What if KOTOR was the original SW triology ?

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2006-02-21 05:24am

KOTOR has a great story that many reviewers described as being superior to George Lucas's prequel movies. In addition the story of KOTOR has many similarities to the original movies. So if due to an act of magic George Lucas filmed the story of KOTOR instead for the original Star Wars films what would have happened ? Is the story of KOTOR good enough to make Star Wars the phenomenal success the original films were ?

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2006-02-21 05:27am

As a game KOTOR has a good story line, but that doesn't translate into good story as a movie or movies.

Lazarus · Post by **Lazarus** » 2006-02-21 05:30am

Personally I'm not a huge fan of KOTOR, the storyline was ok, but nothing great, it doesn't remotely compare to what you would need for a successful movie. By its nature, the emphasis is on the players decisions affecting the environment, and obviously this wouldn't occur in a film, so I would think that it would make a rather bland tale.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2006-02-21 07:54am

Is the story of KOTOR good enough to make Star Wars the phenomenal success the original films were ?
Maybe.
But if made with special effects same as the Game, in 1977, it would certainly have the phenomenal success.

Just because Taris is Coruscant, which, if shown in 1977, would blow people's mind away. Just because Malak is not worse than Vader - he's a cool villain with a big secret.
Just because "YOU are Darth Revan" is as surprising as "I Am your Father" - even if not that "doomy", you know

Just because the characters in KOTOR are VERY colorful, and not in any way inferior to the ones in the movie.
Just because there are beautiful sights on every planet, sights that if translated to movie medium in 1977, 198X or 199X would be mind-blowing.

Yes, I'm quite certain KOTOR would make a decent movie line.

Civil War Man · Post by **Civil War Man** » 2006-02-21 08:05am

I'm sure KOTOR would make a decent set of movies, but I think there's little denying that it needed the original success of the actual movies. As interesting as the story is, I do not think KOTOR could have pulled it off like ANH did.

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2006-02-21 09:30am

No. KotOR's story may be good for such a game, but certainly not for a movie. Even if the events in the game could be translated into some form of coherent script, they simply wouldn't work as well as they did in the game. And the most interesting parts of the story in KotOR is actually just people talking about stuff that has happened in recent years and ancient times, and is thus in fact backstory.

Many people attribute much of Star Wars' success to the fact that it draws heavily from Joseph Campbell's idea of the Monomyth. If that's true then KotOR wouldn't be as appealing because it doesn't draw nearly as much from the idea. This is probably because KotOR's storyline is very open, or because they simply didn't want to tell that kind of story.

Also, the Amnesia-card works fine for games (well, maybe not, but it's accepted at least), but a person that is revealed to be the ultimate evil himself and didn't know about it because of amnesia? That is something that you'd expect to see in a soap opera, and you'd roll your eyes so bad about it.

So I say no. Games aren't movies nor should they be.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2006-02-21 09:48am

but a person that is revealed to be the ultimate evil himself and didn't know about it because of amnesia?

Oh really?
How about the protagonist being the Son of the Bad Guy? That is waay closer to soap opera.

And frankly, I haven't seen so many soap operas, where the protagonist finds out himself being the bad guy. Definetely not ones before 1977 anyway.

Jason von Evil · Post by **Jason von Evil** » 2006-02-21 11:59am

The revelation that your main character was Revan was a big shocker. They left clues to this fact, but you never put the pieces together until afterwards. It wasn't as much of a shocker as Vader being Luke's father, though. If KOTR were the original trilogy, it would probably be a big shocker.

AniThyng · Post by **AniThyng** » 2006-02-21 12:10pm

KOTOR's story appeals to Star Wars fans, and probably quite a few general sci-fi fans, the OT's story appeals to just about everybody, it's not much of a contest.

Tychu · Post by **Tychu** » 2006-02-21 12:15pm

Jason von Evil wrote:The revelation that your main character was Revan was a big shocker. They left clues to this fact, but you never put the pieces together until afterwards. It wasn't as much of a shocker as Vader being Luke's father, though. If KOTR were the original trilogy, it would probably be a big shocker.

the thing is its an age biased thing. I was born in 1986 after the movies were "finished". Growing up as a child I knew some guy named Darth Vader (Dark Vader) was some guy name Lukes father well before i saw any of the movies. Lo and behold it wasnt a big shocker when i watched TESB. When i played KOTOR it was a shocker. To connect my ranting with the thread i enjoyed the originial movies more than the 2 KOTORS for more then just the Vader=father or other shockers.

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2006-02-21 01:07pm

Stas Bush wrote:Oh really?
How about the protagonist being the Son of the Bad Guy? That is waay closer to soap opera.

And frankly, I haven't seen so many soap operas, where the protagonist finds out himself being the bad guy. Definetely not ones before 1977 anyway.

That's not necessarily what I find so bad; it's the amnesia. Amnesia really is a cliché from the soaps, and there aren't very many ways to get around it if the lead character's supposed to be the bad guy. Ergo, any such movie would be cliché.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2006-02-21 01:11pm

That's not necessarily what I find so bad; it's the amnesia.

You don't really need the amnesia. Just give him false memories - so that he would feel himself in position on Bastila's ship. That would be even more shocking - make references to his false memories in the beginning and then... boom, you're Revan, you've been lied to and betrayed...

