Let's Read Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker

I no longer have my original copy of Star Wars (Or Splinter of the Mind's Eye), having read the book to tatters, and I have the trilogy compilation reprint. I don't think they changed anything, though, and the apostrophe precedes the term "droids". Interestingly enough, I'm pretty sure Owen Lars is the first to use the word 'droid in the novel. Prior to that, C-3P0 and R2-D2 were referred to as robots, automatons, or mechanicals.

Also, Han later refers to the Millennium Falcon's navigational computer as the "nav 'puter" later in the book.

 

Brian Daley did this too in the Han Solo Adventures, and Foster does it again in SOTME, but the Lando Adventures don't, and neither does Marvel. I think it was an occasional thing of the early EU before the spelling firmly settled on without-apostrophe. "Droid" was trademarked by Fox as early as 1977, so it would seem that the apostropheless version was in mind well before the EU had had much say at all.

Side note: When checking the comic adaptation to verify that Marvel statement above, I noticed a lot of identical dialogue and concepts even beyond what's in the movie, like Vader's water glass and the planet Bestine. Comparing them might be illuminating to see what Foster and Goodwin made independently, and what actually came from the script or Lucas' notes. I wouldn't have expected the glass to be a movie thing, for example, but there it is in both.

 

The pilot of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers refers to the mecha as droids. (Yes, the original meaning, "man-like", is getting a bit off if they're dinosaurs.) But it was aired on Fox, so...

 

CHAPTER IV

Chapter IV covers dinner with the Larses, Artoo's flight, and ends with Obi-Wan rescuing Luke.

Foster specifically notes the blue milk in this scene.

Things are getting worse between Owen and Luke as Luke wants a life other than farming. Beru is the mediating force between them, "like the damping rods in a nuclear reactor".

Luke's thoughts on the name "Obi-Wan Kenobi": "I thought it might have meant old Ben. The first name is different, but the last is identical." Smart kid.

Owen gets a lot more upset at this line of conversation than in the movie, and Luke pushes a lot more. But we're left at an impasse, as Owen refuses to give out any more details on the "crazy old man".

Interesting reaction from Owen:
"What if this Obi-Wan person comes looking for his droid?"
An expression between sorrow and a sneer crossed his uncle's seamed face at the remembrance.

So Luke changes the conversation to his application to the Academy, Owen wants him to wait another year, etc. "For the first time we've got a chance for a real fortune," he says.

"That's what you said last year when Biggs left."
Poor Tank, even the novel forgets you exist.

Luke leaves in a huff, though unlike the movie, he's nice enough to actually say where he's going after "Looks like I'm going nowhere." Teenagers, am I right?

"He's got too much of his father in him."
For the first time all evening Owen Lars looked thoughtful as well as concerned as he gazed down the passage Luke had taken. "That's what I'm afraid of," he whispered.

We all know that this line in the movie makes for some nice unintentional foreshadowing, but the book portrays well what Owen's actual meaning probably was. He really doesn't want Luke to run off in his father's footsteps, not for the sake of the farm or himself, but because he's genuinely concerned about the boy and what that path leads to. Owen gets the role of "jerkass uncle" often enough in canon that it kind of gets lost how tragic his own situation is. His father marries a woman whose only son has run off years ago in search of adventure, they live a pleasant enough life...until she's captured, the son returns, Shmi dies, and Anakin leaves again for parts unknown. Then years later he learns that Anakin met his own unpleasant end and left a child behind, and since then he's been raising Anakin's boy, almost as his own son, who now wants to leave his life behind and go running off in his real father's footsteps? Oh, and Obi-Wan wants the same for him? No wonder the guy can be bitter.

I reread the description of Owen in the last chapter after COMPNOR mentioned it above, and I need to quote it, just because it really does highlight what the hardships of Owen's life have done to the man:

"The first man wore an air of grim, semiperpetual exhaustion, sandblasted into his face by too many years of arguing with a hostile environment. His graying hair was frozen in tangled twists like gypsum helicites. Dust frosted his face, clothes, hands, and thoughts. But the body, if not the spirit, was still powerful."

