I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but you're too shy to say it (say it)
Inside, we both know what's been going on (going on)
We know the game and we're gonna play it

And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching, but you're too shy to say it (to say it)
Inside, we both know what's been going on (going on)
We know the game and we're gonna play it

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Mommy Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Mommy Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Mommy Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Mommy Shark

Daddy Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Daddy Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Daddy Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Daddy Shark

Grandma Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Grandma Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Grandma Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Grandma Shark

Grandpa Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Grandpa Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Grandpa Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Grandpa Shark

Let's go hunt, doo-doo, doo-doo
Let's go hunt, doo-doo, doo-doo
Let's go hunt, doo-doo, doo-doo
Let's go hunt

Run away, doo-doo, doo-doo
Run away, doo-doo, doo-doo
Run away, doo-doo, doo-doo
Run away (ah!)

Safe at last, doo-doo, doo-doo
Safe at last, doo-doo, doo-doo
Safe at last, doo-doo, doo-doo
Safe at last (phew)

It's the end, doo-doo, doo-doo
It's the end, doo-doo, doo-doo
It's the end, doo-doo, doo-doo
It's the end

Shrek
Theatrical release poster
Directed by | Andrew AdamsonVicky Jenson
Written by | Ted ElliottTerry RossioJoe StillmanRoger S. H. Schulman
Based on | Shrek!
by William Steig
Produced by | Aron WarnerJohn H. WilliamsJeffrey Katzenberg
Starring | Mike MyersEddie MurphyCameron DiazJohn Lithgow
Edited by | Sim Evan-Jones
Music by | Harry Gregson-WilliamsJohn Powell

Production
companies

 | DreamWorks Animation^[1]PDI/DreamWorks^[2][3]
Distributed by | DreamWorks Pictures^[3]

Release dates

 | April 22, 2001 (Mann Village Theatre)^[4]May 18, 2001 (United States)

Running time

 | 90 minutes^[5]
Country | United States
Language | English
Budget | $60 million^[5]
Box office | $491.8 million^[6]

Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 children's picture book of the same name by William Steig. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson (in their feature directorial debuts) and written by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Joe Stillman, and Roger S. H. Schulman, it is the first installment in the Shrek film series. The film stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. In the film, an embittered ogre named Shrek (Myers) finds his home in the swamp overrun by fairy tale creatures banished by the obsessive ruler Lord Farquaad(Lithgow). With the help of Donkey (Murphy), Shrek makes a pact with Farquaad to rescue Princess Fiona (Diaz) in exchange for regaining control of his swamp.

After purchasing rights to Steig's book in 1991, Steven Spielbergsought to produce a traditionally-animated film adaptation, but John H. Williams convinced him to bring the project to the newly founded DreamWorks in 1994. Jeffrey Katzenberg, along with Williams and Aron Warner, began development on Shrek in 1995, immediately following the studio's purchase of the rights from Spielberg. Chris Farley was cast as the voice for the title character, recording most of the required dialogue, but died in 1997 before his work on the film was finished; Myers was hired to replace him, and gave Shrek his iconic Scottish accent. The film was initially intended to be created using motion capture, but after poor test results, the studio hired Pacific Data Images to complete the final computer animation. Shrekparodies other fairy tale adaptations, primarily animated Disney films.^[7]

Shrek premiered at the Mann Village Theatre In Westwood, and was later shown at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or,^[4][8] making it the first animated film since Disney's Peter Pan (1953) to be chosen to do so.^[9] The film was theatrically released by DreamWorks Pictures in the United States on May 18, 2001, and grossed over $491 million worldwide, becoming the fourth highest-grossing film of 2001. It was widely praised by critics for its animation, voice performances, soundtrack, writing and humor, which they noted catered to both adults and children. Shrek was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and won for Best Animated Feature. It earned six nominations at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), winning for Best Adapted Screenplay.

The film's success helped establish DreamWorks Animation as a competitor to Pixar in feature film computer animation. Three sequels have been released—Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third(2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010)—along with two spin-off films—Puss in Boots (2011) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish(2022)—and other productions in the Shrek franchise. It is also regarded as one of the most influential animated films of the 2000s. The United States Library of Congressselected Shrek for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2020.^[10]

Plot

Shrek is an anti-social and highly-territorial ogre who loves the solitude of his swamp. His life is interrupted after the dwarfish Lord Farquaad of Duloc exiles a vast number of fairy-tale creatures, who inadvertently end up in the swamp. Angered by the intrusion, Shrek decides to visit Farquaad and demand they be moved elsewhere. He reluctantly allows the talkative Donkey, who was exiled as well, to tag along and guide him to Duloc.

Meanwhile, Farquaad is presented with the Magic Mirror, who tells him that he must marry a princess in order to become king. Farquaad chooses Princess Fiona, who is imprisoned in a castle guarded by a dragon. Unwilling to rescue Fiona himself, he organizes a tournament in which the winner will receive the "privilege" of performing the task on his behalf. When Shrek and Donkey arrive at Duloc, Farquaad announces that whoever kills the ogre will be crowned the victor; however, Shrek and Donkey defeat Farquaad's knights with relative ease. Amused, Farquaad proclaims them champions, and agrees to relocate the fairy-tale creatures if Shrek rescues Fiona.

Shrek and Donkey travel to the castle and are attacked by the dragon. Shrek locates Fiona, who is appalled by his lack of romanticism; they flee the castle after rescuing Donkey. When Shrek removes his helmet and reveals he is an ogre, Fiona stubbornly refuses to go to Duloc, demanding Farquaad arrive in person to save her; Shrek carries her against her will. That night, after setting up camp and with Fiona alone in a cave, Shrek confides with Donkey about his frustration with being feared and rejected by others over his appearance. Fiona overhears this and decides to be kind to Shrek. The next day, the three are harassed by Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men, with Fiona dispatching them easily using martial arts. Shrek becomes impressed with Fiona, and they begin to fall in love.

When the trio nears Duloc, Fiona takes shelter in a windmill for the evening. Donkey later enters alone and discovers that Fiona has transformed into an ogre. She explains she has been cursed since childhood, forced to transform into an ogre every night, and changing back at sunrise. She tells Donkey that only "true love's kiss" will break the spell and change her to "love's true form". Meanwhile, Shrek is about to confess his feelings to Fiona, when he overhears Fiona referring to herself as an "ugly beast". Believing that she is talking about him, Shrek angrily leaves and returns the next morning with Farquaad. Confused and hurt by Shrek's abrupt hostility, Fiona accepts Farquaad's marriage proposal and requests they be married before nightfall.

Shrek abandons Donkey and returns to his now-vacated swamp. He quickly realizes that despite his privacy, he feels miserable and misses Fiona. Donkey returns to the swamp and confronts Shrek, explaining that the "ugly beast" Fiona was referring to was someone else, and urges him to express his feelings to Fiona before she marries. The two reconcile and quickly travel to Duloc by riding Dragon, who Donkey has befriended. Shrek interrupts the wedding just before the ceremony completes, and tells Fiona that Farquaad is only marrying her to become king. The sun sets as Fiona transforms into an ogre in front of everyone, causing Shrek to understand what he overheard. Outraged and disgusted, Farquaad orders Shrek executed and Fiona detained. The two are saved when Dragon, alongside Donkey, break in and devour Farquaad. Shrek and Fiona profess their love and share a kiss. Though Fiona's curse is broken, this permanently makes her an ogre against her expectations, though Shrek reassures her that he still finds her beautiful. They marry in the swamp with fairy-tale creatures in attendance, then leave for their honeymoon.

I'm never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it's easy to pretend
I know you're not a fool

I should've known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I'd been given
So I'm never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you, oh

Time can never mend
The careless whispers of a good friend
To the heart and mind
Ignorance is kind
There's no comfort in the truth
Pain is all you'll find

I'm never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it's easy to pretend
I know you're not a fool

I should've known better than to cheat a friend (should've known better, yeah)
And waste the chance that I'd been given
So I'm never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you, oh

Never without your love

Tonight the music seems so loud
I wish that we could lose this crowd
Maybe it's better this way
We'd hurt each other with the things we'd want to say

We could have been so good together
We could have lived this dance forever
But now, who's gonna dance with me?
Please stay

And I'm never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm
Though it's easy to pretend
I know you're not a fool

I should've known better than to cheat a friend
And waste the chance that I'd been given
So I'm never gonna dance again
The way I danced with you, oh

now that you're gone
(Now that you're gone) was what I did so wrong, so wrong
That you had to leave me alone?

It's raining tacos
Out in the street
Tacos
All you can eat
Lettuce and shells
Cheese and meat
It's raining tacos

Yum yum yum yum yumity yum
It's like a dream!
Yum yum yum yum yumity yum
Bring your sour cream

Shell
Meat
Lettuce
Cheese

Shell
Meat
Lettuce
Cheese

Shell
Meat
Cheese cheese cheese cheese cheese

It's raining tacos, ooh
Raining tacos, ooh
Raining tacos, ooh
It's raining tacos
It's raining tacos, ooh
Raining tacos ooh
Raining tacos (shell, meat, lettuce, cheese)
(Shell, lettuce, ch-ch-cheese) It's raining tacos

Santa's got a little friend,
His name is Dominick.
The cutest little donkey,
You never see him kick.
When Santa visits his paisons,
With Dominick he'll be.
Because the reindeer cannot,
Climb the hills of Italy.

