurent Bouzereau. I haven't read any of the Clone Wars books, as yet. I have even forgone the supplemental materials on the Episode II DVD, apart from the sound-design documentary, "Films Are Not Released; They Escape."

The return of Dooku and Chewbacca; the first twenty chapters of Star Wars: Clone Wars on Cartoon Network; a book or magazine cover or two -- these constitute the entirety of my spoileredness. These, and an inadvertent reference to multiple Wookiee costumes in a message on Echo's own message boards.

From these materials, using what intelligence, imagination and instinct I have at my disposal, I fashioned the predictions that follow. They are bound to contain errors. If they are no worse than last time, I shall count myself quite successful.

Of course, there is also something to be said for surprises (so long as the surprises are pleasant), which perfect foresight precludes.

Now, without further delay, let us proceed to examine the many limbs out on which I've chosen to go.

The Title: "The title was always intended to be Return of the Jedi, but we made the film under the code name Revenge of the Jedi."

Darth Maul said it all: "Soon we will have revenge." I predict the title will be Revenge of the Sith, or possibly Vengeance of the Sith. Why? Because Revenge of the Sith fits very well the things that pretty much have to happen in this film: consolidation of Palpatine's control of the Republic; the effective end of the Jedi Order; Anakin's fall to the dark side, and all the incidents relevant to it. And because George Lucas never really lets go of an idea, ultimately uses every idea at least once, and he never got to use Revenge of the Jedi. (I will leave it to the reader to evaluate the plausibility of Lucas's rationale, given to Laurent Bouzereau in Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays (pp. 233-234), for Revenge of the Jedi's existence, that it was created and used as a codename "to throw people off" (Lucas mentions Jedi's other codename, Blue Harvest, of which the superior opacity is immediately obvious, in the same place), which the studio ran with, also thrown off.)

There's really no reason Revenge of the Jedi couldn't be used for Episode III. Anakin is a Jedi, Padawan rank, at least. All the likely dark side anger and hate and aggression are perfect materials for a good old fashioned revenge trip. But Revenge of the Sith is the better title, less repetitive, with the same cool retro aspect, fitting better with expectations, mine, anyway, of the film. Sith can stand for more than one person or thing, and Revenge can take many forms. There's going to be a lot of revenge had in this film, and the Sith Lords are going to have all, or at any rate most, of it: The Sith will have revenge on their hated Jedi enemies; the Sith will have revenge on the Republic the Jedi serve and protect, making of it an empire, which they will rule; and perhaps their ultimate revenge will be corrupting and co-opting the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy. And while the Sith Order will be revenged, and all the Sith will be taking vengeance, one of the Sith, one in particular, will no doubt have revenge on a whole lot of people for a whole lot of things, from the death of his mother, to the loss of his wife, and more besides -- Darth Vader, the Sith formerly known as Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One himself.

I'm also pretty sure Star Wars: Episode III will be part of the title, but don't quote me on that.

Opening Shot: "A Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ... "

Show me the Star Wars film that doesn't begin with spacecraft arriving somewhere. Sometimes, the guns are blazing; sometimes, a smaller ship is fleeing, or is departing from, a larger one. But the spacecraft are always there. So is a planet -- Tatooine, Hoth, the forest moon of Endor, Naboo, and Coruscant have all been in the opening scene. None has appeared more than once. Three of the five have been the sites of battles. Usually it is an unfamiliar world, a new world: among opening-scene planets, only Coruscant have we seen before.

And the ships? In the Original Trilogy there's always an Imperial Star Destroyer. In the prequels, so far there've been Republic ships: The Republic cruiser in The Phantom Menace, and Senator Amidala's starship in Attack of the Clones. It's a pattern.

So, it follows, I believe, that we'll see a Republic ship, that it'll be arriving at or near a planet we haven't seen before at the beginning of a film, and on which a battle will be fought.

This time, the planet will be Kashyyyk, or whatever George Lucas decides to call the Wookiee homeworld, if he decides not to use the name from the novels. Lucas hasn't shown us the Wookiee homeworld before, so it satisfies that criterion. And, one way or another, it's going to be associated with the Big Battle at the beginning of the film (about which more below); that's another criterion down. And since it's definitely a planet -- one more criterion down -- I think it fills the bill.

The Republic ship won't be just a ship from inside the Republic, but an official Republic starship. And, since we've started all the prequel films so far with ships with one or more of our heroes aboard, I expect this ship will likewise have familiar and ostensibly friendly faces among its passengers or crew. (The passengers, or at least the most important passenger, probably won't be one of Our Heroes, but more about that anon.) I don't expect any turbo-lasers blasting away, either. Just an approach and landing, quite similar in structure to that from Return of the Jedi.

Of course, in Jedi we had a shuttle approaching the Death Star; there were in fact two similar approaches to the Death Star in the film. I'm not sure which this opening will more closely resemble, Lord Vader's or the Emperor's. It will depend on whether it's Anakin Skywalker or Chancellor Palpatine aboard the ship. I predict one or the other will be, but not both.

So, we'll see either, 1) Palpatine arriving to oversee the battle, aboard an official transport carrying him to whatever location serves the Republic forces as a command post, Anakin being there to meet the Supreme Chancellor when he arrives -- approximating the scene some twenty-odd years later aboard the Second Death Star; or, 2) Anakin and Obi-Wan arriving in-theater (or "at the front," if you can't handle the pun), Palpatine, with entourage in tow, coming to the landing site to greet one of the Republic's foremost commanders, General Kenobi, and Palpatine's favorite Jedi, Kenobi's, and his own, sometime apprentice, Anakin Skywalker.

The Chancellor's ship arriving at the Wookiee homeworld -- that's my prediction.

The ship arriving, and the passengers debarking, with its echoes of Return of the Jedi (I am expecting a great many of those), will then lead into a scene of a gathering before battle. Episode III will begin with a battle, same as Empire did.

That there is going to be a big battle, and frontloaded, I have no doubt. George Lucas was reported some time ago as saying he wanted to wrap up the Clone Wars quickly, and that most of the story would be more "personal," by which I understood him to mean, focusing on the characters, as opposed to focusing on the large-scale action, as in the massive battles such as those of Naboo in The Phantom Menace and Geonosis in Attack of the Clones. But there has to be a big battle (there's never been a Star Wars film without one, after all), and the only way to get it out of the way and focus on the characters is to fight it up front.

The gathering scene will be like the Rebel briefing before the assault on the Second Death Star: it will serve to get all the players in one place, and set the stage for the coming battle. Therefore, I expect all the major players to be there, with the possible exception of Padmé; and I expect that Palpatine will perform Mon Mothma's function, civilian supervision of the military, more or less -- only I'll expect to see Palpatine again after the battle's won.

I see no reason to prefer a shipboard setting for this gathering to a planetside gathering -- but a gut-feeling tells me it'll be planetside.

The Big Battle: "Proceed with the countdown. All groups assume attack coordinates."

Mr. Lucas wants to wrap up the Clone Wars early. What better way is there than with a big, a really big, bloody spectacle of a battle, the decisive battle of the Clone Wars, a battle no less that will finally give us what we've wanted for so many years, Wookiees? And not just Wookiees, but armies of Wookiees? What better way to compensate the loyal fans for the enormity of the Ewoks? I predict it will be the cinematic battle to end all cinematic battles, the Land/Air/Space battle of Lucas's dreams, the one he has been working toward since he began working on Star Wars, scribbling away in that little binder of his.

Again, it's pure Lucas. He never gives up on an idea, and we know he had the Wookiee idea from way back: he says so in Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays. True, he also says he abandoned the idea of Wookiees defeating the Empire because Chewbacca had made Wookiees seem too sophisticated in the previous films to fit properly with his idea of primitives toppling a technologically superior enemy; but I think it must have been at least as significant that Wookiee costumes were a lot harder to make, and seven-footers to wear them were a lot harder to come by, than the dead-eyed bathmats with Little People stuffed into them that were the Ewoks. Now, size literally matters not: Lucas has the technology to generate the Wookiee warriors digitally. And, based on one member of the species, no one is going to have insuperable preconceptions about Wookiees in general (with the possible exception of us fans obsessive enough to have been analyzing and making predictions a year out), if Lucas is still intent on his primitives vs. sophisticates scenario. The underlying theme seems to have morphed into one of the superiority of spiritual strength to technological sophistication, anyway, so the earlier concern may not even be a factor.)

The Big Battle could take place anywhere, of course; but I am sure it will be the Wookiee homeworld. And I'm sure there will be Wookiee armies. This might be Lucas's last chance, after all, to bring one of his dearly held original ideas to the screen, and we know there are going to be Wookiees in the film anyway, so why shouldn't he do it?

The first season of the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series showed one possible form the battle might take. It depicted a conflict on Mon Calamari, between the Mon Cals loyal to the Republic, and the Quarrens, backed by the Separatists, in which Jedi-led Clone Troopers intervened. A similar situation may exist on Kashyyyk.

It's not really something I predict will be the case, but if it were, who would be the other species? It's tempting to think it might be derived from one of the earlier versions of Chewbacca in Ralph McQuarrie's preproduction paintings, particularly the leaner, meaner, less-hirsute version with the big, obvious fangs. But that takes us into the realm of (really) wild speculation. It's far more likely the Wookiees would be divided among themselves, the Separatists provoking or exploiting a wild-and-wooly Wookiee civil war for their own ends, if the battle involves a planetary conflict exploited by the Separatists. Wookiee allies might even be the ready-made organic answer to countering the clones of the Republic's Grand Army ...

(The one thing I cannot envision is that this might be battle to liberate the Wookiees: I don't see them as being conquerable, at least not by the Separatists.)

It seems too much to imagine the Wookiees unified and allied to the Separatists: one tends to assume the Wookiees would be on the side of the Republic, if for no other reason than that we've seen those Wookiee senators in The Phantom Menace, and that it seems unlikely that Lucas would make them villains: it would be too much of a twist. However, they were conspicuously absent from the Senate in Attack of the Clones. But there's only so much complexity a film will bear, and I don't think Episode III is going to have spare capacity for too much in this vein.

Whether there's a second sentient species on the Wookiee homeworld, or not, I stick by the prediction that that world will be the location of the battle. Otherwise, to engage large numbers of Wookiees in the battle, they'd have to be mercenaries or something -- and that seems to add another unnecessary complication.

Note that I think there will be plenty of further combat, and not on a purely personal scale, in the film: I think, at the least, Coruscant will be hit. This will be Palpatine's pretext for extending his emergency powers.

The Wookiees: "Chewbacca here is first mate on a ship that might suit us."

We know there will be Wookiees, not just one, but many, because the makeup and costume folks were reported working on several Wookiee costumes. That means either several costumes for one Wookiee character, or several Wookiees. I think the latter far more likely.

At least one of those Wookiees will be Chewbacca. Even avoiding spoilers, I have learned he will be in the film, and confirmed it through IMDb, though I have no knowledge whatsoever about his role. I do, however, have some theories, as follows:

Chewbacca will be an associate of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

Of course The Big Battle would be an opportunity for them to meet. Why they would stick together remains a mystery to me.

