Wednesday, May 4, 2011
THE FORCE SURROUNDS US AND PENETRATES US. IT BINDS THE WHOLE GALAXY TOGETHER: On this Star Wars Day (marked this year with the announcement of a 9 disk Blu-Ray set that will gather seemingly everything short of the Holiday Special), let's discuss an interesting question--what has worked in the Star Wars universe beyond the three original films? I'll offer up a couple of obvious suggestions--the Zahn/Thrawn trilogy of novels was quite good, even if the further "Expanded Universe" in that direction has apparently gotten increasingly unhinged, and Knights of the Old Republic was quite excellent, even if BioWare has gone back to that basic well one too many times (seriously, both Dragon Age and Mass Effect feel like KOTOR with a new skin/backstory).
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The Lego Star Wars tie-ins -- both the actual toys and the video game based on them -- work extremely well.
ReplyDeleteExactly what I was going to say. Lucy and I are almost done I-VI on story mode, and are eager to start buying up characters for the free play spree.
ReplyDeleteThe Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games worked for me.
ReplyDeleteMy related question is what could work to reive the SW universe, assuming (counterfactually) Lucas would surrender control. I would love to see an HBO-style series controlled by Whedon or another genius. Odd as this sounds, I would really love to see David Simon take on the seamy underside of the SW universe.
As an (incredibly) nerdy adolescent/pre-teen I devoured every Star Wars EU novel I could get my hands on. There are a select few that escaped my purview, up until the whole Yuuzhan Vong/New Jedi Order era where they killed a beloved character in an effort to perpetuate the whole "THIS IS REAL, ANYONE COULD GO AT ANYTIME" atmosphere (which sort of addresses a general issue with the EU).
ReplyDeleteSo, that said, completely unsolicited Star Wars EU novel power rankings (excluding everything early-2000s and beyond)? Why not.
1.) The Thrawn Trilogy - Essentially the books that really moved the EU from semi-canon diddling to a widely-accepted part of fandom. They're brilliantly plotted, superbly written, and feature one of the greatest big bads of all time. If you did a pallatte swap on the characters and setting, removing the Star Wars cachet, they'd probably get even more outside respect because MAN do they hold up well. The Katana Fleet? Stroke of genius.
<span>2.) </span>Rogue Squadron/Wedge's Gamble/The Krytos Trap/The Bacta War - If you're a fan of pop-action storytelling, you're not going to do much better than this. Jettisoning almost all the core characters of the series, we get to follow Wedge Antilles and his merry band of elite fighter pilots. Stackpole really got to build his own world, drawing from a few of the video games and some passing references in the movies, and he puts together a compelling four novel arc that both embraces a lot of standard tropes and recontextualizes them in smart, fun ways. In particular, I almost separated The Bacta War off and pushed it up even higher on the list.
<span>3.) </span>Wraith Squadron/Iron Fist/Solo Command - Aaron Allston took over for Stackpole after the fourth book in the cycle, and he wasn't afraid to get away from already familiar characters and structure. Wedge, inspired by the events of The Bacta War, sets about creating a new squadron that's just as much commando assault unit as they are fighter pilots. It's a fantastically fun play on the Dirty Dozen/Black Sheep Squadron formula, and if you like DC Comic's Suicide Squad or Secret Six than this is right up your alley.
<span>4 .) </span>Truce at Bakura - Taking place in the immediate aftermath of ROTJ, it's a pretty ingeniously spun tale suggesting that, for all its ills, the Empire was doing some things that weren't so bad (like holding back a brutal warlike race from the outer reaches of the galaxy). This book gets major points for coming up with really cool gimmicks and world-building for the bad guys, as well as doing some interesting work on the politics of the newly-victorious Rebellion.
5.) Jedi Academy Trilogy - Delving into the mythos of the Jedi as Luke Skywalker seeks to rebuild the order isn't as fun as it should be, and some parts are pretty meandering and ponderous, but Kevin J. Anderson pulls it together with some good character work and a very worthwhile climax. A fair amount of this trilogy has been overwritten in recent years, but at the time is was a very important step in the construction of the EU.
<p>6.) The Courtship of Princess Leia - It's a pretty well-told story, but there are some factual errors that make me sound like a much beloved Simpsons character when I harp on them (the Falcon is refferred to as having proton torpedoes, when it really carries concussions missles /sniff).
