Author: omkarpradhan12

Ready Player One: Explained

With our world growing even closer to being a virtual reality connecting everyone, this movie gives a sneak peak in a very possible future. Our world is moving toward virtual reality at an alarming rate, technology is being developed to completely immerse a person in VR. LucasVRTech is a young youtuber that is developing cheap alternatives to VR technology, he is developing an open source haptic feedback glove for VR enthusiasts. Corporations have jumped at every trend possible, VR is no different. People have been finding a short escape from reality using video games for a long time, VR is just helping the escape feel more real.

The movie is set in 2045 where people use OASIS a virtual reality simulation to escape reality. The simulation is created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow, after Halliday’s death his avatar announces a contest that promises ownership of OASIS to the winner. The prize is locked behind three gates, the keys can be obtained by completing three challenges. The contest draws thousands of participants known as egg hunters or gunters. The contest also draw the interest of Nolan Sorrento the CEO if IOI who seeks to control the OASIS, IOI has employees known as the sixers who participate in the competition on Nolan’s behalf.

The movie follows Wade Watts an avid gunter that goes by the moniker Parzival, he is a super fan and spends most of his free time trying to defeat the challenge. He manages to crack the first challenge by driving backwards on a race track instead of going forwards, this maneuverer is copied by Art3mis, Aech, Daito and Sho. They are known as the high-5 on the contest leader boards. Sorrento intends to find out Parzival’s real name and bribe him to win the competition on his behalf.

Sorrento enlists bounty hunter i-R0k to learn about Parzival’s real identity. Wade and Art3mis work together in the Halliday archives, they find a clue that could lead them to the second key. The duo visit a virtual nightclub to find more clues, Wade reveals his real name to Artemis. They are ambushed by IOI, Art3mis reveals that her father died in debt to IOI and abandons Wade. i-R0k who had been eavesdropping their conversation learns Parziwal’s identity and conveys it to Sorento. Wade is contacted by Sorento with his offer, Wade refuses and is nearly killed when Sorento bombs his building. Wade survives and is taken by Samantha Cook the player behind Art3mis to her hideout.

The High 5 search a recreation of the overlook hotel from the Shining for the second key, and retrieve it. Sorrento’s subordinate Zandor locates and captures Samantha, she is imprisoned in IOI headquarters to pay off her father’s debt. Wade is saved by rest of the High 5 Members Aech, Daito and Sho in Aech’s truck. The group hacks Sorento’s personal rig to save Art3mis, she escapes confinement but stays at IOI. The final challenge is located at castle Anorak on planet doom, where contenders must guess Halliday’s favourite game to earn the final key. i-R0k creates a forcefield around the castle preventing players from entering it while IOI tries to beat the final challenge, Art3mis who stayed behind uses the opportunity to disable the forcefield.

The High 5 lead an army of players into the castle to battle IOI, Wade kills Art3mis which allows her to flee from IOI while rest of the High 5 pick her up. Sorrento activates a weapon that wipes out everyone, Wade survives using a coin give to him by the curator that gives him an extra life. Wade beats the final challenge and comes before Halliday’s avatr Anorak, he offers wade a contract. Wade refuses when he remembers that Morrow the co-creator signed a similar contract, Anorak transforms to Halliday and explains Wade his regrets before giving him the ownership of OASIS. Morrow appears and reveals himself as the curator, he talks to Wade about the ownership. Wade decides to run OASIS with his friends and Morrow joins as a consultant. OASIS now under the new management of High 5 bars IOI loyalty centres from accessing it, it also shuts down the servers every Tuesday and Thursday to make people spend more time in the real world.

This was a really amazing movie with a pretty real concept. Our world might move in a similar direction in a few years, people are unsatisfied by reality and prefer Virtual world where they control most of its aspects. I’m an avid gamer and would love a virtual reality despite the known drawbacks. In a situation like a pandemic, games and VR is something that allowed people to interact with each other. Every coin has 2 sides we must decide to focus on the better aspects.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

What is growing old? Is it accumulating experiences and memories or making memories? Scientifically growing old means your body accumulates damages and is no longer able to function normally. What if someone could grow younger instead of older? The movie plays with a similar idea, it focuses on a man that grows younger instead of older.

The movie starts with an elderly Daisy Fuller on her deathbed in august 2005, she tells her daughter about a clock that ran backwards. The clock was installed on a station in 1918 by a clock worker that wanted it to be an memorial to everyone who lost their lives in the second world war. On the evening of November 11 19118 a boy is born with the appearance of an old man, he is abandoned as an infant on the steps of a nursing home run by Queenie and Mr Weathers. They decide to raise the boy as their own in the nursing home.

Benjamin has to use a wheelchair till 1925 as he cant walk, he however learns to walk and is given crutches. Benjamin although physically old is mentally only about 7. He meets seven year old daisy and becomes good friends with her. Wishing to see more of the world he accepts work on a tugboat captained by Mike Clark, they form a close friendship while working together. Benjamin is contacted by Thomas Button a rich older man who seems to like his company, Thomas hides the fact that he his Benjamin’s father. Benjamin leaves with Mike on along-term work engagement.

In 1941 Benjamin meets Elizabeth Abbot in Murmansk and begins courting her, in December Japan attacks Pearl harbour bringing the War to United States. Captain Mike volunteers the boat for the U.S.Navy, the boat is assigned to salvage duties. After nearly dying in a fight against a German gunboat Benjamin and some surviving crewmen are rescued by a Navy ship, Benjamin returns to New Orleans in 1945 and reunites with Queenie. Benjamin learns that Mr Weathers passed away a while back. Benjamin meets Daisy and has dinner with her before she departs for New York. Benjamin is contacted by Thomas who reveals his relation and leaves his estate to Benjamin.

In 1947 Benjamin visits Daisy in New York but leaves once he realises that she has fallen in love with someone. He meets Daisy again in 1954 after her accident in Paris, a frustrated Daisy asks Benjamin to leave her life. In 1962 their paths cross again in New Orleans, they decide to give their relationship a shot as they are of similar physical age. The two move in together in 1967, Daisy give birth to their daughter Caroline. In 1968 believing that he cant be a proper father, Benjamin liquidates his assets and leaves their lives. Benjamin travels the world alone in the 1970s.

In 1980 Benjamin meets a married Daisy who introduces him as a family friend, they part once more after a short reunion. In 1990 a widowed Daisy is contacted by social workers who find a pre-teen Benjamin living in an abandoned building. Daisy moves into the nursing home and cares for Benjamin the rest of her life. Benjamin finally dies in 2002 as an infant but chronologically 84 years old. Daisy dies having revealed the truth about Benjamin to their daughter Caroline.

This is an amazing movie with a really unique concept which explore the possibility of ageing backwards. A must watch for fans of science fiction, the plot is amazing and makes you think. The cast is amazing as well Brad Pitt plays Benjamin Button and Cate Blachet plays Daisy.

In Time(2011): Explained

It has always been said that time is money, what if this was taken literally. The movie is set in a world where Time is literally the universal currency, time is transfer either directly or stored in time capsules. Whenever a persons timer reaches zero they instantly die, this is known as timing out. In this world several time zones exist that divide the people depending on the time they have. People are genetically modified to stop aging at 25 after which their clocks start ticking down, they are given a year before the countdown runs out to zero.