But Anakin's familiarity with the Wookiee I can infer from the different treatment given Chewbacca by Vader in The Empire Strikes Back: He gave Chewbacca what he must by that time have recognized was his own boyhood creation, See-Threepio. And if we discount that the past influenced Vader's preservation of Threepio, then it makes no sense at all for him to have left the droid in the custody of prisoners, let alone with droid repair tools.. Also, note the physical condition of Chewbacca compared to his friend and shipmate, Captain Solo: Vader remembered the Wookiee, and that memory altered his behavior toward him.

So when would have Vader met Chewbacca? The Original Trilogy offered no opportunities; it must therefore have been in one of the prequels, before Anakin became Darth Vader; and only one of those remains in which the meeting might occur. (All of which assumes there's a plausible reason for these things, not always a reliable assumption in the Star Wars saga.)

While one assumes the on-screen portion of Chewbacca's and Anakin's association would be brief, I think we could see a longer association with Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Kenobi's friends and allies. I expect to see Chewbacca serving Obi-Wan, in particular, as a pilot or copilot. (And, yes, I predict these two will end up using the Millennium Falcon. Call the idea, call me, lame if you like, but there it is, and I'm sticking to it.)

I tend to associate Chewbacca with Obi-Wan, and assume their association was of long standing, because, well -- wouldn't Obi-Wan have needed some support, some connection to the rest of the galaxy, to keep him supplied on Tatooine with materiel and information? Wouldn't Chewbacca be the ideal critter for the job, first mate on a ship that's been "flown from one side of the galaxy to the other," a ship that avoids official channels like the plague, especially since Chewbacca now seems to have a Prequel past? Think about it. Ben knew the cantina in Mos Eisley was the place where all the best star pilots hung out. His knowledge of place and clientele were not seemingly Force-related. (Obi-Wan telegraphed all Force knowledge like crazy in A New Hope.) How would he know that, why would he need to, if he hadn't had reason to go there and associate with star pilots? He seems to be asking for Chewbacca when he goes in there. Sure, he also seemed never to have heard of the Millennium Falcon, and gave no indication to Luke he had a ship in mind -- but he kept Luke in the dark about a lot of things.

One last thing about the Wookiees. They'll get subtitles this time around. I foresee some real problems with this, though, if GL extends it through the Original Trilogy.

Anakin Skywalker: "I see you becoming the greatest of all the Jedi, Anakin ..."

Last time, I predicted Anakin would be knighted by the end of Episode II. I thought this inevitable, because Yoda's assertion, that only a fully trained Jedi with the Force as his ally could defeat Vader and his emperor, required it, since it was in fact Anakin who did both. I also pointed out that, though Obi-Wan had described Vader as "a pupil of mine, until he turned to evil," and Vader had said, "When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master," that presented no serious problems: Obi-Wan was a notorious fibber, and a Padawan, even Anakin , could still have much to learn of the Force and yet be made a Knight: Qui-Gon Jinn said as much, about Obi-Wan, who did indeed become a Knight shortly thereafter, though quite plainly he still had much to learn.

And I predict it again: Anakin will be a full Jedi Knight in Episode III, and, since I assume the Council would be reluctant to do it after he's turned to the dark side and started hunting down Jedi, I expect it to happen very early -- so early it ends up in the Opening Crawl. My reasoning remains the same: if only a fully trained Jedi Knight can do the job, and Vader/Anakin did the job, then Anakin must be a fully trained Jedi Knight. And the timing is essential, not only for the reason already given, but because there's going to be too much going on to fit the Trials for Anakin into this film.

Beyond that, the broad outline of the part of Anakin's life covered in Episode III is well known to us (or so we believe). Anakin will, in whatever order, leave behind his wife and the Jedi, fall to the dark side, cross lightsabers with his former master, suffer terrible injuries, and finally ally himself with Palpatine/Sidious. Predicting these things is no great feat, but I intend to go further, adding some how-and-why detail that isn't, I think, part of the standard assumptions built up by viewers over the years.

First things first. I think Anakin will be in command of a large part, if not the entirety, of the fighter forces in the opening battle. It'll be the only opportunity to showcase his combat piloting skills, and it would be silly to use him in ground combat, because he'll have plenty of time to show off the Jedi Arts in the rest of the film. Yes, he'll be, if not the fighter general, at least a fighter commander, and it'll be his crowning glory as a Jedi Knight, because ...

I think Anakin will be kicked out of the Jedi Order, pretty quickly after the Big Battle. His secret marriage will have been discovered, and a thing or two more, and for that, he'll be called on the carpet and expelled by the Council.

(There will be repercussions for Obi-Wan as well, for which see the section devoted to Kenobi predictions below.)

Without a Clone War to fight, relieved of Jedi obligations, and, one assumes, with his header into the dark side and hanging with Palpy still a ways off, the lad's going to have some time on his hands.

He could spend it with Amidala. Whoops. She's going to leave Anakin, pretty quickly after his expulsion, and that's going to put a kink in those plans. She'll probably head back to Naboo -- it's her pattern. Of course, he could follow her, but he'd need a ship. Those he used to get from the Jedi, but, whoops again, that won't any longer be an option. The Jedi probably won't have left him with much in the way of spending money, either, so commercial passenger-carriers are probably out of the question.

Naboo has spice mines on its moons, so there're bound to be spice freighters, from all over the galaxy, coming and going all the time. Those ships need crewmen ...

Yes, I predict Owen Lars's story will be a lot truer than what old Obi-Wan told Luke: Anakin, being without Temple-provided transportation, will end up on a spice freighter, as a navigator, simply to get from Point A to Point B. Now, whether or not it'll be straight from Coruscant to Naboo, I'm not sure. But, wherever he's going, that's how he'll get there.

It could be quite a confrontation, between these two, if he's able to get to Padmé. That, however, might not be so easy, because I expect Obi-Wan Kenobi to be standing in the way, as Padmé's protector. That could be an even bigger confrontation, one between Anakin and Obi-Wan.

We know that master and pupil must have a parting of the ways, and the assumption has always been that, at some point, it becomes violent, at-lightsabers-drawn violent. Here's a good opportunity, with Anakin desperate to see his estranged wife, with Obi-Wan standing in the way, and the stench of betrayal hanging over everything. Anakin charges ahead, Obi-Wan calls for self-control and reason, Anakin lights up, Obi-Wan lights up, and the duel is on.

Anakin will win it. He will smash his way through Obi-Wan's defenses, after an epic combat, and have his former master at his mercy. Then, Anakin, sick at heart, Padmé likely having escaped while he was distracted kicking Obi-Wan's butt, will look down on his beaten master, and spare him. Obi-Wan will not try to exploit this turn of events. Yet. Judging from his performance against Dooku, he'll likely be too dazed, confused and damaged.

Anakin's injuries, assuming we get to see the complete catalog of injuries that go into making the full-blown cyborg we see in the Original Trilogy, will not have been inflicted by a lightsaber. Obi-Wan will not have been able to inflict the wounds, not with all his training, his swordsmanship, and the Force as his ally. Not with a lightsaber alone.

Anakin's injuries will result from someone or something triggering his "transmitter," the slave restraint device, explanation of which was made a great deal in Episode I, but of which we haven't heard since. I expect that to be the cause of most, if not all, of Anakin's life-threatening injuries. Given that a comparison of biographies reveals a considerable similarity between Anakin and his creator, I am half inclined to think the injuries will more likely be the result of a vehicular mishap; but, if that were so, what was the point of all that blather about the transmitter, and how "they blow you UP!"? Of course, there's no reason why the thing couldn't be set off while Anakin was piloting a vehicle ... .

So Anakin, flies to victory, lands in trouble and gets kicked out of the Jedi, loses his wife, goes on a hop across the galaxy, fights his master, maybe gets blown up -- what else?

In between those last two, I would expect The Fall. Cue your CDs of "The Imperial March" and the Emperor's theme here. I have pondered this point a great deal, and still I have no satisfactory theory of it. It's not as if we have a lot of fallen Jedi examples to analyze. Count Dooku's fall is a mystery: he quit the Jedi, joined the Sith, became a political "idealist," not necessarily in that order, and that's about all we know. Vader was "seduced by the dark side of the Force." Of course the guy who said that also said Vader betrayed and murdered Anakin Skywalker. Yoda warned Luke that, if he underestimated the Emperor's power, "suffer your father's fate you will," which makes it sound as if it were a contest of wills, which Anakin lost, rather than a seduction. So, was Anakin caught, trapped by the Emperor, or was he seduced by the dark side? Put another way, did Anakin Fall, or was he Pushed? We've seen how both Vader and the Emperor tried to turn Luke. They put him in a situation where the temptation to use the dark side would be especially great. They provoked him; they pushed. But Anakin seems to have moved a great distance in that direction already, without such direct manipulation by the Sith. Fear, anger, aggression -- the dark side are they, so we are told. Don't give in to hate, that too leads to the dark side -- so Obi-Wan said, and Vader obviously believed: "Only your hatred can destroy me." Fearful the Council found young Anakin to be when they first encountered him. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate -- well, we've seen Anakin the young Padawan full of anger and hate: we've seen him massacre the Sand People; we've seen him ready to carve up Count Dooku.

And there is the implication that becoming an agent of evil and becoming an agent of the Emperor aren't quite the same thing, from which it follows there's a two-step process. For Luke it was concentrated, a one-two combination, Vader handling the "why resist, the dark side is your friend" angle, the Emperor waiting, ready to get the lad in the "You are now mine!" headlock as soon as he'd crossed over into the dark side.

Anakin won't experience it quite that way. In this regard, father and son are too little alike. Anakin had lived and trained as a Jedi for ten years before the Clone War began; also, he had been under Palpatine's influence for about as long, it would seem. (I don't for a second think Palpatine would have been so brazen as to have been instructing Anakin in the way of the Sith, only nudging and reinforcing Anakin's native inclination to impatience, anger, and resentment.) Such will have been Anakin's progress (along the dark path), that when it comes to the line between the sides of the Force, he'll see it clearly, and cross it deliberately, taking his place at Palpatine's side willingly. Of course, there will be tragedy and suffering enough behind his motives that the audience will retain some sympathy for him: remember Lucas has said that, if he does his job right in the Prequels, what you'll feel thereafter when you see Darth Vader for the first time in A New Hope is pity.

This, briefly, is my scenario: Anakin, expelled by the Jedi, rejected, betrayed by Padmé and Obi-Wan, deprived of a child (yes, you read that correctly), will turn at last to his old friend and confidant, the Chancellor, kindly old Palpatine. At that point, Palpatine will offer Anakin what will seem salvation from his suffering: purpose, rank and authority to punish those who have wronged him, sanction to use his great powers as he chooses to, as Darth Sidious's apprentice.

It will be at this time that Anakin takes the name Darth Vader -- and it'll be before whatever happens to him that transforms him into the Vader cyborg from the Original Trilogy. And it will be at this time that the new Sith Lord first employs the services of a young bounty hunter named Boba Fett.

