Jedi Council Forums - Characters that certain authors don't get.

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Author	Topic: Characters that certain authors don't get.
browwiw Registered: Jan '07	Date Posted: 2/8/07 1:08am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	On the whole Traviss good/bad thing...I'm going to not even try anymore. I like her writing, other people don't. I can't make them like Traviss any more than I can convince the Kansas Board of Education to listen to Richard Dawkins. Other people's opinions don't affect my enjoyment. I can still secretly hope they slip on a bar of soap in the shower, though. But! I am putting an end to the whole Mandalorians = Klingons thing. Mandalorians are not the Klingons of Star Wars. These guys are. The actual topic of this thread? Hrmmm... For me, seeing the vast majority of Star Wars authors try to write the the movie characters is like watching some experimental, avant-garde college student produced play. Let me elaborate. The John Williams intro theme begins and the curtains role back to reveal a featureless, pitch black stage. The actors rush in, wearing equally pitch black body suits and carrying theatre-lobby standups of the major characters. Their performance is mostly shaking the standups and yelling, "I am Luke Skywalker and I have a lightsaber!" and "I'm Han Solo and I'm a handsome rogue!" and "I'm Princess Leia! Remember when I wore that gold bikini?" The guy crouching behind the R2-D2 standup has a slide whistle. Then a paper-mache super weapon descends from the ceiling and it catches on fire. And this goes on for 400 pages. -----signature----- When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life. - Sigmund Freud Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses. - Arthur C. Clarke Beware of the man whose God is in the skies. - George Bernard Shaw
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Lord_Riven Registered: Nov '01	Date Posted: 2/8/07 1:39am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	Mara post NJO. (barring Betrayal which I haven't read). Either that or motherhood has made her into a whiny, insecure woman who doesn't even trust her husband. -----signature----- Legacy AU fic: Family Ties. Follow the link in the next line. http://www.fanfiction.net/~darthriven Casiah - Cade Skywalker x Marasiah Fel 'shipper (#1) Canderous >>> Boba Fett
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Lord_Hydronium Title: Literature Gardener Registered: Jun '02	Date Posted: 2/8/07 1:46am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get. - Date Edited: 2/8/07 1:48am (1 edits total) Edited By: Lord_Hydronium
	JEDI-KILLER_17 posted: Might as well say it... Traviss + Ben = Crizzap Totally. Minor interpretive differences are to be expected between authors, but Ben had a friggin' personality transplant. And he somehow got Luke and Mara to go along with the idea that he'd always been like that. I think Jacen must have been going around mindwiping everyone in that book. It's almost as if she didn't read Betrayal...oh wait. -----signature----- Great midis have little midis Swimming round inside 'em And little midis have lesser midis And so ad infinitum.
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SuperWatto Registered: Sep '00	Date Posted: 2/8/07 1:53am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	Hey Ellipsis, you in a mood? Makes your posts more fun. Great topic, Charles. And I agree with Kenobi_Kid; had that Marvel issue been accepted as canon right away, then the history of the Mandalorians would be quite different from how it is now. -----signature----- Christmas destroyer
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The_Four_Dot_Elipsis Registered: Mar '05	Date Posted: 2/8/07 2:00am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	SuperWatto posted: Hey Ellipsis, you in a mood? Makes your posts more fun. Reading Jedi Search will turn anyone into a remorseless cynic. -----signature----- "You were fantastic. We're free!" "Kara, we're inside a Russian airbase in the middle of Afghanistan."
