Midichlorian replication

[gtrain29]

I always thought midichlorians were a dumb idea ruining the magic of fantasy by attempting to make SW more sci fi. Anyway, if these midichlorians are microorganisms living inside your cells, then why don't people just take a blood sample and start culturing these things in labs?
They could replicate gazillions of these "test tube" midichlorians which could then be injected into people where they would take up residence in a "symbiotic" relationship making the host force-sensitive.
In fact, they could set up the midichlorian lab next to the cloners and make an army of jedi instead of soldiers.

I don't know if that had been mentioned before, but the thought occurred to me the other day. I, personally, had never even thought about how someone is able to use the force before the PT, nor did I care. Yoda's & Obi-Wan's explanations of the force were good enough for me. Fantasies like star wars don't need things explained with science. I gave up reading the novels because the writers always tried to make it into science fiction which completely contradicts with the things that made SW great: Jedi & the force, Han's luck, lightsabers actually working, a desert planet being inhabited by giant banthas dewbacks and rontos even though there's no foliage or water, and so on-- these things weren't the point of the story do needed no explanation. Okay, I'm rambling now so I'll stop. But if anyone knows the answer please respond.

[stillakid]

I always thought midichlorians were a dumb idea ruining the magic of fantasy by attempting to make SW more sci fi. Anyway, if these midichlorians are microorganisms living inside your cells, then why don't people just take a blood sample and start culturing these things in labs?
They could replicate gazillions of these "test tube" midichlorians which could then be injected into people where they would take up residence in a "symbiotic" relationship making the host force-sensitive.
In fact, they could set up the midichlorian lab next to the cloners and make an army of jedi instead of soldiers.

I don't know if that had been mentioned before, but the thought occurred to me the other day. I, personally, had never even thought about how someone is able to use the force before the PT, nor did I care. Yoda's & Obi-Wan's explanations of the force were good enough for me. Fantasies like star wars don't need things explained with science. I gave up reading the novels because the writers always tried to make it into science fiction which completely contradicts with the things that made SW great: Jedi & the force, Han's luck, lightsabers actually working, a desert planet being inhabited by giant banthas dewbacks and rontos even though there's no foliage or water, and so on-- these things weren't the point of the story do needed no explanation. Okay, I'm rambling now so I'll stop. But if anyone knows the answer please respond.

Ask George. It was his dumb idea.

[Exhaust Port]

I think that the idea of midichlorians creates too many stupid possibilities. It seems that it would be possible to do blood doping with Midichlorians. Instead of boosting your red blood cell count you would boost your Midichlorians and there by boost your Force ability. Having trouble in battle? Take a 200cc shot of pure Midichlorians and you'll be downright invincible.

[Dr Zoltar]

Sounds similar to the Jedi Knight video games. There was the Valley of the Jedi with some strange artifact that could give or remove Jedi powers. Not that I agree with that. I choose to think that the Midichlorians are a by-product of having the force. Like when one's white blood cell count goes up when one is sick.

[stillakid]

Sounds similar to the Jedi Knight video games. There was the Valley of the Jedi with some strange artifact that could give or remove Jedi powers. Not that I agree with that. I choose to think that the Midichlorians are a by-product of having the force. Like when one's white blood cell count goes up when one is sick.

So maybe that's what happened to Palpatine in the end. He used too much Force, overloaded his system, and they exploded outward. Hmm?

Interesting rationalization for it, like JediTricks has mentioned. There are still weird problems with the concept plus the fact that it doesn't mesh at all with the original trilogy, but if we have to reconcile the Prequels somehow, it's a start.

In the end, I'll go to my death bed believing the George just randomly tossed them in as a cheap and easy way to "show" that Anakin had Force potential...and did so without thinking through the ramifications for the rest of the story. He did it with this element in the Prequels as well as other things, so there is definitely a case to be made for my argument.