Rogue One-and-a-Half, in his own reading thread, called Obi-Wan the saddest figure in Star Wars. It's interesting to what extent Obi-Wan's and Owen's states parallel each other, both beaten down by tragedy and years of harsh living in an unforgiving desert. I can see the reasoning behind making them brothers. But Obi-Wan continues to have hope for the future, while Owen has been ground down. He won't give up, because that's the kind of guy he is...but he's not living for a better future either. And he can't see a better future for Luke, given what he knows of Anakin, so we end up with things the way they are come 0 BBY.

And that segues nicely back into the story:

"Luke had gone topside. He stood on the sand watching the double sunset as first one and then the other of Tatooine's twin suns sank slowly behind the distant range of dunes. In the fading light the sands turned gold, russet, and flaming red-orange before advancing night put the bright colors to sleep for another day

 

More on the binary sunset scene: Luke feels no excitement over the prospect about the farm turning a tidy profit. Apparently, there is nothing of note to spend surplus credits on in Anchorhead, or anywhere else on Tatooine. Also, Luke feels more and more restless at remaining unfulfilled."This was not an uncommon feeling in youths his age, but for reasons Luke did not understand, it was much stronger in him than in any of his close friends."

More Foster gems: "Bringing out the precious macrobinoculars, he scanned the rapidly darkening horizons for something small, metallic, three-legged, and out of its mechanical mind."

Luke's landspeeder--I'm wondering if Foster only had Ralph McQuarrie's concept art to go on when writing this scene. I admit that I find the twin tailed speeder with the gull-wing doors a superior design than that seen in the movies.

Luke's rifle--Not really well described in the novel, but in the movie, Luke's rifle is one of the lamest props out of the firearms seen in the movie. I think it was constructed out of an Arab/Berber snaphaunce musket.

 

Anyway, I can't wait to explore Chapter V, as we delve into the questions of navigators on space freighters, fusioncutters, lightsabers still used in certain galactic quarters, and later corrupt Emperors.

 

I'll leave discussion of fusioncutters to you, 'cause I'm not sure what to say about them, but here we go!

CHAPTER V

Chapter V covers Obi-Wan and Luke's conversation, and Leia's torture.

We open where we left off, with a mysterious creature approaching. Surprise! It's an old man. He's been around: "Hints of extreme climates other than desert, of ultimate cold and humidity, were etched into that seamed face."

Artoo decides to be brave and come out. The old man encourages him, then revives Luke with a touch of his hand, who recognizes him as Ben Kenobi. Luke quizzes him about this Obi-Wan fellow the droid keeps talking about. We all know how the rest of this goes.

Continuity Note
Ben describes Artoo as "a modern Artoo unit" (when discussing the droids he hasn't owned). This makes me wonder what Artoo's age was supposed to be in early EU. Threepio was always assumed to be a century or so old; was Artoo assumed to be much younger in contrast?

Ben makes another Krayt dragon call to give them a little more time as they leave. And how does he do that? "I'll show you sometime, son. It's not too hard. Just takes the right attitude, a set of well-used vocal cords, and a lot of wind. Now, if you were an imperial bureaucrat, I could teach you right off, but you're not."

They find Threepio and head to Ben's place, which here is a well-concealed cave. And the meat of the chapter begins.

As Luke fixes Threepio, Ben tinkers with Artoo, finally accessing Leia's message. Because this is 1976, it's described as a tape. Luke notes that Ben is skilled in areas beyond mere desert life.

Full transcript of Leia's message:

"General Obi-Wan Kenobi, I present myself in the name of the world family of Alderaan and of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. I break your solitude at the bidding of my father, Bail Organa, Viceroy and First Chairman of the Alderaan system. Years ago, General, you served the Old Republic in the Clone Wars. Now my father begs you to aid us again in our most desperate hour. He would have you join him on Alderaan. You must go to him. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person. My mission to meet personally with you has failed. Hence I have been forced to resort to this secondary method of communication. Information vital to the survival of the Alliance has been secured in the mind of this Detoo droid. My father will know how to retrieve it. I plead with you to see this unit safely delivered to Alderaan. You must help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You are my last hope. I will be captured by agents of the Empire. They will learn nothing from me. Everything to be learned lies locked in the memory cells of this droid. Do not fail us, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Do not fail me."

