A question for Star Wars fans.

[The Unskilled78]

Jar-Jar Binks.

I also wondered about whether or not Midi-chlorians are adaptable. For example, in Star Trek, there is a species called the Tholians who are basically sentient crystals, with lava-esque blood, who live on a planet roughly analogus to Venus. Could Midi-chlorians live in their blood? No known earthly bacteria has that large a comfort range.

 

[TotallyFake]

Everyone seems to have missed the point. Forget "destroying the mystery" or the fact that it's a handwave, the entire thing is bollocks. To wit:

"Midi-chlorians are microscopic life-forms that reside within the cells of all living things and communicate with the Force. Symbionts. Life-forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force.

So, he's taken the endosymbiosis of mitochondria and chloroplasts, smashed the names together, and produced this garbage. Or are we meant to believe that there's an infinitely regressing chain of midi-chlorians within each midi-chlorian.

 

[Kinguendo]

Thats never been a problem for me... Out of everything the new trilogy has done that is a non-issue for me.

 

[AvsJoe]

So why all the rage over the midi-chlorians?

I was irked because this removes the possibility of anyone becoming a jedi. You now have to be destined to be a jedi; it is no longer a choice for those without. This was heartbreaking for someone who really wanted to be a jedi when he was a wee lad.

 

[Insert Funny Name Here]

Using a Yahtzee quote from Condemned, a mystery loses all appeal the instant you explain it.

The force didnt need an explanation. And it's the fact it is such a mediocre explanation.

 

[jpo009]

I agree with everyone in the forum who is correct, especially Yoda.

 

[ssgt splatter]

I've never noticed any rage over this. In fact, I've never noticed any negative reaction to episodes 1-3 until recently...like a month or two ago. I just watched the movies because they were fun to watch, I don't care about the spiritual connections or anything else of that caliber in the series.

 

[Poofs]

To be totally honest im not a big star wars fan but i personally prefer Episodes I,II,and III over the original trilogy

but thats just me

 

[intruder313]

Mysterious, "magical" power reduced to a blood disorder.

And stolen from some obscure Animé (which called them Medichlorians or something).

Lucas completely lost the plot after lapping up royalties on his ranch for 20 years and only ever being exposed to fawning Yes-Men.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

See if you're like me, I think it was a trick that quigon plays on Anikin. See he was like what 9? at the time. And some master jedi comes in and takes him away from his mom telling that he is the chosen one. Now in order for him to explain the force to annie, I think he lies and says it's something in his blood. But I hear you say, he sent the sample over to Obiwan and he said that he's got a higher count then master yoda. I'm not totally sure on that yet, but other wise that's what I go with

 

[Dorian6]

some people got the misconception that the force was created by the midi-chlorians, which isn't what they said. The number of midi-chlorians in a person's blood determines a person's affinity to the force.

Personally, I don't mind it

 

[HiWayXingFrog]

I liked the Phantom Menace. I personally think that the Midichlorians add a new, slightly more mature, depth to the series.

I agree. What a lot of people fail to understand is that midichlorians are NOT the Force. Everyone's got them. Apparently, they are essential to life. The deal with midichlorians is that they allow for knowledge of, communication with, and use of the Force in large concentrations. They connect a being to the Force. I, for one, appreciated having a legitimate explanation for what makes a Force-sensitive life-form, rather than just assuming it to be a random thing of chance, which, in a sense, it still kinda is xD

 

[Captain Blackout]

le snip.

I agree with your points there, I realise what Lucas is, most of Anakin's dialogue in Episode 2 and 3 (the sand conversation...ugh) but I still don't see why one would attribute such a large roll to the midi-chlorians, because from my p.o.v they mean fairly little to the whole franchise, they don't actually do much besides being an indication for Force-sensitivity, and Qui-Gon uses midi-chlorians as a metaphor for philosophical stuff.

So, care to explain why exactly midi-chlorians are a McGuffin? Why are they apparently so important that Lucas delivered a mortal blow to the franchise with them? I guess you're seeing something that I'm missing.

