Star Wars Books Thread

[Voth commando1]

Do you have any idea that it was only used internally for the licencing people? It meant exactly squat to the movie production side of the company. It was so irrelevant I doubt they were even aware it existed.

It was used by the fans, Leland Chee, the authors, and Shelly Shapiro.

A lot of effort was put into it and the Holocron database Chee ran.

The production side? After the prequels there weren't plans for any movies.

My God I hate debating this with people like you.

 

[Reverend]

It was used by the fans, Leland Chee, the authors, and Shelly Shapiro.

A lot of effort was put into it and the Holocron database Chee ran.

The production side? After the prequels there weren't plans for any movies.

My God I hate debating this with people like you.

You say that like it's a valid argument for...what exactly?

I'm sorry mate, but facts are facts. It wasn't canon, never was. And you know what else? It's perfectly OK for a story not to be canon. You're the only one here assigning value to canonicity.

 

[WebLurker]

Its not relevant to anything. Even as a GA book any story about Jyn before she was an adult is pretty much a waste, but at least a GA book might still be an entertaining if unneeded story.

Why would it be a waste, regardless of what line it was published in?

I'd say it sounds like any other YA book, except one of the leads spends the whole story trying to justify why they're working for space nazi's. That might actually be worse then Twilight, actually. At least Bella wasn't an accessory to mass murder (I count any imperial who didn't quit immediately after Alderaan, or who joined afterward, as part of that group, although most of them probably did really bad stuff personally) and a minion of tyrants. Also, it seems like the YA label was perfect.

I'd say that it's not. I know exactly what's in the book. You don't. (I didn't really do the description justice, by the way.)

Darth Vader was very good, I wish it hadn't ended.

Planning to read the Doctor Aphra spinoff?

Well, its like I said. One of her Star Wars books is just another Twilight style book, and so with that and 13 other books all being twilight type books, I don't think Bloodlines broke the trend. Plus, its mostly "meh" reviews don't help its reputation.

First I heard of Bloodline being reviewed as "meh." See above for Lost Stars comment.

While it may have been restructured, LucasFilm was responsible for the prequels. So, they have a history of producing garbage made by someone who was once pretty good, but then lost every ounce of ability they had. Filoni did something decent once, so he gets to stay around. Plus his stuff makes the 5 year ld demographic happy enough, and since the show is basically a lazy cash maker its not like they have any incentive to hire good people to work on their stuff. They save the talent for the movies, apparently. Its probably cheaper that way, but it is disappointing.

That doesn't really make any sense.

I liked most of Fate of the Jedi a lot, outside of the moronic Daala stuff (and abeloth being a mediocre villain). Its much better then rebels.

Okay. I found the plot to be very badly structured, with storylines being picked up and dropped with no rhyme or reason. Too man deaths, too. Fair enough if you liked it.

I like to love most of those (especially the Jedi Academy trilogy). The Callista books are the weakest of the ones you mentioned, but still ok.

Fair enough.

In your opinion they don't fit into my classification. Personally, I haven't seen any YA work that doesn't fit perfectly into my classifications, at least YA books as we think of them now (aka YA books in a post Twilight/Hunger Games world).

Not surprised, since you don't check 'em out. Confirmation bias.

Examining a YA book's contents in detail is just about the last thing I want to do.

I see. That does mean that your opinion may or may not be accurate.

Yeah, but your opinion doesn't apply to me. it doesn't matter what you think of a book when it comes to my opinion, because we obviously don't think the same way about YA books. Again, to reuse an analogy, I've seen enough feces to know what it is, and know I don't like it.

Since you dismiss everything out of hand, I can't say I agree with your reasoning. Opinion is one thing. This is not really staying there.

As for your last question, I'd say your thinking was totally rational, because you know your likes and dislikes, no one else does.

Not really. It's a Green Eggs and Ham thing. That hypothetical opinion is based on nothing but bias with no basis in actual fact. It's irrational as they come.

