Well people who hate young anakin ghost are going to hate this. In a new book they’re going to explain why he’s young as a force ghost.
Which book is this?
You might as well say the same about “The Clone Wars.” How else would we have known about the ultimate fate of Sifo-Dias, and why the clones did a complete 180 on their loyal Jedi generals so suddenly?
The Prequels relying on The Clone Wars for important plot details (and important character development) is also bad.
The Prequels are just as guilty of overreliance on supplementary material as the Sequels are.
If you really are that invested in Star Wars to begin with, then what’s stopping you from WANTING to learn more about it?
Edit: In hindsight, I worded my response here too harshly.
I’m 10 episodes in. Only 2 left.
I’m kind of mad now. I’m mad because it’s so fantastic. After all the mediocrity, they out of nowhere make one of the best Star Wars things ever. This is way, way better than any of the other recent stuff, by a country mile. It’s absurd how much better it is.
I get the disdain for a lot of larger EU projects though. Especially the entire Shadows of the Empire project, the disdain for that one I totally get. Prince Sex Pest and the Han Solo replacement don’t have much lasting appeal.
It’a funny you mention that, cause I’m actually rereading Shadows of the Empire right now. I read it over a decade ago, and the writing is a lot cornier than I remembered. The writing style is clearly oriented toward a younger reader, which makes the creepy Xizor scenes feel even more out-of-place and weird.
The best thing we got out of that whole MMP was all the cool artwork the Hildebrandt brothers did depicting scenes from the book. I love those.
I still don’t get why’d people get vitriolic about it, though. It’s non-canon and has no bearing on current Star Wars. It’s just something harmless that’s there for people to look back on and enjoy, if they want to.
*They also tended to be diehard PT/SE apologists, which also fanned the flames of contempt.
This has kind of flipped around now. Fans who are the most ardent defenders of “George’s vision” usually hold disdain for the EU.
They should do a Star Wars anthology movie set soon after RotJ based on the Battle of Castle Itter at the end of WWII. It’s a crazy story, and I’m surprised it’s never been adapted into a movie.
A lot of fans hate the old EU, and go out of their way to trash it as much as possible and to rub in that “It was never canon.” And it makes me wonder, why do they care so much?
They’ve gotten what they wanted. The EU was ended and declared as definitely non-canon. But they seem to hate the fact that a lot of people prefer it over the current canon. That’s unacceptable to them, for some reason.
And a lot of them use the argument that, since George didn’t recognize it as part of his own canon, it should be disregarded in discussions. But going by that logic, everything George didn’t work on should be disregarded.
I don’t like Qui-Gon. My problem isn’t so much with the character himself. Just the fact that he steals away character traits and importance that should have been given to Obi-Wan. Also, I think a lot of fans “oversell” him nowadays as being “the wisest Jedi.”
Everyone has some degree of consciousness within the Force after death. The special Jedi training just gives them the added ability to manifest in the physical world. But basically everyone still exists in the netherworld, except for people who were completely consumed by the Dark Side (not even necessarily Dark Side users, but also people who were just consumed by selfish, negative emotions, like Tarkin or Jabba).
I actually had a falling out with someone over this. He was very insistent about how “The GOUT is what it looked like in theaters. And the 2011 versions are the true definitive versions. And that’s that, so you have nothing to complain about.” Then, when I tried explaining otherwise, he shifted to saying “Fans don’t deserve the original cuts, cause they drove George away,” which misses the point and importance of film preservation. It’s frustrating to talk to people like that.
The sad thing is, this mindset will probably only become more and more common, as there’s now a whole generation of adult fans who’ve mostly never seen the original cuts. And many of them are pretty intent on defending George’s vision for his hexalogy.
Haven’t seen any of the other stuff.
I’d probably be more accepting of the Special Editions if it weren’t for the fact that all the modern home video transfers of the OT have been so poorly done.
I picked up the 2006 editions of the original trilogy in a second hand store a few months ago, and just watched the GOUT version of A New Hope. Since I’ve been a member on here for a while, it might be a surprise that this was my first time properly watching any of the movies in their original versions.
I grew up with the 2004 edition of ANH, which is what made me a fan (that, and Angry Birds Star Wars… in the midst of a good number of people who were seated in cinemas back in 1977, I’ve really felt the generational difference) and while I’ve been interested in the SE changes and the ethics of film preservation, vfx authorship etc for some time, I never actually sat down and watched the OOT in full before now.
My issues with George replacing the original films and the work of talented special effects artists will always remain the same. But I have to say this viewing has cemented the 2004 Special Edition as the version of the film I know and love, the same way many are nostalgic for the original version they watched on release. It’s occasionally jarring to expect a noise, a line of dialogue, or a completely different shot from a scene and be abruptly reminded that it’s not there. It’s like I felt the frustration that many older fans felt watching the altered editions, but in reverse. And at the same time, I know if this was the first time I was watching the movie, I probably wouldn’t think of anything as awkward or outdated in the same way; nothing would seem out of place. I think if you’ve ever watched something and fallen in love with it, any differences upon a rewatch, whether good or bad, will just seem intrusive and wrong.
