[Grig]

Actually, I was thinking that Lucas was trying to link Sept 11 and Bush's anti-terrorism measures to the creation of a facist empire in AotC. Anyone else kind of think he was doing that?

[jlogajan]

Kent Brockman: "Ladies and gentlemen, uh, we've just lost the picture, but what we've seen speaks for itself. The Corvair spacecraft has apparently been taken over -- 'conquered' if you will -- by a master race of giant space ants. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive Earthman or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves." (Deep Space Homer)

[alloysteel]

The Empire is the Third Reich, allowed to come to full fruition. Anakin Skywalker, who later becomes Darth Vader, is the great Aryan hero figure. Tuck these variables in your construction of the Star Wars epic, and you can more easily see the correlation with World War II.

[CJ Wolf]

I think it takes longer then 6 months to write and film something like this. It is fiction.

[WI Conservative 4 Bush]

A friend brought up a good point. If Uncle and aunt were trying so hard to hide Luke, why didn't they change his name?

[aspasia]

"There is no civility, there is only politics," we see that at heart, he's an esoteric Straussian.

Ha ha ha! Now we know Jonathan V. is the esoteric Straussian, and not a Frodo!

[reegs]

Alot about this article is wrong. Where to start...

1. Midichlorians don't produce The Force. They're indicators of a Force presence.
2. The senate is in disarray because of Palpatine's influence over it, using the dark side of the force to create disharmony to further his own ends.
3. Palapatine/Sidious/Emporer uses the trade federation because they are the most easily manipulated because of their greed.
4. I think the insistance that "if it's not in the Jedi archives, it doesn't exist" isn't arrogance, but an attempt to show how thorough and secure the Jedi records are. The fact that they were tampered with reveals that someone is working from the inside and that what they're working on is extremely threatening to the Jedi.
5. The assumption that the Empire is a benign dictatorship is false. Corruption and crime is allowed to exist, as long as Empire gets its cut.
6. Quick promotion through the ranks of the Emperial Army is a sign of compassion??? Ranks open up quickly because everyone is dispensable within the Empire. Failure is met with death knowing that a power hungry yes-man is waiting to fill the rank and do Vader's and the Emporer's bidding.
7. Lastly, how can he believe Vader's plea with Luke to help him restore order to the Galaxy??? Vader would say/do anything to please his master, but more importantly to become the most powerful person in the galaxy. The only way he can achieve this is by converting Luke to the darkside so together they can dethrone the Emporer and rule the Galaxy.

[Youngblood]

Palpatine is a dictator--but a relatively benign one, like Pinochet.

"Relatively benign"? When compared to Stalin or Hitler I suppose.

[supercat]

The Empire doesn't want slaves or destruction or "evil." It wants order.

Could not the same be said of Hitler or Stalin?