The YA label is all I need. I mean, everything I've heard about, say, Lost Stars is basically the most awful garbage ever associated with an official Star Wars product, but because you'd never have a GA book like it, because Ga books don't do yA teen angst romances, its really the YA label that's the warning sign. Its like labels on hazardous material, if its on something you can be sure its toxic.

Funny thing about most "YA" books. They're never labeled as such.

Overruled, the YA label is all that is needed to decide lack of quality, at least in my opinion.

If that's your case, I advise you settle out of court.

I've seen parts from both phases, its all pretty generic, ranging from bland to outright bad in my opinion.

Okay.

Having a horrible art style and lackluster animation didn't help it, but it was the writing that was the worst thing.

Bad animation? Didn't think so. No complaints about the writing, but whatever.

Wolverine and the X-Men is awesome. It could also be remembered for a lot of things.

Saw some of it, really didn't care for it.

...its the only ongoing X-Men cartoon starring the best voice of Wolverine (Steve Blum).

Blum's was pretty much generic tough guy. Nothing to write home about.

It used an X-Men roster more like the current comics of the time then any series since the 90s cartoon.

Therein lies another problem for me. I didn't really like the roster they had. Not enough of the characters I wanted to see.

It was fairly high quality and well written.

Huh.

It had an unofficial sequel to a Marvel DVD release (Hulk Vs's wolverine section).

So?

Its probably the best X-Men cartoon ever made (I may like the 90s cartoon, but W&TXM is clearly superior in every way). It may not have added a new character, but just being a great show was enough.

The fact that it only lasted one season does not suggest high quality.

As for X-23, I read that Wolverine comic and, except for the horrible "Enemy of the State II" story arc, its the best solo "Wolverine" comic ever, in my opinion. That still doesn't change the fact that Evolution sucked.

Whatever.

Because if it was something different, it wouldn't be YA. YA is a very specific style, something they all strictly follow. If it didn't have the standard cliches and tropes, and it wasn't written down to the demographic, it wouldn't be labeled as YA.

And this is exactly why you don't get what "YA" means.

Every single YA SW book is fluff. Lost Stars, along with being terrible is actually the most fluff of them all...

Since you never read it, you have no case to make here and no evidence to back yourself up.

...with no characters that do anything of any importance to the SW universe.

Like pretty much every Old Republic era story ever made?

That might be forgivable if the story was good, but its a YA book, and a twilight type romance book, so that obviously didn't happen.

You are obviously unqualified to reach that conclusion. I say you're wrong because of what I've read myself. Everything you've brought up is your opinion, which, as you've demonstrated, is based on incorrect assumptions and definitions of the subject manner.

 

[JD]

I just want to point out that just because a book might have a similar set up to a book like Twilight and Hunger Games, doesn't mean that it is going to have the same issues as those books. I read The Hunger Games books, and I also read The Maze Runner, and Under The Never Sky and while they might be similar enough to fall into the Hunger Games like category, they are not the same as THG. Even if some of the surface elements might be similar to THG, they still have their own unique setting, characters, and themes.
Now I haven't read Twilight, but from what I've heard the issues that it has are unique to it do to bad writing and odd story choices on the author's part, not a problem with that style of story.
To try to say that every book that might fall into a similar category as THG and Twilight will automatically have those same issues is ridiculous and just plain factually wrong. This is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of provable fact. You can't get around this just by saying it's your opinion, because these are things that can actually be proven.

 

[kirk55555]

Why would it be a waste, regardless of what line it was published in?

Because, in my opinion, what Jyn was doing as a kid or teen doesn't matter. Her characterization problems in the movie (which were less of a problem then with the others, but still there) certainly aren't going to be resolved by a story from her days as a kid/teen having random, unimportant adventures, regardless of whether the book is YA or GA.

I'd say that it's not. I know exactly what's in the book. You don't. (I didn't really do the description justice, by the way.)

I know enough about what's in Lost Stars to form my own opinion.

Planning to read the Doctor Aphra spinoff?

I'm reading it. Its pretty decent, but not as good as the Darth Vader book.

