#StudyingStarWars Day 2

Getting ready for Day 2 of Professor Matranga’s Star Wars Class, held this week at the University of Denver.

In the second installment of Professor Matranga’s #StudyingStarWars class at the University of Denver today, the focus of the class shifted to pitching ideas for their final projects, as well as the Prequel trilogy and the Clone Wars animated series.

PITCH DAY

The main order of business this morning was to ensure that each student had a firmer idea and plan of execution for the final project due at the end of the week. Accordingly, Professor Matranga spoke to each member of the class about the ideas that they had: topics were widely diverse, ranging from the business of Star Wars to a highly technical analysis of the Death Star’s propulsion system.

A quick thought that ended up guiding me to my final project thesis

As for myself, I finally settled on exploring the “Knights of the Old Republic” role-playing video game from Bioware, and the world that formed around it in the years after its release. The game has mechanics that are innovative and allow the player nearly complete control of the main character’s actions, and shines even more brightly when focusing on the main story line.

The cover of the ”Knights of the Old Republic” video game that inspired my final project choice. Credit: Wookieepedia

The main character, after suffering memory loss, spends much of the game fighting against the remaining forces of Darth Revan, only to learn that he/she IS Revan, in a stunning plot twist, leaving the fate of the galaxy in the player’s hands thereafter.

This story created a myriad of story lines which flowed from its events, and provided an ideal situation for me to explore in writing my final project. Most specifically, I plan to focus on how this game caused the creation of “Knights of the Old Republic II,” “The Old Republic” and a series of novels in the pre-Disney canon.

CLONE WARS

Credit: Wikipedia

Finally, Professor Matranga wrapped up the lecture portion of the class by showing an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated series set in between Episodes II and III. During the episode, students were encouraged to tweet their reactions and thoughts on the episode and series as a whole.

My personal beliefs regarding the value and utility of the animated series as a whole

Once the credits rolled, Professor Matranga sent his students off to complete their work for the day, which includes preparation for tomorrow by watching “Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed” and reading Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero With A Thousand Faces,” concluding the day’s lecture.

Credit: Wookieepedia

May the Force be with you…