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Star Wars Episode II: The Book Review
Hello, Mr. Salvatore! For the folks who want to get the details on the story without downloading the bootleg version, there's always the novelization based on the screen play, adapted by R. A. Salvatore (the same man behind the many D&D books in the fantasy section of the bookstore).
The last time this happened, Terry Brooks was the captain, guiding us through his interpretation of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It was a good book, filling in the gaps that the movie missed, while telling the story in style. To be honest, I wish we had Mr. Brooks back. It's not that I don't like Mr. Salvatore, but -- well, maybe I don't after reading this book.
It's clear that Salvatore had access to the screen play for the movie, with every move, look, and nuance that was put inside. He also has access to the choreographed scenes, which becomes clear since he feels the need to tell us every single detail of the fights. Thanks to him, I now know that in a fight scene between Obi-Wan and Jango Fett, Obi-Wan "...ducked the blow and did a tight, stationary somersault right under the swinging arm, double-kicking as he came over...", and every other minor detail, blow, kick and jump. A fight scene that probably takes 2 minutes in the movie now takes up 15 pages of text.
It's overkill, and Salvatore does this over and over again. I would say he's wordy, but the definition is too short by at least 30 characters. In another scene, where Anakin goes all Dark Side on us, Salvatore writes it like this (well, not exactly - but it feels that way):
And as the rage raged through Anakin's rage, he raged through his raging rage to rage the rage rage.
I'm not clear here - is Anakin angry? It's a formula that is used over and over again with as much verbage as Salvatore can invent - how much Shmi Skywalker misses her son, or how Padme has chosen professional life over personal life.
You almost want to scream out "We get the point - move on to the story!"
Jedi and Bounty Hunters and Clones, Oh My!
The story itself is predictable sci-fi fiction. We can spot a plot device half a mile away, and in many ways, it emulates Episode I in its setup.
The story involves the attempted assassination of Padme Amidala, who is no longer Queen of Naboo (seems they can only serve 2 terms), but is now Senator of Naboo, fighting to prevent the creation of an army for the Republic to defend it from the Separatists. So the Jedi Council, at the advice of Emperor^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, enlists the help of Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, to protect the young Senator.
While Obi-Wan takes off to chase after the assassins, Anakin is holed up with Padme all alone on her home planet on Naboo. Of course, nobody else seems to notice that Anakin has been Jonesing for Padme since he was 10. Even though Obi-Wan seems to think that Anakin might get himself into trouble, but is overruled by the Jedi Council, who don't seem to realize that a barely 20-year-old man with raging hormones around Natalie Portman might feel a little tempted.
This soon leads to romantic moments between the younglings, boiled down to this:
Anakin: Padme, I love you, and I'm not even vaguely trying to uphold my vows as a would-be Jedi to never marry. Kind of like a Catholic Priest, without the altar boy scandal. Padme: Anakin, we can't be together. You're a Jedi, and are forbidden to marry. (Even though I think those brown robes are so hot on you.) Anakin: What was that? Padme: Oh, nothing. Let's to romp in the meadow and hold hands even though I say we're not going to fall in love. Anakin: Sure. Can I look longingly at you at times? Padme: If you must. (While I undress you with my eyes.) Anakin: What? Padme: Nothing!Gaps in the Universe
So while Padme and Anakin are making goo-goo eyes at each other, Obi-Wan is discovering the creation of a clone army, an army based on the genes of Jango Fett, the best bounty hunter of the galaxy, who's cloned son, Boba Fett, is being trained by his "father" to be even better.
But then the questions come up. Who would want the creation of a clone army to fight the Separatists, when the Senate is still arguing about creating an army in the first place? What is Count Dooku, the former Jedi who is labeled as "the best kick ass lightsaber duelist in the history of the galaxy", doing at the head of the Separatists - and what is his plan? And how long until Anakin and Padme finally give in to their lusts and make the beast of two backs?
The story, in and of itself, isn't that interesting. But the story does a good job at tying up the lines between Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope and the prequels. For the first time, we meet Owen and Beru, and understand how they fit into the Skywalker family. We see how the future Emperor manipulates the public to put himself as the head of the Republic. That alone is enjoyable as you go "Ah...now that makes sense."
But for the cost of the $26.00 book, you might as well just wait a week and pay $11.00 at the movie theaters for the same information - in much less time.
You can purchase Attack of the Clones from bn.com. Want to see your own review here? Just read the book review guidelines, then use Slashdot's handy submission form.
Always remember this basic rule of writing:
Conciseness is to be preferred over loquacity and verbosity.
09
None of the Star Wars books come within a hundred parsecs of the Timothy Zahn post trilogy.
He manages to pull off what Lucas can't:
Tell a story in the Star Wars universe that keeps the pace of the movies, but at the same time leaves out the "Yippees!" and fart jokes.
Having read the screenplay and book, you can hardly blame Salvatore for the result.
He wasn't give alot of material to work with.
