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

Lit Palpatine's Origins...

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Chewbacca89, Mar 22, 2013.

  1. CT-867-5309

    CT-867-5309 Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jan 5, 2011
    I've never really thought about it, so I'll give it a quick thought now.

    AC Crispin: Never read her Han Solo trilogy and for a long time I actually thought she was male, like AC Slater. I've read both of her short stories and liked them well enough.
    Elaine Cunningham: Dark Journey was the worst of the NJO, imo. I haven't read any of her short stories.
    Kristine Kathryn Rusch: I actually enjoyed The New Rebellion.
    Karen Miller: I haven't read any of her work.
    Vonda N. McIntyre: The Crystal Star......I can't really speak well of it. It has a bizarre amusement to it, but that doesn't make it good. I actually vastly prefer the kids' plot to the Waru plot.
    Barbara Hambly: Children of the Jedi is just absolutely dreadful with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, possibly the worst EU novel ever published. Planet of Twilight is also terrible, but at least has a few amusing aspects to it. Still terrible, though. Nightlily is amusing enough, though Taster's Choice is forgettable. Haven't read her other short story.
    Kathy Tyers: The Truce at Bakura is alright. Yea space dinosaurs and entechment. Balance Point is on the low end of the NJO. It's pretty bad really, but nowhere near as bad as Dark Journey. Dat dude's Marakin theory makes it more amusing. The Band's Tale and Oola's Tale were passable. I actually enjoyed The Tale of Bossk. Haven't read her other work. Probably the best of the major female EU authors, though that's not saying much.
    Judith Reeves-Stevens: Wrote The Tale of EV-9D9 and The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid with her husband Garfield, which I thought were both solid.
    Marina Fitch: Wrote The Whiphid's Tale with Mark Budz, also solid.
    Jennifer Roberson: Her Tales on Dannik Jerriko are terrible.
    Jude Watson: I've only read a few of her young readers' novels and thought they were passable.
    Deborah Wheeler: The Tale of Ree-Yees is one of the worst of The Tales from Jabba's Palace.

    Overall poor performance by female SW authors, can't say I'm a fan of any of them.

    EDIT: Just realized how far off topic we are.
     
  2. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    It is interesting how we went from Karen Miller's depiction of Palpatine racing speeders to "all female Star Wars writers suck."

    I'm limited on what I've read, but:

    I can't stand Jude Watson, I've never made any bones about that. I love Karen Miller. I haven't read enough Traviss to comment but I did like Clone Wars: No Prisoners.

    I haven't read AC Crispin either but I had a friend who called it the "[I Wanna ****] Han Solo" trilogy due to how much of a Sue that Bria supposedly was.

    The Star Wars writers who are IMO the strongest, Stover and Luceno, just happen to be men but I don't think they're strong writers because they are men.

    I'll get flamed for this one but I don't think Zahn is that strong a writer, his favorite characters are all too obvious.

    And one of the worst Star Wars books I've read is Courtship of Princess Leia and it was written by a man.

    (This is not my ovaries yelling in protest, I just found it very surprising that the PP said that he liked all the male Star Wars writers.)

    So...about Palpatine...
     
    Summer Dreamer likes this.
  3. FatSmel

    FatSmel Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 23, 2012
    Yes, it takes something pretty bad for me to dislike a Star Wars novel!
     
  4. FatSmel

    FatSmel Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 23, 2012
    Oh wait, I forgot about Kevin J Anderson
     
    darklordoftech and V-2 like this.
  5. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    To get back on topic...
    I just feel like if he had different parents or had been taught from a young age how to control his anger and use the Light Side, he could have been much more.
     
  6. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    That I wonder about. There's a big difference between that and "manipulated by Plagueis".
     
  7. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I'm not big on the idea of blaming the parents when a kid turns out to be psycho either. If he had been taught to control his anger, though--that's a valid point.
     
  8. Starkeiller

    Starkeiller Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2004
    If he had been taught to control his anger, he would have murdered his parents while they were trying to teach him to control his anger.
     
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  9. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Then taught by the Jedi perhaps?
     
  10. Starkeiller

    Starkeiller Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2004
    Which he would have manipulated into making him the boss and then exterminated?