Lucas wanted to make Anakin super-special. He already has a galaxy of specials so he has to up the ante somehow. In the first (ep 4) movie he actually spends time developing what makes Jedis special, and Kasdan did a brilliant job furthering that in Ep 5. So now back to Anakin: One reference, one usage after that, and absolutely no other development. He spends all of Ep's 1-3 with a pathetic level of development. The best characters are Padme, Palpatine, and Kenobi. Why? Because those actors are brilliant, or at least experienced with the material in the case of Ian McDarmid. Anakin, however, gets a complete fucking shaft. An emo, whiny Jedi? Are you fucking kidding me? It's ever worse that Yoda fails so completely. Either one of two decisions made differently and Yoda would have won. #1: Deal with Anakin better. Yoda trains children, he knows how to do this, but he misses so completely???? #2: Separately taking down Palplatine and Vader at the end of Ep 3. WHAT!???!?!???? With the entire galaxy at stake and Yoda goes for the whole "we Jedi must face these things like this"? Oh hell no. Oh hell fucking NO!?!?!!!

And it all turns on one point: Anakin is super special, because of a concept with no real development, in fact almost none at all.

That is a McGuffin, and that is one of the worst uses of one I've ever seen. Forget the whole spiritual/biological divide, even though I hate that part personally. From a writing standpoint, to borrow from ZP: Lucas should have his hands slapped away from the computer and be handed a coloring book and some crayons. (and please, for the the love of God, the Tao, and the Force, please do not get me started on Mace Windu)

 

[nick_knack]

If a Jedi gave blood, would I get the force?

 

[Captain Blackout]

If a Jedi gave blood, would I get the force?

All creatures are connected to the Force, the midi-chlorians facilitate ones active connection, so in a sense, yes. Makes the concept sad, don't it?

 

[Saarai-fan]

I agree. What a lot of people fail to understand is that midichlorians are NOT the Force. Everyone's got them. Apparently, they are essential to life. The deal with midichlorians is that they allow for knowledge of, communication with, and use of the Force in large concentrations. They connect a being to the Force. I, for one, appreciated having a legitimate explanation for what makes a Force-sensitive life-form, rather than just assuming it to be a random thing of chance, which, in a sense, it still kinda is xD

True. Midi-chlorians are "NOT" the force. They act as sort of a middle-man between force sensitives who can use the Force, and the Force itself. Where as the midi-chlorians do that function for people in the Star Wars universe, the Force itself is much bigger, having many sides to it such as the light and dark sides. They also seem to act as something in which you have more of it, the more sensitive you'd be to the Force to sense and use it.

However, not all beings in the Star Wars universe could use the Force, nor did all of them have midi-chlorians. While the majority of beings in the Star Wars universe do have midi-chlorians, they usually had midi-chlorians within themselves bellow the five thousand range. They could probably sense or use the Force to some extent, but it would be hard for them to. The majority of Jedi, dark side users, and other force-based organization members had midi-chlorians in the range of five thousand, but of course had the training necessary to use the Force which the midi-chlorians helped to connect to. Part of the reason why Anakin and his son Luke were supposedly so powerful with the Force was because their midi-chlorian count was above twenty thousand, due to the fact Anakin was conceived through midi-chlorian manipulation. Even Yoda supposdly had a midi-chlorian count of around eighteen thousand, and Emperor Palpatine was some where in that range too.

Droids and other non-sentinet creatures in the Star Wars universe did not have midi-chlorians, thus they weren't able to use the Force. A species known as the Yuuzhan Vong themselves were for the most part, without midi-chlorians or at least had no connection to the Force. Only two of those species had a connection with the Force, but not much explanation was made as to why they were able to use it.

I hope my info on Star Wars here will help clear up some of the complexity concerning midi-chlorians and the Force.

 

[Queen Michael]

Well, imagine if scientists were to prove that angels do exist, and give scientific explanations which made it seem perfectly natural that angels are real. Logically, it shold already have been obvious to all Christians that had there been no logical reason why angels should exist they would not have existed, there being no reason for them to do so, but still Christians had always enjoyed the thought that they just exist. The same thing goes for the force; there really is no talk about reason or not, it just exists.

 

[13lackfriday]

I'm a fan who has wondered the same thing. That was one of my favorite aspects of the prequels because it added a scientific and, by extension, plausible layer to an overly mystical concept of the originals.

In my opinion, that detracts from the very meaning of the Force. I mean, it's called the Force...not the Metaphysical Telekinetic Power Connected to Everything. It's supposed to be a mystical thing on its own that you just don't question, and when SW went the way of comic-book corn they tried to justify something that was supposed to be unquestionable with really, really weak science.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Yep agree with those above, plus remember that Luke Skywalker was a farm boy initially, it gave you the feeling that anyone could rise to the occassion no matter who they were or where they came from. Just being born with it makes the Jedi sound like an exclusive club for dicks in robes who get all the chicks.

Or don't, remember that vow of sexlessness?