The movie focuses around Will Salas a 28 year old factory worker who lives in one of the poorest time zones, Dayton is a manufacturing ghetto where people rarely have more than a day on their clocks. Will works in a manufacturing plant and lives with his 50 year mother Rachel. One night while returning from his shift Will saves a drunk man pursued by a time stealing group of bandits known as the mintuemen. The drunk man introduces himself as Henry Hamilton a 105 year old man, he tells Will that the people in New Greenwich an elite Time zone are hoarding time. Hamilton gives all of his time to an asleep Will and times out by falling off a bridge.

Raymond Leon the leader of unit of time keepers assumes that Will killed Hamilton and robbed him off his time. Will visits his friend Borel who advices him to get out of Dayton, Will gives Borel 10 years of time. Will decides to leave to New Greenwich along with his mother, his mother however dies having exhausted her time paying off a loan. Rachel timed out as she didn’t have enough to pay for a bus ride whose prices were increased suddenly. Will vows to get revenge for his mothers death by getting back at the people of New Greenwich who control the world.

Will arrives in Greenwich and starts living a better life, he meets Phillipe Wise and his daughter Sylvia Wise at a casino. Will gambles his time and plays poker, he wins over a millennium from the game. Sylvia invites Will to a party, Will and Sylvia get pretty close before Raymon arrives to arrest Will. Raymond doesn’t let Will prove his innocence and simply confiscates all but 2 hours from Will, Will escapes to Dayton taking Sylvia as hostage.

Upon reaching Dayton, the duo is ambushed by the minutemen. The gang leaves the duo with 30 minutes each, Will attempts to get back some time from Borel but learns that Borel drank himself to death. They eventually manage to get a day each by pawning off Sylvia’s earrings. Will calls Weis to demand a 1000 tear ransom to be paid into the time mission for the desperate, an initiative for the poor. Weis refuses but Will releases Sylvia anyway, Raymond attempts to capture Will but Sylvia saves him.

Sylvia understanding the reality of the world decides to work together with Will to rob time banks and distribute time to the needy. They soon realise that they cant make any significant change as the New Greenwich residents just increase prices to compensate for the stolen time. The duo is again ambushed by the minutemen, Will defeats Fortis the leader and kills the rest of the thugs. The duo decides to rob Weis vault and distribute the time, Raymond chases the duo back to Dayton but times out as he forgets to download his day’s salary. The duo nearly times out themselves but them manage to save themselves by downloading Raymond’s salary. The duo continues robbing larger banks in an attempt to crash the system.

The movie brings an old saying to life, a really unique concept with an amazing execution. I’ll recommend the movie to every fan of science fiction, this movie also sheds some light on the hoarding problem of the rich. This problem is apparent in the real world too where the rich keep getting richer while the poor suffer. The movie has an excellent cast with Justin Timberlake as Will Salas, Amanda Seyfried as Sylvia Weis, and Cillian Murphy as timekeeper Raymond Leon.

Elysium(2013): Explained

A future where the earth is overpopulated is a definite possibility. Elysium is set in 2154 where due t overpopulation most of the citizens live in poverty, The rich however live on a man made space station known as Elysium. The space station has technology that can heal any disease and even reverse ageing, none of these facilities are given to the citizens on the planet. The residents of earth understandably want to use the Elysium’s technology to cure themselves, the residents of the Elysium however object.

The movie revolves around Max Da Costa an assembly line worker who lives in LA, he works for Armadyne which produces Elysium’s weaponry and police robots. He’s an ex convict that is usually bullied by the robotic police. During a shift Max is accidentally trapped in a kiln and exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, he is rescued but told that he has only five more days to live. Max tries to request John Carlyle the CEO of Armadyne to help, Max is instead given medication to cull the symptoms until his death.

Max unwilling to die tries to enlist the help of human smuggler Spider to get him onto Elysium. Meanwhile 2 out of 3 ships carrying immigrants are shot down by agent Kruger, he’s a government operative acting on the direct orders of Défense Secretary Delacourt. The president Patel reprimands Delacourt and threatens to fire her, Delacourt makes a deal with Carlyle to make her the president. Carlyle developed Elysium and can program it to think that Delacourt is the president, he agrees and stores the program in his brain.

Spider agrees to smuggle max to Elysium if he can steal the information from Carlyle, Max agrees to the deal and an exoskeleton is surgically attached to him. Max and spider’s men shoot Carlyle’s pod down and engage in a fight with the ships robotic guards, in the firefight max is injured and he downloads Carlyle’s program to his suits neural link. Agent Kruger is deployed to kill Max and recover the program. An injured max contacts his childhood friend Frey a nurse, after nursing Max back to health Frey begs him to take her daughter Matilda who suffers from terminal leukaemia to Elysium. Agent Kruger arrives and interogates Frey for Max’s location, realising Matilda to be ill he takes her and Frey onto his ship.

Max delivers the program to spider who reveals that the program can be modified to make everyone residents of Elysium. Max bargains with Kruger to be taken to Elysium, Spider uses this opportunity to board a ship to Elysium. Kruger is injured in a fight on his ship which disables the ships engines. After crashing on Elysium Max is knocked out and Frey tries to use Med bay to cure Matilda but discovers that the Med bays work only for the Elysium’s citizens. Max, Frey and Matilda are taken to Delacourt by Kruger, she orders Frey and Matilde to be taken away and also orders the decryption of Carlyle’s program knowing it will kill Max.

Kruger kills Delacourt and his henchman start killing the other political officers to seize control of Elysium. Max uses this chaos to escape his confinement and vows to use the program to help everyone, he frees Matilda and Frey and kills one of Kruger’s henchmen. Spider has Matilda and Frey escorted to a Med bay while he accompanies Max to the Elysium’s core. After a brief fight with Kruger the duo reaches the core, Spider realises that the codes activation will kill Max. Max makes the sacrifice by activating the program, the program registers every earth resident as an Elysian citizen. Matilda is cured by a med bay and a fleet of ships leave for earth to treat all the residents.

The movie is an amazing play on one of our possible futures. Our world might be heading in the same direction, the technological aspect would be welcomed by all but the financial and social aspect is something we must lookout for. The current pandemic gave us a pretty good look at what happens to the general public, the rich on the other hand keep getting richer. Something has to be done to bridge the gap and make amends while possible or stay ready for an Elysium like world.

Passengers(2016): Explained

Imagine a world where science has perfected long distance space travel, passengers are transported in hibernation pods. The passengers are being transported to a colony on a planet 60 light years away from the earth. Everyone is put into stasis to be able to complete the 120 year journey, 5000 colonists and 258 crew members are being transported this way. The ship is supposed to be self sufficient and can repair itself if required. The members are supposed to be woken up a short while before they reach the colony, but what if one person wakes up 90 years before he was supposed to.

The movie starts when one passenger wakes up 90 years early due to a malfunction, Jim Preston is a mechanical engineer that left his life in hopes of finding a better one at the colony. Initially Jim is happy about being the only one awake, he enjoys the ships facilities and tries to repair his own pod. A year later he grows weary of the isolation, an android bar tender Arthur being the only company. Jim contemplates suicide when he notices a beautiful young woman Aurora Lane in a pod, he is immediately smitten with her and contemplates waking her up.

