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The Random EU Thoughts Thread — Page 2

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DuracellEnergizer said: Generally, I like to go with the idea that the Jedi were almost superhumanly powerful prior to the Great Sith War, but became progressively weaker over the centuries and millennia that followed. 

Pre-1999 Star Wars definitely gave me the impression that the Jedi slowly dissappeared from public view and declined and the Empire just finished the job. Motti called the Jedi "ancient", which I interpreted as "millenia past their prime."

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Tarkin's words to Vader convey the same basic idea: "The Jedi are extinct; their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion."

“That Darth Vader, man. Sure does love eating Jedi.”

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ATMachine said:

Tarkin's words to Vader convey the same basic idea: "The Jedi are extinct; their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion."

 

I can't hear (or read) lines like that without my mind immediately flooding with all the ideas and images that they conjured of the prequel era (before the actual prequels themselves were made). Damn it to hell, the PT could have been great, if only the younger, passionate Lucas who wrote those lines, and who actually gave a damn enough about his creation to have written multiple drafts until he'd brought forth the best possible story, had gotten around to making them, instead of handing them off to his fat, passionless, complacent older self, who could barely be bothered to crap out a single draft whilst sets were already being built.

Tarkin's line also evokes the singularly unique image of Vader we all once accepted as a given - that he, as far as the citizens of the Empire knew, was the last of the Jedi; the last practitioner of the Force (to whatever extent its existence was known or acknowledged); the last wielder of that mysterious and ancient "Jedi weapon" (as Palpatine called it) - the lightsaber. And his title - Dark Lord of the Sith - being some obscure honorific attached to his position in the Empire, and not an indication that he's merely a member of an ancient order of "anti-Jedi," all named Darth and all equipped with red lightsabers (even Palpatine himself - despite his clearly expressed disdain and relative unfamiliarity with that "Jedi weapon").

That's why my favorite EU work (getting back to the thread topic) is Rinzler's adaptation of Lucas' early draft, The Star Wars. It evokes all of that promise and mystery that the franchise had in its infancy, particularly when one looked at those amazing, strange, beautiful conceptual images gorgeously rendered by Ralph McQuarrie (who, for my money, deserves official credit as co-creator of Star Wars). I hold out some hope (slim though it might be) that TFA will restore some of that awe and wonder and mystery. The fact that they're using so much McQuarrie conceptual material in the design of the film only confirms me in that hope... 

"These deadly rays will be your death..."

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Akton said:

Tarkin's line also evokes the singularly unique image of Vader we all once accepted as a given - that he, as far as the citizens of the Empire knew, was the last of the Jedi; the last practitioner of the Force (to whatever extent its existence was known or acknowledged); the last wielder of that mysterious and ancient "Jedi weapon" (as Palpatine called it) - the lightsaber. And his title - Dark Lord of the Sith - being some obscure honorific attached to his position in the Empire, and not an indication that he's merely a member of an ancient order of "anti-Jedi," all named Darth and all equipped with red lightsabers (even Palpatine himself - despite his clearly expressed disdain and relative unfamiliarity with that "Jedi weapon").

This—so much this.  It is exactly why the prequels just don't jive with the ideas we all had in our heads about how the SW universe worked, because the way the original films were written was full of these kinds of implications, which ultimately ended up getting stomped over and contradicted to death.  It's a huge part of why the prequels will never fit as a legitimate part of the Star Wars story, no matter how anyone tries to shoehorn them in there; and why we stubbornly resist all attempts to say otherwise.  Vague as they were, these hints and implications formed a much cooler picture than what was later shown, and the clashing of tonal inconsistency plays a big part in what makes them so jarring, even when removed from any considerations of their overall quality.

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What do you all think of "dark side planets" such as Byss and Korriban?

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^I tend to like them. There don't seem to be enough "light side" planets to balance them out, though.

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DuracellEnergizer said:

^I tend to like them. There don't seem to be enough "light side" planets to balance them out, though.

Agree with the first sentence. Never thought about light side planets, but it's a good point.

I like the contrast between the futuristic Byss and the ancient Korriban.

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On that dark empire sourcebook cover.

The color difference is probably an accident either in the printing or who ever did that digital scan of the book.  It is probably the second option. I don't think its a deliberate creative decision, anymore than Vader's Saber turning purple or pink, or Maul's saber turning up orange on the blu rays.

It could just be a continuity mistake like the revenge of the jedi teaser poster, the star wars marvel comic issue #1 or that book where Luke gives Leia a sith red lightsaber as a present.

Or as you imagine it also could be on purpose but it hardly matters because it is legends not Canon it does not need a retcon to explain.

Luke never fought Sedriss the Emperor never was reborn. 

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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skyjedi2005 said:

It could just be a continuity mistake like the revenge of the jedi teaser poster, the star wars marvel comic issue #1 or that book where Luke gives Leia a sith red lightsaber as a present. 

For christssakes, just because you don't like the idea of Leia having a red lightsaber doesn't make it a goddamned mistake!

