testosterone boys and harlequin girls

[tears_of_nienna]

I still have no job and no life, so I'm going to ramble about the Star Wars EU for awhile. This started out as a reply to beingdrowned's post at starwars_eu (caution! Sacrifice spoilers!), but I decided to expand it into my personal Star Wars manifesto--spoiler warnings still apply.

Comments

[jeditrilobite]

Hm, I think that you've beat me in fan longevity - I only got into Star Wars when I was brought to the special editions in the theaters, although I was sorta aware of the movies before that.

I agree with you about the last bit - how things have been stretched out, to a degree - how conflicts just keep coming up - I think that it was well done (although fairly inadvertently) during the Bantam years, but with the NJO a new problem arose, at just how big and overreaching the project one. My main complaint was with the huge number of authors and length of the series - too many authors and too long, which resulted in jilted storytelling and inconsistant characterizations. Jaina would be one person one story, then another author would take her off on another tangent. Legacy for me is proving to be what the NJO should have been - a tight storyline that's somewhat engaging and completely planned out. I, for one, am enjoying it somewhat. Not as much as the Bantam books, but more than the NJO and the Swarm War (which was fun, but ultimately throwaway. Same thing with the Vong - where the hell have they been?)

I never really critically looked at Star Wars until sometime after Attack of the Clones when I really realised that the movies weren't that great - fun, but nowhere near the level of the OT, and the same thing went with the books, although I was critical of the Crystal Star from the start.

[tears_of_nienna]

Jaina would be one person one story, then another author would take her off on another tangent.

Exactly! It's almost impossible to keep the characterization consistent when you've got that many writers and that many plots going on.

...Was Crystal Star the one with the giant blob that ate Anakin Solo or something? I remember being so bored with that one.

[sunnyskywalker]

Yes. The blob named Waru from an alternate dimension. This was the second SW book I ever read - it's a wonder I didn't quit then. Of course, I was about 11 and just the idea of books which had more SW was so awesome I hardly cared what it was about.

[tears_of_nienna]

Oh, Waru. Good times. Or...you know...not. ;D

[sunnyskywalker]

Not :D I haven't read that book in about ten years, and I still remember way too many details. (Instead of hair dye, Leia has little colored crawly-things in her hair - but she's annoyed because she gave Chewie all the black and silver crawlers and had to use the boring colors for herself - and Han's ex-girlfriend Xaverri makes a cameo appearance, and Jaina had a futuristic Swiss Army Knife, and Jacen became Master of the Myrmidons... yeah.) I want that brain space back!

[tears_of_nienna]

I remember thinking that Xaverri was a guy for about a chapter. This is probably why I shouldn't skim stuff. ;)

...And I'm not going to lie, I wanted some of those color crawly things.

[sunnyskywalker]

The idea of things crawling in my hair creeps me out, even if they do come in pretty colors.

Weird, I think I had the same impression of Xaverri at first. Can't remember why now. But it might be something in the text rather than skimming :D

Incidentally, I heard a rumor that McIntyre just dusted off a Star Trek script she didn't sell and plugged the SW characters in instead. I wonder if that's true?

[tears_of_nienna]

Maybe McIntyre was trying to tell us something about Han's past? XD

Hm...I've never read a Star Trek novel, so I can't speak as to whether something so crappy would fly in that fandom. ;) But it never felt quite like the Star Wars universe, so I could believe it.

[sunnyskywalker]

That would have been interesting if she did. Sadly, nothing interesting actually happened. (For crappy SW books with much more slashy subtext, there's always The Courtship of Princess Leia. Han even checks out Isolder's outfit while grudgingly admiring his manly jaw and toned abs.)

I also felt like the story didn't quite feel like SW, so I could believe it was originally designed for something else.

[tears_of_nienna]

Oh, Courtship. I wonder if that's still as cracky as I remember it. The Gun of Command, crazy Ta'a Chume, and Han staring into a hole in the ground waiting for a whuffa worm or something...

Damn it, now I want to reread the whole Bantam series. ;)

[sunnyskywalker]

Yes, it is that cracky! Threepio sings, too. About Han. Because Han asked Threepio to help him with his love life. It's so bad, it's good.

[tears_of_nienna]

OMG the song!! I can't believe I forgot about the song. And that thing about Han being related to royalty, only it was pirate royalty or something so it didn't count...

Arg, I'm going to have to brave the spider-infested basement to find that book now. ;D

[sunnyskywalker]

I know! I can't bring myself to get rid of that book, and have been reading through it and posting chapter recaps because it ate my brain.

[jeditrilobite]

I think that the overlong storyline was the bigger problem, because the EU had gone on for years with different authors, filling in the store little by little, which worked fairly well, some books aside.

And yes, that's Crystal Star, and it sucks. Horribly.

[tears_of_nienna]

Yeah. I agree with what other!Sarah said--if they stick to standalones or trilogies after this, that might be okay. A nice, tight plotline with one author.

Yeah, Crystal Star, aka The One Where the Twins Get Kidnapped. No, Not That One, The Other One. No, The Other Other One. Yeah, That One.

[jeditrilobite]

There are some fine standalone novels out there - although not many.

That one? Or that one?