It did carry the tagline "from the Adventures of Luke Skywalker", just as Lucas' original SW book did.
Was it great? No. Did it suck? No.
Was it great? No. Did it suck? No.
Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster
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However, the planet featured within the book was also recently used in an episode of the animated series Clone Wars. So while the story itself is no longer canon, Lucas himself is still acknowledging elements from it and at least making the planet part of canon.
I remember this book quite well. At the time, I was just PSYCHED to have something more from SW besides the one movie, the novelization, and the comics. Of course, almost everything in it is contradicted by later canon, and that's fine. I look at it as a standalone that 'doesn't count.'
Brian Daley's Han Solo novels, OOTH, were magnificent. They captured the 'feel' of the original SW better than almost anything that has come since, including the PT. I still go back and re-read those periodically.
Brian Daley's Han Solo novels, OOTH, were magnificent. They captured the 'feel' of the original SW better than almost anything that has come since, including the PT. I still go back and re-read those periodically.
^^Actually more than one element from Splinter has been referenced in other Expanded Universe material, and the canonical productions have borrowed many names, places, and species from the tie-in fiction even while contradicting other aspects.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Splinter_of_the_Mind's_Eye
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Splinter_of_the_Mind's_Eye
Hmm...had they done that, would that mean that Star Wars would be retroactively called Luke Skywalker and the Star Wars on the DVD covers?
Or maybe LUKE SKYWALKER AND THE NEW HOPE?
Which would be weird, because that would essentially make the title mean "Luke Skywalker and Himself".
In any event, assuming that Lucas went with the whole "Luke Skywalker and...", it would seem unlikely that Star Wars would later be renamed "A New Hope" considering the film was titled "Star Wars" with no subtitle (thus suggesting that a retitling would include the "real" title).
In real life, when Lucas added a subtitle, he then cemented the film series as "Star Wars."
Of course, I am basing my theories off of the example set by Indiana Jones films.
Hmm...had they done that, would that mean that Star Wars would be retroactively called Luke Skywalker and the Star Wars on the DVD covers?
Or maybe LUKE SKYWALKER AND THE NEW HOPE?
Which would be weird, because that would essentially make the title mean "Luke Skywalker and Himself".
Well, it would be the same as Luke Skywalker and the Return of himself.
Which would be weird, because that would essentially make the title mean "Luke Skywalker and Himself".
Well, it would be the same as Luke Skywalker and the Return of himself.
Not if you take Jedi as plural or a collective noun referencing the return of the jedi as an order.
Now the first film should be retitled Luke Skywalker and the Star of Death, I think.
I had a copy of this book as well. Read it when I was in fifth grade, and like some of the earlier posters, found odd plot holes in it at the time but I was a kid and it didn't really matter to me--I loved having a new Star Wars story. Even when Empire came out, I thought that Splinter had taken place between the two films despite some of the obvious conflicts in the stories.
Now other than Luke channeling Ben Kenobi at the end of the story and some of the lightsabre tricks, there are other elements that return in the Star Wars universe.
There is some inkling that Leia is attuned to the force, to begin with, but more importantly there is the concept that the force has a physical existence as it does in the jewel in the story.
Funny thing, but I'm pretty sure I heard Foster talking about this story (Splinter of the Mind's Eye) long, long before "Star Wars" ever came out. (Like around 1975 or so, when the "Log" series was still being released.)
In fact, I'm pretty sure that the book he originally wrote was not a Star Wars story at all, but one that he later retooled as a Star Wars novel, after repeated failures to sell it as a stand-alone work.
Does this ring a bell with any of my fellow oldster-fen?
In fact, I'm pretty sure that the book he originally wrote was not a Star Wars story at all, but one that he later retooled as a Star Wars novel, after repeated failures to sell it as a stand-alone work.
Does this ring a bell with any of my fellow oldster-fen?
The Splinter Of The Mind's Eye comic book is a little more closer to the canon, as it eliminates all possibilities of twincest.
I've never heard this, but I will say that I could very easily see this story (with some character replacement and other tweaking) taking place in his Humanx Commonwealth setting, and probably featuring Flinx as the protaganist.
Likewise for me. It's kind of funny to remember how voraciously I snapped up anything new with "Star Wars" on it in those pre-home video days. My third grade friends and I at first assumed that "Splinter" was the next movie. I barely recall anything about the book, though I can't imagine it was worse than Han Solo teaming up with a giant green bunny in the Marvel comics.
Yeah, those I remember a lot better, although I haven't read them since the 1980's. Pretty impressive, since he couldn't use any of the other characters, the Empire, stormtroopers, rebels, the Force &c. There was also a newspaper comic of the first book around 1980 or 1981. I had my grandparents save them for me because the paper in my town didn't carry it.
--Justin
I would say Anakin was the Jedi that returned in that film.
Hmm...had they done that, would that mean that Star Wars would be retroactively called Luke Skywalker and the Star Wars on the DVD covers?
Or maybe LUKE SKYWALKER AND THE NEW HOPE?
Which would be weird, because that would essentially make the title mean "Luke Skywalker and Himself".
quote]
True. Then again, there was always the movie, NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE, which roughly translates to "Vampire the Vampire!"
The novelization of that was really good, though.
Nothing like bilingual redundancies...
I like "Glittering Caves of Aglarond" and "Connecticut River" myself...
I really don't remember anything of the book other than the adjustable lightsaber, and that's apparently a good thing!
I thought I had an SFBC copy around, but no dice yet in finding it. 
I like "Glittering Caves of Aglarond" and "Connecticut River" myself...
I really don't remember anything of the book other than the adjustable lightsaber, and that's apparently a good thing!
I thought I had an SFBC copy around, but no dice yet in finding it.
Which would be weird, because that would essentially make the title mean "Luke Skywalker and Himself".
Well, it would be the same as Luke Skywalker and the Return of himself.
See, that wouldn't make sense, because it indicates that Luke was a Jedi and went somewhere and then came back, which isn't the case.
I always took Return of the Jedi meaning the Darth Vader's redemption. Vader "returned" to being the Jedi that he once was.
I agree, that's the intent. The Jedi, plural, were gone as a force in the galaxy, and the ascension of Luke to full Jedi status and his defeat of the Emperor marked the beginning of the Jedi Order's return to life.
Remember, the working title was Revenge of the Jedi -- i.e. this is the movie where the Jedi Knights get back at the Empire for what was done to them. Lucas decided that revenge was beneath the Jedi so he changed it to Return. But the intent remains: it's not about a single individual Jedi, it's about the Jedi as a group, as a faction. Also there's the fact that Episode III is titled Revenge of the Sith as a direct parallel with Return of the Jedi -- there again, "the Sith" doesn't refer to one individual (in which case it would be "the Sith Lord") but to a faction.
Tritto. I spent most of the time between 1977 and 1980 in deep contemplation of the novelization, the Storybook, the Marvel comics, the music soundtrack (in 8-track!), the Story of Star Wars album, the Art of Star Wars, the trading cards, and just about anything else I could find (e.g. Dynamite! magazine).
The Obi-Wan flashback in the classic Marvel series was issue 24:
Inside, though, Obi-Wan isn't in his robes. In fact, his outfit looks a bit like Luke's in ROTJ, except with groovy white boots:
^^Evidently the comic assumed that the Clone Wars were more recent than the movies later showed, or else that Kenobi was older.
