Lit Comics New Interview with Tom Veitch Dark Empire Author

New interview with Tom Veitch. He's very honest. He talks about the heated disagreements with Tim Zahn, with him not thinking Heir was very cinematic while Zahn disagreed with bringing Palpatine back.

He's also refreshingly honest in his views on The Force Awakens.

The only thing I'm a bit fuzzy on is Lucas liking his book then killing the project because of no contract. It was Lucas company, what he says goes, or it did. Why didn't he simply have a contract drawn up, if he likes it that much ?

http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2016/08/interview-with-dark-empire-writer-tom.html?m=1

 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Lots of good behind the scenes info.

I noticed this:

Never really thought about it, but good to know.

 

Hmmm. I didn't remember hearing this whole version of the story before. What a mess.

 

That for me was the strangest part. If Lucas approved it, why didn't he just get a contract drawn up

 

So when are we getting Lightsider, anyways? Still patiently waiting...

 

We're not. Ever. It's dead, Dave.

Back to the main topic - the way Veitch sums up his engagement with Zahn and their influence on each other's stories comes across surprisingly positive. Critical yes, but it doesn't sound as adversarial as I might have expected.

 

Excellent interview.

That's a pretty surprising side note, and I find myself wondering when he decided this because both times we see Force Storms in DE, there's every reason to believe that Palpatine created them himself with no obvious "struggle" going on at the time (and seems to be fully in control of them, at least until the very end of DE #6 anyway). And from the text pages:

 

Totally no insider knowledge here, but it would not be surprising if some folks reason that with the True EU having (for now) stopped, they may as well release some canceled stories...

 

True, but SheaHublin and others still holding out hope for Lightsider might want to keep their eyes open for whatever upcoming book Veitch mentions here:

This new book, which sounds like it might be some sort of autobiography or memoir, will probably offer as much as we're ever going to get on Lightsider and the ideas that got scrapped when DE3 was cancelled. Might be pretty interesting. Anyone else know anything about this?

 

Lucas himself brought the Sheev clones in instead of an objectively better option? Why am I not surprised...

Still gonna use him as a defense against Disney though.

 

Another interesting fact, generally unknown by the fans, is that Tim was asked to critique the DARK EMPIRE plot and I was asked to critique his book. This led to a spirited exchange which someday may see print. Tim hated the idea of Emperor coming back (and probably wasn't aware that George Lucas had proposed the idea to us). As for me, I found his book curiously uncinematic. I felt (and still feel) that all Star Wars novels need to be highly visual and give you the impression you might be sitting in a theater. I told him Heir to the Empire didn't feel at all like watching a movie. Tim took that criticism to heart and his subsequent work was a definite improvement.
I dunno, it's been 25 years, so it's different now but I doubt it was seen as that positive back then, or even by the Hand of Thrawn books (98), where some definite shots are taken. It would be interesting to see what this spirited exchange was.

 

Yeah, that's why I found it to be a critical exchange, he's not exactly saying: 'Tim Zahn? Oh, yeah, total bastard.' Hence my view.

Of course, this is the internet so let's crap-stir up some old and very turgid waters for - what benefit exactly?

Zahn's antics in VOTF are something else altogether and do come across as petty.

It'd be great to see Lightsider but it's over 20 years later. I'd agree whatever this book is could be an interesting read.

 

Interesting that they compare the Dark Side Elite to the Rebels Inquisitors. I recall reading that Veitch had ideas on the Great Jedi Purge that may have inspired Dark Empire II.

 

Yes. You have to wonder why they compare Rebels' Inquisitors to the Dark Side Elite instead of... well, the Legends Inquisitors.

 

I recall that originally Veitch wanted to write about how Obi-Wan escaped from the Empire. Obi-Wan would start out among a group of survivors, but throughout the series they'd all be killed off except for Obi-Wan, who would then go to Tatooine to live in exile. I wouldn't be surprised if Vader would be part of a group of Sith Lords hunting down the Jedi, and at the end of the series only Vader would be alive.

 

Interesting interview, although I don't really know how Super 8 is evidence of Abrams having a "superior Star Wars story" in his mind.

This does reinforce my view that if Lucas had decided in the 90s to make the sequel trilogy rather than the prequels, we probably would have seen a lot of similarities to Dark Empire show up. Him liking Palpatine's resurrection is another thing that I always thought was suspiciously close to ROTS.

I do think it's funny that Lucas nixed the idea for the villain to be a guy wearing Vader's armor, since that was one of the ideas Abrams & Co had for Kylo Ren and the end result is still about as close to Vader as could be without exact duplication.

 

The part where he talked about the "galaxy gun" in TFA made me smile, because the entirety of TFA to me is "Like what Veitch did, only not as good".

 

Interesting interview, nice to hear his thoughts about Dark Empire and TotJ, even years later (and with the old EU dead already). Some of it is probably polite PR speak, particularly the Zahn parts, and given how Palpatine coming back from the dead is a bit of a... contentious ideas. That doesn't excuse VotF's potshots (though I still like that book a lot), but it does kind of override RotJ's ending. On the other hand, Palpatine being tossed over a railing was kind of a silly way to go too.

Sad to hear about how many things were cancelled or never made because of business reasons, but that's typically how it goes.

 

I wish they had made a novelization. I would have read that in a heartbeat.

 

Because both groups consisted of hyped-up shmooks, that died like punks?

 

Ah yes, the bi-annual "Dark Empire needs to be novelized!" is right on schedule, as is the standard response:

http://www.cse.usf.edu/~pnguyen7/tow.pdf

 

Good interview. It was especially interesting to learn that Lucasfilm originally asked Bantam to do a novelization of DE, but Bantam chose to produce a new story(HTTE) instead.

 

The canon Inquisitors and the Dark Side Elite both seemed flawed and weak from day one, while EU inquisitors always sounded like a cross between Vader and Thrawn in every profile.

 

That's only because Legends Inquisitors never went up against main characters in a cartoon.

And he compared them to the Dark Side Elite because he's interviewing Veitch who made them but did not make Legends Inquisitors. But Dark Side Elite are similar enough.

It's just a little ego stroking.

 

Ah, that brings me back!

--Adm. Nick