Star Wars

[ttestagr]

To clean up Raa's story thread a little, I bring you this thread. I ranted on my thoughts of the EU there:

Aside from the original Thrawn Trilogy and the early Rogue Sqadron series, the EU sucked monkey ass.

Luke turning to the dark side to try to find a way to defeat the clone Palpatine was horribly forced and just a stupid plot twist.

The Jedi Academy trilogy butchered the characters and killed off Leia's jedi training (which was half done by the Thrawn books, and just about finished by Dark Empire.)

Truce at Bakura, all of the Calista books, and the dark fleet, were forced attempts to give Luke a love interest (and none of them was nearly as interesting or as cool as Mara.)

By the Corellian Trilogy, it had just gotten bad but the Thrawn dualogy was amusing to go through to find where Zahn made fun of the rest of the EU.

The NJO pulled too much crap out of the plothole in its ass to be taken seriously, and killed off characters for no good reason. Not to mention that it dragged obscenely and became all but unreadable by the middle. The Vong had potential to be the best villains since Thrawn (which isn't hard though considering the rest) but failed because of the same problems I mentioned above. Not to mention that giving them every advantage militarily (their weapons, shields, armor, ships, and ground weapons all had an advantage over the traditional tech) was a horrible plot device that was unbelievable.

In conclusion, when I do the Star Wars fic that has been kicking around in my head, the only sources I'm using are the OT and the Thrawn trilogy. I'll make everything else the fuck up.

The problem is exactly that DNG, she restarted. During the Thrawn trilogy she was at around the same level Luke was in The Empire Strikes Back and at worse just slightly behind him. He progressed from there to become a full jedi in a year with no master to train him. From the Thrawn trilogy Leia progessed to defeating Palpatine with Lukes help within two years (and that wasn't a case where she just lent power to Luke and he did all of the work, she was just as or more responsible for keeping him from inhabiting her unborn baby.) The trials Leia faced and overcame in Dark Empire were equivalent to Lukes in Return of the Jedi, and that is the point where she should have become a jedi. Kevin Anderson ignored that completely and turned her into nothing more than a politition, something that was continued in later books.

As for NJO, I haven't been in or seen any arguments about it to know how people are when discussing it. It's been awhile since I've read it and my memory about it isn't perfect, but I do remember my feelings while I read it. There were quite a few things that annoyed me, some that disgusted me as a fan, and some that made me go wtf.

Probably the first thing to get such a reaction from me (and it garnered all three I just mentioned,) was Fey'la becoming Chief of State. In the Thrawn trilogy, he committed political suicide during the second book when Leia tricked him into turning his military supporters against him. For every other book, he was struggling to regain his former prominence and failing. During the Thrawn duology he had a last hurrah by trying to scrounge up the navy to save his homeworld, which Han nicely killed by leaking the info to half the planet and getting them all to involved. His ascendance in NJO was out of left field and was improbable bordering on impossible. I remember my thought as I was reading, that Salvatore couldn't have read the rest of the EU books closely if at all and that he was just doing what he wanted.

Then you had Mara's ascendance to Jedi Master. Don't get me wrong, Mara is one of my favorite characters and I like her as much as any of the OT cast. She had it in her to be one of the top jedi of all time, but rest of the EU writers besides Zahn couldn't do write her correctly or just didn't use her and screwed her just as much as Leia (Anderson forgot about her liason job that she was taking right after the Thrawn trilogy and the authors following him emulated him.) Back to the point however, Mara had 5 years as a jedi only, at least 3 that she spent removing herself from her business. At most, she spent only 2 years completely dedicated to being a jedi and some of that was spent sick! Her promotion to master reeked of Luke just doing it just because she was his wife. Which is OOC for her, she wouldn't accept such a thing. Most importantly, the books read like the authors didn't know what to do with Mara or how to write her.

