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Splinter Of The Mind's Eye - review and thoughts. — Page 2

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Glad everybody seems to like "Big Galaxy" - that's always been the thing that differentiates "Star Wars" before Vader says those four little words from what came after, I think, and it's the thing that I continue to miss the most about the early days. The wide-open-ness of "Star Wars" was one of its most appealing traits back in the day - I felt like I had seen one story from "A Galaxy Far, Far Away", but that there could be almost limitless other stories set against that backdrop.

After those four words in ESB, the galaxy started shrinking like mad, a process that continued with every new chapter. What we are left with is a galaxy barely big enough to contain the one story that Lucas eventually decided to tell. Even the misnamed "Expanded Universe" has failed to make the galaxy feel big in any meaningful way, with the same group of heroes constantly saving the day, and secondary characters being identified solely by their pipe tobacco (a particularly ridiculous example from "Heir to the Empire").
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Actually, it's from Dark Force Rising, as Niles Ferrier isn't introduced until the beginning of the second book.

There is no lingerie in space…

C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.

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Revival, to note that I'm going to give this one a try too. Expect a review within a week.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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aand, way off from my original estimation BUT THAT'S OKAY. I thought it was a well-written book, worth your time. After reading it, I now feel a little better about the ewoks; as the Coway were the underdogs, too, but they won. Freaky little creatures = win, in star wars (apparently). Halla was an interesting character, I wonder if she's in any more EU. Give it a shot, if you really are a "die-hard" star wars fan, or even if you just like to read for fun.

And yes, it definitely feels like Star Wars.

9 out of 10.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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I read SOTME a few months ago & found it interesting. In my opinion, it felt VERY 70's, but so much Star Wars. There were parts of it that felt very "Star Warsy", but most of it felt more like a 1970's cartoon. A big part of that to me was the character Halla. Maybe it was just the way i interpreted the way she was written, but she just came off more like a children's cartoon character than a wise mentor in the force. over all i really disliked Halla. The rest of the book was ok, but not something i see my self reading again any time soon.

Now, the Han Solo Adventures on the other hand, was AWESOME. It's been a few years since i've read any of them, but they felt EXACTLY like what i'd imagine Han & Chewie would be up to not long before that fateful day at the cantina... & it definately had that "Big Galaxy" feel where you could go anywhere & do anything. Lots of interesting characters & aliens & whatnot. One of the books (i foget which one) even had the FIRST speeder bike chase in Star Wars, though i'm not sure they called them "speeder bikes". I think Daley really nailed the spirit of the characters of Han & Chewie as they were portrayed in the original film. Come to think of it, he did a pretty good job with Luke & Leia in SOTME, even if i didn't like the book as much as i'd hoped.

Over all, I'd say any fan of Star Wars prior to "A New Hope" or the sequels should definately check out all of these books!
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oops, Daley didn't write SOTME, Alan Dean Foster did. Well they both did good jobs with the characters.
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Anchorhead said:

Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
But obviously that plot point did not exist in any way at the time this book was written, so how exactly would Darth Vader be so intimately aware with 3PO's programming?
3PO mentions it in passing, but it's never used. It's just his usual blathering on while people are trying to have a conversation.

The book was written 21 years before TPM, by someone other than Lucas. It's a coincidence, nothing more.

Is it explained at all?

No. It's not even bothered with in the book. In fact, when Vader shuts both droids down, he simply tells them to shut down. Since they're programmed to follow orders, they just shut down. No code words are needed or used and the command is just the phrase...shut down.



Um, not in the book I read. Could you have read a "Special Edition"? ;) Mine is indeed an old copy. Original paperback, if I'm not mistaken. Picked it up at a garage sale when I was a kid, back in 1980 I think. There is no narrative of Vader shutting down the droids. We are aware that it happened because Vader tells Luke: "As for your 'droids, they are conditioned to obey orders. I had them turn themselves off." The methodology of this is later explained when C-3PO says, "He knew all the proper code words and commands." The comic book adaptation is similar to this.