Hey! Chingedy ching,
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
It's Dominick the donkey.
Chingedy ching,
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
The Italian Christmas donkey.
(La la la-la la-la la la la la)
(La la la-la la-la la-ee-oh-da)

Jingle bells around his feet,
And presents on the sled.
Hey! Look at the mayor's derby,
On top of Dominick's head.
A pair of shoes for Louie,
And a dress for Josephine.
The labels on the inside says,
They're made in Brooklyn.

Hey! Chingedy ching,
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
It's Dominick the donkey.
Chingedy ching,
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
The Italian Christmas donkey.
(La la la-la la-la la la la la)
(La la la-la la-la la-ee-oh-da)

Children sing, and clap their hands,
And Dominick starts to dance.
They talk Italian to him,
And he even understands.

Cumpare sing,
Cumpare su,
And dance 'sta tarantel.
When jusamagora comes to town,
And brings du ciuccianello.

Hey! Chingedy ching,
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
It's Dominick the donkey.
Chingedy ching,
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
The Italian Christmas donkey.
(La la la-la la-la la la la la)
(La la la-la la-la la-ee-oh-da)

Hey! Dominick! Buon Natale!
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)
(Hee-haw, hee-haw)

But through all the sorrow
We were riding high
And the truth of the matter is
I never let you go, let you go

We were scanning the cities
Walking to greater dues
But besides all the glamour
All we got was bruised

But through all the sorrow
We were riding high
And the truth of the matter is
I had to let you go, let you go

You go down just like Holy Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a cross
Not just another Bloody Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a cross

If you choose to run away with me
I will tickle you internally
And I see nothing wrong with that

We were searching for reasons
To play by the rules
But we quickly found
It was just for fools

And after all the sorrow
We'll be riding high
And the truth of the matter is
I'll never let you go, let you go

You go down just like Holy Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a cross
Not just another Bloody Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a

You go down just like Holy Mary
Mary on a, Mary on a cross
Your beauty never ever scared me
Mary on a, Mary on a cross

If you choose to run away with me
I will tickle you internally
And I see nothing wrong with that

Nothing wrong with that
(Mary on a, Mary on a cross)
Nothing wrong with that
(Mary on a, Mary on a cross)

Mary on a, Mary on a cross

壊れた 壊れたよ
この世界で
君が笑う
何も見えずに

壊れた僕なんてさ
息を止めて
ほどけない もう ほどけないよ
真実さえ freeze
壊せる 壊せない
狂える 狂えない
あなたを見つけて 揺れた

歪んだ世界にだんだん僕は
透き通って見えなくなって
見つけないで 僕のことを
見つめないで
誰かが描いた世界の中で
あなたを傷つけたくはないよ
覚えていて 僕のことを
鮮やかなまま

無限に広がる孤独が絡まる
無邪気に笑った記憶が刺さって
動けない 動けない
動けない 動けない
動けない 動けないよ
Unravelling the world

変わってしまった 変えられなかった
2つが絡まる 2人が滅びる
壊せる 壊せない
狂える 狂えない
あなたを汚せないよ 揺れた

歪んだ世界にだんだん僕は
透き通って見えなくなって
見つけないで 僕のことを
見つめないで
誰かが仕組んだ孤独な罠に
未来がほどけてしまう前に
思い出して 僕のことを
鮮やかなまま

忘れないで 忘れないで
忘れないで 忘れないで

変わってしまったことに paralyze
変えられないことだらけの paradise
覚えていて 僕のことを

教えて
教えて
僕の中に誰がいるの？

Welcome to the internet
Come and take a seat
Would you like to see the news or any famous women's feet?
There's no need to panic
This isn't a test, haha
Just nod or shake your head and we'll do the rest

Welcome to the internet
What would you prefer?
Would you like to fight for civil rights or tweet a racial slur?
Be happy
Be horny
Be bursting with rage
We got a million different ways to engage

Welcome to the internet
Put your cares aside
Here's a tip for straining pasta
Here's a nine-year-old who died
We got movies, and doctors, and fantasy sports
And a bunch of colored pencil drawings
Of all the different characters in Harry Potter fucking each other 
Welcome to the internet

Hold on to your socks
'Cause a random guy just kindly sent you photos of his cock
They are grainy and off-putting
He just sent you more
Don't act surprised, you know you like it, you whore

See a man beheaded
Get offended, see a shrink
Show us pictures of your children
Tell us every thought you think
Start a rumor, buy a broom
Or send a death threat to a boomer
Or DM a girl and groom her
Do a Zoom or find a tumor in your
Here's a healthy breakfast option
You should kill your mom
Here's why women never fuck you
Here's how you can build a bomb
Which Power Ranger are you?
Take this quirky quiz
Obama sent the immigrants to vaccinate your kids

Could I interest you in everything?
All of the time?
A little bit of everything
All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy
And boredom is a crime
Anything and everything
All of the time

Could I interest you in everything?
All of the time?
A little bit of everything
All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy
And boredom is a crime
Anything and everything
All of the time

You know, it wasn't always like this

Not very long ago
Just before your time
Right before the towers fell, circa '99
This was catalogs
Travel blogs
A chat room or two
We set our sights and spent our nights
Waiting
For you, you, insatiable you
Mommy let you use her iPad
You were barely two
And it did all the things
We designed it to do

Now look at you, oh

Look at you, you, you
Unstoppable, watchable
Your time is now
Your inside's out
Honey, how you grew
And if we stick together
Who knows what we'll do
It was always the plan
To put the world in your hand

Hahaha
Could I interest you in everything?
All of the time
A bit of everything
All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy
And boredom is a crime
Anything and everything
All of the time

Could I interest you in everything?
All of the time
A little bit of everything
All of the time
Apathy's a tragedy
And boredom is a crime
Anything and everything
And anything and everything
And anything and everything
And all of the time

Ice Age was originally intended as a 2D animated film developed by Fox Animation Studios, but eventually became the first full-length animated film for the newly-reformed Blue Sky, which had been reshaped from a VFX house to a computer animation studio. Focus shifted from making an action-adventure drama film to a more comedy-oriented one, and several writers, such as Berg and Ackerman, were brought on to bring out a wittier tone.

The film was released in the United States on March 15, 2002. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and was nominated at the 75th Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. It was a box office success and grossed over $383.2 million, making it the eighth highest-grossing film of 2002 and the highest-grossing animated film of 2002. It started the Ice Age franchise, being followed by four sequels: Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), and Ice Age: Collision Course (2016). A sixth installment, The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, was produced by Walt Disney Pictures without the involvement of Blue Sky Studios and released as a direct-to-streaming film on Disney+ in 2022.^[2] Two holiday specials were also released: 2011's Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (taking place between Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Continental Drift) and 2016's Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade (taking place between Continental Drift and Collision Course). Several Ice Age short films were also released between 2002 and 2022.

Plot

Scrat, a squirrel, attempts to find a place to store his acorn for the winter. Eventually, as he tries to stomp it into the ground, he inadvertently causes a large crack to form in the ice that extends for miles before setting off a large avalanche which nearly crushes him. He barely escapes but finds himself getting stepped on by a herd of prehistoric animals migrating south in order to escape the forthcoming ice age. Sid, a clumsy ground sloth, is left behind by his family and decides to move on by himself, but is attacked by a pair of Brontotheres after accidentally ruining their meal and making them angry. Sid is soon rescued by Manny, a mammoth heading north, who fights the rhinos off and continues on his path. Sid joins Manny, not wanting to be alone and unprotected. Manny is annoyed by Sid's outgoing demeanor and wishes to migrate on his own, but Sid nonetheless continues to follow Manny. Meanwhile, Soto, the leader of a Smilodon pack, wants revenge on a human tribe for killing half of his pack by eating the chief's infant son, Roshan, alive. Soto leads a raid on the human camp, during which Roshan's mother flees with her son. Cornered by Soto’s lieutenant, Diego, she leaps down the waterfall with Roshan. As punishment for his failure to retrieve the boy, Diego is sent to find and retrieve him while the rest of the pack waits for him at a mountain known as Half-Peak. If he fails, he will be killed in Roshan’s place.

Later, Sid and Manny encounter the mother struggling out of the lake, dying from her plunge. The mother only has enough strength to entrust Roshan to Manny before she dies and disappears into the water. After much persuasion by Sid, they decide to return the baby, but when they reach the human settlement, they find it deserted. They meet up with Diego, who convinces the pair to let him help by tracking the humans. Manny does not trust Diego's intentions towards the baby, so in order to keep an eye on him, decides that he will lead the way. Like Manny, Diego is also easily annoyed by Sid's chatterbox personality. The four travel on, with Diego secretly leading them to Half-Peak where his pack is waiting to ambush them. 

