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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lou, KY 2013 BOOK CLUB READS AND DATES

Discussion in 'MidWest Regional Discussion' started by Lord_Zannah, Jan 5, 2013.

  1. DarKyram

    DarKyram Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2010
    I'm almost done with Scoundrels myself, and I gotta say, I'm looking forward to discussing this on Friday.
     
  2. DarKyram

    DarKyram Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2010
    Oh, and hi ya'll. ;)
     
  3. Commander APPO

    Commander APPO Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 19, 2012
    Dang gone uncle has me doing something that night so I won't be around BUT, my lovely Zannah will be there.
     
  4. DarKyram

    DarKyram Jedi Knight star 1

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    Apr 5, 2010
    Dang gone? I thought the term was "dag on"
     
  5. Commander APPO

    Commander APPO Jedi Knight star 2

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    Oct 19, 2012
    That's cuz you don't recognize the accent from this part of the world. It's all said the same in your neck of the woods too...=D=
     
  6. DarKyram

    DarKyram Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2010
    Says the man FROM my neck of the woods! ;) :p You may take the old man outta the desert, but you can't take the desert outta the old man.


    ....Just the hair off his head!
     
  7. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Wanta bet... I've cooled him off pretty good. [face_love]

    However the proper spellin for the pronunciation in these here neck o' the woods would be... "Dawg Gone"!

    Git it rite gentlemen. [face_tee_hee]
     
  8. mindtwister_138

    mindtwister_138 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 2002
    Ok, I just finished reading Scoundrels, and I have to agree with Dar. That is so not like something Boba Fett would do. Kind of a surprise twist there, but I'm not sure I like how Boba was represented there.
     
  9. Commander APPO

    Commander APPO Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 19, 2012
    Yes, I had a good time with this one also and really liked the way it ended (surprises come at all times in our lives)
     
  10. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Bump! Book club next Monday.

    Bad news is I'm working and I couldn't find anyone to trade with. I hope everyone has a good time.
     
  11. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    I'll post up notes, and you can chime in. Maybe even toss out a question before BC for you to participate if you want to.
    Jammies
    (sucks, we love having you there!)
     
  12. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Thanks!
     
  13. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

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    Sep 4, 2012
    We'll be there with Splinters in our eyes. LOL! :cool:
     
  14. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Since I can't be there here's a little quote I want to throw out there from early in the book...

    Leia:"Resistance groups from all over the Circarpous system are going to be there. If we don't arrive, they'll panic. We'll have one Stang of a time getting them to surface again."

    I believe we have the first use/creation of the in universe swear "Stang". Note they capitalized the word as well.
     
  15. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    Mika, I believe you are correct.
     
  16. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

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    Sep 4, 2012
    Jammies... from the lack of responses, it appears as though you, Appo, and I are the only ones going? Not sure it's worth the drive for all of us with only three of us in attendance. You coming from Indiana and Chuck and I from the other side of town... hmmmmm. What say you?
     
  17. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jan 28, 2003
    I say the 4 of us all had a great time! Didn't you darling?
    Besides, I live in Noth Louisville-- not as long a drive as you and Appo's.
     
  18. mindtwister_138

    mindtwister_138 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 2002
    Sorry I couldn't be there. I meant to show up, but my back was killing me yesterday, and I took a muscle relaxer, and passed out on the living room floor until after midnight. I wish I could have been there though!
     
  19. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Yes my Jammies, we four had a WUUNDERFUL time! It was 9:00pm before we knew it! :confused:

    We missed everyone who couldn't make it. Twisty I hope your back is feeling better. I know how debilitating back pain can be.

    Splinter is ... interesting. We were all in agreement and my Jammies, your notes were incredible as always. "Thank You". I always learn more from them than anything else.

    Hope to see everyone again and soon! [face_batting]
     
  20. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    My question to the group was: As Splinter was meant to be a low-budget sequel to A New Hope (if the film tanked, which it didn't)-- would there be as big a following for the Warz as there is now? How different would the Galaxy Far Far Away look if it were filled not with 6 (9) films, but one film and several made for TV movies?

