Star Wars EU

[Roy Focker]

Okay the Star Wars Expanded Universe. I think I read most of the New Republic Stuff. I enjoyed the Thawn stuff and the X-wing books. Most of the other stuff was, "Luke discover some lame ass jedi, yada, yada, yada." Seemed like some fanasty crap and not Star Wars. The there was the New Jedi Order books. I read the first two. Chewie was killed off, new big bad alien invasion crap would be the theme. Didn't they try that with the "Truce of Bacalva" book?

The other day after several years of not giving a crap I decided to read up online of what has happened since I stopped reading. After reading a bit I'm lost and confused. Currently they are 40 ABY. I think we are only 30 years after Episode Four. Boba Fett had a love child or something. Luke has a son. Of the stupid named Solo kids. Anakin is dead, Jacen is a Darth Lord of the Sith. Didn't luke bring balance to the force or something by turning Vader good? Wasn't the whole Jedi vs Sith thing resolved with Episode Six with the Emperor's death? Plus Mara Jade is dead. She seemed like some forced book character you always knew they hooked up with Luke so you wouldn't think he's gay. I found her back ground to be a little too much still strange she'd be killed off. Worst of all there are a ton of expanded universe characters running around that I don't (or care) to know crap about. Are these books even based on Star Wars anymore or are they sequels to themselves?

[eugimon]

If by sequels to themselves you mean: crap, then yes, they're sequels.

The star wars novels have all been crap, imo. A bunch of hack writers got their hands on the characters and just wrote crap sci-fi that happened to be based on star wars characters. How many times now has the new republic been faced with destruction, or some crap? every book (or arc) has some big new threat that's even MORE frightening than the death star that threatens to destroy the ____________ (fill in the blank).

The only thing worse than the prequels, are the books.

[Morpheus]

Most of the EU are confusing. I only read the novels from Timothy Zhan and they're very good, probably the best SW novels.

[Roy Focker]

Yeah there are/were a few good books. Even if they went a bit off course a good story is a good story. What I'm reading about the other stuff have just went way way off.

[Warmaker]

Most of the Star Wars EU is utter crap. There are a few writers that make the books feel like an extension of the movies, but they are definitely not the norm. You have stuff that contradicts the feel and theme of the movies, which I absolutely hate.

To put it simply, you're better off with the movies by themselves. Most of the EU (not just books) is trash.

P.S. - Regarding Chewie's death... it was IMO, just a stupid little stunt to make something important out of a particularly stupid story arc... the Y.Vong Invasion... ho hum. Kill off a character well loved in the movies and such and throw in a bunch of hack characters. Yay.

Edited August 4, 2007 by Warmaker

[LePoseur]

Man, I know I'm in the minority, but I hated the Zhan books as well. I never even finished the second one. There were just too many times I felt like it wasn't "Star Wars." I know that's hard to explain, but I just couldn't imagine them being filmed; Luke disassembling his hand to use the electronics to escape, tying lightsabers to vines and swinging them with the force, or even recovering Luke's lightsaber from Cloud City... yeah right.

Actually, the only Star Wars book that I've read and really liked was the Episode III adaption by Stover. I liked it so much in fact that it ruined the movie for me. If Episode III would have been filmed exactly like that book it would have rivaled the original for second place on my list. (as it is Revenge is fourth after the OT)

Sorry for the negativity.

Bah humbug! Get off my lawn, you stupid kids!

[Sumdumgai]

I stopped reading the books. The most memorable for me was Luke going back to Hoth and having an army of wampas stalk him, led by the big, bad, angry one-armed super wampa that wants reveeeeenge... Yeah.

I don't remember which books I read, but I know I stopped reading them for a reason.

[HoveringCheesecake]

The only EU books I'm fond of are:

Thrawn Trilogy

X-Wing Rogue Squadron (all 9)

Daala Trilogy (or whatever the hell it is called) and Darksaber

The Rogue Squadron books are the best. Who doesn't like dogfighting in space?

Oh, and the NJO books are GARBAGE. I refuse to read that trash.

Edited August 5, 2007 by meh_cd

[GRAND CANNON]

Yeah, I enjoyed Michael Stackpole's books the best out of what I read.

[eugimon]

Man, I know I'm in the minority, but I hated the Zhan books as well. I never even finished the second one. There were just too many times I felt like it wasn't "Star Wars." I know that's hard to explain, but I just couldn't imagine them being filmed; Luke disassembling his hand to use the electronics to escape, tying lightsabers to vines and swinging them with the force, or even recovering Luke's lightsaber from Cloud City... yeah right.

Actually, the only Star Wars book that I've read and really liked was the Episode III adaption by Stover. I liked it so much in fact that it ruined the movie for me. If Episode III would have been filmed exactly like that book it would have rivaled the original for second place on my list. (as it is Revenge is fourth after the OT)

Sorry for the negativity.

Bah humbug! Get off my lawn, you stupid kids!