Skywalker X: "There is ... another ... Sky ... walker."

"The Emperor knew, as I did, if Anakin were to have any offspring, they would be a threat to him." How did Obi-Wan know that?

How did Anakin's marriage to Padmé become known, as I believe it must have?

What could drive Anakin the final distance on the path to becoming Darth Vader?

What will George Lucas hang a new trilogy from, if he chooses to, once he's done with this one?

All these questions and more can be answered by the existence of an older sibling of Luke and Leia, whom I designate Skywalker X.

Padmé's pregnancy would prompt questions. And, even if those could be evaded, the child's nature could not: "The Force is strong in [the Skywalker] family." Since a Skywalker's strength with the Force can be felt by Jedi, and since the Jedi would, in the ordinary course of things, discover him early (remember Qui-Gon said Anakin would have been discovered early had he been born in the Republic, which implies some form of screening), any child of Amidala's and Anakin's would have to be kept far from Jedi influence, probably in seclusion on Naboo, lest a Jedi or an untrustworthy physician discover A) his potential and B) his parentage. If A) were discovered, no doubt B) would be revealed, and there's a relationship, at least, revealed, and, ultimately, the marriage, in violation of the Code, too.

However, if there were an accident, an incident, an illness, requiring care outside Anakin's or Padmé's control, then things might unravel.

So assume that something happens to the child. The child needs medical treatment, and both his father's identity and his own powers are discovered. This would handily reveal Anakin's violation of the Code. And, given Anakin's sense of the supremacy of family, his fierce devotion to those he loves, Jedi attempts to get hold of the child (the Council's likely objective being to get the child under their control in usual Jedi fashion) would further alienate Anakin from them, and from Obi-Wan particularly, if, true to character, he sided with the Council against Anakin; and, if Padmé agreed with Obi-Wan and the Council, well, then, that would be a powerful wedge between her and Anakin. And between apprentice and master.

And, if Dooku were involved, if, perhaps, he (still) had been engaged in an effort to kill Amidala, or if he had been attempting to kill or abduct the child for Palpatine's purposes, it would give Anakin another motive for hunting down and eliminating Dooku (before his continued survival becomes a continuity problem across trilogies).

Then, if harm were to come to the child -- worse, if the child were killed, or presumed killed (see predictions about the fate of the Jedi below), that would be enough to propel Anakin into a homicidal rage against those he held responsible: maybe the Jedi, if Jedi demands put the child in jeopardy; or some malevolent agency, alongside whom he could blame the Jedi as well, for failing to protect the child. Such a loss would drive any parent mad; what might it do to a defrocked Jedi who'd lost everything else, who had already demonstrated a considerable affinity for the dark side of the Force?

However, the child, I assume will be safe, even though presumed dead, having been under the care of, and having escaped with, Master Yoda from whatever nefarious scenario might unfold.

This Skywalker would be the "another Skywalker" Yoda, with his dying breath, told Luke of.

And the child, trained by Yoda on Dagobah until, with typical Skywalker impatience, he got fed up and left, might reappear later as a mysterious figure disturbing to the restored Republic, and to Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. From this disturbance might then come a new trilogy of films.

Padmé Amidala Naberrie: "And don't forget, she's a politician, and they're not to be trusted."

Maybe that should be Padmé Milhous Naberrie, because she'll prove to have been one tricky chick for a very long time. Obi-Wan was right about her, I think.

Let's look at that Padmé character. "I won't condone a course of action that will lead us to war," she says. Naboo gets invaded, she almost gets captured -- and she gets over her pacifist principles damn quick. Having learned nothing from the experience, ten years later she's still beating the dead horse of pacifism, while the Separatists are riding roughshod over the Republic. Determined, at the cost of a Naboo vessel, the crew, and one of her loyal bodyguards, to return to Coruscant, to vote against creation of a military, she hightails it when Chancellor Palpatine gives the order. So much for principle, and independence. Same deal with Anakin. She lays on the provocative wardrobe, gives him plenty of other signals (not entirely unmixed), then the cold shoulder. The really, really cold shoulder. The take-a-trip-to-Hoth-just-to-warm-up-afterward cold shoulder. Only when it seems she's nothing to lose does she reveal her "true" feelings; but, afterward, when she relents and marries young Skywalker, she doesn't exactly look happy, now does she?

She talks of mentors in Attack of the Clones. She does not name her own. Well, who could mentor a young senator from Naboo better than the former senator, and current chancellor, himself, hmm?

Palpatine attests that he knows her well enough to know she won't refuse an executive order. So they plainly are familiar with each other; but that's hardly surprising, being politicians from the same system, with a formal relationship going back to the dustup with the Trade Federation. But I believe I detect something more. Surely she trusts him, more than can be explained by any ties of common national (planetary?) origin or solidarity, or political allegiance. He can give her an order in the matter of seeking refuge back on Naboo, an order contrary to her own wishes and all she has been working toward, and she obeys.

More than mentor, in fact, I predict he will turn out to have been: Padmé will be revealed as an agent of Palpatine's, and therefore, an agent, albeit an unwitting one, of Darth Sidious's -- call her Darth Fidious, as in Perfidious, Darth Sidious's political apprentice, the temporal counterpart to Darth Tyranus.

It's quite plain Palpatine arranged for Obi-Wan and Anakin -- specifically -- to be her protectors; for that there must have been a reason, since the attempt on her life was likely ordered by Dooku/Tyranus, with Palpatine/Sidious's approval: the Chancellor had in effect created the danger to fit, to require, the protection he demanded, and the purpose for that must have been encouraging Anakin's feelings for Padmé. I also believe that it was at Palpatine's instruction that she encouraged young Skywalker's interest in her -- that she did it half-heartedly, at least initially, bespeaks her good intentions, and her unwitting aid to the Sith, if not her good judgment -- and that it was at Palpatine's instruction that she later married him -- her unhappiness perhaps to be read as a growing uneasiness not only, or even mainly, with the bridegroom, but with taking orders, including orders to marry, from the Chancellor. Whatever his instructions, the job, no doubt, Palpatine framed as necessary for the good of the Republic.

And, when Palpatine deems it has become necessary, she will betray Anakin at his instruction. I am convinced of that. She may regret it later. But she will do it. And do it twice, if I am right about Skywalker X. The first time, she will hand over Anakin's child to the Jedi; the second, she will abandon Anakin to cope with his demons alone. In the first instance, she will do Palpatine's bidding, moving the child like a game piece, as Palpatine moves her, and everyone else. (Palpatine the manipulator might well find it easy to exploit a sense of contrition on Padmé's part for marrying Anakin in the first place, and a fear that she could not properly raise the child if it inherited its father's personality and powers both.) The second time, it will be to extricate herself from a bad situation -- and to extricate the Twins from it, as well, if she's aware she's carrying them at the time she leaves Anakin for good.

And, once she's left Anakin, once she realizes, if she hasn't already, that she's carrying twins that put her in even more jeopardy than a woman who has been involved with the two men she has been involved with, and from whom she has fled, would ordinarily be, she will seek a guide and protector. That guide and protector will of course be Obi-Wan Kenobi, late of the Jedi Order. Who better? Obi-Wan is a combat veteran, a capable commander, powerful and resourceful, a Sith slayer, beholden to neither the Chancellor nor the Jedi. If Obi-Wan Kenobi can't help her, no one can.

One wonders, having seen the Clone Wars cartoons, what her mission was, and if it has any bearing on what she'll be doing in Episode III. I don't expect her to be present for the Big Battle. But perhaps she has her role to play. Perhaps, she's been sent to win the support of those who rule the Wookiees, be they representatives, tribal chieftains, national princes? Could that have been the mission from which Yoda diverted her ship?

One last prediction for Padmé: She'll remarry, marrying Captain Antilles (could he be Bail Antilles, former Alderaanian senator?), of the Alderaanian ship Tantive IV. Threepio told Luke, "Our last master was Captain Antilles ... ." How else could that have been? How else could these droids, Darth Vader's boyhood hobby and Padmé's constant companion, have ended up belonging to the Tantive IV's captain, whose ship just happened to be carrying not just a member of the Alderaanian royal family, not just Alderaan's senator, but the very daughter of Padmé and Anakin herself? This would tie things up nicely, Padmé, as The Captain's Wife, in yet another incognito, able to hang around the royal family, watch over her daughter ...

And, if Captain Antilles, as master of the Tantive IV or another ship, and his wife, were early involved in operations against the Empire, it suggests one possible way Padmé might have met her doom.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: "I don't know. I'm making this up as I go."

Poor old Obi-Wan. His apprentice will turn and hate him (or maybe hate him and turn); Master Yoda will be pissed at him. The Jedi Order that has sustained him all his life will be all but eradicated. He's going to be in a bad, bad place. And Palpatine will be waiting there for him, the same as for Anakin. I don't think I'd want to be Obi-Wan in Episode III.

"General Kenobi ... " I do expect Obi-Wan to become General Kenobi this time around; he might even be one of the more prominent Generals of the Republic. If the Princess is to be credited with having any of her facts straight in the A New Hope message, this pretty much has to happen, right? So that's an easy prediction.

However, she also said that Obi-Wan served her father in the Clone Wars. From that it might follow that General Kenobi was under the command of Bail Organa, but ... then it might not, too. For one thing, while we've seen Jedi in command of Republic Forces, and we've seen Imperial Grand Moffs or "Governors" commanding the Emperor's forces, we've never seen Senators do anything but sit on their thumbs while the Republic crumbles around them. Not everything has a precedent, however, at least that we get to see, and there is an angle in the governor-as-commanders practice under the Empire: The assumption has always been that Bail Organa was the ruler of Alderaan; if that is the case, and is the case at the time of the Clone War, he might indeed have a command, if the Imperial practice has Republican roots.

But I don't think we'll see that, at least not up front, because I don't think this Clone War, the one Yoda proclaimed begun at the end of Attack of the Clones, is the right Clone War: I think there'll be another, in order to get to the minimum of two needed to refer to them as the Clone Wars. It could be that Obi-Wan will serve Bail in a second Clone War, which we may or may not see begin toward the end of this film.

After The Big Battle, and Anakin's expulsion, what of General Kenobi? He'll probably lose his commission, and suffer expulsion himself.. I figure he must be expelled, if not at the same time as Anakin, and for allowing his apprentice to violate the code so egregiously, then for something else, because he told Luke in A New Hope: "I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father." [emphasis added.] What else can that mean, other than that he was no longer a Jedi? It seems unlikely that he meant as little by it as that the Jedi Order had effectively ceased to exist, or why would he have bothered to say as well that they were "all but extinct?" (Yoda seemed to have no such view of the matter, it must also be said: he seemed to think the Order remained, as long as one Jedi remained, even if it was half-trained, half-witted Luke: "When I am gone, the last of the Jedi will you be." Yoda was still a Jedi.)

So, Obi-Wan will go from General, to Jedi, to ... Old Ben, the "strange old hermit" who lives out beyond the Dune Sea.

