Star Wars

[Brickdoctor]

Then again, the new girl is probably either a poorly-written rehash of MJ-Luke, or else they're turning it into a gender-flipped Twilight.

Never read that series (and from what I hear, thank goodness for that), but Fate of the Jedi's 'romance' is some teasing, conflicting emotions, and crying, with a secret Sith journal thrown in for good measure. And Ben is sixteen, I think. Oh, and the writers decided to continue the Jaina-Jag thing at the same time.

[Flipz]

Never read that series (and from what I hear, thank goodness for that), but Fate of the Jedi's 'romance' is some teasing, conflicting emotions, and crying, with a secret Sith journal thrown in for good measure. And Ben is sixteen, I think. Oh, and the writers decided to continue the Jaina-Jag thing at the same time.

To be fair to Jaina-Jag, that one is kind of locked into "But Thou Must" due to backstory requirements for the Legacy comic series. Regardless of what you think of the couple, you can rest assured that their descendents are absolutely Epic.

I've never read Twilight either, and now I'm thinking that I'll be adding Fate of the Jedi to that "illustrious" list.

[The Legonater]

Yeah, the older stuff is better. Allegiance is recent but was pretty good. Specter of the Past, Vision of the Future, and Survivor's Quest were all quite good, and Outbound Flight is one of the only CW-era novels I enjoyed.

Outbound Flight has always been my favorite book from the moment I read it. I've always found it so beautifully done, and the ending always seemed very emotional to me.

Never read that series (and from what I hear, thank goodness for that), but Fate of the Jedi's 'romance' is some teasing, conflicting emotions, and crying, with a secret Sith journal thrown in for good measure. And Ben is sixteen, I think. Oh, and the writers decided to continue the Jaina-Jag thing at the same time.

Personally, I think they did a fairly good job with the Jaina-Jag angle. Ben and What's-Her-Face is absolutley pathetic, though, in my opinion. I seriously consider it one of the stupider ideas in the SW universe.

[simonjedi]

EU chat: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows Of Mindor is a pretty decent read. I recommend it.

I seriously consider it one of the stupider ideas in the SW universe.

Really? Considering the EU in general..That's...That's quite an achievement.

E: Oh yeah I've been meaning to answer this:

Uh, how so?

Mainly the fact that large parts of the film is actually 'there' There was Models, Minitures, Actual sets, stop motion photography, puppets ect. Things felt weighty and real. Clones and Sith has really obvious and fake looking CGI and it was distracting because everything was so 'floaty and distracting.' Ian McDiarmid. The music score. Duel of the Fates. Maul. The Podrace. The sound design. The Naboo fighters.

Edited February 25, 2012 by simonjedi

[Poison Ivy]

Really? Considering the EU in general..That's...That's quite an achievement.

All things considered (Darth Saberknees included), Ben and Darksider Girl just doesn't compare.

[Flipz]

[rant]You know what the problem with the PT and the FotJ series (and a lot of other stuff) is? Too many freaking Force-users. Jedi and Sith used to be so epic, because they were these lone characters with superpowers, and they were one-being-armies, but they could still be flanked and outnumbered and such, and the Badass Normals of the universe actually had a effect on the universe because they were there to back their allies up. That's one reason I loved the Legacy of the Force series, the normal folks like the Antilles family and the Mandalorians actually did things that affected the rest of the galaxy. It wasn't a bunch of Force-users flinging magic blasts at each other, there was politics, and intrigue, and fights that didn't involve Jedi, and despite the inconsistent writing, 2/3 of the time (Troy Denning I blame you for that missing third) Jacen was an interesting character to follow, as was Lumiya, at times you were almost rooting for them. But in the PT and in FotJ and several other series, the Jedi have become commonplace, and they steal the story from the truly interesting characters, like Han, Wedge, Boba Fett, etc. (And on that note, where in blazes have Threepio and Artoo been??? It seems like the moment the movies ended, they became little more than glorified can openers as far as plot goes. Artoo at least got some decent material in the Thrawn trilogy, but other than that...what happened to the days when characters like Bollux and Blue Max were the norm??)[/rant]

[The Legonater]

