Lit movie novelizations and what they have contributed to the EU

You guys! You're going to make me go to the library to get the ROTS novelization! I really need to buy the thing, but my uncle who lives in Arizona found it a few months ago and bought it for me, but he hasn't mailed it yet. So I'll just bide my time, read it at the library...the most powerful quote from that book is "Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars." Gives me chills every time I think about it.

 

The ROTJ novel is pretty awesome even today, IMO. It nails the Luke-Vader-Palpatine confrontation perfectly well and is utterly awesome for a 200-page novelization.

 

AOTC novel also gives more background on Jango and Boba's relationship.

 

I found myself hoping that-even though I'd already seen the movie plenty of times-in the course of the AOTC novel, Jango would turn out to be one of the good guys. He's rather sympathetic, and Obi-Wan's musing that he killed Zam for attempting to assassinate Padme is just too cool a story idea.

 

The ROTJ novelization explains what happened to the Empire in the non-EU universe.

 

Um...no it doesn't. It does say "The Empire is dead, long live the Rebellion", but that's no more final word than the actual ending of ROTJ at the time, especially when you take the ROTJ novel alongside the Marvel comics. You can cherry-pick sources for whatever reason you like, but "The ROTJ novelization explains what happened to the Empire in the non-EU universe" is flat making things up.

 

1. The Marvel comics are EU.
2. You are in denial.

 

Ohh, list-based debating, okay.

1. So are the novelizations. Unless you really want to argue about blue Yoda being the actual canon.

2. What? I'm not the one claiming there's two continuities. Good luck with that.

 

1. Thanks for acknowledging the novelizations as part of the EU.
2. Such an absolute statement. Sheesh.

 

What does it say?

 

"The Empire is dead. Long live the Alliance."

 

Well that's ambiguous

 

After talking about how the Star Destroyers and Tie Fighters broke down and the Imperials lost there senses.

Are you joking?

 

Yes, Endor can be said to have mortally wounded, but such a vast leviathan is long in the dying....

 

I don't think FatSmel is joking, and I agree with him that it's ambiguous. Simply saying something aloud doesn't make it so in reality. Even if the Emperor died at Endor, all the rest of the Empire remains, with tens of thousands of Star Destroyers, likely billions of personnel and troops, and control over most of the galaxy. With the losses they sustained at Endor, the Rebels certainly aren't in a position to impose peace/dictate terms to the rest of the Empire shortly after the battle.

The route Bantam took with the post-Endor Empire is IMO the most logical one: there's a lot of infighting on Coruscant for control of the imperial throne, while local governors and admirals declare themselves independent warlords. Meanwhile, the Rebel Alliance/New Republic slowly but surely grows in power and is joined by new worlds/species, up until it has gathered enough strength to take Coruscant and declare itself the legitimate galaxy-wide governing authority.

 

It's worded as propoganda, not an objective statement. Something like "With the Emperor dead, the Empire crumbled as world after world threw off their oppressors as the Alliance restored freedom to the galaxy." would be an actual result. Ironically, you can get that impression from the RotJ Special edition.

 

I always interpreted the statement as being out-of-universe. And even if it wasn't, recall the novelization's description of how the Imperial forces failed to put up a fight without Palpatine's Dark Side powers. And there's Threepio being so happy that the war is over.

 

That shows you what Chromedome knows!

But really, do people really think the fleet at Endor was all the Empire had?

Sure, it was more Star Destroyers than seen previously PLUS Executor PLUS a Death Star, but the entirety of Imperial military power? No way.

 

What I was saying is that all across the galaxy (NOT JUST ENDOR), the Imperial forces collapsed.

 

Sidestepping the whole fate of the Empire question--and the obligatory Mark Twain quote--I submit this from the Star Wars novelization: The Academy. It has gone from an unnamed, unknown location place of higher learning to places like Raithal, Carida, and Prefsbelt IV that are featured and play an important role in numerous stories, novels, comics, and sourcebooks.

 

If people interpret it differently then surely that's ambiguous

 

You win that one.

 

The Empire was dead. But a bunch of pretenders and loyalists with warships and guns nonetheless refused to face reality and went on causing trouble for years afterward.

 

I can't wait for the ST to reference the Empire NOT existing after Endor.