Continuity ahoy! The first mention of "Alliance to Restore the Republic", the first time Bail is named and a full accounting of his position. Unlike the movie, which says he served Bail, this just names Obi-Wan as serving the Republic in the Clone Wars. Some sources between this and the prequels will have the Clone Wars taking place under the Empire (this is in the view of the Empire that coexisted with the Jedi before wiping them out), but that's already been precluded here. Artoo is a "Detoo droid" rather than an Artoo unit.

Unusual Reference
"Luke's mind was as muddy as a pond laced with petroleum."

Seriously, what's with these similes?

Obi-Wan leans back in thought and smokes a water pipe. Luke questions him about the message, addressing him as "General Kenobi", which I think is a nice touch.

"Owen Lars didn't agree with your father's ideas, opinions, or with his philosophy of life. He believed that your father should have stayed here on Tatooine and not gotten involved in...Well, he thought he should have remained here and minded his farming."

A little more descriptive than the movie's description of their relation. This is pretty interesting to look at in light of canon now. The conflict of opinions could be Owen projecting onto Anakin, or they could have had some heate

 

One can theorize that the mention of multiple Emperors is a reference to the Imperial Ruling Council, the body managing the day-to-day operations of the Imperial State.

 

So, I guess they're trying to terraform Tatooine similar to Arakkis in Dune? Wonder when they started if Tatooine is the same in KOTOR?

I wonder how Obi-Wan would have delt with the situation if Leia had shown up first? Any father stories and lightsabers? Leave Luke behind?

Interesting wording, guarantors of peace... Seems like that could change Luke's attitude at the start of the NJO and beyond about the role of the Jedi.

I do recall that description of the Droids, that they were rumored to exist but no one was sure. Not sure where I read that, Visual Guide?

 

JABBA: Who taught you to do this stuff?

OBI-WAN: You, all right? I learned it by watching you!!!

 

So Obi-Wan's a drunk and a smoker. Awesome.

 

I thought I remembered a reference to the droids' first meeting in 1995's The Essential Guide to Characters, but checking now, it's actually oddly silent on Artoo's origins. It explicitly states that Threepio was "activated 112 years before his adventures with the Rebel Alliance," but the earliest bit of Artoo's life it mentions is the first episode of the Droids cartoon. I wonder if there was a moratorium from Lucas on Artoo's history pre-'99. I think he knew pretty early on that he wanted to use the droids in the prequels, but I don't think I have anything to back that up.

Fake edit: The Visual Guide states: "Durable and strongly built, R2-D2 has been around even longer than his counterpart C-3PO." Visual Guide is c. 1998.

You are correct! Here's what the Visual Guide has to say:

"Illegal by the laws of the Republic, this interrogation droid is one of the technological horrors concocted behind the curtains of Imperial secrecy."

I wonder if David West Reynolds was channeling the ANH novelization?

 

What about his infamous proclamation that the droids would be in all "9" episodes?

 

The old man. The crazy wizard. The desert bum and all-around character whom his uncle and everyone else had known of for as long as Luke could recall.

It would seem back then that Kenobi had a reputation as an eccentric and perhaps that of sponge, going from moisture farm to moisture farm mooching handouts?

"General Kenobi, you fought in the Clone Wars? But . . . that was so long ago."

If 20 years is considered "long ago". I wonder at what age did Lucas originally consider Anakin Skywalker to be when he fathered Luke.

"But my father didn't fight in the Clone Wars. He was no knight--just a navigator on a space freighter."