After encountering several misadventures on their way, with Manny slowly beginning to like Sid and trust Diego, the group reaches a cave with several cave paintings. There, Sid and Diego learn about Manny's past and his previous interactions with the human hunters, in which they slaughtered his family, consisting of his mate and child, leaving Manny a depressed loner. Later, the group almost reaches their destination, Half-Peak, only to encounter a forming river of lava. Manny and Sid, along with Roshan, make it across safely, but Diego ends up hanging on a cliff, about to fall into the lava. Manny saves him, narrowly missing certain death by falling into the lava himself. The herd takes a break for the night, and Roshan takes his first walking steps towards Diego, who starts to have a change of heart about his mission.

The next day, the herd approaches the ambush, causing Diego, now full of respect for Manny for saving his life and having also grown to like Sid, to change his mind and confess to Manny and Sid about the ambush. As the pair turn hostile towards him, Diego pleads for their trust and tries to foil the attack. The herd battles Soto's pack, but despite their efforts, Soto and his associates manage to corner Manny. As Soto closes in for the kill on Manny, Diego jumps in the way and is injured as a result. Manny then knocks a distracted Soto into a rock wall, causing several sharp icicles to fall onto Soto, impaling and instantly killing him. Horrified, the rest of the pack retreat. Manny and Sid mourn for Diego's injury, which they believe is fatal, and continue their journey without him. The two manage to successfully return Roshan to his tribe, and to their surprise, a recovered Diego manages to rejoin them in time to see Roshan leave. The trio then begin to head off to warmer climates as best friends.

Twenty thousand years later, Scrat, frozen in a block of ice, ends up on the shores of a tropical island. As the ice slowly melts, an acorn that was also frozen in the same ice block is washed away. Scrat then finds a coconut and tries to stomp it into the ground, only to accidentally trigger a volcanic eruption.

Cast

Main article: List of Ice Age characters

The characters are all prehistoric animals. The animals can talk to and understand each other and are voiced by a variety of famous actors. Like many films of prehistoric life, the rules of time periods apply very loosely, as many of the species shown in the film never actually lived in the same time periods or the same geographic regions.

Production

Development

Ice Age was originally pitched to 20th Century Fox in 1997 by producer Lori Forte.^[4] The film, originally envisioned as a traditionally animated movie with an action-oriented comedy-drama tone, was intended to be developed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman's Fox Animation Studios.^[4] Around the same time, Blue Sky Studios, a small visual effects studio in White Plains, New York, was bought out by Fox and reshaped into a full-fledged CG animation film studio.^[5] In light of this, Fox Animation head Chris Meledandri and executive producer Steve Bannerman approached Forte with the proposition of developing the film as a computer-animated movie, which Forte realized was "basically a no-brainer," according to her.^[4] Michael J. Wilson, who had written and developed the film's original story treatments in conjunction with Forte, wrote the first draft for the script, and Chris Wedge, a co-founder of Blue Sky, was brought on to the project as the director in late 1998.^[4] Fox also opted for the movie to take a more comedy-oriented direction, and brought writer Michael Berg to help emphasize a more comedic tone. After being hired, Berg reportedly told the studio that he couldn't write a film made for children, to which the studio responded, "Great! Just write a good story."^[4]

Story development began in spring 1999,^[6] and official production on the film began in June 2000, one week after the closure of Fox Animation Studios.^[7] 150 employees were hired to work on the film,^[7][8] and a budget of $58 million was granted by Fox.^[4] Peter Ackerman was hired as a third writer for the film, and collaborated extensively with Berg for three years before the two eventually moved on from the project. Jon Vitti and Mike Reiss, both former writers for The Simpsons, were added later on after Berg and Ackerman left to further polish the script.^[4]

For research, the film's development team took several trips to the Museum of Natural History early on in production in order to make sure that the film authentically felt like the Ice Age.^[9] Ultimately, the team translated the information that they had compiled in their research by stylizing it in order to fit with the film's story.^[10] A team of 32 animators went out and did research to figure out the movements of different animals; for instance, for the movement of Scrat, animators visited a park and observed local squirrels, taking note of their "twitchy" way of moving.^[6]

Writing and character development

Michael J. Wilson stated on his blog that his daughter Flora came up with the idea for an animal that was a mixture of both squirrel and rat, naming it Scrat, and that the animal was obsessed with pursuing his acorn.^[11] The plan to have Scrat talk was quickly dropped, as he worked better as a silent character for comedic effect. The name 'Scrat' is a combination of the words 'squirrel' and 'rat', as Scrat has characteristics of both species; Wedge has also called him "saber-toothed squirrel." Scrat's opening adventure was inserted because, without it, the first real snow and ice sequence wouldn't take place until about 37 minutes into the film. This was the only role intended for Scrat, but he proved to be such a popular character with test audiences that he was given more scenes. The filmmakers made it so that many of the scenes with Scrat appear directly after dramatic moments in the film.

In a 2012 interview with Jay Leno, Denis Leary revealed that his character, Diego, originally died near the end of the film. However, it was reported that kids in the test audience burst into tears when his death was shown. Leary warned the producers that something like this would happen. When it was proven true, the scene was re-written to ensure Diego survived.

Originally, Sid was supposed to be a con-artist and a hustler, and there was a finished scene of the character conning some aardvark kids. His character was later changed to a talkative-clumsy sloth because the team felt the audience would have disliked him. There was also an alternate scene of Sid in the hottub with the ladies which shows him saying to them "Let's jump in the gene pool and see what happens." One of the female sloths then kicks him in the groin. This was cut because it was not suitable for children and may have gotten the film a PG-13 rating. Other innuendos with Sid were also cut from the film. Sid was also supposed to have a female sloth named Sylvia (voiced by Kristen Johnston) chasing after him, whom he despised and kept ditching. All the removed scenes can be seen on the DVD.

Animation

The characters and environments in Ice Age were modeled and animated using WaveFront's Maya animation software. Rendering was completed using CGI Studio, an in-house ray tracing program being developed since Blue Sky's formation in 1987 and previously used for Wedge's 1998 short film, Bunny. While Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, released three months before Ice Age, became the first computer-animated film to make use of ray tracing technology, Ice Age would have received the distinction had it been released at the time Blue Sky began work on the movie.^[6]

In order to keep the film at a more exciting pace, the development team took certain liberties with Sid in terms of realism; although real-life ground sloths were slow-moving and rigid, Sid was given a fast movement speed in certain scenes, as well as a more flexible range of motions. Conversely, the character’s arm movements were more restricted in order to retain a sense of laziness true to the nature of sloths. Manny was a particularly difficult character to animate due to his unique attributes as a mammoth, such as his long fur and massive trunks that covered up his face. Dealing with a creature which had seldom appeared in animation at the time, the team needed to figure out how Manny would realistically move with character designer Pete DeSeve explaining that “a wooly mammoth isn’t simply an elephant with long fur”. According to co-director Carlos Saldanha, Diego was one of the most complexly animated characters in the movie, with some scenes showing off his high movement speed as a sabre-toothed tiger while others kept his movement more contained and focused on his facial expressions to carry the moment.^[12]

Voice casting

The voice cast of Ice Age was encouraged to make up their own dialogue during recording. Several lines in the film were improvised by the actors.^[13]

For Manny, the studio was initially looking at people with big voices.^[14] James Earl Jones and Ving Rhames were considered, but they sounded too obvious and Wedge wanted more comedy.^[15][16] Instead, the role was given to Ray Romano because they thought his voice sounded very elephant-like. Wedge described Romano's voice as deep and slow in delivery, but also with a "sarcastic wit behind it."^[16]

John Leguizamo, who provided the voice for Sid, experimented with over 40 voices for the character, including a slower-sounding voice to fit with the lazy nature of a giant sloth. Leguizamo came up with the final voice and trademark lateral lisp for the character after watching footage of sloths and learning that they store food in the pockets of their mouths which ferments over time.^[17] Leguizamo remarked in an interview with BBC that he had wanted to contribute to an animated project for a while, claiming that cartoon voice actor Mel Blanc was "one of my comedy Gods" and a large source of inspiration for him as a child.^[18]

Music

The official soundtrack to Ice Age was released on May 14, 2002 by Varèse Sarabande. The soundtrack consists of the original musical score composed for the film by David Newman and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The song "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root is also featured in the film but is absent from the album.^[19]

Reception

Box office

Ice Age was released on March 15, 2002, and had a $46.3 million opening weekend, a large number not usually seen until the summer season, and way ahead of Fox's most optimistic projection of about $30 million. Ice Agebroke Liar Liar's record for a March opening (later surpassed in 2006 by its sequel, Ice Age: The Meltdown) and at the time was the third-best opening ever for an animated feature—after Monsters, Inc. ($62.6 million) and Toy Story 2 ($57.4 million).^[20] Ice Age finished its domestic box office run with $176,387,405 and grossed $383,257,136 worldwide, being the 9th highest gross of 2002 in North America and the 8th best worldwide at the time.^[1] It was one of the two animated films of that year to make over $100 million, with the other one being Lilo & Stitch.^[21]