I'm with you, the zhan books were trash. I know the SW fans like to hold these books up like they were books in the bible, but come on, the big bad smurf dude knows every culture in the galaxy by studying their artwork? Just one more item on a short list of sci-fi mumbo-jumbo that I find more ridiculous than spirita.

[Chewie]

Going to clearly be the black sheep here but I love them all save for the Hive Trilogy.

They are written well and I think most of you guys miss the fact that the OT wasn't all the spectacular in the first place.

[eugimon]

they are not well written, they just go around and around in circles. The first few years was always about some new empire threat to the fledgling new republic, can luke stop the threat (which was always: a threat more scary than the death star!!!) in time while han and leia desperately try to stop the political infighting in time??? And in between we had the: luke hears of some force related crap out in the middle of nowhere, han and leia desperately try to save him!

The latest round of books: a new threat even more dire than the old Empire approaches! Can luke and the jedi defeat them while han and leia desperatly try to save the fledgling new republic before it's too late???

[Lynx7725]

I'm not a big fan of Star Wars but did follow the X-Wing books, which are well written. I think the primary problem I have with the EU is that they always try to rehash the old characters -- it's always Luke saving the Republic, it's always Han doing some daring stunt with Leia cheering in the background. Honestly, if these guys were actually alive, the mileage on their clocks would have killed them off already.

I think that's why the X-Wing books are so interesting. Yes, the key characters are important, but they are peripheral to the story -- they provide some high-level backstory but let the main book characters do the work. That shows us that the universe is really bigger than just Luke, Han, Leia and a sock puppet -- which gives more interesting texture to the story.

[kung flu]

aren't some of the computer games EU as well, as for the books never read them, but I have read the comics Dark Empire and Shadows of the Empire, both in my opinion are crap, well shadows was ok.

[lord_breetai]

P.S. - Regarding Chewie's death... it was IMO, just a stupid little stunt to make something important out of a particularly stupid story arc... the Y.Vong Invasion... ho hum. Kill off a character well loved in the movies and such and throw in a bunch of hack characters. Yay.

They wanted to kill off all the old movie characters to make way for the new generation. Chewie is just the only one Lucasfilm let them kill.

[Keith]

Back where I come form, we call it licensed fanfiction garbage!

[HoveringCheesecake]

I suggest some of you try out the Rogue Squadron books. They don't focus on the main characters from the OT. *gasp*

Unless you include Wedge in that list. But common... its Wedge.

[Sumdumgai]

Only EU stuff I find interesting is Knights of the Old Republic I and II, which could have been better (like if they hadn't rushed to get the games out). I've read the Republic Comics covering the end of the Clone Wars just to know what was going on. Left much to be desired. It was licensed American doujinshi as far as I'm concerned. Although I did like some of the characters.

[Fatalist]

Ive read the Zahn stuff and liked it. But what I enjoyed reading was the "Tales from...." books. They gave some interesting takes on background characters that was somewhat enjoyable.

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

We had another thread like this some time ago.

I hate all the EU too. It changed from STAR WARS to 'crap science fiction with Star Wars Characters'.

In order to cater to the writer's need to inflate special effects from the movies, they hyped up the Jedi powers (shifting star destroyers in orbit), created crazy technology (the Suncrusher?!?!?! WTF!??!) and in the process created stories which lost the soul of STAR WARS.

[eugimon]

We had another thread like this some time ago.

I hate all the EU too. It changed from STAR WARS to 'crap science fiction with Star Wars Characters'.

In order to cater to the writer's need to inflate special effects from the movies, they hyped up the Jedi powers (shifting star destroyers in orbit), created crazy technology (the Suncrusher?!?!?! WTF!??!) and in the process created stories which lost the soul of STAR WARS.

I do believe that when luke used his force powers to affect the very molecules of vader's summer villa, that the height of force farce was reached.

[strtkwr]

OK, I am also in the minority here, but I enjoyed the NJO series, as well as the new Legacy of the Force series. I will agree that for awhile, it seemed like the books were all about trying to top the movies and previous books in terms of threats that went nowhere, and it was getting a little boring.

What I liked about the NJO series was that they did kill off characters (both movie and EU), had the New Republic fall, and practically destroyed Courscant. It was the first time that a book series made changes to the universe. I thought the ending was a little abrupt, but I really enjoyed most of the books.

What I found is that my enjoyment depends on the author. Tim Zahn is in my opinion the best SW author. Troy Denning is pretty good, as long as he does not write about Jedi. The man makes them waaaaay too powerful, as shown in the Joiner trilogy. I really like Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston as well. The rest are either only OK or really lousy.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

[mikeszekely]

I liked all of Zahn's books except Outbound Flight. Zahn's the one of only two writers that I felt were trying to carry the Star Wars universe into the future and not just tricking someone into publishing their crappy fanfiction.

The other is Drew Karpyshyn. He's worked for both Wizards of the Coast and BioWare. He wrote all the scenarios and dialog for the first Knights of the Old Republic game, as well as Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, the only EU novel I enjoyed that wasn't written by Zahn.