[Imperial Monarche]

Well, I'm not personally agreeing or disagreeing with the midichlorian concept, nor do I really care, but frokm the way I understood Qui-Gon's explanation of them, everyone has midichlorians. Those that have more are more force sensitive, but even that, everyone has the ability to use the force. He said that "when you learn to quiet your mind, you will hear them". the problem with most people is that they are too impatient to quiet their mind, or maybe the more of a count you have, the easier it is to listen to them. And with that cloning Jedi stuff, maybe the midichlorians are built for one person only and do not exisit in a symbionic relationship with someone else. This is all speculation seeing how Lucas set up the whole thing and went absolutely nowhere with it...yet. That's the problem with some of us that complain about a certain idea introduced in the prequals that seem like they were just thrown in cause Lucas didn't want to think, we haven't finished the trilogy. After Ep.III comes out and there's still no more mention of them, then I'll be like, Yeah, that was dumb. But, some of you have said there doesn't need to be explanations in fantasy. Why? Everything needs some kind of explanation behind it, others wise then it becomes a dumb idea that just comes out of nowhere. The prequals were basically an "explanation trilogy". Some need to learn to understand that because they are almost over.

gtrain29, you said that he is turning this saga into science fiction...aren't they suppose to be? walk into a video store and ask them where star wars is located in the store, see what section they take you too.

[stillakid]

gtrain29, you said that he is turning this saga into science fiction...aren't they suppose to be? walk into a video store and ask them where star wars is located in the store, see what section they take you too.

Just my take on that very interesting question...

What makes Star Wars most interesting to me, anyway, as opposed to other "sci fi" like Star Trek or Babylon 5, for instance, is that it hasn't gone the way of "techy" storytelling which tends to be the fallback position of most "space" tales. Star Wars has far more in common with a western or opera or fairy tale than anything else we've seen set in space. It spawned the idea that space movies didn't have to be all about flying saucers and weird guitar feedback for a soundtrack. Instead, we have been treated to symphonic accompaniment (John Williams), horrific thrills (ALIEN), incredible action (ALIENS, ID4) and other filmmaking innovations because of it. The story is the thing which drew most of us here some 25 years ago and that is what we were seeking above all else when we flocked back to the theater for Episode I.

[Jaff]

Just listen to the little parisites infesting your body and you'll be one with this desperate excuse to explain jedi powers to the unimaginative masses. In fact Jedi are trill based on the race from Star Trek!!!


As you can see I don't like the concept of Midi"thingamagigs". In fact each time I watch the film I try to ignore the conversations where they are mentioned. Thank god they were not mentioned in the next film. I know Midichlorine tablets are part of the SW universe now, but if you want me to accept it you'll have to torture me!!!!

[Kidhuman]

Okay, sitting here reading this thread something dawned on me.

There was no need to explain Midichlorians in the Ot. There were only 3 Jedi's that were shown, Ben, Luke, Yoda. They both knew he had high levels most likely. So there was no need to explain it.

Now, in the Prequels, there are many Jedi running around. The werent thought of as extinct yet. This is the way the figured out who had the most potential and how to rank them in the academy. With the showing of more Jedi, there was a need for an explanation. They would go from planet to planet with there level counters and all. If they were doing that in the OT they would have been found out. Instead they knew who would have the best chance to take out vader and concentrated one last ditch effort into Luke.

Make any sense?

[stillakid]

There was no need to explain Midichlorians in the Ot.
....Make any sense?

Well, beyond the existence of them in the first place causing problems with character development and the way the audience was originally meant to perceive Luke (empathy vs sympathy), the question of explanation comes up during Luke's hastened training. As you correctly point out, there are only three Jedi during that time. But Luke is never fully ready for at least 2/3 of that time and Obi dies fairly soon in the story. So the necessity to get Luke out of the blocks sooner than later becomes apparent lest the Sith have no true adversaries.

Which brings us to the question: if Luke's expedited training was indeed so necessary to the struggle, why wouldn't Ben or Yoda tell Luke about the Midi's? Instead of droning on and on about "the nature of the Force" and "feelings" and other intangibles, why wouldn't they have cut to the chase and given Luke the shortcut to understanding how and why humans can use this mysterious Force?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?