"No, seriously... which one's your favorite?"

What the title says.  Do you have a favorite in the Star Wars universe?   Be it one of the movies, or EU literature?  If you're familiar with the latter, please feel free to bring it up.  Forgive me if this has been done, but all of a sudden the concept is on my mind.

Movies:  I'm actually very conflicted on this.  As much as I love The Empire Strikes Back for its character development and shining moments, I think at least right now that pleasure belongs to the original Star Wars.  No matter which way I watch it, the movie just clicks.  The movie has great flow, and characters that - while you couldn't relate to them - you could care for.  It could stand on its own, which is something I dont' believe ESB could manage.  It's such a joy to watch all the way through.  The movie's a triumph, what with all the problems the development went through.  The true story of an underdog - both in the movie and outside.  I watch this movie at least once a year.

EU: Jedi Apprentice kids book series, mostly by Jude Watson.  Though I prefer Dave Wolverton's style (he wrote the first book), she does good too.  There's a certain something about this series that I like - it just shows that even though the prequels all that good, a lot of good can come from establishing a vague picture of the time period.  Following Obi-Wan's days as an Apprentice, it shows just a bit more of both Obi-Wan's hot-headedness and Qui-Gon's stubborn manner.  Who didn't like Qui-Gon?

My favorite was the Return of the Jedi Pop Up Book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLVs7unDsQk

IDK where it is BUT Im fairly confident I still have it SOMEWHERE

Films: While I prefer the darkness of ESB there is only one Star Wars. 97SE Widescreen VHS or GOUT.

EU: For the prequels it has to be the Jedi Apprentice series (Shatterpoint close second), but Brian Daley's Han Solo trilogy is still the best SW I have ever read.

The Jedi Knight games are always good for a retread.

My favorite is the movie that has one of the greatest titles in film history- The Empire Strikes Back

Movie: The Empire Strikes Back.

EU: The "Tales from..." series, especially the last two (New Republic and Empire).  Something about getting to know more about the other characters in the universe really makes sense to me.  Its a huge universe, why only follow the same 6 people and their families?

return of the jedi

Lego star wars

jedi apprentice books/last of the jedi

Empire Strikes Back I liked it. I could live in a place like cloud city. I even thought about moving to Alaska so I could build my own Echo base when I was a kid.

Jedi Knight I loved the story of Kyle Katarn. He was like Luke Skywalker with Han Solo's attitude. I think Jerec had that Palpatine feel without quoting palpy like most EU bad guys do. The story was so OTish that it should have been a movie

Shadows Of The Empire I talk about this game/book/comic way to much. It was neat. Prince Xizor wasn't the best badguy but still was a good character. SOTE was so good because it paid attention to the greatness that is the OT.

The Empire Strikes Back.

Thrawn trilogy.

X-Wing and Dark Forces game series (XW, TF, XvT, XWA, DF, DFII). LucasArts' best games ever. Also KotOR is a great game.

Since listing one of the movies would be an obvious answer, I am just going to go with EU stuff, even though I feel none of it reaches the level of the OT.

I am not going to lie to you all, as much flak as it recieves, I really liked Shadows of the Empire. Many fans seem to practically loath it, but I absolutely loved the very idea of it when it first came out. Many see Dash as an obvious Han Solo replacement, and sure, he seems to be that, but we already know the galaxy is filled with this scoundra,l type, so I am not sure why it is so hard to believe. His personality is lot different than Hans, he is very much his own character.

Xizor really isn't as lousy of a villan as most people think him to be. I think it was an interesting idea to introduce organized crime into the picture. I know this was already done with Jabba, but quite honestly, do any of us take Jabba seriously as the mafia type? I mean, he is pretty retarded. He would have never caught Han had Vader not put a bounty on his head, and had Boba Fett not decided to double dip and collect two bounties on the same prey. Xisor definitely seems more of the type who'd have one of his thugs leave a Tauntaun head under your bed sheets in the middle of the night. To me it was cool to see a more hard edged side to this aspect of the SW universe that made us realize that Jabba was pretty small time.

Admittedly, it is pretty hard to swallow Palpatine trusting Xizor so much, at the end of the book it kind of explains that Palpatine was using Xizor to test Vader, but it almost comes off as Palpatine trying to save face and keep from looking like a fool, "What? Xizor was trying to use me?! Nah, pft! Ha ha! No, no. You see, I knew what a jerk he was all along! In fact, I was trying to use him. Suka! Hahaha. Well anyway, thanks for blowing him up. Congradulations. You passed my test. Good work Vader, high five!" But still, I don't let this one thing ruin the whole experience for me. Another major complaint for some reason is that Leia got her bounty hunter disguise and thermal detonator from Xizor. For some reason this doesn't bother me either. Sure, we didn't need this explained to us, but I don't think it really hurt anything to include this.