After struggling with the morality of waking Aurora up prematurely, he does it anyway. She initially tries to go back in the hibernation pod, but after failing she decides to write a book documenting her journey. Jim makes her believe that her pod opened because of a malfunction, Aurora being a higher tier passenger has access to better facilities. They develop a close bond and eventually fall in love with each other. Arthur inadvertently reveals that Jim was the one who sabotaged Aurora’s pod to deal with his own loneliness, this angers Aurora who resigned to her new life begins avoiding Jim.

Some time later, multiple failures occur on the ship. One such failure wakes up Gus Mancuso, the ships chief deck officer. He uses his access to detect multiple failures in the ship which could lead to even worse failures and the deaths of all the passengers. Gus attempts to repair the ship with Jim and Aurora’s help but they face a major setback when Gus falls critically ill. Gus is diagnosed by the ships automatic doctor Autodoc to be dying, he suffers this fate due the condition of his pods malfunction. Before dying Gus gives Jim and Aurora his ID allowing them access to crew only areas to try and repair the ship.

Jim and aurora discover multiple hull breaches caused by the asteroid collision that woke Jim up. All the problems stem from the computer module administering the fusion reactor being critically damaged. The duo replaces the module but Jim is forced to space walk to manually open a vent. A malfunction cause Jim to stay in the tube to open the hatch which would mean sacrificing himself, Jim decides to vent the tube in order to save the ship. Jim is blasted into space along with the vented gas, his tether snaps and his space suite begins losing oxygen. A distraught Aurora manages to retrieve a clinically dead Jim from space and uses the Autodoc to revive him. Jim finds out that he can use the Autodoc to put one person back into hibernation and offers Aurora the chance to reach the new planet and live out her life. Aurora refuses the offer truly understanding Jim’s motivation to wake her up, she accepts the ring Jim fashioned for him and lives out her remaining days aboard the ship.

The crew wakes up on schedule to discover a huge tree, a cabin, vegetation and birds. Aurora’s voice over describes the life she lead aboard the ship with Jim.

A truly amazing movie with a pretty different concept, a must watch for Science Fiction fans. The cast is really amazing with Chris Pratt as Jim, Jennifer Lawrence as Aurora, Michael Sheen as the android Arthur and Laurence Fishburne as Gus.

Star Trek Beyond: Explained

The third movie in the rebooted Star Trek series, set in an alternate universe where George Kirk died. The film picks up some time after the events of the last film, the USS Enterprise is on an exploratory mission in deep space. The movie pays tribute to Leonard Nimoy who played Spock in the original series, Nimoy passed away a year before the release. The movie is the last performance of Anton Yelchin who plays the lovable engineer Pavel Chekov, Yelchin died in a car crash 6 months before the release.

The movie starts with James trying to broker peace between 2 alien spices, after a brief fight James receives a relic and leaves the planet. The movie picks up as USS Enterprise lands on the star base of Yorktown for supplies and a break from their long exploratory mission. James has applied for a ground position after struggling to find meaning to the missions, he recommends Spock as his replacement. Spock receives the news of his older self’s death from new Vulcan, Spock thinks about resigning from Starfleet to lead his people on New Vulcan. On the base the crew meet their families and spend time on the base, Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu reunites with his family after a long time. The enterprise is dispatched on a recuse mission in a nearby uncharted nebula.

The rescue mission appears to be for an escape pod that broadcasted a distress signal. After docking the pod onto the ship its occupant Kalara request James to help her ship stranded on Altamid a planet in the nebula. As the enterprise moves closer to the planet a swarm of small ships begin to attack. The ships quickly tear the enterprise apart so that their leader could come aboard, the swarms leader Krall boards the ship and wreak havoc. He captures some of the crew and kill the rest in an attempt to find a device known as Abronath, the Abronath was recovered by the Enterprise on a recent mission. Kirk is forced to issue the order to abandon ship to save the surviving crew, the ships remains fall to the planet Altamid.

On the surface Sulu, Uhura and some other survivors are captured by Krall and taken to his camp. Kirk and Chekov land somewhere on the surface and are accompanied by Kalara to the remains of the enterprise, Dr Leonard McCoy and Spock land somewhere close to Krall’s camp. Spock is injured and McCoy attempts to heal him and engages him in conversation to take his attention off the pain, Spock reveals to McCoy that he wishes to leave Starfleet to join new Vulcan and continues his older self’s work. James and Chekov figure out that Kalara was Krall’s spy and defeat her by flipping the Enterprises saucer. Somewhere else Scotty is saved by Jaylah, a scavenger who escaped Krall.

Krall reveals the Abronath is the key to complete an ancient bioweapon capable of destroying civilisations, he showcases his ability to seemingly absorb someone else’s life force. A crew member is forced to give-up the relic after Krall starts killing the crew, Krall then tests the bioweapon on the crew member. James and Chekov are reunited with scotty who’s hiding with Jaylah on an early Starfleet ship the USS Franklin. The Franklin is a lost ship that went missing and lost all contact with Starfleet. The group formulates a plan to save the crew and defeat Krall who wants to destroy Yorktown.

After a successful rescue attempt, the crew powers up the grounded vessel and uses it to chase Krall. They jam and destroy the swarm by broadcasting songs to disrupt the swarms communication, Krall is chased by the Franklin all over in Yorktown. The crew discovers that Krall is the former captain of the Franklin, Balthazar Edison who used alien technology to survive after crashing on the planet. Balthazar aims to destroy the Starfleet and start an intergalactic war against former enemies, he crashes onto the surface of the starbase and is chased by James. James confronts Balthazar in the ventilation system right before he activate the weapon, after a brief fight James ejects the weapon and Balthazar into space sacrificing himself. James is saved by Spock and McCoy who stole a swarm ship, the weapon disintegrates Balthazar in space.

The movie ends with both James and Spock deciding to stay with the Starfellt, Spock renew his relationship with Uhura. Jaylah the scavenger is accepted into Starfleet academy on James’s recommendation.

The movie which seemed to be the final one ends with The crew watches the construction of their new ship the Enterprise A while celebrating James’s birthday. A next movie is set to release in 2023, until then Live Long and Prosper.

Star Trek Into Darkness: Explained

This is the second instalment in the reboot series set in an alternate universe. After the events of the last movie, James Kirk assumes command of the USS Enterprise and Spock continues as the first officer. The movie brings back a villain from the original series and brings back an iconic location from the past.

The movie starts with James and McCoy trying to get off a primitive planet observed by them, Spock is trying to diffuse a cataclysmic volcanic eruption to prevent the planets destruction. Upon learning that Spock will not make it out alive, James violates the prime directive to save Spock. The prime directive prohibits the Starfleet from interfering with natural progress of a planet and its species. Spock reports this break of protocol to the Starfleet command, this causes James to be demoted to first officer and Spock to be transferred to a different ship. Rear admiral Pike is reinstated as the captain of the USS Enterprise. Shortly after a bombing in London, an emergency meeting is called. This bombing is revealed to be a trap by commander John Harrison who wanted to gather the superiors together, Harrison uses the meeting to kill most of the superiors before fleeing to the Klingon home world Kronos.

