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I got all 11 Star Wars movie novels for Christmas. Do the Prequel and Original Trilogy novelisations have additional content in them that the movies do not have?

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I got all 11 Star Wars movie novels for Christmas in Kindle format. Do the prequel and original trilogy novels have additional content in them that the movies do not have?

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I at least know they adapted a couple of the deleted scenes for ESB and ROTJ.

Most notably, the lightsaber bit and Jerjerrod’s Conflict, both in ROTJ

I’m not really that much of a movie purist. I really should’ve thought my name out a bit more.

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Star Wars opens talking about the old republic and how the emperor came to power. It mentions the journal of the Whills. But there isn’t really all that much in expanded material beyond Luke and his friends on Tatooine.

Empire i i think might have an extended scene but its pretty much a standard novelization of the screenplay.

ROTJ has an extended chat with Ben and Luke. That is now completely non canon because Ben and Owen are no longer brothers in canon.

Phantom Menace has deleted scenes.

Attack of the Clones has deleted scenes.

Revenge of the Sith is written from Anakin’s POV. Its the movie but better.

The Disney movies don’t really have much more material beyond the movie , Force Awakens has a scene of Leia in the New Republic and her aide the one who gets vaporized later when Starkiller base fires.

Last Jedi has more Luke and Leia and Han Solo’s funeral. ROS is pretty much the film except for the reveal that Palpatine is not only Rey’s grandfather but father.

The most expanded versions of Star Wars and Empire are actually the Radio Dramas by Brian Daley.

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It may be worth checking out the ‘Differences from the film’ sections of the Wikipedia & Wookieepedia pages for the novelisations of the films…

 

Star Wars - Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/43ca628u & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/3cd5d8bk

Empire Strikes Back - Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/3vyd6rp8 & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/49h3pfkm

Return Of The Jedi - Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/6tnjf7mf & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/2p8azefb

 

TPM - Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/4252ueru & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/37a8nfmz

AOTC - Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/yc4kj99v & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/2p9a3bp5

ROTS - Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/2p8734db & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/397vktkr

 

TFA - Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/2p9bzbpb & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/5cfjjbx3

TLJ - Wikipedia: n/a (could not find) & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/bdhx2wnw

TROS - Wikipedia: https://tinyurl.com/2s4cux9y & Wookieepedia: https://tinyurl.com/2p88vv68

 

Apologies for using ‘tinyurls’ - both Wikipedia and Wookieepedia articles can occasionally have ‘issues’ being linked on here due to url formatting on the site. The above info only really features outlines for any differences between the novelisations & films.
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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@jpb19 Have you started reading any of the books?
What do you think of the differences between the books and the films so far?

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JadedSkywalker said:
Revenge of the Sith is written from Anakin’s POV. Its the movie but better.

In my seemingly endless struggles to somehow make my peace with the prequels I read the novelizations and some of the other stories in that setting - and I agree with this statement. Revenge of the Sith is the only one I found worth the time. It’s actually decent and I would recommend it if you found the movie lacking. I still disliked a lot about it (especially the ending), but for what the author had to work with, it turned out well.

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jpb19 said:

I got all 11 Star Wars movie novels for Christmas in Kindle format. Do the prequel and original trilogy novels have additional content in them that the movies do not have?

Did they come in a box set or collection, or were they individual books?
 

As Hal, Jaded and Dreams said, ROTS is a must read. Very well written and really fleshes out the film. I say as someone who considers ROTS to be the worst Star Wars film of all, but is also probably the best novelization.

There is a good article here on the 1976 Star Wars novelization:

https://www.tor.com/2015/11/26/the-first-star-wars-novelization-reads-like-an-alternate-universe-version-of-the-film

Luke’s feelings for Leia definitely are not that of a brother and sister (Splinter of the Mind’s Eye also hits this home), and I always laugh whenever I read George’s description of the Force in the Star Wars novel:

Kenobi: “Let us say simply that the force is something a Jedi must deal with. While it has never been properly explained, scientists have theorized it is an energy field generated by living things. Early man suspected its existence, yet remained in ignorance of its potential for millennia”.

 
ESB has some additional training with Luke & Yoda. It is interesting, but does lack some of Kersh’s improv and magic from the actual film.

ROTJ has some good insight from Han on what is was like being frozen in carbonite, and the gratitude he has from being rescued. Jabba and his closeness with the women in his captive is explained further.

Including this interesting passage from Luke and Obi-Wan:

Luke sensed the underlying meaning in Kenobi’s statement, he heard the words as a command. He shook his head back at the vision. “I can’t kill my own father.”

“You should not think of that machine as your father.” It was the teacher speaking again. “When I saw what has become of him, I tried to dissuade him, to draw him back from the dark side. We fought … your father fell into a molten pit. When your father clawed his way out of that fiery pool, the change had been burned into him forever–he was Darth Vader., without a trace of Anakin Skywalker. Irredeemably dark. Scarred. Kept alive only by machinery and his own black will …”

We also have a little more on Mon Mothma, and her history and actions when the Republic fell.

To me, Vader also tries to get to Luke to join him and overthrow the Emperor, but mainly to justify his own actions, to somehow justify his own poor choices. The denial that he himself is at fault for his own situation, the lie he tells himself that his decisions were for everyone’s benefit. Only fully acknowledging and accepting how wrong he was, along with repenting for his crimes, at the end.

 
TPM has more content on young Anakin which does help his character, and I think Maul has some additional writing from him too. Yet he is still more interesting in that “Fear” TPM trailer than he was in the actual film.

AOTC has more on Padme and Shmi, and I found it was a better read than the film was. Not a high bar, I know.

I haven’t read the ST novels yet. One day maybe. It’ll take some persuading to read TROS!

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TFA is pretty dry and the author takes some liberties in some of the characterisation, some good, some whatever (Finn is too verbose, and Kylo is a bit different, for instance). And there are some extra scenes.

TLJ is wonderful. Deleted scenes (including Luke and Rey sharing a dance), extra scenes that weren’t even filmed but expand on the characters,. Lively style (there’s an xwing battle sequence where BB-8 is the pov character). Explains many things about the state of the galaxy and connects to new canon as well… The movie really lends itself to the kind of inner monologue and character expansion thing that the novelization format offers, and that’s a part if it as well. It’s great, not in the same way as RotS, but still solid.

TROS is not really much better than the film. The author expands on some stuff, adds some scenes, rearranges some stuff, and it’s obvious that the Story Group participated in the novelization, unlike in the film. So while that makes some of the meh parts somewhat good, it also f–ks and muddles other things and obviously reading a bad part of the story is longer than watching it, so that’s why I say it’s overall not much better (“kiss of gratitude”, Luke constantly telling Leia to go finally die,…). But there are nice things in there.

reylo?

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Thanks for that, KumoNin. I think I’ll give The Last Jedi a read through.

Have you read the Rogue One and Solo novels, and what did you think of them? (or anyone else who has read them)

The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.

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I haven’t read Solo, but Rogue One is a good read.

Krennic has some regrets about his actions that has come to him chasing and recruiting his old friend against his will. There is lot of distrust and paranoia between in Krennic and Tarkin’s rivalry.

We also get the perspectives of each main character in the finale, it made for some emotional reading. Even with the acceptance of futility for the Rebel mission on Scarif.

Alexander Freed definitely added depth to many of the characters, but that is true of most of the film novels.