Not surprised, since you don't check 'em out. Confirmation bias.

Yes, I am biased about things I hate. It seems like kind of an obvious statement. I honestly hate this reasoning. Some people think you can't have an opinion about anything without experiencing every piece of garbage ever made. I think that's BS. I know YA fairly well, and my opinion is well formed.

I see. That does mean that your opinion may or may not be accurate.

My opinion is 100% accurate, for me. There are few things I hate in media as much as YA stuff, its one of my opinions formed and written in stone.

Not really. It's a Green Eggs and Ham thing. That hypothetical opinion is based on nothing but bias with no basis in actual fact. It's irrational as they come.

nope. Its formed completely in fact. The fact that I hate YA, and have had enough experience to form that opinion. You don't have to agree, but that doesn't make my opinion irrational or yours any more or less rational.

Blum's was pretty much generic tough guy. Nothing to write home about.

I think Blum is a great voice actor, and he is generally considering to Wolverine what Kevin Conroy is to Batman, aka THE voice of the character. This is one opinion I'm definitely not alone on, but you obviously don't have to agree.

The fact that it only lasted one season does not suggest high quality.

It wasn't cancelled because it was low quality or unpopular. It was cancelled because they had a few problems with Season 2 production, and Marvel and the other group financing the show had problems agreeing to financing. Spectacular Spider-Man got cancelled around the same time, and it was really popular. Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes also got cancelled despite its popularity. Marvel had problems keeping any of their good animated shows on air in the 2000's, and none of the shows I mentioned were cancelled for low ratings or for being unpopular. I think the Disney purchase also got some stuff cancelled. So, being cancelled after one season wasn't a comment on its quality (kind of like, say, Firefly, although the shows were cancelled under different circumstances).

And this is exactly why you don't get what "YA" means.

I get what YA means very well, you just don't agree with me. That's fine, but my opinion on YA not matching your own doesn't mean I don't understand YA.

Since you never read it, you have no case to make here and no evidence to back yourself up.

Well, like I said, all SW YA is fluff. The fact that Lost Stars contains no characters or events of its own that are relevant to the SW universe in any way speaks for itself, even beyond the book being YA. Also, being a romance story where the romance is a focus would also make it fluff if it was a GA book, but no GA SW book has ever had romance as a focus (not even The Courtship of Princes Leia), so being a romance story at all shows how much of a standard YA book it is.

Like pretty much every Old Republic era story ever made?

Almost every Old Republic story is important. A story doesn't have to have any connection to the movies to be important.

You are obviously unqualified to reach that conclusion. I say you're wrong because of what I've read myself. Everything you've brought up is your opinion, which, as you've demonstrated, is based on incorrect assumptions and definitions of the subject manner.

Nope. My opinions are based on my experience and my knowledge of YA. Again, me disagreeing with you doesn't make me incorrect, regardless of what you think.

To try to say that every book that might fall into a similar category as THG and Twilight will automatically have those same issues is ridiculous and just plain factually wrong. This is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of provable fact. You can't get around this just by saying it's your opinion, because these are things that can actually be proven.

You can't prove my opinion on YA wrong, because its my opinion. YA is shit, its one of the few types of media that pisses me off just by existing because its so terrible. I can generally ignore it when its not connected to anything good, but when its shoved into a franchise like SW? That's when I get angry. YA is just badly done pandering to a demographic that is generally capable of reading much better stuff. Its all angsty teen crap that only keeps getting made because people made Twilight and Hunger Games make a huge amount of cash. The only question is whether its angsty teen romance (like Twilight) or more general angsty teen drama, usually with a slightly competent protagonist (Hunger Games), and even that second category usually has a bad romance in it. Other stories with teenage and younger characters can be told, but not in a YA book.

I don't care if people like it, I'd prefer to ignore it if it would stay out of the way of stuff like Star Wars. But, if its going to show up where it has no place, I'm going to fight against it. Well, ok, technically YA has no place anywhere because its age range is already capable of reading good books, but I honestly don't care if people want to read it, I just want the junk to stay in its own junkyard.

