What do you HATE about the EU? — Page 22

Here's something else about the EU I dislike immensely:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Crystal_Caves_(Ilum)

Oh, the Jedi restrict themselves to using Ilum crystals, which only come in one shade of blue and green each! *rollseyes*

When Lucas made all the Jedi in the PT other than Ass Windbag carry blue and green lightsabers, the dumbass EU writers should have just restricted the Jedi shown in those movies to blue and green lightsabers; there should been no attempt made to restrict EU-exclusive Jedi to blue/green lightsabers and/or explain the reasons behind such a stupid restriction.

What can I say? I regard the EU the same way a spurned lover regards the partner who abandoned them -- with love, hate, and some mental instability.

Drew Karpyshan is the EU version of George Lucas.

Bringing up Karpyshyn reminds of of his overrated Bane Trilogy -- I've never understood the love for those books. Bane and Zannah are both flat, depthless characters, and the stupid "Bane runs off to find a lost Sith holocron" subplot -- which is rehased throughout all three books -- just goes to show what a lazy writer Karpyshyn really is.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Bringing up Karpyshyn reminds of of his overrated Bane Trilogy -- I've never understood the love for those books. Bane and Zannah are both flat, depthless characters, and the stupid "Bane runs off to find a lost Sith holocron" subplot -- which is rehased throughout all three books -- just goes to show what a lazy writer Karpyshyn really is.

This post should be broadcast on national tv.

The pre-1999 EU put so much effort into rebuilding the Republic and the Jedi, only for the Vong to destroy it all. Furthermore, Caedus then destroys it all again, and then Abeloth and the lost tribe destroy it all again, and then Krayt destroys it all again.

The Old Republic and Jedi lasted 25,000 years, so why can't the New Republic and Jedi last 30 years?

Probably the same reason so many comic writers can't write stories about superheroes without deconstructing everything and making everything an ultra-grim rape 'n' gore fest.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Probably the same reason so many comic writers can't write stories about superheroes without deconstructing everything and making everything an ultra-grim rape 'n' gore fest.

 um no. The reason is plainly because Anakin refused his roll as Chosen One when he met the three ghost god things on planet Mortis and didn't bring balance to the Force somehow. It all makes perfect sense really.

TheBoost said: The reason is plainly because Anakin refused his roll as Chosen One when he met the three ghost god things on planet Mortis and didn't bring balance to the Force somehow. 

The Vong books were published in 1999-2003. Mortis first appeared in The Clone Wars in an episode aired in 2011 and was tied to the post-ROTJ state of the galaxy in a book published in 2012. In short, the link between Mortis and the Vong is a retcon that was created 10 years after the fact.

Anything associated with Revan is just as bad as the PT to me

I hate how the EU knocks down movie characters in order to prop up its own characters. For example, Pellaeon wonders if the Empire would have won the Battle of Endor if Thrawn commanded it instead of Vader.

(As a side note, Vader didn't command the Battle of Endor!)

Carthage said:

Anything associated with Revan is just as bad as the PT to me

Same to me.

Yes, but Pellaeon had no way of knowing that.

That's something Zahn excels at, and one of the things that makes his writing seem more real than others', in that he only gives the characters whatever information it makes sense for them to know, in context, and not just having them hear of things because the reader knows them.  Little subtle details like that help sell the story, and are not there because the author has an agenda.

hairy_hen said:

Yes, but Pellaeon had no way of knowing that.

You really don't think word of who was who at Endor spread? Also, Pellaeon participated in the Battle of Endor, so he would definitely notice who was commanding.

Something I don't get about the EU -- and which has always annoyed me -- is that Mon Mothma is almost always referred to by the other characters by her full name. Never does Leia or Ackbar call her "Mon", always "Mon Mothma". Since "Mothma" is a family name and not part of her given name, it's just stupid for the others to refer to her that way.

Another problem with SWTOR: What in the world are the Chiss doing in the known galaxy? The Chiss weren't discovered until after TPM!

What, you think Vader would feel like he had to tell all the peons that he was gonna be on the Death Star with the Emperor instead of hanging around on the Executor?  Why would he bother to do that?  Admiral Piett had the situation in hand as far as he was concerned.  I don't see any reason why the second in command of one unimportant Star Destroyer would need to know there was a conversion to the dark side going on at the same time as the battle . . .

hairy_hen said:

What, you think Vader would feel like he had to tell all the peons that he was gonna be on the Death Star with the Emperor instead of hanging around on the Executor?  Why would he bother to do that?

Because it's extremely important. I'm sure Eisenhower would let everyone know if he couldn't make it to D-Day.

hairy_hen said:

What, you think Vader would feel like he had to tell all the peons that he was gonna be on the Death Star with the Emperor instead of hanging around on the Executor?  Why would he bother to do that?  Admiral Piett had the situation in hand as far as he was concerned.  I don't see any reason why the second in command of one unimportant Star Destroyer

Pellaeon was Captain of the Star Destroyer right below the Executor, and even if he wasn't, wouldn't he notice that Vader's not the one giving orders by hologram?

hairy_hen said:

would need to know there was a conversion to the dark side going on at the same time as the battle . . .

Only in the prequels was it established that Palpatine being a dark side user is a secret. The OT by itself never suggests that Palpatine isn't openly a dark side user.

Tobar said:

I thought that was an odd one as well. Here's their explanation for it.

I don't buy their explanation at all. A species being present in the galaxy is a species being present in the galaxy.

LexX said:

Kevin J. Anderson.

I started to read my old SW books that I've only read once as a teenager and forgetting pretty much everything. So it was a good time to start over beginning with SW, Splinter, TESB, ROTJ, Thrawn... and now I'm reading KJA's pieces of work.

After Thrawn trilogy this guy's work feels like they were written by a 14-year-old. Everything happens so fast (for a book, anyways) and the things people do in the story feel completely ridicilous. Daala being like a second Thrawn and making battle plans like a random person from the streets, ugh. I'm now in his second book and in the first 100 pages Ackbar destroys thousands of aliens and retires from being an admiral, Han loses Falcon and Ackbar's best technician friend is an Imperial spy with a cyborg brain. I laughed out loud at the last one when reading.

I didn't remember these were that bad. I remember Crystal Star being the worst book ever and it was also the last one published here. Not sure if I'll give it another read... Almost considering dropping KJA's books but it's good to have something to read. I guess?

You forgot to mention how bad KJA's dialogue is -- especially the dialogue given to the Jedi characters. It's like reading a soap opera -- the lines he has come out of Luke & co.'s mouths sound incredibly stilted and completely unnatural.