On the subject of that name change: "I haven't gone by the name Obi-Wan since, oh, before you were born." What was the point of changing his name to Ben? Especially if he didn't bother to change the Kenobi part? It's not much of a cover, is it? But why else do you go, how else do you get, from Obi-Wan Kenobi to Ben Kenobi? It's not as if "Kenobi" were as common a name as "Antilles," the Star Wars equivalent to "Smith."

Ever hear a Wookiee try to say "Obi-Wan"? If, as I have already predicted, there are going to be Wookiees aplenty in this film, Wookiee combatants quite possibly under the command of General Kenobi and a Wookiee sidekick or sidekicks for Obi-Wan afterward, it's a cinch at least one Wookiee, at least once, will have the opportunity to try. And given what Wookiee speech sounds like, I can only assume it won't sound much like "OH-bee-Wawn." It might just sound like "B'Whaaaaaaaan" or "'Bi'wehhhn" -- or something similar. Might this not stick to the Jedi as a nickname, one that, for humans, might come out approximately as, over time become, "Ben"? Stop laughing. It's at least as plausible as Luke and Leia being twins.

But, there are more things for Obi-Wan to do before he settles down to the quiet life on Tatooine, according to the scraps of history we learned in the Original Trilogy. He has to help hide the twins, and he has to engage in a little dueling with his former apprentice.

Again, predicting these things isn't hard. But I think I can fill in a few more details.

Perhaps I can effectively suggest what I see happening to Obi-Wan after his departure from the Order if I say he'll spend the middle of the film as Indiana Jones: he'll be dragging a chick and a sidekick along from one galactic hole in the road to another, enemies in pursuit, dangers ahead, getting the crap kicked out of him all along the way, yet surviving each seemingly certain disaster to reach the next objective. Of course, the Sidekick won't be Sallah, but Chewie, and the chick won't be Marion Ravenwood, but Padmé, but the concept is the same -- Obi-Wan's Ark will be the unborn Skywalker twins, by the way.

Indiana Jones even went up against a big, bad, blade-wielding Man in Black, if you'll recall, and won -- but he didn't fight fair. Obi-Wan might even replicate this little incident, for, though I do not believe Anakin's injuries will be the direct result of combat with Obi-Wan, I can see a scenario in which he is able to do serious harm to the lad.

Remember Anakin's slave "transmitter," a device which allowed masters to track, and destroy slaves attempting to escape. My thought is Anakin's is still there, but deactivated, and that Obi-Wan, after failing to defeat Anakin in their first confrontation, will find a way to reactivate and detonate it, after once more attempting, and failing, to bring Anakin back from the dark side, and dueling him a second time instead. When that Second Duel looks like being even less effective than the first, Obi-Wan will whip out a control, as Jones whipped out his revolver, and cut the combat short.

And this brings me to Obi-Wan's infamousness with the Grand Moff. What might account for Tarkin's reaction to Vader's revelation that Obi-Wan Kenobi is aboard the Death Star? Firstly, he seems incredulous: "Obi-Wan Kenobi! What makes you think so?" And: "Surely he must be dead by now." (Why? A sixty year old Jedi Knight? Assuming he hasn't been shot, blown up or cut down, what could account for the certainty [of course, Obi-Wan was very likely considered a much older man when A New Hope was being written and filmed].) Considering that it's much more possible after word comes of the situation in the Princess's detention block, he is emphatic, "If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape."

What did Obi-Wan ever to do to P.O. the Grand Moff? Likely nothing personal: there won't be time to introduce Tarkin and a personal affront.

But that doesn't mean he didn't do something to earn the ire of Tarkin's superiors, perhaps even of the Emperor himself. No doubt, Darth Sidious wasn't happy about having lost Darth Maul; but that was a long time ago, he's had two much superior apprentices since, and his plans seem not to have been seriously delayed or hampered, even by the defeat at Naboo.

Suppose, however, that Obi-Wan had been maneuvered into a confrontation with his former apprentice, and, rather than falling to Anakin's blade, helping complete Anakin's journey to the dark side, Kenobi had instead managed to trip Anakin's slave implant, all but destroying Palpatine's newest and best apprentice and escaping the Emperor himself, all in one swift, underhanded use of explosives? Now that would P.O. just about anyone who'd set up such a situation, wouldn't it? I can see Sidious putting the responsible individual at the top of the Most Wanted list, to say nothing of his Sith List, and I can see any and all subordinates being eager to capture Kenobi, and anxious lest he should escape -- or do any similarly horrific damage to the Emperor's designs before being apprehended -- should they learn his whereabouts.

Finally, I don't see a love triangle forming with Obi-Wan, Amidala and Anakin. Maybe Anakin thinking it has, and Obi-Wan allowing him to, to keep him confused and off-balance during any confrontations, but, given the Jedi Code, Amidala's association with Palpatine, and her likely condition, i.e., knocked up -- I don't see anything more forming than something along the lines of Yoda's warm feelings in the heart, if that.

Palpatine/Darth Sidious: "He is your master now."

I have said before, I don't think anyone will ever call him "Emperor," or "Emperor Palpatine" in the prequels and I still don't think anyone will. "Chancellor," "Supreme Chancellor," "Chancellor Palpatine," "my master," "Lord Sidious," etc., etc., but not Emperor anything, or even plain Emperor. I still don't think he has a first name, either, at least that we'll ever hear used on-screen. They may stick one on him in a novel adaptation (for all I know, they already have in the Attack of the Clones novel: I still haven't read it), but that's it.

So, aside from staying mononymic, what will Palpatine do in this film? Other than the things dealt with in other sections, perhaps not a great deal. As Sidious, he scarcely appeared in Episode II. As Palpatine, he was present, manipulating all those he came into contact with. He engineered the situation for Padmé and Anakin. He maneuvered the gullible Binks into calling for emergency powers for the chancellorship. And, in the end, he stood watching the Grand Army of the Republic, his army, preparing for war. Not so very much, for the future Galactic Emperor. Of course he has flunkies to take care of a lot of things, so he doesn't have to.

I assume he'll be trying to control the various elements in his plans, both in the Republic -- the Senate, the Grand Army, the Jedi -- and in the Opposition -- Dooku, the Separatists, Grievous. But only at critical moments would I expect to see this managerial side of Palpatine/Sidious on screen, if then. (The alternative would be rather boring after all, the Dark Lord of the Sith sitting there, riding herd on his scheme for galactic domination, dozens of comlinks open, trying to keep straight which were for Darth Sidious and which for Chancellor Palpatine, watching a wall of monitors trying to take the pulse of the galactic media, fading in and out of a dark side reverie, foreseeing, hindseeing, farseeing, doubleseeing after a while, no doubt.)

One task, surely, will call for his personal attention at critical moments and be worthy of some screen time: the reconstruction of his new apprentice, Darth Vader. I expect the procedure to be undertaken at Palpatine's instigation, and I expect he will be present at the outset, and at the project's completion -- after all, what Evil Overlord could resist being present when his newly mechanized, electronified, armor-plated, right-hand fiend rose from the table, ready to resume his mission exacting revenge for the Sith? Surely not Palpatine. Or Sidious.

And while I'm playing off both sides of that particular issue, let me address it squarely: Palpatine and Sidious will be shown to be one and the same. (Not that there's much doubt at this point.) This will probably be made clear when Palpatine makes Anakin an offer he cannot refuse.

Palpatine's inhuman appearance in the Original Trilogy is at odds with the very human-seeming Palpatine of the Prequels, and needs explaining. If the explanation is not in this film, then where and when will it appear? It seems more than mere ageing. One possibility is that it's a consequence of immersion in the dark side of the Force, a gross, visible corruption of the individual. Another is that Palpatine, seemingly adept at hiding, since he's been under the noses of the Jedi for who knows how many years during his senate career, may have been hiding something more than his Sithdom: he might not be human, merely humanoid: the Palpatine we see in the Prequels, the mild-mannered politician, might be an illusion, inflicted even on the minds of the Jedi Council. I consider it fifty-fifty we'll get an explanation, and that it'll be the latter one rather than the former, if we do.

While I predict that there will be no coronation or investiture, no formal transition from Chancellor to Emperor, from Republic to Empire, I do predict Palpatine will maneuver to secure more power, and for a longer duration. Having vowed in Attack of the Clones to lay down his emergency powers when the crisis was past, he will need a new pretext for retaining that power, either a strike against Coruscant, or a strike against the Senate and/or himself, characterized as a strike against the legitimate government of the Republic, against the very Republic itself, or even a strike against the Jedi Temple by Separatist holdouts. The innovations of the New Order will still be too new, the political situation too volatile, for an open power-grab. He'll make one of these happen.

One curious thing about Palpatine/Sidious is that, alone of Force-using main characters, he's never once used a lightsaber for its intended purpose. He taunted and tempted Luke with one in Return of the Jedi, but he scarcely even touched the thing. Given Palpatine's appearance, the facts of his long service in the Senate, and long residence under the Jedis' noses on Coruscant, it's hard to imagine him with his own lightsaber, let alone leaping and slashing with one. And, yet, only two there are, a master, and an apprentice: Someone had to teach the Apprentice the Jedi Arts, and one assumes that was the Master; and, whatever his other deficiencies, in that regard Maul was very well trained, which says something about the Master, who must have been Sidious -- namely that he was one helluva swordsman.

If that's ever to be more than an inference, then it will have to be established in this film, won't it? So, will we see Palpatine light up, or not? If he lights up, could he possibly engage in a duel?

I think we should see him with a lightsaber of his own. But that is far cry from believing it likely that we will. And beyond establishing possession of a saber, and the implication of mastery, and responsibility for Darth Maul's excellent combat skills, that go along with possession of a saber, I don't think it would be a good idea to make Sidious into a duelist, for the very practical reason that Ian McDiarmid, wonderfully as he has portrayed both halves of the character, is not a young man, and would probably need a stunt double, some very skilled editing, and perhaps not a few digital tricks to make him look like the man who taught Darth Maul everything he knew -- and that never looks right. It cost Dooku credibility; it made parts of the duel in A New Hope, where Obi-Wan and, sometimes, Vader looked alternately torpid and frantic, less credible. Still, LFL might go for it, and, with ILM as their ally (and an additional two or three years' refinement of digital stuntman techniques), they might do better this time. If they do, I can think of only two opponents who might make sense: Count Dooku, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Dooku, if Dooku proves false, as I suspect, or if it is merely necessary to create a Sith Apprentice vacancy. Obi-Wan Kenobi if there is serious, personal, i.e., face-to-face, contention over the possession of their apprentice-in-common.

If I were in charge, I know how I'd work the saber in, and yet avoid the inherent problems. I'd have Palpatine, annoyed by Jar Jar tagging along behind him, produce a lightsaber from his robes, light it up, and, with a single hearty thrust, run the Gungan through. He would then, without missing a step, extinguish the blade, return the hilt to its hiding place, and, in Sidious's voice, order the mess cleaned up. This would get in the saber, establish, or increasingly establish, that Palpatine and Sidious are one and the same, give Ian McDiarmid a lightsaber move he could easily perform credibly and, last but not least, make sure Jar Jar Binks never sees the light of day again in the Star Wars milieu. It's unlikely, but we can hope, can't we?

