The Trial (Vader's Nightmare)

A Music Video

By Jennifer

I've been on a bit of a Pink Floyd kick recently, and just uploaded another music video to a Floyd song to the Doctor Who section. The music video concept is a second cousin to the songfic: the lines in parentheses describe what's going on during the sung lines. Eerily enough, I didn't have to change a word of this song…it all fits perfectly into the SW concept.

"The Trial" is from "Pink Floyd: The Wall". SW belongs, of course, to The Great Flanneled One. This takes place between ESB and ROTJ.

ENJOY!

(Fade in on Vader being led down a hall by two stormtroopers…not commanding them this time, but being commanded by them. He glances from one to the other, his fear evident even behind his mask. He is led into a huge courtroom, packed with jeering spectators, a judge on the bench, hooded and robed, his face in shadow. A snarling, sneering Tarkin is before the bench. He waits for Vader to be escorted in, then turns to the judge to address him: )

Tarkin:

Good morning, Worm, Your Honor,

The crown will plainly show

The prisoner who now stands before you

Was caught redhanded showing FEELINGS!

Showing feelings of an almost HUMAN nature!

This will not do!

CALL THE SCHOOLMASTER!

(Suddenly, young Obi-Wan—Ewan's Obi-Wan—is before them, addressing the court angrily.)

Obi-Wan:

I always said he'd come to no good

In the end, Your Honor!

If they'd let me have my way

I could have flayed him into shape!

But my hands were tied,

The bleeding hearts and artists

Let him get away with murder!

Let me hammer him today!

(He raises his saber menacingly at Vader…Vader, overwhelmed by long-suppressed guilt and fear, cowers…then Obi-Wan vanishes, his robes falling to the ground. Shaken by feelings he has buried for years, but that have never vanished, Vader bows his head…)

Vader:

Crazy, toys in the attic, I am crazy, truly gone fishing…

They must have taken my marbles away!

Spectators (mockingly) :

Crazy, toys in the attic, he is crazy!

Tarkin:

Call the defendant's wife!

(And Padme materializes, her gaze furious, her white gowns stained with blood, the japor snippet dangling from her fingers as she vents her rage on Vader: )

Padme:

You little shit, you're in it now,

I hope they throw away the key!

You should have talked to me more often than you did, but NO!!!

You had to go your own way,

Have you broken any homes up lately?

Just five minutes, Worm, Your Honor,

Him and me, alone!

(Vader reaches out imploring arms to his wife, but she vanishes…and, just as suddenly, Shmi Skywalker is there, calling out to her son…)

Shmi:

BAAAAAABE!!!

Come to Mother, baby, let me hold you in my arms!

M'Lud, I never wanted him to get in any trouble!

Why'd he ever have to leave me?

Worm, Your Honor, let me take him home!

(At this, Vader breaks free of his guards and rushes to Shmi, arms out…but she vanishes before he can touch her…and he sinks to the ground in an agony of despair and terror…)

Vader:

Crazy, over the rainbow, I am crazy, bars in the windows…

There must have been a door there in the wall

When I came in!

Spectators (mockingly) :

Crazy, over the rainbow, he is crazy!

(Now the judge stands…revealing himself to be Luke Skywalker. In cold fury, he points at Vader and pronounces sentence: )

Luke:

The evidence before the court is incontrovertible,

There's no need for the jury to retire!

In all my years of judging I have never heard before

Of someone more deserving of the full penalty of law!

The way you made them suffer,

Your exquisite wife and mother,

Fills me with the urge to DEFECATE!

Since, my friend, you have revealed your deepest fear,

I sentence you to be EXPOSED before your peers!

TEAR DOWN THE WALL!!!

Spectators:

Tear down the wall!!!

Tear down the wall!!!

(The spectators…composed of all the people Vader has killed or enslaved…rush Vader, tearing at his armor…leaving him dressed in rags, a shivering, vulnerable old man, unprotected, unpitied, powerless. He reaches up towards Luke, begging forgiveness…but Luke only glares icily down at him and turns away…it is too late. Vader screams silently, as the jeers of the spectators press in on him…

And Vader awakes in his bedchamber, clutching the black bedcovers in terror. He sinks back into the bed, knowing very well what has caused these buried feelings to resurface…Luke is out there, and knows Vader is his father now. And Luke is the only one who has the power to tear down the barriers which have protected the man who was once Anakin Skywalker. Into the darkness, Vader whispers a prayer to whoever will grant the prayers of a Sith Lord:

"Please let the wall hold.")

So, what'd'ya think? Told you the words fit perfectly. The judge is referred to as "Worm, Your Honor". You do remember what Luke's nickname on Tatooine was originally supposed to be, don't you?