I don't have my copy of Tatooine Ghost handy, but I seem to recall that Anakin Skywalker was quite the hero on the planet, and a warrior of great renown throughout the Old Republic. Now, unless COMPNOR and the Imperial Security Bureau did the ultimate whiz-bang job of utterly erasing Anakin's history, it just seems to me that Luke would have blundered into some information about his father's exploits.

Blaster tech--From Kenobi's description of the weapon as clumsy and random, he makes it appear as if the weapons are about as accurate as a blunderbuss with a crooked barrel. And "fusioncutter"! I always thought it was a different type of aimed weapon way back when I first read this book, sort of like there were "needle beamers", "power pistols", and "beam tubes". Alas, its nothing but a cutting torch apparently.

 

Whoops! Forgot this for a bit.

CHAPTER VI

Chapter VI covers the death of the Larses and the events in Mos Eisley, up to the deal with Han.

On their way to Anchorhead, Obi-Wan spots smoke to the southwest. There's an interesting bit where Luke doesn't see it until they're much closer, thinking that Obi-Wan "somehow detected" it. Could he have felt the death through the Force? Does he just have better eyes?

They find the burnt-out hulk of a Jawa sandcrawler. Luke finds evidence of a Tusken attack, but Obi-Wan thinks that no one on Tatooine could kill this efficiently and precisely?it must be stormtroopers. "Turning, he examined the horizon. One of those nearby bluffs concealed a secret?and a threat." I like the atmosphere here, it plays up the intrigue in this scene.

Luke recognizes the cloak of one of the dead Jawas as one of those who sold the droids to the Larses, and considers that the stormtroopers must have killed some Tuskens to get the banthas they made the tracks with (I'd actually never considered that before). But if they tracked the droids, that would lead them...home.

This is a sad scene. You all know how it goes, but I've taken this scene for granted in the movie so much that it's nice to have a different take on it bring out the emotional core.

So we leave the death of Luke's only parental figures and the only home he's known, traveling across the galaxy to the triumph of those responsible: the Death Star. A vast screen covering an entire wall of the chamber shows a million star systems, a tiny portion of the galaxy, as Vader, Tarkin, Tagge, and Motti (in his first appearance) watch in awe. Motti informs them that all systems are operational, and the Death Star is ready to go.

Vader and Tarkin are discussing Leia's resistance to interrogation, and Tarkin has an idea. He tells Motti to set a course for the Alderaan system.

Back on Tatooine, Obi-Wan and the droids are burning the bodies. Obi-Wan is a racist: "He would consign no one to the bone-gnawers and gravel-maggots, not even a filthy jawa." Luke returns, and Obi-Wan tries to console him. Luke's response is an angry "Damn your Force!" But he wants to go to Alderaan and learn to be a Jedi like his father.

And now we're at Mos Eisley. The town is larger than it appears, since much of it is underground. Obi-Wan exposits about the town, and Luke for the first time addresses him as "Obi-Wan".

We get a little bit on the architecture and history of Mos Eisley, particularly how they build buildings to beat the heat. Luke and Obi-Wan are in the outskirts when a ring of stormtroopers close around them; Luke wants to gun his way out of there, but Obi-Wan stops him, because that's a dumb idea. One of the stormtroopers asks about the droids, and the speeder's point of origin; apparently their interest lies to the south. Luke claims they came from Bestine, in the west.

Continuity Notes
Bestine is both the name of a planet, and the town mentioned here. Not so strange in and of itself?canon's done worse duplications?but as noted earlier, it's not so often that they come from the same source.

Score one for future continuity: the map in Inside the Worlds of the Star Wars Trilogy has the Lars homestead to the south of Mos Eisley, and Bestine to the west.

Inside the Worlds also has Ben and Luke making an overnight stop in Bestine, between the discovery of the sandcrawler and their arrival at Mos Eisley, thus making Luke truthful here.

So the trooper wants to see some identification, but Obi-Wan leans over and says in an "extremely peculiar voice"..."I am your father."

Wait, wrong catchphrase. Of course he says that the stormtrooper doesn't need to see Luke's identification, and furthermore these aren't the droids he's looking for, and Luke can go about his business.

