Text: John Ostrander
Art: Jan Duursema
Cover: Rodolfo Migliari
Published: February 1st, 2011
Era: Pre-Republic

Dawn of the Jedi, Issue 0 is not a normal introduction to a new EU story. What we have is a tour of how the galaxy far, far away worked approxiametly 36,453 years BBY. There is no story here to speak of. This issue is more of a guidebook, describing this time long before the founding of the Republic.

Cover of Dawn of the Jedi 0

The guidebook format is a good choice. Especially if it spares us having to suffer through long expository dialogue and gets us to the meat of the story that much faster.

Fans of Tales of the Jedi, Knights of the Old Republic (the games and the comics), Lost Tribe of the Sith and other tales from the ancient history of Star Wars will find some of this familiar. We  can hope that all this background and world building does pay off in the actual story.

Yes, there is real world building going on. It is necessary since we are so far removed from the events of the films and the majority of the EU. This is an era before the invention of hyperspace travel and lightsabers. With nothing faster than light travel, the majority of the story is focused on one system; the Tython System.

This isn’t what I would call exciting reading, but I would recommend it to anyone who is going to be reading the series, and the series shows great promise. Ostrander and Duursema have rarely steered fans wrong. I’m glad to see that they are taking a chance with a story that is so far removed from anything we know.

3/5 Kath Hounds

Reviewed by Paul DePaola
All staff members can be contacted at staff@eucantina.net

The cover art for the second issue of Blood Ties: Boba Fett is Dead has been released today, courtesy of Rebelscum.com. Writer Tom Taylor commented on the cover on his website:

This is probably my favorite cover of our whole upcoming Star Wars: Blood Ties series. This spent a long time as my background image when the brilliant Chris Scalf first sent it my way.

You can view the cover below.

Blood Ties: Boba Fett is Dead #2

Blood Ties: Boba Fett is Dead kicks off this April. You can expect to read our speculation on the series and an exclusive interview with one of the creators in the coming months.

After watching episode 4.16 of The Clone Wars, “Friends and Enemies”, fans of the Star Wars Expanded Universe had several pleasant surprises. In this week’s edition of Expanding The Clone Wars we dive in and examine how this episode fits in with current canon!

Our review of this episode can be found here.

 Nal Hutta

The last time we saw Nal Hutta in The Clone Wars was in Episode 3.9, “Hunt for Ziro”. In both episodes of The Clone Wars the surface of Nal Hutta matches what we have seen in previous canon. For example, it is very similar to the murky world we get to explore in the video game, The Old Republic. Contrary to current lore however, the Nal Hutta we see in The Clone Wars is a ring world and its moon Nar Shaddaa is nowhere to be seen.

We must admit that appearances of Nal Hutta in the Expanded Universe haven’t been completely consistent. In The Old Republic it is a sickly yellowish world with no rings, while in Empire at War it is shown as a pinkish green planet (with no rings). The rings we see in The Clone Wars could be debris from derelict ships that can only be seen in certain lighting. Other than that I am at a loss.

Gardulla the Hutt’s Palace

We see Gardulla the Hutt’s Palace again in this episode and this raises up an old EU wound brought about in “Hunt for Ziro”. While we don’t actually see her in this episode, we know Gardulla the Hutt is still alive because she made an appearance in the last Nal Hutta episode.

In the video game Bounty Hunter, Jango Fett pushed Gardulla into the maw of a krayt dragon obviously killing her. But wait! In The Clone Wars she returns and doesn’t have so much as a scratch to show for her trip into the krayt’s digestive tract!

Gorga the Hutt

Gorga the Hutt as seen in The Clone Wars and in the EU

When I first discovered that one of the Hutts we saw on the Hutt Grand Council was Gorga Desilijic Aarrpo, I grew incredibly excited! Gorga first made his appearance in the comic Boba Fett: Bounty on Bar-Kooda as the new crime lord of his deceased uncle Jabba the Hutt’s criminal empire.

Gorga doesn’t look the same as he did in the EU though. In the Clone Wars, he sports an oversized monocle and headset leaving us to assume some point decades later he ditches the monocle to look like a normal, obese Hutt.

Sebulba

A poster of Sebulba wearing his Podracing goggles can be seen behind a patron in the cantina. On the poster it states that he will be signing autographs. In Jedi Quest: The Dangerous Games, which takes place five years after The Phantom Menace, Sebulba faces off against Anakin in a podrace during the Galactic Games. Three years later, Sebulba races a heavily modified Pug-F Gargatuan podracer in the video game, Racer Revenge.

It is safe to assume that the dug is still racing well into the Clone Wars, perhaps travelling the galaxy and passing through Nal Hutta to sign autographs for his adoring fans while on the way to a race on Gamorr or Ryloth.

Ithorians

The Ithorian bartender we see in the cantina doesn’t speak Basic and has to use a rather clumsy translator that sits on his head. This is a pleasant surprise for EU fans because The Clone Wars didn’t seem to have had any issue with making characters like Plo Koon and Bossk speak perfect Basic even though in pretty much all existing canon they spoke their native tongues. Examples of which are in Clone Wars: Adventures Volume 3 and Republic: The Stark Hyperspace War where Plo Koon is clearly seen talking in Kel Dor.

Ithorians can’t speak Basic because they have two mouths and four throats (as demonstrated by the Ithorian Jedi Master Roron Corobb in the Clone Wars micro-series when he uses the Force to release a guttural roar that shatters plasteel).

