Tuesday, August 6, 2024

What If...?: The Acolyte

This one is an easy one because anything I do here is going to be leagues better than what Disney put out, but while I'm not one to go after low-hanging fruit, this one is BEGGING for a "What If...?" and I'm gonna give it to you! Granted this one is a lay-up but I'll be explaining my choices and expand on later seasons, which I'm projecting to be at least 3 Seasons. I won't keep you any longer, let's ask the question what if "The Acolyte" was good? No, like really good. Let's dive in;

For starters let's keep some of the original players, Verosha, Jecki, Yord, and Master Sol can all stay, EXCEPT Yord is not a Jedi in here he is a Republic Soldier and I'll add one other character a young Republic Mechanic named Taryn. In my version of "The Acolyte" Master Sol is tasked with traveling to a planet and retrieving some leftover Sith artifacts that The Jedi fear could fall into the wrong hands, with the Sith having been dormant for years The Jedi now feel it safe to start scrubbing their existence from planets now in The Republic. Verosha is a graduate of The Jedi Academy Of Archeology and as such she has tons of knowledge about The Sith and Sith Lords and so on, so she is excited to be a part of this mission, Jecki is a very by-the-book Jedi, she'll be the straight man to Verosha's excitement. They're both padawans because this mission is very low stakes BUT The Republic still felt it necessary to accompany them on the mission. Master Sol is very stern and cautious. Taryn, is a young handsome mechanic and Yord is his superior officer. Yord and Tayrn have not worked together before but Yord already develops something of a big-brother relationship with him.

During the mission, they arrive on the planet due to a safe but still crash landing that Taryn couldn't fix. Due to the landing, the ship is damaged but fixable and the location is a thick forest, so speed bikes are out of the question. Yord attempts to boot up the mechanic droid from his containment unit but Taryn stops him saying that the mechanic droid can only do so much and that it's still best to have a person do a full diagnostic, to which Yord agrees.

They manage to make it to the Sith Temple, Verosha points out various symbols and signs indicating traps and markings of Sith Lords who've been to this temple (name-dropping Exar Kun, Darth Bane, and so on). Taryn and Verosha kinda form a bond since this is both their first time on a really big mission. Yord notices this and urges Taryn to talk to Verosha after the mission is over but Taryn declines. Master Sol explains the history of the temple and says that despite it being a Sith Temple The Jedi did manage to fight the Sith who held the temple and managed to seal away a Sith artifact behind a door that only a Jedi could open, The Jedi decided that now was the time to retrieve it. Taryn asks why didn't The Jedi take it then but Master Sol says The Jedi who tried realized he was out-matched and got the only victory he could.

Before they go any further within the temple Taryn stops Verosha before a trap is activated, Master Sol gets gravely injured, Yord is killed, and Jecki is okay. Master Sol realizes the trap is Sith poison and The Force cannot heal him but regular medicine can, so Jecki makes a dash for the ship to get medical supplies. Verosha and Taryn carry Master Sol through the temple and they arrive in a chamber, Master Sol tells Verosha to be alert and suddenly they're attacked by invisible creatures. The creatures are triggered by movement so every time someone moves they attack, Master Sol is immobile so the creatures don't attack him. Verosha protects Taryn and she uses the forces to assess the movements of the creatures. Verosha loses focus but Taryn manages to blast one with a lucky shot. Taryn is feeling good about himself until a creature appears behind him, Master Sol reacts and uses the force to push the creature back, however, this action draws attention to him and another creature stabs him fatally killing him. Verosha Force pushes the creature and mourns her master.

Back at the ship, Jecki arrives and looks for the medical kit accidentally opening the mechanic droid containment unit but it isn't a droid that's inside but a dead man falls out. Jecki searches the dead man and finds a holo-message, in the holo-message the young man says goodbye to his sister and talks about the mission they're currently on and Jecki pauses the message, gasps, and runs out of the ship. Verosha and Taryn arrive at "The Door Only A Jedi Can Open", Verosha draws her lightsaber and aims it at Taryn citing that Taryn managed to save Verosha from the trap before she could identify it as a trap and she recounts the previous battle with the creatures and noticed how effortlessly Taryn managed to fight off the creatures as if he knew how to fight them already. Jecki arrives and tells Verosha that Taryn is lying and that the real Taryn is dead.