If it was a single mention, yes, perhaps it could be considered a mistake. Every single time her lightsaber's colour is mentioned throughtout that storyline, though, it's described as "red", "ruby-coloured", etc.

Therefore it's NOT A MISTAKE.

Or as you imagine it also could be on purpose but it hardly matters because it is legends not Canon it does not need a retcon to explain.

Luke never fought Sedriss the Emperor never was reborn.

What random string of non-sequitur bullshit is this?!

I don't care a single damn about it being canon or Legends or any of that nonsense -- I just want to know which of the two versions of the drawing matches the one found in the book. The answer to that question is the same regardless of fantarded discussions on canon.

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Switch to decaf, Duracell. This isn't worth raising your blood pressure over.

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Where were you in '77?

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My local comic shop has the Dark Empire comics, although they're reprints so that might not be what you're looking for. I could still check'em out for you.

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I haven't dug into EU material for some time. I think now may be the time to finally re-read my shelves and finish all the other stuff I never completed like the NJO.

But 100% agree on the best material being anything with the original mystique, imagination, danger and adventure of the original film. This is why the stuff that really works is typically towards the earlier vintages pre-Heir.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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SilverWook said:

Switch to decaf, Duracell. This isn't worth raising your blood pressure over.

Yeah, I probably do come off a little hysterical in the post above. I posted it right after spending several hours removing some particularily aggravating adware from my computer, though, so I was in a rather pissy mood at the time. 

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captainsolo said:

I haven't dug into EU material for some time. I think now may be the time to finally re-read my shelves and finish all the other stuff I never completed like the NJO.

I wouldn't bother with the NJO. Some interesting bits aside, it's just not worth the effort. 

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There was no uniformity in dark empire or dark empire 2 with the lightsaber  colors so the orange could have been on purpose i don't have the source book only the comics. 

But in Dark empire 2 they all have blue white blades. 

I just assumed that was Sedriss on the cover of the source book and that as a fan of Vader his saber was the same color but in the comic when he uses one at all its blue. 

Who painted or drew that cover for the source book?

Could it simply have been an artists choice or a colorists decision on the color?

I am no longer sold on it absolutely being red though after seeing the comics again and finding that the darksiders use non red sabers.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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I guess I should point out that the image I posted wasn't used on the cover. It was inside the handbook itself.

Here, I've found an actual image of the page the picture itself is featured in.

Oddly enough, this version looks likes it's halfway between the two images I posted before. The background's greenish, but the lightsaber's more of a red-orange than a straightforward orange.

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I always liked that many different lightsaber colors are seen in use by the group of dark Jedi in Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight.

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I remember when I first read the novella adaptations of that game as a teenager. At the time, the idea of Dark Jedi/Sith wielding lightsabers with any colour other than red was completely alien to me, so when I saw all those paintings of darksiders with blue, yellow, violet, etc. lightsabers, it just completely rubbed me the wrong way.

It's funny how I've gone and done a complete 180 on the matter in recent years. You can thank the PT's hackneyed RGB lightsaber colour scheme and the EU's sycophantic adoption of it for that. 

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For the first time in like ten years or so (probably more like five though) I'm actually reading an EU book. My plan is to read a bunch this year, and I'm starting with Darth Plagueis. It's interesting so far. Anyone else read it/have opinions?

Also, I'm creating a list of EU books I want to read. I'm of course going to try to do the obvious (Thrawn Trilogy, Daley Han Solo Adventures, Splinter of the Mind's Eye [even though I've heard it isn't great?]), and some other stuff I've read is supposed to be good (Labyrinth of Evil, Dark Lord).

Any recommendations or comments or thoughts on EU books any of you have read would be welcome.

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Beyond the Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology, I'd recommend I, Jedi and the Corellian Trilogy.

Of course, there are also books I'd recommend you avoid. Pretty much any novel written by Kevin J. Anderson -- especially the Jedi Academy Trilogy -- should be steered clear of at all costs. Oh, and Death Troopers, too; I consider it one of the worst -- if not the worst -- novel I've read from the EU.

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I liked Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. I also liked the Han Solo trilogy. 

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Doing a similar thing. But mine involves finally completing the set...i.e. physically finding a copy of every EU novel...because I'm crazy at times. ;)

Recommend:

Daley Han Solo Adventures, Lando Calrissian trilogy, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, Thrawn trilogy, Han Solo trilogy, the "Tales from" books, Jedi Apprentice, Courtship of Princess Leia. Shatterpoint too.

Avoid: nothing really. Even the drier or sillier Batam books are good at passing the time.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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I wouldn't wish the Truce at Bakura on my worst enemy.

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Taking notes, appreciate the suggestions so far.

I've heard some mixed things about the Courtship of Princess Leia though, maybe even from this site? 

Truce at Bakura no good... or maybe it is? Care to elaborate?

Any of the Old Republic stuff worth checking out? And what's the deal with the New Jedi Order books? There seems to be like a thousand of them, are any good?