Admiral Marcus reinstates James and Spock to the Enterprise, he orders them to kill Harrison with a classified stealth torpedo. Scotty resigns after James allows the torpedos to be loaded on the enterprise, James promotes Pavel Chekov to the position of Chief Engineer. James leads the Enterprise to Kronos, he leads a small group of himself, Spock and Uhura to the surface of Kronos to retrieve Harrison. They are ambushed by Klingon patrols while looking for Harrison, they end up being rescued by Harrison who surrenders to the Starfleet.

A captured Harrison urges James to open a torpedo, McCoy and Dr Carol Marcus open a torpedo to discover a cryogenically frozen human. Harrison reveals his real identity as Khan Noonien Singh a genetically engineered superhuman, he was awoken by Marcus and forced to develop weapons. Khan reveals that Marcus wishes to start a war with the Klingon Empire, he also gives James a set of coordinates which James asks Scotty to investigate. Scotty follows the coordinates and finds a covert Starfleet facility.

Marcus intercepts the Enterprise in his own ship USS Vengeance which is a much larger warship, Marcus demands that James deliver Khan to him. James commands the Enterprise to set a course to earth, he aims to expose Marcus. Vengeance disables the Enterprise near the moon and prepares to attack, Carol reveals her presence on board to try and stop the attack. Marcus forcibly beams his daughter back to his ship and orders the Enterprise’s destruction. Scotty who secretly climbed aboard the Vengeance prevents the Enterprises destruction by powering the Vengeance down.

James uses this opportunity to space jump onto the Vengeance with Khan to defeat Marcus. After fighting their way to the bridge Khan kills Marcus and turns on the Enterprises officers, he assumes command of the Vengeance and demands the torpedos that contain his crew. Spock and McCoy comply but remove the frozen crew from the torpedos. The officers are returned to the Enterprise before Khan could learn the truth. An enraged Khan shoots at the Enterprise and manages to damage it, Spock detonates the torpedos given to Khan. Both the ships are damaged and get trapped in the Earth’s gravity, James enters the Enterprises reactor to manually realign the ship.

Khan crashes the Vengeance in San Francisco to destroy the Starfleet base. Spock chases Khan in the city to capture him, after a brief fight with Uhura’s help Khan is captured. McCoy uses Khans blood that has regenerative properties to save James’s life. Khan is resealed cryogenically with his crew. One year later the Enterprise prepares for a 5 year mission, James once again leads the Enterprise towards its goals.

This wrap the penultimate chapter in the Rebooted series, we will take a look at the final chapter soon. Until then Live Long and Prosper.

Star Trek(2009): Explained

Star trek was an amazing television series in the 1960s that followed the adventures of the federation ship USS Enterprise. The series is set in a world where the united federation of planets is protected by an organisation known as Starfleet. The movie is a reboot that puts a little spin on the original characters. The movie takes place in an alternate future, this was deliberately done to separate the reboot from the original series.

The movie starts in 2233 where the federation star ship USS Kelvin investigates a lightning storm in space. The strom serves as some kind of gateway and a Romulan ship Narada comes through it and attacks the Kelvin, Narada’s first officer demands the enterprise’s captain come aboard the ship. The captain is questioned by the Narada’s commander Nero, the captain is killed by Nero and the ship resumes its attack on the Kelvin. George Kirk assumes the command of the Kelvin and orders the others to evacuate while he pilots the Kelvin into a collision course with the Narada to ensure the crews survival. Among the survivors, George’s wife gives birth to James Tiberius Kirk.

Seventeen Years Later James now raised on earth becomes an intelligent but reckless man, meanwhile on Vulcan a young Spock enlists in the Starfleet instead of joining the Vulcan science academy. James gets into a bar fight with Starfleet cadets and meets Captain Pike, Pike convinces James to join the Starfleet to honour his father and use his talents. Kirk meets and befriends Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy aboard the ship that take them to the Starfleet academy. Three years later James is accused by commander Spock of cheating on a simulation test known as the Kobayashi Maru, and Kirk is put on trial to be expelled from the academy. Before an official result can be had for the trial the Starfleet receives a distress signal from Vulcan, ships are mobilized to respond to the signal. Bones helps James get aboard the Enterprise by faking a medical condition.

Kirk breaks protocol when he realises the lightning storm is the same as the one which claimed his fathers life and convinces Pike that the distress signal is a trap. Upon arriving the Enterprise witnesses a decimated fleet, Narada destroyed the fleet and is drilling into Vulcan’s core. Narada hails the Enterprises and demands Pike to come aboard, Pike agrees but formulates a plan to destroy the drill. He makes James the first officer and enlists James, Hikaru Sulu and Orson to perform a space jump to destroy the drill. James and Sulu are successful in destroying the drill but not before Nero injects red matter in the planets core and sets it off. The enterprise is able to save Spock’s father and the high council before the planets destruction.

Nero tortures Pike to learn about the access codes for Earths defence system. Spock beams James on Delta Vega after James tries to mutiny, James is immediately attacked by a creature and somehow fends it off. On the planet James encounters an older Spock who reveals he is from the future, he tells that Nero destroying the Kelvin created an alternate timeline. The old Spock tells James about Nero’s vengeance against him, Spock couldn’t stop a disaster which resulted in Nero’s planet dying. The duo reaches a Starfleet outpost on Delta Vega where they find engineer Montgomery Scott, Spock helps Scotty develop a warp beam that allows James and Scotty to warp onto the Enterprise.

James manages to prove Spock into attacking him, this forces Spock to relinquish his command to First officer James. Spock decides to help James after a talk with his father. James and Spock beam themselves on the Narada to rescue Captain Pike and save the earth, after a brief fight James manages to veer the Narada into a collision course with the old Spock’s ship. The collision destroys the Narada just before James, Spock and Pike are beamed back to the Enterprise.

James is promoted to captain and he assumes the command of the Enterprise and, Pike is promoted to rear admiral. After some encouragement from his older self Spock joins the enterprise as its First officer and hopes to build a friendship with James.

The movie has 2 sequels and we will be looking at them soon. Until then Live Long and Prosper.

Star Wars IX: Explained

The final chapter of the wonderful series concludes Rey’s story and brings back a villain from the past. This movie is the last time we see Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, and Mark Hamil as Luke Skywalker. Star Wars IX: The rise of Skywalker even brings back many fan favourite actors and voice actors like Ewan McGregor and Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi. It brings the Skywalker saga to a close, the saga which started with episode 4 in 1977 ends with episode 9 in 2019.

The movie begins with Kylo Ren on the volcanic planet of Mustafar fighting the locals looking for something that drew him to the planet. He uncovers a Sith way finder with coordinates to an uncharted planet Exegol, upon reaching the planet Kylo discovers Emperor Palpatine believed to be dead after the events of Episode 6. The emperor reveals he survived and created Snoke as a puppet to lure Kylo to the Dark side and control the First Order, he orders Kylo to find and kill Rey. Kylo is given stronger subordinate Knights to help with his mission, he again becomes the leader of the Knight of Ren. Rey is continuing her Jedi training under master Leia organa.

