midi-chlorian

Set chronologically between the events of ‘Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’ and ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,’ the CGI/animated television show ‘Star Wars Rebels‘ has been seeing more and more references to and characters from the existing ‘Star Wars’ universe popping up in recent episodes.  ‘Star Wars Rebels’ is gearing up to begin its third season on Disney XD this Fall, and the show has steadily been winning over Star Wars fans of all ages as it progresses, telling the tale of the key early days of the formation of the Rebellion.

‘Rebels’ showrunner Dave Filoni, who also served a similar role for Star Wars’ previous TV foray, ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ was present at the Star Wars Celebration in London, and during a media panel, he spoke at length about his interpretation of the definition of midi-chlorians, the fictitious microscopic organisms that live in a person’s bloodstream and dictate how Force-sensitive that person may or may not be.  For many fans, this explanation of why The Force is strong with some and not others is seen as a bit “hokey,” but it is canon.  Here’s how Filoni sees things:

“To me, when you talk about the Force, the Force is in everything that’s alive; that’s what Obi-Wan says originally.  That’s true, even in the days of midi-chlorians, which everybody is afraid to talk about, but I’m not.  What that tells you is – when I was a kid, I believed that everybody probably had the Force, and they just didn’t believe – midi-chlorians actually prove that theory out.  We all have them, just to differing degrees.

“For a long time I’ve used someone like Bruce Lee as an example.  He has, if you like, a lot of talent for martial arts – or a very high midi-chlorian count.  If I train in martial arts, can I learn martial arts?  Yes, I can improve my midi-chlorian count in that discipline.  Will I be as good as Bruce Lee?  No, that’s not my talent.  We were always able to find real-world equivalencies to Star Wars to make comparisons that make it feel like it’s a real thing.  When I talk about Force sensing, I talk about when you are standing somewhere and you don’t know but you feel someone standing behind you.  It’s all extensions of those things on a much broader level.  The Jedi and Sith have one way of interpreting that.”

What do you think – did Filoni did do a good job explaining the situation to those who may not have understood clearly, or does his rationale cause further muddying of the waters for you?

Source: ComicBook.com

horizontal lineTony Schaab misses ‘Futurama’ so much that he made himself a best friend out of a silver trash can and has daily internal debates about cutting off his head and sticking it in a jar.  A lover of most things sci-fi and horror, Tony is an author by day and a DJ by night. Come hang out with Tony on Facebook and Twitter to hear him spew semi-funny nonsense and get your opportunity to finally put him in his place.