    There's no way I'll be convinced Palpatine could not have been evil. It's a ridiculous notion that defeats the character's purpose.
     
  11. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I wasn't thinking of his parents doing it, but...fair point.
     
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  12. fett 4

    fett 4 Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 2, 2000
    Crispin's trilogy is ok and they are worth reading at least once.

    Stover is great and the Revenge of the Sith book pretty much turned lead into gold. Luceno is good but gets bogged down by referencing every single thing that happens in other books.

    Zahn basically did a Lucas. The Thrawn trilogy was great, The Hand of Thrawn duo was his Return of the Jedi with a mix off good/bad and repetitiveness.
    His own prequels mirror the PT. Alliegance was one of the worst bits of hack writing I have ever read and Choices of One while a step up was still pretty bad.
    Scoundrels was simply pointless and didn't even feel like a Starwars book.

    Courtship of Princess Leia, it's been awhile but is that the one where there is a planet full of dominatrix's who ride around Rancors ???
     
    kataja likes this.
  13. kataja

    kataja Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 4, 2007
    That's a good way to put it!

    Yup. I still wait to see it as comic - I predict it would sell very well!
     
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  14. Starkeiller

    Starkeiller Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2004
    Back on topic:

    The late and lamented Ian Abercrombie made a fantastic Palpatine because his delivery was so right on the mark it complemented Ep. III perfectly. He makes you believe in this weakened old politician trying to please everyone, which creates a very creepy effect when combined with the knowledge of what Palpatine really is behind the mask. He mostly didn't include the hedonistically sadistic monster seeping through that Ian McDiarmid did in Ep. III, keeping the character very much in Ep. II in terms of performance.

    In short, he played him as an actor performing for everyone around him, and someone you could never feel sorry for under any circumstances, because everything about him is fake.

    [face_devil]
     
  15. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Would anyone be in favor of a Palpatine Origins movie? In line with the other projected spin-off movies planned....
     
  16. Starkeiller

    Starkeiller Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2004
    %^*& NO! :eek: I'd dig up the tomahawk, slap warpaint on my face and go on the warpath if they even suggested such a thing.
     
  17. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    How come? :p
     
  18. Starkeiller

    Starkeiller Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2004
    Because Luceno handled it well, and that ought to be the end of it. I was against it, but Mr. Luceno is apparently the man, as he created a backstory for Palpatine without humanizing him at all, and preserving the "what the hell is this guy?" feeling essential to the character.

    But Disney? Making a movie? About Palpatine's origins? That's reason to go berserk in the original sense of the word.
     
  19. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    What if they simply made a movie adaptation of the book?
     
  20. Starkeiller

    Starkeiller Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2004
    I'm against it, but who knows what horrors lurk in the Disney-held future? I'm optimistic, so right now I believe we won't have Star Wars "adaptations". Honestly, I don't want to see any "adaptations" of anything. I'm against it in principle. I want to see good goddamn screenplays, not a patchwork of clichés regurgitated by Hollywood hacks. Sometimes things like Cloud Atlas, The 39 Steps and The Maltese Falcon come out of books, sometimes movies deviate from the source material very much but are still very good, like The Shawshank Redemption, but most of the time the end result is something like 8 Million Ways to Die (not a very well-known movie, but the most atrocious book "adaptation" I can think of). "Adapting" a book into film is mutilating a book to fit into 24 frames per second rolling for one-and-a-half hour, and I do not support it. Not for Star Wars, not for anything.

    Disney, keep your paws off Star Wars books.
     
  21. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Ok, just curious. I think a Palpatine movie could be good but agree that a origins movie would probably turn out sour.
     
  22. FatSmel

    FatSmel Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 23, 2012
    If they did make that movie, it would stomp all over Plagueis and there's nothing we can do about it
     
  23. Arawn_Fenn

    Arawn_Fenn Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jul 2, 2004
    Oh come on now. There are some good things here and there in COTJ. You have to search for them, but they're there.
     
  24. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Yea...it's like playing "Wheres Waldo?" :p
     
  25. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I haven't read the book in question but if I have to search for redeeming qualities in a book, I'm not going to enjoy the book and therefore I'm not going to bother with it.

    As far as a Plagueis movie adaptation, I'd like to see it if it's well done and doesn't **** all over the book.