Finn and Poe Dameron learn from a spy that Emperor Palpatine is alive and operating from Exegol, Rey knows from Lukes notes that the only way to reach Exegol is by using a Sith way finder. Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewie, BB-8 and C3-PO depart on the millennium falcon looking for clues about the way finder, they reach a planet called Pasaana. The clues lead them to Lando Calrissian who helps them locate the ship of Jedi Hunter Ochi, there they find a Sith Dagger and Ochi’s remains. Rey experiences a vision of her past aboard the ship before Kylo initiates their Force bond connection. They are part of a rare Force phenomenon known as a Force dyad where 2 force sensitive subjects are connected to each other.

Kylo arrives on Pasaana with the knight of Ren and engages Rey in a duel. The first order captures the chewie and takes him away along with the dagger using a transport, Rey tries to use the Force to stop the transport from leaving the planet. Rey accidentaly uses Force lightning to destroy the transport when locked in combat with Kylo. Believing Chewie to be dead the group escapes using Ochi’s ship. The group travels to Kijimi to see a droid smith, C3-PO knows almost every language in existence but cannot translate the Sith text on the dagger. C3-Po’s programming prevents him from translating the text, so the group hopes to use a droid smith to override the programming. The droid smith is successful in extracting and translating the Sith text which leads the group to a Sith way finder.

Rey senses Chewie to be alive and the group infiltrate Kylo’s star destroyer to rescue him and get the dagger back. Rey recovers the dagger and has vision of Ochi killing her parents with it, Kylo reveals that Rey is the granddaughter of emperor Palpatine. The rest of the group is sentenced to be executed but is saved by general Hux that reveals himself to be the spy who revealed the plans of the First Order to the resistance. Hux lets the group escape using the Falcon but is discoverd by General Pryde and executed for treason. The group escape to a moon in the endor system to find the way finder, they are greeted by ex-storm troopers led by Jannah. Rey against the wishes of her friends goes to the ruins of the Death star to find the way finder alone, she fights a vision of herself before retrieving the way finder. Kylo Ren reaches the death star and engages Rey in a duel, after a brief battle Kylo stops before he could deliver the killing blow when his dying mother reaches out with the force. Rey uses this opportunity to impale Ren but heals him when she senses Leia’s death.

Rey uses Kylo’s ship to exile herself on Ahch-to fearing her own powers and future. Meanwhile Poe assumes command of the resistance along with Finn after Leias death. On Ahch-to Luke’s Force spirit convinces Rey by giving her Leias’s light saber to face Palpatine and destroy the threat once and for all. Rey having destroyed Kylo’s ship uses Luke’s X-Wing to reach Exegol, she asks R2 to send her coordinates to the resistance and asks them to join her on exegol. Kylo Ren converses with his father Han Solo for the last time before reclaiming his identity as Ben Solo by throwing his red saber away.

On Exegol Rey confronts palpatine while the resistance gets nearly decimated by the troops, Palpatine asks Rey to strike him down to complete the cycle of hatred and so that Palpatine could take over her body. Ben arrives on Exegol and fights against the Knights of Ren before joining Rey against the emperor. The emperor drains the dyad to rejuvenate himself, a rejuvenated emperor attacks the resistance fleet with lightning. All the past Jedi lend their strength to Rey to help her defeat Palpatine, she defeats him at the cost of her own life. Ben uses the Force to revive Rey using his own Life force before becoming one with the force. Lando leads reinforcements from the galaxy to aid the resistance defeat the new order, the resistance defeats Palpatine’s armada and leaves to their base to celebrate.

Rey visits Luke’s abandoned home on Tatooine and buries Luke’s and Leia’s sabers, a passer-by asks Rey who she is. Rey answers that she is Rey Skywalker symbolising her choosing the Light.

This Wraps up the beautiful space saga off star wars. The cinematic universe is now branched off into a few spin-offs that talk about the interim stories. We’ll wrap our star wars explained series over here. may the Force be with you.

Star Wars VIII: Explained

The movie picks up almost where it left off, with Rey and Chewie on Ahch-To the other rebels are evacuating their base. The first order lead by Kylo Ren attack the ships used by the resistance to evacuate. Poe Dameron leads a costly attack against an imperial dreadnought against the orders of General Leia Organa, the dreadnought is destroyed but at the heavy cost of resistance troops. The attack allows rest of the resistance ships to escape into hyperspace, they are however tracked by the First Order. Kylo hesitates while attacking the lead ship as he senses his mother Leia onboard, one of the imperial ship shoots and destroys the bridge of the lead ship. Most of the leaders are killed and Leia is sucked into space, Leia uses the force to save herself from certain death but in doing so leaves her weak. While Leia recovers vice-admiral Holdo steps up to assume command of the surviving resistance ships.

The film then picks up with Rey offering Luke his fathers saber, Luke promptly tosses the saber off a cliff and wordlessly leaves Rey. Unwilling to give up Rey tries to get Luke to teach her the ways of the Force, Luke outright refuses and claims that the Jedi should end. After some convincing from his old friend R2-D2, Luke agrees to give Rey three lessons of the way of the Force. Rey is drawn to a cave under the island that emanates some kind of connection to the dark side. A furious Luke reprimands Rey when he discovers her in the cave. Somehow Rey and Ben begin seeing each other and communicating, this phenomenon unheard of for eras was known as a Force dyad.

While communicating within the force Ben reveals that Luke was afraid of the Raw power Ben possessed and the fact that Luke tried killing him. Luke discovers Rey and Ben communicating through the force and immediately puts a stop to it. Rey confronts Luke with the facts Ben told her, Luke confesses that he felt Ben veering off the path and contemplated killing him. Luke saw the darkness in Bens future and was scared of his power so he tried killing his own nephew while he was asleep. A scared and enraged Ben woke up before Luke could follow through with the killing blow, Ben decimated the Jedi temple and killed all the other apprentices earning the name Jedi Killer. Ben then fled to Snoke who took him in and gave him the name Kylo Ren. After learning all that Rey decides to try and save Kylo and bring him back.

Meanwhile Poe entrusts Finn, Rose and BB-8 with a mission to get rid of the tracking device. After getting a hacker DJ the group infiltrates Snokes flagship but are captured by captain Phasma. Kylo brings Rey aboard the flagship before Snoke, Snoke reveals that it was him who connected Rey and Kylo to learn the whereabouts of Luke. On Ahch-To Luke contemplates destroying the Jedi library but doesn’t follow through, the Force ghost of Jedi Grand Master Yoda summons a lightning bolt to destroy the Library anyway.

On the resistance ship Holda plans on evacuating the forces to a abandoned base using smaller vessels. Poe finds the plan cowardly and mutinies against Holda, he is stopped by Leia who stuns Poe and bids her friend Holda a goodbye. Holda remains on the flagship intending to act as a decoy to help the others escape. DJ the hacker buys his freedom by telling Phasma about the escaping vessels, the order attacks said vessels and successfully destroys many.