A few other observations: Vader’s voice seemed more distorted in this version and it helped lend even more of a sinister robotic quality to him than I’m used to. Previously, the addition of more aliens or creatures in the Mos Eisley streets might have seemed justifiable, but I think Andor has changed the way I feel about ‘too many humans’ in Star Wars (i.e: I don’t care). I think there’s a fine balance to strike: the world should feel familiar, and only tinged with strangeness - veering directly into the alien and other-worldly should be saved for special moments. Strangest of all, I actually kind of missed the Jabba scene - redundant, yes, but I like exploring more of the criminal world of Mos Eisley, and I think the fade transitions and abrupt change in music in the scene’s absence derail my immersion more than any questionable Jabba CGI does.
Sorry for the long and rambling post, but hopefully some of you might find my first impressions of the OOT interesting.
Honestly, that’s almost exactly how I felt watching the GOUT when it first released. It felt jarring, like I was watching a prototype or rough draft of the movies I was familiar with. I do think a part of that, though, was due to the GOUTs having such low visual quality. Watching Despecialized for the first time honestly made me see the movies differently, since it was like watching a modern remaster.
And people say Death Star II doesn’t make sense…
DS2 is one of those things that comes off as repetitive to the audience, but makes sense within the universe.
I recently heard someone make the argument that, from what’s implied in dialogue in ANH, the Empire shouldn’t be able to maintain its control of the galaxy without either the Senate or the Death Star. A lot of Tarkin’s dialogue points to this idea that the Empire needs the fear of the Death Star to keep control of its subject systems. With that in mind, and given how ANH ends, if ESB had opened by telling us “The Empire is falling apart after the loss of the Death Star,” that would have been an equally valid path for the story to take.
As far as adaptations go, did anybody read the Dark Horse comic versions or listen to the Marc Thompson audiobooks?
I’m planning to listen to the Thompson audiobooks soon. I already listened to the Hand of Thrawn duology, and that was really well done.
I love how Zahn writes the OT characters. He fleshes them out so much and shows how they’ve grown and matured since the OT. Luke feels lost and unsure of himself, but is still a compassionate hero. Han is adjusting to life as a husband and future father. I love Leia’s whole mystery plot surrounding the Noghri. I love Mara Jade and Talon Karrde. I like the political intrigue with Fey’lya, though Fey’lya really pissed me off, which seemed to be the intent. I like Joruus C’baoth a lot and think the concept of an embittered “mad Jedi” makes for a great post-RotJ villain. I love Thrawn and Pellaeon’s whole dynamic and relationship, though Thrawn’s genius becomes a little unbelievable at times. I love how the space battles are written in a way that feels like they’re actual battles. And I love how problems in the story are solved through brains and creativity rather than just through brute force.
In terms of tone and plot, it feels like a natural continuation of the OT, though if they had been adapted into movies, they would’ve had to be trimmed down and streamlined a lot.
A really good trilogy. I’d like to reread it soon.
Lego Skywalker Saga should have done an EU character pack as DLC. Have it be a grab-bag of fan favorites: Mara Jade (both her Emperor’s Hand look and her Jedi look), Thrawn, Talon Karrde, Plagueis, Revan, Bastila, Bane, Kyle Katarn, etc. I would have bought the game for that. I really just don’t want some of those characters to fall down the memory hole. I’d like them to be kept alive in the fandom consciousness in some way.
“I’d sooner kiss a Wookiee.”
“I can arrange that!”
What’d be more interesting would be asking an AI to write a sequel to Rogue One, and seeing what story it’d come up with.
Not bad.
Just finished a back-to-back read of Allegiance and Choices of One, both by Timothy Zahn. The two books form a sort of loose duology, telling the story of a group of rogue stormtroopers who become vigilantes against corruption in the Empire and later end up doing missions with Mara Jade.
As much as I liked the premise, I was kind of underwhelmed by these books. They’re not Timothy Zahn’s best work. I like that we get to see a more morally complex side to the Empire, and that the Imperials aren’t all cartoonishly evil, but I think these books go almost too far in making the Imperials heroic. Mara and the stormtroopers go around rescuing people and stopping bad guys and kicking ass in the name of the Empire, while the Rebellion is just sort of there, trying to survive, not doing much to actually help people. It makes the Empire look much more appealing than it should.
Honestly, the Rebel POVs with Luke, Han, and Leia could have easily been cut altogether. They make up about 40% of the books, I think, but they’re really not necessary, and could have been removed to streamline the plot. The books are already primarily an Empire story, anyway, so it probably would have been better to fully commit to that idea.
Also, this is more of a nitpick than anything, but it felt really contrived how Mara Jade and Thrawn became interwoven into the story without Luke/Han/Leia ever meeting them or becoming aware of them. Zahn goes out of his way to make sure they don’t interact with each other, so as not to break continuity, but there’s a scene where Luke and Mara are in the same room together, and they basically “meet” each other without actually meeting each other. I thought that was pushing it a little bit.
All in all, not among my favorite EU books. They were alright, but definitely not as good as the other Zahn books I’ve read.
What’d be more interesting would be asking an AI to write a sequel to Rogue One, and seeing what story it’d come up with.
‘One of the more common misconceptions about “Star Wars” is the idea that creator George Lucas directed and wrote the entire original trilogy.
This is a rather odd thing to say, given that it literally says “Directed by Irvin Kershner” at the end. This seems like padding to make the article longer.
I don’t understand who this article was written for. And the author’s attitude feels stuck in 2015.
Even if there isn’t a literal signed contract, Disney seems to have an understanding with George about not tweaking his movies, and they seem intent on honoring that.
Time has shown us that the less directly involved Lucas is with a “Star Wars” film, the better
???
By that logic, all the post-Lucas films would be Empire-tier or better.