I like Midichlorians

[Casual Shinji]

But I don't even see midichlorians as an attempt to explain the Force, it's another example of the force interacting with all life and it explains why some people connect more easily to the Force than others, but it doesn't try to explain the nature of the force or the power of the force, neither of which midichlorians create (except in some of the EU -_-)

It ties the Force to your body like a predetermined energy supply. It flat-out tells a Jedi how much Force they got in them. And it's never even used in any way beyond Liam Neeson saying "Oh yeah, there's these Force germ things in your body". And then it's never followed up on ever again.

It stops the Force from being the mystical power that binds us all and turns it into a simple superpower.

 

[invadergir]

...in the Phantom Menace* as symbiotic life-forms that help people connect with the force.

It solves the problem I've always had with some people being force sensitive and others not for no particular reason. It felt like election in the worst sense. And the idea that some people could connect with the force because they were 'better' or something, reinforces the idea of smug Jedi.

Midichlorians solve that problem. It's not about the value of the person, there's natural causes that give some people opportunity to do fantastic things.

To me it doesn't destroy the magic of the force. Midichlorians aren't the force and they don't even generate it, they just help people connect with it. Something so mystical manifesting in the biological thats found in all life even adds to the awe factor for me.

And people connecting to the force through the assistant of microscopic things in a symbiotic relationship emphasises the balance and harmony and how power isn't found in the big brash darkside things.


So yeah, for me they fix something that would really bug me otherwise and only increases the Force's mystique.


I believe this is a view that's not shared by many others...


(Though they weren't presented particularly well in the film. Also I was 8 when the Phantom Menace came out so I'd didn't have the experience of having 20 years of previous conceptions overturned which might be flavouring my view a little)




----
*The EU was really silly about them. In the film Qui-Gon "Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you'll hear them speaking to you." and I assumed that the 'speaking to us' was metaphorical because they connect people with the force and the force is all about the universe wide interconnected harmony etc etc. But in the EU, no, they're sentient and are literally telling you things.

It always reminded me of the role of mitochondria from Parasite Eve.

And who knows, maybe Lucas ripped off the idea since that's all he can do story-wise anyway.

 

[Woodsey]

And if Palpatine is to be believed, then it is possible to manipulate Midichlorians - apparently Darth Plagueis did so. Why don't more people try it? You could have a legion of magic mooks at your disposal - somebody would be interested, I'm sure.

Supposedly, the Force itself created Anakin as a form of retaliation against Plagueis' manipulations of the midi-chlorians.

Yes, the Force spawned its own hitman to eradicate the Sith line responsible. So maybe it's not the best of ideas.

Isn't it meant to be implied that Plagueis created Anakin? Certainly adds to the irony.

OT: I've never had a problem with it. They're described as an indicator of force potential, the force is still a separate, magical entity. I think it ties in with the fantasy-in-space style quite nicely.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Its not a sufficient explanation for powers like telekinesis over non-living matter, or force-lightning, stuff like that. Its just contrived and unnecessary to the idea of the Force. It also makes no sense that we never hear about it until the prequels.

 

[Zen Bard]

I always felt that The Force as explained by Obi Wan in the first movie was reminiscent of the concept of "chi" in the martial arts.

This fit with the film's retelling of the "Hero's Journey" myth and added a little depth and subtext.

And defining it as a Universal Energy that all can feel but only the trained or gifted could manipulate nicely straddled the line between myth and pseudo-science.

The vagueness of the explanation enabled the viewers to fill in the blanks for a more scientific definition if they wanted

The Midichlorians just seemed like a childish attempt to be scientific by someone who clearly doesn't understand science.

It didn't really ADD anything to the story and in many ways unraveled some of the World Building (or in this case, Galaxy Building) from the first films.

 

[thePyro_13]

Basically it opens up more questions than it answers. And the only reason it exists is so that Qui Gon can have a scene where discovers anakin's force perceptiveness by testing his blood.

Why doesn't the republic(or the sith) cultivate midichlorians and inject people with them? Why don't rich people have monthly midichlorian shots so that they can sense more and utilise force powers(even if only weak ones)?