Jecki draws her lightsaber in an attempt to bring Taryn in before the Republic but she starts gagging for air, Verosha swings at Taryn but she's frozen unable to release her lightsaber or follow through with the swing, Taryn lets out a big sigh of relief and smile;

TARYN
You have no idea how good it feels to be finally done with this farce.

VEROSHA
You planned this, didn't you?!

TARYN
Of course, none of you were going to leave this place alive, I already made sure 
of it.

A tear streams down Verosha's eye as she struggles against Taryn's force hold.

From there Taryn using the Force forces Verosha to open The Door and Taryn casually walks towards the door.

VEROSHA
WHO ARE YOU!?
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!

TARYN
Why? Because I can. And as for my name, my name is Sheev, Sheev Palpatine.

Taryn then snaps Verosha's neck using The Force and enters the door. Inside he finds an inner chamber and on an altar is a Holocron, he activates it and a figure appears;

FIGURE
If you have found this Holocron then it is power you seek, but be warned the road you walk now is a dangerous and unforgiving one. If you have the fortitude to continue then you must find me. I am Darth Plagueis and if you find me you will find power...unlimited power.

Taryn now Sheev smiles.

Roll Credits. A few notes, you're probably wondering why Palpatine was able to hide right in front of a Jedi Master but we have 3 movies to establish that Palpatine is really good at hiding in plain sight and it'd make sense that he'd learn this skill early on. I want to portray Palpatine as something of an untrained force prodigy, someone who if given proper training can and will be extremely dangerous. How he acquired his force powers will be left in mystery. 

For the 2nd Season, we'll pick up years later, the reason being that I DO NOT want Darth Plagueis to be a character, I want him to be a presence. The 2nd Season will feature Palpatine's rise in the political scene, something akin to "House Of Cards" except Palpatine is far more ruthless than Frank Underwood. I want to be clear that at NO point is Palpatine ever going to be shown in a sympathetic light because we're establishing that Palpatine simply wants power, therefore he will not be given a backstory to derive motive or anything of the sort, he's simply power-hungry. The 2nd Season will feature Palpatine having a fling with a woman and ordering her murder when she reveals she's pregnant (thus setting up Rey...I know, we all wanna scrub the sequel trilogy from the canon but what can ya do...huh?). 

We'll get to see his interactions with Count Dukoo and meet a Young Darth Maul. The 2nd Season will also feature flashbacks to Palpatine's arduous training in bits and pieces revealing that modern-day Palpatine's body looks like Vash The Stampede's because of the training. The 2nd Season finale will conclude with a flashback of Palpatine killing Darth Plagueis in his sleep with Palpatine being frustrated by this because he wasn't strong enough to fight Plagueis fairly. Once again this urges Palpatine to seek more power. The 3rd Season will see Palpatine rise to the Senate and on a diplomatic mission to Tatooine, he meets Shmi Skywalker, thus concluding the series. I know, I know this is all very rough and very cliche' BUT it does a few things, it fills in the gaps of Palpatine's lore (not that it was needed) but it adds depth to the character without taking anything away from the final version, the final version of Palpatine is the old man sitting on the throne who has everything he wants. This establishes Palpatine as a master manipulator and a prodigy, thus making his fight with Yoda in Episode III make a lot more sense.

By the time we get to "Return Of The Jedi" Palpatine hasn't had to try to do anything, so he's just enjoying himself, in "The Acolyte" we get to see him work at it and put forth an effort. This isn't a character who eventually gets seduced by The Dark Side, he's all in already and is just building himself up. And of course, I think Dan Stevens would make an amazing young Palpatine, he's handsome enough to be charming but his acting ability makes him able to switch gears on a dime, going from charming lad to raging psychopath with the simple change of a facial expression. The reveal in Season One may have been obvious but that'd be the hook for the other 2 seasons, I don't want people to know they're watching a Palpatine origin story right away, if they guess it, cool, if not, cool! Either way, I hope they'd be along for the ride. Lemme know what you guys think and I'll catch you guys laters!

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