- Post
- #1533737
- Topic
- I got all 11 Star Wars movie novels for Christmas. Do the Prequel and Original Trilogy novelisations have additional content in them that the movies do not have?
- Link
- https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1533737/action/topic#1533737
- Time
I got all 11 Star Wars movie novels for Christmas in Kindle format. Do the prequel and original trilogy novels have additional content in them that the movies do not have?
Did they come in a box set or collection, or were they individual books?
As Hal, Jaded and Dreams said, ROTS is a must read. Very well written and really fleshes out the film. I say as someone who considers ROTS to be the worst Star Wars film of all, but is also probably the best novelization.
There is a good article here on the 1976 Star Wars novelization:
Luke’s feelings for Leia definitely are not that of a brother and sister (Splinter of the Mind’s Eye also hits this home), and I always laugh whenever I read George’s description of the Force in the Star Wars novel:
Kenobi: “Let us say simply that the force is something a Jedi must deal with. While it has never been properly explained, scientists have theorized it is an energy field generated by living things. Early man suspected its existence, yet remained in ignorance of its potential for millennia”.
ESB has some additional training with Luke & Yoda. It is interesting, but does lack some of Kersh’s improv and magic from the actual film.
ROTJ has some good insight from Han on what is was like being frozen in carbonite, and the gratitude he has from being rescued. Jabba and his closeness with the women in his captive is explained further.
Including this interesting passage from Luke and Obi-Wan:
Luke sensed the underlying meaning in Kenobi’s statement, he heard the words as a command. He shook his head back at the vision. “I can’t kill my own father.”
“You should not think of that machine as your father.” It was the teacher speaking again. “When I saw what has become of him, I tried to dissuade him, to draw him back from the dark side. We fought … your father fell into a molten pit. When your father clawed his way out of that fiery pool, the change had been burned into him forever–he was Darth Vader., without a trace of Anakin Skywalker. Irredeemably dark. Scarred. Kept alive only by machinery and his own black will …”
We also have a little more on Mon Mothma, and her history and actions when the Republic fell.
To me, Vader also tries to get to Luke to join him and overthrow the Emperor, but mainly to justify his own actions, to somehow justify his own poor choices. The denial that he himself is at fault for his own situation, the lie he tells himself that his decisions were for everyone’s benefit. Only fully acknowledging and accepting how wrong he was, along with repenting for his crimes, at the end.
TPM has more content on young Anakin which does help his character, and I think Maul has some additional writing from him too. Yet he is still more interesting in that “Fear” TPM trailer than he was in the actual film.
AOTC has more on Padme and Shmi, and I found it was a better read than the film was. Not a high bar, I know.
I haven’t read the ST novels yet. One day maybe. It’ll take some persuading to read TROS!