We will also see his relationship with Padmé, as mentioned above; but, the more I think about that, the more I get the feeling there may be more to it than political alliance and political conspiracy. It's creepy, but I get the feeling she's his mistress. I hope I'm wrong. Geez, Padmé and the two Darths -- a Disney story it ain't. I feel like my brain needs a good scrubbing just thinking it ...

And his relationship with the other half of the unhappy couple? The brief scene of Anakin and the Chancellor in Attack of the Clones suggests long association, and mutual respect, or at least respect on Anakin's part for the Chancellor, and, for Anakin's part, I see no reason to consider it other than genuine. Contrast Palpatine's treatment of Anakin with Kenobi's. (And Darth Sidious's treatment of Darth Vader with that of the other Darths: Which other of his apprentices has Palpatine ever called "My friend"?) Perhaps part of Anakin's problem was the lack of faith shown by the man who was the closest thing he had to a father. Had Obi-Wan had any wits or any sensitivity about him, he would have understood, perhaps, Anakin's fear and anger, anticipated the danger, and done something more effective than browbeating the boy. But he didn't; Palpatine filled the void left by his obtuseness. At least through Episode III, Anakin will continue to consider Palpatine -- statesman, mentor, and finally protector when the galaxy has turned against him -- his friend.

Vader "was seduced by the dark side." That was Obi-Wan's version of it. Sure. Same as Vader killed "[Luke's] father." The Jedi couldn't understand Anakin, or control him; Palpatine could understand him, and exploited the advantage, thereby gaining influence, and ultimately, control.

And what of Palpatine's prophecy (for such I believe it to be): "I see you becoming the greatest of all the Jedi Knights. More powerful even than Master Yoda." I think in the course of the film it will be revealed that preventing it from coming to pass will have been central to Palpatine's planning since Anakin burst on to the scene during the Naboo crisis. Everything has been aimed at turning, neutralizing or destroying Anakin Skywalker; everything else has been secondary, because everything else would have been easy, if only that could have been accomplished first. Of course we know he'll be successful, but only for a little while.

Darth Vader: "More machine now than Man. Twisted and evil."

Darth Vader, more or less as we know him, won't appear until rather late in this film, and then only briefly: James Earl Jones was quoted some time ago, to the effect that when he asked GL if he'd work in the prequels, GL said, more or less, for about five minutes, at the end of the third film. (Of course, GL has been known to change his mind ... .) I've dealt with most of what I think Anakin Skywalker will do above. In this section, I'm concerned more with the processes, on-screen and behind the camera by which the transformation of man into cyborg will occur. But not entirely, so keep your eyes peeled.

The transformation has already begun, of course. That prosthetic hand Anakin picked up as a consequence of his first duel is not exactly a Band-Aid-and-kisses grade booboo, and it's more than physical. Even coping with that shall have, I imagine, presented a few technical challenges for Lucas and the ILM crowd.

I don't think Anakin will still be sporting the gold-tone open-metalwork hand we saw in the "Secret Ceremony" at the end of Attack of the Clones, for that very reason: it isn't practical.. How can Christensen have wielded a lightsaber with that thing? With all the technology Lucas has at his disposal, there is no way he's going to stick us with Hayden Christensen waving around an extendo-hook like some black-and-white, B-movie pirate. Lucas may be capable of sticking a fart joke in the middle of the most anticipated space opera of all time, but I'm dead sure he isn't capable of doing that to us.

The solution needn't be high tech. George Lucas likes to recycle ideas; he has particularly recycled a lot of the material in the Original Trilogy in the Prequel Trilogy -- yes, you guessed it: a glove over the hand. It's low-tech, but it's reliable, parallels Luke's black-mittened period, and foreshadows the gauntleted Vader as well. Being low-tech, it's also, I assume, very economical, which would appeal very much to the budget-conscious Mr. Lucas.

Another possibility is a digitally generated hand added later to footage of a green- or blue-gloved Hayden Christensen, and that might work as well, or almost as well, as the glove option: it would allow for the metal-work prosthetic, but also allow for the actor to handle props, most importantly, a lightsaber, effectively, while still allowing the gee-whiz coolness of the gilded skeletal hand.

Perhaps the optimal solution is to use both: the digital-image hand a few times, in key places, to establish it's existence, and the rest of the time the glove.

Or, he might go even further back to recycle an idea: an establishing shot of Anakin receiving an anatomically accurate/cosmetically-correct prosthetic, and then plain old hand for the rest of the picture up to the emergence of Cyborg Vader.

That Anakin will have taken the name Darth Vader, and the allegiance that goes with it, prior to the arrival of Cyborg Vader, I have no doubt. Why? Because there has to be something unexpected in this film, something to keep the audience guessing leading up to the Big Duel and the Big Booboos. And seeing Anakin more or less intact, in black, and laying the "Yes, my master," on Palpatine prior to the big bonanza for the Coruscanti prosthetics firms will definitely have people thinking, "What? What's Lucas pulling?" It should do, especially with the other shakeups in store.

This leads me to predict that there will in fact be two new, visually distinct, Vaders in this film. Both will be Anakin, but in different stages of his existence as Vader. First there'll be the Anakin-as-Vader, pre-cyborg version, appearing in a costume perhaps much like the one we are familiar with, absent the machinery. As a Jedi Anakin's costume already manifested some characteristics of his Original Trilogy togs: the leather, the greaves, the dark colors; this will only be a development of the trend.

Later, there will be the earliest cyborg version of Vader, which, I think, will be less familiar to us. He'll be recognizable as Vader; the basic elements will be there, the cape, the helmet with breath mask, the leather -- but they'll be more in the style of Ralph McQuarrie's concept painting of Vader dueling a rebel, sometimes identified as Luke, aboard the blockade runner: a leaner figure, hard-surfaced, more insectile. But the most significant departure for Cyborg Vader may be that we will be able to see some of his face. Cyborg Vader will be masked, but it will be an off-the-shelf model, or nearly so, beneath the familiar kabuto-like outer helmet, either something more like a terrestrial fighter pilot's oxygen mask, with goggle-like eye-covers leaving the eyes visible, or a full-head-enclosure, but with transparent areas. In addition to creating the impression of a newly-created Vader evolving toward his later refinement of terror and evil, this would also drive homethe man-trapped-in-machinery idea, and allow, if Christensen is up to it, the display of the pain and horror of Anakin's fall, of being Darth Vader.

There are of course two ways of looking at the making, the creation in the story of the cyborg Vader from prosthetics, electronics and the surviving portions of one Darth Vader, formerly Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight; and the creation of the effects and costuming for the character, by the folks at LFL and ILM.

The fictional creation, the process whereby Anakin is fitted with replacements and otherwise repaired may not make it to the screen. For an extended sequence of special effects recreating what might be a very gory procedure (I expect pre-operative Anakin to look like a roughly man-shaped lump of charred, shredded meat), there might not be time. Particularly since I expect The Big Booboos to come about late in the film, not before the middle, and probably in the last thirty to forty minutes. (As I have already said, I expect Palpatine to have initiated and supervised the process, even to have been present during some of it; neither will I be surprised if the Techno Unions guy is a party to it.)

That said, I would expect that depiction of whatever portion of the fictional process does make it to the screen to rely even more heavily on CGI than the typical Prequel film sequence. I expect it to show a droid-controlled procedure, performed on a digitally generated patient: Cyborg Vader will be computer generated, most especially once the transformation is complete: the finished Darth Vader won't be put before the camera physically. But, no matter how the transformation is executed by LFL and ILM, I expect to see Hayden Christensen's head and face, in the assembly of Vader, and the Vader-Assembly, if you take my meaning, again, to convey, if he's up to it, the horror of the process and the tortured, agonized humanity at the core of Vader.

Why do it digitally? I believe this will ease execution of the transformation-process effects for whatever portion is shown. It will also be easier to create him that way, and get the final product to look right without Dave Prowse in the costume. Then, if he's confined in a computer, it seems to me, it'll be a lot easier to keep him under wraps until LFL is ready to reveal him, it seems to me, since he wouldn't be wandering around the set before the cast and crew.

"General" Grievous: "The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."

Or have they?

What can I predict about the general? I have seen two pictures of him, the photo on the cover of Star Wars Insider #75, the other on the fifth Boba Fett juvenile novel by Elizabeth Hand. A brief description accompanied the cover shot on the former, which I saw rather recklessly displayed on the main page of Rebelscum.com some weeks ago, to the effect that General Grievous was 1,000 years old, a cyborg, and commander of the Separatist forces in Episode III.. I also saw his screen debut in the second series of Star Wars: Clone Wars, such as it was. (One should take into account that Boba Fett made a similar debut in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, as an animated character, and, so I've heard, was referred to as a friend of Our Heroes: it's plain, what happens in small-screen animation isn't necessarily binding on Mr. Lucas.)

Not much to go on. Still ... 1000 years old? That's about the time the Sith went extinct, according to Ki-Adi-Mundi in The Phantom Menace. That's also about as long as the Republic had stood, according to Palpatine in Attack of the Clones. (Whatever happened to the Jedi having been the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic, "for a thousand generations"? Even figuring conservatively at 20 years per generation, that's 20,000 years: someone's off by an order of magnitude, and either way, that's a rather large error. I doubt we'll ever get to the bottom of that one, unless GL redubs Obi-Wan's ANH line.)

A cyborg general, dating back to the final days of the Sith and the foundation of the Republic, with a very Sithy name, and seemingly (reference Star Wars: Clone Wars, Chapter 20), armed, not to mention adept, with lightsabers -- could this guy be a leftover from some earlier conflict between the Jedi and the Sith? Could he be, in fact, a Sith Lord (promoted general like a Jedi in time of war), kept on ice somewhere for the last ten centuries, awaiting the day when the Sith would again make war on the Jedi? Is he in fact Darth Grievous?

I think it possible; I think it likely. There have been any number of anticipations of Darth Vader in the Prequels, from Darth Maul, with his red-bladed lightsaber and dubbed voice (and, though perhaps this is nothing more than seeing a pattern where one expects to see it, a representation of some elements of Darth Vader's mask incorporated in his tattoos), to Count Dooku, whose costume incorporates many elements of Vader's, from the cape restrained by a chain (not the robes worn by Jedi, and the other Sith we've seen), the belt with decorations of the same size, shape and position of Vader's control boxes, to say nothing of his Geonosian reenactment of Vader's Cloud City performance, attempting to enlist Obi-Wan's aid, severing a Skywalker hand, etc. I think Grievous is another, a mechanized Sith.

Neither would it surprise me if it were James Earl Jones's voice coming out of the character in the film. After all, shouldn't there be some identifiable antecedent to the voice that replaces Anakin's natural voice, some rationale for the particular sound chosen for Cyborg Vader's synthetic voice? It seems to agree with the implied process of Anakin absorbing and synthesizing the elements of previous Sith in becoming Darth Vader.

