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draize_train posted:That's really well done! Young Heath Ledger would have been an awesome Anakin. All-Australian Star Wars! I remember in the mid-90s when the prequels were first announced, there were rumors that Kenneth Branaugh was in consideration to play Obi-Wan. And the Owen as Ben's brother thing is directly from the finished script of ROTJ, just the segment in question was changed in filming. It's actually interesting to consider how the prequels would have been different if that section had actually been filmed as presented in the script: ROTJ script posted:BEN (continuing his narrative)
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Mar 15, 2012 00:01
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Pretty sure Obi-Wan mentions having a brother named Owen in a EU book too.
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Mar 15, 2012 00:32
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Chairman Capone posted:And the Owen as Ben's brother thing is directly from the finished script of ROTJ, just the segment in question was changed in filming. It's actually interesting to consider how the prequels would have been different if that section had actually been filmed as presented in the script: I always thought that whole "Owen was Obi-Wan's brother" thing was like an internet urban legend; didn't know it was in a finished ROTJ script. That's crazy. I personally feel that not fleshing out Owen's character in the prequel trilogy was one of the biggest missteps Lucas took, among many other things. There were multiple ways to make the impact of Owen's death in A New Hope that much more meaningful in the prequels, not just to Luke, but for the audience. drat. [edit] draize_train posted:That's really well done! Young Heath Ledger would have been an awesome Anakin. All-Australian Star Wars! Thanks, and I hadn't actually realized I put all Australian actors in the mock-up until after I finished it. Haha. Also, something to note, I decided on throwing Russel Crowe in there (as opposed to Ewan McGregor) because of a concept art piece of Obi-Wan I remember seeing in a "Making Of Phantom Menace" book I had a long, long while ago. The best I could track down was this cropped, low-res image: 
teagone fucked around with this message at 00:55 on Mar 15, 2012 |
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Mar 15, 2012 00:46
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iolo_the_bard posted:Well I just plowed my way through Apocalypse. It was a decent wrapup to the FOTJ storyline, but it felt really lacking in terms of any kind of long term ramifications. Other than the Jedi leaving Coruscant for real it really feels like everything is back to the status quo. Just finished it as well. I guess it was as alright of an ending as any post-NJO trash can hope for. I am glad that they didn't end with some stupid duel between Ben/Vestara ending in her turning to the light side. It seems like they might finally be ready to pass the torch from Luke/Leia/Han onto Jaina's generation, which is what the EU has needed since the NJO ended. I was really expecting Luke to finally resign as grand master for real or something, but I should have known that was just wishful thinking.
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Mar 15, 2012 00:57
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astr0man posted:Just finished it as well. I guess it was as alright of an ending as any post-NJO trash can hope for. I am glad that they didn't end with some stupid duel between Ben/Vestara ending in her turning to the light side. Oh I fully expected Luke to actually die in this one and honestly with the way the ending played out, I thought that's where they were going with it. I wouldn't be surprised if the next big series/story/whatever after FOTJ focuses more on the younger generation. It just bugs me that "the younger generation" is close to twice as old as the protagonists in A New Hope.
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Mar 15, 2012 03:23
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Well obviously some of that time had to be taken up by very plot important bug orgies.
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Mar 15, 2012 03:29
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(Apocalypse spoiler/question:) I gather that the whole "The Ones" thing was from a Clone Wars episode, but were the killiks in the cartoon as well? I didn't really understand how the Jedi even knew to go to the killiks for advice about Abeloth in the first place, but I might just be forgetting stuff from another FOTJ book.
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Mar 15, 2012 03:48
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astr0man posted:(Apocalypse spoiler/question:) I gather that the whole "The Ones" thing was from a Clone Wars episode, but were the killiks in the cartoon as well? I didn't really understand how the Jedi even knew to go to the killiks for advice about Abeloth in the first place, but I might just be forgetting stuff from another FOTJ book. The answer is that as Troy Denning creations the Killiks are clearly better connected and respected that the inventions of lesser authors. Same reason why we had to read chapters about how important it was the Jedi not leave Coruscant because otherwise some lizard eggs from his pet Barabel characters would be disturbed. Real answer, the Killiks weren't in the Clone Wars cartoon at all, the whole thing makes about as much sense as putting that connection in in the first place.