You know, this book is filled with so many minor line differences?presumably a mix of Foster working off an older draft of the script different from the actual filmed lines, and just the standard changes that occur in adapting anything to a different m

 

I love Luceno more every day.

Yes! Years later, Ben speaking Shyriiwook is one of the few things about the novel that I distinctly remember. Really glad it stuck out for you, too. We can't really hear his and Chewie's conversation in the film; I've always wondered if Lucas intended that to be happening onscreen as well.

 

Ben Kenobi a racist? I took that passage to mean that Kenobi showed the jawas respect by not leaving them to be picked over as carrion like most humans on Tatooine would be apt to do.

Foreshadowing!
Luke wore a determined look. "I'm ready for anything, Obi-wan."

I wonder if you comprehend what that might entail, Luke, Kenobi thought. But he only nodded as he led the way back to the landspeeder.

Mos Eisley--I like the description Foster writes of the spaceport, and how much of it is beneath the surface. I think it is unfortunate that Lucas moved away from that description in the special edition of Star Wars.

Luke--One thing the movie can't show: Luke's panic when he sees the stormtrooper patrol, and his wild thoughts of gunning the speeder and running through the checkpoint.

Negola dewaghi wooldugger?--Another chance for Foster to shine: Whether from the conversation it was having with the rodentlike creature or the overdose of booze, the apartment house for wayward eyeballs was obviously growing agitated.

Ben speaking Shryiiwook--Can this be the possible reason as to how Ahsoka Tano understands Chewbacca in The Clone Wars?

 

No, no, Obi was looking into the future. Vader knew Zsinj, Insane Isard, and the rest of them.

 

The giant multiocular creature still stood staring, dazed, at the old human who was poised motionless before it, the shining lightsaber held over his head in a peculiar fashion.

Cool thing to imagine nowadays if Ben Kenobi struck the same pose as he did just prior to his duel with General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith.

 

In the script Evazan is referred to as a 'grubby human' and it is likely that Kabe was originally supposed to be Evazan and Baba's 'rodent-like' accomplice. In the film Kabe is standing with them before the fight breaks out. As it says in the Kabe Databank entry:

The original screenplay for A New Hope describes a trio of assailants that accost Luke at the bar. In addition to Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba, there was to have been "an even smaller rodent-like beast." When the confrontation turns violent, the script says "the rodent is cut in two." The finished film only shows Evazan and Baba in the altercation, but careful examination of the sequence shows that Evazan is talking to Kabe before the scuffle. This indicates the idea of them being allies lasted up until shooting.


Mos Eisley--I like the description Foster writes of the spaceport, and how much of it is beneath the surface. I think it is unfortunate that Lucas moved away from that description in the special edition of Star Wars.

Mos Eisley was expanded on the suface for the SE but Mos Espa in Ep I saw a variety of buildings like those built into the canyon walls.

 

Good catch on Evazan and Kabe!

I was referring to the "even a filthy jawa" thing.

 

Of course he isn't, and the sandpeople attack Luke. They're big, too; one has a leg as wide as both of Luke's together. We learn this Tusken's gaderffii is made of freighter plating as it smashes Luke's rifle. Luke apparently has been to something called "survival school", but it's no help and he faints. Hee. In the movie he at least has the dignity of getting hit.

Seriously....Luke faints haha.

 

It's like when a bear attacks you. You're supposed to play dead.

 

That's always been a big problem for me as well - I expected the transition to the RE Empire to be gradual, instead of the "Insta-Evil Empire, Just Add Water" we've gotten for the early DT material. The Ghorman Massacre was supposed to be a shock, a wake-up call for those in the Inner worlds that said "It can't happen here"; a brutal suppression on a world in the Colonies where the perpetrator is not only unpunished but seemingly rewarded for his actions - now, it makes you wonder why they focused on that instead the umpteen other incidents that seem to happen within hours of the Empire being declared. If anything, the Emperor's indirect attack on Caamas seems more out of place these days.