It just doesn't add up with the way everything else is in the story and opens up very plausible opportunities that everyone in the story seems uninterested in pursuing. Han Solo doesn't seem to believe in force powers, why didn't Obi Wan offer to inject him with some midichlorians and let him experience it for himself?

The force is magic, no question about it, trying to bridge it with science is generally a bad idea.

There are heaps of problems like this that midichlorians open up.

That said, they're only mentioned in, like two lines, in a single movie. They don't bother me that much, though I'd prefer future movies to avoid mentioning them unless they want to do a little ret-conning or explain away some of the really obvious(and advantageous) possibilities that never seem to be taken advantage of.

 

[JediMB]

And if Palpatine is to be believed, then it is possible to manipulate Midichlorians - apparently Darth Plagueis did so. Why don't more people try it? You could have a legion of magic mooks at your disposal - somebody would be interested, I'm sure.

Supposedly, the Force itself created Anakin as a form of retaliation against Plagueis' manipulations of the midi-chlorians.

Yes, the Force spawned its own hitman to eradicate the Sith line responsible. So maybe it's not the best of ideas.

Isn't it meant to be implied that Plagueis created Anakin? Certainly adds to the irony.

That's what I assumed when I saw the movie, but apparently it's been expanded upon so that Anakin's creation was a direct consequence of Plagueis' actions... but not what he actually intended to do.

 

[Comocat]

I like the idea that inside of all of us is a hero waiting for our circumstances to change the world for better- the concept of midichlorians introduces an element of determinism into the universe. It doesn't matter how much you want to be an awesome Jedi, you either have the midichlorians or you don't. The idea that we are destined before we are born isn't a new concept, but not one I particularly enjoy in fantasy.

 

[BrotherRool]

Why doesn't the republic(or the sith) cultivate midichlorians and inject people with them? Why don't rich people have monthly midichlorian shots so that they can sense more and utilise force powers(even if only weak ones)?

Because midichlorains are inside every single living cell. How could you inject something into every cell in someones body? Midichlorians aren't a bacteria, they're symbiotically tied to every single living life form (neatly implying that without the force there could not be life)

EDIT: And there were sith that experimented with manipulating them. But because midichlorians are connected to the force, it's not something you can do completely with science. Midichlorians don't generate force or anything

 

[Hoplon]

OT: I've never had a problem with it. They're described as an indicator of force potential, the force is still a separate, magical entity. I think it ties in with the fantasy-in-space style quite nicely.

But that's the point, Star Wars never wasted our time with explaining how anything got done, when you live with things everyday you don't then waste time explaining them to other people that live with them all the time. Keeping it inexplicable lets you fill in the details your self to your own satisfaction.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The problem is Star Wars was never about science fiction. The original movies? Good guys vs. bad guys; throw in princesses, magic and shiny swords. You didn't know or care about taxation of trade routes, endless congress debates, greedy trade federations or MIDICHLORIANS (i.e. measure unit of magic). It takes away the fun, the spontaneity, the adventure. The original movies were just a series of narrow escapes while this kid went through the hero's way or whatever you call it. Midichlorians were never necessary, they're just one more boring thing Lucas came up with for no real reason on his way to crush what was once a pretty carefree fantasy into some half-baked, half-grounded plot.

 

[BrotherRool]

It solves the problem I've always had with some people being force sensitive and others not for no particular reason. It felt like election in the worst sense. And the idea that some people could connect with the force because they were 'better' or something, reinforces the idea of smug Jedi.

Except now the reason is genetic superiority rather than "magic".

Yep, but that's less problematic for me because genetics has natural variance as something known. It's okay for natural forces to do things like that, but the idea of a magical force picking and choosing bothers me. And in the end, you can't really boast about being tall or having dark hair because it wasn't your doing. It works even better in this case because midichlorians are only a sign of your potential and then you have to put in the work and training to unlock it. (which is slightly different from the smug argument because it's not the training that's made them force sensitive. So it's not that all non-Jedi are incapable of training or being wise)

 

[bz316]

I personally just don;t like how it clashes with the already established themes of the universe.
It was a science-fiction solution for a fantasy world.

Sentient bacteria that help people hear the universe and do magic? IMO, just as fantasy as what they had before, but with more stupid...

