Wampa Cave

The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980 and I was 5.  I don't remember A New Hope but I remember sitting in the Theater watching TESB with my neighborhood friend Jamie.  I remember the snow planet, Hoth but there is something absolutely magically about the Wampa Cave that still resonates with me 35 yrs later.

Okay, for those who don't know....our hero,  Luke Skywalker is checking out some meteor activity with his trusty TaunTaun. While they are doing this, the TaunTaun gets startled and boom you see the Abominable Snowman, the Wampa.  Next time you see Luke he is hanging upside down with his feet all iced in and basically stuck in a no win situation.  While the Wampa is chomping on Luke's TaunTaun, Luke immediately realizes he is next on the dinner menu.  Luke quickly checks his surroundings and sees his lightsaber is in the snow a mere few feet away.

At this point, you know without that Luke is a Swanson Hungry Man Frozen dinner waiting to happen.  This is where movie magic happens and completely blew my 5yr old brain....you immediately yell to Luke use the Force!!! He knows the Force so he has to get it!!!  The beauty part of the whole thing is that you never see this happen before but you know it has to be true!! You can just feel it. You know it through the Force.

Let's flash back, to when we first meet Obi-Wan the crazy old hermit from Jundland Wastelands, when he uses his first Jedi trick.  He mimics a Kryat Dragon to startle the pesky Tusken Raiders away from Luke's landspeeder.  Okay,  1st Force power, check.  The next thing we know is a Jedi can handle a lightsaber the Jedi's weapon of choice.  Not really a Force power, but we know Jedi prefer to only carry lazer swords.  The next Jedi trick is probably the most quoted...These are not the Droids you are looking for...the infamous Jedi mind trick. Move along, move along.  As Obi-Wan is quickly breaking down the Force to Luke aboard the Millennium Falcon.  You get the best Han Solo quote in my opinion.  "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." Obi-Wan feels a great disturbance in the Force.  He feels death from the planet, Alderraan.  Next, you learn Jedi can sense things, predict movement doesn't  need sight to do so.  Ok, next thing Obi-Wan does is distract the Stormtroopers with sound so he can get to the Tractor Beam shut down. When Obi-Wan meets Darth and gets slain he disappears in the Force, only leaving his robe. Obi-Wan talks to Luke through the Force and helps him blow up the Death Star.  So that is all the Force powers you know as a Star Wars fan in '77.

Alright fast forward back to the Wampa Cave, there is Luke reaching out to his lightsaber and he just can't get it. This is where the soon to be Jedi does a quick Force meditation and boom lightsaber in hand and quickly there is a one armed Wampa shortly there after. Poor Wampa.  All the Wampa wants is a warm full belly and that Stinky TaunTaun wasn't cutting and now his arm is on the floor.  Well at least it is cauterized.

But what happens in the Wampa Cave does not end there.  Okay, Luke meets the lil old dude, Yoda.  Yoda goes all Insanity Training on him and you know Luke is putting his all into it and sweating and it is hot and sticky.  Lets face it, Dagobah is not your destination wedding kinda of place.  Luke is doing all this fun, hard stuff like a hand stand with Yoda on his leg. Lifting some rocks and he takes on the bucket of bolts, R2.  Dude, in Luke's humble opinion he is rocking it and is in a total Zen Jedi state.  Boom, vision of the future, Cloud City friends in danger and oh yeah still doing this hand stand thingy and totally bails Yoda and R2. 

Luke has to jet out of here to save his friends.  So time to get the Xwing out of the swamp.  Luke - "All right, I will give it a try."  Yoda - "No, try not. Do or Do Not. There is no try." Luke tries to lift the Xwing and Yoda is all like yeah home boy get it and then nope and the Xwing is all sinking like the Titanic into the Dagobah swamp.  So Luke does his typical, Toshi Station whine and he goes moping in his lil pity party for one.  Yoda does his best Jedi Master and picks it up and plops it right on solid ground.  Luke is like what? What?  I have been working away and this lil green dude. Lifts it up like a piece of paper.  Luke - "I don't, I don't believe it." Yoda - "That is why you fail."

Luke is clearly going into a trap in Cloud City, but he is only one that doesn't know it. Vader's plan is simple capture his friends, lure Luke to the Carbonite Freezing Chamber on Cloud City put him on ice and bring him to the Emperor for some Sith training.