Shadows of the Empire came at what I still feel was one of the most exciting time for SW fans. Star Wars had died out and was almost becoming obsure, then in the mid ninties it all broke out again and we had a bit of a SW revival. New books, new comic, new models, new toys, new games. For a young teenage nerd like me, it was pretty cool to be able to buy stuff with the name "Star Wars" on it in places other than the second hand stores and garage sales. Shadows came at the hight of all this, as an over blown scheme to grab as much of our money as possible. It was simultaniously a book, a game, a comic book series, a sound track, and a toy line. It was like a movie without a movie. But in my opinion, it captured the feel of the OT in a way the prequels never even came close to doing.

Anyway, for anyone interested in experiencing Shadows of the Empire for the first time, or even just revisiting it, I highly recommend the abridged audio book. It is very accessable, is well read, and is fully scored, and can be picked up very cheap online on audio cassette or CD. Being abridged is actually a plus, as the book is quite a bit longer than it needed to be. I can't think of one part from the full book I wish the audio book included, it really has all the most important stuff. Next to the audio book, the junior novelization is also a good quick was to experience the story, without digging into the full novel.

C3PX said:

Since listing one of the movies would be an obvious answer, I am just going to go with EU stuff, even though I feel none of it reaches the level of the OT.

I am not going to lie to you all, as much flak as it recieves, I really liked Shadows of the Empire. Many fans seem to practically loath it, but I absolutely loved the very idea of it when it first came out. Many see Dash as an obvious Han Solo replacement, and sure, he seems to be that, but we already know the galaxy is filled with this scoundra,l type, so I am not sure why it is so hard to believe. His personality is lot different than Hans, he is very much his own character.

I liked Dash Rendar. And I really liked how much he looked like Kevin Costner in the N64 version of the game. Kevin fits right into star wars don't he.

Xizor really isn't as lousy of a villan as most people think him to be. I think it was an interesting idea to introduce organized crime into the picture. I know this was already done with Jabba, but quite honestly, do any of us take Jabba seriously as the mafia type? I mean, he is pretty retarded. He would have never caught Han had Vader not put a bounty on his head, and had Boba Fett not decided to double dip and collect two bounties on the same prey. Xisor definitely seems more of the type who'd have one of his thugs leave a Tauntaun head under your bed sheets in the middle of the night. To me it was cool to see a more hard edged side to this aspect of the SW universe that made us realize that Jabba was pretty small time.

I thought Xizor was a good villain. Haha he felt like a mediocrity to Vader. Jabba is a little on the punk bitch side of the fence as far as bad guys go.

Admittedly, it is pretty hard to swallow Palpatine trusting Xizor so much, at the end of the book it kind of explains that Palpatine was using Xizor to test Vader, but it almost comes off as Palpatine trying to save face and keep from looking like a fool, "What? Xizor was trying to use me?! Nah, pft! Ha ha! No, no. You see, I knew what a jerk he was all along! In fact, I was trying to use him. Suka! Hahaha. Well anyway, thanks for blowing him up. Congradulations. You passed my test. Good work Vader, high five!"

Even after ROTS and his unlimited power scene I still don't know why Vader didn't just shove that fat sabre up Palpy's ass. Vader could have easily killed him. George Lucas is so dumb on that part. Who would serve someone who you know is lying to you. After Pamidala died I would have just been all rouge and badass. GL made Vader a bitch on a tight leash.

Shadows of the Empire came at what I still feel was one of the most exciting time for SW fans. Star Wars had died out and was almost becoming obsure, then in the mid ninties it all broke out again and we had a bit of a SW revival. New books, new comic, new models, new toys, new games. For a young teenage nerd like me, it was pretty cool to be able to buy stuff with the name "Star Wars" on it in places other than the second hand stores and garage sales. Shadows came at the hight of all this, as an over blown scheme to grab as much of our money as possible. It was simultaniously a book, a game, a comic book series, a sound track, and a toy line. It was like a movie without a movie. But in my opinion, it captured the feel of the OT in a way the prequels never even came close to doing.

When the game came out I had everything from the graphic novel to the Outrider play pack. I even got another Boba Fett just because he came with IG-88. I admit like a fanboy I gobbled up everything GL put out that year.

Anyway, for anyone interested in experiencing Shadows of the Empire for the first time, or even just revisiting it, I highly recommend the abridged audio book. It is very accessable, is well read, and is fully scored, and can be picked up very cheap online on audio cassette or CD. Being abridged is actually a plus, as the book is quite a bit longer than it needed to be. I can't think of one part from the full book I wish the audio book included, it really has all the most important stuff. Next to the audio book, the junior novelization is also a good quick was to experience the story, without digging into the full novel.

