Star Wars Books Thread
- Thread starter Mr Light
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I started Darth Plagieus and I’m enjoying it so far.
I wonder if they’ll make any Mandalorian novels?
I wonder if they’ll make any Mandalorian novels?
They already announced that the first Mandalorian novel will be released on Nov. 21 2021. I'm curious why they're waiting so long the release it, CBS started releasing Discovery and Picard novels during their first season. We'll probably be up to Season 3 of The Mandalorian by the time it's first novel comes out.
Yeah I decided to do a Google search. Also there’s something called The High Republic series. Sounds interesting.
We have a thread going all about The High Republic if you're interested. I'm really looking forward to it, I've been wanting to see the canon explore more of the Jedi and The Republic's histories. I would have rather seen them go farther back than just 200 years, but it still sounds like it has a lot of potential.
There's already been a bunch of in-universe stories that make it crystal clear that as far as the rebellion are concerned; nobody made it off Scarif.
I mean it's fiction, so anything's possible in the long run, but I think the story and the characters work best as they are.
Keep in mind that print media (like animation) needs a lot of lead time, and the show itself only entered production about two years ago. Plus I think for the time being, they'd want to ringfence it a little to give Jon and Dave time to develop the show and decide where it's going, what the backstories are and thus prescribe what's off limits and what's OK for ancillary media to explore.
I think they're wise to start off by going back in relatively small increments. It avoids the danger of paining future storytellers into a corner by defining too much of the history in detail.
Honestly, going back too far doesn't appeal just because a lot of technology remains the same. The Old Republic comics and such were not enjoyable because they tried in strange ways to change the tech yet it all largely remained the same.
I would rather see the Republic right before TPM so that it matters more when it falls.
I can see that. My main interest in going back is more just out of curiosity to see things like the war between the Jedi and Mandalorians, and the origin of the Darksaber, and to see what some of the places we've seen as ruins, like Jedha or Ach-To, were like back in their heyday.
I just found out that, according to Wookiepedia, Darth Revan was mentioned in the Rise of Skywalker Visual Dictionary, written by Pablo Hidalgo (who is part of the story group), which makes him almost canon, and now I just want something done with KOTOR. Or, hell, Darth Bane is canon, let's get something with him.
While the High Republic seems like it will just be a lot of unimportant, slight stories, just like 99% of the new canon, there is potentially thousands of years to set SW stories in that the movies/TV shows will never touch. I'd hate to see a bunch of cool stuff never be used just because its mathematically possible that the movies or TV shows could use it. They shouldn't keep every random cool SW thing in storage just on the off chance that the tv or movies might use them. They almost certainly have an idea of what characters/story elements they're planning to do years into the future at this point, I wish they'd let other storytellers in other mediums play in the universe more.
While the High Republic seems like it will just be a lot of unimportant, slight stories, just like 99% of the new canon, there is potentially thousands of years to set SW stories in that the movies/TV shows will never touch. I'd hate to see a bunch of cool stuff never be used just because its mathematically possible that the movies or TV shows could use it. They shouldn't keep every random cool SW thing in storage just on the off chance that the tv or movies might use them. They almost certainly have an idea of what characters/story elements they're planning to do years into the future at this point, I wish they'd let other storytellers in other mediums play in the universe more.
I wouldn't mind seeing it as well but I don't think so far back is so necessary. The origin of the Jedi, while interesting on paper, doesn't make for a long story. Or, it feels very anachronistic with the technology.
Honestly, for me, I stick with old EU stuff until it is demonstrated otherwise. Too much emphasis is put on continuity with the books and not nearly enough enjoyment of the stories.
Why should they do any of that? The fan base has pushed back on so much stuff that there is no indication that going back to Revan or Bane or the Old Republic will create anything more than just grief.
They are playing a conservative game. I can't say I blame them.
That's just not how things work with the tie-ins for an active franchise. The books and comics are probably the least important parts of the franchise, at least in terms of money and popularity, so there is no way they are going to let them handle something as important as Darth Bane.
I have to wonder if part of the reason they set The High Republic as close to The Phantom Menace is so that the technology and culture are close enough that they don't have to really establish to much that might be contradicted later.
I have to wonder if part of the reason they set The High Republic as close to The Phantom Menace is so that the technology and culture are close enough that they don't have to really establish to much that might be contradicted later.