Anchorhead said:

Originally posted by: Gaffer Tape
Interesting aspect, though, that anybody can simply say, "Shut down," to a droid. One, I would think that a droid would only obey his master's directive to do that.


In fact, Vader tells Luke that's why they obeyed him, because he had just become their new owner.


Again, not in my copy of the book. Weird.

Of course I saw the similarities to elements later seen in the movies. The primitive Coway defeating the Imperials was akin to the Ewoks (or Wookies in early screenplays) doing the same. The Wandrella reminded me of a terrestrial form of the ESB space slug, not of the Sarlaac as you saw it.

Does anyone know how ADF went about writing this? -- zombie84? Was he given guidelines? Did he have the old screenplays and free reign to use ideas that didn't make it into Star Wars?

Pink Floyd -- First in Space

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Neither in my copy of the book, Aux. It's exactly as you describe it.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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auximenies said:

Does anyone know how ADF went about writing this? -- zombie84? Was he given guidelines? Did he have the old screenplays and free reign to use ideas that didn't make it into Star Wars?


Foster today insists that he had a free hand and basically made it up himself, but that cannot possibly be true. For one, it contains the usage of deleted plotlines from Lucas' own drafts, such as the primitive aliens defeating the Imperials--a major section of Lucas' first screenplay--and the kiber crystal. So at the very least he was working in part from Lucas' early material. Additionally, there are quotes from earlier in time when Foster says that he and Lucas together hashed out the plot. Lucas also had veto power--Foster's outline had begun with a space battle, but Lucas told him to cut it out so that if they ever adapted it into a film they could do so on a low budget, using props and costumes from the first film that Lucasfilm had held on to.

But in addition to that, Lucas must have sculpted much of the plot himself in personal story conferences--for one, we have partial transcripts of such things. In late 1975, Lucas met with Foster--Lucas had three films in mind, which he had in his contract with Fox, as most people know, but he doubted that they would ever get made given the unsuccessful progression of pre-production at that point in time. So he hired Alan Dean Foster to do them as novels. He outlines some basic ideas at this point--in book two there is to be a love triangle with Han, Leia and Luke, but Han leaves at the end and Luke stands poised to get her. He calls it Gone With the Wind in Space. He also says that Vader's past will be dealt with, and in part three the Skywalker family history will come more into play. But this was a very early concept--script changes and personal changes would necessitate story changes in these sequel novels in the subsequent months. Harrison Ford was not signed to a contract, so he does not appear in book two (SOTME), and then Lucas cut out the lightsaber battle between Luke and Vader from Star Wars, so this would become book two's climax; probably, he also included the backstory of Vader in Star Wars, that being he was the murderer of Luke's father, which he might have originally saved for the confrontation in the sequel. The Kiber crystal was also still part of Star Wars at that time, but then was cut out for the final script. So by the time Foster actually got around to outlining book two in early 1977 it had changed quite a bit, so the concepts from the previous drafts filled out the plot--the kiber crystal and battle of primitives--plus other ideas that Lucas had in mind for a sequel like a swamp planet (Dagobah in ESB) and such, Luke and Leia's romance was now sans Han Solo, and Luke and Darth would have their first confrontation at the end of the story, but without any personal twist.

So, though the in-betweens and details were Fosters, I would attribute more of the elements in the story to Lucas himself, rather directly or indirectly. Before Foster had finished writing book two Star Wars was released and became a hit, so Lucas scrapped book three altogether and decided that the film version of Chapter II would be a totally different and much grander story.
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auximenies said:


There is no narrative of Vader shutting down the droids. We are aware that it happened because Vader tells Luke: "As for your 'droids, they are conditioned to obey orders. I had them turn themselves off."


That's the method I was referencing. That's why I didn't quote a specific passage. I was just pointing out that he commanded them to shut down - as opposed to something more involved.
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