tell me about Star Wars novels!

[Lindley]

I want to see TIE Fighter remade with updated graphics. Even a port to the (similar) Freespace 2 engine would be acceptable. That game rocked.

Incidentally, have TIE Defenders shown up in any novel or comic other than X-Wing #8: Isard's Revenge?

 

[AviTrek]

Speaking of Leia going to the Dark Side...(which sounds kinda hot in a way) there was a 'What if' graphic novel that came out a couple of years ago. It was part of a 'Star Wars: Infinities' line....as they did one for 'Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi,' I believe.

For 'A New Hope' it takes the idea of 'what if' Luke wasn't able to detonate the Death Star?

Leia is taken under Darth Vader's wing, and Luke is still with the rebellion...and the story goes from there. (Leia is shown to be in a black Imperial uniform, with gloves...boots...)

Hmmm...

Except by the time Luke is in his X-Wing Leia is off the Death Star and on a moon about to be destroyed. If Luke failed then Leia and the rebellion is dead. The branching point needed for Leia to stay with Vader is Luke failing to rescue her from the Death Star. Of course, then it's unclear how Luke ever managed to find the Rebellion. But then again, I never read this particular comic.

Only problem with that is that for some reasons the medical droids said "Medically, she's fine" and "She has lost the will to live". No mention of Anakin doing the throat thing.

I still find her death to be one of the most comically badly dramatized in movie history. Poor girl deserved better than a nonsensical death that happened just because she had become extraneous to the plot and had to be tossed out like a day-old bagel. She should have had a dramatic and heroic death, like right after the babies are born she throws herself into a lava pit so that Anakin would think she killed the babies still unborn because that's the one and only way to protect them from Daddy tracking them down and raising them in an unacceptable lifestyle.

Which also begs the question, how did nobody manage to notice she wasn't pregnant before or during her funeral?!?! Why didn't her family at least attempt to find out what happened to the kids? Isn't that the kind of info that could easily have gotten back to Vader at some point during the next frakkin 20 years?

Argh. Back to talking about the novels now, the movies make me too mad.

In her funeral they clearly showed her with a large belly. So presumably something was inserted to take the space of the babies so she looked pregnant for the funeral procession.

 

[PsychoPere]

Incidentally, have TIE Defenders shown up in any novel or comic other than X-Wing #8: Isard's Revenge?

X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar, The New Jedi Order: The Final Prophecy, and The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force all included the TIE Defender. In addition, Wookiepedia has an entry that lists comics appearances.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

In her funeral they clearly showed her with a large belly. So presumably something was inserted to take the space of the babies so she looked pregnant for the funeral procession.

So her family knew she was pregnant and that it needed to be hushed up that the kids had been born - why? Was everyone on Naboo in on the conspiracy? Why didn't her family bother to try to find the kids? The whole sequence raises too many questions that call into question the plausibility.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Padme's death sequence and funeral are among the puzzling parts of the prequel...it's almost as if George was struggling to wrap up her story arc. I'm sure it was depicted that way to attempt to dissuade anyone to ask uncomfortable questions, I think in the novelization it is mentioned that it is a minor mystery and source of speculation among the population. I also didn't buy that Padme lost the will to live, I understood the meaning behind the line but didn't like it. The med driod could have easily just stated that she suffered fatal injuries due to being Forced choked by Anakin, there was no reason to say that she lost the will to live.

 

[AviTrek]

And of course throw in the fact that Leia remembered her mother, and Obi-wan hid Luke in the most obvious place possible and the entire ending of Sith was a giant disaster.

 

[DarKush]

In her funeral they clearly showed her with a large belly. So presumably something was inserted to take the space of the babies so she looked pregnant for the funeral procession.

So her family knew she was pregnant and that it needed to be hushed up that the kids had been born - why? Was everyone on Naboo in on the conspiracy? Why didn't her family bother to try to find the kids? The whole sequence raises too many questions that call into question the plausibility.

I'm assuming that Padme's family was not told that her kids were alive. It would've been too much of a risk letting too many people know that her children lived. Plus, I'm further assuming that if they had know they would've pressed to raise the children, which would've alerted Palpatine and Vader who would've stopped at nothing to gain possession of them.

One thing the EU hasn't done much of a good job of doing is actually following up on Padme's family IMO. It would be great to see more done with them, a story or some scenes with Luke and Leia, and Jaina or Ben visiting Naboo. I don't know if that's ever been done in a novel or in the comics. If it has, could someone tell me which.

I mean there are potentially a lot of cousins, etc. out there that can widen the Skywalker-Solo clan. Plus, it could be more characters for the writers to play around with.

 

[ProtoAvatar]

Padme's death sequence and funeral are among the puzzling parts of the prequel...it's almost as if George was struggling to wrap up her story arc.

Puzzling? It was just lazy writing.
'Lost the will to live'? You would, at most, expect to encounter this in movies made for children - and, even there, it's not what one would call quality writing.

 

[Mr Light]

Given that fact that Naboo is never seen or mentioned in the post-ROTJ books, even after the Prequels finished, I'd always assumed it was destroyed by the Empire between the trilogies.

I'm still waiting for the book where Vader leads the massacre of Jar Jar and all the other Gungans then blows up the planet for good measure

EDIT: Wow, I totally forgot that at the end of ROTJ they show Jar Jar celebrating freedom on Naboo.

 

[Whofan]

The fate of Padme's family is largely revealed in the STAR WARS GALAXIES MMO, where you visit Naboo during the Imperial era. In particular Padme's cousin has become the Imperial senator from Naboo, after Jar-Jar (Who presumabely became full senator after Padme's death). Other games reveal the fate of other Naboo officials, mainly Boss Nass, Panaka and Queen Apailana, who either join the rebellion or the empire. Also Naboo, being the Emperor's homeworld in all, has a fancy Imperial retreat for Palpatine as well.


Luke and Leia are unaware of their mother's identity until the Swarm War (The Dark nest trilogy). Before that, we have Luke go on a wild goose chase in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy to find her. He and Leia do learn about Shmi and Anakin's past in Tatooine Ghost though.

 

[Fist McStrongpunch]

I also find the notion that the stormtroopers are all clones to be disturbing - breeding cannon fodder is what the bad guys should be doing!

You're not the only one. Read the Republic Commando books by Karen Traviss.