Snoke orders Kylo to kill Rey but he activates the saber next to Snoke cleaving him in half, Kylo and Rey defeat the guards known as knights of Ren. Rey is forced to face Kylo when he asks her to join him in ruling the galaxy. Meanwhile Holdo crashes herself into Snokes ship to destroy it and let the others escape. The survivors escape to Crait an abandoned base, Rey escapes the explosion along with Finn, Rose and BB-8 aboard the Falcon. Kylo Ren declares himself the supreme leader and orders the First Order to attack Crait. On the surface Poe, Rose and Finn lead the attack against the first Order using speeders, Rey and Chewie deal with a squadron of TIE fighters with the Falcon. All hope seems lost when the Order uses a siege cannon to get through the Base doors.

Luke appears to save the resistance and engages the first order, Kylo orders his forces to focus their attack on Luke. The attacks don’t seem to harm the old Jedi, Kylo steps on the battlefield intending to duel with Luke. The resistances uses these opportunities to slowly escape. Kylo strikes Luke with his saber only to realise Luke is a projection, Luke projected himself using the Force to help the resistance and talk to Kylo. Rey helps the remaining resistance members to escape aboard the Falcon, Rey and Leia sense Luke peacefully dying with the Force. The resistance makes it out alive and the movie pans to the stable hands that helped Finn, Rose and BB-8 escape, one of the kids uses the Force to pull a broom towards him. This symbolises a new generation of Force users coming into the picture having learned about the force through tales of Luke Skywalker.

This wraps up the story, the next chapter seems to be the last one. We will see a few of our favourite characters like Han, Leia, Luke probably for the last time. Gear up for the final chapter, until then may the Force be with you.

Star Wars VII: Explained

The story picks up almost 30 years after the battle of Endor. The republic faces a new enemy, the first order. The fist order is the remnant of the empire lead by supreme leader Snoke. The republic fights back with help of The Resistance led by general Leia Organa. Luke Skywalker has gone missing after the rise of the first order, Leia and the resistance aim to find Luke considered to be a hero.

Poe Damerone a resistance pilot finds a clue to Luke’s whereabouts, he finds a map that is supposed to point towards the hidden Luke. Before Poe could escape storm troopers led by the ruthless Kylo Ren raid the village to find Poe and the piece, Poe hides the pieces in his droid BB-8 before being caught by Kylo. BB-8 escapes into the desert unnoticed while Poe is taken to Kylo’s, aboard the ship Poe gives up the information after being tortured by Kylo. BB-8 is almost captured by scavengers but is saved by human Rey, BB-8 begins to follow Rey around. Meanwhile a storm trooper FN-2187 helps Poe escape the star destroyer.

The duo crash-lands on Jaaku after being shot by the star destroyer, FN-2187 now calling himself Finn survives the crash-landing. Assuming Poe to be dead Finn starts looking for BB-8 intending to take him to the Resistance and start a new life, he encounters BB-8 who is protected by Rey. Finn lies about being with the resistance as BB-8 recognises the jacket to be Poe’s, Finn helps Rey and BB-8 evade the forces sent by the First order who located the droid. With nobody else to help the group against the First order, Rey decides to steal an old abandoned ship. Rey pilots the ship to hyperspace after defeating a squadron of TIE fighters.

The ship is boarded by its former owners Han Solo and Chewbacca. After a brief fight with the gangs pursuing Han, the group now joined by Han and Chewie escape in the Millennium Falcon. Aboard the Falcon Han explains that Luke tried rebuilding the Jedi Order but one of his apprentice defected to the Dark side and destroyed all the others. The map stored within BB-8 is deemed just a fragment by Solo who decides to deliver the map to the resistance. Han decides to take BB-8 to Maz Kanta who could help getting the droid to the resistance. Meanwhile it is revealed by Snoke that Kylo Ren is Han Solo’s son.

After arriving on the planet Takodana to speak with Maz Kanta, Han offers Rey a job which she gladly accepts. The Force draws Rey to the Lightsaber that belonged to the Late Anakin Skywalker and briefly used by his son Luke Skywalker. Confused and scared due to a vision the Force shows her Rey flees to the woods. Maz gives the saber to Finn for safekeeping believing the saber to have chosen Rey. The first order launches an attack on Takadona to find BB-8, the group about to be beaten is saved by a squadron of Resistance X-Wings led by Poe who survived the crash. In the chaos Rey is captured by Kylo and taken to the starkiller base. Leia arrives on Takodana with C3-PO and reunites with Han.

The resistance having learnt about the star killer base plan an operation to destroy the planet, This plan is led by Han who devises of a plan to rescue Rey and plant explosives on the planet. On the starkiller base Kylo tries to use the Force to torture Rey who resists Kylo. Snoke orders Kylo to bring Rey before him as he realises Rey can use the Force. Rey escapes the base using a Jedi Mind trick on a guard. Meanwhile the resistance group arrives on the base and spots Rey after infiltrating the base.

Kylo Ren is sent to deal with the intruders and comes face to face with his father. Han Solo tries to reach out to Kylo by calling him with his birth name Ben, Kylo seems to consider but ends up killing Han. The movies makes excellent use of lighting to show what part of Kylo is thinking, Red light shows Kylo Ren and Blue light shows Ben Solo. An enraged Chewie shoots Kylo and allows Finn to set off the explosives. An injured Kylo follows Rey who fled into the woods, Finn protects Rey with the lightsaber but is knocked unconscious. Rey reaches out with the Force and grabs the saber to defeat Kylo in a duel. Snoke orders Kylo to evacuate the exploding planet and to come before him to complete his training. Chewie rescues Rey and the unconscious Finn and takes them to the rebel base.

On the rebel base BB-8 finds R2 and completes the map to Skywalker. Rey uses this map to reach to Luke using the falcon on the far off planet Ahch-to. She finds Skywalker and gives him his former weapon.

The movie ends at this point, we will take up the next story soon. Until then may the Force be with you.

Star Wars VI: Explained

The story picks up a year after the events of the previous movie. Han Solo was captured in carbonite and taken by Bobba Fett acting on the behalf of Jabba the Hutt. Lando and Chewie left on the Falcon to look for Han, while Luke stayed back and was fitted with a prosthetic arm. Star wars VI: Return of the Jedi is the final chapter in the Luke Skywalker saga.

C3-PO and R2-D2 are sent to Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine by Luke hoping to trade the droids to rescue Han. A bounty hunter Boushh leads a trapped Chewie to the palace, Boushh is however revealed to be Leia that infiltrated the palace to save Han. She unfreezes Han and are about to escape before they are captured by Jabba’s Goons. Luke arrives on Tatooine unarmed to talk with Jabba, after a negotiation gone wrong Luke uses the Force to grab a blaster and tries to shoot Jabba. Jabba quickly opens the trap door under Luke, Luke falls down into a pit that contains a caged Rancor. Luke faces off the Rancor and defeats him, this pushes Jabba to sentence Luke, Han and Chewie to be thrown into a Sarlac’s pit.

Luke uses the a light saber he hid inside R2 to fight off the goons and save his friends, in the chaos Fett falls into the Pit and is presumed Dead. Leia kills Jabba by strangling him with the chains she was bound in, Lando dressed as guard helps fend off the remaining goons and helps the group escape. Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his training and the others rendezvous with a rebel fleet. Yoda confirms the fact that Darth Vader used to be Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker, a distraught Luke completes his training with Yoda. Yoda reveals to Luke the existence of another Skywalker before dying and becoming one with the Force, Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost tells Luke that the other Skywalker is his sister Leia.