Spaceships

Keen-eyed Expanded Universe fans would have noticed the appearance of a couple of beloved ships.

The first ship Cad Bane and Moralo Eval get their hands on as they flee Nal Hutta is a Corellian Engineering Corporation YV-666 light freighter! Years after the Clone Wars, the bounty hunter Bossk used a heavily modified YV-666 light freighter called the Hound’s Tooth. This model ship made its first appearance in the short story, “Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk” found in the Tales of the Bounty Hunters anthology. We don’t actually see an image of the ship until Shadows of the Empire.

Luxury Yacht 3000, as seen in The Clone Wars and in the EU as Lando Calrissian's ship

The second ship the bounty hunters use is a SoroSuub Personal Luxury Yacht 3000, first introduced in the novel Heir to the Empire. This is the same model ship used by Lando Calrissian, owner of the Lady Luck, and Mara Jade, owner of the Jade Fire’s. Wouldn’t it just be wild if one of them acquired this same ship Obi-Wan uses in The Clone Wars decades later? Lando would have to throw in a hot tub to personalize it a bit.

Hats and Helmets

You’ve probably already heard it a million times, but in case you missed it, Ralph McQuarrie’s The Empire Strikes Back Boba Fett helmet concept was used for Rako Hardeen’s helmet.

Also, when Bane is looking for a new hat in the pawn shop he twirls Indiana Jones’ signature fedora before choosing a hat that is very similar in design to the smuggler Nico Okarr’s hat we saw in The Old Republic Return cinematic trailer.

Other stuff

Our favorite singer Sy Snootles makes a cameo in this episode when she is being escorted away from the cantina for being drunk and disorderly. Captain Rex’s loyalty to the Jedi Council seems to be wavering since the Jedi Master Krell incident on Umbara. Finally, Anakin understands the Bith language when talking to the Bith starship dealer. This is a skill Anakin shows in the novel Labyrinth of Evil.

Sources

Boba Fett: Bounty on Bar-Kooda, Bounty Hunter, Clone Wars: Adventures Volume 3, Clone Wars micro-series, Empire at War, Heir to the Empire, Jedi Quest: The Dangerous Games, Labyrinth of Evil, Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk, Racer Revenge, Republic: The Stark Hyperspace War, Shadows of the Empire, The Old Republic.

Make sure you join us next week when some of our favorite bounty hunters in Episode 4.17, “The Box”! If you have any questions or comments or an Expanded Universe connection from “Friends and Enemies” that I may have missed, let us know in the comments down below!

My respects go out to Ian Abercrombie and his family. The talented voice actor who played Supreme Chancellor Palpatine in The Clone Wars became one with the Force on January 26^th. May the Force be with him.

Written by Andy Ury

All staff members can be contacted at staff@eucantina.net

Have the first details regarding the Star Wars live-action television show (codenamed Star Wars: Underworld) begun emerging?

Take this with a grain of salt, but Ain’t It Cool News is reporting that one of the first plot points in the television show will hinge around… time travel! This is a conventional science-fiction plot point that hasn’t seen much play in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but has been utilized more in recent years with books like Riptide. For more details, read on!

From AICN:

“Daniel tells us that one of the series’ first episodes will involve a group of  bandits acquiring the capability of time travel, and using it to travel back in time to stop Darth Vader from ever existing. This is certainly in keeping with past indications we’ve heard about the show – that it would involve the “darker” side of the STAR WARS universe, criminal factions, Empire building, etc. While “time travel” is relatively new to the film and television canon of the STAR WARS universe, it’s a factor that has at least been acknowledge/discussed in the franchise’s “Extended Universe” (details HERE). As such, its potential inclusion in this show is not as remarkable as one might initially believe.”

We should note that AICN points out that this news is from an untested source, but AICN also has a good track record of running information that turns out to be true.

So what do you think, fans? Do you like the idea of time travel? Does going back in time to stop Darth Vader seem ludicrous? Let us know!

Author: Ryder Windham
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: January 31, 2012
Pages: 125
Era: Galactic Civil War

The Millennium Falcon is one of the most famous vehicles in movie history, so it’s only fitting that Lucasfilm and Del Rey would finally give the ship its own book detailing nearly every aspect of the famous YT-1300 Corellian freighter. The Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual combines all of the best aspects of James Luceno’s Millennium Falcon novel, the Incredible Cross-Sections, and the visual guides to give fans an in-depth look at the history, floor plan, and features of Han Solo’s “fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.”

The cover of the Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual

Like many Star Wars fact books, the Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual is set in-universe, and each section begins with an excerpt from the Corellian Engineering Corporation (CEC) YT-1300 Buyer’s Guide. It’s a great way to introduce each of the major sections of the book: The History of Corellian Engineering and the YT-Series, The Millennium Falcon, Piloting a YT-1300, YT-1300 Propulsion, Weapons & Defensive Systems, YT-1300 Engineering Systems, YT-1300 Sensors, and Crew Facilities.

The section on the history of CEC, the manufacturer of the YT-1300, is quite fascinating. It draws comparisons between each of the YT models, complete with floor plans and a retcon on why the Falcon’s floor plan is occasionally inconsistent in various mediums. The pages about the stock upgrades that CEC provides–including massive cargo holds attached to the top of the ship, pontoons for water landings, and a special armored mode which places the cockpit in a secure location in the middle of the ship–are especially interesting.

