Is it just me? Or are we in a bit of a SW drought...

I don't mean that Star Wars products aren't coming out on a regular basis... it's just that most of the stuff in the past few months has been dredfully boring.

I'm tried of the books dealing with unimportant obscure hotspots, and I'm tired of the comics dealing with podunk bounty hunters and spying plots. This is the Clone Wars, not Clone Cold Wars. It's seems like there has been a lack of any real important battles since Jabiim except for a few skirmishes. I don't know why, but the Cartoon and games for the most part have been showing more of the Clone Wars than the books and comics combined! We *still* haven't seen a *single* large space battle between the Rupublic and CIS, or even a medium sized one! It's been a trend ever since Jabiim ended and Shatterpoint was released. That's why I haven't really been around lately, nothing seems interesting. I'm looking forward to Hard Contact more than Medistar II. I hope Jedi Trail and LoE will redeem the books. All these little subplots are okay, but guys, do you realize that there won't be much chance to come back to the Clone Wars AFTER Episode III is released? I know part of this has to do with not knowing how the wars will end, but come on, give us a Midway or Stalingrad or even a Coral Sea. The Clone Wars are supposed to be a time of unparaelled destruction, and really as I said, the games have shown that better than everything else at this point. I look forward to the stuff coming out later this year, but I just don't see much potential in Quin going into another dark funk *again*.

 

i really enjoyed Medstar

 

Wrong. I've enjoyed all the Clone Wars books and comics greatly. If anything, I think it's one of the best times to be an EU fan.

wolf

 

Depends on what you want to see instead of a drought.

We got two Clone Wars-era books within a month of each other in June, after not getting one since June of '03 with Shatterpoint. That's what I'd call a drought.

And I think the time from Nov. '04 through March of '05 will be dizzying in all the cool stuff we will get.

 

Battles don't matter; neither side really wins the war. Yeah, sure, space battles are exciting, but the fleets of the CIS and Republic are probably more concerned with moving troops than engaging each other. The Clone Wars is primarily fought on the ground, like most real life Civil Wars that I can recall(American, Russian); totally different, but still...

 

The comics are rocking big time now, if CW4 was anything to go by. Unlike Empire-class comics, you know Vader/Leia/Luke/Solo aren't going to get hurt or die, so I ask, where is the excitement of reading more Rebel vs Empire adventures for the hundreth time?

 

If anything, I think it's one of the best times to be an EU fan.

Amen!

I see no problem with the current Clone Wars material. By contrast, I'm glad it hasn't followed the predictable path of lots-of-droids-running-at-lots-of-clones-with-lots-of-big-explosions-and-stuff. This way, we see what impact war has on individuals, along with the ethical dillemmas that inevitably spring up in these situations. Episode III should have much more impact when it's revealed this entire war was just a power-play for one ambitious Sith Lord. The pointlessness makes it more powerful, in my opinion.

 

I completely agree with everything in the original post, though I think the upcoming novels sound very promising.

 

I'm loving all the books and comics that are coming out(well except Empire, which got boring fast). The Clone Wars comics espically have been exceptional, I even liked the Free Comic Day Clone Wars comic a lot! Plus, with Jedi Trial, the rest of Republic, the Yoda book, SW: Obsession, Labyrinth of Evil, and all of the material with Episode 3, I think it's never been a better time to be a EU fan.

 

By contrast, I'm glad it hasn't followed the predictable path of lots-of-droids-running-at-lots-of-clones-with-lots-of-big-explosions-and-stuff. This way, we see what impact war has on individuals, along with the ethical dillemmas that inevitably spring up in these situations. Episode III should have much more impact when it's revealed this entire war was just a power-play for one ambitious Sith Lord. The pointlessness makes it more powerful, in my opinion.

Agreed.

 

I think the problem is that Shatterpoint was so good that everything else after it seems something of a let down. I enjoyed Shatterpoint immensely, and the other books just don't have the same kind of rich detail for me. I mean, my primary interest is the NJO, and I'll read those because I like the characters...for the Clone Wars, which I'm not really interested in, you've got to keep my attention, which is something they haven't done lately, I think.

~Rogue

 

I think some people might be seeing the Clone Wars novels as like the NJO, that is, a unified series that tells an entire story. But that's not what it's about - each part of the Clone Wars project presents part of the big picture, and every game, cartoon, comic, and novel contributes something in its own way, a microcosm of the whole story. So you have an intrigue story here, a doctor story hear, a look into the horrors of war here, none of them connected to each other, but all of them providing a different, unique point of view on the war. And you have other kinds of stories in the comics and games as well, again, each taking in different aspects of the story. Every single part of the Clone Wars is different, and I think this is its greatest strength. And note that it's the Clone Wars; it's not one standard "armies fight each other and one loses and retreats ad infinitum" type of war, it's a bunch of small, individual, localized wars. And this isn't by any means a normal war: the goal of its creators is not to have big armies to meet in battle, it's to wear away at ideals, at morals, and people, in a war of attrition. In a war designed to attack the characters of individual people (namely the Jedi), I'd say that certainly warrants focusing on the characters of those people in a war. To have it all about battles would be missing the entire point of the war.