    Most of us answered that there would not be fandom, and Star Wars would be regulated to the weird and odd sci fi franchises of the past like Space:1999, and Babylon 5.

    An ever hopeful Appo remarked that Star Wars filled a need, and that there would always be people who would be drawn to the Star Wars galaxy-- it just may not be as big as it is now.

    I think a Splinter movie would have been a Gawd Awful deathstar-sized turd of a movie, as it is a pretty horrid book as it is. Important, however, for its historical context-- but horrid prose nonetheless.

    For those who couldn't make it, but what to chime in: What do you think?
     
  21. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2003
    Myself, Appo, Zannah, and 11 were in attendance. We all thought the book to be pretty much drivel. I did bring up the historical importance of the work (see notes later), but still-- this is a pretty bad book. Not a bad star wars book-- just all and all a bad book. I did like how 11 pointed out that "water plus cave plus love equals Luke" as that theme reappears in the Hand of Thrawn novels with Mara. Some elements seem to stick around for the other films: an x-wing crashing on a bog planet, and a race of primitive furry people defeating the Empire.Zannah pointed out the violence of of the "eye plucking scene." I went off on how reduculous a lightsaber's blade being able to be shortened to be a lock pick was-- when Appo correctly pointed out "why even pick the lock if you have a lightsaber? Just hack the door down."

    Gang did I leave anything out?

    We then went on to talk about non-Splinter star wars goodness.

    From my notes:

    In 1976, Alan Dean Foster was contracted to ghostwrite a novelization for Star Wars. While George Lucas is listed as the author, it was actually Foster who wrote it. Foster was given extensive access to the shooting and draft scripts, as well as early story treatments, for use as source material in fleshing out the novel. Elements of this are visible in the resulting novel, such as the prologue, which borrows the Journal of the Whills title from Lucas' original synopsis.
    Foster's contract also required a second novel, to be used as a basis for a low-budget sequel to Star Wars in case it was not successful. Though Foster was granted a great deal of leeway in developing the story, a key requirement was that many of the props from the previous production could be reused when shooting the new film. Foster's decision to place his story on a misty jungle planet was also intended to reduce set and background costs for a film adaptation. According to Foster, Lucas's only request upon inspecting the manuscript was the removal of a space dogfight undertaken by Luke and Leia before crash-landing on Mimban, which would have been effects-heavy and expensive to film. Thus, we have an X-wing and a Y-wing; but no new space ships or other expensive effects shots. The original drafts placed the budget for the crystal at (approximately $592)

    Kaiburr Crystal (or what’s in a name?)

    The titular "Mind's Eye" of the story the Kaiburr crystal. This was based on the "Kiber" crystal, a Force-amplifying talisman that was included in early drafts of the Star Wars story, but later eliminated by Lucas in favor of making the Force a more ethereal power. The Kyber memory crystal was first mentioned in early drafts of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope as the "Kyber crystal." ---specifically, the May 1, 1975 "Story Synopsis and Typed Outline" from "The Adventures of Luke Starkiller (episode one) 'The Star Wars'."] There it was spelled as a "Kiber Crystal." This crystal acted as the MacGuffin for the heroes to capture; Ben Kenobi was intended to explain to Luke Skywalker how the Kiber Crystal collected the Force and allowed the wielder to use it.
    Eventually, in a later edition of the draft, "The Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Starkiller, Third-Draft, August 1975," the plot was expanded to include Kenobi attempting to capture his personal Kiber Crystal from the "Crystal Chamber" on the Imperial throne world of Alderaan. The elder Jedi would explain how it had been taken from him during the Battle of Condawn—the same battle in which Skywalker's father died—by one of Kenobi's disciples. The few crystals that remained were held in the Alderaanian Crystal Chamber] Later, Skywalker was to utilize the crystal in his fight with Darth Vader. Later still, the Cyrstal gives Luke the power to destroy the deathstar. The plot line was ultimately removed from the story in later drafts of the script. The crystal was revived as the Kaiburr crystal in thenovel Splinter of the Mind's Eye.

