1 Head Death: VERY WELL, YOU'VE TALKED ME DOWN TO PAYING NOTHING. WILL YOU DO THE JOB?
2 Charity Collector Guy: Is it for a worthy cause?
3 Head Death: RESTORING THE DELICATE BALANCE OF LIFE AND DEATH TO THE UNIVERSE.
4 Charity Collector Guy: I don't have an unusually high midichlorian count or something, do I?

There is some controversy over the spelling of midichlorian. In the novel Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace it is spelled midi-clorian, while on the Official Star Wars website it is spelled midi-chlorian. This inconsistency is a major source of anguish to Star Wars fans, and the major reason many think that some or all of the prequel movies suck.

Jar Jar is just a diversion.

So, anyway, I picked a mutually inconsistent spelling deliberately. Just because I know there are Star Wars fans out there who will get delight out of spotting the "error".

And if you don't get this comic, well then, you obviously haven't seen Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Now you have a good reason to go see it. You can thank me later.

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2014-09-24 Rerun commentary: It's highly plausible that George Lucas adapted the name of midi-chlorians from mitochondria, which are organelles within the cells of many forms of Earth life, including animals, plants, fungi, and other eukaryotic organisms.

Although they are wholly contained within our cells, mitochondria have their own genes and DNA which are not shared with the larger cell, and resemble the DNA of bacteria (which are prokaryotic, or non-eukaryotic organisms). This is so suspicious that the prevailing opinion among microbiologists is that ancestral mitochondria were probably at one point independent bacterium-like organisms, which became absorbed into the structure of eukaryotic cells as symbionts.

QUI-GON: Midi-chlorians are a microscopic lifeform that reside within all living cells and communicate with the Force.
ANAKIN: They live inside of me?
QUI-GON: In your cells. We are symbionts with the midi-chlorians.
ANAKIN: Symbionts?
QUI-GON: Life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist.

Sound familiar? There are some subtle differences, of course. Mitochondria do not exist inside all living cells. They are not in bacteria, for example. And they don't have that whole Force thing going on. But yeah.