Critical response

Ice Age holds a 77% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 167 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The site's consensus reads: "Even though Ice Age is treading over the same grounds as Monsters, Inc. and Shrek, it has enough wit and laughs to stand on its own."^[22] Similar site Metacritic had a score of 60% out of 31 reviews, meaning "mixed or average reviews".^[23] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 stars out of 4 and wrote "I came to scoff and stayed to smile".^[24] Elvis Mitchell of the New York Times called the film a "blandly likeable computer-animation extravaganza", comparing the film's plot to the Western film 3 Godfathers.^[25]

CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend, cinema audiences gave Ice Age an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.^[26]

Accolades

Ice Age was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2003, losing to Spirited Away.^[27]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Home media

The initial home video release for Ice Age was accompanied by an $85 million marketing campaign involving promotional partnerships with 14 different companies,^[29] including Microsoft, Pizza Hut, Carl's Jr., Dole, Langer's, Valpak, Cold Stone Creamery, and the National Hockey League.^[30] The movie was released on 2-disc DVD, VHSand D-Theater^[31] on November 26, 2002. All three releases included Gone Nutty, a short film starring Scrat and detailing his further antics as he tries to bury his acorn.^[32] The DVD release was THX certified and gave the viewer the option of viewing the film in either widescreen or pan and scan fullscreen.^[33] Another single disc release was released on February 5, 2005,^[34] and the next year a new two-disc release with extra features on March 14, 2006.^[35] The film was released on Blu-ray on March 4, 2008, and beside Gone Nutty, it included 9 minutes of deleted scenes.^[36]

Ice Age was included on The Walt Disney Company's streaming service Disney+ on March 1, 2020.^[37]

Video game

Main article: Ice Age (video game)

A tie-in video game was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement and published by Ubisoft for the Game Boy Advance. A platform game, it has the player controlling Sid and Manny through 10 levels as they carry Roshan. The game holds an aggregate ranking of 46.00% on GameRankings^[38] and 47/100 on Metacritic.^[39]

Sequels

Main article: Ice Age (franchise) § Films

Since the release of Ice Age, several sequels have followed. Ice Age: The Meltdown, the first sequel, was released on March 31, 2006, following the main characters trying to escape a massive flooding due to global warming, as well as Manny's concern over whether or not his species is going extinct. A third installment, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, was released in 2009, followed by a fourth film, Ice Age: Continental Drift, in 2012. The fifth and latest installment, Ice Age: Collision Course, was released on July 22, 2016.^[40] With the release of Collision Course, the Ice Age series became the first computer-animated movie franchise to house five theatrical installments, not including spinoffs.^[41] The sequels suffered a decline in critical reception, but were still box-office successes.

Following Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox in 2019 and the closure of Blue Sky Studios in 2021, a spin-off film titled The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild and produced by Walt Disney Pictures was released directly to streaming on Disney+ in 2022.

See also

References

Tools

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the film script. For the Star Wars musical piece, see Duel of the Fates.

Colin Trevorrow, the original director and co-writer of the planned third film in the sequel trilogy, and J. J. Abrams, who replaced him in those roles during the film's development.

Star Wars: Duel of the Fates (also known as Star Wars: Episode IX – Duel of the Fates) was the original draft of the third film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Named after the franchise's musical composition of the same name, the script was written in 2016 by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connollywhile Trevorrow was attached as director. After Trevorrow left the project in 2017, it was replaced with a script by J. J. Abrams and Chris Terrio that became 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, although the film retained modified ideas from Duel of the Fates.

A draft of the script of Duel of the Fates was leaked online in January 2020, shortly after the release of The Rise of Skywalker. It garnered attention due to The Rise of Skywalker's polarizing reception, and inspired fan-made adaptations.

Plot[edit]

Several years after the events of The Last Jedi, the First Order rules the galaxy with General Hux as its chancellor. Taking control of Coruscant, the First Order daily publicly executes members of a crushed Resistance and has blocked communications across the galaxy.^[1] Still free from the First Order's control, Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Rose Tico and BB-8 steal a Star Dreadnought from the occupied planet of Kuat and take it to Korilev, where surviving members of the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa, have established a new base.

Kylo Ren discovers a Sith holocron in Darth Vader's castle on Mustafar, which leads him to seek the training of a 7000-year-old alien named Tor Valum, who taught Emperor Palpatine's master Darth Plagueis.^[2] During his training, Kylo fights a phantom of Vader and masters the power to absorb life energy, which he uses to kill Tor Valum. Meanwhile, Rey learns from Jedi texts that the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant contains a device which can restore galactic communications. Finn, Rose, R2-D2, and C-3PO go to Coruscant to find the device, while Rey, Chewbacca, and Poe go to Bonadan in order to find the location of the planet Mortis, as Rey has seen a vision of herself dueling Kylo there. Leia convinces Lando Calrissian and his smugglers to join the Resistance for an attack on Coruscant.

On Coruscant, Finn and Rose find and activate the device, which should allow Leia to inspire rebellion across the galaxy, but they are found by First Order troops. Rose is captured, but Finn manages to escape: he fights a stormtrooper designated RK-514, and spares his life after defeating him. RK-514 sides with Finn, and they convince other First Order stormtroopers to defect as well. Meanwhile, on Bonadan, Rey, Poe and Chewbacca succeed in locating Mortis, but they are attacked by Kylo's Knights of Ren. They succeed in defeating the Knights, but Rey instinctively uses Force lightning to kill one of the Knights after she remembers that they were the ones who killed her parents, and fears that she is in danger of falling to the dark side. Fearing for her friends' safety, Rey departs for Mortis alone, while Poe and Chewbacca return to the Resistance base.

On Coruscant, Finn leads a revolution against the First Order's forces with the help of droids, citizens, and the defected stormtroopers, while Leia, Poe, Chewbacca, Lando, and a Resistance army arrive to join the fight. When the First Order is ultimately defeated, Hux kills himself with a purple-bladed lightsaber. After escaping from captivity, Rose rewires the hyperdrive of the First Order's capital ship, causing it to crash above Coruscant when it attempts to escape.

On Mortis, Rey finds Kylo and battles him, but he blinds and nearly kills her.^[3] Luke Skywalker's Force spirit offers moral support to Rey, and she confronts Kylo for a second time.^[4] Rey says her masters were wrong to reject the dark side and embraces both, allowing her to defeat Kylo. Kylo attempts to kill Rey by draining her life energy, but Leia manages to contact him through the Force and convinces him to stop. As a result, he transfers his own life energy to Rey instead, healing her and saving her life at the cost of his own.^[3] Before Kylo dies, his last words reveal Rey's true birth name to be Rey Solana.^[5][2][a] On the verge of death, Rey meets with the spirits of Luke, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who allow her to choose between staying dead or returning to life. 

Finn, Poe, Rose, and Chewbacca receive medals at the Resistance base. Finn and Rose settle on Modesta, where they raise Force-sensitive children. Rey arrives at their homestead and vows to teach the children about the Force and how the balance of light and dark will maintain galactic peace.

Development[edit]

In August 2015, Colin Trevorrow was announced as the director of Episode IX;^[7] he wrote a script titled Duel of the Fates with frequent collaborator Derek Connolly.^[7][8][9] The draft dated December 2016 would have required changes due to the death of actress Carrie Fisher (who played Leia Organa) the same month.^[5] The script draft was leaked online in January 2020 (while The Rise of Skywalker was in theaters). A number of Twitter users expressed that they would have preferred to see Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates over The Rise of Skywalker, which was written by J. J. Abrams and Chris Terrio.^[10] Major differences featured in Duel of the Fates are that Rey—who has the last name Solana^[3]—is not related to Palpatine (Darth Sidious), Kylo Ren seeks to be trained by Sith Master Tor Valum (who was going to be revealed as the master of Darth Plagueis),^[2] and the final battle centers upon the previously established planets Coruscant from the prequel trilogy and Mortis from The Clone Warsanimated series.^[b] Other differences include that Rey is blinded by an unredeemed Kylo Ren, Luke's spirit has a more significant role, and R2-D2 suffers severe damage.^[12] The R2-D2 scene is the only one which Trevorrow has officially commented on, noting on Twitter that the droid would have been repaired.^[9] As part of an online Comic-Con event, Trevorrow called his departure from the film "traumatic" and showed a spaceship model, called a TIE marauder, he designed with his son for the unmade film.^[13]

Some story elements survived in The Rise of Skywalker, notable examples including Kylo finding a Sith holocron in Darth Vader's castle on Mustafar and the transference of Force energy,^[14][15] and Rey using Force Lightning against an enemy.^[16]

