A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Jacket design by David Stevenson. (C) 2005 Del Rey/Ballantine Books and Lucasfilm Ltd.  Pros:  Vivid descriptions, crisp writing, good characterizations Cons:  None A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights…. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. -- Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker, Star Wars – Episode IV: A New Hope There is still good in him. -- Padme Amidala to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars – Episode III: Revenge of the Sith According to the Star Wars timeline, there’s a gap of either 18 or 19 years between the cataclysmic fall of the Republic and the now-legendary Battle of Yavin that ended with the destruction of the Empire’s first Death Star. That gives Lucasfilm Ltd and many Star Wars authors a lot of creative wiggle room to bridge the two film trilogies with Expanded Universe novels and a television series set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope . The conc

Cover art by John Van Fleet. (C) 2007 Del Rey/Lucas Books/Random House and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Pros:  Good writing, fine characterizations, and another masterful tale set in the Star Wars galaxy Cons:  None Although Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn has written over 90 short stories, novellas, short story collections and novels since 1978, he is best known for reinvigorating the Star Wars literary universe with his best-selling Thrawn Trilogy ( Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command ). Set five years after the events depicted in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi , this three-book cycle’s mix of interstellar conflict, political intrigue and a plausible extrapolation of the characters and situations created by George Lucas in the Classic Trilogy reignited fan interest in the Star Wars saga. In addition, the popularity of Zahn’s novels helped pave the way for other authors to add their own tales set “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far a

Cover art by Drew Struzan. (C) 1997 Bantam Spectra and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Pros:  Timothy Zahn's writing. Characterization. Detailing. Cons:  May be too political for casual Star Wars readers. Ends on a cliffhanger One of the hardest things to accomplish in pop literature is continiuing a popular movie or television series' storyline and striking a balance between staying true to the sensibilities of the on-screen source and telling original stories that don't seem like tired retreads. If you are a regular reader of Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or any of the Young Indiana Jones books by Rob McGregor or others, you know what I'm talking about.  You often end up reading a veritable mix of superb novels amidst a hodge-podge of books which range from fantastic reads to tomes you wish you hadn't bought at all. Star Wars fans aren't immune from this particular dilemma; even as Lucasfilm licenses a select group of writers to continue telling a

Cover art by Tom Jung. (C) 1993 Bantam Spectra and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) In 1991, eight years after the release of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Lucasfilm's licensing division authorized various projects to revive interest in George Lucas' characters and situations in advance of both the 20th Anniversary of the Star Wars Trilogy and to create fan anticipation for the still-in-planning prequel trilogy. Among the many ideas that were given the green light was a publishing concept known as Star Wars: The Expanded Universe, which entailed hiring some of the best science fiction and fantasy writers to create new "further adventures" featuring Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Artoo Detoo (R2-D2) and See Threepio (C-3PO) and set in the time period immediately after Return of the Jedi. Although there were many authors involved and not all the stories would be in the same format (Dark Horse Comics, for instance, would publish the Dark

(C) 2014 LucasBooks and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Cover art by Tom Jung In 1991, Bantam Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. reinvigorated interest in the  Star Wars  universe (well, galaxy) by gathering a diverse group of noted science fiction writers and starting an ongoing series of novels set in the time period which follows  Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi .  Timothy Zahn's  Heir to the Empire , the first volume of a three-book cycle, was almost an instant phenomenon when it was published in hardcover. With its depiction of the continuing battle between what is left of the Galactic Empire and the fledgling New Republic, this novel cleverly mixes the characters from the Classic Trilogy with a cast of newly created heroes and villains, some of whom will make appearances in other authors'  Star Wars  Expanded Universe works.  As  Heir to the Empire  begins, the New Republic has been engaged in a five-year long campaign to mop up the remnants of the once-mighty Empire. The once dr

This will always be the "core canon" of Star Wars, even under the House of the Mouse. (C) 2015 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Does Disney-owned Lucasfilm ignore the old Star Wars 'Expanded Universe' when determining canon? Pretty much, yes. I understand that a vocal group of  Star Wars  fans (which don’t represent the vast majority of  Star Wars  fandom but nevertheless make lots of noise, especially online) feels that the old Expanded Universe, aka  Star Wars  Legends, is not the primary source for the Sequel Trilogy and languishes, according to them, in The Walt Disney Company’s equivalent of purgatory. Apparently, for many fans, especially those who were teens and/or young adults in the Dark Times between the Classic Trilogy and the Prequels, the Expanded Universe  was  the  Star Wars  universe, only instead of movies, its main fare was a series of novels, comic books, graphic novels, and a plethora of video games, spac

Officially?  None.  Star Wars: The Force Awakens  and its two sequels, Star Wars: The Last Jedi   and Episode IX  are all-new original stories based on concepts by J.J. Abrams, Michael Arndt, Lawrence Kasdan, and the Lucasfilm Story Group. (George Lucas, when he sold Lucasfilm to Disney, handed in a treatment for  Episodes VII-IX,  but it was not used.) Unofficially:  Some story elements of  The Force Awakens  bear some resemblance to plot points from the  Star Wars  Expanded Universe novels and comics. For instance, in the film, Han and Leia have a son (Ben Solo) who is strong with the Force and is seduced by its Dark Side. This is also a plot point in the old EU, except that in the books the son is named Jacen Solo (who has a twin sister, Jaina) and after undergoing training as a Jedi in Luke Skywalker’s academy, turns bad and becomes Darth Caedus.

Pros:  Interesting Luke-and-Mara capstone to Timothy Zahn's novels set in the  Star Wars  universe Cons:   Might confuse readers who haven't read previous Timothy Zahn novels; too ship-bound If you are a more-or-less regular reader of the Bantam Spectra/Del Rey  Star Wars  Expanded Universe novels, you're doubtlessly aware that though each novel or series of novels is pretty much a stand-alone work, it's also part of a larger mosaic. There are many instances in which a minor character, planet, or even old pre-Empire projects mentioned in one book will later play a larger role in the continuing  Star Wars  narrative. This technique isn't exclusive to the Lucasfilm-licensed  Star Wars  projects; Paramount's  Star Trek  franchise has published hundreds of paperback and hardcover novels which not only tell "untold tales" of the famous starships  Enterprise  and their legendary crews, but also have their own internal - if somewhat looser