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Crosspost from CD:Tars Tarkas posted:Dunno how I feel about this yet. Will know after I see the new Superman. Going to agree with Tars on this one, but Seven Samurai with Jedi is a great concept, and it couldn't hurt to lift from Kurosawa again.
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Jan 14, 2013 22:45
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I was going to mention, I've been thinking a lot lately about what shape the prequel trilogy could have taken if Lucas had stuck with the idea of the Jedi as samurai in space rather than the Knights Templar in space.
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Jan 14, 2013 23:27
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That story isn't true, Snyder himself debunked it: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/zack-snyder-shoots-down-report-412336
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Jan 14, 2013 23:53
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jivjov posted:That story isn't true, Snyder himself debunked it: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/zack-snyder-shoots-down-report-412336 I'm glad it's not true. Not because I have any feelings about Snyder, good or bad, but I just don't think I'm ready to hear about new Star Wars movies yet. I'm still trying to process that there will be more.
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Jan 15, 2013 02:14
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Epi Lepi posted:I'm glad it's not true. Not because I have any feelings about Snyder, good or bad, but I just don't think I'm ready to hear about new Star Wars movies yet. I'm still trying to process that there will be more. I don't know about everyone else, but the day before I learned there were going to be more Star Wars movies I thought "I'm glad I don't give a poo poo about Star Wars anymore." (not literally that day but you get the idea) The next day I was talking excitedly about the possibilities with my friend like everyone else.  Are there any books that attempt to do anything interesting with Star Wars? Maybe a bit of a deconstruction like Kotor2? Or anything like Kotor2, I am an addict and it is my crack.
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Jan 15, 2013 03:13
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VanSandman posted:Are there any books that attempt to do anything interesting with Star Wars? Maybe a bit of a deconstruction like Kotor2? Or anything like Kotor2, I am an addict and it is my crack. The Stover books are probably the closest. Particularly Shatterpoint and Traitor, and to a lesser degree Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.
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Jan 15, 2013 03:26
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Chairman Capone posted:The Stover books are probably the closest. Particularly Shatterpoint and Traitor, and to a lesser degree Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. Traitor is still an amazing book and I'm perpetually depressed that they pulled the sith subversion to basically ruin the entire thing retroactively.
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Jan 15, 2013 04:40
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I feel bad for whoever ends up being the director of the new movies. Every week a news story breaks linking a famous director to the movies, only to be debunked the very next day. Whoever does eventually get chosen won't be able to live up to the drat hype.
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Jan 16, 2013 04:58
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I finished X-Wing: Mercy Kill last night. I liked it for the most part. But it's really not an X-Wing book. And part of my enjoyment was ruined by having to stop reading and check wookiepedia every 15 pages for some race, person, or major storyline that I was (blissfully) unaware of. Vuuzhan Yong? Random conspiracy? They did what to Chewbacca?
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Jan 17, 2013 03:45
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Turkson posted:I finished X-Wing: Mercy Kill last night. I liked it for the most part. But it's really not an X-Wing book. And part of my enjoyment was ruined by having to stop reading and check wookiepedia every 15 pages for some race, person, or major storyline that I was (blissfully) unaware of. Random stat: 7 out of 10 wookies will meet death by having a moon dropped on them. Just one of those crazy things.
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Jan 17, 2013 04:44
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Turkson posted:I finished X-Wing: Mercy Kill last night. I liked it for the most part. But it's really not an X-Wing book. And part of my enjoyment was ruined by having to stop reading and check wookiepedia every 15 pages for some race, person, or major storyline that I was (blissfully) unaware of. Well, when you skip the least-bad book arc of the last ten years, you're going to miss some references v  vThe random conspiracy, on the other hand, barely needs backstory. All you really need to know is "dudes were plotting and this dude's one of them".
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Jan 17, 2013 10:55
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Ursine Asylum posted:Well, when you skip the least-bad book arc of the last ten years, you're going to miss some references v It's so disappointing to me that NJO is the least bad arc of the last decade. I thought it was so bad that teenage me stopped reading Star Wars books not even halfway through the series.
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Jan 17, 2013 17:33
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Epi Lepi posted:It's so disappointing to me that NJO is the least bad arc of the last decade. I thought it was so bad that teenage me stopped reading Star Wars books not even halfway through the series.
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Jan 17, 2013 18:14
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I think the NJO could've been a lot better if it had consisted of fewer books written by fewer authors, that under such conditions it would have been more cohesive and more focused. Indeed, I recall reading an article in Star Wars Insider some years ago which suggested that the original idea for the NJO was that the core of the story would have been told in the five hardcovers (Vector Prime, Balance Point, Star By Star, Destiny's Way and The Unifying Force) with the trilogies and duologies in between functioning as side-stories. Of course, any multi-author series needs a great deal of co-ordination and an involved editor or else it will be inconsistent. LOTF, which was shorter and used fewer authors is proof of that. Just reading the series, you get the impression the planning sessions went something like this: "This series will have nine books. This is what will happen in the first, middle and last books. Good luck."