Anakin raged in a cage without his mama kin
Raging rage like a tearing page set the stage
Gauge his rage with a wise mage
You'll see how Anakin can rage man can Anakin
For instance, we have a really bad screenplay, that is acted really poorly for a really bad movie (so they say).
Then, we find a really bad writer (Salvatore).
The book will be really _________. (Fill in the blank).
I've always liked fantasy as much as scifi, and when I have nothing else to read, I'll even tolerate the mediocre stuff. The Tracy Hickman, Marg Weiss D&D books, for instance.
So, I've ran out of all those books, and used book are only 50 cents, right? So I pick up a bunch of Salvatore's books. Bad mistake. His books aren't worth the toilet paper that they could have turned that pulp into.
I think, and don't take this as gospel, Salvatore wrote down the synopsis of all his D&D games that he (aged 9 or so) played with his cocker spaniel puppy because no one else would play with him. Then, stretching all those notes into 400 page long manuscripts, he somehow blackmailed a publisher into turning them into real books. I mean, goddamn, I didn't expect it to be the the Dragonbon Chair or anything like that, but this was absolutely unreadable. It was, and still is, the only good excuse for illiteracy. *BARF* Should have let those memories remain repressed.
How, on fucking earth, did they manage to let him novelize this? They had their pick, even some first rate authors might have wanted to do this. If nothing else, Alan Dean Foster always did a tolerable job of novelizations (though the best, probably was Orson Scott Card's "The Abyss"). The only thing I can figure, he (Salvatore) has photographic evidence of Lucas getting blowjobs from 9 yr old Thai children in return for handing over USA Top Secret military documents to a chinese agent (both on the same pic).
Yes, he is that bad.
Awww, man. You guys just posted a spoiler about how Anakin was going to go all dark-side on us without even a warning! :(
Next thing I know, you're going to be telling us that you saw the bootlegged version and that Amidala gets killed, Jar Jar become Lando, the Millenium falcon is built, and the Empire attacks Earth, etc.. I mean, I know that all of those happen in the movie from watching the bootlegged version, but I wish you had put a spoiler warning just in case.
qslack.com
I haven't been this excited about a novelization since I read the Stargate book for a class. Seriously though in that class, even the jocks were complaining about the literary validity of the book. When will the madness stop?
With the caveat that I haven't seen EpII yet, I think that it comes down to a simple fact: Lucas is too excited about using digital toys to produce a vision than he is about the actual storyline and character development. You had to admit, Episode I - and let's use this as a reference point - looked impressive, visually. The CGI was rendered in great detail - even Jar Jar Bink's movements seemed both organic and fluid. The problem is that he spent too much time with A) the Anakin subplot - and that's what it should have been - a subplot, B) Jar Jar Binks's antics. Essentially, he confused the comic relief with the main story. Now, say what you want about Lucas, but this is not Lucas. Star Wars (I will never call it Episode 4) had humor in it, but it was mostly from character *interaction* and exploitation of circumstance. You have the rough mercenary Han Solo dealing with the strong and politically motivated Leia... with each one in a contest to become the alpha male. You also have the exchanges between Threepio and Artoo, (and did anyone notice that it's Artoo, the one that communicated in blips and beeps, who plays the straightman in the comic venture?) You also have humor of circumstance - "I think i just blasted it." Even so, "Star Wars" characters can be very serious when the plot calls for it. This is where Lucas should have been focusing humor. Instead, he misapplies it - Jar Jar & Anakin, the pod racer announcer, etc. Instead, what does he do well. Well, from the trailers and the origional, I think he's doing the fight scenes well, and I think he's also showing the setting. Unfortunately, these aren't Lucas's hallmarks - they're the hallmarks of, perhaps Jackie Chan and Speilberg directly. Then again, maybe he *has* to emulate other directors. Remember, these plots weren't just developed to suit the fans - they were written before "Star Wars" was released. Let's face facts, Lucas developed the middle trilogy first because he thought it would be the best of the 3... No matter what, then, we should expect the plot of the prequels to be of an inferior quality. Lucas can only try to make this deficiency up by promising eye candy - perhaps why he is so adamant about having the digital projectors installed. That said, I'm sure that those who go to see Episode II for the lightsaber fights and the stunning CGI planet-scapes will enjoy it. But for those looking for plot, it's time to swallow back that taste of bile in your throat once again. Brian.
Greetings,
A few posters in this thread complained that Lucas may be trying to fill too much backstory in the current Star Wars I-III movies, that the continuity isn't there, or that there is too much detail. To all of you, I would advise you to read the novel "Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker", by George Lucas, written in the 1970's. A new edition was printed in the 1990's, tied with the re-release of the movies.
A lot of the backstory that Lucas refers to today in the movies is explained in a one page prologue "written by Senator Leia Organa" of Alderaan. The Trade Federation, Emperor Palpatine, the Clone Wars, Skywalkers' abilities as pilots running in the family, the relationship between Luke Skywalker and Biggs (who is jarring in the movie because they greet like old friends in Yavin-4 but viewers don't know *why*), etc. are all mentioned in that book.