After a brief history of the ship–author Ryder Windham only included the most important aspects, allowing fans to discover the rest in Luceno’s aforementioned novel–the book analyzes each of the Falcon’s systems, including the hyperdrive, quad laser cannons, sensors, and even the personal quarters of Han and Chewbacca. Some of the information is occasionally repeated, but only enough to put things into context. If you’ve ever wanted to know how a particular part of the Falcon works, this is the book for you.

Windham often injects some humor too, like CEC’s caution that “striking the bulkheads above the cockpit entrance is not recommended” and a reference to Chewbacca’s comb, which has an entire shelf to itself. The artwork by Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas, both of whom are known for their work on such projects as The Essential Atlas, is excellent as well. The cross-sections look like what you might actually find in an owner’s manual, and the illustrations are beautiful.

Of course, the Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual is not without a couple of flaws. There are a few repeated images (even on one page) and the occasional typo or two. Nothing major. The biggest oddity crops up in the part about shield generators, where the book claims that “ray shielding does not stop solid matter.” A smaller version of a ray shield, however, prevents Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Palpatine–physical matter–from escaping the Invisible Hand in Revenge of the Sith. Thankfully, these are very minor nitpicks.

Overall, the Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual is a fantastic resource for those interested in learning more about the famous starship. I will admit that this book wasn’t originally on my radar, but its detailed analysis of each and every one of the Millennium Falcon’s subsystems makes this book a very fascinating read. I learned a thing or two reading this ultimate guide to the Falcon, and there’s a good chance you will as well.

4/5 Kath Hounds

Reviewed by William Devereux

All staff members can be contacted at staff@eucantina.net

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Season 4, Episode 16: Friends and Enemies
Air Date: 27 January, 2012
Written by: Brent Friedman
Directed by: Bosco Ng

Watch the episode here.

Special Guests: Stephen Stanton (Moralo Eval), Kevin Michael Richardson (Hutt henchman)

Before I begin my review, I want to let the readership know that I am not watching these episodes on Cartoon Network. I am Canadian, and I watch on Teletoon. Teletoon has not been broadcasting the previews of next week’s episodes, and as a result those are not part of my reviews.
This week’s episode of The Clone Wars is Friends and Enemies, and is part two of four (which has now been confirmed, in Star Wars Insider 131). Continued from last episode (Deception), Obi-Wan, still disguised as bounty hunter Rako Hardeen, has escaped from prison on Coruscant with Moralo Eval and Cad Bane. They flee to Nal Hutta and intentionally crash their ship into the swamp, hoping to lose any Republic police. They must buy weapons, armor, and a ship, so that they can go to Serenno and link up with Dooku, in order to proceed with their plan to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine. Tensions remain high between Bane and Obi-Wan/Hardeen, to the point where they betray each other to the Hutts. Meanwhile, Anakin, who still does not know that Obi-Wan is alive and undercover, does not approve of the Jedi Council’s decision to not pursue Hardeen. At the Chancellor’s advice, Anakin and Ahsoka travel to Nal Hutta to track down “Obi-Wan’s killer.” Stephen Stanton returns to voice Moralo Eval, and Kevin Michael Richardson (known for numerous Star Wars voices, including fan favorite K’Kruhk in the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars series and famous for voice acting in other shows, like Family Guy, Cleveland Show, American Dad, Ultimate Spider-Man, Green Lantern cartoon, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, etc.) provides the voice of the Hutt Henchman.

The pacing in this episode was considerably better than the last one, which I felt was slow. Indeed, the most salient points of Deception fit nicely into the 30 second recap at the beginning of Friends and Enemies. From there, it was easy to jump into the action. The tension between Obi-Wan/Hardeen and Bane allow for some great moments; Bane does not trust Hardeen, and throws him to the Hutts at the first opportunity. Obi-Wan/Hardeen anticipates this, and is able to turn this betrayal against Bane, ensuring that the three fugitives remain together, despite Bane’s objections.

The Anakin plotline is also very well done. The relationship between Anakin and Palpatine is expanded upon nicely; Palpatine is someone who will listen to all of Anakin’s problems, and give him the advice that the Jedi will not. The Chancellor plants seeds in Anakin’s mind that the Jedi Council are keeping things from him, and that he must act in defiance of them, which is a great prelude to Episode III. Anakin brushes very close to the Dark Side in this episode, and comes close to murdering a few people in order to track down Hardeen. The battle between the Jedi and the fugitives was action-packed, well choreographed, and overall exhilirating.

I love the variety in this episode, and the little nods to the Expanded Universe (to be expanded upon, I presume, in Andy’s “Expanding The Clone Wars” column). The alien diversity on Nal Hutta is significant; we see Ithorians, Twi’leks, Rodians, Bith, Dugs, Gotals, Gamorreans, and others. As the show progresses, we will see more and more aliens, I believe (there was little diversity in seasons one and two, but digital models for many races exist now, and more will be created as time goes on). We also see Zygerrian starfighters (apparently also used by the Hutts), the YV-666 freighter (same design as Bossk’s Hound’s Tooth) and the Personal Luxury Yacht 3000 (same design as Lando Calrissian’s Lady Luck). Even Obi-Wan/Hardeen’s armor is very reminiscent of the original Mandalorian armor concept art.

