If Bail Organa Replaced the Gungans…

Y’all. My imagination goes wild sometimes. After getting some family feedback about the Fixing Jar Jar post, my mind hit full overdrive, and I immediately had to plan out the entirety of what Bail Organa replacing the Gungans

would look like.

What does replacing the Gungans with Organa look like? Let me show you.

First Up – Goodbye Gungans. Jar Jar can stay as comic relief, but he only gets to help out in simple ways. He leads the Jedi immediately to Theed, using his underwater skills to get them into the city without being discovered by the droid army (making him actually useful in a realistic way).

The escape from Naboo, and all of Tattooine remains the same. But things start to really change when our heroes get to Coruscant. We meet Bail Organa along with Chancellor Vallorum and Senator Palpatine when they meet Amidala and the Jedi. Bail has perhaps had past dealings with the Trade Federation acting illegally, so he believes Amidala and supports her.

During the Senate meeting where Amidala is pleading her case, Bail Organa also moves his floating senate seat out to argue for Amidala and immediate action.
Amidala calls for a vote of no confidence in Vallorum like normal. But this time, instead of Chancellor Palpetine’s competition being Ainlee Teem of Malastare and Bail ANTILLES of Alderaan (Organa’s Senatorial predecessor), ORGANA is already the Senator, and now a challenger to Palpatine. Palpatine has the sympathy vote, being from Naboo. But Organa was also elected to the running because of his leadership and being the strongest voice calling the Senate to bring justice on the Trade Federation, who are known to overstep their bounds and have been making a mock of the laws of the Republic.

Amidala, again, decides that she cannot wait for the Senate to argue it out. Organa, wanting to help, convinces his wife (the Queen of Alderaan) to send their army to help. They participate in the diversionary battle, instead of the Gungans.

The Blockade would have to change some, to allow Alderaanian drop ships to get to Naboo. Instead of Blockade ships completely surrounding the planet stopping everyone from getting in and out, perhaps there are a few ships spread out, but mostly their ships are focused on protecting the command center ship (which needs to visually look different from all the other blockade ships) which controls the droid army (this would also give the Naboo pilots and Anakin a clue as to which ship they should focus their attack on. I’m not sure how they actually know which ship to try and attack).

Back on Alderaan, Palpatine is working hard to become Chancellor. We see closed door meetings with other Senators, convincing them to vote for him. He turns Bail’s willingness to help to his own advantage. He convinces other Senators that while Organa’s swift action is for a good cause, his unwillingness to wait for a SENATORIAL vote and SENATORIAL action prove that he would be a dangerous Chancellor. He makes the other Senators fear that Organa would be a threat to their power, that as their leader he would work to strip the Senate of its power and centralize power in the Chancellor seat. This adds a whole new layer of irony, considering this is EXACTLY what Palpatine does.

Ultimately, everything ends happy. Naboo is safe, and their own Senator has been elected chancellor. Naboo and Alderaan (and by extension Amidala and Organa) have formed a lasting bond of friendship.

Episode II – Just give Bail a few more lines, both to show that he and Padme have continued their friendship, and make him a little more overtly against the creation of a Republic Army (which is not hypocritical. He believes in the power of democracy and individual systems to act. He is strongly against centralized power, which would happen if there was an actual Army that belonged to the Republic, controlled by it’s leader).

Episode III – Include the scenes that were cut! There are already 3 or so great scenes of Organa, Padme, and Mon Mothma essentially forming the precursor to the Rebellion. They should have never been taken out, but in this version they need to go back in. And Bail does not adopt Leia simply because he and his wife just so happened to want to adopt a daughter. He adopts and raises Leia in order to honor his beloved friend Padme, just as Obi-Wan accompanies Luke to Tattoine to honor his former apprentice and friend.

What does this achieve, you ask? Let me tell you.

The Gungans are gone. Jar Jar is stomachable, because he is not responsible for the entirely of Naboo. That’s a huge win all by itself. But further than that Bail Organa steps up in a grand way. In the movies themselves, Bail Organa is a secondary character of necessity, since we already know he raises Leia. In the tv shows and Rogue One, he shows himself to be a key player in the Clone Wars and the Rebellion. But we are never quite as attached to him as we should be. With this version?

• We now know why Organa is such a huge player in the Clone Wars and the Rebellion: He has been in the fight against the Federation/Seperatists/Sith/Empire back from the very beginning.
• We now understand why Amidala and Organa are friends. He aided her people while she was Queen, and was her mentor when she joined the Senate.
• We love and respect him all the more as Leia’s father.
• We learn that Leia’s brashness and willingness to fight come maybe partially from Anakin, but they are also learned at the knee of the amazing man who raised her.
• The Fall of the Republic becomes more gradual. After Episode I we are left to mourn the fact that the Senate chose Palpatine when they could have chosen Organa. It’s not just that they pick a Sith Lord, the most evil man in the galaxy to lead them. It’s that they don’t chose one of the best and most honorable men in the Senate.
• • Episode I – The Senate chooses evil to lead them instead of good
  • Episode II – The Senate gives the Chancellor emergency powers and an army, choosing war over negotiation and peace, which Amidala and Organa argue for.
  • Episode III – The Senate allows Palpatine to turn the Republic into the Empire.
  • (I personally like this added emphasis on what the Senate does, or chooses not to do. There are more factors at play than just the Jedi and Sith. Yes the Jedi are growing weaker. Yes Palpatine is friggin powerful. But Palpatine does not use force to get what he wants. He uses persuasion and coercion. Which means that ultimately everyone around him allows him to control their lives.)
• Bail Organa changes from being a vaguely important secondary character that is frequently used as a useful tool outside the movies, to being one of the strongest and most loved characters. And a character we can love who does not have The Force, but simply the will to create a good galaxy. 

Personally, in my not so humble opinion, I think this is brilliant. Sadly, Hollywood and Lucasfilm don’t ask my opinion. They don’t know what thy are missing  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