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Mar 15, 2012 04:01
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I figured I'd see what the EU was up to these days, so I picked up Darth Plagueis. And it was... eh, it was okay, I guess. I liked the bits of Sith training and philosophizing that we got, and I'm actually okay with Palpatine's origin story. But nothing never really catches you by surprise, and it REALLY drags in spots. Most of the good bits are to be found toward the beginning, when the author actually had a bit of freedom with the characters and plot. But as the story proceeds, you can almost feel the walls of established continuity closing in around it all, forcing it to its predetermined end. That kind of literary situation, if handled really well, can invoke a sense of destiny, but here it doesn't really work. By the end, things have been reduced to the gimmick of "hey, look who was hiding in the background of THIS scene from Episode I!" Final verdict: worth a read if you like Sith-stuff, otherwise don't bother. It's hard to blame the author, though. The book is mostly a victim of its unfortunate position as a prequel to a prequel.
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Mar 15, 2012 07:23
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OriginalPseudonym posted:R2-D2 is literally George's self insert character. It's the only explanation for Episode 2. For the PT maybe; in the OT it's clearly Luke (get it, Luke Skywalker? Luke S. = Lucas!).
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Mar 15, 2012 08:04
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Powered Descent posted:I figured I'd see what the EU was up to these days, so I picked up Darth Plagueis. I'd agree with all of your points, though I think I enjoyed it a little more than you did. I found it very... respectful, to existing canon. The researching sith lore was fantastic, and the callbacks all over the place entrenched it into the mythos very well. Callbacks were all more 'Plagueis has done the research and was considering X, Y and Z' (where X popped up in a book set in the NJO, Y popped up in a comic set in the old republic era, and Z was someone who had no lines in the films but was developed in later media), rather than people saying 'I have a bad feeling about this' LOL SEE THIS IS WHAT PEOPLE SAY IN STAR WARS I WROTE A STAR WARS BOOK DOESN'T IT FEEL STAR WARS. Subtle, a reward for if you did get it. I 'read' it as an audiobook over a couple of long car journeys, and I felt like that added a lot. The voice actor did a great Palpatine, Plagueis sounded like a wise rich badass, and his descriptive language was delightfully delivered. I'd strongly recommend this. It did slow a little near the end - perhaps not all of the meetings were necessary, but the action was good, the machinations and intrigue themselves were brilliant, and the relationships between Plagueis and Sidious, and Damask and Palpatine, and Damask and a handful of others were done really well. You know where it's going, but it serves nicely to show how much of it was Sith planning, how much was good Sith improvisation, and how much was luck. Also, I liked that Plagueis' master was a Bith Sith. Bith Sith! Heh! Oh, and I liked Plagueis' take on the intentions of the Dark Side of the Force, rather than just 'the will of the Force'. I enjoyed how his understanding developed.
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Mar 15, 2012 14:17
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teagone posted:Also, something to note, I decided on throwing Russel Crowe in there (as opposed to Ewan McGregor) because of a concept art piece of Obi-Wan I remember seeing in a "Making Of Phantom Menace" book I had a long, long while ago. The best I could track down was this cropped, low-res image: I have that book too! I bought it before I saw the movie, when I still thought it could be good. There are some nice concept sketches in there. I actually think that piece looks more like Ewan McGregor than Russell Crowe, though.
