General Star Wars Random Thoughts Thread — Page 464

I’ve been reading the Thrawn trilogy. I’m about halfway through Heir to the Empire now, and I’m enjoying it a lot so far. It really does read like a long lost Star Wars movie, and I think Timothy Zahn nails the voices of the characters in his writing. In particular, I love the depiction of Luke. He’s full of doubt and uncertainty, he’s struggling under the weight of the burden on his shoulders, and having bouts of depression and melancholy. But he’s still very much Luke. He still has that indomitable spirit he always had.

On a side note, I really miss the old handdrawn cover art of the old EU books. The newer book covers look a lot more digital and minimalistic, and I’m not really a fan of that.

Heard that the new ‘Courtship of Princess Leia’ replacement book will feature them honeymoon aboard Disney’s own starcruiser.

I… don’t imagine it feeling good to read about.

“And then Han marveled at their selection of drinks, spacious accommodations, and fabulous atmosphere.”

“Leia thought to herself about how she would tell her friends to book their reservations now, as the attraction so clearly justified it’s price and waiting period. She had never been so relaxed and fulfilled in her royal life, and she attributed it all to this wonderful resort with its star-class experience over marrying Han. She couldn’t wait to tell her childhood friend Winter so she could book her tickets at Disney.com/GalacticStarCruiserImmersiveStarWarsExoerience.com and use promo code “LeiaSolo” for 1% off when she books a four-night stay.”

I just finished reading the Thrawn Trilogy. Overall, I thought it was really good. Each of the characters’ POVs was handled very well, and I loved most of the new characters that it introduced, especially Mara Jade. I also really liked the Leia POV chapters and how you get to see her developing her connection to the Force.

I actually wasn’t the biggest fan of Thrawn himself. I thought his genius sometimes bordered on being implausible, and his ability to analyze his opponents through a species’ art was a bit cheesy. (Though it was refreshing to have such a competent villain.)

But I liked the other main villain, Joruus C’baoth, and thought he was surprisingly interesting. He seemed to represent a dark reflection of what the Jedi Order could become if it held onto resentment and chose a more authoritarian path after the Purge. A Dark-Side character like that would’ve been great in the sequel trilogy.

The ending and resolution felt a little sudden, but I get why it ended that way. I just wish we’d gotten some more time with the characters after the climax, so we could see them reflecting on what they’d gone through. We got a bit of that, but not as much as I would have liked. But the way I see it, if my biggest complaint about the characters is that I didn’t get enough of them, the book must be doing something right.

I’d definitely recommend these books to any Star Wars fan.

By far my favourite thing about that trilogy is the characters. It handles the OT characters beautifully and many of the new ones are all-time favourites of mine - Mara Jade, Thrawn, Garm Bel Iblis, Talon Karrde. I love them all.

I agree the endings to both storylines seems to happen very quickly, but I do think they’re great endings.

An extremely random thought.

The physical appearance of Anakin and Padmé is the same physical appearance I always imagined for Adam and Eve. I mean, since the first time I read the Book of Genesis I always had a very precise mental image of Adam and Eve, and when I saw the Prequels I realized that the mental image that I always had of both of them perfectly matches the real physical appearance of Anakin and Padmé, especially their appearance in Revenge of the Sith. But that’s just me. Lol.

Hal 9000 said:

Heard that the new ‘Courtship of Princess Leia’ replacement book will feature them honeymoon aboard Disney’s own starcruiser.

I… don’t imagine it feeling good to read about.

“And then Han marveled at their selection of drinks, spacious accommodations, and fabulous atmosphere.”

“Leia thought to herself about how she would tell her friends to book their reservations now, as the attraction so clearly justified it’s price and waiting period. She had never been so relaxed and fulfilled in her royal life, and she attributed it all to this wonderful resort with its star-class experience over marrying Han. She couldn’t wait to tell her childhood friend Winter so she could book her tickets at Disney.com/GalacticStarCruiserImmersiveStarWarsExoerience.com and use promo code “LeiaSolo” for 1% off when she books a four-night stay.”

You should copyright that just in case they do use it! It is certainly the type of promo the official Star Wars website would put up. 😃

Servii said:

On a side note, I really miss the old handdrawn cover art of the old EU books. The newer book covers look a lot more digital and minimalistic, and I’m not really a fan of that.

The same for me. Looking around at the fantastic handdrawn art, by professionals or fans, and it is something I very much miss when seeing some generic by the numbers photoshopped work on a new cover.

It is even worse when seeing a re-release of an old EU book and it does not feature the original artwork on the cover.