While an initially reluctant Lando helping save the day by surprisingly arriving leading a fleet of spaceships made it into the final film, in Duel of the Fates, Lando was originally going to be introduced as enjoying a life of luxury by owning a cabaret bar.^[17] The views of Lando's portrayer Billy Dee Williams aligned with that more than was ultimately made, as he stated that due to Lando's gambling backstory, he imagined old Lando as a rich "Las Vegasentrepreneur and showman like Steve Wynn", and that he favored that to the military general side of Lando.^[18]The cabaret bar was replaced with Lando being on exile on a desert planet, which was noted as less what people would expect from Lando by Screen Rant.^[19] Entertainment Weekly noted that Lando would have made sense in the planet of casinos depicted in The Last Jedi.^[20] Director Rian Johnson considered placing Lando in the scene and returning him to his morally ambiguous roots, by having him betray the heroes again, but ultimately replaced him by creating the less moral character of DJ.^[21]

According to the website Polygon, the desert planet where Lando was found was the final addition to the film, as noted in its officially written artbook by Phil Szostak. In regards to the unmade Duel of the Fates script, the artbook noted only a few images related to the unfilmed script made it to the book, and that it did not even list Trevorrow's name among the main creative forces of the film. It also described the leaked Duel of the Fates concept art as coming from earlier drafts.^[22]

A TIE fighter Echelon ship statue survived in the Disney theme park Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the ship was developed by Colin Trevorrow during his work on Episode IX before being replaced as the film's director.^[23]

Reception[edit]

The draft gained attention due to the mixed response of The Rise of Skywalker. Upon release, The Rise of Skywalker was criticized for revealing its lack of a plan connecting the sequel trilogy (most notably retconning events of The Last Jedi),^[24][25] its plot holes (Palpatine's return and his relationship to Rey being the most prominent),^[26][27] and its treatment of minority and female characters, particularly Rose Tico, Poe Dameron, and Finn.^[28][29][30] Actress Kelly Marie Tran's screentime as Rose was reduced from 10 minutes in The Last Jedi to less than two minutes in The Rise of Skywalker,^[31] while Poe's new backstory as a smuggler was seen as racist towards Latinos due to him being portrayed by Guatemalan-born actor Oscar Isaac.^[32][29][22] Finn's actor, John Boyega, also criticized the film for sidelining characters played by people of color, including him, Tran, and Isaac.^[33][34][35] Eliana Dokterman, writing for Time magazine, called the film and its retcons "problematic", perceiving Abrams' choices as having been made to appease the complaints leveled by a toxic contingent of online fandom angered by The Last Jedi, in particular online trolls who harassed Johnson and several cast members, most notably Tran.^[30][36] The Rise of Skywalker is tied with The Phantom Menace as the lowest-rated live-action Star Wars film on Rotten Tomatoes^[37] and the second-lowest behind The Phantom Menace on Metacritic.^[38] Screen Rant ranked it as the worst live-action film and Entertainment Weekly ranked it the worst Star Wars film.^[39][40]

Before the draft was revealed as real, Esquire described it as too good to be fan-fiction, calling the script "worldclass", and in contrast criticized The Rise of Skywalker as cowardly for not killing any main character, other than Palpatine, "the old man that was already dead", and Ben Solo whom he deemed "irredeemable from the start".^[3] Nerdist notes that Rey remained a nobody, as compared to making her a Palpatine, which completely undermined the meaning of The Last Jedi.^[41] Inverse states that Duel of the Fates has two massive flaws in its roles for Leia and her son, Kylo Ren.^[42] However, Inverse praised the discarded script for multiple reasons, including being darker and less reliant on nostalgia and retcons than the final film, as well as connecting better to The Force Awakens due to providing an actual explanation for Rey's visions of the Knights of Ren, which Inversealso praised for providing better reasons for Rey to shoot Force Lightning. The Duel of the Fates script treated such ability as Rey's Dark Side powers being triggered by her realizing the Knights of Ren killed her parents, rather than the final film's treatment which turned it into a hereditary skill, something no previous film had done.^[16]

Collider made a video review of the unmade script and opined in April 2021 that Star Wars parody Spaceballs was better than The Rise of Skywalker.^[43][44] According to CBR.com the unmade script was heavily political somewhat beyond Finn's plotline, noting it sought to explain how the social class worked in the franchise (continuing from The Last Jedi), and comparing the themes to contemporary films like Us and the Oscar-winning film Parasite. It noted in the opening act that migrants helped the First Order due to financial bankruptcy, and that the communications blockade was a parallel for censorship. It also compared the stormtroopers' conditioning to imperialism, in the sense that indigenous children have always been forced to forget their cultures and native languages in re-education camps. CBR.com called Disney and Abrams cowards for depoliticizing the ultimately made film.^[45] The website later published a detailed opinion on why the unmade script would had been better than the one Abrams rewrote, calling most of the unmade arcs better including those of Rey, Hux, Kylo Ren (as the main villain), Luke Skywalker, Rose Tico, and Finn.^[46][47]

Some websites perceived Trevorrow's unmade script as closely aligned with the themes of the previous films of the saga, mainly The Last Jedi, and some also perceived it as giving other star characters more to do.^{[48][28][49][50][51][52][53][10]} John Boyega concurred with this, stating that the released film by Terrio and Abrams denied him of the "big hero moment" that the unmade film intended for his character, for instance when he leads an army into battle against the First Order holding a Rebellion flag, which was developed as concept art. Finn was also going to convince stormtroopers to defect the First Order and lead them into battle against it.^[54][55][56] The concept art of Finn's speech while holding the flag, as well as dialogue from the unmade film, were shared on social media and compared very positively and paralleling a speech given by Boyega during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.^[57][58][59] In November 2020, Boyega revealed that the controversy surrounding the diminished roles of the characters played by people of color in The Rise of Skywalker led him to have a "very honest conversation" with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who supported his claims.^[60] Boyega also said he would like to see Duel of the Fates adapted into a television series, particularly an animated one.^[55] Some sources have suggested that aspects of the script could be incorporated into other future Star Wars media.^[61] A filmed deleted scene from The Last Jedi Blu-ray showed a similar plotline where Finn caused a stormtrooper revolt against Captain Phasma; some websites felt the scene should have been kept in the final film.^{[62][63][64][65][66]}

Various media sources have compared the unmade script and the controversy surrounding it to Zack Snyder's Justice League, a director's cut representing Snyder's original vision before he had to step away from the production and it was reworked for theatrical release by Joss Whedon.^[67][68][36] The failed course correction attempt was also compared to the ones of the James Bond films Diamonds Are Forever and No Time to Die, which were well-received upon release.^[69][70] BBC compared the controversy to the one surrounding the Game of Thrones ending, and the female Ghostbusters, being negative about Abrams' choices.^[71] The Simpsons made an episode titled Do Pizza Bots Dream of Electric Guitars where the plot was about Homer Simpson and Comic Book Guy trying to prevent Abrams from doing a film featuring characters from Homer's childhood.^[72] Shortly after the release of The Rise of Skywalker, a rumor was circulated concerning an alleged "Abrams cut" of the film, which was quickly debunked.^[73] A subsequent unsubstantiated rumor claimed that George Lucas would release his own version of The Rise of Skywalker even though he had no involvement with the making of the film.^[74] Filmmaker and YouTube film pundit and Star Wars fan Robert Meyer Burnett analyzed the script on his Youtube channel feeling the script had some superior ideas to those put on-screen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.^[75][76][77]

Adaptations[edit]

See also: Cultural impact of Star Wars § Fan edits/restorations

Fan-made comic adaptation[edit]

Graphic artist Andrew Winegarner produced a comic version of the script in March 2021.^{[78][28][49][50][79]} The fan-made comic adaptation of the unmade script is 7 parts long, and its author shared it for free on his website. IGNnoted that the author stated that he adapted the unmade script due to his disappointment over how The Rise of Skywalker deviated from expectations that had been set up by the first two films of the sequel trilogy, and was a "retread of Return of the Jedi." He also noted the unmade script was not fan fiction because Trevorrow received credit as a writer in The Rise of Skywalker.^[78] CinemaBlend was positive about the fan-made comic,^[80] having opined in January 2020 that Lucasfilm should adapt the unmade script into a comic, along the lines of The Star Wars, which adapted the original unmade script of the original Star Wars film (1977).^[81] Inverse was positive about the fan-made comic adaptation while noting that the opinion that an unmade version of a film would have been better is common when the officially released version of the work was negatively received. He also compared the comic to the Star Wars Infinities comics, which told alternate stories to the ones of the films.^[68]

Fan-made animated adaptations[edit]

Duel of the Fates also received a fan-made animated parody adaptation on the YouTube channel Mr Sunday Movies. Inverse was positive about the parody, noting that it was more of a comedic overview of the details of the unmade script, rather than a serious adaptation.^[82][83][48] Another website, Digital Spy, compared the style of the animation drawings to the one of Nintendo's video game The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.^[84]

CinemaBlend was positive about the fan-made parody adaptation,^[85] and in another article noted that another different, and more serious animated adaptation existed by another YouTube channel, adapting a single scene of Kylo Ren talking to the ghost of Luke Skywalker in the ruins of Darth Vader's castle.^[86]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

 Star Wars: Duel of the Fates

Tools

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the film script. For the Star Wars musical piece, see Duel of the Fates.

Colin Trevorrow, the original director and co-writer of the planned third film in the sequel trilogy, and J. J. Abrams, who replaced him in those roles during the film's development.

