I'm not trying to be antagonistic with the title -- I'm actually curious as to what he intended with these blood-born things.

 

A quick search of the Web turns up a lot of explanation but not much background. For example Urban Dictionary defines Midichlorian as: "Word imagined by George Lucas to totally f***-up The misticism surrounding the Force in Star Wars."

 

So does anyone know the actual background of the Midichlorians and why Lucas decided that they were the wellspring of the Force? Anyone with inside knowledge (Maybe some of the Mythbusters play??)?

 

To me, it seemed like what Lucas was trying to show was that the Jedi of old had all kinds of knowledge that was lost in the totalitarian regime of the Empire.

 

Of course, in the end, Midichlorians joined Jar Jar Binks, Padme's constant wardrobe changes and the Trade Federation as the primary villain of the prequels on the post-TPM trash heap of ideas. But I'd still love to know what Lucas was trying to get at.

I feel like George Lucas was trying to make a socio-political parallel to religion and evolution so to speak. It makes sense in my head but its difficult to explain.

The question shouldn't be "What was he thinking", rather "What was he smoking?!".

 

I

just do what i do, sit there and do not think about them. because they do not exsist *nod nod*

I get the feeling he was smoking something during his first trilogy.. tried to explain *** he was thinking in the second set (1-3)

Jedi/Force = Religion

Empire = The third reich

 

Makes perfect sense .

The question shouldn't be "What was he thinking", rather "What was he smoking?!".

 

I

 

And where can we get some?

Midichlorians were just an easy way to explain the nature of the Force to the 4-year-old target audience of The Phantom Menace.

 

Who cares about a "Living Force that flows through us, surrounds us and binds the Galaxy together" when you can have LITTLE DUDES LIVING IN YOUR BLOODSTREAM LOLZ.

I'm not trying to be antagonistic with the title -- I'm actually curious as to what he intended with these blood-born things.

 

A quick search of the Web turns up a lot of explanation but not much background. For example Urban Dictionary defines Midichlorian as: "Word imagined by George Lucas to totally f***-up The misticism surrounding the Force in Star Wars."

 

So does anyone know the actual background of the Midichlorians and why Lucas decided that they were the wellspring of the Force? Anyone with inside knowledge (Maybe some of the Mythbusters play??)?

 

To me, it seemed like what Lucas was trying to show was that the Jedi of old had all kinds of knowledge that was lost in the totalitarian regime of the Empire.

 

Of course, in the end, Midichlorians joined Jar Jar Binks, Padme's constant wardrobe changes and the Trade Federation as the primary villain of the prequels on the post-TPM trash heap of ideas. But I'd still love to know what Lucas was trying to get at.

 

I thing he simply tried, by giving "scientific explanations", to settle Star Wars into the Science Fiction genre where most people by mistake consider it to be.... (while it actually IS fantasy with spaceships... no critizm about that, I like Fantasy and the whole atmosphere that made the old films great came from exactly that).

Midichlorians were just an easy way to explain the nature of the Force to the 4-year-old target audience of The Phantom Menace.

 

Which makes it even more weird, since kids love "magic" and such things.

For what it's worth, back when Lucas was establishing rules for the EU (in the 70s), midichlorians were brought up. So, despite it being brought up movie wise first in the prequels, it is not new...

 

I still think the concept sucks

Now, I understand that in the film the midichlorians were actually meant to BE the Force. I.e. they actually caused Force sensitivity. My understanding is that this IS what Lucas originally meant.

 

However, just about every other person realized how insane this was and retconned it. I follow the retcon which makes PERFECT SENSE.

 

 

 

Basically, midichlorians are sort of like crayfish. You see, crayfish live only in clean water. They do not cause water to be clean; you couldn't toss a bunch of crayfish into a polluted lake and it would become pristine. They simply only live in clean water, so if you find crayfish in a lake or stream you know the water is clean. They are indicators.

 

Midichlorians are like crayfish; they are indicators. They show that a particular individual has high Force sensitivity. Oh they grow in every person, but they need high levels of Force sensitivity to really propagate and reach high numbers. So what; Anakin had a level of over 20,000? An average Jedi would probably have something like 5-10 thousand, while a non-Force sensitive would have more like a few hundred or, at most 1,000.

 

This provides a logical way of determine who was Force sensitive (thus explaining how the Order found new Jedi hopefuls) while still keeping the mysticism of the Force alive. What is it? Well we still don't know, but at least we can kinda measure it indirectly.

 

 

 

I realize this doesn't really answer your question. I don't know what he was thinking, but probably he thought this was a really great idea that the fans would love. The problem is no one challenged him on it so he figured it must be a great idea and stayed with it.

He was just trying to show that thousands of years of Jedi existing, at least someone thought "Hey, why are some people force sensitive?" and came up with the midichlorian theory to teach in Jedi 101. I agree it is quite silly, but I guess logically there has to be some reason why certain people, usually blood-related, have force sensitivity.

 

Anyway, people should just disregard them anyway, or go with the retcon version Venan shared, cause that is the best I've heard.

I like FirstAngelus' point that SW is fantasy with spaceships, not sci-fi. I'd never thought of it like that. I'm sure that idea's been around the internet, but I don't follow Star Wars very closely. I only saw it 3 times in the theater in 1977, so you can tell I'm not really dedicated.

 

Midichlorians were a attempt at a story convention which is very satisfying for the audience/reader when done properly: explaining and providing a reason for something curious the audience has already accepted. However, the Force didn't need an emperical explanation. The story would've been better without any attempt to explain.