There are a few plot holes of note. Obi-Wan/Hardeen may have anticipated Bane’s betrayal, but could not have anticipated being gassed in the face. What if that gas had been corrosive?  Or neurotoxic? He was lucky that it was merely knockout gas. Also, why did Anakin use an unarmed diplomatic shuttle to hunt down fugitives? Fortunately, these are minor details, and do not detract from the episode.

All in all, I found this episode to be fast-paced and action-packed, with some great art design. We still know very few details about the plot to kidnap Palpatine (though the conclusion of the arc, Crisis on Naboo, implies that it takes place on Naboo), so there are still many story elements to elucidate. I am looking forward to the rest of this arc.

4/5 Kath Hounds

Next week: Part 3 of 4 of this arc: “The Box”

Reviewed by Andrew Halliday
All staff members can be contacted at staff@eucantina.net

Also be sure to check out EUCantina’s Clone Wars podcast, We Talk Clones, for a different take on each episode, including regular in-depth reviews and discussions.

Author: Ryder Windham
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Release Date: January 1, 2012
Pages: 224
Era: Rise of the Empire

This review contains minor spoilers.

The Wrath of Darth Maul is a somewhat unassuming book that may have slipped under the radar of many fans. It does, however, excellently chronicle the life, death, and even rebirth of one of fandom’s favorite Sith Lords. This Scholastic book is aimed at a younger audience, but Ryder Windham manages to make it enjoyable for fans of all ages, not unlike the well-loved Jedi Apprentice series.

In some ways, this book shares many similarities with the recently-released Darth Plagueis: both fill in the back story of a famous Sith Lord and provide insight into the events of the films. Granted, Darth Maul’s history has already been revealed in the Episode I Journal – Darth Maul and in Darth Plagueis, to some extent, but The Wrath of Darth Maul neatly ties everything together. And when we say everything, we do mean everything. The number one reason for fans to pick up this book is to find out how Darth Maul could have possibly survived his bisection at the end of The Phantom Menace. Thankfully, Windham doesn’t shy away from explaining what happened. Or, at least, part of what happened.

The cover of The Wrath of Darth Maul

The Wrath of Darth Maul begins in the aftermath of The Phantom Menace before quickly jumping back in time to describe how Maul was found (as seen in The Clone Wars), raised, and trained. The reader will often feel bad for Maul, despite the horrible acts he commits over the course of his life. Some of the more gruesome scenes, however, are glossed over. Windham also does a fantastic job of incorporating events from various EU works into the book, particularly the aforementioned Episode I Journal – Darth Maul and Darth Plagueis.

The book deals with Maul’s relationship with his Master, his loneliness, friendships–and lack thereof, and difficult training. More importantly, it lays the groundwork for the return of Darth Maul in the upcoming Season Four finale of The Clone Wars. Many of the characters introduced in last year’s Nightsisters arc make an appearance, paving the way for Savage Oppress’ search for his brother at the end of this season.

I was actually surprised at how much this book reveals, and it makes me wonder just how much of Darth Maul we will see in The Clone Wars. Does the series pick up where the book leaves off, or have readers already had the season finale spoiled? It will be interesting to see how much the TV show and the book overlap, if at all.

The Wrath of Darth Maul is a very interesting book. Those looking for a long novel may be a bit disappointed, thanks to its short page count and somewhat large font. But the book doesn’t need to be massive. It does a great job of detailing the life of Darth Maul, from when Palpatine first found him to his death and inexplicable rebirth. In the end, answers will be found, but they only open up even more question; questions which I hope The Clone Wars will answer.

4.5/5 Kath Hounds

Reviewed by William Devereux

All staff members can be contacted at staff@eucantina.net

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The novels, as acclaimed as they are, suffer from a fatal flaw—certain topics, such as the identity of Luke and Leia’s mother, the Clone Wars, and Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side, were off limits, and they continued to be so until the prequel trilogy was released. Because of this, the galaxy far far away was shaped in a way that did not necessarily mesh with what we learned from the prequel trilogy. Even more, Luke and Leia were left in the dark for many years about their mother as well as the events surrounding Anakin’s fall (even though Obi-Wan Kenobi could have most certainly told Luke much more information about his past during their discussion on Dagobah during Return of the Jedi or even later visits).

Today, the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe is a very different place than during the New Republic era. This is somewhat understandable, as some 35 years have passed in the timeline since Heir to the Empire. But, even more, the landscape has been changed irrevocably by the knowledge gained from the prequel trilogy. The unique Jedi Order that Luke created, and the government that Leia helped shape, has given way to an almost  carbon copy of what was presented in the prequels.

 The Bantam Era: Tabula Rasa

Picture a time when Star Wars fans did not even know the name of Luke and Leia’s mother. I remember those days very well—when any snippet of information I found regarding the prequel era was welcomed with what can only be described as utter glee. I believed that what was presented in the Return of the Jedi novelization was gospel: that Obi-Wan took Luke to Tatooine because it was where his brother Owen lived, and that Anakin fell into a molten pit.

Okay, so the latter is nearly true, from a certain point of view. The former, however, was one of the pieces of backstory that fell by the wayside in the wake of the prequels.

As previously stated, Timothy Zahn avoided certain topics in the Thrawn Trilogy, but that didn’t stop discrepancies from forming. The biggest one is the incorrect dating of the Clone Wars, which was given to Zahn by Lucasfilm. (Obviously Lucas changed his mind on the timeline.) Another issue was Zahn assuming that the clones were the antagonists during the Clone Wars.  Of course we now know that the clones fought for the Republic.

