This second jaunt into Ian Doescher’s Shakespeare/Star Wars hybrid imaginary universe, entitled William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back, only solidifies my opinion that these adaptations are more than gags and novelties to be gifted to nerdy friends (although they can be used for that purpose as well).
I purposely use the word ‘adaptation’ here because Doescher’s attention to detail and his thoughtful approach to both the story and to Shakespeare’s forms and techniques clearly illustrate that although the results for us as readers may be fun and amusing (even hilarious in spots), this is a project Doescher is taking quite seriously. Not that he isn’t having fun with it, mind you, just that that fun isn’t coming at the expense of quality and attention to detail.
I mean, how could he NOT have fun with this, when he gets to do things like give wampas soliloquies, feature AT-ATs talking to each other during battle (one AT-AT has a particularly large ego), and have side characters wax metaphoric for 200 lines about the possible reasons their Empire might have built giant dangerous trenches into all their spaceships. Actually, I’m just going to quote you (almost) the whole sequence, because I love it:
GUARD 2: –Verily, but follow on:
That they unto the code this city built
Is not the thing that I found strange. Instead,
It was the code’s requirements I did mark.
For didst thou know the Empire doth require
That any major structure shall include
At least one chasm that’s deep and long and dark?
Not only shall these chasms exist: the code
Doth further specify that they shall be
Abutting pathways where pedestrians
May walk. The Death Star that was built some years
Ago had, evidently, sev’ral of
These holes, and our Cloud City has them, too.
Is not this strange?GUARD 1: –I know them well, and did
Go walking past just such a gaping hole
That led to nothingness but yesterday.GUARD 2: It simply maketh little sense to put
Such vast, deep holes in ev’ry structure next
To well-worn paths. Could not a person, by
Some simple misstep, fall most easily
Down one of these great chasms? So wherefore place
Such hazards into ev’ry structure built?GUARD 1: I see your reasoning, but shall rebut:
The Empire is the greatest strength e’er known,
‘Tis true?GUARD 2: –Of course. I’d not say otherwise.
GUARD 1: And any great thing–person, beast, or realm–
Doth put its greatness on display, agree?GUARD 2: ‘Tis natural, I’ll warrant. Pray, say on.
GUARD 1: I posit that the Empire doth command
That structures have these chasms immense because
It is through their immensity that our
Great Empire’s strength is shown. And since they are
Vast holes that deadly are, should one fall in,
They send a message strong and clear to all:
The Empire is a proud and might pow’r
And doth not fear sure death, but laughs at it.
I’ faith, we are so full of life that we
Walk by our certain passing daily–it
Is but quotidian for us–and yet
We have no fear.GUARD 2: –Thy point is clearly made.
But still, I think it strange that this is true:
A structure is not whole till it hath holes.
Such things lie far beyond my understanding,
Yet do I trust there is a master plan.GUARD 1: Shall we to supper, friend?
GUARD 2: –Forsooth, lead on!
It’s not as good as the scene from William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, a New Hope where the two Stormtroopers have an intense philosophical discussion only to be murdered immediately afterwards in a rather perfunctory manner by Luke and Han so as to commandeer their uniforms, but it’s still pretty great.
Doescher did a great job twisting around the famous movie quotes in the first book, and that talent continues in this one. “I don’t know where you get your delusions, laser brain” becomes:
“I know not whence thy great delusions come, / Thou laser brain.”
“Never tell me the odds!” becomes:
“I tell thee, droid: assail me not with odds!”
And occasionally he takes a line or scene and either expands it, or twists it around and plays with it dramatically, like this scene that features so much Shakespearean punning and wordplay, I don’t even know what to do with myself:
LEIA: –We need thee, Han.
HAN: What “we”? Why speakest thou of “we”?
Dost thou in royal terms speak here of “we”?
Hast thou a rodent in thy pocket, such
That thou and he are “we”? What meanest thou?
What need is there that thou dost share with all?
Speak not of “we,” but “I”. O princess, what
Dost thou most need? Not “we,” not “they,” but “thou”?
Etcetera, etcetera.
Something that I didn’t mention in my last review is how gorgeous Nicolas Delort’s illustrations are (see yon Tauntaun below, and scroll down further for some quality Luke/Vader lightsaber action). They really add a nice flavor to the rest of it. They’re so lovely and detailed, it just ups the whole thing a little more.
Doescher also continues inserting references to Shakespeare’s works throughout, my favorite of which was Vader going all Shylock on us (“prick us do we not bleed?”), but there are a ton, and they are always really well integrated into the story. His dedication to utilizing the conventions of Renaissance drama makes me want to give the dude the highest of fives. As he explains in the afterword, in this one, he backed off of the chorus (although I did miss it a little bit), instead choosing to use the lines the characters speak themselves to illustrate events further, just as Shakespeare did. He also introdues the first prose speaking character in the form of Boba Fett, which is just so perfect, because Shakespeare used characters speaking prose to delineate between different classes of people, so of course Boba Fett, that eternal scamp, wouldn’t be good enough to speak in blank verse.
Probably the cleverest thing Doescher does in this one is with Yoda. He also discusses in the afterword the ways he almost went with the character (having Yoda be the only one speaking in a modern voice, as his normal speaking voice is Shakespearean anyway, simply transcribing Yoda’s lines verbatim from the films, etc.). But ultimately he chose to deviate a little bit from Shakespearean conventions and have Yoda speak entirely in haiku, despite that Shakespeare would have been largely unfamiliar with that form. Here’s Doescher’s Yoda speaking his version of “No. Do, or do not. There is no try”:
YODA: Nay, nay! Try thou not.
But do thou or do thou not.
For there is no “try”.
And here’s Yoda schooling Luke in the ways of the Jedi:
YODA: Nay, size matters not.
Look thou at me, I prithee.
Judge me by my size?And where you should not.
For my ally ’tis the Force.
A pow’rful ally.Life doth create it.
Its energy surrounds us,
Binds us together.Luminous beings,
We are, not this crude matter.
You must feel the Force.
I noticed while reading the first one that the Star Wars oeuvre really lends itself to this kind of treatment, but this one especially with its tragic elements is perfectly suited to dramatic adaptation. Luke’s whole arc is just a tragedy waiting to happen, and the opportunities afforded in this medium as opposed to film actually lets us have some great moments with both Luke and Vader where we actually get inside their heads and see them reflecting on events.
Anyway, all this is to say, if you’re a Star Wars fan, seriously check these out, but if you like Shakespeare AND Star Wars, I honestly don’t know why you’re even reading this instead of going out to find a copy for yourself. The third volume, William Shakespeare’s The Jedi Doth Return, is sure to be just as fun as its predecessors, and we only have to wait until July 1st. I already have a reserved copy at my library (and hopefully will get my own copies sometime soon — these just beg to be re-read).
“Our story endeth, though your hearts do burn,/ And shall until the Jedi doth return.”