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Apr 9, 2012 -- 8:39AM, arupa wrote:

A little biased, I think.  That's floated around here before if I recall.

I think it gets a lot more right than it does wrong, personally. It's a very informed analysis despite the bizzare presentation.

But yeah, I still have no idea what the "Shaternarians" stood to gain by making this alliance with Darth Sidious. I'm sure in his head, LUcas had a reason, but he didn't share it in the movie nad it left me scratching my head. Since the entire film revolves around that crisis, it seems important.

Apr 11, 2012 -- 8:26AM, arupa wrote:

What's a Shaternarian?

No idea, though wikitionary.com defines Shatnerian as "[o]f or pertaining to William Shatner (born 1931), Canadian actor and writer."

Anyway, with the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Puebla coming up this Cinco de Mayo (the day after "Star Wars Day," May the Fourth be with you), it got me thinking about this thread.  A lot of people commonly mistake Cinco de Mayo with having to do with the Mexican Revolution or Mexican Independence Day, which it doesn't.  Cinco de Mayo celebrates the Battle of Puebla, which took place in the late 19th Century, forty years before the Mexican Revolution, which took place in the early 20th Century (and if you're a fan of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which I am, you'll recall that young Indy fought in the Mexican Revolution, with Pancho Villa's men, against El Chacal, Victoriano Huerta *ptew*, which Indy mentions to Mutt in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).

Anyway, the Battle of Puebla was actually a battle of the Franco-Mexican War.  The Mexican government decided it was going to hold off on paying back all its foreign debts to save some money because Mexico's own Civil War, which had just ended, left the country's finances in ruin.  Naturally, Mexico's creditors weren't happy about the suspension of debt payments, so France (under Napoleon Bonaparte's grandson, Napoleon III), one of the creditors in question, decided it was going to invade Mexico to bitch-slap them for their money.  A Philadelphia newspaper of the time described France's army as currently being the best in the world, so you can imagine how easy Napoleon III thought this might be.  And in true Star Wars style, the Emperor (Napoleon III) ostensibly invaded Mexico under the ruse that it would help "free trade."  This is where I see a parallel to the Battle of Naboo.

Napoleon III claimed that by "making friends with Mexico's government" (i.e., invading and occupying Mexico) France would give Europe access to larger world markets and keep the United States (then embroiled in its own Civil War) from obtaining a monopoly over those rich world markets.  So, Napoleon III invaded Puebla, Mexico.

It turns out that, like the Battle of Naboo, the Battle of Puebla was an unlikely victory for the Mexicans, though the unlikeliness of their victory likely has grown more and more exaggerated.  Legend has it that the Mexican combatants were non-military farmers who fought only with machetes against the better armed, better trained French soldiers.  In fact, the Mexican cavalry was very well trained and armed, having just fought their own Civil War.  Also, legend has it that the Mexicans were outnumbered two to one by the French.  While historians agree that the French soldiers outnumbered the Mexican soldiers, the ratio may have been more like 1.5 to 1, and even then, the Mexican cavalry may have been aided by said machete-wielding farmers, bringing the numbers even closer to a 1-to-1 ratio.

Also, in the spirit of Star Wars, the Mexicans are said to have won the battle in part because of a cattle stampede that the rustic residents of Puebla let loose when the French charged.  Whether the French soldiers were actually stampeded by the cattle or just impeded is questionable, but either way, it makes for a great nature-versus-technology story.

And just as a side-note, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated as much (if not more) in the United States as in Mexico.  Where the Mexicans and Mexican-Americans have exalted the holiday as an opportunity to celebrate ethnic pride, Americans of all backrounds celebrate it because had the Mexicans not beaten the French in the Battle of Puebla, France would have gained a foot-hold in occupied Mexico, and Napoleon III could have used the country as a secret supply route to funnel arms, equipment and mercenaries to the Army of the Confederate States of America, and helped the Confederacy defeat the Grand Army of the Republic (that's the real life Union Army, not the GAR of the Star Wars mythos), in which case the American Civil War may have taken a very different turn, and the destiny of the United States may have been drastically different.  Napoleon III did have an interest in interfering with the American Civil War -- if the Confederates had succeeded in suceeding, Texas probably would have become its own Republic too, and the U.S. may never have reached superpower status.

So...take what you will from this little history lesson.  From it, you can draw lots of reasons why the Trade Federation (analagous to France in this simile), might have invaded Naboo (Mexico's analog).

Apr 11, 2012 -- 8:26AM, arupa wrote:

What's a Shaternarian?

If you'd watched the video, you'd know