One and Only Star Wars Geekiness Thread

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

Oh yeah, the Han Solo series is a definite must buy. One of the few reasons I was glad to still be working in a bookstore. Overstock = free books!

 

That's how I got in the Game of Thrones series. God I hope the next one comes out soon.

[Special K 0]

Oh, Game of Thrones is the fucking BEST.

 

So, I've read the Thrawn trilogy. LIke when it first came out. I just got done with Pattern Recognition, and am halfway through Kavalier and Clay.

 

What would you reccomend I read next in Star Wars? I'm leaning X-Wing. I did always have an obsession with Wedge. I was the one who was ten years old 16 years ago and saying: He's the only one who survived both Death Star runs!

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

I highly recommend the X-Wing series. Two of the Star Wars' best writers (Aaron Allston and Michael Stackpole). Plus it's the introduction of Corran Horn, a fairly important character in the later extended universe.

 

If not X-Wing, go with the Han Solo trilogy. Excellent writing, and does a tremendous job of tying Han's backstory into the movies.

[Rendclaw 0]

What he said. You cannot go wrong with either series, though if you are going to go with the Han Solo series, pick up the Han Solo trilogy by Brian Daley, who wrote the series in 1978, I believe. He was also an excllent author and set the table for Ann Crispin. He also did a wonderful job fleshing out Han's personality. It is a shame he died so young.

[Anakin Flair 0]

I'm reading botht he Thrawn trilogy and the New Jedi Order series right now, and would recomend both. I plan on going backwards through the series, though I may go ahead and pick up the Han Solo trilogy since everybody is recomending it. I'd recomend picking up 'Betrayal', the first book int he new Legacy of the Force series.

It was written by Allston, and both Wedge and Tycho have semi-prominant roles in it.

[-DeN- 0]

If you're going to read the Crispen Solo Novels, it's imperetive that you pick up the Lando Calrissian Adventures Omnibus so that you can understand the backstory of Vuffi Raa, the baby Space Stingray who pretends to be a droid and helps Lando defeat an evil morphing worm (who had designs on taking over the entire galaxy btw) that takes the shape of a Sorcerer and performs magic---in space.

 

Yup. Put everything else on hold and go pick it up.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

I never did get the whole Vuffi Raa thing. I never got the Lando compendium so the bits and pieces I've picked up just seemed like a wierd mix of Sci-fi and fantasy.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

Here is a list I made at another board of must read SW books:

 

Heir to the Empire

Dark Force Rising

The Last Command

Specter of the Past

Vision of the Future

 

The Entire X-Wing series

 

I, Jedi

 

Revenge of the Sith

Cloak of Deception

Shatterpoint

 

Onslaught

Ruin

Hero's Trial

Jedi Eclipse

Rebel Dream

Rebel Stand

Traitor

 

Paradise Snare

The Hutt Gambit

Rebel Dawn

 

The rest range from passable to garbage.

 

Mathew Stover makes the "Big Four" of Star Wars authors: Zahn, Stackpole, Allston and himself. I can't count Crispin because she passed on NJO.

[Rendclaw 0]

That was a wise move on her part, because the NJO series was all but shit on by a majority of the fans, and not just because of Salavatore's writing off killing Chewbacca. I gave the series a chance, but I stopped about four or five books in. The concept is garbage to me. A better one could have been thought up.

[Anakin Flair 0]

I'm in the middle of it right now, and I think it's fine. That being said, I'm not looking forward to Star By Star, since they kill off Anakin, who've they built up for the entire series to that point.

[tigeraid 0]

The New Jedi Order series is fantastic, if a bit difficult to get through at times. Tons of emotional ups and downs, tons of Star Wars philosophy changed up and rearranged, even a few unexpected deaths. I have every book in the series (what is it, like 20 of them) and I'd definitely recommend all of them. But NOT until you've read the Thrawn Trilogy, and the two-book sequel to it.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

That was a wise move on her part, because the NJO series was all but shit on by a majority of the fans, and not just because of Salavatore's writing off killing Chewbacca. I gave the series a chance, but I stopped about four or five books in. The concept is garbage to me. A better one could have been thought up.

