A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

© 2002 Del Rey Books (Ballantine) and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  Which of the Star Wars books tell the stories of the movies? It depends on what you mean by “the stories of the movies,” and in what context. If you mean the stories, characters, situations, and settings of the films themselves, then you’re probably asking about: Dust jacket of the 1977 hardcover. Art by John Berkey. © 1977 20th Century Fox Film Corp.  Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker,  credited to George Lucas but actually written by Alan Dean Foster. (Del Rey Books, 1976) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,  by Donald F. Glut. Story by George Lucas. Based on the screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. (Del Rey Books, 1980) Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,  by James Kahn. Story by George Lucas. Based on the screenplay by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. (Del Rey Books, 1983) Original 1980 paperback edition of The Empire Strikes Back novelization. Cover art by Roger Kastel.  © 1

What was known about Padme, Luke and Leia’s mother, prior to the release of the prequel trilogy? Before the run-up to  Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace’s  release in May of 1999? Certainly not much. And what little we  did  know was either wrong or was learned from tidbits in action figure packages in late 1998, when Hasbro added a  Flashback  line of  Star Wars  figures from the Classic Trilogy but with Lucasfilm-supplied nuggets of information about major characters from the upcoming film. For instance, a  Power of the Force  figure of Princess Leia Organa with  Flashback  packaging was my first inkling that Luke and Leia’s mother was Queen Amidala of Naboo and that Leia was not just royalty by adoption, but she was also royalty - of sorts - by heredity. Hasbro’s writer did not divulge the fact that on Naboo “royalty” was elected and wasn’t necessarily  hereditary,  but Lucasfilm kept a lot of pesky details about such things close to the vest. But  before  1998, we

The November 1977 issue of Star Wars Poster Monthly revealed - vaguely - how Vader became a cyborg. © 1977 Paradise Press and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation On Quora, someone asks: Prior to  Star Wars: Episode III  was there ever a canonical explanation for the appearance of Darth Vader? My reply: As early as late 1977, George Lucas allowed Lucasfilm, through the official  Star Wars Poster Monthly  magazine, to reveal tantalizing bits of the Dark Lord of the Sith’s backstory. In an article titled  Darth Vader Lives,  (Issue #2. November 1977) author John May based his work on some of the information that had been already published about Vader in publicity materials (movie lobby cards, collectors’ movie programs, and the photo inserts in the  Star Wars  novelization), plus a Rolling Stone magazine interview with George Lucas. Readers were told that Vader had trained as a Jedi Knight under Obi-Wan Kenobi’s tutelage but had turned to the dark side of the Force, betra