I feel bad for people getting into Star Wars for the first time. A lot of them will be confused about which movie to start with, and even if they do start with the OT, they’ll be stuck watching the Special Editions.

Servii said:

I feel bad for people getting into Star Wars for the first time. A lot of them will be confused about which movie to start with, and even if they do start with the OT, they’ll be stuck watching the Special Editions.

It saddens me. There was this big wave of YouTube videos of people reacting to Star Wars for the first time. They were enjoyable to watch, but every one I found (except 1 lucky gal) watched the Special Editions. I get this sort of second-hand embarrassment seeing someone watch the Jabba scene, Jedi Rocks, or Vader screaming “NO!”. I’ve seen a few people comment on how the effects are a little dated, not realizing that most of the dated effects were added 20 years after the film came out.

DMC said:

Servii said:

I feel bad for people getting into Star Wars for the first time. A lot of them will be confused about which movie to start with, and even if they do start with the OT, they’ll be stuck watching the Special Editions.

It saddens me. There was this big wave of YouTube videos of people reacting to Star Wars for the first time. They were enjoyable to watch, but every one I found (except 1 lucky gal) watched the Special Editions. I get this sort of second-hand embarrassment seeing someone watch the Jabba scene, Jedi Rocks, or Vader screaming “NO!”. I’ve seen a few people comment on how the effects are a little dated, not realizing that most of the dated effects were added 20 years after the film came out.

To be fair, it’s not like the original 70s effects still look good either. No matter what version you’re watching, Star Wars must be seen as a product of its time. Not that that’s a bad thing, I hate when people dismiss older stuff because it doesn’t hold up to modern standards.

I do agree with you otherwise though. It’s a shame that Lucas’s revision of history has been so successful. The majority of Star Wars fans my age don’t even know about the original versions, and those who do just see the campaign to officially release them as whiny fanboy complaining. I’m glad that I was able to find this community and the fantastic preservation efforts going on here, but the chances for an official release of the theatrical cuts are looking more and more slim every year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u62ao6_xYHc

That’s the second time we’ve seen him gliding in an unpowered spaceship towards Coruscant.

In the scene where Luke reunites with Biggs and meets Red Leader, when Lucas added the scene back in, he deleted one of Red Leader’s lines, which went something like:

“I met your father when I was just a boy. He was a great pilot. If you’re half as good as he was, you’ll do alright.”

Apparently, the line was cut because Lucas thought it contradicted the lore that he’d established later. But does it, really, though? Couldn’t Anakin have met Red Leader during the Clone Wars?

Guys, I don’t know if you realized it, but The Beatles predicted Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker in the 60s.
I mean…

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay,
Oh I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly, I’m not half to man I used to be,
There’s a shadow hanging over me.
Oh yesterday came suddenly.
Why she had to go?
I don’t know she woldn’t say.
I said something wrong,
Now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
Oh I believe in yesterday.

Do you see what I see?

No I see a coincidence

JackNapier said:

No I see a coincidence

Obviously I wasn’t serious when I said they had foreseen it, it was just a joke, kind of like saying that the Simpsons have foreseen the future. Anyway, I believe the song lyrics perfectly reflect what Vader thought every day after Revenge of the Sith, before the Dark Side completely consumed him, before A New Hope.

fmalover said:

IMO Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars series fits in a lot better between AotC and RotS than TCW.

Yes, I agree.

fmalover said:

IMO Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars series fits in a lot better between AotC and RotS than TCW.

Yeah, I think so, too.

I can’t stand the Star Wars fans who constantly complain but don’t propose an alternative version to what they’re complaining about. I mean, if you don’t like one of the three trilogies or a specific movie, then that’s okay, everyone should have their own opinion and I respect your personal tastes. But if you criticize something then you must also have to propose an alternative version of what you’re criticizing, because otherwise your criticisms are useless. In fact, one of the things I really like about this forum is the fact that many of the users don’t just criticize, but also propose alternative versions of the things they criticize, through fan edits, re-writings or whatever. Yeah, most of the time I disagree (many times even strongly) with the alternative ideas of many users, especially about the Prequels, but I still have much respect for them, because at least they have the b***s to propose an alternative idea. I have much more respect for the Prequel/Sequel critics who propose an alternative version of the Prequels/Sequels through a fan edit or a personal re-write, than those who just criticize but without proposing a new idea.

Realistically, Anakin should have been fully on the Dark Side after the Tusken massacre. The Dark Side is supposed to be like a drug that takes hold of you once you tap into it. The act of hate-fueled murder should have been more than enough to push him over the edge. It should have been a more damning moment for Anakin, since him hesitantly killing Dooku or attacking Mace is much less severe by comparison.