Star Trek vs. Star Wars (and a collection of memes)

Most definitely not. I have fixed it.

 

I was searching for the name of one of the characters of Cars for my kids and came along this gem:



Grrr, Imrahil

 

That's awesome!

 

Or for @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl :

"Op. Op is good."

 

Nah, for me it would just be ‘O’. Leia was all right, but Padme is the only one of those four characters I really liked.

 

Leia > Ahsoka > Padme > Rey

Hahaha... nice!

@Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl and I disagree on pretty much all things Star Wars (and most things outside of Star Wars too ). Since I like Leia, by definition, he cannot! The same can be said about Padme, but in reverse.

I have come to realize that this is a fundamental law of the universe.

 

It should come as no surprise, he is a huge fan of the PT and not really a fan of the OT.

Just do the opposite of Anakin + Padme!

It is an intriguing topic.

 

I personally thought Padme did show both agency and emotion when required.

In Episode I she displays a lot of agency toward the end of the film in particular, where she commands the Naboo Guardsmen in reclaiming Theed Palace. In situations like this she couldn't afford to have an emotional outburst, because she had a job to do.

In Episode II Padme was very similar, she was focussed on staying alive through assassination attempts, arena combat and all-out war, though she did show some emotion between those scenes.

In Episode III she was a good deal more emotional due to her pregnancy and later Anakin’s betrayal, making up for her reduced emotionality in the previous two films.

Leia showed some agency and courage, but not that much emotion at all. Sure she laughed sometimes and had a lot of angry outbursts (specifically at Han, more on that later), but she funnily enough didn’t shed a tear when Han was encased in Carbonite. In fact Luke cried more in Empire Strikes Back than Leia did.

I would instead say do the opposite of Han and Leia.

Han and Leia have very few common values, and they started arguing right from the outset. ‘Opposites attract’ doesn't work, contrary to popular belief, at least in the case of long-term relationships. Opposite characteristics may make a relationship more exciting and liberating, but it’s shared characteristics that bring people together, because it’s through these that connections are formed. Without any common values, interests or personality traits a couple has nothing to mutually agree on, nothing to enjoy together, nothing to help nurture any form of romantic bond. If they ever get together at all, they’ll be in for a lot of fights, cheating and emotional pain.

Han and Leia don’t agree on many things because they are very different people, so it would be highly improbable for either of them to build any sort of connection to each other in the first place, only Irvin Kershner then decides to completely throw their previous character arcs out of the window and have the bad boy seduce the princess to try and appeal to the 'macho' guys who liken themselves to Han, and the girls who fancy him. Also I don’t know if Kershner knew anything about the ‘Luke and Leia are siblings’ idea that would come into play in Episode VI? Because if he did that would be another reason for this inconsistency.

Yet so many people see this as the most believable Star Wars romance, for reasons I simply do not understand.

The Padme/Anakin romance isn’t perfect either due to execution issues, but its principles are more consistent than those of the Han/Leia romance.

When they first meet each other on Tatooine in Episode I, they become friends as Anakin warms to this girl, whose beauty he has never seen before in anyone or anything, and she takes him under his wing almost like an older sister. She comforts him while he leaves his planet for the first time, and he acts as a sounding board for her worries about her planet’s future. They seek solace in each other amidst the turbulent atmosphere of the Battle of Naboo.

In Episode II him being separated from her through Jedi training makes his heart grow fonder. He tries to protect her against Zam and escorts her home, during which time they continue to chat and get to know each other better. She helps support him through the death of his mother and he grows even closer to her as a result, because she’s the only one who makes any attempt to do so. In some ways he actively sees her as a substitute for his mother, and because she’s kind and caring she has few problems with that. She’s patient enough to calm him down when he has his anger management issues.

Finally in Episode III after finding out about her pregnancy, they originally agree to make plans to settle down and raise their offspring in perfect safety. Anakin's paranoia about Padme's safety ultimately leads to her doom becoming reality, thanks in part to a certain Sith Lord Chancellor, but his intentions were in the right place - he valued the safety of his wife and children above all else.

All that makes a lot more sense to me. Sure some of the lines are dodgy (definitely don’t use those lines unless your gnome character also spent most of his life on a lonely desert planet and in an order of celibates), but lots of romance films have cheesy lines, and I prefer to look beyond what we get at face value and judge things by their underlying principles.

Neither of these romances are perfect inspiration for a novel, mind you. To be honest if you want a Star Wars romance to inspire your novel-writing, veer away from both and look at Obi-Wan and Satine in the Clone Wars. I’ve yet to find a better pairing anywhere.

 

It would mostly be "P" for me too, but I'm an OT fan. I'm not opposed to "HOP". Although I thought Ridley acted Rey fine, I can give or take the character.

That's pretty much my order, I think. I guess I end up disagreeing with @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl about Star Wars as well.

 

We agree on one thing Star Wars related... the Sequel Trilogy sucks