 

[JD]

I might not be able to change your feelings on YA, but that doesn't change the fact that you are saying things that are NOT FUCKING TRUE, things that are FACTS and not a matter of opinion.

 

[kirk55555]

I might not be able to change your feelings on YA, but that doesn't change the fact that you are saying things that are NOT FUCKING TRUE, things that are FACTS and not a matter of opinion.

Everything i've said is a matter of opinion, at least as far as I'm concerned. I'm not trying to upset anyone, but I'm not going to lie about my opinions or not state them.

 

[JD]

But the problem is you are saying things that are not a matter of opinion, you are stating things that are factually wrong. Saying that you don't like YA is fine, but saying that Lost Stars has to be just like Twilight or The Hunger Games is something that is factually WRONG. This is not a matter of opinion, this is a provable fact, YOU ARE WRONG.

 

[Jedman67]

You say that like it's a valid argument for...what exactly?

I'm sorry mate, but facts are facts. It wasn't canon, never was. And you know what else? It's perfectly OK for a story not to be canon. You're the only one here assigning value to canonicity.

IIRC correctly, LucasFilm considered the EU to be "canon" insofar that anything that occurred in any of the movies automatically superseded anything that happens in the books. LA had to keep the licensee's in line to a degree, although many books contradicted each other in minor but sometimes slightly significant points.
For example, Corran Horn in the X-Wing novels is a former Space Cop, familiar with infiltrating enemies wanted by CorSec, a fantastic pilot in his own right and later trains to become heir to the Halcyon Jed traditions.
In Timothy Zahn's later Specter of the Past duology, Horn and Wedge go undercover on Bothawui to ferret out an imperial conspiracy; they stick out like a sore thumb (therefore obviating both Corran and Wedge's ground intrusion skills established previously) to the imperial agents.
Even the loose EU canon still had internal consistency issues.

 

[Ithekro]

but no GA SW book has ever had romance as a focus

Again: "Splinter of the Minds Eye" and "The Empire Strikes Back".

 

[Reverend]

IIRC correctly, LucasFilm considered the EU to be "canon" insofar that anything that occurred in any of the movies automatically superseded anything that happens in the books.

What you described is a common misconception that simply has no baring on reality. As I said before, that system was only used by the licencing end of the company to keep EU continuity vaguely straight. It had absolutely no bearing on what the production end did.

This misconception also betrays a fundamental lack of understanding as to what the word "canon" even means. It's a binary state, no a shade of grey of a sliding scale. Indeed, being definite is sort of the whole point if you look up the word's etymology.

So to straighten it out: the movies were always canon. The EU was always it's own thing, though for obvious reasons, it behoved them to keep pace and retcon themselves as Lucas's movies came out. They key point here is that it was an entirely one-way street. The movies never cared about what may or may not have been established in the EU because it wasn't canon. Ever.

 

[Ithekro]

Which appears to have changed since Disney bought Lucasfilm. Now the internal consistency has given over to the concept that what they are making now is generally canon from the novels (including YA novels), comics, cartoons, and movies. Events from one can effect the other. The movies take precedence, but the goal is internal consistency and cross-communication between departments and projects. To make the story larger canonically,

 

[WebLurker]

Because, in my opinion, what Jyn was doing as a kid or teen doesn't matter. Her characterization problems in the movie (which were less of a problem then with the others, but still there) certainly aren't going to be resolved by a story from her days as a kid/teen having random, unimportant adventures, regardless of whether the book is YA or GA.

Jyn had characterization problems?

Here's the thing I don't get, though. Doesn't your argument apply to Tarkin as well? That novel was about stuff that didn't impact his move appearances?

(Also, what if the new Jyn novel is a fun story in and of itself? Just because it doesn't impact the larger narrative doesn't mean that a book isn't worth reading. Heck, some of the best Star Wars novels I've ever read were pretty self-contained.)

I know enough about what's in Lost Stars to form my own opinion.