Star Wars: Duel of the Fates (also known as Star Wars: Episode IX – Duel of the Fates) was the original draft of the third film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Named after the franchise's musical composition of the same name, the script was written in 2016 by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connollywhile Trevorrow was attached as director. After Trevorrow left the project in 2017, it was replaced with a script by J. J. Abrams and Chris Terrio that became 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, although the film retained modified ideas from Duel of the Fates.

A draft of the script of Duel of the Fates was leaked online in January 2020, shortly after the release of The Rise of Skywalker. It garnered attention due to The Rise of Skywalker's polarizing reception, and inspired fan-made adaptations.

Plot[edit]

Several years after the events of The Last Jedi, the First Order rules the galaxy with General Hux as its chancellor. Taking control of Coruscant, the First Order daily publicly executes members of a crushed Resistance and has blocked communications across the galaxy.^[1] Still free from the First Order's control, Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, Rose Tico and BB-8 steal a Star Dreadnought from the occupied planet of Kuat and take it to Korilev, where surviving members of the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa, have established a new base.

Kylo Ren discovers a Sith holocron in Darth Vader's castle on Mustafar, which leads him to seek the training of a 7000-year-old alien named Tor Valum, who taught Emperor Palpatine's master Darth Plagueis.^[2] During his training, Kylo fights a phantom of Vader and masters the power to absorb life energy, which he uses to kill Tor Valum. Meanwhile, Rey learns from Jedi texts that the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant contains a device which can restore galactic communications. Finn, Rose, R2-D2, and C-3PO go to Coruscant to find the device, while Rey, Chewbacca, and Poe go to Bonadan in order to find the location of the planet Mortis, as Rey has seen a vision of herself dueling Kylo there. Leia convinces Lando Calrissian and his smugglers to join the Resistance for an attack on Coruscant.

On Coruscant, Finn and Rose find and activate the device, which should allow Leia to inspire rebellion across the galaxy, but they are found by First Order troops. Rose is captured, but Finn manages to escape: he fights a stormtrooper designated RK-514, and spares his life after defeating him. RK-514 sides with Finn, and they convince other First Order stormtroopers to defect as well. Meanwhile, on Bonadan, Rey, Poe and Chewbacca succeed in locating Mortis, but they are attacked by Kylo's Knights of Ren. They succeed in defeating the Knights, but Rey instinctively uses Force lightning to kill one of the Knights after she remembers that they were the ones who killed her parents, and fears that she is in danger of falling to the dark side. Fearing for her friends' safety, Rey departs for Mortis alone, while Poe and Chewbacca return to the Resistance base.

On Coruscant, Finn leads a revolution against the First Order's forces with the help of droids, citizens, and the defected stormtroopers, while Leia, Poe, Chewbacca, Lando, and a Resistance army arrive to join the fight. When the First Order is ultimately defeated, Hux kills himself with a purple-bladed lightsaber. After escaping from captivity, Rose rewires the hyperdrive of the First Order's capital ship, causing it to crash above Coruscant when it attempts to escape.

On Mortis, Rey finds Kylo and battles him, but he blinds and nearly kills her.^[3] Luke Skywalker's Force spirit offers moral support to Rey, and she confronts Kylo for a second time.^[4] Rey says her masters were wrong to reject the dark side and embraces both, allowing her to defeat Kylo. Kylo attempts to kill Rey by draining her life energy, but Leia manages to contact him through the Force and convinces him to stop. As a result, he transfers his own life energy to Rey instead, healing her and saving her life at the cost of his own.^[3] Before Kylo dies, his last words reveal Rey's true birth name to be Rey Solana.^[5][2][a] On the verge of death, Rey meets with the spirits of Luke, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who allow her to choose between staying dead or returning to life. 

Finn, Poe, Rose, and Chewbacca receive medals at the Resistance base. Finn and Rose settle on Modesta, where they raise Force-sensitive children. Rey arrives at their homestead and vows to teach the children about the Force and how the balance of light and dark will maintain galactic peace.

Development[edit]

In August 2015, Colin Trevorrow was announced as the director of Episode IX;^[7] he wrote a script titled Duel of the Fates with frequent collaborator Derek Connolly.^[7][8][9] The draft dated December 2016 would have required changes due to the death of actress Carrie Fisher (who played Leia Organa) the same month.^[5] The script draft was leaked online in January 2020 (while The Rise of Skywalker was in theaters). A number of Twitter users expressed that they would have preferred to see Trevorrow's Duel of the Fates over The Rise of Skywalker, which was written by J. J. Abrams and Chris Terrio.^[10] Major differences featured in Duel of the Fates are that Rey—who has the last name Solana^[3]—is not related to Palpatine (Darth Sidious), Kylo Ren seeks to be trained by Sith Master Tor Valum (who was going to be revealed as the master of Darth Plagueis),^[2] and the final battle centers upon the previously established planets Coruscant from the prequel trilogy and Mortis from The Clone Warsanimated series.^[b] Other differences include that Rey is blinded by an unredeemed Kylo Ren, Luke's spirit has a more significant role, and R2-D2 suffers severe damage.^[12] The R2-D2 scene is the only one which Trevorrow has officially commented on, noting on Twitter that the droid would have been repaired.^[9] As part of an online Comic-Con event, Trevorrow called his departure from the film "traumatic" and showed a spaceship model, called a TIE marauder, he designed with his son for the unmade film.^[13]

Some story elements survived in The Rise of Skywalker, notable examples including Kylo finding a Sith holocron in Darth Vader's castle on Mustafar and the transference of Force energy,^[14][15] and Rey using Force Lightning against an enemy.^[16]

While an initially reluctant Lando helping save the day by surprisingly arriving leading a fleet of spaceships made it into the final film, in Duel of the Fates, Lando was originally going to be introduced as enjoying a life of luxury by owning a cabaret bar.^[17] The views of Lando's portrayer Billy Dee Williams aligned with that more than was ultimately made, as he stated that due to Lando's gambling backstory, he imagined old Lando as a rich "Las Vegasentrepreneur and showman like Steve Wynn", and that he favored that to the military general side of Lando.^[18]The cabaret bar was replaced with Lando being on exile on a desert planet, which was noted as less what people would expect from Lando by Screen Rant.^[19] Entertainment Weekly noted that Lando would have made sense in the planet of casinos depicted in The Last Jedi.^[20] Director Rian Johnson considered placing Lando in the scene and returning him to his morally ambiguous roots, by having him betray the heroes again, but ultimately replaced him by creating the less moral character of DJ.^[21]

According to the website Polygon, the desert planet where Lando was found was the final addition to the film, as noted in its officially written artbook by Phil Szostak. In regards to the unmade Duel of the Fates script, the artbook noted only a few images related to the unfilmed script made it to the book, and that it did not even list Trevorrow's name among the main creative forces of the film. It also described the leaked Duel of the Fates concept art as coming from earlier drafts.^[22]

A TIE fighter Echelon ship statue survived in the Disney theme park Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, the ship was developed by Colin Trevorrow during his work on Episode IX before being replaced as the film's director.^[23]

Reception[edit]

The draft gained attention due to the mixed response of The Rise of Skywalker. Upon release, The Rise of Skywalker was criticized for revealing its lack of a plan connecting the sequel trilogy (most notably retconning events of The Last Jedi),^[24][25] its plot holes (Palpatine's return and his relationship to Rey being the most prominent),^[26][27] and its treatment of minority and female characters, particularly Rose Tico, Poe Dameron, and Finn.^[28][29][30] Actress Kelly Marie Tran's screentime as Rose was reduced from 10 minutes in The Last Jedi to less than two minutes in The Rise of Skywalker,^[31] while Poe's new backstory as a smuggler was seen as racist towards Latinos due to him being portrayed by Guatemalan-born actor Oscar Isaac.^[32][29][22] Finn's actor, John Boyega, also criticized the film for sidelining characters played by people of color, including him, Tran, and Isaac.^[33][34][35] Eliana Dokterman, writing for Time magazine, called the film and its retcons "problematic", perceiving Abrams' choices as having been made to appease the complaints leveled by a toxic contingent of online fandom angered by The Last Jedi, in particular online trolls who harassed Johnson and several cast members, most notably Tran.^[30][36] The Rise of Skywalker is tied with The Phantom Menace as the lowest-rated live-action Star Wars film on Rotten Tomatoes^[37] and the second-lowest behind The Phantom Menace on Metacritic.^[38] Screen Rant ranked it as the worst live-action film and Entertainment Weekly ranked it the worst Star Wars film.^[39][40]