[rant]You know what the problem with the PT and the FotJ series (and a lot of other stuff) is? Too many freaking Force-users. Jedi and Sith used to be so epic, because they were these lone characters with superpowers, and they were one-being-armies, but they could still be flanked and outnumbered and such, and the Badass Normals of the universe actually had a effect on the universe because they were there to back their allies up. That's one reason I loved the Legacy of the Force series, the normal folks like the Antilles family and the Mandalorians actually did things that affected the rest of the galaxy. It wasn't a bunch of Force-users flinging magic blasts at each other, there was politics, and intrigue, and fights that didn't involve Jedi, and despite the inconsistent writing, 2/3 of the time (Troy Denning I blame you for that missing third) Jacen was an interesting character to follow, as was Lumiya, at times you were almost rooting for them. But in the PT and in FotJ and several other series, the Jedi have become commonplace, and they steal the story from the truly interesting characters, like Han, Wedge, Boba Fett, etc. (And on that note, where in blazes have Threepio and Artoo been??? It seems like the moment the movies ended, they became little more than glorified can openers as far as plot goes. Artoo at least got some decent material in the Thrawn trilogy, but other than that...what happened to the days when characters like Bollux and Blue Max were the norm??)[/rant]

I totally agree. Frankly, that's one of the reasons Republic Commando is one of my favorite series- it doesn't have a whole lot of Jedi, and it in fact insults the Jedi on many, many occasions. It's a view that is shown a lot in the EU, esspecially in series like FotJ and NJO, but doesn't seem to be elaborated on much. A lot of my favorite charecters aren't Jedi, and msot of the ones who are have an interesting quality about them (Jusik also being Mandalorian, Corran originaly being a pilot/investigator, etc.). I find 3P0 is usually in if Leia is involved, though normally he doesn't have a very important role.

As for Legacy of the Force, I again agree with you. There were several plots going on that were all tied in, whether they featured many Jedi or none at all. And though I didn't note the inconsistancy you mention, I found Jacen's fall as compeling and interesting as you did. I really don't see why everyone complains about it.

[Flipz]

I totally agree. Frankly, that's one of the reasons Republic Commando is one of my favorite series- it doesn't have a whole lot of Jedi, and it in fact insults the Jedi on many, many occasions. It's a view that is shown a lot in the EU, esspecially in series like FotJ and NJO, but doesn't seem to be elaborated on much. A lot of my favorite charecters aren't Jedi, and msot of the ones who are have an interesting quality about them (Jusik also being Mandalorian, Corran originaly being a pilot/investigator, etc.). I find 3P0 is usually in if Leia is involved, though normally he doesn't have a very important role.

As for Legacy of the Force, I again agree with you. There were several plots going on that were all tied in, whether they featured many Jedi or none at all. And though I didn't note the inconsistancy you mention, I found Jacen's fall as compeling and interesting as you did. I really don't see why everyone complains about it.

Allow me to present this eloquent (if overly harsh) excerpt from the Legacy of the Force TV Tropes page:

Depending on the Writer: Oh so very much.

◦ While the standard example of "Mandalorians as written by Karen Traviss vs. Mandalorians as written by everyone else" certainly applies, even more jarring is Jacen's apparent schizophrenia in the middle of the series, when the writers couldn't seem to reach a consensus on whether or not he was evil yet. This resulted in him being a Knight Templar (Denning), a Well-Intentioned Extremist (Traviss) and Dastardly Whiplash (Allston) in the space of three books (Exile, Sacrafice and Inferno).

Oh, and after re-reading Boba Fett: A Practical Man last knight, I have a sudden urge to buy all of Karen Traviss' books.

[Poison Ivy]

Oh, and after re-reading Boba Fett: A Practical Man last knight, I have a sudden urge to buy all of Karen Traviss' books.

I had the same reaction to 501st: An Imperial Commando Novel.

I nearly submitted, but ended up only buying Hard Contact and Triple Zero. Great books, by the way. I really recommend them, even though TCW made them null-and-void in-universe.

TCW, I will never forgive you for that.

[The Legonater]

I had the same reaction to 501st: An Imperial Commando Novel.

I nearly submitted, but ended up only buying Hard Contact and Triple Zero. Great books, by the way. I really recommend them, even though TCW made them null-and-void in-universe.

TCW, I will never forgive you for that.

You mean to tell me you read 501st before the other books?

IMO, despite what a lot of people say, Traviss is one of the better writers out there. She's no Timothy Zahn, but she's certainly great. And quite frankly, TCW has wrecked so many different series, I honestly can't see why Leeland Chee and the others insist on keeping it a higher level than everything else.

[Mr Man]

You mean to tell me you read 501st before the other books?

IMO, despite what a lot of people say, Traviss is one of the better writers out there. She's no Timothy Zahn, but she's certainly great. And quite frankly, TCW has wrecked so many different series, I honestly can't see why Leeland Chee and the others insist on keeping it a higher level than everything else.

Because SW is a visual story based on the films. It's GL vision not Traviss's or Zahn's, as good as there writing is, its EU not G or T Canon.