The Star Wars movie novelizations of the first trilogy were better written, and in the case of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back they add significant backstory that explains why some things happen the way they do in the movie. So far The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones seem to adhere to that chronology.
There are also a few glaring discrepancies that are later kludged to fix (i.e. like Darth Vader being Luke's father), but they are forgivable in the context of the whole saga. One of the most important ones is that in Star Wars, Tatooine is an unimportant planet in the outer rim of the galaxy, yet it's in every movie except for TESB. Lots of things going on in that little, unimportant planet. Finally, there are a few screenplay drafts (for the original Star Wars movie) written by Lucas that you can find on the 'Net, that also provide interesting backstory.
I mention this because a lot of people don't realize that what Mr. Lucas has been saying all along, that he had the underpinnings of the story worked out long ago, is probably true. Read the book, and then make judgement.
My copy of "Star Wars" is in Spanish (the Editorial Argos Vergara Edition, "La Guerra de las Galaxias" of 1977-78) and I left it in my native country, so I'm quoting by memory here. I read it at least 30 times when I was 11 or so, and I remember the prologue quite well because it didn't say the same things as the yellow scroll at the beginning of the movie. I tried Google-ing for a reference to this prologue but couldn't find one. Can someone transcribe it or post a link?
(Also, there was a Star Wars book that chronicled the first duel between Vader and Skywalker published in 1978 or 1979 titled The Mind's Eye, by Alan Dean Foster. I have a copy back home, but I've never seen it in the US. That story takes place at some point between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back; it explored some interesting backstory issues but didn't hint of Vader being Skywalker's father.)
As far as novelizations from the movies (or from the screenplays), Star Wars by George Lucas and The Empire Strikes Back (I don't remember the author) were probably the best. The Mind's Eye by A. D. Foster was excellent, and it made me wonder if it had been a screen treatment at some point. The novelization of Return of the Jedi *sucked*, and I never bothered to read more than one the books not based on the movies because they don't capture the essence of the story the way Lucas' stories/movies do.
Cheers!
Ehttp://eugeneciurana.com | http://ciurana.eu
Salvatore wrote the Dark Elf series of books in D&D's Forgotten Realms setting. I believe there are over three trilogies by now. When I was 13 years old, I found them actually quite good... that's probably because it was his target audience.
But then I recently picked up one of the latest Dark Elf books... ech. I couldn't get into it. The writing was just too bad. I guess this is what age does to you. The Star Wars books really aren't targetted at intelligent late-20 or 30-somethings. They're for teens who like D&D and Dragonlance (and adults who never grew out of it).
One thing I will give kudos to Salvatore for: he has a talent for describing fight scenes. I think the reviewer found this annoying, but that aspect of his books has traditionally been their saving grace: if you want to read a book of detailed fight scenes with a bit of plot in-between, pick up a Salvatore book. Remember my "13 year old" audience theory -- flowery writing and complex plots aren't necessarily cool to most. Lots of fights are. Not too many of my friends liked Tolkien in high school, but there sure were a lot of Dragonlance fans.
No doubt for a series like Star Wars, this probably looked like a good choice on paper.
-Stu
the relationship between Luke Skywalker and Biggs (who is jarring in the movie because they greet like old friends in Yavin-4 but viewers don't know *why*)
That was in the movie. It was in the first theater run of Star Wars. But the scene was cut out in additional runs, TV, VHS, DVD and the new digitally destroyed version.
It was the first scene where we saw Luke. He was saying goodbye to Biggs, who was going off to join the rebellion.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
Further to this, his fame was forged with The Crystal Shard and further books, largely due to the skill with which he developed the Drizzt character. The extremely detailed descriptions of combat were strengths of that work, and very enjoyable for those who like that sort of thing. I'm one of those people, so I don't think that is a negative.
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
In the beginning (episodes 4-6), Star Wars was just a simple story about a boy, a princess, a privateer, a wookie, a sith lord, etc. Now it has evolved into a complicated mess which everyone is over analyzing to death.
Here are my predictions for episode 2:
disclaimer: I list myself as a moderate fan who has seen episode 4,5,6 a gizzilan times on TV 4,5,6 special edition once, christmas special once, and episode 1 twice.
There will be tons of boring dialog consiting of wooden actors and tons of soul-less computer generated aliens used to replicate the puppet mastery of 70s.
The love between the princess and anakin will be completely fabricated and unrealistic. Probably using the tired forbidden love motif we have all seen before.
Scenes with Jarjar will be minimized (obvious point) given the negative feedback from episode I.
There will be another unbelievable car chase scene to prove that anakin is a greatest starfighter pilot ever. ho-hum.
There will be another intense lightsaber duel with a gimmic like the dual bladed light saber seen in episode one.
We will learn more about yoda demistifing the character making him/her/it less interesting IMHO.
Will do well at the box office. Which is George Lucas' primary goal anyway.
Will leave most hardcore fans secretly disappointed but unphased since they will see episode 3.
Most moderate fans will force themselves to enjoy the film just becasue it is Star Wars.
Playa haters will hate it no matter how good or bad it is just because it is popular.