An important thing to note is that it was still uncommon knowledge that Darth Vader was Luke and Leia’s father; otherwise Thrawn would not have sent the Noghri after Leia and Mara would have known from the beginning about Luke’s parentage. (The revelation that Vader is Luke’s father is a huge turning point for her in The Last Command.)

I, Jedi

As we journey on in the timeline, we see Luke trying to create a new Jedi Order in the Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson and I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole. Anderson introduced us to the lovely idea of the “nub,” meaning a part of the brain that you push on to determine Force sensitivity. There was also a scanning device used. Luke had not yet learned of the concept of midi-chlorians, which could be a good or bad thing.  In I, Jedi, we get more backstory for Force sensitive pilot Corran Horn, which states that his father was 10 years old when he went into hiding at the end of the Clone Wars. This is impossible, as Corran is only a few years younger than Luke and Leia. A retcon for these dating issues has yet to be presented.

Some background for the Jedi Order was presented in The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton and Children of the Jedi Barbara Hambly, where we are introduced to the idea of traveling academies. While Courtship is not entirely inaccurate, as it describes the Jedi Order as having a main headquarters, wouldn’t Luke have known about the Jedi Temple on Coruscant? It’s not as if Mon Mothma or other senators would have been unaware of the temple. And they most certainly would have informed Luke of the Jedi prohibition on marriage—and shouldn’t he have learned that from Yoda, anyway? (He knows of this in the novel Survivor’s Quest, but we’ll get to that later.)

And then there’s Luke’s wild bantha chase for his mother in the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy by Michael Kube-McDowell. There’s not much to say about this plotline other than it ends with Luke, unsurprisingly, finding nothing new. It is not unreasonable that nobody in the galaxy, for example Mon Mothma, would know the identity of Luke and Leia’s mother. However, this is another area where we are left to wonder why Luke never asked Obi-Wan or Yoda about his mother. And, if he did, what did they tell him?

These issues are why I tell fans to check publication dates before they read older novels. You might find yourself thinking, “But I thought that Owen was Anakin’s step-brother, not Obi-Wan’s brother!  This novel sucks!” And then you realize that I, Jedi was written four years before Attack of the Clones, and at that time that’s what we all believed.

The New Jedi Order Era – Incorporating Prequel Ideas 

After the release of The Phantom Menace, ideas from the Old Republic began to seep their way into the post-RotJ Expanded Universe. The New Jedi Order series, begun in 1999 with the novel Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore, introduced Master/Apprentice relationships to Luke’s Jedi Order, with Mara training Jaina Solo and Luke training Jacen and Anakin Solo. (The upcoming novel Scourge, by Jeff Grubb, will feature a Master going in search of information regarding the death of his former apprentice. This novel will take place between 19 ABY and 22 ABY, so Luke must have been using the Master/Apprentice idea early on, even though it seemed to me that in Vision of the Future, he was the only Master.)

A major change in Luke’s Order is the reformation of the Jedi Council during the novel Destiny’s Way by Walter Jon Williams. It is different from the original, in that it contains politicians as well as Jedi. (This concept is later discarded for the traditional Jedi Council.)

Luke later discovers the remnants of the Jedi Temple in Rebel Stand by Aaron Allston. Later, in the additions to the end of Return of the Jedi in the 2004 DVD release, we learn that the Jedi Temple was still standing as of the events of the film. Perhaps the Vong destroyed it, but at the time of the novel’s release (2002) it seemed clear that Luke had never been there before. This is interesting to note as the in-universe text The Jedi Path, written by Daniel Wallace, is said to have been found by Luke prior to the events of the New Jedi Order series, which would explain why Luke suddenly has so much more knowledge about the old Jedi Order.

Tatooine Ghost

Two novels released during the time of the prequels directly connect with ideas put forth in those films. First we have Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning, in which Han and Leia travel to Tatooine and Leia learns information about Anakin Skywalker’s past. She learns about him being a slave and what happened to her grandmother, Shmi. I enjoy this novel greatly, but I always want to smack Luke when Leia comms him to tell him that Anakin Skywalker was a slave, and Luke replies something like, “Yeah, I knew that already.” Way to tell your sister, Luke! But even though Leia learns all this information about her father, she still does not know the identity of her mother, in keeping with the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy.

The novel Survivor’s Quest by Timothy Zahn explores the idea of Jedi marriage. Luke has been married to Mara Jade for three years, and is wondering what makes his Order different from the old. By the end of the novel, he concludes that whatever restrictions the old Jedi Order placed on marriage were no longer relevant. This makes me wonder when Luke first learned of the restriction, and if he knew it before getting married, why he didn’t consider the consequences back then.

This was an interesting period for Star Wars novels, as Del Rey experimented with a long series and went further into the timeline than ever before. While prequel ideas were incorporated, they did not take over the unique galaxy that many authors created.

Post-NJO – Everything is the Same

And lo, Revenge of the Sith was released upon the land, and it was good. And lo, we finally knew the truth about Anakin’s fall, all the intricacies, everything that could never be discussed before in the Expanded Universe.

First order of business? Why, have Luke and Leia find out about the identity of their mother from R2-D2, of course!