And finally this: I am pretty sure that he's a minor figure: he'll be a diversion on the screen, away from the developing true threats, Sidious's actions, Anakin's impending defection to the Sith, and Obi-Wan's failure. Grievous will bite the dust, and fairly quickly, I imagine. But not without some help: my guess is that he'll have to be taken down by Jedi. Obi-Wan Kenobi would be a good choice for whacking him, Obi-Wan being the only bona fide Sith-slayer in the Order, if only he hadn't such a bad record with Sith Geezers. Anakin might be the more likely choice, and the more interesting.

Artoo Detoo and See-Threepio: "Fweep bleep-a-dorp squack"

We know Artoo will save the day, one way or another. He always does, whether it's repairing the shields, shutting off the garbage mashers, or laying down a covering smoke screen, he can be counted on to have the right tool for the job, and use it with skill and aplomb, if a droid can have aplomb. Likewise, we know Threepio will talk too much, completely miss the point, bellyache, and just possibly get blown to smithereens: he's comic relief, or is intended to be.

And yet, Threepio did manage to get Artoo safely off the Jawa Sandcrawler, and sold to the Lars family, thus improving Artoo's chances of completing his mission considerably. And he continued to shepherd Artoo along the rest of the way to Yavin, interceding with the Stormtroopers on the Death Star. And, on the Death Star, would Artoo have been able to save the day without Threepio's translations telling him what he needed to do, and telling Our Heroes what they needed to do? What would Captain Solo have done in the asteroid field, without Threepio to talk to the Falcon? Both the droids are important to the story.

Can it be any different in the last installment of the Prequel Trilogy? And, given the situations Our Heroes, or what's left of them, will, I believe, find themselves in, they might have a lot more to do this time than in any episode since A New Hope.

Firstly, I expect they'll be in the possession of Padmé. After all, Artoo is part of the official Naboo space fleet. And Threepio, carted off from Tatooine, can't very well be taken back to the Temple, or follow Anakin around the battlefields of the Clone War: Anakin won't need his services, for one thing, and, for another, there's the Jedi prohibition on possession.

Does anyone doubt that Threepio will end up delivering the twins, or that he'll turn it into a cheap laugh? "I didn't know I had it in me" type stuff. That's my major prediction for the droids, that Threepio, built by a Skywalker, servant to three generations of Skywalker women, will preside over the birth of the next Skywalker generation.

Of course, he won't remember it. Not from hysterical amnesia, although the droid seems quite capable of it; rather, it'll be a simple memory wipe. Threepio can't be allowed to exit the Prequels with his memory intact. He knows too much, and there's no other way to explain away why he didn't fill Luke in on the whole Skywalker saga right there in the Lars homestead's garage. I mean, he was built by Anakin; he "lived" on Tatooine for at least ten years, some portion of them on the very Lars homestead where he would first encounter Luke. But he shows no sign of recognizing the planet, the region, the homestead or even the Larses. Neither does the name Skywalker seem to ring any bells for him, nor the name Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Threepio's memory has been wiped, no two ways about it, and we'll see it done in this film. We've five films' worth of evidence Threepio is entirely too independent, and too foolish, to be allowed to walk around with a head full of very sensitive information, information that could do great harm if it were to fall into the hands of the Emperor, or Darth Vader. It's not as if this is much of a stretch.

Artoo, on the other hand, won't get the tabula rasa treatment. Artoo may be as independent, maybe more so, than Threepio, but he also has more grit, and more sense than his counterpart. Artoo will be waltzing around with all the Skywalker family history, all the important information about the secret identities, etc., etc., safe and sound under his metal dome. He'll need it. How else explain his ability to navigate on Tatooine, his incredible devotion and aptitude in his mission? He was aboard the princess's ship for just such a purpose: to summon Jedi help if there was a need. (So, then, why didn't he tell all to Luke on one of their long fighter missions? Apart from having the good sense of any special operative to keep unnecessary information to himself, he simply hadn't the time to do it before the unfortunate events in the Death Star Trench: Artoo will get the memory wipe after all, just not until 20 years later, when Darth Vader will take care of it for him. But he'll make it out of Episode III with all his marbles -- I can just see him rolling his eyes, or the equivalent astrodroid reaction, at Threepio when the droid re-introduces himself.

Bail Organa: "[Quote withheld pending a memorable utterance.]"

Obi-Wan Kenobi served him in the Clone Wars; he protected and raised Anakin Skywalker's daughter as his own; he was, one assumes, killed in the destruction of Alderaan. That's Everything we know about the man, in a nutshell, with lots of nutshell left unoccupied. Even if you add a bit to cover his standing around looking foppish and superfluous, mainly superfluous, in Attack of the Clones, there's still plenty of room left.

That might change in Episode III. There should be some foundation for the Princess's lines in A New Hope. She says Obi-Wan served her father in the Clone Wars. Served -- What exactly does that mean? And "CloneWars"? So far there's only one.

One assumes "served" means that Obi-Wan was under the command of Bail Organa, but, the Jedi seemed destined for command in the war as we were shown it; Organa seemed not overly fond of the war or of Palpatine, and unlikely to have the favor of the man who will be Emperor. Nevertheless ... he was present, alone with Palpatine, watching the embarkation of the troops for the Clone War. That seems an odd place for Bail Organa, seemingly a part of the anti-military faction. Could it be that Palpatine believed in the old adage, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer"? He did keep Anakin Skywalker at his side for more than twenty years, remember. If the Supreme Chancellor is also the Supreme Commander, then it might be that he has made Bail Organa his deputy commander, even if a reluctant one.

This might be enough to make Princess Leia's lines make sense, particularly if Obi-Wan is indeed one of the more prominent commanders in the Clone War.

But it might be somewhat differently done, too. Alderaan, under the Empire, we are told, is peaceful, without weapons -- yet they manage to field ships for their youthful female senators with armed men aboard, and conduct subversive operations against the Empire. If, as I have proposed below, there is a second Clone War, one fought by the Republic against the Jedi, their supporters, and whatever resistance has by then emerged to Palpatine's New Order, Obi-Wan's service might have been at that time. Bail Organa might well have been at the head of the opposition; Obi-Wan, a defrocked Jedi, might well have been among those gathered to his banner. If such a second Clone War took place indeed, there can be no question who won, given there's an empire to deal with in the Original Trilogy. Yet Organa and Alderaan survived in to the Imperial period, so it can't be that the opposition was completely obliterated, or that Alderaan was conquered and razed.. Perhaps, that early in his reign, Palpatine was content to settle for a cessation of hostility, total disarmament of all planets involved in the resistance, surrender of all "enemies of the Republic," i.e., Jedi, and the retirement of such leaders as Organa to their homeworlds, there to sit down and shut up. This would get us Obi-Wan's service to Organa, Alderaan's pacifism, with rationale and motivation for it's continued efforts against Palpatine, and another reason for Tarkin to pick it to blow away with his new toy.

Obi-Wan could have served Bail Organa in both Clone Wars, in fact, and that would make Princess Leia's lines even more justifiable. She did say, after all, that General Kenobi served her father in the Clone Wars.

The Clone War(s): "Begun, this clone war has."

It's a curious thing, that, while we were told about "the Clone Wars" in the Original Trilogy, in Attack of the Clones, it's "the Clone War."

This discrepancy might mean something. It might be only loose usage, or it might mean there are at least two distinct conflicts, two Clone Wars, of which we have seen, so far, only the beginning of one. (It's the one I assume George Lucas has talked about wrapping up quickly.)

What then of the other? (There has to be at least a second clone war, to get the Original Trilogy plural, right?) A long time ago, in a bookstore far, far away, I came by a book called The Star Wars Album. An authorized book, with lots of photos, and some pretty superficial analysis of Star Wars (back then there was only one Episode, and no one had ever called it "A New Hope"). It also had a glossary in the back, and one entry was for "Clone Wars." It described these as "the most recent attempt by the Jedi Knights to stop the Imperial forces."

So far, the only clone warfare has been in a war on the Separatists waged by the Republic with its clone army under Jedi commanders. So, where'd this concept of the Clone Wars come from; where's the Jedi attempt to stop the Empire?

Maybe it's nothing more than a bit of speculation in an old book; maybe it was legit, but from a version of the story superceded in the creation of the Prequels. Or, maybe it's the "real," if scanty, story of the fight that made the Clone War plural.

I think the latter: there will be a Second Clone War, a war of the Jedi and allies against Palpatine's emerging New Order. I don't think we'll see much of it; but I do think we'll see the very beginnings, very near the end of the film.

Darth Tyranus/Count Dooku: "This is a mistake, a terrible mistake."

"Always two there are. No more. No Less. A master and an apprentice." -- Yoda, Jedi Master, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

I don't think Dooku will make it out of this film alive. But not necessarily in order to vacate the Sith apprenticeship for Anakin. Firstly, it's not clear the "only two" rule applies to the Sith any longer. Vader and the Emperor seemed to be in agreement on making a Sith triumvirate with Luke in the Original Trilogy. If my "General" Grievous predictions are correct, there'll already be three Sith, likely two of them masters, at large in the late prequel era. And, unless I miss my guess, there won't be a Maul-style vacancy in the ranks for Anakin, when the time comes.

But Dooku does have to bite the dust, if for no other reason than that we don't hear anything more of him in the Original Trilogy -- and it makes no sense to assume he died quietly in a rocking chair at the Old Sith's Home sometime between Episodes III and IV.

So, how will this happen? He might be eliminated to make room for Anakin. Young Skywalker might even be required to make the room himself, though that would mean another clash with Dooku's stunt-double. It's not as if Anakin wouldn't have reason to want to punch Dooku's ticket anyway: a severed forearm is nothing to sneeze at, all the Jedi lost in the arena battle on Geonosis had Anakin pretty riled in Episode II, as did the danger to Padmé presented by Dooku's secessionist movement, before and during the battle. And that's not even taking into consideration any grievances that might have piled up during the Clone War or during the aftermath in this film. If Dooku were to be portrayed as responsible for costing Anakin someone dear to him, perhaps Padmé, perhaps their child ...

That's enough provocation right there: One would think that would hit three out of three on the dark side litany: fear, anger, hate. And Yoda once upon a time cautioned young Luke against aggression ...

So, Dooku might be set up for a fall, the necessary sacrifice, his death the unavoidable cost of bringing the Chosen One to the dark side, and into the clutches of Darth Sidious. But it might also be that Dooku is not (entirely) what he seems, and that could be true more ways than one.

If indeed there is a second Clone War, might it not be touched off by Dooku? Dooku may no longer be a Jedi, but neither might he be Sidious's loyal servant. He does tell Obi-Wan some of the truth about corruption in the Senate, and the growing power of Darth Sidious. That's hardly trivial information, were the Jedi to take it seriously. Dooku may have been serious about destroying the Sith. He may not, in fact, even know that Darth Sidious is Palpatine -- there's no evidence he knows, and Palpatine's kept that from the entire Jedi Council, with whom he deals regularly, to say nothing of the entire Order nearby in the Temple, without trouble, for years; it's unreasonable to assume Dooku would be any better equipped to penetrate Sidious's secrets, if Sidious chose to shield them from him.