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browwiw Registered: Jan '07	Date Posted: 2/8/07 2:00am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	Lord_Hydronium posted: It's almost as if she didn't read Betrayal...oh wait. I defend all Star Wars authors when I say this: you can't read a book that hasn't been written yet. Lucas Books makes their series authors write concurrently so they can get the books to the publisher faster. This is how LotF will end around 2012 instead of 2020. When you write for Lucas Books the editorial staff gives you a two sheet summary of the book you're supposed to write and your job is to pad it out. You don't even get to pick your title or cover art (but that's pretty much true with any publishing house, nowadays). I find it a little Faustian, personally -----signature----- When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life. - Sigmund Freud Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses. - Arthur C. Clarke Beware of the man whose God is in the skies. - George Bernard Shaw
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burrie Registered: May '00	Date Posted: 2/8/07 2:54am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	Everyone: Kyle Katarn. <b>Because no one gets Katarn!</b> -----signature----- "The console to unlock the door is probably hidden in some room twelve floors up, or something. How does that make sense?" - K. Katarn "Ace stole the shuttle from Wedge. An embarrassing tactical mishap quietly forgotten." - Best explanation for Tydirium
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dizfactor Registered: Aug '02	Date Posted: 2/8/07 3:05am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get. - Date Edited: 2/8/07 3:07am (2 edits total) Edited By: dizfactor
	Charlemagne19 posted: Jude Watson: Anakin Skywalker is not a puppy torturing psychopath before Episode III. Perhaps in AOTC, you missed his crazed and irrational outbursts, his thoroughly creepy (cough stalker cough) obsession with Padme, and that little incident where he happens to massacre an entire village. You know, the one time he's left entirely alone, with no supervision and no real chance of repercussions. If character, as they say, is who you are when no one's watching, than Anakin's an unhinged, bloodthirsty maniac. I'm sorry, I can't blame any EU authors who came after AOTC for portraying Anakin as a deranged psychopath with few redeeming values, if any, because the Anakin Lucas gave us was a deranged psychopath with few redeeming values, if any. The ones who worked between the releases of Episodes I and II have no real excuse for portraying him that way, but since their portrayals ended up coinciding with the way he was portrayed later, it all worked out. Kwenn posted: Unfortunately, pretty much every Anakin story, possibly bar that Episode I Adventures comic, has him doing something that's a little on the dark side. Which is entirely consistent with the only real time Lucas showed us his vision of an adult, supposedly "light side" Anakin. Kwenn posted: Where's the heroic friend Obi-Wan remembered, Obi-Wan's looking at the past through rose-colored glasses, and I would argue that it's because he's avoiding dealing with his own culpability and that of the Jedi Council in creating Vader. The Jedi Council is like a coach who pushes steroids on their star athlete and pretend not to notice the health problems they're causing him. Anakin's like Dirk Diggler in Boogie Nights - used until he falls apart by an organization that only really cares about him because he's so well-endowed. They all knew Anakin was a nutcase. They had to. None of them really liked him, none of them trusted him. They had deep reservations about his commitment to the Jedi Code, to his suitability for training. Obi-Wan kind of liked him, kind of felt responsible/sorry for him, and so he made excuses for him, and the others just turned up their noses a little but let things slide. Why? Because of the midichlorians in his blood, because the Sith had returned, because of the prophecy, and ultimately because of the war. They were using him. He was a dangerous loose cannon, and they tolerated it because they wanted him to be their weapon against the Sith. They just did the cold, hard math and concluded that they needed him on their side. And, you know, once the war started, he was just so damn good at killing things they needed killed. As I've said before, the only problem is that once the war was over, he didn't stop killing, and the tool that the Jedi created was used against them. I mean, look at the account of the Jedi Council meeting from the Clone Wars cartoon when they decide what to do with him. A few members of the Council worry that he hasn't been adequately tested, and specifically, that he hasn't faced the Dark Side within himself, but ultimately their concerns are hand-waved away. You know why? Because they knew in their hearts that he would fail the test, but they didn't want to admit it to themselves, because if they admitted it to themselves, they'd have to stop using him in battle. And we know that the whole Council meeting was a sham anyway, a rubber stamp on a decision that had already been made privately by Yoda and Mace Windu. And what prompted them to make that decision? Anakin's performance in the Battle of Praesitlyn - because of his prowess in battle. There is no story of Anakin's fall. Anakin was never "up" to begin with. The Jedi are the ones who fall, because they are increasingly blind to the degree to which they are