And another thing: there are only so many big Deciding-The-Fate-Of-The-Galaxy! type battles a war can have before it gets boring. Now, given the choice, would they be better presented with words or images? I'd say images. And again, would they better be presented in some form where they're animated, so you can see the action unfold (like a game or cartoon), or where they're a series of still images in order? Thus, most of the battles get assigned to the media that can best do them justice.

And statements like "We're not getting any Clone Wars in the Clone Wars books!" are nonsense. There's more to a war than armies killing each other.

 

It's called Star Wars for a reason.

I think the problem is that the war thus far has no desernible strategy or goals for either side. There's a lot of "attack here, take this planet, move here" but little rhyme or reason.

We've already seen Clone and Droid armies having at each other, that's not my point. The point is we haven't even really seen a major offensive or decisive battles in either the books or comics since Jabiim.

In short, nothing big is happening. Moreover, there's is going to be little time for Clone War stories once Episode III hits, as everyone and their mother will finally start filling in the 20 year gap between III and IV.

 

Well, it definitely feels like a SW drought to me. I'm not a big fan of the prequel films, and I didn't really like the few prequel books that I read : Rogue Planet, Shatterpoint, and The Approaching Storm, so I'm probably not reading anymore prequel books except the sequel to Survivor's Quest. That book and the Denning post-NJO books don't come out for more than a YEAR! So it's a long time until the next SW book for me.

 

>>> I think the problem is that the war thus far has no desernible strategy or goals for either side. There's a lot of "attack here, take this planet, move here" but little rhyme or reason.<<<

Don't you people get? The leaders of both sides are Sith Lords. The only goals they really have are killing as many Jedi as possible and giving Palpatine more powers. And they've been very successful at that since the beginning of the war.

The point is that the Clone Wars, whether the people of the galaxy realize it or not, are a farse. Two dudes who want to take over the galaxy and destroy their enemies got together and said, "Hey, let's start a war with each of us in charge of one side. Then we can use the war as a cover to destroy our enemies and centralize power. It doesn't really matter which ones of us wins because one of us will rule the galaxy when it's all said and done."

 

I totally loved that scene in Medstar, where the doctor thought:


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Spoiler

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He wished he had one of those gizmos like in the holoshows of the future that would make food appear with just a word!

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End Spoiler

 

"Don't you people get? The leaders of both sides are Sith Lords. The only goals they really have are killing as many Jedi as possible and giving Palpatine more powers. And they've been very successful at that since the beginning of the war.

The point is that the Clone Wars, whether the people of the galaxy realize it or not, are a farse. Two dudes who want to take over the galaxy and destroy their enemies got together and said, "Hey, let's start a war with each of us in charge of one side. Then we can use the war as a cover to destroy our enemies and centralize power. It doesn't really matter which ones of us wins because one of us will rule the galaxy when it's all said and done."

Yes, duh, I realize that.

Dispite that, the game has to be played convincingly. The war was put into a stalemate early on, there has been little done by either side to break that stalemate. I find that somewhat rediculous. This war is supposed to kill as many Jedi as possible as one of its goals. Either the Confederacy should attack more, or the Republic should attack less until it can mount a counter attack, with the Jedi leading the charge and getting mowed down. A stalemate happens in real war, but that's no excuse for the stories being told in SW to be boring. Like WWI each side should be making constant efforts to break through each others lines, losing millions of troops in pointless attacks. That would be interesting. Spying in Cestus and the crisis of a backwater medical base are not.

 

It's the grand stories that make reading these stories worthwhile. We're used to a few characters making changes in the galaxy...that's been the beauty of Star Wars all along...and readers are resistant to change, I think.

~Rogue

 

Personlly, I'm enjoying the Clone Wars stuff (especially the comics) as much if not more than the NJO. And the next few months are going to be AWESOME with LoE, Obsession, Repubic, and the cartoon all leading up to E3

 

It's the grand stories that make reading these stories worthwhile. We're used to a few characters making changes in the galaxy...that's been the beauty of Star Wars all along...and readers are resistant to change, I think.

Agreed. People like Nomi Sunrider, Revan, and Luke Skywalker can single-handedly change the direction of a war. They "get" the Force on a level that others don't, and they are capable of being in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing to change the course of history. There's no one in the prequel era like that. Yoda, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu - they are not the Jedi that Nomi, Revan and Luke are. As wise as Yoda might be, he can't see through Palpatine's deceptions. As powerful as Anakin might be and as effective as Obi-Wan and Mace are, they can't make their victories decisive turning points.