 

And Miss Twilight, not to jack your thread, but you left out the supervillain of Eps 1-3: special effects. To borrow from Jurrasic Park, "The were so busy thinking about whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." The moments that should be the greatest and most tense (such as lightsaber battels) are usually ruined by 2,000 cgi soldiers storming the background. Ep 4 was character-driven and the one-on-one face-off between Vader and Obi-wan would have been much less potent if hives of stormtroopers had been scampering across multiple levels of the background. Nope, it's just me and you in this tunnel Vader. And if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can imagine.

Now, I understand that in the film the midichlorians were actually meant to BE the Force. I.e. they actually caused Force sensitivity. My understanding is that this IS what Lucas originally meant.

 

However, just about every other person realized how insane this was and retconned it. I follow the retcon which makes PERFECT SENSE.

 

 

 

Basically, midichlorians are sort of like crayfish. You see, crayfish live only in clean water. They do not cause water to be clean; you couldn't toss a bunch of crayfish into a polluted lake and it would become pristine. They simply only live in clean water, so if you find crayfish in a lake or stream you know the water is clean. They are indicators.

 

Midichlorians are like crayfish; they are indicators. They show that a particular individual has high Force sensitivity. Oh they grow in every person, but they need high levels of Force sensitivity to really propagate and reach high numbers. So what; Anakin had a level of over 20,000? An average Jedi would probably have something like 5-10 thousand, while a non-Force sensitive would have more like a few hundred or, at most 1,000.

 

This provides a logical way of determine who was Force sensitive (thus explaining how the Order found new Jedi hopefuls) while still keeping the mysticism of the Force alive. What is it? Well we still don't know, but at least we can kinda measure it indirectly.

 

 

 

I realize this doesn't really answer your question. I don't know what he was thinking, but probably he thought this was a really great idea that the fans would love. The problem is no one challenged him on it so he figured it must be a great idea and stayed with it.

 

This post, best post.

Midichlorians are like crayfish; they are indicators. They show that a particular individual has high Force sensitivity. Oh they grow in every person, but they need high levels of Force sensitivity to really propagate and reach high numbers. So what; Anakin had a level of over 20,000? An average Jedi would probably have something like 5-10 thousand, while a non-Force sensitive would have more like a few hundred or, at most 1,000.

 

This provides a logical way of determine who was Force sensitive (thus explaining how the Order found new Jedi hopefuls) while still keeping the mysticism of the Force alive. What is it? Well we still don't know, but at least we can kinda measure it indirectly.

 

 

This is a good way to look at it. I think a lot of people (Such as myself) took it as "Midis ARE the force."

 

Your logic makes sense good sir

Midichlorians are like crayfish; they are indicators. They show that a particular individual has high Force sensitivity. Oh they grow in every person, but they need high levels of Force sensitivity to really propagate and reach high numbers. So what; Anakin had a level of over 20,000? An average Jedi would probably have something like 5-10 thousand, while a non-Force sensitive would have more like a few hundred or, at most 1,000.

 

This provides a logical way of determine who was Force sensitive (thus explaining how the Order found new Jedi hopefuls) while still keeping the mysticism of the Force alive. What is it? Well we still don't know, but at least we can kinda measure it indirectly.

 

 

This is a good way to look at it. I think a lot of people (Such as myself) took it as "Midis ARE the force."

 

Your logic makes sense good sir

 

Qui-Gon Jinn explained it in episode 1.Midichlorians allow you to communicate with the force.They aren't the force rather they allow you to communicate with and use the force.

Qui-Gon Jinn explained it in episode 1.Midichlorians allow you to communicate with the force.They aren't the force rather they allow you to communicate with and use the force.

QGJ was mistaken, and or misinformed.

I thing he simply tried, by giving "scientific explanations", to settle Star Wars into the Science Fiction genre where most people by mistake consider it to be.... (while it actually IS fantasy with spaceships... no critizm about that, I like Fantasy and the whole atmosphere that made the old films great came from exactly that).

 

To be fair, I think Star Wars has it's own genre. I definitely wouldn't put it in the Fantasy genre.

There is a simple solution to this: There is no prequel trilogy. TOR is the real prequel.

Sci fi is all about blurring the lines between science and imagination.

 

Personally I like the concept.

Going to echo the point about Lucas wanting to push his Science Fantasy series into Science Fiction. I think the idea was that Midichlorians were intended to be like Element Zero in Mass Effect. Explaining away the magic stuff as something technical, as opposed to something more mystical. Clearly, it didn't work. Indeed, part of the popularity of Star Wars is its Science Fantasy setting and I don't think fans liked the shoe-horn explanation for the force. Most of us were simply content with the Force existing as is, without need for explanation.

Star Wars is Sci-fi fantasy.

Midichlorians are like crayfish; they are indicators. They show that a particular individual has high Force sensitivity. Oh they grow in every person, but they need high levels of Force sensitivity to really propagate and reach high numbers. So what; Anakin had a level of over 20,000? An average Jedi would probably have something like 5-10 thousand, while a non-Force sensitive would have more like a few hundred or, at most 1,000.

 

This provides a logical way of determine who was Force sensitive (thus explaining how the Order found new Jedi hopefuls) while still keeping the mysticism of the Force alive. What is it? Well we still don't know, but at least we can kinda measure it indirectly.

 

 

This is a good way to look at it. I think a lot of people (Such as myself) took it as "Midis ARE the force."

 

Your logic makes sense good sir

 

And indeed I think that IS what Lucas originally intended, that they ARE the Force. However that is completely inane and every EU source I have run into better explains it by saying "Oh no, they aren't THE FORCE, they just show where it is."

I remember Lucas saying that was one of his biggest mistakes with Star Wars. The "rule of two" was also one.