Revan is overrated for me as well. The Old Republic is well done, but overhypes Revan and it makes it less enjoyable by connection.
I agree that outside of TotJ, the old EU handled this very poorly. Though I rather think the simple solution this time around is to focus less on the tech and make the art design unique to each period. IMO the mistake wasn't that the tech was mostly the same, it's that everything *looked* the same as the PT or OT eras. TotJ at least gave everything a rough, archaic, almost savage look.
They're already seemingly doing this with tHR by giving everything an Art Nouveau meets Arthurian Legend aesthetic.
If for the sake or argument they were to do the Fall of the Old Republic era, then they could go with a Roman Empire meets Late Victorian aesthetic. The Sith Empire could be Byzantium mixed with Ancient Egyptian and Soviet era sensibilities, and the early Jedi civilization could look like a mix of Tibetan, Aboriginal Australian, and Manden Kurufaba.
There's still hyperdrives, blasters, lightsabers, and some variation on bacta, but the style and execution is all different.
there's no reason to leave everything in reserved for movies or TV shows that realistically are never going to use them. Star Wars was active from 1999 until the Disney sale and still had Books and Comics that weren't just the story of Padme Amidala's second cousins roommate. there is so many characters they just need to do something. even if it's just stuff to set up characters for later live action or animated appearances, they could definitely be doing a lot more. I would kill even just to see something with d-listers like Kyle katarn or dash rendar, two characters which have less of a chance of appearing on Star Wars tv or film than ET does. I could name a dozen characters that will absolutely never be used by the movies or shows but can make really good books or comics. It's not like a character appearing in a book or comic first precludes TV or movies from doing anything with them, anyway, and it would be nice to have more people involved in making creative works than just the story group and a few of their friends .
there's also the characters whose fate we know but have years of History open. We're not going to be seeing young Luke or Leia movies or shows, so some more books to be nice. Phasma is dead, so how about a book or comic that actually gives her full backstory unlike the stuff we got with her so far?
The comics get a bit of Freedom with this, certainly more than the books do. If we can get a comic series all about the cyborg Bounty Hunter from the ancient comic days, we can get books about something more important then shitty recreations of Romeo and Juliet or tales of Padme Amidala in between prequels.
As for Darth Bane, he'll almost certainly never be used again. Dave filoni only likes to use characters he created, and I'm wondering if we'll even get another Star Wars film in the next decade, and even if we do it's not going to be using Darth Bane. Its pathetic how much they're hoarding characters they know they never going to use. We're not talking about Ahsoka or rex or something like that, we're talking about the dozens if not hundreds of characters that existed before Disney bought Star Wars that could make for some great stories and have no reason to be shelved for shows or films they're never going to appear in any way
I do like the High Republic's look and wouldn't mind seeing some changes in the look.
Honestly, I appreciate that and I appreciate how conservative they are being with the tie in media. They don't need to go out whole hog and there doesn't appear to be any appetite for them to do so.
The Legends EU was prolific but it was insane. At some point in time it became too much to keep up on and I saw a lot of people in my fan group just give up. They clustered around their segment of the fandom (Old Republic, PT, OT, post-ROTJ) and that was it.
At least, for me, right now, I feel like I can keep up on the lore. Legends wasn't so kind.
I had a similar experience in the early 2000's. The novels had already kinda lost me, while the NJO just left me cold and the comics felt all over the place and impossible to keep up with (to this day I still haven't caught up on hardly anything from this period.)
Still, I don't think it's that much of a problem for a franchise to be too big for most people to keep up with in it's entirety. I how many people ever kept up with *everything* Marvel and/or DC put out? Some people as you say, just stick the the areas they enjoy; some stick ot the Bat family, others just read all the Spider-Man or all the X-Men books, some only show up for the big crossover events...and that's fine!
I think the key is making each "area" easily accessible to newcomers, and are themselves distinct and unique enough to justify being their own thing. I think the Mandalorian at least is proving this is possible since there's a whole slew of new fans (and not just young ones) for whom this has been their entry and so far the reaction to even the elements grandfathered in from other "areas" has been largely positive.
With the EU, I feel like they didn't do this so well and the "tiered canon" system just made it a headache. I mean I get why it exists for internal bookkeeping purposes, but they shouldn't have exposed the fandom to it. The lack of overall creative control also contributed to wildly inconsistent levels of quality and content, which just added another barrier to entry.
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