Crappy Message Boards on the starwars.com

[jamessnook2]

Thanks Darth

I thought that I had read something like that years ago and that was what I was trying to find out. I guess that after reading the Tim Zahn trilogy I had hoped that if GL was going to make eps 7,8, and 9 he would base it around those books, but I guess not.

What is the point of having all of that additional literature, and none of it is official, could it have anything to do with money or am I just being cynical?

It is a very poor effort really, I think.

Anyway thanks to you all for your kind welcomes.

 

[darth_librarian]

Yes James, you are being cynical. But spot on. Welcome to the cash cow that is Lucasfilm.
Notice how they all get published ar regular intervals, often with plot drafts by committee??

Some of the books suck, some are great, especially the Zahn ones. Its a shame they are ignore by GL, when IMHO they have several merits over the prequels. But it is Gl's baby, do who can really argue....

Actually he did take quite a few ideas from the for the prequels, such as the name Coruscant for the capital planet, That was Zhan's idea.

With regards to the Ewoks movies, i don;t think i ever saw those here in the UK. That monster would have scared me though. Saw the holiday special once, in REAL player format. Rather amusing. But not canon.

 

[jamessnook2]

Darth, the first of the Ewok movies came out not long after RotJ and I would say was brought out to cash in on the cute-sy-ness of the fat furry things. I was only a kid at the time and can remember waiting for the movie to come out, can't remember if I saw it on video or at the cinema though.

Ultimately I was disapointed because it was not really Star Wars but had a really annoying kid in it who was very Luke Skywalkerish but not quite if you know what I mean. I did not even know about the second film until about six months ago when I was reading an interview with GL and he mentioned that he was upset by killing off LSish early in the second or something like that.

Lets put it this way you did not miss much.

 

[ibwolf]

What is the point of having all of that additional literature, and none of it is official

It was exactly this that led my to stop reading both Star Wars and Star Trek books years ago. I really enjoyed TZ's SW books. He is a very talented author after all. Some of the other SW books where however quite ... well bad (to be blunt about it). And really, what is the point of reading them if it isn't cannon. I know it's all just fantasy, but fantasy within a fantasy??? That's just getting silly if you ask me.

 

[darth_librarian]

Trek books, now theirs a continuity issue to behold....

Thankfully, I glad there isn't a load of B5 cash-cow spin-off material out there. It would 'dilute the purity of the franchise', IMHO.
Lets hope this is kept in mind during further developments...

 

[GeoKuutio]

You speak here about TZ's trilogy, do you mean that trilogy where admiral Thrawn is the baddie? Because I read them some years ago... they were perfect SW books. Plain perfect. So listen, does Lucas consider Star Wars games as canon or not? I mean... You know, Dark Forces, Jedi Knight,, Jedi Academy? Those games, they have a plot even. And they feature Luke Skywalker and Kyle Katarn... which is damn good character. And btw. Is Kyle Katarn mentioned in some books? What about Mara Jade? I... well, I'm not an expert in SW literature.

 

[KoshFan]

I am a minor expert in the books, so lemme take that one --

Kyle Katarn has been alluded to by the books, I believe, but is generally not a character. Mara Jade, however, was Zahn's creation -- she first appeared in the Thrawn trilogy. The games are somewhat murky territory, so I can't answer that. All I know is, between novels, radio dramas (which I believe are considered cannon), games, and other items, the Rebels managed to acquire the plans to the Death Star in about six different ways....

I personally feel that Zahn, Michael Stackpole, and Matthew Stover are the only Star Wars authors really worth reading. The rest have a tendency to run to schlock.

 

[Recoil]

One thing I've always remembered about them is that the entire first movie is about rescuing the parents of the boy and girl and then they all get killed except the girl at the very beginning of the second movie. What the hell was the point of saving them in the first movie!?

That is the EXACT same thing I remember about them. The whole point of the first movie became moot in the second, and the second movie SUCKED (except for that fast little critter, he was funny). Really, thats what I have come to expect from GL though. Nothing like making a tv-movie special spinoff based on your latest hit movie (return of the jedi) then less than a year later making ANOTHER spinoff movie that makes the first one seem rather...pointless.

Oh, the other thing I remember from them:

"Starcruiser...crash!" with the little hand gesture. GOD that was annoying as F$%K!

 

[Sinclair]

I'm glad someone else sees how stupid the movies were, the second one in particular. That's almost like having Voyager get lost in the pilot episode and find a way home by the tenth episode (which probably wouldn't have mattered anyway because it would have sucked no matter what because of who was in charge).

 

[darth_librarian]

The games are seen as 'EU' as well i'm afraid. A shame in some ways as games like Knights of the old republic and the Jedi Knight/ Dark forces series were great. I thnk Kyle Katarn makes an appearence in the last New Jedi Order novel, but i've kinda given up on those.
Stover, Stackpole and Zahn were the best, I agree.
If there was better quality control in place, Star Wars novels could be great. I am impressed with the way Babylon 5's novel series have been handled. Good writers with strong plotting, and best of all, they are seen as canon!!

 

[jamessnook2]

Thanks to you all for helping with the answer to my question.

It made me think though when you mention Star Trek books as well. I have never read any Star Trek books but I know that there are so many it would take eons to read them all. But like you said there is little point when they are not canon as well. Which I guess leads me to Enterprise. I have not bothered to watch any because I did not agree with the concept of going back in time as this would either cause massive continuity problems or limited story lines so as not to cause massive continuity problems.

I expect that they have chosen the former and if watched I would be continually thinking if this were such an important event/battle/alien race etc. why was it not mentioned by the NG, DS9 or V crews/stories.

Anyway thats my 2 penneth.

 

[KoshFan]

Well, the trilogies (PsiCorps, Centauri Prime, and Technomage) are canon, and The Shadow Within is "90% canon" or something like that, and "To Dream in the City of Sorrows" is all canon -- but the other stand-alones are signficantly less so. I never bothered with those.

 

[darth_librarian]

oh yeah, i forgot about those. have to say I never bothered either. Jim Mortimore wrote one, and he was responsible for the mega-iffy security manual.

 

[KoshFan]

Mega-iffy, yes, but at times amusing. Apparently the EarthForce Post Office closes not only for Earth holidays, but the holidays of every major race, thus resulting in it being open about one day a month....

 

[Oatley1]

Thanks! Yeah, they weren't very good. One thing I've always remembered about them is that the entire first movie is about rescuing the parents of the boy and girl and then they all get killed except the girl at the very beginning of the second movie. What the hell was the point of saving them in the first movie!?

This thing scared the shit out of me when I was younger:

I had heard of the two Ewok movies, but have never seen them, thankfully.

I will say one thing about the picture of that creature that Sinclair posted - if Return of the Jedi had creatures like that ripping and shreading the Stormtroopers, instead of the damn Ewoks, it would have made an infinitely better movie!