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</p><p>7.) The Corellian Trilogy - The author does a pretty good job of finally fleshing out the much-mentioned Corellian Sector, and there's some good plotting in there, but this easily could've been two books. Not amazing, but solid genre entries.
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</p><p>8.) Isard's Revenge/Starfighters of Adumar - The magic just wasn't there in the final two books in the Rogue/Wraith squadron cycle. Not bad, just not as magical as the first seven.
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</p><p>9.) The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy - Eh. As a pretty self-containted threesome they're mostly enjoyable but inessential.
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</p><p>10.) The Crystal Star - A standalone that just doesn't click.
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</p><p>11.) Callista Trilogy - I don't know what it is, but these three books never really coalesced as a group nor regularly worked on their own. The middle novel (Darksaber) could EASILY be much higher on this list, but you sort of need the bookends for context.
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</p><p>12.) Any of the dozen-plus Young Jedi Knights series - Yeah, I read a lot of these. I'm not proud, but I really liked Star Wars, okay?
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<span>Never read:</span> I, Jedi <span>(Corran Horn is a bitch, yeah I said it)</span>, <span>the </span>Hand of Thrawn <span>twosome</span></p>
By the way, school is out now and any reason I have to do anything is about 250 miles away. 800-word-long rankings of Star Wars novels is only the beginning of what you can expect out of me.
ReplyDeleteI read a number of these, but also want to give credit to A.C. Crispin's Han Solo trilogy, which are sort of a Han prequel to the original trilogy, including how he met Chewbacca, won the Falcon, and became such a kickass character. Very much in the Intergalactic Indiana Jones vein.
ReplyDeleteGreat work by Dan. Love all of the Rogue/Wraith Squadron stuff (I re-read those frequently because I am such a cool guy), and the Thrawn trilogy is awesome. There is actually a two-part Thrawn duology that sort of ends the good Extended Universe stuff (before they brought in some random aliens and killed Chewie). Dark Forces and Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight are both really fun games, and I was actually looking into re-downloading to play a couple months ago. I really enjoyed Shadows of the Empire at the time (sixth grade, so let's not be judgy), although Dash Rendar is just a poor man's Han Solo.
ReplyDelete"Darksaber" is pretty sweet just because it is like a combination of so many other original Star Wars and EU things. Hutts! Death Star lasers! Daala! Pellaeon!
ReplyDeleteBut but but... Poor Crix Madine...
ReplyDeleteAnother stand alone novel I'd praise is Splinter of the Minds Eye, an Alan Dean Foster Luke and Leia adventure set between Star Wars and Empire. Good action, an interesting encounter with a proto-Jedi and a pretty good plot.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a while since I played them, but I remember the X-Wing/Tie-fighter games being a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteTie Fighter especially.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone who wants to go down the rabbit hole, I've just discovered that Wookiepedia is silly thorough. Enjoy.
ReplyDelete<span>(seriously, both Dragon Age and Mass Effect feel like KOTOR with a new skin/backstory).</span>
ReplyDeleteForgive my serious nerdiness,but KotOR was basically a reskinned Baldur's Gate/Neverwinter Nights.
I never read any of the Star Wars books, but I read a bunch of the Star Trek books (about twenty-five years ago), and A.C. Crispin wrote some that were among the best (the other favorites were by Janet Kagan and Diane Duane). Interesting that Crispin wrote in both series - I thought never the twain shall meet.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone has to apologize for their nerdiness in this thread.
ReplyDeleteage-appropriateness of said books?<span> </span>
ReplyDeleteSince my best friend actually has a Wookiepedia page (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Chris_Doyle) for his work on some of their products, I'm obliged to plug the role-playing game that West End Games put out back in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteI think you're old enough, Adam.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the 1983 arcade game.
ReplyDeleteI concur. My six year old and I have completed the Episode I-VI version, including buying each and every character possible. We've now moved onto the Lego Star Wars III : Clone Wars version.
ReplyDeleteIn this regard, in terms of what has "worked" I think you'd have to say (in the words of Mel Brooks)" "Merchandising"
I think that I only read one Trek book -- Diane Carey's "Final Frontier." I suspect that subsequent events have rendered that book completely non-canonical, but it was a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteI think I got really into these in fourth grade. Although I have a distinct memory of asking one of my student teachers what "genocide" meant, so there's that.
ReplyDeleteThe Clone Wars on Cartoon Network are alot of fun to watch.