Let me explain.  For so many years, since first learning about Padme Amidala myself, I wanted Luke and Leia to find out who she was. They deserved to know about their mother. But this subplot was shoehorned into the Dark Nest Trilogy by Troy Denning. At one point, Jacen Solo views a hologram of his grandfather and thinks that he wasn’t such a bad guy. This, my friends, is what we call foreshadowing.

Personally, I would much rather have read a standalone novel in which Luke and Leia travel to Naboo and learn about Padme. Not to mention, meet their cousins, the Naberries. (It is established through other sources that Luke and Leia traveled to Naboo after the Swarm War and met the Naberries, although Leia and Pooja already knew each other from their days in the Imperial Senate. However, the Naberries have not appeared in any other EU novels.)

Also during this series, Luke declares himself Grand Master, a position carried over from the prequel-era EU.

After Dark Nest, Del Rey released two nine-book series, Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi. It is not uncommon for prequel-era characters to be name-dropped or even appear in novels, for example Plo Koon and Aurra Sing, respectively. As of Fate of the Jedi, the Jedi are located mainly in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and seem to be an almost carbon copy of the old Jedi Order, with the exception of the Jedi prohibition on marriage.

The Bantam logo

To me, this is very sad. The Bantam era, as flawed as it was at times, created a wonderful universe that was different from what we came to find in the prequels. Different does not equal bad. I understand the desire for the post-RotJ novels to have some similarities to the prequels, in order to appeal to new fans and bring in even more readers. But Luke created a Jedi Order that was unique, where every Jedi had his or her own strengths to bring to the table. Now, it seems as if all the Jedi are exactly the same. And I really, really miss the Jedi Academy.

Should the characters know everything about the prequel era? It makes sense that Palpatine would have destroyed information. It also makes sense that the characters would learn new information over time. Of course, it would have made the most sense if the characters knew everything to begin with, but such is the downfall of starting the post-RotJ EU before the prequels were released. (The Original Trilogy also suffered the same problem—again, why didn’t Obi-Wan tell Luke about Padme on Dagobah?)

When people bring up the idea of a reboot, they often do so because they are unhappy with the direction of the post-RotJ EU. I, on the other hand, would really only support a reboot because it would allow authors to write novels with the events of the prequels in mind. (Many fanfiction authors do this, including myself.) Luke and Leia could know about Padme from the beginning. There would be no discrepancies with dating, or what we know of the Clone Wars, or Boba Fett’s many backstories.

The question is—would that necessarily make things better?

The first years of the post-RotJ EU were a fabulous time to be a Star Wars fan. The fandom was growing by the year, and there was anticipation for the Special Editions and later the prequels. Fans like myself sucked up every new book they could get, even the Jedi Prince young reader series. It was, for lack of a better word, fun.

So I say keep things the way they are, discrepancies and retcons and all. They are what make Star Wars novels unique and interesting.

-Nanci

Author James Luceno took some time today to chat with Star Wars fans on Facebook. Using the official Star Wars Books Facebook page, Paul answered many questions, mostly about his recently released novel, Darth Plagueis. We’ve taken the questions and answers (leaving out the extra chatter) and collected them below! Please be aware that there are MAJOR spoilers for Darth Plagueis in the transcript. You can read the entire chat here.

Question: I was wondering about Yoda’s line in ROTJ on not dying–”Strong am I with the force, but not that strong.” Was Plagueis’ ability to restore life in the novel based on his strength in the force, or his willingness to explore the “unnatural” (or a bit of both)?

Luceno: I believe that Plagueis’s strength was based on his willingness to go as far as he needed to …

Q: Do you feel that had it come to a contest of lightsabers or Force powers that Sidious would have prevailed anyway?

Luceno:  If it had come to a duel, I think Plagueis may have found a way to undermine his apprentice.

Q: What sparked the idea to begin the book with the scene of the death of Plagueis? Were you trying to connect fans at once to the only part of his story that we’ve heard?

Luceno: I felt that I had to deal with that proverbial elephant in the room. The surprise, if we can call it that, had to be the when rather than the how.

Q: When you were writing the novel and you were writing the novels story right into the time of the events of Episode 1…what was going through your mind as you were writing it?

Luceno: While writing I may as well have been living inside the film.

Q: Any book signings in the near future, James?

Luceno: No signings scheduled, but there’s a good chance I’ll be at Celeb[ration VI].

Q: Who hired Subtext Mining to sabotage Tenebrous’ mining droid?

Luceno: As Plagueis thinks to himself: Rugess Nome had many enemies. I’d take a hard look at Santhe …

Q:  I was curious as to the amount of previous research you put into writing this book, I noticed you included a reference to just about every little tidbit concerning Palpatine every published, I was very impressed and loved the novel.

Luceno: Normally I wouldn’t have had as much time to devote to research. The novel’s cancellation turned out to be a good thing.

Q: Doesn’t it demean Sidious to have him as an apprentice at 50? If he was really manuvering Plagueis the whole time then why not just kill him anyway?

Luceno: The thing is that Palpatine probably never thought of himself as an apprentice, and Plagueis never really treated him as an underling. Palpatine was merely biding his time, waiting for Plagueis to reveal the full depth of his knowledge of the dark side.

Q: What Star Wars book was the most fun to write?

Luceno: I think I had the most fun with Cloak of Deception. I liked dealing with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, and I enjoyed portraying Palpatine and Sidious as two separate characters.

