The Journal of the Whills, [Part] I,[2] or Journal of the Whills (Part) I, was a handwritten two-page partial outline for the story that would, after many further rewrites and explorations of ideas, become Star Wars (1977). It was written by George Lucas, starting around January, 1973.[1][3]
Plot summary[]
The outline begins: "This is the story of Mace Windy, a revered Jedi-bendu of Ophuchi, as related to us by C.J. Thorpe, padawaan learner to the famed Jedi." Thorpe, called either C.J. or C.2. (it switches back and forth in the document), stands for "Chuiee Two Thorpe of Kissel. My father is Han Dardell Thorpe, chief pilot of the renown galactic cruiser Tarnack."
When Chuiee reaches sixteen years of age, he enters the Intersystems Academy to train as a potential Jedi-Templer. There he becomes padawaan learner to Mace Windy, a Warlord to the Chairman of the Alliance of Independent Systems. Windy becomes the victim of a court conspiracy: those who fear that Windy is more powerful than the Imperial leader of the Galactic Empire, some of those being his own comrades, arrange for his replacement and expulsion from the royal forces. Though Windy has been dismissed, Chuiee begs to stay on in his service.
This leads to the even-more-fragmentary story of Journal of the Whills, Part II. After four years, Windy and Chuiee have their greatest adventure. They guard a shipment of fusion portables to Yavin, where they are summoned to the desolate planet Yoshiro by a mysterious courier sent by the Alliance chairman himself. The narrative drops off at this point.
Legacy[]
When George Lucas began work on Episode I, he took the Journal of the Whills out of the Lucasfilm archives, and re-read it. It sat on his desk as he wrote the first handwritten script for the first prequel.[4]
Sources[]
- Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays
- The Cinema of George Lucas
"Unknown Origins" — Star Wars Insider 92- The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film
- Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle
- Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle, Updated Edition
- Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, Updated and Expanded Edition
- The Star Wars Archives: Episodes IV–VI, 1977–1983
- Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition
- ↑ The Making of Star Wars
- ↑ Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition, The Star Wars Archives: Episodes IV–VI, 1977–1983, and Kaminski, Michael. The Secret History of Star Wars, Legacy Books Press, 2007. support a January 1973 date for Journal of the Whills, while The Cinema of George Lucas incorrectly dates the outline to 1972.
- ↑ The Cinema of George Lucas