I think you've been crossing over from opinion to judgement. The former can be whatever you want, but I think the latter needs more basis on what is than hearsay and one's preexisting notions. (Case in point, I don't read Dan Slott's Spider-Man run because his approach to the character and stories doesn't match my notions of what the comic should be, but, conversely, I can't say that the stuff I haven't read is bad or not, if taken on it's own terms.)

I'm reading it. Its pretty decent, but not as good as the Darth Vader book.

That's good to hear. I'm waiting for the trade, but I really liked the Aphra character (and her two droid co-stars), so it's something I was glad to hear existed.

Yes, I am biased about things I hate. It seems like kind of an obvious statement. I honestly hate this reasoning. Some people think you can't have an opinion about anything without experiencing every piece of garbage ever made. I think that's BS. I know YA fairly well, and my opinion is well formed.

Here's my problem with it all. You've said that you believe that YA books are bad. I've said that I know of exceptions. You disagree, reasoning that all YA books are bad, therefore there cannot be an exception. I say that book X is an exception because of reasons XYZ in the content. To that, you just repeat the statement that that's is wrong, since it's a YA book and all such books are bad by definition. That is not good reasoning and you're not answering my counterpoint. To provide a counterpoint, you would need to know what's in the book to show reasons why I am wrong.

It's like a film critic reviewing a movie without seeing the darn thing. You can hold any opinion you want about something you've never read (I've thought that the X-Wing books sound boring -- and I've found that similar stories are a bit boring to me), but once the merits of something are being discussed, you need something more solid to go on.

My opinion is 100% accurate, for me. There are few things I hate in media as much as YA stuff, its one of my opinions formed and written in stone.

Art and creative projects by definition, break patterns and

nope. Its formed completely in fact. The fact that I hate YA, and have had enough experience to form that opinion. You don't have to agree, but that doesn't make my opinion irrational or yours any more or less rational.

I don't think you're irrational for not wanting to read something. I think you're irrational for saying it'll be bad without having any basis to form that opinion. (And no, not liking YA books in the past doesn't count; that has nothing to do with whether this specific book is good or bad. That is all that matters in this discussion.)

I think Blum is a great voice actor, and he is generally considering to Wolverine what Kevin Conroy is to Batman, aka THE voice of the character. This is one opinion I'm definitely not alone on, but you obviously don't have to agree.

Blum is a good actor to be sure (I saw a bit of that Star Wars show on YouTube, where the interviewed him and he got to do some of his voices). I double-checked and he was better as Wolverine than I remembered. However -- and I think that this applies to pretty much every animated version I've seen -- the use of the more growly voice really limits the range and tone. I don't think any of them really match what Hugh Jackman did in the movies (I'm not counting on the stunts work and action, just the vocal performance). He got the gruffness but could drop that when needed, whereas the other ones seem to focus on the gruff at the expense of the other stuff (as a loose example, compare Conroy's Batman with Christan Bale's Batman voice; that's kind of how I feel the difference is).

It wasn't cancelled because it was low quality or unpopular. It was cancelled because they had a few problems with Season 2 production, and Marvel and the other group financing the show had problems agreeing to financing.

Funny fact I remembered, a lot of the production team who worked on the Wolverine cartoon were also the guys who made the Evolution cartoon. In fact, I've heard fan theories try to fit them together as kinda-sequels, despite the very different takes on the source material and conflicts in regards to backstories and whatnot.

Spectacular Spider-Man got cancelled around the same time, and it was really popular.

That was a licensing problem, though, not anything to do with the TV show itself.

Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes also got cancelled despite its popularity.

Didn't it just get rebooted?

Marvel had problems keeping any of their good animated shows on air in the 2000's, and none of the shows I mentioned were cancelled for low ratings or for being unpopular.

Hmm. Ironically, the Evolution show, running for four seasons was (at the time, not sure if the record has been broken yet), the third-longest-running Marvel cartoon in the franchise. It also sounds like it got canceled before its time (although they had enough notice to give the show closure for its final season).