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Mar 16, 2012 01:50
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teagone posted:I always thought that whole "Owen was Obi-Wan's brother" thing was like an internet urban legend; didn't know it was in a finished ROTJ script. That's crazy. I personally feel that not fleshing out Owen's character in the prequel trilogy was one of the biggest missteps Lucas took, among many other things. There were multiple ways to make the impact of Owen's death in A New Hope that much more meaningful in the prequels, not just to Luke, but for the audience. drat. The only bit I thought was worth a drat, emotionally, in Ep. III was the very end when Beru takes young Luke and she and Owen look out at the setting suns. For me, it really sets the idea that one aspects of Luke's goodness and heroism is his ordinary upbringing by two loving and hardworking ordinary people, who aren't planetary rulers or magic space monks. In the OT, Luke isn't a hero (just) because of his dad and his destiny and super powers, but because of his basic decency. This was addressed a little bit in Heir to the Empire, at the very least (I can really only think of the scene where Luke has to mediate a minor dispute between two aliens in a bar, and while he's on a mission, he remembers something about no matter how galaxy shaking a mission he's on, he can't ignore the problems of ordinary people,) but I can't find my copy right now. I have no idea if Luke's upbringing or basic decency and good-guy nature outside of galactic invasions is ever really brought up again in the EU, but it should, in my opinion. I wish Owen and Beru had had bigger parts in the PT, and not showing the aspects of their personalities that will help mold Luke into who he is was a pretty big missed opportunity. Dr. Sneer Gory fucked around with this message at 10:49 on Mar 16, 2012 |
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Mar 16, 2012 10:47
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Dr. Sneer Gory posted:I have no idea if Luke's upbringing or basic decency and good-guy nature outside of galactic invasions is ever really brought up again in the EU, but it should, in my opinion. It is never mentioned again. And the closest thing to that scene elsewhere in the EU is the conclusion of the first Dark Empire.
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Mar 16, 2012 10:58
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I think it gets kind of an oblique mention in Luke Skywalker and the Shadows Of Mindor, but I might be misremembering that (it's the last new EU book I've read).
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Mar 16, 2012 11:29
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Metal Loaf posted:I think it gets kind of an oblique mention in Luke Skywalker and the Shadows Of Mindor, but I might be misremembering that (it's the last new EU book I've read). Shadows of Mindor pre-dates Heir to the Empire chronologically, but I think there was something about this philosophy particularly when Luke rescues the two Stover characters from Shatterpoint. On the other hand, the conceit of the novel is that nothing inbetween the prologue and epilogue chapters in the book actually happened as written. What actually happens in the Shadows of Mindor: Luke Skywalker leads a disastrous assault against an ex-Imperial agent, loses about 50000, doesn't manage to get the bad guy, resigns his general position in some disgrace, then goes off to work on his plan to train new Jedi. Then the 3rd Stover repeat character comes to him and says "Hey man, I can make you an ACTION HERO".
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Mar 16, 2012 15:55
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So I just finished the Thrawn trilogy for the first time. It's the only EU thing I've read since a bunch of kid's books years ago. (I kind of want to look them up but I don't remember a single identifying detail other than the series being about two kids) It was pretty good, but two questions: 1. What exactly happens at the last battle? As far as I can tell, Karrde showing up threw off Thrawn's trap, and then his attack just fell apart (and then got stabbed)? 2. Do the 'Hand of Thrawn' books follow directly, and if not, what does follow directly. I want to know what Pellaeon does. 
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Mar 17, 2012 17:23
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1. The Republic forces were surpised when Thrawn's fleet broke off. They'd been putting up a good fight in spite of getting bushwhacked and Karrde's arrival helped them somewhat but Thrawn's death triggered the end of the conflict. Also remember that they'd been using C'baoth to enhance their troops' combat prowess and his death was shown happening in real time with the battle, so that most likely had an effect too. 2. I forget exactly how long it was but Hand of Thrawn takes place 10+ years later. The chronology goes something like: Thrawn trilogy Dark Empire Jedi Academy Trilogy Children of the Jedi Darksaber (Pellaeon's in this one but it sucks) Planet of Twilight The Crystal Star (Do Not Read) Black Fleet Crisis The New Rebellion Corellian Trilogy maybe something else goes here, I forgot Hand of Thrawn Zahn used Hand of Thrawn to retcon a lot of what happened into being a lot less stupid than it was at the time and cap off the Bantam era so they could move on into the NJO era.