 

Well, there were better concepts, but they were all shot down by the PTB. Strangely enough, one of them was the basic idea of the new Star Wars Legacy comic. I thought the series was fine (on average) up until Destiny's Way, which was complete and utter garbage. The following trilogy, Force Heretic I, II & III, was truly awful. That being said, one of the best SW books -- one of the best books period -- that I've ever read was Traitor. It's a different kind of book. Onslaught and Ruin made the Vong seem scary. While Hero's Trial and Jedi Eclipse were decent books, they really undid what the preceding three books did in terms of making the Vong seem really alien.

 

Chewbacca dying was one of the best things that ever happened to the expanded universe. I disagreed with the choice to kill Anakin. In terms of story development, it would have been better if Jacen had died. Then again, it was realistic that he died out of nowhere. That happens.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

I tried reading some of the NJO and I kinda just faded after book 3 or 4. The Vong were compelling enough enemies, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about the new generation of characters. Call me a traditionalist but Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin all got a big "Ehhh" out of me.

 

Excellent call on I, Jedi LIM. Great job by Stackpole of plausibly tying Corran into the Thrawn trilogy even though he was never mentioned in the original series. Visions and Specter are good too, even though they take place a bit late in the EU. I wouldn't read them until you're well versed in EU lore.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

I tried reading some of the NJO and I kinda just faded after book 3 or 4. The Vong were compelling enough enemies, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about the new generation of characters. Call me a traditionalist but Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin all got a big "Ehhh" out of me.

 

Excellent call on I, Jedi LIM. Great job by Stackpole of plausibly tying Corran into the Thrawn trilogy even though he was never mentioned in the original series. Visions and Specter are good too, even though they take place a bit late in the EU. I wouldn't read them until you're well versed in EU lore.

 

Well, technically, SftP and VotF are in early EU now, at least in terms of using the Battle of Yavin as a frame of reference.

 

One thing, though...I tend to get irked by Stackpole making Corran so successful and unbeatable.

[tigeraid 0]

Well to be fair, Luke/Han/Leia and the old guard do get more and more back into it... Luke plays a VERY pivotal role in the final NJO battle. They also tend to come to the forefront much more in the Swarm War, the next series of books after the Vong war.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

Palpatine's master was an alien?!

 

Luceno to Pen Plagueis Page-turner

June 08, 2006

 

Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. -- Chancellor Palpatine (a.k.a Darth Sidious).

 

With that carefully calculated name-drop in Episode III, the silver-tongued Palpatine added another intriguing entry into the limited roster of known Dark Lords of the Sith. Since that fascinating tale first escaped his lips last year, Star Wars fans have been aching for any sort of information that would shed light on the immediate Sith history that produced Darth Sidious.

 

In 2008, readers will learn more. James Luceno, author of the bestselling Cloak of Deception and Darth Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, has been contracted by Del Rey Books to write a novel about Darth Sidious and his Muun mentor, Darth Plagueis. As is to be expected on all matters of the Sith, details remain obscured by the shadow of the dark side, but in time, more will be revealed.

 

Luceno's as yet untitled book is scheduled for hardcover release in 2008.

 

http://starwars.com/eu/lit/novel/news20060608.html

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

I tried reading some of the NJO and I kinda just faded after book 3 or 4. The Vong were compelling enough enemies, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about the new generation of characters. Call me a traditionalist but Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin all got a big "Ehhh" out of me.

 

Excellent call on I, Jedi LIM. Great job by Stackpole of plausibly tying Corran into the Thrawn trilogy even though he was never mentioned in the original series. Visions and Specter are good too, even though they take place a bit late in the EU. I wouldn't read them until you're well versed in EU lore.

 

Well, technically, SftP and VotF are in early EU now, at least in terms of using the Battle of Yavin as a frame of reference.