Everything that a Prequel Jedi does is ineffective in the long term. They?re like rats on a wheel, and no matter how hard they run they can?t get off. They can?t forge their own destinies, and Palpatine is more than willing to forge destinies for them. Whereas, from the moment Luke walked onto the galactic stage he was challenging the status quo. He blew up the most powerful weapon of war ever created in his first time flying a snubfighter, he ended a thousand years of Jedi tradition when he began training as an adult, he faced down a Sith Lord and gave almost as good as he got, and he found a way to defeat the Sith where 10,000 Jedi before him had failed. And that?s just in the original trilogy.

Luke, Revan and Nomi instinctively knew where to put their levers, and could do heavy lifting way out of proportion their apparent significance. The prequel Jedi don?t quite know where to put their levels, and no matter how hard they push, they can?t make any progress.

 

Agreed. People like Nomi Sunrider, Revan, and Luke Skywalker can single-handedly change the direction of a war. They "get" the Force on a level that others don't..

I agree with the point of your post except with regards to Yoda.

Since Yoda is the only Jedi who equally mastered both schools of the Force, I'm of the camp that he knows exactly what is going on, he just answers to that higher power.

Let the Sith dabble with their petty desires for conquest, balance has still been foretold.

The Jedi Order has become bloated and corrupt, so the Force has provided the means to start anew..

Yoda sees both sides of the cosmic Yin/Yang puzzle..

 

*ahem*

Just you wait for Jedi Trial masterskywalker.

And after what David Sherman said in a recent email, I think those who have felt the novels in particular have let down in their tales of the Clone Wars will be pleasantly surprised.
Though of course, authors do tell you what you want to hear

His comments on his and Dan Cragg's character study of Anakin are interesting food for thought too.

EDIT:
Agreed. People like Nomi Sunrider, Revan, and Luke Skywalker can single-handedly change the direction of a war. They "get" the Force on a level that others don't, and they are capable of being in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing to change the course of history. There's no one in the prequel era like that. Yoda, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu - they are not the Jedi that Nomi, Revan and Luke are. As wise as Yoda might be, he can't see through Palpatine's deceptions. As powerful as Anakin might be and as effective as Obi-Wan and Mace are, they can't make their victories decisive turning points.

Nah I disagree completely and utterly.
Yoda clearly knows more than he's putting on, but he is struck by I fear a fatalistic inability to act.
And Anakin, Mace and Obi-Wan are fighting a sham of a war, their battles are never really decisive enough to feel like they make much impact because we know where things are headed.
Anakin however is the one who can turn the tide of a battle or even a war, he is after all the Force in a physical incarnation and the Chosen One.
And I think you'llm find in Jedi Trial, LOE and EP3 that Anakin is a force to be reckoned with and is the major star of how not only the Republic wins its battles but how Palpatine gets what he ultimately wants.
I rate Luke Skywalker, but Nomi and Revan? Give me a break. If they were faced with the PT era situation they'd just fail like the rst of the Jedi. End of story.

 

I rate Luke Skywalker, but Nomi and Revan? Give me a break. If they were faced with the PT era situation they'd just fail like the rst of the Jedi. End of story.

Revan single handedly turned the tide of the Mandalorian Wars.

As for my feelings on the "drought". I miss the good space battles from the Post-RotJ. I miss Rogue Squadron type action. And I miss cool non-Jedi characters. Beyond Alpha I haven't gotten one good character that I can like and enjoy reading about in battle and isn't at least Force sensitive in the Clone Wars stuff. I have enjoyed some. But it doesn't compare to the NJO. If the quality of battles don't improve I think I will be bored until the Post NJO trilogy.

 

For me, it's just you and a few others, 'cause I don't see a drought.

If anything we are getting war in the Clone Wars, a depiction a good deal more realistic than any other, for war is, at heart, sheer bloody chaos. No matter how much we talk of strategy and campaigns and objectives and plans, once battle is joined chaos results.

There is a strategy though in place, but it tends to be the Jedi attempting to inhibit the dynamic of war whilst Dooku aims to turn people against the Jedi and Republic, thus prompting draconian responses that only a totalitarian empire would use.

Another point is this: Do not assume we have to get the whole of the Clone Wars between 2002 and 2005, there is nothing to stop LFL going back and telling a few more stories post-ep 3 that ratchet up the destruction and chaos.

JB

 

I agree with you masterskywalker. Many people here already know my feelings on the Clone Wars material. I too feel that there is a severe lack of important, meaningful battles, especially outer space ones, and that minimalism is rampart throughout the Clone Wars. The writers don't understand the definition of Galactic war. It matters not if Sith Lords are manipulating both sides, because both sides are still quite determined to obliterate the other. They will try striking at the heart of their enemy's war machine, instead of limited engagements on backwaters.

While I do appreciate the action and plot that the comics have given us, it is mainly the novels by Del Rey that I despise. The Cestus Deception and Medstar both deal with situations that have little or no impact on the outcome of the war, and both have a poor showing of Clone Wars action.