Ideas: Splinter of the Mind's Eye - and other fan films wishlist

It amazes me that Star Trek has had some fan films that really are big budget and encroach on true Trek canon.  Most noteworthy would be the impressive Star Trek: Of Gods and Men and its pending sequel, as well as Star Trek: Phase II, which draws inspiration from scripts originally intended for the real Phase II.  Both have included TOS Trek actors and even Eugene Roddenberry has taken part in the latter.  These are high profile productions that apparently have not had any interference from Paramount.

Well, I’ve been rereading Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.  I know I’ve talked about it before, but I really enjoy this book.  It was written by Alan Dean Foster, the true author for the ANH novelization.  It was designed as a low budget sequel that could be converted into a film if ANH was not successful in theaters.  Of course as such an early piece of EU, it has no concept of Vader as Luke’s father or Leia as his sister.  It feels like a lengthy episode rather than a large scale story, but it truly is an interesting and different tale.  A big part of me would love to see a movie version of this, but I doubt it would ever happen.

Well, that doesn’t mean I can’t wish.  Like Trek, it would be fun to see someone with a lot of money and ambition cast new actors and film Splinter of the Mind’s Eye.  It would be especially neat if they were true to the story, throwing out all preconceptions of the soap opera relationships in the official Star Wars and instead offering a sort of alternate sequel.  I doubt it would ever happen (especially considering the fact that we don’t know Disney’s stance on such things), but it’s fun to dream.

Your thoughts on SOTME?  Or is there something you’d like to see made into a fan film?

I hope for an animated version so that either the original actors or a close approximation could be matched with the look of the rather nice comic adaptation.

There must be people who's party turn is a Mark Hamill impersonation?

I hear that guy who did Joker in Batman TAS is really good with voices.  I'll bet he could do Luke Skywalker like no other! ;)

In all seriousness, an animated version might be the best way to go.  I like the idea!

Wouldn't it be possible to use the exact same story but with new characters replacing Luke, Leia, and the droids and thus avoid having to recast, but still have a very Star Wars feel to the story.  It could even be set between E3 and E4 and show Vader hunting down the remaining jedi.  Though in that case maybe change the end to fall slightly more in line with the idea the jedi were wiped out.  Alternatively I would second the idea of an animated version if it were 2D animation. 

I'm sure something similar could be done, but I'd rather see the original, even recast.  In my mind, Splinter is an insight into the early concepts of Star Wars and the direction in might have gone.  All subsequent literature has been much more restricted by the expanding canon of various levels.  But this book has such a fresh and different perspective that I'd love to see in motion.  Its appeal to me is its contradiction to more recent sources.

BTW, I read that Foster was really shocked when Luke and Leia turned out to be siblings, considering just how romantic many of their moments are in SOTME.  I thought that was pretty funny.

darth_ender said:

BTW, I read that Foster was really shocked when Luke and Leia turned out to be siblings, considering just how romantic many of their moments are in SOTME.  I thought that was pretty funny.

I think the same could be said about their romance just in the films before Jedi, I think it is my biggest issue with the OT, it just seems too tacked on.

Yeah, you're right that in the grand scheme of things, there isn't too much that directly contradicts.  I guess it's more the direction it headed, and imaging if things had continued in that direction, that really seems like a contradiction.  Splinter is certainly a very different tale from Empire, yet both are, in a sense, direct sequels to ANH.

I certainly agree, it is a dark story in places and would be difficult to adapt while keeping it kid friendly.  I'll have to have a look at the comic and see how Ms. Sternhagen matches with Halla.

I have to say, the assortment of supporting characters is pretty interesting to me.  There is no Han or Chewie, but we get some rough equivalents in the form of Halla and the Yuzzems.  Halla is lacking in allegiance and sort of a scoundrel while the Yuzzems are intelligent brutes.  Obviously there are substantial differences, such as Halla's age, sex, and motivation.  But in the end, I find it an interesting and different assortment.  When's the last time the EU kept a main character or two while supplanting the rest with a new cast?  I find it endlessly interesting.

I love the idea of a movie of this novel.  Probably the only way it will get made is a fan project.  So we can only hope.

Finished this earlier today.

I personally would say the atmosphere in this book feels different from ANH; but that's OK. Think if you combined Star Wars with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Mimban is an eerie world, an archaeologist's fantasy. Halla's personality was fun to read. We're given what are essentially two Chewbaccas in the form of another, similar species. . . cool. Grammel was an effective villain we can learn to hate; his end is both satisfying and disturbing. Thank you, Vader.

There are several times in the book where Luke and Leia needed to throw themselves into a passionate kiss. You can feel the writer pulling back, robbing them of consummate romance.

It was a good book. The flaws are in the writing style, which is at times clunky. Forgivable, though. It adds a certain "obscure drug store novel" feel.

Sadly, we'll never learn what happens next to the characters in this continuity. Because afterward in the SWU, the retcons abound.