 

One thing, though...I tend to get irked by Stackpole making Corran so successful and unbeatable.

 

I'm not counting the NJO. Just the movie generation of characters. But yeah the EU is starting to stretch out isn't it? The swarm war must be about what, 30-35 years after Endor?

[LessonInMachismo 0]

But yeah the EU is starting to stretch out isn't it? The swarm war must be about what, 30-35 years after Endor?

 

Legacy takes place over 120 years after Endor.

[Conspiracy_Victim 0]

But yeah the EU is starting to stretch out isn't it? The swarm war must be about what, 30-35 years after Endor?

 

Legacy takes place over 120 years after Endor.

 

SHIT! That's taking things an awfully long way away from the origins. What are they up to, R-Wings by now?

[LessonInMachismo 0]

The preview is in the other room so I can't look up the name now, but they still make variations of the X-Wing.

[CBright7831 0]

Anyone seen this deleted scene from A New Hope?

 

I've seen stills, but this is my first time seeing it.

[BorneAgain 0]

For the Star Wars cut scene enthusiast here's a site that has all kinds of stuff from every movie.

 

T'bone's Star Wars Universe

[LessonInMachismo 0]

Anyone seen this deleted scene from A New Hope?

 

I've seen stills, but this is my first time seeing it.

 

It is on the Behind the Magic CD-ROM.

 

For the Star Wars cut scene enthusiast here's a site that has all kinds of stuff from every movie.

 

T'bone's Star Wars Universe

 

That's a great site.

[Guest Felonies!]

Wow, those cut scenes really could have helped clean up those prequels.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

If Lucas hadn't hired those two editing guys, ANH would have wound up as an installment of MST3K and SW wouldn't have been the commercial success that it was and continues to be. It's all in the editing.

[Rendclaw 0]

I tried reading some of the NJO and I kinda just faded after book 3 or 4. The Vong were compelling enough enemies, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about the new generation of characters. Call me a traditionalist but Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin all got a big "Ehhh" out of me.

 

Excellent call on I, Jedi LIM. Great job by Stackpole of plausibly tying Corran into the Thrawn trilogy even though he was never mentioned in the original series. Visions and Specter are good too, even though they take place a bit late in the EU. I wouldn't read them until you're well versed in EU lore.

 

Well, technically, SftP and VotF are in early EU now, at least in terms of using the Battle of Yavin as a frame of reference.

 

One thing, though...I tend to get irked by Stackpole making Corran so successful and unbeatable.

 

I personally liked that Stackpole took a character and made him at least semi-important aside from the main characters. That's what needed to happen more in the EU and its something that is finally being keyed upon in the Trek novels: Create new and fresh characters and take the major characters and either drop a couple in temporarily or put them in the backstory. I liked Corran Horn from the start, and I, Jedi was the perfect topper to what was started in Rogue Squadron. Corran wasn't unbeatable, hell he almost died in one book because he tried to use the Force when he had no idea how. He just learned from his mistakes.

[LessonInMachismo 0]

It sounds like you need to read Peter David's New Frontier series of Star Trek books.

[Mole 0]

One thing about ROTS is that it looks amazing in HD, even though it isn't even in HD. Much better than any other movie on HBO or whatever. Probably because it was filmed digitally and not with film.

[pochorenella 0]

One thing about ROTS is that it looks amazing in HD, even though it isn't even in HD. Much better than any other movie on HBO or whatever. Probably because it was filmed digitally and not with film.

 

I remember watching AOTC on a digital theater, after previously watching it on a regular one, and being just amazed at the difference in picture quality. I took my cousin with me that second time and he clearly noticed it too, and there were even some different scenes as well (it was pretty much the DVD version, if you have it you'll know what I mean).

 

Sadly I didn't get a chance to watch ROTS on a digital theater. Matter of fact, I don't even remember if it was released on any. I also would have loved to watch it on IMAX.

[Kaertos 0]

It was released in digital theaters and it was just amazing. I don't think it was ever released in IMAX though...