The rebel alliance learns about the creation of a second Death Star under the supervision of the emperor himself. The new Death star is protected by an energy shield that must be destroyed, the shield generator is located on the forest moon of Endor. Han leads a strike team to Endor which includes Leia, Luke and Chewie. The strike team makes use of a stolen imperial ship to get past the security undetected. They encounter a tribe of native Ewoks that take Leia to their settlements, after an initial conflict the team manages to convince the Ewoks to help them in their quest. Luke tells Leia of their origin and the truth about Darth Vader, and tells her that she is the last hope should he die.

Luke surrenders himself to the imperial troops hoping to turn Darth Vader back to Anakin. Luke is brought before Vader who takes away Luke’s Saber and rejects his pleas to leave the emperor. Vader leads Luke to the emperor on the Death star who intends to turn Luke to the dark side, he tries to do so by showing Luke how the rebels are about to walk into a trap. The emperor demonstrate the power of the Death star by shooting one rebel star ship down which enrages Luke.

On Endor the strike team led by Han is ambushed by the imperials and is about to be captured, a surprise attacks led by the Ewoks help the team destroy the shield generator. Meanwhile Luke attempts to attack the emperor but is intercepted by Vader. Vader learns about Leia’s existence through the Force and threatens to turn her to the dark side if Luke doesn’t join him. An enraged Luke defeats Vader but stops himself from repeating his fathers mistake. The emepreor tries to convince the young Skywalker to kill his apprentice Vader the same way he convinced Anakin Skywalker to kill his apprentice Dooku. Luke refuses to kill Vader and a furious emperor attacks Luke with an ability known as Force Lightning. Vader betrays the emperor by throwing him down a shaft, he suffers mortal wounds from the Force Lightning due to his suit being super conductive.

A dying Vader request Luke to take off his helmet so he could see Luke for the last time not as Vader but as Anakin Skywalker. The ground team succeeds in destroying the shield so that the rebel pilots led by Lando can attack and destroy the death star. Luke escapes aboard a shuttle with his fathers body and lands on Endor. During the celebrations Leia reveals to Han that Luke is her brother. Luke cremates his father and joins the celebration. The force spirits of Obi-Wan and Yoda joined by the now redeemed Anakin Skywalker watch over Luke and the rebels.

This wraps up the Skywalker saga the next trilogy picks up nearly thirty years after the battle over Endor. Don’t worry we will pick up the story soon so stay tuned. Until Then may the Force be with you.

Star Wars V: Explained

The story picks up 3 years after the events of the last movie. With the Death Star destroyed the imperials are frantically looking for rebels bases. Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader commands one such fleet aboard his imperial star Destroyer, Vader is looking for the any signs of the rebel alliance lead by his daughter Leia Organa. Leia and Luke don’t know about their relationship to each other or the true identity of Darth Vader, they were separated at birth to keep them safe. Luke was sent to Tatooine and Leia was sent to Alderran. In the last movie Luke learns about his connection to the Force and uses it in order to destroy the Death star, but with no one around to help him learn his abelites he doesn’t reach his full potential.

The rebels are staioned on the ice planet of Hoth, Luke sets out to investigate a probe that landed on the planet. While investigating the probe, Luke is captured by a yeti like creature known as a Wampa. Luke defeats the Wampa using the Force but is about to succumb to Hypothermia, the Force ghost of his former mentor Oni-Wan Kenobi instructs Luke to go to Dagobah. Worried about Luke Han Solo sets out to locate Luke, he finds and saves Luke before he could die of Hypothermia. On returning to the base they are alerted about an incoming large scale attack.

The attack consists of large AT-AT walkers and a few TIE fighters, overwhelmed the rebels begin to evacuate. Luke defeats a squadron of AT-AT which help the other rebels escape. Han, Leia, Chewie and C3-PO escape aboard the Millennium Falcon but are forced to hide in an asteroid field due to a malfunctioning hyperdrive. Luke decides to seek out Grand Master Yoda on Dagobah along with R2-D2. Upon reaching the swampy planet of Dagobah Luke finds Yoda who refuses to accept Luke as an apprentice, this reluctance maybe due to how his previous apprentice Count Dooku turned out. After conferring with the Force ghost of Obi-Wan, Yoda accepts Luke as his apprentice and begins training him in the way of the Force.

Solos group manages to evade the imperial fleet and they decide to go to the cloud city of the planet Bespin for repairs. On touch down they are greeted by Han’s old friend and the previous owner of the Millennium Falcon Lando Calrissian. Unbeknownst to the group they were tailed by infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett, son to Jango Fett who served as the template for the clone armies. Fett relays the Falcons location to Darth Vader who then arrives and forces Lando to handover the rebels to guarantee the safety of his people. Vader intends to use the group as bait for Luke Skywalker, he intends to turn Luke to the dark side and fight the emperor for supremacy.

On Dagobah Luke has a premonition of Leia and others being in trouble, he abandons his training against the wishes of Yoda and Obi-Wan to go save his friends.

Vader intends to freeze Luke in carbonite if Luke doesn’t accept his offer to join him. Vader tests his method by freezing Han Solo in carbonite, the frozen Han is taken into custody by Fett on the behalf of mobster Jabba the Hut. Lando saves Leia and Chewie and they get onboard the Falcon to escape the city. Luke arrives on the planet and engages Vader in a duel, Vader being the stronger duelist easily defeats Luke and severs his right hand. Vader tries to convince Luke to join him but Luke persists thinking Vader to be his fathers murderer. Vader tells Luke the truth about himself which Luke refuses to believe, Luke jumps down the air shaft and hangs beneath the floating city.

Luke reaches out to Leia using the Force which prompts Leia to come back to the floating city and save Luke. The group escapes a squadron of TIE fighters when R2 repairs the Falcons Hyperrdrive. They join a rebel fleet for assistance. Luke is outfitted with a prosthetic hand to replace the one he lost, the severed hand is considered an irony by most. Anakin lost his right arm in a similar fashion, fighting the apprentice of Darth Sidious at that time Count Dooku or Darth Tyranus. Luke lost his arm fighting the current apprentice of Darth Sidious Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker. Lando sets out with Chewie to find Han Solo, promising to right his wrongs.

This wraps the story of Episode V we shall pick up the next chapter soon. Until then may the Force be with you.

Star Wars IV : Explained

We have talked about the first three Star Wars movies in the past article, though released later they were the prequels. Episodes IV – VI pick up nearly almost 20 years after episode III where we last saw the twins separated and Anakin become the Sith Lord Darth Vader. The galactic republic is turned into the galactic empire ruled by the Sith lord Darth Sidious also known as Emperor Palpatine. A rebel alliance was formed in the interim period to fight against the tyrannical rule of Sidious, Vader and his forces have decimated the Jedi Order. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Grand Master Yoda are still in hiding, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

The story starts with the rebel alliance receiving stolen plans, the stolen plans belong to a planet destroying space station known as the Death Star. Princess Leia Organa the senator to Alderran is secretly one of the rebel leaders obtains the stolen plans on her ship. Her ship is intercepted by a Imperial Starship under the command of Anakin Skywalker that gave up his old identity and ways to be the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Leia hides the schematics in a droid R2-D2 before she is captured by Vader. The droid evades capture along with its companion C3-PO by using an escape pod to land on the planet Tatooine.