ReplyDeleteThe Lego video games are awesome. My 5 year old, who has never actually seen the real movies, whole perspective of the Star Wars universe comes from these video games. Which makes for a billion funny questions and thoughts. "Daddy, in movie 6 chapter 4, Luke has a green light saber. Why does he have a blue one in chapter 6?" I have to struggle to think which movie he is thinking of and then what chapter of the video game is representing what part in the movie. He is now playing the new Clone Wars game based off the cartoons, which I haven't all of yet. Guess that will be the next thing I view off Netflix.
I like the old Battlefront games on the Playstation as well.
Any advice on the most fun ones to buy for the free play? I know we need a bounty hunter, obvs. What else?
ReplyDeleteThis is really out there, but could they release the movies I saw as a kid? HD widescreen? I mean, they release a new set every year, so that can't be that hard, can it?
ReplyDeleteI was reading all of these from 10 and up, and while there are a few intimate scenes Lucas excercises pretty strong editorial control (content-wise, not so much plot) over the novels (or he did in the '90s) so there's nothing too tawdry.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen any of the "Star Wars" movies. Ever.
ReplyDeleteTo some extent, but the "4 members of a party, each of whom has their side quests," and "every companion must be gathered/specific aims achieved in any order before you can move forward" structure is in KOTOR, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect, and less so in Baldur's Gate/NWN, which were much more strictly linear.
ReplyDeleteYes, this. The sit-down version.
ReplyDeleteAnd you win the round of "Humiliation" for this thread. (Speaking of which, we haven't played "Humiliation" in a while.)
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of "Humiliation" when I posted!
ReplyDeleteIt's become a joke, really. My boyfriend has never seen any of the LOTR movies, either. Once I can get him to sit through the LOTR trilogy, I'll see the first 3 "Star Wars" ones.
The Spaceboys and I pretty much were always (a) Boba or Jango Fett; and (b) General Grievous. The former for the jet pack and explosives; the latter for the jumping. The General has kind of an annoying jump-roll move when you're doing things in a hurry, but you get used to it.
ReplyDeleteThat was me.
ReplyDeleteAND WITHOUT THE STUPID "IMPROVEMENTS!" HAN SHOOTS FIRST! NO BAD JABBA CGI SCENE! NO CELEBRATIONS ON CORUSCANT!
ReplyDelete*cough*
Here's a perfect example of how unnecessary the Special Editions were; Empire, the best movie of the three, has the least obvious changes, and the ones that were made are pretty much completely unnecessary. (The cleanup of the Hoth battle is nice, though, to be brutally fair.)
But just give me the damn 1977-1984 real releases.
Instead of buying any special edition version of SW, I'm just going to keep m VCR in working order to watch the true original movies on VHS, though I would love the original trilogy on Blu-ray, with no special editions, no special features even. Just the 3 films in HD.
ReplyDeleteI'll agree that either of the Fett's will do well for you in the free play. Grievous allows you to have the higher jumping ability to snag some of those items that are seemingly floating way above everything else. Count Dooko and Darth Maul are also good to have for their additional sith powers. Have fun collecting enough studs to eventually buy the ghost versions of Yoda, Anikan, and Obi-Wan. I think we played for weeks to earn those points. It is amazing how much those games translate to the kids though. My son now has a wookiepedia level of knowledge of these 6 movies and 6 months ago he didn't even know they existed.
ReplyDeleteI will say this - the one thing that Star Wars also does for parents...it makes shopping for birthdays much easier. My son's recent birthday was essentially Star Wars from top to bottom. I'm headed to a conference in Orlando in June and am hoping to take him to Hollywood Studios for the Star Wars stuff there.
I second the motion.
ReplyDeleteOnce you get and turn on all of the score multiplier bricks, cost is not an issue for anything, including the ghosts. Ditto for the bad force extra -- no need for Sith characters.
ReplyDelete<span>Once I can get him to sit through the LOTR trilogy...</span>
ReplyDeleteIn my family, we call this a "Depends Party."
My father, brother, and I did that once. Woke up early on the last day of summer vacation and marathoned LOTR front to back. It was exhausting.
ReplyDeleteWhat took some getting used to was operating Yoda ... slow as molasses on the ground, but that little green f---er can fly.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to remember -- do I need Sith force for I-III, or only IV-VI?
I'd be happy to run Humiliation again with a good new topic.
ReplyDelete