So Luke comes face to face with the Evil Darth Vader, Luke knows three things at this point: you killed my Dad, you killed my homie hermit, Obi-Wan and you are a Master of the Dark Side.  Luke escapes Vader's trap and Vader is talking to Luke and trying to get in his head and trying to keep Luke's off his game of course in typical in Sith and bad guy fashion.  The lightsaber battle is brief and Luke actually surprises Vader.   You get a feeling at this point that Darth Vader is holding back as he was with Obi-Wan back in A New Hope.  Luke who is our New Hope just simply meets his match.

This is where the Wampa Cave comes full circle.  As audience, we are ecstatic that Luke was able to grab the lightsaber in the snow, balance himself some Jedi Master and see a true Jedi raise a spaceship out of the swampy water.  Luke and Vader exchange some lightsaber action and then Vader just simple turns it on.  He starts moving objects all over the place and Vader isn't using his hand and waving it around like some Jedi.  (ed. - love me some Watto) He is Sith and a master of the Force and quickly realize this not going well for Luke and Darth Vader just broke the glass ceiling and took it to the next level and in that moment you are left speechless just how it started in the Wampa Cave.

Next week, in preparation for Force Friday I am going to make my early predictions of The Force Awakens... spoilers according to me ;).

Why Qui-Gon Jinn is the most powerful Jedi

We are 120 days away from a new movie and I am ready to flex my Geek muscle to gear up for the new flick.  I hope to bring up engaging topics about the Star Wars universe and fun little discussions.

So I am going for a big one right away,  why I believe Qui-Gon Jinn is the most powerful and influential Jedi ever.

The Prequels basically establish that there is a prophecy that there is one Jedi to bring balance to the Force.  During the 6 films, it is established that this is Anakin Skywalker.  Now, he did this in the most unconventional way. He got seduce by the Dark Side. Anakin hunted down all the good Jedi and killed them all. Basically, only through the love of his son broke through the veil of lies and deceit of the Emperor was handing Vader/Anakin.  He took him down so Luke the only living Jedi at that time can reestablish the Jedi Order just like it was before the Rise of the Sith and by the way Qui-Gon called it.

So logically, the choice would be Anakin or Yoda and then maybe Luke or Obi-Wan. So just going off the grid a smidge to say no one has anything over Qui-Gon Jinn.

First, Qui-Gon is a practicing Jedi.  What I mean be that is he was feet on the street kind of Jedi.  As the Jedi Council is in their tower,  Qui-Gon was out on the street.  Although the Jedi Council found him reckless, it was him and his padawan Obi-Wan that were sent as emissaries to help the Republic talk to the Trade Foundation.  Again, he was relatable and was able to discern both sides. Qui-Gon was very much into the Living Force.  He was very aware of what was going on.  When Qui-Gon meets a Sith Lord, Darth Maul and relates that information to the Jedi Council, you very much get a sense that they think Qui-Gon is lying.  The Jedi were not out there at least a lot of the masters were not which causes them to loose site of the outside world.  Yoda recognizes this way to late.  It was only after Supreme Chancellor Palpatine shows his true self. "Finally, he saw the truth. This truth: that he, the avatar of light, Supreme Master of the Jedi Order, the fiercest, most implacable, most devastatingly powerful foe the darkness have ever known...just---didn't---have it. He never had it. He had lost before he started. He had lost before he was born. The Sith has changed.  The Sith had grown, had adapted, had invested a thousand years' intensive study into every aspect of not only the Force but Jedi lore itself, in preparation for exactly this day. The Sith had remade themselves. They had become new.  While the Jedi---The Jedi had spent the same millennium training to re fight the last war." (ROTS by Matthew Stover p 396). You see this manifest on screen when Bail Organo rescues him in the speeder.  You see the sense of lost in Yoda's face and slight shake of he head.  I say all this to establish that Qui-Gon is much more in tune with the people/society around him and ever pressing danger that was the Sith.