And well Sidious might, since Dooku is characterized as being, or at least as having been, an idealist. Dooku might not have been so eager to join him, if he'd known he was joining a corrupt politician on a quest to turn the Republic into a Sith dictatorship. Once under Sidious's influence, Dooku's idealism could easily have been corrupted into a conviction that the ills of society could only be cured with the sword, that a New Order must be ushered in, and that that could happen only after the old order had been razed, that any cost could be justified in pursuit of this noble objective -- it has happened before. And if Dooku has some conflict within, even as Anakin will have, then, when -- if -- he finally penetrates Darth Sidious's disguise, he will be inclined to realign himself.

Dooku, at the last, realizing he has been manipulated by Sidious for no noble purpose, may turn back to the Jedi as the only force that can successfully oppose Palpatine's threat. He might go to the Council to convince them that the Lord of the Sith is in fact none other than Chancellor Palpatine, and move them to act against him. That would lead to the sequence: an attempted coup (in which Dooku dies fighting alongside Jedi), destruction of the Temple, proscription of the Jedi, beginning of a second Clone War to stamp out the remaining Jedi and whatever allies they might have. This might be the preoccupation of the Sith in the last portion of the film, and Vader's "reveal" might take place as he emerges to take control of the forces sent to battle the Jedi.

Another possibility is that, when it comes time to turn Anakin, if it's anything like the effort made to turn Luke, Count Dooku might have to play the Vader role. Not because, duh, he's the obvious choice (the only choice, really) as Sidious's current apprentice, but perhaps because there's something essential to turning a young Jedi in the incitement to patricide.

Yes, I am suggesting that Dooku might indeed be Anakin's father -- or, for Palpatine's purposes, might be portrayed as such, whether he is or not. But I don't believe that's it, either. Dooku is awfully like Vader, as noted elsewhere, but he's also a lot like Tarkin, and -- I still stick to the idea that Anakin is indeed the Chosen One, created by the Force through the agency of the midi-chlorians for the specific purpose of restoring balance to the Force. I don't think it makes sense for him to have a father in the conventional sense, not least because it creates a gap through which yet another prequel vista opens (Darth Tyranus to young Anakin: "No one ever told you what happened to your father ... "), something I don't think GL would want to deal with either.

Still, to my knowledge, Lucas has never been definitive about Anakin's birth. If memory serves, the key scene in The Phantom Menace had additional dialog in the script, Shmi qualifying her statement that there was no father, "that I know of." Well, that didn't make it into the film, at least not any of the versions I've seen, and I've seen all the official versions, more than once. However, Qui-Gon even hedged before the Council: "It is possible he was conceived by the midi chlorians." [emphasis added.] No one mentioned Anakin's unusual birth in Attack of the Clones, but it strikes me as a little odd that while Luke's father was busy reenacting Luke's flight from Dagobah to rescue his friends, Count Dooku was reenacting Vader's, Luke's father's, temptation of an earnest young Jedi: "Join me, and together we will destroy the Sith." Like father, like son? One begins to wonder if Count Dooku was anywhere near Tatooine about twenty years before the Battle of Geonosis, and what he might have been doing there ...

Then, there might indeed be something to the Two-Only rule, and perhaps "General" Grievous will terminate Tyranus early on, simply to make sure the numbers add up.

Ultimately, I'll say this on the subject, Dooku will die violently, with a lightsaber in his hand. The hand might be severed, and laying around on the deck somewhere, but ... it'll have a lightsaber in it, nonetheless.

The Twins: "To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born."

That's really all Luke and Leia have to do in this flick, aside from disrupting Padmé's figure, and being born: get dragged along from system to system until they reach their respective hiding places.

But on whose authority were the twins hidden, and why in the fashion they were? How can it be rationalized that Leia is safe in the family of a prominent senator, and then as a senator herself? Why was Luke "hidden" in plain sight on Tatooine, still sporting the Skywalker name?

In the case of the princess, I can think of no rationale that explains how her true nature, and parentage, was kept hidden from Palpatine and Vader. It's not as if Alderaan were a backwater -- the very reason Tarkin decided to destroy it was that it wasn't: its prominence made it useful as an example. But the likely scenario is that she was passed off as a war orphan, a refugee from the Clone War, adopted by the humanitarian Bail Organa, setting an example for his subjects. The cover story even has a grain of truth in it, at least, from a certain point of view ...

In the case of Luke, I think a calculated risk was taken. I have long proposed that Obi-Wan had in mind to mold Luke into a second Chosen One, or something near it, one more easily controlled, one more malleable, more in sympathy with the Jedi way: he fed another more-or-less fatherless Skywalker into the wastes of Tatooine, hoping to get another Chosen One out eventually. To recycle the machinery of prophecy, so to speak, in this fashion, he had to make sure Luke's life paralleled Anakin's in important ways.. Luke was already without a father handy; but had he been raised to believe Owen, say, were his father, that he were a Lars, he would have been too different, not close enough to his father in experience to fulfill the prophecy. So he was left with the Skywalker name, raised in obscurity without a father on Tatooine, left to develop piloting skills tinkering with speeders and T-16s, even robbed of his parental figures by violence -- you don't suppose old Obi-Wan might have had something to do with that, do you ... ?

But whose idea was it to take that risk? Obi-Wan's, I'm sure. Yoda never seemed to think much of the idea of making use of Luke in any capacity: he didn't think Luke was up to the job of taking care of Vader and the Emperor. Would Amidala have risked her son that way, if she were aware the risk were being taken, leaving the boy essentially unprotected in a remote and lawless corner of the Outer Rim, to be raised in a fashion quite similar to that which, one could argue, contributed to Anakin becoming Darth Vader? It was Obi-Wan's idea.

And another question, how the heck did Obi-Wan, quite possibly a stranger at the time, induce the Larses to take on the responsibility of raising the son of Vader? Perhaps it's not so much a question of how, but of whom: Whom did he convince to take in the child, feckless, sour, sullen Owen, or old Cliegg? Whom would you prefer to try convincing, Owen, a reluctant step-uncle, or Cliegg, after a fashion, the boy's grandfather? ("Cliegg, this is Shmi's grandson, Luke. He needs a good home.")

My money is on Obi-Wan leaving Luke with Cliegg. It seems the easier path, it allows for a credible scenario whereby hostility exists between Obi-Wan and Owen -- Owen inherited, along with the moisture farm, the son of Vader, and attention from a crazy old Jedi Knight, either of which might bring down the Emperor's right-hand man on his little homestead; so, when the responsibility became his, he told Obi-Wan to buzz off, and tried to do as his father would have wanted him to do, raising Luke, the dangerous imposition, as best he could to be the best man he could.

Now whether we'll actually see Obi-Wan trying to convince anyone of the Larses to take the child, is no certainty; but I will predict this, that if the incident is shown, it will be shown to have been directed at Grandpa Cliegg.

The Republic: "The Old Republic was the Republic of legend, greater than distance or time. No need to note where it was or whence it came, only to know that ... it was the Republic."

Stick a fork in it, it's done. Sure, it'll be another twenty years before, in Grand Moff Tarkin's memorable phrase, "The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away." The trappings of republican government will fade only slowly into those of the Empire as we know it in the Original Trilogy. But, I believe, we have all over-estimated the continuing robustness of the Republic. What was in effect a final formality, "dissolution of the council," waiting upon the completion of the first Death Star, we took for signs of residual vigor in the Republic. Not so. Look: Palpatine had been in the Senate a long time; he became Chancellor at the time of the Naboo blockade, thirty two years before the Death Star was first unleashed, according to the time lines I've consulted (which, with my aversion to spoilers, may be out of date; nevertheless ... ). He spent ten years as Chancellor, during which time both the first Death Star was being designed and the "Grand Army of the Republic," a/k/a the Imperial Storm Troopers, was being built, at his direction. Then came the emergency powers brought on by the Separatist crisis ... It might have been a republic formally, but, from the time he assumed the chancellery, it became ever more autocratic, finally becoming a Sith Imperium, the power vested in Darth Sidious in his guises as Chancellor and then Emperor.

That said, I still don't think anyone will ever call him "Emperor" in this final installment of the Prequel Trilogy. Neither do I think anyone will call the Republic ...

The Empire.

(No need for predictions here, since that part's already done, apart from GL's incessant fiddling and Special Editionizing.)

The Jedi: "Their fire has gone out of the Universe."

"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct."

--Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope

Bull.

This is really the only canonical information we have on what happened to the Jedi Order, and how it happened. Of course, this passage alone contains two false statements. His young pupil wasn't named Darth Vader, not when he was Obi-Wan's apprentice, anyway; and Darth Vader quite obviously didn't betray and murder Luke's father.

From this one bit of (tainted) dialog, the notion of the Jedi Purge has grown: Palpatine and Vader, sweeping across the galaxy, murdering Jedi, men, women and children, etc., etc. It's in message board discussions of the fate of the Jedi; it figures in the licensed novels, the comics, even the computer games for all I know.

But, there's not much there. Not how, when, not even much of a why. Just Obi-Wan's favorite scapegoat, Vader, and a lot of dead Jedi, just because.

All that was to be revealed in the prequels, of course. But, after the revelations about the Jedi in Episodes I & II, and the implication of the Battle of Geonosis for the Purge in Episode II, neither our old speculations, nor anything in the EU, about the Jedi, particularly about their fate, remain credible. That leaves us with the films, and even as we await Episode III, that still leaves us with little to work with besides that one snippet of fib-riddled Obi-Wan dialog.

Our first assumption must be that Obi-Wan is a lying old bastard, and his assertion of Vader's responsibility, making it sound as if Vader and the Emperor personally killed all the Jedi with their bare hands, and maybe the occasional lightsaber thrust, is dubious at best. Two men, even these two, against thousands, ten thousand, perhaps, and all skilled in the use of the Force -- it seems incredible.

Then, we can make some inferences about the Jedi. There is no canonical source for the number of Jedi in the Republic at the time of the Clone War, so far as I know. A couple of sources -- the Phantom Menace novel and Star Wars: Episode I: The Visual Dictionary -- indicated about ten thousand Jedi at the time of the blockade of Naboo. That's a fair number, until you spread them out over a galaxy with thousands (hundreds of thousands? millions?) of planets. Count Dooku spoke of "another ten thousand systems" that would flock to the Separatist cause -- that alone is one for every Jedi, even in the non-canonical statistic. And if that ten thousand included Padawans and younglings in the Temple, well, they are spread rather thin, indeed -- as Mace Windu told Chancellor Palpatine "If [the Separatists break away], you must realize there aren't enough Jedi to protect the Republic. We're keepers of the peace, not soldiers."

So, too few, spread too thin, unable to fight a war for the Chancellor should it come to that. Is there anything we can infer about the rate of attrition among the Jedi in the ten years intervening, from the fact that Qui-Gon Jinn and Sifo Dyas were both killed in a short period of time about ten years before the Clone War?