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Jan 17, 2013 18:35
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Urdnot Fire posted:Thanks to the scope of the series, there was an opportunity for many bad books. I too didn't really like the series at all outside of Traitor. This is it in a nutshell. Traitor was good, Balance Point was okay, Enemy Lines was enjoyable apart from "suddenly dark jedi and hidden force treasure". Anything involving the Empire in Force Heretic was enjoyable, everything else felt like it meandered. And that's about it.
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Jan 17, 2013 19:55
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The ones where Wedge and company are too awesome to intentionally fail are pretty good too. Rebel Dawn + Dream I think? It's been a while since I read them. edit: to != too 
astr0man fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Jan 17, 2013 |
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Jan 17, 2013 19:59
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astr0man posted:The ones where Wedge and company are to awesome to intentionally fail are pretty good too. Rebel Dawn + Dream I think? It's been a while since I read them. That's Enemy Lines, I think? Rebel Dream and Rebel Dawn. Well, they were good minus the Irek Ismaren wrap-up out of nowhere.
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Jan 17, 2013 20:06
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Well, whatever lows the NJO might have reached, I still think it was better than LOTF.
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Jan 17, 2013 20:11
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I feel like there was some good hidden amongst mostly poo poo. The Han Solo emo duology is particularly terrible, but the Anakin duology, while necessary, was pretty mediocre. The force heretic trilogy was only salvaged because it removed a lot of dumb poo poo like the yevetha and ssi-ruuk. Plus, nom Amor is a delight to read. Traitor loving owned and the Allison duology was tons of fun, minus stupid lightsaber man. Star by star dragged but the fall of coruscant was damned interesting. Destinys way was fun and the Luke-vergere conversations were great. So although a lot of the NJO was dumb, there were kernels of greatness. I can't say the sale for the swarm war, LotF and FotJ.
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Jan 17, 2013 20:29
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astr0man posted:The ones where Wedge and company are to awesome to intentionally fail are pretty good too. Rebel Dawn + Dream I think? It's been a while since I read them. Yeah, that's the Enemy Lines deal. I like to believe that Irek was a forced in plot point by editors, given the crater Jacen finds in Traitor. VaultAggie posted:Plus, nom Amor is a delight to read. ... Destinys way was fun and the Luke-vergere conversations were great. I will grant Nom Anor was usually a pretty fun character. The Luke/Vergere conversations were a nice counterargument to the black and white morality of nearly everything SW-related up to that point, but again, the retroactive "but sith" shitfucking of that meant it was two steps forward and five back.
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Jan 17, 2013 21:34
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The Clone Wars books which came out concurrently with NJO were generally pretty good (though I understand a lot of people strongly dislike Jedi Trial).
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Jan 17, 2013 22:01
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Metal Loaf posted:Of course, any multi-author series needs a great deal of co-ordination and an involved editor or else it will be inconsistent. LOTF, which was shorter and used fewer authors is proof of that. Just reading the series, you get the impression the planning sessions went something like this: "This series will have nine books. This is what will happen in the first, middle and last books. Good luck."
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Jan 17, 2013 23:11
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Casimir Radon posted:(and 1/2 of the loving idiots also being a sociopath) Pretty sure 2/2 of the 2/3 loving idiots are sociopaths.
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Jan 17, 2013 23:29
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What's the general consensus on Tatooine Ghost? Denning wrote that one, which I've never read myself, but a lot of people seem to like it.
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Jan 17, 2013 23:51
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Metal Loaf posted:What's the general consensus on Tatooine Ghost? Denning wrote that one, which I've never read myself, but a lot of people seem to like it. Awful. It shoehorns in some of Denning's annoying recurring characters from NJO and Dark Nest, including that bug painting, then tosses in Thrawn for no good reason. Also gives Leia a complex against childrearing A HEIR OF VADER that is not in evidence before or after the book. And reminds you just how bad (and disappointing, but mostly bad) TPM was.
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Jan 17, 2013 23:58
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Metal Loaf posted:What's the general consensus on Tatooine Ghost? Denning wrote that one, which I've never read myself, but a lot of people seem to like it. Counteropinion, I liked it. Yeah it sucks that Leia's whole "Don't want to raise a heir of vader" thing isn't referenced before or since, but its an important bit of character that I'm glad at least gets addressed here.
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Jan 18, 2013 00:57
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Two things while I trundle around... 1) NJO and it's ilk should be organized like Battletech was in ye-olden-days (one author writing all the primary characters and the primary plot threads, all other authors were side stories). 2) This is going to sound stupid but... What's up with the bugnest orgies? I've seen it referenced as the nadir of Star Wars books, but don't quite know where it's from (I assume somewhere in the NJO?)
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Jan 18, 2013 05:27
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Calax posted:2) This is going to sound stupid but... What's up with the bugnest orgies? I've seen it referenced as the nadir of Star Wars books, but don't quite know where it's from (I assume somewhere in the NJO?) Its from the Dark Nest Trilogy by Troy Denning. Right after the NJO stuff.