Q: Can you let us know if OneOne-DeeFour was actually wiped and had his name changed to a droid we might know in the star wars universe or was that comment just off the wall and had no real bearing

Luceno:  There’s a scene at the end of Labyrinth of Evil where a couple of droids get the drop on the good guys who are closing in on Sidious’s secret lair. I like to think the 11-4D might have been in that room, and he was surely present when Anakin was fitted with the suit.

Q: When you wrote the book, how much of the story was told to you?

Luceno: Very little of the story was told to me. I was given certain parameters, but I was largely on my own. However, some things I proposed were shot down or reconfigured to satisfy the demands of others.

Q: I know GL doesn’t have much – if anything – to do with the EU works….but he does get involved with some of the major stuff, like his approval for Chewie’s death etc. Curious how high up the chain you had to go in regards to the in universe timing of the end of the Plagueis?

Luceno:  As I’ve said in other forums, GL was the one who said that Plagueis should be a Muun, and that Plagueis should have an “accident” that forces him to wear a mask. GL also weighed in on other matters, though mostly through Howard Roffman — then president of LucasArts — with whom I worked most closely.

Q: What are your feelings on Midi-chlorians after spending so much time writing and thinking about the for this book?

Luceno:  I’m still not a big fan of midi-chlorians, but I have to say that I enjoyed the challenge of trying to make sense of them — if sense is the right word.

Q:  Is it safe to say that Sidious did not follow the Rule of Two?

Luceno: Sidious doesn’t follow rules of any sort.

Q: How did Palpatine eventually end up learning essence transfer post-endor if Darth Gravid sabotaged all the holocrons? Did he teach himself?

Luceno: Gravid’s attempts to destroy everything were cut short by his/her apprentice.

Q: Can you talk about the rend in the Force?

Luceno: That “rend” is something that should be explored. I can’t say more than that just now.

Q: How did you get your start writing for Star Wars? Did you meet George Lucas personally?

Luceno: I was brought into the SW franchise as a kind of consultant when the New Jedi Order was in the planning stages. What I thought would be a year’s work has since turned into a career … As for GL, I’ve had very few face-to-face dealings with him.

Q: Was Darth Gravid your own idea or was it one of the things you were told to include in the novel?

Luceno: Gravid was an invention of mine. I needed some way to distance Plagueis from the ancient teachings and powers. The more I thought about Gravid, the more interesting his/her story became. In my mind, at any rate.

Q: Did you ever get any indication as to whether Palpatine was responsible for staging the Tusken attack on Shmi Skywalker in order to cause Anakin to begin faltering, and thus being more susceptible to Palpatine’s influence?

Luceno: My son and I were just talking about the Tuskens … I can’t offer anything definitive, but I believe that Sidious’s fingerprints are all over Shmi’s abduction.

Q: if the time was right in your schedule would you write a novel about the beginnings of the Sith if you were asked to do it?

Luceno: I feel that Drew and others have a better handle on the early Sith. I’m also looking foward to seeing what Dark Horse does with the early Jedi.

Q:  1. How much of Sidious going on at the end about who’s been manipulating whom is factual, and how much is Sidious’ ego or a use of dun moch? 2. Did the Sith let the dark side in two centuries ago, or reinfect the Force with it? (And how does this play into the Mortis Trilogy–I caught a couple of references to it.)

Luceno:  Sidious is fond of boasting, and is often full of bluster. He assures the Neimoidians that everything is going according to plan. He lies to Anakin. He boasts to Luke … I was referencing the Mortis trilogy at several points. More is likely to emerge regarding those characters …

Q: How did you create Plagueis’s character? I’ve seen quite a few Sith, and none of them focused solely on cunning and plans upon plans like Plagueis did.

Luceno: Plagueis is a kind of composite: part Godfather, part magician, part mad scientist, part vampire, if you will. Still, he was years in the making.

Q: When you wrote Darth Plagueis, did you write it in order, or did you sometimes skip ahead and come back? Also, was the prologue the first thing you wrote?

Luceno: I spent months thinking about the story before I wrote a word. That’s just my approach. Once I had the story firmly in mind — even bits of dialogue — I wrote a very detailed outline, and worked from that while writing, from start to finish. Along the way, though, I made discoveries that compelled me to go backward and forward, altering things as need be.

Q: In the Phantom Menace Yoda said to Mace Windu, ”Always two, there are. No more, no less. A master… and an apprentice.” How does Yoda know about the Rule of Two?

Luceno: If I’m not mistaken, Drew — in one of the Bane novels — offers an explanation of sorts for how it is that the Jedi Order know about the Rule of Two.

Q:  So it was your idea to make Anakin not a direct product of Plagueis?

Luceno: A while back there was talk among scientists about the ability of certain subatomic particles to interfer with attempts to fully understand the complexity of atomic structure. Almost as if the particles had a kind of will of their own … A theory since disregarded, of course.

Q: In the end, Sidious tells Plagueis that all the plans set in motion (Yinchorr, Dorvalla, Eriadu…) were actually Sidious’s ideas… I can’t notice it anywhere in the novel, I may have missed something, are there any hints I didn’t see?

Luceno: Sidious takes credit for everything, but can we believe him? I deliberately avoided going too deeply into Palpatine’s thoughts during the middle of the novel, but there are hints here and there regarding his motives and his manipulations.

Thanks, everyone. Sorry if there are questions I didn’t get to. Talk to you soon.