The reason I hated the NJO is that I noticed a lot of crap like that. Salvatore started it, but the authors continued to try to use EU material and using it wrong. And badly too, but that is just my personal opinion.

http://www.theforce.net/timeline/sequel.asp
http://www.theforce.net/timeline/sequel2.asp
http://www.theforce.net/timeline/njo.asp
The Thrawn duology was 20 years after Yavin, Survivors Quest was 22 years after (which showed Mara still extracting herself from her business,) and Vector Prime 25 years after. And while she was around since 9 years after Yavin and Zahn's original trilogy, she didn't become a jedi till the duology 11 years after. Anderson didn't have her stay at the Academy, and until the duology everyone had her drop in for a few days at a time at most. Even when she made her sacrifice and became a jedi, she was still under trained (she commented at the end of the duology that she still needed more training.) With her poisoning before Vector Prime, there just isn't enough time for her to become a master with just her own merits.

My problem with Fey'la is that he wasn't waiting in the shadows to return. He was always there trying to maneuver his way back into influence, there wasn't enough time between his last failure and embarressment (which was huge, the destruction of Caamas was a huge hit against the bothan race had half the galaxy looking to commit genocide on them.) With that as debacle happening to him right before, its ridiculous that he'd be able to win the top spot in the government. That big of a turnaround just doesn't happen in under 5 years.




@GH: The cartoon was the only good thing to come out of the prequels period. The movies sucked completely, including any ties between them and the cartoon. Grievous ended up a joke, as did the rest of his characters including the Emperor and Vader

On those notes, I have a Star Wars fic planned. It's been in the planning stages forever now, but the basic concept was that Palpatine knew of Vader's offer to Luke in the ESB because he had Mara spying on him when she wasn't on assasinations. This story has him changing her orders to spy on Luke after the first time Luke and Vader meet after ANH.


Here is some fanfiction for you though:
A Path of Your Own Choosing: http://boards.theforce.net/The_Saga/b10476/18289295

Wake Up Little Padawan:
http://boards.theforce.net/The_Saga/b10476/14387834/?12

Padawannabe With Me:
http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/24100600/p1/?0

Destiny Of The Skywalkers: Book 1:
http://boards.theforce.net/The_Saga/b10476/19044518/

Legacy of Light:
http://boards.theforce.net/The_Saga/b10476/18055139/?13

In Love and War (this also has two sequels if you enjoy this one):
http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?top...54893&replies=1

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

I started a Star Wars/UC Gundam crossover awhile back, with remnants of Zeon invading the Star Wars galaxy in the direct aftermath of the events of Unifying Force. Revised it after the first few chapters, then hit a roadblock and never got around it. Fic's still on FF.net, though.

Edit: I should note that Zeonic Advance is a much, MUCH earlier fic of mine, and my skills were not as high writing it back then as they are now. The fic was last revised in late '05, but the revised prologue I posted then had actually been on my harddrive since '04...

2nd Edit: Also, godspeed in doing what you can to bring good fanfiction to the Star Wars section. With the release of the prequels, the section has been becoming increasingly overrun with yaoi jihadists, as you may have noticed.

 

[ttestagr]

I hate the prequels, so I pretty much avoid any stories about them. Oh, and here is another batch of non-yaoi fics:

Death Angel:
http://boards.theforce.net/Beyond_the_Saga...477/21939257/?1

The Dividing Factor:
http://fanfic.theforce.net/fanfic.asp?action=view&ID=930

Infinite Possibilities:
http://fanfic.theforce.net/fanfic.asp?action=view&ID=1003

Journey of Discovery: Books 1-3 (Author Page):
http://www.fanfiction.net/u/262148/

Drive You Mild:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2212346/1/




In case you didn't notice, I mostly read Luke/Mara stories in this fandom.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

If I may throw in my own two cents here?

Who's you fav. non Force user from the Original Trilogy?

For me, it was Admiral Firmus Piett.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

TK-421.

 

[toraneko]

Who's you fav. non Force user from the Original Trilogy?

Three-way tie between Han Solo, Wedge Antilles, and Chewbacca.

Boba Fett would have had a place, but the Sarlacc scene in Return of the Jedi makes him a joke.