willing to cut corners and use unethical means towards what they (increasingly falsely) believe to be just ends. If the OT is a story about the triumph of humanism and compassion over the military industrial complex, the prequels are the story of the road to Hell being paved with good intentions, specifically of the tendency to tolerate the atrocities and moral shortcomings of one's own side in the name of some nebulous higher purpose. They're so focused on fighting for the Republic that they barely notice that it's already the Empire in all but name. They're so focused on fighting against the Sith that they don't notice that they're actually fighting for them ("To fight the empire is to be infected by its derangement" and all that). And they're so willing to ignore the cancer eating through Anakin Skywalker because he's so damn useful to them that it ultimately consumes them too. You could say they use Anakin despite the obvious dangers because it seems like the easy way to accomplish what they want. He seems like a powerful tool but really, the solution he presents is only quicker, easier, more seductive... Kwenn posted: or the striking, grand figure who took in life with a wink that Anakin himself recalls at the end of his life? I'm sure that's how he thought of himself. Idi Amin thought he was a pretty suave guy, too. -----signature----- "Play is going to be for the 21st century what steam was to the 19th century." Julian Dibbell "You gotta love an elite killing force that you can fool by putting on a hat." Gryph
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burrie Registered: May '00	Date Posted: 2/8/07 4:22am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	-----signature----- "The console to unlock the door is probably hidden in some room twelve floors up, or something. How does that make sense?" - K. Katarn "Ace stole the shuttle from Wedge. An embarrassing tactical mishap quietly forgotten." - Best explanation for Tydirium
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Corran_Fett Registered: Jan '05	Date Posted: 2/8/07 4:35am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	Denning: Corran Horn. -----signature----- The other side of the NJO, featuring Mandalorians, Vong, and Peace Brigaders in a thrillride full of betrayal and intrigue... When Few Stood Against Many \| http://boards.theforce.net/b/b10477/25253415/ - http://corranfett.deviantart.com -
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LastOneStanding Registered: Nov '04	Date Posted: 2/8/07 4:41am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	burrie posted: Everyone: Kyle Katarn. <b>Because no one gets Katarn!</b> Right, because Katarn gets everyone...down on their knees, begging for mercy! It had to be done.... Honestly, I generally don't have a problem with the way any of the way the authors treat the characters in any of the books I've read, with the exception of the Dark Nest books and Dark Rendezvous. -----signature----- Recipient of the Plush Prophet of the Dark Side Award Plus, if you make yourself into a hot little bonzai, you can pull a badass Jedi boyfriend.-BobaMatt Roan Fel = Emperor Tubby- C19
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xoubara Registered: Mar '03	Date Posted: 2/8/07 5:10am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	Denning: Kyp and Corran. Both of them seem to be just kids por him. As for Luke, I don't have many problems with his portrayals, excepto for him not being able to distinguish between naivety and being humble. Traviss: Mara. I think most of us know why And I'm not sure whether I should include Luke or not.
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FloridianRogue Registered: Dec '06	Date Posted: 2/8/07 7:03am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	xoubara posted: Denning: Kyp and Corran. Both of them seem to be just kids por him. As for Luke, I don't have many problems with his portrayals, excepto for him not being able to distinguish between naivety and being humble.. I've got to agree there on his portrayal of Corran whose always going to best left to Stackpole with Allston and Zahn his seconds so its not a big deal because Corran' background and personality is predicated on Stackpoles wriitng of him in the X-Wing books and I Jedi. As for Kyp, after he appeared to be growing emotionally during the final stages of the NJO seems like with Denning he reverted back to his old self, at least he didn't find another of KJA's superweapons or force powers or the Killiks and the Chiss would have had problems.
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SuperSaiyaMan12 Registered: Aug '05	Date Posted: 2/8/07 7:30am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	R. A. Salvadore and NJO Authors: The Young Jedi Knights, Luke, Leia, Mara, and Han.
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Corusca_One Registered: Oct '05	Date Posted: 2/8/07 7:47am Subject: RE: Characters that certain authors don't get.
	I quite like Denning's books but i have to agree about Kyp and Corran, although i think only Stackpole and Allston have ever really 'got' Corran, maybe Zahn too. I agree that seemingly noone can write Kyle as well, although maybe thats because he is noones pet character. Most authors - R2D2. -----signature----- What would Gryph do? Zayne Carrick is Zayne Carrick! "I don't want to hear any Pessimistic Panakas and their prophecies of continuity gloom and doom..." -Barriss_Coffee Bouncy, bouncy oh such a good time!
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