The novel was worth the read though. Though on several occasions it seemed to have too many notes (whooops I mean to many unneeded scenes)

The game was my favorite though. It reintroduced me to star wars. I hadn't watched the movies for a while until it came out. As soon as I played the wonderful battle of hoth level I quit and popped in ESB and went back to my happy retardation. I thank SOTE for letting the fans know that Star Wars is still and will always be the best Science Fictional Story EVERRRRRR!!!!!!!!

 

Films: Growing up, my favourite was Return of the Jedi, hands down. When I got a little older, it was surpassed in my mind by Empire, which has subsequently been surpassed by ANH:R. So, I guess you could say my current favorite is ANH:R, but the entire OT is so good, it's hard to choose. (The PT, on the other hand...)

Books: I, Jedi is probably my all time favorite so far as Star Wars books go, followed closely by the X-Wing Squadron and Wraith Squadron series by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Alston (Except for Starfighters of Adumar). I'm also quite fond of Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, though I didn't care much for his later books. When I was younger, I quite enjoyed Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy, but it's been quite a few years since I've read it, so I'm not sure whether or not I'd still find it as readable. Other than those selections, I've found virtually everything EU unpalatable (aside from a few of the short stories in the Tales of... books). The original novelizations of Star Wars, Empire and Return are pretty good, too.

Games: I really like the KOTOR games, though the fact that #2 is incomplete will always infuriate and annoy me. TIE fighter was also really quite excellent. For some good mindless Star Wars fun, Battlefront 2 is kicks and giggles. Also, so far as RPGs go, I really enjoyed West End's Star Wars Roleplaying Game system. I refuse to touch the Wizards of the Coast system, on principle. (If I want to play DND, I'll bloody play DND...no need to go adulterating every other fictitious universe with the same system).

Sadly, most EU is farfetched and over-the-top. I really stopped caring after Salvatore wrecked everything with the utter stupidity that is NJO...but it wasn't long after that that the PT came along and tainted everything, anyway. Just about everything Star Wars that comes out these days, even if not overtly PT-era, is nevertheless influenced by the awfulness that is PT, so I try to stay away from the EU scene entirely, in keeping with the difficult task of forgetting the PT ever came into existence. (I made the mistake of listening to the audio book of Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning. Big mistake! That book was stupider than Greedo shooting first.)

Before 97 the EU was awesome and badass. But then GL started making prequels that contradicted events in the OT so the EU became a tool to make GL look perfect. Any mistake GL made in film the EU just explains them away as to say GL is never incorrect.

I'm probably the only one who enjoyed the More lighthearted bantam books years and the old del rey years than the new del rey which started with vector prime in 1999.

Yes we had superweapons of the week and cheesy comic book plots but it was fun while it lasted, before star wars went all dark and edgy and post modern thanks to the emo prequels.

And before the EU had to be comepletely rewritten backwards and forwards to fit the prequel universe. 

Every book now written has to reference those prequel movies and is uncescapable.

Especially when they do a bad retread as the they did with the legacy of the force novels.

They lost me when they killed Mara Jade that was the last straw as far as i'm concerned other than ruining the character of Jacen Solo and making him a carbon copy of Hayden Vader.

Have you tried the X-Wing books by Stackpole and Allston? I highly recommend 'em to you if you liked Zahn's stuff. (Except for Starfighters of Adumar, which was quite dull.)

hairy_hen said:

I agree--killing Mara Jade was a mistake, and whoever thought that up is a douschbag who should be thrown face first into a mud pit and sat on by an elephant.  (lol)  I've completely given up on Star Wars books at this point.  I've sort of come to the viewpoint of, "if it's not in the original movies, or if Timothy Zahn didn't write it, it never happened".  Those are the only SW stories I really consistently enjoy anymore.

Chewbacca was also killed off recently. Matt Busch had the honor of drawing his death.

But I agree Mara Jade was badass. There aren't enough badass women in star wars. I've liked mara jade ever since playing the Jedi Knight Dark Forces 2 expansion pack Mysteries Of The Sith. It was fun playing that game.

skyjedi2005 said:

I'm probably the only one who enjoyed the More lighthearted bantam books years and the old del rey years than the new del rey which started with vector prime in 1999.

Yes we had superweapons of the week and cheesy comic book plots but it was fun while it lasted, before star wars went all dark and edgy and post modern thanks to the emo prequels.

And before the EU had to be comepletely rewritten backwards and forwards to fit the prequel universe. 

Every book now written has to reference those prequel movies and is uncescapable.

Especially when they do a bad retread as the they did with the legacy of the force novels.

They lost me when they killed Mara Jade that was the last straw as far as i'm concerned other than ruining the character of Jacen Solo and making him a carbon copy of Hayden Vader.

I agree. I really cannot get into any new SW fiction (Shatterpoint is the only exception). Mara's death was pretty much the final straw for me-along with Jacen pulling a prequel Anakin. General rule of thumb: only read SW fiction pre-1999.