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Mar 17, 2012 17:58
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I think the Young Jedi Knights series goes in between the Corellian Trilogy and the Hand Of Thrawn books, but it's aimed at young readers (kind of like Jedi Apprentice, I imagine, but I never read the YJK series).
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Mar 17, 2012 18:35
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So has the Lets Read Terrible Star Wars books been gold mined then?
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Mar 17, 2012 18:37
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It's currently chilling on page 3 of this forum.
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Mar 17, 2012 19:03
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Geddy Krueger posted:It's currently chilling on page 3 of this forum. Oh awesome, going to reread it again.
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Mar 17, 2012 19:10
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Metal Loaf posted:I think the Young Jedi Knights series goes in between the Corellian Trilogy and the Hand Of Thrawn books, but it's aimed at young readers (kind of like Jedi Apprentice, I imagine, but I never read the YJK series). They're actually set after the Hand of Thrawn, but were written before, which leads to some strange continuity issues (no mention of Luke being married, Leia still the president even though she had resigned prior to Hand of Thrawn, Imperials still being at war with the Republic).
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Mar 17, 2012 20:56
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SeanBeansShako posted:So has the Lets Read Terrible Star Wars books been gold mined then? I was just going to post some of my reviews in that thread. I suppose I need to use this one now . . .
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Mar 18, 2012 03:37
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Gils posted:1. What exactly happens at the last battle? As far as I can tell, Karrde showing up threw off Thrawn's trap, and then his attack just fell apart (and then got stabbed)? 1. Pretty much, yeah.  The Republic pretended to attack Tangrene instead of Bilbringi; that diversion bluff worked on Karrde&Co, so they tought they could quietly burglarize the shipyards for the plot device while the Big Powers fought elsewhere. While the smugglers were sneaking in, Thrawn set his trap and the NR walked right in, so Karrde decided to divert attention by blowing up the shipyards from the inside. At that point, the situation went from "Thrawn complete victory" to "Thrawn costly partial victory". Then Rukh happened and Pellaeon was in a bind. 2. X-Wing; Isard's Revenge is actually the immediate follow-up to The Last Command, but like other X-wing stuff, it's a (IMHO above average) sideshow to the big novels. Have you read the novels that precede Thrawn? Some of them are worth it. 3. Pellaeon is always left picking up the pieces. Always. edit: So I hear this Darth Maul guy is a real party animal. ecureuilmatrix fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Mar 18, 2012 |
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Mar 18, 2012 06:51
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ecureuilmatrix posted:edit: So I hear this Darth Maul guy is a real party animal. gently caress you Wookiepedia, that's canon. I don't care what Keeper of the Holocron Leland Chee says, that's more canon than 90% of the EU.  fake edit: I am ashamed of myself for knowing offhand the name of the dude in charge of Star Wars Canon.
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Mar 18, 2012 09:15
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After acquiring copies of the original, unaltered, trilogy in widescreen and binging through them, having not seen those versions in 15 years, I've gotten myself on something of a Star Wars kick again. I was heavily into it between 92 and 99 (then the prequels killed that) and read almost all of the novels during that time. Decided to start again with the books, but skipping the crap this time. Reading the Thrawn trilogy right now and enjoying it immensely. Figure I'll read the X-Wing series, I Jedi, the Tales books, and the other Thrawn books. Any other suggestions? Not too interested in stuff published post prequels, but if there are some good ones, I would probably check them out.