The two droids are captured by the Jawa traders and sold to moisture farmer Owen and Beeru Lars. Owen tasks his nephew Luke Skywalker with cleaning the droids, Luke discovers the message from Leia directed to General Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke takes restraints off R2-D2 and C3-PO out of kindness, R2-D2 determined to complete his mission leaves the Skywalker farm. Luke is attacked by the Sand people while he’s looking for R2 and is saved by Ben Kenobi an old hermit that lives in the outskirts.

Luke talks to Ben and it is revealed that Ben Kenobi is indeed Obi-Wan Kenobi. Obi-Wan tells Luke about his life as a Jedi Knight and tells him about his father Anakin. Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father who was a respected Jedi Knight and an accomplished star pilot, he tells Luke that Vader killed Anakin. Obi-Wan decides to deliver R2 to Bail Organa as requested by Leia, Bail is a fellow rebel veteran adoptive father to Leia. Luke initially declines Obi-Wan’s offer to teach him the way of the Force and help the rebels, Luke accepts when he finds his house burned to the ground by Storm Troopers looking for the droids on the orders of Vader.

Luke and Obi-Wan search for a transport to reach Alderran, they end up hiring smuggler Han Solo and his ship the Millennium Falcon. Pursued by the minions of local mobster Jabba The Hut and stormtroopers Obi-Wan, Luke, the droids and solo board the Falcon along with Solo’s co-pilot Chewbacca.

Alderran is destroyed by Death Star Commander Grand Moff Tarkin while interrogating Leia about the rebel base. The Falcon unaware of the destruction travel to Alderran and is captured by the Death Stars tractor beam. Obi-Wan sneaks his way to stop the death stars tractor beam and asks the others to stay put. Luke convinces Solo and Chewie to help him rescue Leia who is about to be executed by Tarkin. After disabling the tractor beam Obi-Wan fight his former student and sacrifices his life to allow the others to escape the death star. Unbeknownst to the group, The falcon is tracked by the Death star to the rebel base of Yavin 4.

The schematics of the Death star reveal a weakness, an exhaust port that can be used to destroy the entire space station. Luke joins in the squadron of X-Wing pilots on an attack against the slowly approaching Death star. The rebels face heavy losses against the Death star but Solo who left after collecting his reward comes back to assist the rebels. Solo knocks Vader’s TIE Fighter off course before he could shoot Luke, Luke using this opportunity uses the force to guide the missiles to the vulnerable exhaust port. The Death star is destroyed at the last minute and the rebels celebrate their victory. Solo and Luke are awarded medals for their bravery against the Imperials.

We will pick up the next chapter soon so stay tuned. Until then may the Force be with you.

Star Wars III Explained

Lets finish the first chapter in the star wars series by picking up where we left off. Dooku is revealed to be Darth Tyranus and escapes, the Jedi now have a clone army and Anakin is married to Padme which is against the rules. The story picks up three years later with Jedi now leading troops against the separatists, the plot between II and III is best explored in the animated series titled “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”. We might take a short dive into the series later on but right now we’ll talk about the events in Star Wars III: The revenge of the Sith.

The movie begins with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker boarding a flagship commanded by cyborg separatist commander general Griveous. They are sent on a mission to free the captured chancellor Palpatine by infiltrating Griveous’s ship. They come face to face with an old adversary, Count Dooku who is former Jedi Knight turned Sith Lord. In their last battle Dooku was victorious where he injured Obi-Wan and cut Anakin’s hand off, this time Anakin disarms Dooku and has him at his mercy. The chancellor persuades Anakin to behead Dooku which is against the Jedi code but Anakin kills Dooku anyway.

On returning to Coruscant Anakin meets with his secret wife, senator Padme Amidala who reveals to be pregnant with Anakin’s child. Although excited at first Anakin experiences visions of Padme dying in child birth. Palpatine appoints Anakin to the Jedi Council as his personal representative, the Council suspicious of the Jedi council approves Anakin’s appointment but denies him the rank of a Jedi Master. Anakin is instead asked to keep an eye on the chancellor which diminishes Anakin’s faith on the order. Palpatine reveals his knowledge about the dark side of the force and tries to tempt Anakin to the dark side. Anakin reports this to Jedi Master Mace Windu who confronts and subdues the chancellor, Anakin wishing to save Padme kill Windu and joins the Dark Side. Anakin is knighted by Darth Sidious as his apprentice Darth Vader.

General Griveous relocates the separatist leaders to Mustafar a volcanic planet and Obi-Wan is dispatched to deal with him. Unbeknownst to the Jedi order, the clone troopers had a chip that was programmed to accept a specialise order known as order 66. The chancellor heavily disfigured after his fight against Master Windu declares the Jedi as traitors to the galactic council and declares himself as the emperor. He enacts order 66 which turns the clones against the Jedi, heavily outnumbering the Jedi the clones succeed in decimating most of the order. Grand Master Yoda and Obi-Wan survive the onslaught and reach Coruscant where they discover Anakin’s turn to the dark side.

Obi-Wan forced to take action against his former apprentice who he once considered to be a brother seeks out Padme to learn about Anakin’s whereabouts. A distraught Padme travels to Mustafar to convice Anakin to come back to the light, Obi-Wan who snuck his way onto Padme’s ship comes face to face with Anakin trying to reason with him. Anakin blinded with rage accuses Padme and Obi-Wan of conspiring to kill him and proceeds to use the Force to choke Padme. Obi-Wan intercepts and duels his former apprentice to a stalemate having worked together for so long. Obi-Wan however gains the edge while fighting in a river of magma over makeshift platforms, Anakin still on a floating platform attacks Obi-Wan who stands on higher ground. Obi-Wan reluctantly severs Anakin’s limbs and leaves him to die.

After a duel between the chancellor and Yoda comes to a stalemate Yoda flees with senator Bail organa and regroups with Obi-Wan and a barely alive Padme on the planetoid Polis Massa. Padme gives birth to twins Luke and Leia before passing away, Yoda and Obi-Wan decide to separate the twins who have a string connection to the force. Leia is adopted by senator Bail to Alderran and Luke is adopted by his step uncle and aunt Owen and Beru Lars on Tatooine. The surving Jedi are sent into exile biding their time until it is right, Yoda exiles himself to Dagobah and Obi-Wan stays on Tatooine to protect Luke.

Palpatine however finds an almost dying Anakin and resurrects him with technology that places him in a menacing black suit. Palpatine lies to Anakin by telling him that he killed Padme in his anger hence cementing Anakin’s turn to the dark side. The tyrannical rule of the emperor and his apprentice Darth Vader begins. The interim period is somewhat seen in an animated series called Star Wars: Rebels and a couple of games.

We shall take up the next part soon so stay tuned. Until then may the Force be with you.