He gets his comeuppance in Lego Star Wars II, though. Double-powered gun + thermal detonators + jetpack hover + enemy-seeking rockets (unlockable that applies only to Fett) = WIN.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Boba actually survived the Sarlacc, for those of you who didn't know. He blew it up from the inside and came out the other end, all while being digested and psychically Force-tortured. In the novels currently being written (taking place about fifty years after the original trilogy) he and Han Solo team up to fight the increasingly totalitarian Galactic Alliance. Which will be really fucking awesome to see.

 

[MC80a Liberty]

Boba actually survived the Sarlacc, for those of you who didn't know. He blew it up from the inside and came out the other end, all while being digested and psychically Force-tortured. In the novels currently being written (taking place about fifty years after the original trilogy) he and Han Solo team up to fight the increasingly totalitarian Galactic Alliance. Which will be really fucking awesome to see.

It would be, if the overwhelming majority of the EU wasn't written like bad fanfiction, the most recent EU wasn't reaching new lows and if Karen Traviss wasn't the worst author since K. J. Anderson.

Besides, in the original trilogy all Fett does is look cool, track down the Falcon and get killed by a blind man. Hardly the uber-badass the EU made him after his ressurection.

 

[GenocideHeart]

I'm one of the few who actually LIKE Grand Moff Tarkin. Imagine that.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

Fear will keep the local systems in line.

 

[GenocideHeart]

Fear will keep the local systems in line.

Why keep them in line? They aren't even good slaves - rebellion is everywhere. I say blow them all up and replace 'em with clones. Clones are cheap - they don't rebel, they don't complain if they lose a random body pat, and they don't ask for pay.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

They also all look the god damn same. I'm all for uniformity, but you've got to have some bloody variety once in a while!

Now, Mara and Jaina clones...

 

[ttestagr]

Mara clones ftw!

Choices: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2879120/1/

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

I have an interesting problem, of the writing nature, I'd like to raise in regards to the Knights of the Old Republic game.

A friend on another website asked me to do a version of the confrontation on the Rakatan Temple summit (you know the one), where Revan (Male) and Bastila, through some inexplicable process, merge into a single entity calling itself (or maybe the term would be hirself?) "Bastian".

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

...I won't even comment on that idea beyond saying I do not approve of it.

On another Star Wars note:

YES! YES! I KNEW IT! THERE'S STILL MULTIPLE GROUPS OF SITH ALL OVER THE GALAXY! AND ALL HAIL JACEN SOLO, DARK LORD OF THE SITH!

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Oh? And why's that?

 

[ttestagr]

One of the best parts about KOTOR was Revan and his seduction of Bastila. Combining them like that takes that away and leaves you with not much to support a story. They don't have any competing issues or problems to make this a good idea.


If you want to join two people together like that in the Star Wars universe, these are the pairs I would use: Brianna/Visas, Canderous/Carth, Canderous/Bao Dur, HK-47/C3PO, and Vader/Leia.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

No, no, no. Revan must possess/merge with Anakin Solo at Myrkr, obviously.

 

[ttestagr]

I'd rather see him possess Luke, just in time for his first fight with Daddy. Or right after the second before he gets wtfowned by Palpatine.

 

[Dark Knight Gafgar]

NO WHINY FARMBOYS.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Hmm..... Brianna and Visas... I've had that idea before. But how to use it?

 

[ttestagr]

Have them merge fully physically, but not mentally. Then have them be competitive for the Exiles attentions. Proceed to have their dislike of each other turn this new being to the darkside. Have exile seduce it back to neutralness (preferably with much lemon, and a threesome where they only seperate when they have sex.) Mix. Present. Win. ???? Profit.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Well, that could work. I''ll keep it in mind. Problem is though, I can't do dialogue very well. I can do descriptive work easily, but not dialogue.

 

[ttestagr]

You only get better with practice. I suggest setting aside a piece of work that is dialogue heavy, and using it to work on that part of your writing.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

I suppose...

I'll make a start on it then, although someone else'll have to write the lemony bits.