    In Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, the Jedi Exile and her companions could use the Kaiburr crystal to enhance their lightsabers. The crystal was described as the most powerful crystal that can be used in lightsaber construction.
    Lucas never throws away any idea. During early development of the script for Episode II, the term "Kyber" was considered for use once again. The poison dart Jango Fett used to assassinate Zam Wesell was originally going to be identified as a Kamino kyber dart. This was again changed in the finished film to be a saber-dart. Though it has taken 30 years, the first episode in the second season of The Clone Wars television series has made the term "Kyber", in its original spelling, officially part of Star Wars canon.

    By the time the novel was published, Star Wars had broken records in box office receipts, and the film adaptation of Splinter of the Mind's Eye was abandoned in favor of Lucas' vision of a big budget sequel.The book was later adapted as a graphic novel by Terry Austin and Chris Sprouse and published by Dark Horse Comics in 1996. The comic sort of serves to shoe horn the elements of Foster’s story into the current EU and adds characters from Empire that (obviously) were not in the book; also I think they made Halla more of a villain in the end.

    The book can be pretty inconsistent. Vader mentions Luke was the person who shot up his ship, when it was Solo in the film. The Princess cannot swim, but Luke (from a desert planet) can? Also, the sexual tension between the two is just creepy weird.

    Timeline of early EU/Filming

    10/11/77, first expanded universe comic “marvel number 7, New Worlds New Perils.” In the letters column, Star Words, the editor stated the comics would focus on Han and Chewie until Lucas had a better direction for the next film.
    2/12/78, publication date of Splinter of the Mind’s Eye

    3/5/79 Filming begins on Empire in Norway

    3/12/1979 LA Times Syndicate published Star Wars the newspaper strip, written by Russ Manning and later Archie Goodwin (also Jammies’s lifeday)

    4/12/79, publication date of Han Solo at Star’s End

    4/21/80 Premiere of Empire Strikes Back in theatres
    7/21/82 when Jammies first saw Empire in theatres.
     
  22. jedimika

    jedimika FanForce Chapter Rep star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 2, 2008
    Awww...I really like Splinter. I will admit most of that is just sentimentality. I was devouring all things Star Wars at that age...9? 10? so it has a special place in my heart. It was "new" Star Wars and we all read it and talked about it and debated it around the school yard. I can say it would not have made a very epic movie but for a book it had all the elements we were wanting...evil Imperials, aliens, Luke, Leia, Vader and lightsaber fights!

    Something I noticed reading it this time. The lightsabers cauterize. We accept this as fact now but remember in the original Star Wars we saw a saber used in the cantina and a bloody arm on the floor and then Ben just disappeared. There's nothing that we saw in the movie to lead us to believe lightsabers cauterize flesh.
     
  23. Yoda_Jammies

    Yoda_Jammies Jedi Grand Master star 4

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    Jan 28, 2003
    It has a sentimental place in my heart for the same reason, but upon re-reading it for the first time in ages.. well... :rolleyes:
     
  24. Lord_Zannah

    Lord_Zannah Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    I will chime in and say that we also realized and agreed, that there is so much more Star Wars now to compare this original work to. Mr. Fosters contribution to the continuity is appreciated, and LOVED. "Thank You Mr. Foster". You helped to keep our beloved Star Wars alive. I don't want to sound overly critical of his writing, and I will actually cherish this work.

    STAR WARS FOREVER! [face_love]
     
  25. 11-11

    11-11 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Jul 17, 2007
    Book club was incredibly awesome and enlightening as always! Luv you guys!

    Also discussed was... Leia joining the rebellion for artistic freedom! :p --If only she was able to meet Thrawn back then, she may never have become a rebel.

    P.S. Emergency Book Club Fanfiction Meeting next month!!!;)