Before the draft was revealed as real, Esquire described it as too good to be fan-fiction, calling the script "worldclass", and in contrast criticized The Rise of Skywalker as cowardly for not killing any main character, other than Palpatine, "the old man that was already dead", and Ben Solo whom he deemed "irredeemable from the start".^[3] Nerdist notes that Rey remained a nobody, as compared to making her a Palpatine, which completely undermined the meaning of The Last Jedi.^[41] Inverse states that Duel of the Fates has two massive flaws in its roles for Leia and her son, Kylo Ren.^[42] However, Inverse praised the discarded script for multiple reasons, including being darker and less reliant on nostalgia and retcons than the final film, as well as connecting better to The Force Awakens due to providing an actual explanation for Rey's visions of the Knights of Ren, which Inversealso praised for providing better reasons for Rey to shoot Force Lightning. The Duel of the Fates script treated such ability as Rey's Dark Side powers being triggered by her realizing the Knights of Ren killed her parents, rather than the final film's treatment which turned it into a hereditary skill, something no previous film had done.^[16]

Collider made a video review of the unmade script and opined in April 2021 that Star Wars parody Spaceballs was better than The Rise of Skywalker.^[43][44] According to CBR.com the unmade script was heavily political somewhat beyond Finn's plotline, noting it sought to explain how the social class worked in the franchise (continuing from The Last Jedi), and comparing the themes to contemporary films like Us and the Oscar-winning film Parasite. It noted in the opening act that migrants helped the First Order due to financial bankruptcy, and that the communications blockade was a parallel for censorship. It also compared the stormtroopers' conditioning to imperialism, in the sense that indigenous children have always been forced to forget their cultures and native languages in re-education camps. CBR.com called Disney and Abrams cowards for depoliticizing the ultimately made film.^[45] The website later published a detailed opinion on why the unmade script would had been better than the one Abrams rewrote, calling most of the unmade arcs better including those of Rey, Hux, Kylo Ren (as the main villain), Luke Skywalker, Rose Tico, and Finn.^[46][47]

Some websites perceived Trevorrow's unmade script as closely aligned with the themes of the previous films of the saga, mainly The Last Jedi, and some also perceived it as giving other star characters more to do.^{[48][28][49][50][51][52][53][10]} John Boyega concurred with this, stating that the released film by Terrio and Abrams denied him of the "big hero moment" that the unmade film intended for his character, for instance when he leads an army into battle against the First Order holding a Rebellion flag, which was developed as concept art. Finn was also going to convince stormtroopers to defect the First Order and lead them into battle against it.^[54][55][56] The concept art of Finn's speech while holding the flag, as well as dialogue from the unmade film, were shared on social media and compared very positively and paralleling a speech given by Boyega during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.^[57][58][59] In November 2020, Boyega revealed that the controversy surrounding the diminished roles of the characters played by people of color in The Rise of Skywalker led him to have a "very honest conversation" with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who supported his claims.^[60] Boyega also said he would like to see Duel of the Fates adapted into a television series, particularly an animated one.^[55] Some sources have suggested that aspects of the script could be incorporated into other future Star Wars media.^[61] A filmed deleted scene from The Last Jedi Blu-ray showed a similar plotline where Finn caused a stormtrooper revolt against Captain Phasma; some websites felt the scene should have been kept in the final film.^{[62][63][64][65][66]}

Various media sources have compared the unmade script and the controversy surrounding it to Zack Snyder's Justice League, a director's cut representing Snyder's original vision before he had to step away from the production and it was reworked for theatrical release by Joss Whedon.^[67][68][36] The failed course correction attempt was also compared to the ones of the James Bond films Diamonds Are Forever and No Time to Die, which were well-received upon release.^[69][70] BBC compared the controversy to the one surrounding the Game of Thrones ending, and the female Ghostbusters, being negative about Abrams' choices.^[71] The Simpsons made an episode titled Do Pizza Bots Dream of Electric Guitars where the plot was about Homer Simpson and Comic Book Guy trying to prevent Abrams from doing a film featuring characters from Homer's childhood.^[72] Shortly after the release of The Rise of Skywalker, a rumor was circulated concerning an alleged "Abrams cut" of the film, which was quickly debunked.^[73] A subsequent unsubstantiated rumor claimed that George Lucas would release his own version of The Rise of Skywalker even though he had no involvement with the making of the film.^[74] Filmmaker and YouTube film pundit and Star Wars fan Robert Meyer Burnett analyzed the script on his Youtube channel feeling the script had some superior ideas to those put on-screen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.^[75][76][77]

Adaptations[edit]

See also: Cultural impact of Star Wars § Fan edits/restorations

Fan-made comic adaptation[edit]

Graphic artist Andrew Winegarner produced a comic version of the script in March 2021.^{[78][28][49][50][79]} The fan-made comic adaptation of the unmade script is 7 parts long, and its author shared it for free on his website. IGNnoted that the author stated that he adapted the unmade script due to his disappointment over how The Rise of Skywalker deviated from expectations that had been set up by the first two films of the sequel trilogy, and was a "retread of Return of the Jedi." He also noted the unmade script was not fan fiction because Trevorrow received credit as a writer in The Rise of Skywalker.^[78] CinemaBlend was positive about the fan-made comic,^[80] having opined in January 2020 that Lucasfilm should adapt the unmade script into a comic, along the lines of The Star Wars, which adapted the original unmade script of the original Star Wars film (1977).^[81] Inverse was positive about the fan-made comic adaptation while noting that the opinion that an unmade version of a film would have been better is common when the officially released version of the work was negatively received. He also compared the comic to the Star Wars Infinities comics, which told alternate stories to the ones of the films.^[68]

Fan-made animated adaptations[edit]

Duel of the Fates also received a fan-made animated parody adaptation on the YouTube channel Mr Sunday Movies. Inverse was positive about the parody, noting that it was more of a comedic overview of the details of the unmade script, rather than a serious adaptation.^[82][83][48] Another website, Digital Spy, compared the style of the animation drawings to the one of Nintendo's video game The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.^[84]

CinemaBlend was positive about the fan-made parody adaptation,^[85] and in another article noted that another different, and more serious animated adaptation existed by another YouTube channel, adapting a single scene of Kylo Ren talking to the ghost of Luke Skywalker in the ruins of Darth Vader's castle.^[86]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

by Carole Satyamurti 1939-2019

As morning broke on the opening day of war,
the rising sun (as Sánjaya described it
to the king) streaked the sky with scarlet.
The heat slowly burned off the mist that hung
over the plain. The opposing armies,
division upon division, stretched away
as far as the eye followed the curving earth.
All was brilliant. The chariots of the princes
and all the royal allies were resplendent
with noble banners, each with its own emblem.
One king’s standard carried a scarlet bull,
another, a boar on a cloth of silver,
others, bright flowers, stars, eagles, comets…
the sight too dazzling to be taken in.
Some kings were riding in their chariots
others sat erect on the necks of elephants
or on spirited horses, proudly wheeling.

So much armour, on elephants, horses, men!
The flashing gold and bronze rivalled the sun.
The close-packed troops and beasts, constantly moving,
glittered like a river thick with fish.

Both armies were terrible, both beautiful.
In both, men’s hearts were filled with joy and pride
at being part of it – this huge event,
this grand spectacle, this sacrifice,
this, the well-trained warrior’s highest calling.
Fear, suffering and grief would follow later.

With the two armies facing one another,
one east, one west; with ten thousand conches
blaring out in challenge, the din of cymbals
and the deep, heart-stopping throb of war drums,
Arjuna said to Krishna, his charioteer,
‘Drive the chariot into no-man’s-land
so I can see, before the battle starts,
the faces of the enemy I must kill.’

Krishna did what Arjuna asked of him.

And there, with every soldier tense and ready,
with every horse straining at its yoke;
there, in the moment before hell’s unleashing,
with each blade whetted, every weapon honed;
there, in the moment when the frenzy
of preparation is over, and the din
of death not yet begun – there, at that point
in the relentless passage of events…

time freezes.

Arjuna sinks down in his chariot.
His warrior’s heart has failed him.
His eyes stream with tears, his limbs tremble,
the bow, Gandíva, drops from his nerveless hand.
The world holds its breath.

For Karna, Kunti, for his brothers,
for Krishna – for each differently – Arjuna
is the point, the mainspring of the action.
He is the hero on whom all the hopes
of the Pándavas are pinned; the obstacle,
above all others, the son of Dhritarashtra
sees as blocking his road to victory.

Arjuna has fought scores of bloody battles,
exulting at the slaughter of enemies,
threshing them like standing stooks of grain
without regret, never looking back.
He is the supreme kshátriya;
the whole effort of his life is geared
to heroism and glorious victory.
But now he is unravelled by distress.
He gazes at the rank on rank of kinsmen.
They are so familiar – human, as he is.
How to make them stranger to him than strangers?
Death takes on new weight, sharper meaning.
Whether this war brings victory or defeat
there will be no occasion for rejoicing.

Striking his brow, he cries aloud to Krishna,
‘I will not fight! A kshátriya enters battle
to preserve dharma.
But how can it be right
to kill our kinsmen, to coldly slaughter those
who have nurtured, taught and grown with us?
There is Drona, our dear teacher, and Bhishma,
beloved grandfather to all of us.
He looks so serene, full of resolve –
has he not imagined how it will be
to aim his arrows at the hearts of those
joined to him by blood – who once were children
gathered round, enraptured by his stories?