I think the Disney purchase also got some stuff cancelled. So, being cancelled after one season wasn't a comment on its quality (kind of like, say, Firefly, although the shows were cancelled under different circumstances).

Sometimes (although I think Firefly was too unusual a premise to have had a long run).

I get what YA means very well, you just don't agree with me. That's fine, but my opinion on YA not matching your own doesn't mean I don't understand YA.

What I don't get is how "YA" automatically means "Twilight" or "Hunger Games." I had seen and read books that do not fit into either.

Almost every Old Republic story is important. A story doesn't have to have any connection to the movies to be important.

So, how do we know (beyond the YA label) that Rebel Rising won't be similar?

I don't care if people like it, I'd prefer to ignore it if it would stay out of the way of stuff like Star Wars. But, if its going to show up where it has no place, I'm going to fight against it. Well, ok, technically YA has no place anywhere because its age range is already capable of reading good books, but I honestly don't care if people want to read it, I just want the junk to stay in its own junkyard.

You don't have to read it if you don't want to. I don't follow every canon Star Wars material; it's too big otherwise. So, why can't it just do its thing on the side while you focus on what you like in the franchise? It's not hurting you by existing if you don't pick it up.

I'm sorry mate, but facts are facts. It wasn't canon, never was. And you know what else? It's perfectly OK for a story not to be canon. You're the only one here assigning value to canonicity.

The Legends stuff was marketed as canonical. The canon policy of the time did give it that honor. However, I will concede that it was honored in the breach, at best.

 

[JD]

The way I've always thought of the Legends canon was that the books, comics, games, ect. were "canon" to each other, but not "canon" to the movies. I know that's not really how canon works, which is I put it in "".

 

[Jedman67]

What you described is a common misconception that simply has no baring on reality. As I said before, that system was only used by the licencing end of the company to keep EU continuity vaguely straight. It had absolutely no bearing on what the production end did.

This misconception also betrays a fundamental lack of understanding as to what the word "canon" even means. It's a binary state, no a shade of grey of a sliding scale. Indeed, being definite is sort of the whole point if you look up the word's etymology.

So to straighten it out: the movies were always canon. The EU was always it's own thing, though for obvious reasons, it behoved them to keep pace and retcon themselves as Lucas's movies came out. They key point here is that it was an entirely one-way street. The movies never cared about what may or may not have been established in the EU because it wasn't canon. Ever.

Uhm not exactly. It was specifically and explicitly stated somewhere, probably on the Star Wars website, that the EU was a secondary canon, and the movies a primary canon. In that sense, it being a "one way street" you are correct, the EU had no standing or effect on movies except perhaps for official tie-in novels.

The way I've always thought of the Legends canon was that the books, comics, games, ect. were "canon" to each other, but not "canon" to the movies. I know that's not really how canon works, which is I put it in "".

That's nearly exactly how it was described before the Disney takeover.

 

[fireproof78]

What you described is a common misconception that simply has no baring on reality. As I said before, that system was only used by the licencing end of the company to keep EU continuity vaguely straight. It had absolutely no bearing on what the production end did.

This misconception also betrays a fundamental lack of understanding as to what the word "canon" even means. It's a binary state, no a shade of grey of a sliding scale. Indeed, being definite is sort of the whole point if you look up the word's etymology.

So to straighten it out: the movies were always canon. The EU was always it's own thing, though for obvious reasons, it behoved them to keep pace and retcon themselves as Lucas's movies came out. They key point here is that it was an entirely one-way street. The movies never cared about what may or may not have been established in the EU because it wasn't canon. Ever.

The EU actually seems to carry more weight than before, because GL largely seemed to ignore it unless it suited his purpose. It always felt like canon until something else pops up.

Which, discarding the Vong was one of the best things to happen, in my opinion, to the EU.

 

[Reverend]

Uhm not exactly. It was specifically and explicitly stated somewhere, probably on the Star Wars website, that the EU was a secondary canon, and the movies a primary canon. In that sense, it being a "one way street" you are correct, the EU had no standing or effect on movies except perhaps for official tie-in novels.