Then, look at the casualties at Geonosis, a single battle, and seemingly brief at that, for which Mace Windu had to empty the Temple. Project that rate of loss over two or so more years of warfare ...

By the time the Clone War ends, there aren't going to be that many Jedi left. In fact, the Clone War, obviously a creation of Darth Sidious's, may have had as one of its principal objectives the thinning of Jedi ranks (the others likely being giving Palpatine a pretext for seizing extraordinary powers over the Republic, and giving him a weapon to use in it's subjugation -- the Clone Army).

So what's really left for the Emperor and Vader to deal with? A few surviving commanders, the youngsters in the Temple?

Probably not even that. Palpatine will need a reason to hold on to the power he promised to relinquish after the crisis had passed. If a rogue band of Separatists were to attack the Jedi Temple and destroy it ...

-- It would give him a pretext for extending the state of emergency and retaining his emergency powers, and it would whack a lot of Jedi and their students. And since we know he holds the strings that control the Separatists, we know he can make it happen.

Then, when, as seems inescapable, the (remaining) Jedi finally wake up and smell the dark lord, and move against Palpatine, why, that'll be all the reason needed for a good old fashioned Roman-style proscription against any survivors.

Proscription would work extremely well for Palpatine. He couldn't rely on expulsion from the order alone, to take Jedi out of action. As in the case of Anakin, if it is in fact the case with Anakin, it would only result in loss of official standing: Jedi power -- in the individual, or the Jedi Order as a whole -- would remain intact, hostile, and free to act against him. The most that could be hoped from an expulsion would be that the Jedi themselves would hunt and eliminate/incarcerate one of their own -- again, not sufficient for Palpatine's purposes against the Order.

Proscription, on the other hand, particularly if we assume reduced numbers from losses in the Clone War, and a devastating attack on the Jedi Temple, would nicely provide for the entire Order, making each member an outlaw, and empowering any and all citizens, not to mention the several special agents of Palpatine/Sidious, to legally hunt down and terminate any Jedi they might discover.

And so in the end there would perhaps be a grain (but no more than a grain) of truth in the wad of lies old Obi-Wan dosed Luke with all those years and episodes ago: Darth Vader did hunt down Jedi (maybe with the help of Boba Fett, probably between Episodes III and IV: since there's only so much GL can fit in the film, I expect that this portion of the pogrom program to be merely suggested, not shown), but it was only the final stage in a process begun long before.

Boba Fett: "No Disintegrations."

He'll be back, I have no doubt. Neither do I doubt he'll be employed against the Jedi. But, if so many have already been killed, and there are so few left, and they are proscribed -- thus targets for government officials, particularly the cloned-and-packing type -- why precisely does the nascent Empire need the services of Fett?

Maybe it doesn't, but the Sith do.. Perhaps certain Jedi need to fall at certain times, and the young bounty hunter is just the man for the job? Who better to slip in, whack a Jedi and slip out again? If he has his father's skills and reflexes, he should be able to handle the average Jedi as well as his father handled Obi-Wan. And Obi-Wan slipped up on Jango at unawares; Boba would be the hunter, not the hunted, with the option of where, when and how to strike -- or at least considerably more leeway than his father had, improvising a defense against Kenobi.

And, if nothing else, Fett will want a little vengeance for his "father." If Fett is the same old amoral, anything-for-a-price Fett we know, or think we know, then he could just as easily take or leave the Sith, their cause, and the war on the Jedi. However, one Jedi in particular would owe him, Mace Windu. Fett's over-riding objective may be separating Windu's head from his shoulders. If someone were willing to fund his vengeance, by putting a price on Windu's head, for instance, all the better, in Fett's view: retribution and a payday.

Of course, it may not be Jedi Fett's after, or not Jedi only, even if his paymasters in this episode are Sith. Other folks are going to be out for vengeance of their own, and Fett may be the one to help. The Jedi Council. Certain Wookiees (the braids of hair Fett wears have been identified before as "Wookiee scalps"). Kenobi. Padmé.. Perhaps even Dooku. Any one of these might be a target for Fett.

And, while Palpatine/Sidious is paying the bill, Vader may be calling the shots.

Recall that, when addressing the assembled bounty hunters in The Empire Strikes Back, Vader made a point of ordering Fett, "No disintegrations." ("As you wish," was Fett's reply.) That, and Fett's obvious familiarity with Vader, and lack of any obvious sign of fear of/dread of/respect for Vader's intimidation, have always made me think that the two had worked together before, and often, and that there had to be a story behind that line, something to back it up. Okay, perhaps there doesn't have to be, but there sure should.

Here's a scenario: Vader assigns Fett to locate and capture Amidala. Fett tracks her down, and finds her in the company of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi, no doubt on the Emperor's Sith List, is also wanted. Jedi, even Obi-Wan, are not beyond a Fett's ability to fight, but why go to all that hassle? Fett sets a trap for the pair, a means of disabling/killing the Jedi so he can nab the Naboo, and collect the bounty on both: a disintegrator to take out Kenobi, and then the expectant mother shouldn't be a problem to cart off to Palpatine. Fett springs the trap. Obi-Wan is good enough to detect it beforehand, and avoid being disintegrated. But, what if Padmé appears to have been disintegrated instead? Or, suppose Obi-Wan, still kicking after an attempted disintegration, offers Fett a deal: he'll go peacefully, if Amidala is allowed to go free, and Fett reports her disintegrated. That would serve Obi-Wan's purposes well, and Fett would still get paid. No doubt Vader would be very unhappy about this, and having his old master to kick around a little more would be little consolation for the loss of Padmé. He'd certainly remember it, and forever more caution the diminutive bounty hunter that he would tolerate no disintegrations.

Not only does this establish the backstory for "No disintegrations," it also creates a scenario which just might explain Amidala surviving long enough for Leia to remember her: no one was looking for her because those with an interest in doing so believed she was dead.

Will it happen (this way)? Probably not -- but I'm predicting it will, anyway. (While remembering that we're dealing with Fett and GL here, that Fett died an ignominious accidental death in ROTJ, and that GL sent him to it: It's possible, if the disintegration matter comes up at all, it could be a matter of Fett having disintegrated some Jedi Red Shirt-equivalent accidentally.)

Yoda: "Pain. Suffering. Death, I feel. Something terrible has happened."

Jedi Master, master swordsman, general, computer-generated image, Star Wars's answer to General Patton, John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, all rolled into one. What can Yoda possibly do in Episode III? What can possibly be left for him to do in Episode III?

The main thing, the key to his survival into the Original Trilogy, and, perhaps, the key to the creation of a foundation for a further trilogy, beyond the Original Trilogy: Appear to get killed.

But not in a conventional battle. I would be surprised to see General Yoda commanding from the front, as he did in Attack of the Clones, if for no other reason than that there'll be a lot of elements involved on the battlefield among which could easily be lost, or else become a distraction; however, I don't expect him to be sitting around gathering cobwebs while the rest of the Jedi are off at the wars. I would expect him to fulfill a role akin to that of Admiral Ackbar's in Return of the Jedi, only with more gravity, more dignity, and greater appeal, too: It's hard to be sympathetic to a fish in a space age leisure suit.

We might see some very interesting moments, if both Yoda and Palpatine, as military and civilian command authorities respectively, are present for the Big Battle: There seemed already some sort of tension forming between them in Attack of the Clones, when Yoda turned to give the Chancellor a dubious look when Palpatine insisted on volunteering Obi-Wan and Anakin to protect Amidala. (One wonders if Yoda, at that point hadn't already begun to suspect Palpatine's true nature. He later tells Mace Windu that only the Dark Lord of the Sith is aware of their weakness, their diminished powers of perception and foresight; but, in that same meeting in the Chancellor's office, he told Palpatine that the dark side had clouded everything -- in effect revealing their weakness ... )

Simply because I don't expect to see him on the ground in the big opening battle, doesn't mean I don't expect to see Yoda any less the action hero than he was in Attack of the Clones. There are going to be a least a couple of Sith floating around in this story, even before Anakin's "conversion." Yoda vs. Palpatine? Yoda vs. Dooku (again)? Not impossible. Yoda vs. Anakin? Not impossible ... we don't know yet precisely how Anakin will leave the order. Obi-Wan did say that the commitment to the Jedi Order isn't easily broken -- Anakin might have to fight, perhaps literally, to get out of it. If confronted, if provoked, he might very likely reach for his lightsaber, and, if Yoda's handy, can we assume either that Anakin wouldn't presume to attack the venerable Jedi, or that the venerable Jedi would shrink from the need to stop young Skywalker?

I also expect there to be an attack on the Temple, while Yoda is there. There are any number of ways the Temple could be attacked, but whichever way it happens, I expect to find Yoda trying to repel the attack. He won't succeed, of course, not entirely, but he'll buy enough time for the Jedi and younglings (and one youngling above all, young Skywalker X) in his charge, and himself, to escape the Temple, and vanish. In the confusion, no doubt he'll be presumed dead. Even by Darth Sidious: the Emperor has overlooked a thing or two before ... .

We know where he'll end up: Dagobah. What intermediate destinations, and what fates the others in his party, might come to, is open to debate. But I do think we'll see him, at least briefly, on Dagobah, much as he was in The Empire Strikes Back, and perhaps even learn why he was there hiding in that planet's jungles while Palpatine destroyed the Jedi and the Republic.

He will also have a mighty falling out with Obi-Wan. Unless Mr. Lucas has completely reworked everything on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back, there has to be some serious disagreement between these two, to explain Yoda's hostility to Ben and reluctance to train Luke. The friction is already present in The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.

Trilogy's End: Vae victis:

What will confront us at the end of this movie, and, with it, the end of the "first" Trilogy? A war-ravaged galaxy under the dominion of a Republic corrupted from within; the Jedi Order, defenders of peace and justice, on the brink of extinction, its few remaining members hunted fugitives. In their place, an army of clones, their power flowing not from the Force, but from the dictates of Palpatine, and from the barrels of their blasters. Over all, the Sith triumphant, and, at the Dark Lord's side, the Chosen One, Balancer of the Force, once Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader, a physical and moral ruin: the hope of galaxy.

Saga's End? "The Force will be with you ... always."

Will this be the final Star Wars film? I really don't think so, no matter what anyone is saying about finality at this point. George Lucas may call them something different; he may be engaging in a little misdirection or diversion, hoping to keep the lid on things; but I don't think he's serious when he says this will be it.

My reasons for believing this? Partly, it's visceral: my gut tells me there are more stories Lucas intends to tell in his milieu, the Star Wars milieu. And, in the 25^th anniversary year, in The Annotated Screenplays, author Laurent Bouzereau asks us to imagine, "What if Luke Skywalker were sixty?" In the same book, Lucas is quoted saying, "Usually, if I like something and I have to drop it, I put t on the shelves and very often end up using it somewhere else later on." Reading those things, my gut got downright insistent.

Partly, it's analytical. There are little things -- things Lucas has said, things others have said or written, which, taken all together, point in that direction. Some time ago, George Lucas -- I wish I could remember where: it was in a periodical, that's all I remember now -- was quoted as saying, "This is what I'll do for t