[simonjedi]

Again it doesn't matter. Like them or not 1-6 happened, pick and choose the rest. If you like it then it goes in, if not, it doesn't. Lucasfilm doesn't need to tell you which story about fictional space warriors is right.

Where does it stop? Are toy ads canon? In the ad for the new X-wing Porkins survives. Will he turn up in post ANH EU now?*

*Before you say anything, Darth Maul obviously got killed, But is appearing in The Clone Wars

[Poison Ivy]

You mean to tell me you read 501st before the other books?

IMO, despite what a lot of people say, Traviss is one of the better writers out there. She's no Timothy Zahn, but she's certainly great. And quite frankly, TCW has wrecked so many different series, I honestly can't see why Leeland Chee and the others insist on keeping it a higher level than everything else.

Yep. The rest didn't appeal to me until after I read 501st. Order 66 was wonderful as well, I'm working my way through my bookstores trying to find the rest of the series and other Traviss novels. Never read any Timothy Zahn except for a few short stories, might have to start. Outbound Flight seems good, I love the Clone Wars era, despite thinking that Traviss or Zahn could have done TCW better than Filoni.

[Mr Man]

Lucasfilm doesn't need to tell you which story about fictional space warriors is right.

They are real . Not just in my head...

I only use personal canon for my self but Lucasfilms invented a complicated canon system for fans, and fans obsessed over it and complain when it changes, but fans are the reason the system was made in the first place.

As far as I'm concerned if you can watch it it's canon, if you read it it's an alternate universe. See no contradictions.

[LEGOman273]

As far as I'm concerned if you can watch it it's canon, if you read it it's an alternate universe. See no contradictions.

That is basically the official canon system.

[Mr Man]

That is basically the official canon system.

Sort of, except things like the old Droids TV series are classed as the same level as the books, and TCW has it's own system. Besides if people just excepted the idea of alternate universes instead of canon vs non canon, then it would solve a lot of arguments.

[Brickdoctor]

Rest in peace, Ralph McQuarrie.

[djmangunz]

Very sad news. Ralph was a visionary and in my eyes just as responsible for creating the universe of Star Wars as Lucas was.

[Brickdoctor]

Very sad news. Ralph was a visionary and in my eyes just as responsible for creating the universe of Star Wars as Lucas was.

I agree with that. Among other things, his art convinced Anthony Daniels to play Threepio, and I can't imagine Star Wars without Daniels.

[Mr Man]

Rest in peace, Ralph McQuarrie.

. That's sad news. What a visionary, RIP McQuarrie.

[The Legonater]

Rest in peace, Ralph McQuarrie.

I was just going to post this. It's sad to see such a brilliant artist pass away.

At Starwars.com, Lucas has some words, as well as a slideshow of McQuarrie work: http://www.starwars.com/news/ralph_mcquarrie_remembered.html

[Studio Draven]

A sad loss to me personally, both as a Star Wars fan and as an artist. RIP. :(

[CMP]

Without him, we would've never had the iconic visuals of anything in the Star Wars universe. He really helped to set apart the films from the rest of the sci-fi movies of its day. I still can't forget all the time I spent in his gallery at Celebration V, the concepts that really brought the series to life were amazing. You had one of the largest impacts on trilogy and all your other work.

[The Legonater]

I still can't forget all the time I spent in his gallery at Celebration V, the concepts that really brought the series to life were amazing.

I did the same thing at Star Wars in Concert. I absolutly love seeing his work.

[Brickdoctor]

I haven't read the book yet, but I happened to look at some spoilers while browsing Wookieepedia and I found out that Mortis returns...in Fate of the Jedi, of all places. Abeloth is, in fact, the Mother and one of the Ones (and, as such, has origins as mysterious as Father, Son, and Daughter), and the Jedi go off trying to find the Dagger of Mortis in case she ever returns. Apparently, Son and Daughter had defeated Abeloth/Mother each previous time she had escaped from whatever prison was holding her. In retrospect, I guess it makes sense. Good Father, bad Son, good Daughter - it figures that there would be a bad Mother out there somewhere. Still too much magic and extreme power for my tastes, though.

So... does this make CW make sense? No, I don't think it does. Rather, I think it leaves CW as weird as it was before, and pulls Fate of the Jedi further down from its already low (in my opinion) quality. I find myself missing the days when I didn't know of the earliest history of the Star Wars universe. No Celestials, (Centerpoint station still seems pretty good, though) no Rakatans, no Killiks, no Mortis. I guess ignorance, in this case, really is bliss.

On a more optimistic note, I'm now hoping that Filoni was actually referring to FotJ when he said we'd see Mortis again, and that that storyline won't be making another CW appearance.