Whatever they may have said, saying something is a "secondary canon" is like saying someone is "secondary alive" or an electrical charge is "secondary positive". It's a nonsense term. It either is or it is not.
What they really mean is that it was a secondary *continuity*, which is not as some seem to think a synonym for "canon".

The canon was always the movies and the EU would always adhere to that as it's bedrock while trying (often failing) to keep some kind of vague internal continuity.

 

[Ithekro]

The EU actually seems to carry more weight than before, because GL largely seemed to ignore it unless it suited his purpose. It always felt like canon until something else pops up.

Which, discarding the Vong was one of the best things to happen, in my opinion, to the EU.

Mind you they could bring them back in some form anytime they like. Palpatine was definitely planning for something aside from gaining power and near immortality via the Dark Side of the Force. He was looking for something. Perhaps the source of the Dark Side. Perhaps the Vong. We aren't sure yet were the Sequel Trilogy is going. It could stay straight up battle between good and evil represented by the Resistance/Jedi and the First Order/Ren. Or it might do something else. We are less than a year away from The Last Jedi and just under three years away from Episode IX.

 

[fireproof78]

Mind you they could bring them back in some form anytime they like. Palpatine was definitely planning for something aside from gaining power and near immortality via the Dark Side of the Force. He was looking for something. Perhaps the source of the Dark Side. Perhaps the Vong. We aren't sure yet were the Sequel Trilogy is going. It could stay straight up battle between good and evil represented by the Resistance/Jedi and the First Order/Ren. Or it might do something else. We are less than a year away from The Last Jedi and just under three years away from Episode IX.

Which, as much as it would annoy me, I could get behind depending on how it is presented. I personally would enjoy the concept that Palpatine was building this immense military machine because he felt it was the best answer for what threat was out there. That would interest me quite a bit because then he isn't just evil for evil sake, but doing what he thought was best, if heavy handed in his tactics and draconian in execution. It would add another layer of complexity in what started out as a black and white world.

Reminds me of Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn" trilogy (and not the additional books he added to the world since then) because there were little tweaks to the mythology as the story unfolded.

So, would the Vong annoy me? Maybe at first. But, it could be interesting as well.

 

[Ithekro]

Superweapons for the sake of inspiring fear fits the mold we are presented for the Empire and the Emperor. However the Emperor doesn't seem to care all that much about said weapons. His interests seem to revolve around ending the Jedi and Sith mysticism after gaining power. Even in the Return of the Jedi novel, the Emperor doesn't care if the Rebels have blown up the shield, or are going to blow up the Death Star II. None of that matters to him. All that matters is the Last of the Jedi standing before him. He should be turned to the Dark Side to replace Darth Vader. That the young man defies Palpatine and declares himself a Jedi....well that just pisses him off. Nothing else matter, only that this Jedi turns or dies. If he can be turned, the favor of the war will result in Imperial victory regardless of this battle's outcome. If the Jedi dies...well Vader can still be useful for a bit longer. No matter what, Palpatine wins.

But the open defiance and Vader's betrayal. That was what he didn't foresee. Even the Ewoks turning the tide of the battle was something the Emperor could foresee and dismissed as pointless compared to the turning of Luke Skywalker. That was all that mattered.

The question is, with the Jedi gone. the last of the Jedi turned to serve the Dark Side...what would Palpatine do? He had to have had a plan for all this. The Rebellions was an annoyance to him at best, and the last of the Jedi a treat to covert. Sure he could use one of his new servants to unlock some Dark Side secrets, but was there something more? Was there something that Palpatines was preparing the Empire to encounter? Maybe we will find out....or maybe it is just that Palpatine was evil and wanted to live forever as master of the galaxy.

I suspect one day we will start to see Old Republic era materials in the canon as shows or whatnot, Then we might get a sense of what the Sith Empire use to be before their order was decimated to but one, Darth Bane.