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Jan 18, 2013 05:29
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It's specifically from the second book, I think. Jaina and Zekk get assimilated by giant space cockroaches and there's a big hive orgy and Jaina thinks about how she wishes Jag would be there to join in the orgy with her and Zekk.
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Jan 18, 2013 06:12
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Ah... I think I might have had like a book in that (or just taken a single look at it and threw it back to the shelf) before I cleaned out my collection. 17 friggin boxes of books and graphic novels, three just between my Star Wars and Battletech books.
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Jan 18, 2013 06:28
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Chairman Capone posted:It's specifically from the second book, I think. Jaina and Zekk get assimilated by giant space cockroaches and there's a big hive orgy and Jaina thinks about how she wishes Jag would be there to join in the orgy with her and Zekk. Wasn't Lowbacca there....ewwww
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Jan 18, 2013 06:30
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api call girl posted:Awful. It shoehorns in some of Denning's annoying recurring characters from NJO and Dark Nest, including that bug painting, then tosses in Thrawn for no good reason. Doesn't she have similar thoughts in the Thrawn trilogy though? I remember she did have some sort of daddy issues coming up in that series.
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Jan 18, 2013 17:39
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Epi Lepi posted:Doesn't she have similar thoughts in the Thrawn trilogy though? I remember she did have some sort of daddy issues coming up in that series. By then she was already married and pregnant. IIRC I remember that was more to do with her accepting the mantle of being Darth Vader's diplomatic Heir, wrt the Mal'ary'ush thing with the Noghri.
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Jan 18, 2013 18:07
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Epi Lepi posted:Doesn't she have similar thoughts in the Thrawn trilogy though? I remember she did have some sort of daddy issues coming up in that series. Truce at Bakura was the Leia-daddy-issues one. It's barely brushed in the Thrawn books, and is more Leia trying to claim the "Heir of Vader" from one side of her mouth while denouncing the Empire as evil from the other side.
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Jan 18, 2013 18:29
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Leia having to make peace with her heritage was also mentioned in The Truce At Bakura; Anakin's Force ghost visits her in a dream to request forgiveness, but she rejects him.
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Jan 18, 2013 18:39
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Calax posted:Ah... I think I might have had like a book in that (or just taken a single look at it and threw it back to the shelf) before I cleaned out my collection. 17 friggin boxes of books and graphic novels, three just between my Star Wars and Battletech books. The worst part is that the first book in the series was not terrible. It certainly wasn't another Heir to the Empire or anything, but it was all right. And it even had a nice little (unrelated) short story in the back that was quite good. And then that poo poo comes in the second book.  api call girl posted:IIRC I remember that was more to do with her accepting the mantle of being Darth Vader's diplomatic Heir, wrt the Mal'ary'ush thing with the Noghri. This is correct, with a dash of "What kind of cruel world am I bringing my children into?  " for good measure.
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Jan 18, 2013 19:02
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Ursine Asylum posted:Truce at Bakura was the Leia-daddy-issues one. It's barely brushed in the Thrawn books, and is more Leia trying to claim the "Heir of Vader" from one side of her mouth while denouncing the Empire as evil from the other side. Word, that must be the one I was thinking of.
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Jan 18, 2013 19:06
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api call girl posted:Awful. It shoehorns in some of Denning's annoying recurring characters from NJO and Dark Nest, including that bug painting, then tosses in Thrawn for no good reason. jivjov posted:Counteropinion, I liked it. Yeah it sucks that Leia's whole "Don't want to raise a heir of vader" thing isn't referenced before or since, but its an important bit of character that I'm glad at least gets addressed here. Third Point I have no memory whatsoever of this book. I read it I know I did because I remember picking up a copy of it to read from my local library. However not a single plot point sticks in my mind from the entire novel. Its not even entertainingly bad like crystal star or the bugnest orgies, its a book so bland my brain has erased all knowledge of it.
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Jan 19, 2013 01:18
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The bug orgy was at the end of book one. I know because I read it for the first Let's Read thread. And it was really dumb on top of, well, everything. Denning tries to pull the "lol nothing happened" excused even though it's clearly a 'milky afterglow' scene. Book 2 and 3 are still horrible. Book 2 is very clearly Denning driving Jacen to become Anakin 2.0, and Book 3 has Luke Skywalker, Space Pope.
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Jan 19, 2013 02:45
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So it seems Jason and Jimmy from The Force Cast have stopped doing their show, at least for the time being. Which is a shame - I always enjoyed listening, especially the Clone Wars Roundtable (and the show just got really good again after a long and pretty terrible four-episode arc). Does anyone know any other good Star Wars-themed podcasts out there? The only other one I know is Star Wars in Character, which focuses on a background character each week - fun to listen to, but not really current with regards to news, reviews and such. Any recommendations?
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Jan 19, 2013 18:56
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