 

[Hutcher]

Didn't like it then and I don't like it now. The Force worked better as pure mysticism in the original trilogy. Stapling some arbitrary and half-baked micro-biological explanation onto it just made it needlessly complicated. The fact of the matter is that the general explanation for the Force's workings was fine as is; no one was clamoring for any more clarity on why and how it worked, so I don't understand why Lucas bothered with it at all.

 

[Sordin]

I watched the phantom menace first and when it came to the midichlorians I was like "that's cool. Now have more lightsaber fights." And one of the big counter arguments together is that it ruins the wonderful mysterious and magical air set up in the first movies. And to be honest I never really got that feeling, maybe I was too you to appreciate the finer points of the films when I saw them but the force was never this amazing awe inspiring thing to me. The best it could do was let people shoot lightning, choke a few people and throw some others around and I never felt that was great enough to be ranked as insignificant when compared to blowing up planets.

 

[elvor0]

It ruins it by turning star wars into star trek. Let me explain, Star wars for better or for worse has for me and many other people been more of a fantasy story set in space, mythical and sage wizard, a young ward destined for greatness a black and terrible knight who serves an evil and powerful evil sorcerer and hell even a princess in distress.

I dislike midichlorians and the prequels for that matter, precisely because it ruins the fantasy aspect of Star Wars, by trying to explain magic with bogus science. Add the badly imagined and nonsensical politics and you have a dumb man's Star Trek. Conversely its one of the reasons I disliked DS9, because it tried to bring magic into a thoroughly scientific borderline anti deist universe. Lukes journey could just as well have been part of a medieval Grimm brothers tale.

Its thematically jarring to have all kinds of techno babble shoehorned into a universe like that. How do midichlorians even fit into the scheme of a light and dark side? doesn't it make more sense (again thematically) to see light and dark as black and white magic?

I think this is a nice way of explaining it, I mean Yoda pretty much said it was magic in Empire Strikes Back and it was unnecessary to explain it further than that... I mean it's magic. The original Trilogy is literally The Heroes Journey in it's most complete form, it's got all the themes, tropes, parts and people. You could literally change it to a medieval style setting by making Vaders armor plate mail, the Death Star into a castle and the mechs into Golems and Beasts.

It solves the problem I've always had with some people being force sensitive and others not for no particular reason. It felt like election in the worst sense. And the idea that some people could connect with the force because they were 'better' or something, reinforces the idea of smug Jedi.

Except now the reason is genetic superiority rather than "magic".

Yep, but that's less problematic for me because genetics has natural variance as something known. It's okay for natural forces to do things like that, but the idea of a magical force picking and choosing bothers me. And in the end, you can't really boast about being tall or having dark hair because it wasn't your doing. It works even better in this case because midichlorians are only a sign of your potential and then you have to put in the work and training to unlock it. (which is slightly different from the smug argument because it's not the training that's made them force sensitive. So it's not that all non-Jedi are incapable of training or being wise)

Well yeah, but how many other settings do we just accept that some people can do Magic and some can't? Most of them really, it doesn't really need explaining with science because it's Magic, they're complete opposite ends of the scale. It's no different than people in some settings being Psychic. Granted being able to use the force was always genetic, but as far as I'm aware, as long as you were somewhat force sensitive you could be just as good as the others, you just had to put the work in.

 

[spartan231490]

Well said, I couldn't agree more. Midichlorian hate is mostly about nostalgia, people decided to hate on the prequel trilogy because they "weren't as good as the first" and so everything that was in the prequels was bad, and everything in the first series was better, no matter what was actually good or bad.

 

[kypsilon]

I much prefer the mystical argument for the Force that Obi-Wan made in the first trilogy. I find the idea of midichlorians to be atrocious; that by having a higher count of these little microbes in your blood you can become a more powerful force user. I mean, what's to stop Jedi or Sith from blood doping? Who wouldn't run around in a galaxy with futuristic tech and just start draining "force power" willy-nilly?

As for anything the EU has to offer on the subject, George Lucas has already said that the stuff isn't canon.

 

[Zenn3k]

Its not star wars, simple as that.