What an excellent plot for a Great Dark Side Fall...

Utah Jak · Post by **Utah Jak** » 2006-02-21 01:11pm

Was it really amnesia though? I always thought it was more of a mind wipe, where Revan's memories were removed by force (force and Force) while he was in a coma.

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2006-02-21 01:18pm

Utah Jak wrote:Was it really amnesia though? I always thought it was more of a mind wipe, where Revan's memories were removed by force (force and Force) while he was in a coma.

What's the difference?

Stas Bush wrote:What an excellent plot for a Great Dark Side Fall...

I thought he didn't fall back to the Dark Side...

Utah Jak · Post by **Utah Jak** » 2006-02-21 01:22pm

Dooey Jo wrote:
Utah Jak wrote:Was it really amnesia though? I always thought it was more of a mind wipe, where Revan's memories were removed by force (force and Force) while he was in a coma.
What's the difference?

I always saw it as more along the lines of Revan being reprogramed like a computer. He didn't remember because the Jedi Council buried Revan under the personality of the Republic soldier.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2006-02-21 01:48pm

Well the Jedi Council said that his mind was too badly damaged to ever be restored. Of course that's completely contradicted by the fact that his memory returned naturally and fairly quickly (as far as I can tell) once he knew who he really was. Thinking about it like that, it doesn't really surprise me that he didn't lift a finger to stop the Sith from wiping the Jedi out almost to the last man prior to KOTOR II.

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2006-02-21 01:54pm

Crazy_Vasey wrote:Well the Jedi Council said that his mind was too badly damaged to ever be restored. Of course that's completely contradicted by the fact that his memory returned naturally and fairly quickly (as far as I can tell) once he knew who he really was. Thinking about it like that, it doesn't really surprise me that he didn't lift a finger to stop the Sith from wiping the Jedi out almost to the last man prior to KOTOR II.

As powerfull as he Was I dout that Revan could have truly stop Darth Nihilus.

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2006-02-21 02:07pm

I would be surprised if Revan didn't have some sort of idea of how to stop something like that when he knew of its creation. Traya - the one in charge of Nihilus's training, as I recall - was Revan's subordinate within the Sith, was she not? Revan doesn't strike me as the sort foolish enough to create a weapon that could so easily destroy him unless he had a defence or some sort of plan to deal with it if it went rogue. Of course that's all baseless speculation. Either way, Nihilus was far from the only one killing the Jedi off. Sion and his assassins did more than their fair share of damage, and he would have been no match for Revan. The Exile had no special power that made him the only one capable of dealing with that particular monster.

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2006-02-21 02:26pm

Utah Jak wrote:
Dooey Jo wrote:What's the difference?
I always saw it as more along the lines of Revan being reprogramed like a computer. He didn't remember because the Jedi Council buried Revan under the personality of the Republic soldier.

Sounds like the typical technobabblified amnesia to me

Eleas · Post by **Eleas** » 2006-02-21 02:43pm

Dooey Jo wrote: Sounds like the typical technobabblified amnesia to me

To be fair, it neatly sidestepped the standard "Who am I? Can't remember. Why are these people after me?" spiel. The player character of KotOR remembers a childhood, remembers enlisting, etc, even though it's vague at times. Such a shame those memories are fake.

Utah Jak · Post by **Utah Jak** » 2006-02-21 04:07pm

Dooey Jo wrote:
Utah Jak wrote:
Dooey Jo wrote:What's the difference?
I always saw it as more along the lines of Revan being reprogramed like a computer. He didn't remember because the Jedi Council buried Revan under the personality of the Republic soldier.
Sounds like the typical technobabblified amnesia to me

Technobabblified amnesia...

Actually, that about covers it.

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2006-02-21 06:25pm

Crazy_Vasey wrote:I would be surprised if Revan didn't have some sort of idea of how to stop something like that when he knew of its creation. Traya - the one in charge of Nihilus's training, as I recall - was Revan's subordinate within the Sith, was she not? Revan doesn't strike me as the sort foolish enough to create a weapon that could so easily destroy him unless he had a defence or some sort of plan to deal with it if it went rogue. Of course that's all baseless speculation. Either way, Nihilus was far from the only one killing the Jedi off. Sion and his assassins did more than their fair share of damage, and he would have been no match for Revan. The Exile had no special power that made him the only one capable of dealing with that particular monster.

wrong the Exile has a special power (nature of which is very important plot point in KOTOR2), also IIRC Tray said that Revan did try to stop them but failed (in some way).

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2006-02-21 07:04pm

Crazy_Vasey wrote:The Exile had no special power that made him the only one capable of dealing with that particular monster.

Did you play the game? The method by which the Exile is even able to use the Force in the first place is a huge part of the plot and is the reason Nihilus couldn't eat him.

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2006-02-22 12:37am

Revan did fall to the Dark Side. At least, in MY game.

Noble Ire · Post by **Noble Ire** » 2006-02-22 12:40am

Stas Bush wrote:Revan did fall to the Dark Side. At least, in MY game.

I think though, canonically, the Light Side ending is the real one (as stated in the new Chronology and the OS Databank, I believe.)