Rogue One (2016) [SW Anthology Series)
- Thread starter Mach5
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^ I think that only applies to the eight people who would've read anything from the EU about it. For the VAAAAAAAAAAAAST majority of the public who will go and see the film next December, it will be a novel and exciting concept for a more actiony/war oriented SW film.
One would imagine (assuming they're doing this right) the Death Star plans are just a MacGuffin, not the whole point of the thing. From the looks of it, it's going to be something along the lines of 'The Dirty Dozen' crossed with a heist movie, in which case the point is going to be the characters and some entertaining set pieces.
Nobody actually cares how the Death Star plans were stolen, it's just a fun backdrop, the context of which even non-fans can follow without much foreknowledge.
The problem with the previous efforts in the EU is that too many stories used it for those very same reasons and it's the asinine "tiered canon" (a contradiction in terms if ever there was one) trying to stitch it all together that lead to it being such a convoluted mess.
Of course in 15 years we might be right back where we started with a convoluted series of stories spinning off from Rogue One and a Wookiepedia page on it so bloated and labyrinthine that it may spontaneously develop sentience and overthrow Skynet for us. But by that point I will be too old and/or too busy being murdered by killer cyborgs to care.
I don't dispute that the movie could be good. On a different level, I just take it as a potential bad sign, is all. It's traditionally one of the most overdone, played-out concepts in the core SW fandom, and they went right to it. It's not exactly comforting that the casuals will see it as a novel concept simply by virtue of not knowing how completely the opposite of novel it really is.
But, but... Muh Mara Jade!
Which is, what, everyone?
I don't think 99.5% of gen-pop ever even heard of EU.
Honestly, the only EU book I could finish was Darth Plagueis.
Sort of. Mostly the way in which the stories intersected was made up after the fact. It was never designed as one cohesive narrative, just that several properties (mostly video games) depicted a character stealing the Death Star plans. Later to make it all fit, they said that all those stories are "true" and what they each stole was just a piece of the complete plans, culminating in it being transmitted to Leia's ship.
Basically, you had to either read the summery in the encyclopedia or possibly the old chronology to see how it all officially fit together (I don't count wookiepedia since it's not an official publication.)
I think he was talking about Darth Plagueis.
I don't think it was hard to follow, speaking as someone who had read some but not all of the other material that it referenced. Basically you got a brief recap giving you the gist of what happened in the other product. I would call it somewhat narratively unsatisying in those places, as opposed to hard to follow.
Personally, I'm not sure why the Plagueis novel gets the amount of praise it does from the fanbase. I found it thoroughly lacking in an engaging narrative and instead depended on continuity porn to carry itself.
Add to that, the idea that Plagueis was alive during the events of TPM has something of an odour to it. Palpatine strikes me as the sort who would have killed his master at the earliest opportunity. His actions make it clear he has no intention to stick to the "rule of two" and fully intends to outlive any apprentice he might take on. He certainly went though a few in his time from Maul to Tyranus to Vader and made a run at recruiting Luke. Of course that may be the norm for Sith Lords, we really don't know enough about his predecessors to be sure.
Also, I don't think he'd be introducing his assassin as "Darth Maul" if his own master were still kicking.
Add to that, the idea that Plagueis was alive during the events of TPM has something of an odour to it. Palpatine strikes me as the sort who would have killed his master at the earliest opportunity. His actions make it clear he has no intention to stick to the "rule of two" and fully intends to outlive any apprentice he might take on. He certainly went though a few in his time from Maul to Tyranus to Vader and made a run at recruiting Luke. Of course that may be the norm for Sith Lords, we really don't know enough about his predecessors to be sure.
Also, I don't think he'd be introducing his assassin as "Darth Maul" if his own master were still kicking.
I think Plagueis is the best book in the franchise for the justification of evil and portraying the Sith as legitimate three dimensional characters. There's so many fascinating discussions about the nature of the Force, good and evil, responsibility and destiny, individuality versus the common good...
Plus all the continuity porn, doing a masterful job of linking together everything in the Prequel Era into one story. Also, Sidious is my all time favorite character and the chance to FINALLY learn his origin was the greatest untold story of the franchise, even greater than the origins of Yoda.
Plus all the continuity porn, doing a masterful job of linking together everything in the Prequel Era into one story. Also, Sidious is my all time favorite character and the chance to FINALLY learn his origin was the greatest untold story of the franchise, even greater than the origins of Yoda.
I didn't have a problem with the characterization, it was the way in which it was framed that left me cold. As for Palpatine's background, I can't say as there was anything particularly unexpected or interesting. A black sheep of an old aristocratic family, never measured up to his father's expectations and murdered his entire family to advance his own greater ambitions.
About what you'd expect, given what we already know.
I always took Palpatine to be of the asexual persuasion, not that his personal tastes have any relevance. That said, listing homosexuality alongside "serial killer" as being his stand-out traits is probably not the most forward thinking way to portray such a character.
As for his being a psychopath, well...duh?
As for his being a psychopath, well...duh?
But probably not before he had outlived his usefulness.
We're still talking about a guy who has no intention to stick to the Rule of Two, right? And I don't think he would feel the need to be especially accurate when talking to Neimoidians.
Considering Dooku had assassins that pretty much violate the Rule of Two (which Palpatine eventually points out so keep Dooku down), and Darth Maul's return in the Clone Wars also was pointed out by Palpatine as being against the Rule of Two, I would gather that the Sith don't really follow it exactly unless their Master catches them trying to make a third Sith as a rival to their master's power.
Palpaine seems clever enough, or perhaps his master just didn't care, to allow for Darth Maul to be trained as a Sith Lord even if there were already two Sith.
Palpaine seems clever enough, or perhaps his master just didn't care, to allow for Darth Maul to be trained as a Sith Lord even if there were already two Sith.
A rule to protect their own self interests. Too many Sith, too many power plays and backstabbing. So just two. A master and an apprentice. When the master no longer can teach, the master is killed and the apprentice becomes the new master. If the apprentice is not ready, they will either be punished by the master, or if the master thinks it is time to get someone else who might better his own cause, kill the apprentice. Or go the Palpatine way and engineer a situation to get your apprentice killed.