‘Look at all our cousins standing there,
sick with greed and anger – but, Krishna,
even though they are blind to their own evil,
even though they are desperate to kill us,
how can we, who know dharma, do the same?
I feel already the familiar heft
of Gandíva, flexing to dispatch death
at those I should protect, my kin – how can I
cut them down as though they were rank weeds?’

Krishna smiles, as at a foolish child.
‘Son of Kunti, your doubts sound honourable
but they spring from deep misunderstanding.
You speak as if this life were all there is.
But it is just one brief embodiment
of the eternal soul, the indestructible.
Bodies are born, they flourish, age, and die.
But the soul, part of that greater spirit
that infuses everything that exists,
was never born, and cannot be killed.
That soul, the witness of our every thought
and action, persists from one life to the next;
it sloughs off its old and out-worn body
as one discards old clothes and puts on new.
Wise people know this, and do not lament.

‘From the perspective of eternal time,
the undivided, everlasting present,
those men you see lined up, eager for battle,
full of the beauty of their youth and strength,
are dead already.

The bodies which have known cold and heat,
pleasure and suffering, already carry
death and decomposition in their bones.
‘You need to understand, Arjuna,
that in this life, nothing is permanent,
nothing can be held, or truly owned.
The individual ‘I’ a person clings to –
the ego with a sense of past and future,
furnished with intentions and memories –
is simply an illusion. There is only
an infinite procession of present moments.
Time is the present,
to be experienced, enjoyed, endured,
misery and pleasure equally.
Beings have mysterious origins.
They emerge into the light, then disappear
into shadow. Why should this cause grief?

‘Within the framework of a single life
each individual has their dharma,
the path of right action they should follow,
depending on the station they occupy.
Your dharma is to fight. That is your purpose.
You were born for this, and it is for this
that praise-singers will extol your memory
long after you are dead. Think. To refuse
would lead to deep disgrace – people would say,
“When it came to it, he was a coward.”
What could be more miserable than that
for a kshátriya? Fight as a warrior should
and you cannot lose – either you are killed
and go to heaven, or win and enjoy the kingdom.
So get to your feet, scourge of your enemies,
gather your strength, Arjuna, and fight!’

Carole Satyamurti writes:
The main narrative thread of the Mahabharata concerns the conflict between two sets of royal cousins: the hundred Káurava brothers under the eldest prince, Duryódhana, who has grabbed the entire kingdom for himself, and refuses to negotiate; and the five Pándava brothers, the eldest of whom is rightfully entitled to it. Arjuna is the greatest warrior of the Pándavas. In the war which, in this extract, is about to begin, Krishna, an avatar of the god,Vishnu, is Arjuna’s charioteer and counsellor.

The passage occurs at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna’s teaching on the nature of right
action, which is a sacred text for Hindus. The entire Mahabharata is more than 5000 pages long in dense English prose translation.At 700 pages, my version (verse, as is the Sanskit original) is, like other versions for non-specialist readers, an abridgement.
from Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling

by Carole Satyamurti 1939-2019

As morning broke on the opening day of war,
the rising sun (as Sánjaya described it
to the king) streaked the sky with scarlet.
The heat slowly burned off the mist that hung
over the plain. The opposing armies,
division upon division, stretched away
as far as the eye followed the curving earth.
All was brilliant. The chariots of the princes
and all the royal allies were resplendent
with noble banners, each with its own emblem.
One king’s standard carried a scarlet bull,
another, a boar on a cloth of silver,
others, bright flowers, stars, eagles, comets…
the sight too dazzling to be taken in.
Some kings were riding in their chariots
others sat erect on the necks of elephants
or on spirited horses, proudly wheeling.

So much armour, on elephants, horses, men!
The flashing gold and bronze rivalled the sun.
The close-packed troops and beasts, constantly moving,
glittered like a river thick with fish.

Both armies were terrible, both beautiful.
In both, men’s hearts were filled with joy and pride
at being part of it – this huge event,
this grand spectacle, this sacrifice,
this, the well-trained warrior’s highest calling.
Fear, suffering and grief would follow later.

With the two armies facing one another,
one east, one west; with ten thousand conches
blaring out in challenge, the din of cymbals
and the deep, heart-stopping throb of war drums,
Arjuna said to Krishna, his charioteer,
‘Drive the chariot into no-man’s-land
so I can see, before the battle starts,
the faces of the enemy I must kill.’

Krishna did what Arjuna asked of him.

And there, with every soldier tense and ready,
with every horse straining at its yoke;
there, in the moment before hell’s unleashing,
with each blade whetted, every weapon honed;
there, in the moment when the frenzy
of preparation is over, and the din
of death not yet begun – there, at that point
in the relentless passage of events…

time freezes.

Arjuna sinks down in his chariot.
His warrior’s heart has failed him.
His eyes stream with tears, his limbs tremble,
the bow, Gandíva, drops from his nerveless hand.
The world holds its breath.

For Karna, Kunti, for his brothers,
for Krishna – for each differently – Arjuna
is the point, the mainspring of the action.
He is the hero on whom all the hopes
of the Pándavas are pinned; the obstacle,
above all others, the son of Dhritarashtra
sees as blocking his road to victory.

Arjuna has fought scores of bloody battles,
exulting at the slaughter of enemies,
threshing them like standing stooks of grain
without regret, never looking back.
He is the supreme kshátriya;
the whole effort of his life is geared
to heroism and glorious victory.
But now he is unravelled by distress.
He gazes at the rank on rank of kinsmen.
They are so familiar – human, as he is.
How to make them stranger to him than strangers?
Death takes on new weight, sharper meaning.
Whether this war brings victory or defeat
there will be no occasion for rejoicing.

Striking his brow, he cries aloud to Krishna,
‘I will not fight! A kshátriya enters battle
to preserve dharma.
But how can it be right
to kill our kinsmen, to coldly slaughter those
who have nurtured, taught and grown with us?
There is Drona, our dear teacher, and Bhishma,
beloved grandfather to all of us.
He looks so serene, full of resolve –
has he not imagined how it will be
to aim his arrows at the hearts of those
joined to him by blood – who once were children
gathered round, enraptured by his stories?

‘Look at all our cousins standing there,
sick with greed and anger – but, Krishna,
even though they are blind to their own evil,
even though they are desperate to kill us,
how can we, who know dharma, do the same?
I feel already the familiar heft
of Gandíva, flexing to dispatch death
at those I should protect, my kin – how can I
cut them down as though they were rank weeds?’

Krishna smiles, as at a foolish child.
‘Son of Kunti, your doubts sound honourable
but they spring from deep misunderstanding.
You speak as if this life were all there is.
But it is just one brief embodiment
of the eternal soul, the indestructible.
Bodies are born, they flourish, age, and die.
But the soul, part of that greater spirit
that infuses everything that exists,
was never born, and cannot be killed.
That soul, the witness of our every thought
and action, persists from one life to the next;
it sloughs off its old and out-worn body
as one discards old clothes and puts on new.
Wise people know this, and do not lament.

‘From the perspective of eternal time,
the undivided, everlasting present,
those men you see lined up, eager for battle,
full of the beauty of their youth and strength,
are dead already.

The bodies which have known cold and heat,
pleasure and suffering, already carry
death and decomposition in their bones.
‘You need to understand, Arjuna,
that in this life, nothing is permanent,
nothing can be held, or truly owned.
The individual ‘I’ a person clings to –
the ego with a sense of past and future,
furnished with intentions and memories –
is simply an illusion. There is only
an infinite procession of present moments.
Time is the present,
to be experienced, enjoyed, endured,
misery and pleasure equally.
Beings have mysterious origins.
They emerge into the light, then disappear
into shadow. Why should this cause grief?

‘Within the framework of a single life
each individual has their dharma,
the path of right action they should follow,
depending on the station they occupy.
Your dharma is to fight. That is your purpose.
You were born for this, and it is for this
that praise-singers will extol your memory
long after you are dead. Think. To refuse
would lead to deep disgrace – people would say,
“When it came to it, he was a coward.”
What could be more miserable than that
for a kshátriya? Fight as a warrior should
and you cannot lose – either you are killed
and go to heaven, or win and enjoy the kingdom.
So get to your feet, scourge of your enemies,
gather your strength, Arjuna, and fight!’

Carole Satyamurti writes:
The main narrative thread of the Mahabharata concerns the conflict between two sets of royal cousins: the hundred Káurava brothers under the eldest prince, Duryódhana, who has grabbed the entire kingdom for himself, and refuses to negotiate; and the five Pándava brothers, the eldest of whom is rightfully entitled to it. Arjuna is the greatest warrior of the Pándavas. In the war which, in this extract, is about to begin, Krishna, an avatar of the god,Vishnu, is Arjuna’s charioteer and counsellor.

The passage occurs at the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna’s teaching on the nature of right
action, which is a sacred text for Hindus. The entire Mahabharata is more than 5000 pages long in dense English prose translation.At 700 pages, my version (verse, as is the Sanskit original) is, like other versions for non-specialist readers, an abridgement.

5000 to 5099

5100 to 5199

5200 to 5299

5300 to 5399

5400 to 5499