[Duke Togo]

The EU, to me, always seemed to me to be little more than glorified fan fiction.

Edited August 6, 2007 by Duke Togo

[HoveringCheesecake]

We had another thread like this some time ago.

I hate all the EU too. It changed from STAR WARS to 'crap science fiction with Star Wars Characters'.

In order to cater to the writer's need to inflate special effects from the movies, they hyped up the Jedi powers (shifting star destroyers in orbit), created crazy technology (the Suncrusher?!?!?! WTF!??!) and in the process created stories which lost the soul of STAR WARS.

Once again, I will mention the Rogue Squadron books. They contain none of that. Good old X-wing vs. TIE Fighter dogfights.

Edited August 5, 2007 by meh_cd

[Black Valkyrie]

Only read the first novel and checked the others, overall all crap. The only SW books I have now are the manga from the SW-OT.

[Chewie]

The EU, to me, always seemed to me to be little more than glamorized fan fiction.

But if you get right down to it, unless Lucas writes it, isn't it all some sort of fan-fic anyway? Doesn't matter if it's some great author whom the world adores. They're still writing about someone else's work as some sort of fan.

[Roy Focker]

they are not well written, they just go around and around in circles. The first few years was always about some new empire threat to the fledgling new republic, can luke stop the threat (which was always: a threat more scary than the death star!!!) in time while han and leia desperately try to stop the political infighting in time??? And in between we had the: luke hears of some force related crap out in the middle of nowhere, han and leia desperately try to save him!

I see you have read them all. Luke hears some force related crap were the worst of all. Should I give a crap that Luke get a boner from the force and goes to find out why?

[eugimon]

I see you have read them all. Luke hears some force related crap were the worst of all. Should I give a poo that Luke get a boner from the force and goes to find out why?

yeah, when I was a kid, I read the books, I admit it. I knew no better.

And No, Luke never learns anything in the books that carry on to any of the other books. None of the Force "secrets" he learns turn out to be anything other than: in the end, your friends and family are what's important. Typical saturday morning cartoon arm chair moralism. His powers varried widely throughout the various books... in one book you would have him literaly using the force to tear down vader's hidden retreat molecule by molecule, or levitating by walking on "force pads" and then you would have him getting his ass wupped by leia in a sparring match. WTF. He was constantly meeting hidden force sensitives who were "even more powerful than me!" He basically became the wolverine of the EU. He was everywhere and anytime a writer wanted to introduce a new "even more powerful threat to the galaxy than the death star" the writer would have said character or plot device beat luke a new one. It's just old and tired.

i particularly loathed the book where luke falls in love with the spirit of a fallen jedi trapped in the AI of a derelict starship. I'm not making this up.

Edited August 5, 2007 by eugimon

[Duke Togo]

I, of course, meant glorified, not glamorized.

[The Shade]

For all the SW fanboys out there who have bought every piece of SW expanded universe crap there is, I would just like to see their reactions if Lucas ever decided to do Eps 7-9 and disregarded all of the EU books & comics. I wonder how many of them would crap their pants?

[Mr March]

I wouldn't go so far as to call Zahn a great writer, but I did find his take on post-ROTJ Star Wars rather enjoyable. Especially parts of the books that introduced form and title to things I always wanted to know about the Star Wars universe, like the name Coruscant. But after Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy and Veitch/Kennedy's Dark Empire comic books, I was pretty much tired with the EU and the rather recycled silliness of the stories despite their entertainment value. Which is ironic, since these two series birthed the early 1990's Star Wars renaissance that continues to soak up so much money some 16 years later.

It's a hilarious dichotomy, but I always felt Episode One made a lot of the EU look good by comparison whereas Episode Three was better than any EU ever made. Kinda sad actually

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Have you guys read the 'Conquest' fanfic?

I haven't read that many of the EU books (got sick of them really fast - Eugimon summed their plots up nicely) but I actually enjoyed Mike Wong's 'Conquest' fanfic better than any 'official' EU story.

What I liked about Mike's fanfic compared to the offical EU was that he did not go crazy with the force and super-powered more powerful than the Death Star single man starfighters. Oh, and no trilogy characters play major roles in the story. Somehow its better that way.

[Vermillion21]

i particularly loathed the book where luke falls in love with the spirit of a fallen jedi trapped in the AI of a derelict starship. I'm not making this up.

Ha Ha Ha

:lol:

I think this plot idea was used in an episode of the 90s update of "The Outer Limits".

[wolfx]

Yeah, I enjoyed Michael Stackpole's books the best out of what I read.

Don't know about Starwars EU, but i think i loathe the later books of battletech written by Stackpole. Felt like i was reading something that was building up to a climax which ended with a non-orgasm.

And as for starwars books..... i plan to pick up the X-wing ones since it seems to be highly acclaimed. I read the 3 Timothy Zahn books and thought they were great but nothing beyond those.