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!!!!!!!!
