There's a new Making of Star Wars book which comes out April 24 and includes an appendix of Lucas' old backstory notes for the prequels. These include among other things details on C-3PO's origins and Midichlorians showing that George may have had these things in mind from the get go if they are his actual notes from way back when.

Who knows but it still sounds very intriguing and the book itself looks good too.

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Making Of Star Wars @ Amazon

[web]http://www.amazon.com/Making-Star-Wars-Definitive-Original/dp/0345494768/ref=sr_1_16/002-3308768-2589665?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176835349&sr=8-16[/web]

I've heard that the old "Whills" word was synonymous with "The Force" in the old drafts, and might have inspired the word "Midichlorians", so this isn't strange.

If I remember correctly the Whills were supposed to be some ancient, wiser race relating the main story and having a better judgement than its hereos of what is right and what is wrong. Later on Lucas has chosen to use a mystical, living Force instead.

I don't see, how this could be connected to the midichlorians.

I guess there's still a lot of stuff about creation of the story that hasn't been revealed.

It would be good if, one day, Lucas puts together a book or a short-TV series detailing the evolution of the story, discussing all of these little half-facts that we know small bits about.

Qui-Gon: "They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force."

Still don't see it?

Well, maybe.... Actually, good point; I forgot those critters are mighty intelligent.

Luke implied their existence when he said the Force runs strong in his family (ie, sensitivity is a hereditary trait).

A point I've been making for years, rendering the whole argument that Lucas somehow changed the Force from a mystical energy field into something genetic/scientific irrelevant.

He basically made "biological mythology" with that idea, taking stuff from old notes and putting a scientific spin on it. Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but at least it's not completely unfounded in SW.

As far as the infusion of science into the Force, I've always said that it fits with the dual nature of the genre. It is fantasy, but it's fantasy rooted in science fiction. The fantastic elements have to have some pseudo-scientific grounding. It's very similar to the comic book superhero genre. A character like Superman does not derive his powers through knowledge of magic or being the son of a deity. He gets his powers because of how his body chemistry and molecular structure react with the light coming from the Earth's sun.