By now most of you have seen Episode 4.15 of The Clone Wars: “Deception” and hopefully have read both reviews on EUCantina. Wondering where the events of this episode fit in with current Star Wars Expanded Universe lore? We will explore different elements of the episode and see how they fit with current continuity.

Jedi Undercover

Just less than a decade prior to the events of this episode, Obi-Wan’s close friend, Siri Tachi, was dismissed from the Jedi Order when she joined the slave trader Krayn’s operations in Jedi Quest: Path to Truth. Obi-Wan, like Anakin in ”Deception”, believed she was a traitor and lashed out at her in hostility only to discover that Siri’s betrayal was part of an intricate plan hatched by the Jedi High Council to get Siri close to the evil Krayn and bring down his operation from the inside. Unfortunately Anakin blew her cover and they had to improvise by initiating a slave riot to complete the mission.

During the Clone Wars when the Jedi High Council learned that the captured bounty hunter Moralo Eval has set his plan to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine into motion, it wouldn’t be a long shot to assume Masters Yoda and Mace Windu chose the negotiator Obi-Wan to go deep undercover because he knew first hand the risks involved after such missions as the Siri Tachi/Krayn mission.

Emotional Anakin

The "death" of Obi-Wan brings Anakin close to the Dark Side

Anakin has had to suffer through his Master’s “death” before. In Clone Wars Volume 3: Last Stand on Jabiim, Obi-Wan is believed to be killed-in-action while trying to save wounded clones from a burning AT-AT. Anakin, who was still a Padawan, was assigned to Ki-Adi-Mundi to complete his training.

Did Mace and Yoda really think it wise putting the emotional Anakin through the torment of believing his master was dead a second time? Are they testing Anakin to see if he can let go of attachment? Deceiving Anakin and not including him in the plan will probably be a severe blow to his trust of the Jedi Council.

Codename: Ben

When Obi-Wan gets his hands on a comlink planted in the prison and contacts Yoda and Mace, he uses the codename Ben. This is the first time I have heard Obi-Wan use that name prior to his exile on Tatooine. Why did he choose that codename for this mission and why would he choose that name when he settles down on Tatooine a few years in the future? Was it nostalgia to the days when he and his former apprentice were still cunning warriors and good friends?

Boba Fett

Boba Fett returns in this episode and is obviously older and much more battle hardened, considering the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center is probably not the best place for a pre-teen to grow up in. You would think juvenile detention centers would exist in a galaxy far far away, but if someone like Kyp Durron was thrown into the Spice Mines of Kessel when he was nine, Boba Fett’s imprisonment is nothing out of the ordinary.

Until we get an official The Clone Wars timeline we won’t know where this falls in continuity, but it is safe to presume Fett’s time in Republic prison occurs after the events of the young reader novel Boba Fett: Hunted, when he goes on his first mission for Jabba and before Boba Fett: A New Threat when he has worked for Jabba for a few years and hunts Wat Tambor.

Bossk stands up for Boba during a confrontation in the prison and it is interesting to note that in The Clone Wars these two seem to be good friends. Years later Bossk and Boba continuously compete and double-cross each other since the hunt was more important to them than any alliance or friendship.

I hope that in Season Five we will get another three or four part episode series starring a young Boba Fett that sees him fall in with the Death Watch. Expanded Universe headaches aside, that is something I would love to see since we saw the Death Watch in Episode 4.14 “A Friend in Need” are in fact becoming more like the Death Watch they are based off from Jango Fett: Open Seasons; skilled, ruthless, nomadic warriors.

Kidnapping Plot

What are the details of Moralo Eval's plot?

Moralo Eval has a plot to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine and if we assume that this is the same kidnapping plot we see come to fruition at the start of Revenge of the Sith, who is he working for and what role does he play? Is he working for Darth Sidious, Count Dooku, General Grievous, or somebody else entirely? Since we have yet to see the completion of this episode arc we can only guess at this point.

So far in current Expanded Universe lore it was General Grievous who launched and coordinated the faux kidnapping of the Chancellor. In Labyrinth of Evil, Darth Sidious was the one who commanded General Grievous to use the secret Deep Core hyperspace lanes, launch an assault on Coruscant, and kidnap his alter-ego Palpatine.

Is Eval’s plan part of the same kidnapping plot or a completely different one? Perhaps he is ordered by Sidious to uncover the secret Deep Core hyperspace routes and present them to Grievous, or maybe he along with other bounty hunters are hired to weaken Coruscant’s and 500 Republica’s security defenses.

Other Stuff

We got to see Republic Officers wearing the distinctive caps of the Imperial Officers we see aboard Star Destroyers in the Imperial Era.

The DC-15S Cad Bane fires during their prison escape is incredibly inaccurate and goes to show that it’s the blaster rifle that can’t hit a target. Future stormtroopers are off the hook because of their terrible shots with an E-11. BlasTech just can’t make a decent blaster.

Sources

Jedi Quest: Path to Truth, Clone Wars Vol. 3: Last Stand on Jabiim, Jedi Academy Trilogy: Jedi Search, Boba Fett: Hunted, Boba Fett: A New Threat, The Bounty Hunter Wars, Jango Fett: Open Seasons, Labyrinth of Evil.

Next Week: We explore the EU and The Clone Wars in the second episode of this four part arc, ”Friends and Enemies.”

Written by Andy Ury

All staff members can be contacted at staff@eucantina.net