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Mar 18, 2012 21:16
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For post-prequels, and without getting you involved in any big series, I'd highly suggest anything by Matt Stover, any of Zahn's continuing work (although I didn't like Allegiance hugely) and Darth Plageuis, Cloak of Deception, or Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno. I think those are probably the cream of the post-prequel EU novels. If you don't mind being dropped into the middle of a series, Stackpole and Allston's NJO entries are basically continuations of the X-wing books.
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Mar 18, 2012 21:35
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Locutus of Bald posted:gently caress you Wookiepedia, that's canon. I don't care what Keeper of the Holocron Leland Chee says, that's more canon than 90% of the EU. Say what you will, but I would love to have his job.
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Mar 18, 2012 21:46
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Esroc posted:Say what you will, but I would love to have his job. I wouldn't because I'd probably have to read FotJ and watch Clone Wars. And I'd get too axe-happy with canon.
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Mar 19, 2012 02:21
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Rogue1-and-a-half posted:I was just going to post some of my reviews in that thread. I suppose I need to use this one now . . . Go ahead and use the Terrible Books thread. It's not like it's dead, just slightly dormant at the moment.
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Mar 19, 2012 14:43
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I recently started reading Millenium Falcon, making it the first Star Wars book I've read in years. I have previous read a book about the bounty hunters that were hired to go after Han Solo, as well as the Thrawn Trilogy and a couple of young Boba Fett books meant for younger audiences. Despite having no idea about the details of the Yuuzhan Vong, the Galactic Alliance, etc, I'm enjoying it. At some point I'll have to go back and find something a bit earlier in the continuity by about 35 standard years.
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Mar 19, 2012 17:12
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arioch posted:I wouldn't because I'd probably have to read FotJ and watch Clone Wars. Honestly, there's a lot of garbage out there that could use some good axing. I really wouldn't mind a more axe-happy person in charge.
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Mar 20, 2012 02:18
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I actually don't think the continuity guy reads/watches everything. I remember a few times he posted stuff from his continuity guide on either his blog or TFN, and people pointed out a few really glaring errors (I think one character had the wrong last name, and another had somehow been listed as a Dark Jedi when they weren't even a Force user). Also, there are so many continuity errors in recent novels (not even taking into account the Clone Wars show) that I can't imagine he's really reading and proofing everything.
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Mar 20, 2012 04:03
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Given the overall quality of the stuff, I can't imagine that he's doing the work sober.
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Mar 20, 2012 14:18
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Ashcans posted:Given the overall quality of the stuff, I can't imagine that he's doing the work sober. Your boss is George Lucas and your critics are the bilge of the force.net. I'd have two bottles of Vodka in my desk for this sort of thing too.
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Mar 20, 2012 14:27
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SeanBeansShako posted:Your boss is George Lucas and your critics are the bilge of the force.net. Only two? or do you not count empties?
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Mar 20, 2012 18:23
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I found a copy of the TPM script online and was browsing through it out of curiosity. It's the first time I've read it, and believe it or not, it's actually worse to read Jar Jar's dialogue as Lucas wrote it than it is to hear it spoken.TPM script posted:JAR JAR : Oyi, mooie-mooie! I luv yous! TPM script posted:JAR JAR : No...no! Mesa stay...Mesa yous humble servaunt. TPM script posted:JAR JAR : (cont'd) Ex-squeeze me, but da moto grande safe place would be TPM script posted:JAR JAR : Iss embarrissing, boot... My afrai my've bean banished. My I wonder how self-hating Ahmed Best is that he not only willingly played this role, but keeps on doing it even after the movies ended.
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Mar 20, 2012 18:33
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Ferrosol posted:Only two? or do you not count empties? After the second bottle he strips down to his droids underpants and runs around Skywalker ranch gesturing lewdly whilst sobbing out the Mos Eisley cantina theme.
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Mar 20, 2012 18:59
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thrawn527 posted:Go ahead and use the Terrible Books thread. It's not like it's dead, just slightly dormant at the moment. You win by default! I'll use the other thread.
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Mar 21, 2012 03:27
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