Second, Qui-Gon showed great humility.  This is clear when he literally runs into Jar Jar Binks (ed. - Lucas just stated that Goofy was his inspiration for Jar-Jar).  I will save all my Jar Jar ranting for another time.  It was Qui-Gon who knew that a local could be a great guide. Qui-Gon showed immense patience like that of a parent to see through Jar Jar's childish ways and help them on their quest.  Through this, Queen Amidala meets a Gungan for the very 1st time and help establish a treaty with the Gungans to take back Naboo from the Trade Federation.  She is on the planet her whole life and takes a Jedi to bring two native people together.  Yoda learned this from Qui-Gon.  Let's be honest Episode 1 Yoda is a prick.  The way he interacts with young Anakin is not very cool and Jedi like.  By Attack of the Clones, he is a much softer Yoda and as he teaches his Bear Clan and helps Obi-Wan find his missing planet, Kamino.  He states "Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is".  Yoda then passes this onto Luke.  Luke fails miserably.  Yoda poses as a disfunctional hermit/guide.  Luke does not see it and it is only through Luke's impatience,  Yoda reveals his true self.  Luke learns from this and applies it in Return of the Jedi.  Luke and crew meet the Ewoks the local people on Endor's Moon when Chewie wants a tasty afternoon snack.  Solo wanted to blast the Ewoks but Luke told Han to hold off.  Luke is not the aggressor here and let's it unfold.  With that, these lil fur balls help the Rebels take down the Empire. The Sith always see a means to end.  Sith would enslave the local people and dominate them for help with resource gathering. This is not the Jedi way and Luke saw the potential of their new ally which the Emperor doesn't forsee and leads to the ultimate destruction of the Empire as we know it. It goes back to the golden rule that Jesus Christ taught in Luke 6:31 - "Do to others as you would want them to do to you."

Finally,  there is the Journey of the Whills. Qui-Gon is the first Jedi to maintain himself in the Force.  We first see this in A New Hope and Obi-Wan just disappears before Darth Vader does the killing blow. "You can't win Darth.  If you strike me down, I will become even more powerful than you can imagine." Obi-Wan is not only telling Darth Vader this but also the viewing audience that something strange and big is going to happen.  Although, Vader does seem shocked.  It seems like a common Jedi thing to do.  Qui-Gon is the first to do it.  One of my favorite scenes in Revenge of the Sith is when Emperor Palpatine seduces Anakin to the dark side.  At the Opera House, Palaptine starts off with "'Anakin ---are you familiar with The Tragedy Darth Plagueis the Wise?'" (ROTS by Matthew Stover, p226). Palpatine drops the bait '"Its a Sith legend, of a Dark Lord who had turned his sight inward so deeply that he had come to comprehend, and master, life itself. And---because the two are one, whwn seen clearly engough---death itself."' (ROTS by Matthew Stover, p227).  What is not clear in the movie but fleshed out in the novel is that Anakin keeps on having visions of Padme screaming on the birthing table and dying.  This nightmare is ultimately what drives Anakin to find an alternate route.  Really, it is Fear of the unknown that drives Anakin towards the Dark Side.  This is the ironic part...when Anakin takes out Mace Windu. The Emperor gives Anakin his Sith name....Darth Vade. The Emperor states Anakin "I want your power. I want the power to stop death" Emporer "That power only my Master truly achieved, but together we will find it. The Force is strong with you, my boy. You can do anything" (ROTS by Matthew Stover p 339).  So he didn't even know how to do this and yet it was the brash Jedi, Qui-Gon that lead the way.  Of course, in the Clone Wars Cartoon Series we found out that Qui-Gon visits both Anakin and Obi-Wan on the planet Mortis (Ed. - must watch, Mortis Trilogy!).

Think about it...There would be no blowing up the Death Star without Obi-Wan encouraging words to Luke. There would be no direction to seek out the only other living Jedi, Yoda.

The first time you see this happen is when Anakin attacks the Tusken Raider camp.  Qui-Gon through the Force as Yoda is mediating and Yoda hears Qui-Gon's voice and warning to Anakin.  There is this wonderful exchange between Qui-Gon and Yoda that is "off camera" in the movie.  "Even after nearly nine hundred years, the road to self knowledge was rugged enough to leave him bruised and bleeding. He spoke softly, but not to himself. Though no one was with him, he was not alone. "My failure, this was. Failed the Jedi, I did." He spoke to the Force.  And the Force answered him. Do not blame yourself, my old friend. As it sometimes had these past thirteen years, when the Force spoke to him, it spoke in the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn. (ROTS by Matthew Stover p 409).  Qui-Gon goes on to explain the one thing Anakin wanted the one the most powerful Sith Lord chased and the very wise Master of the Force, Yoda didn't even know..."With my help, you can learn to join with the Force, yet retain consciousness. You can join your light to it forever. Perhaps, in time, even your physical self.  Yoda didn't move. "Eternal life..." The ultimate goal of the Sith, yet they can never achieve it; it comes only by the release of self, not the exaltation of self. It comes through compassion, not greed. Love is the answer to the darkness.  "Become one with the Force, yet influence still to have..." Yoda mused. " A power greater than all, it is." (ROTS by Matthew Stover p 409)

So there you have it. These are my reasons why I feel Qui-Gon Jinn is the most powerful Jedi.  I hope you enjoyed.  Next week, I will be talking about the Wampa Cave.

Peace!