Lit Reading NJO...Again

Well, "well established" doesn't mean "high in number." I do think it's pretty well established as an institution by BtS (and definitely by YJK), it's just there weren't very many.

(I suspect the rediscovery of midichlorians circa 24 ABY was a breakthrough in terms of recruitment practices and is probably the central reason why the order does begin to expand exponentially after the Vong War ends.)

 

"Well established" is my language, and that's what I intended it to mean.

I'm just saying the NJO seemed like a shift to me as a reader because I had developed the impression that the Jedi order was larger than it turned out to be.

Where is it said they "rediscovered midichlorians" c. 24 ABY? Is that actually in a book? lol

 

I forget, but how big was the Order implied to be in the NJO? I felt like it was between one and two hundred.

 

@Trip

you should turn my 90s self argument around against me in TLJ thread for expecting a bunch of Jedi after 15 years

 

fair enough

(The midichlorian rediscovery is extrapolation from The Jedi Path. Which I think is probably actually a forgery, but it does have midichlorian info, and Luke did read it, so. )

It's 'officially' around a hundred knights and masters at the start of the war-- a number that doesn't include the Wild Knights, which are an additional dozen or so Jedi, and prrrrobably doesn't include the Iron Knights either. So in truth there's probably closer to 120-130 or so Jedi active at the start of the war, plus the thirty-odd younger students at the academy.

 

Both Luke and the Shadow Academy had a Force strength reader machine that they used to see if people was strong in the Force.

 

yeah but those aren't actually very useful for the kind of screening program you'd need to set up to identify decent numbers of potential Jedi-- they're extremely few in number, can't be manufactured any more, and only function at close range. So they're only really useful as a confirmation for candidates you've already identified by other means. A midichlorian test, on the other hand, is a simple procedure that can be carried out by basically anyone anywhere using everyday medical tools and thus allows for the kind of large-scale screenings you'd need to be able to identify candidates in significant numbers.

@DigitalMessiah - I'm done with that particular thread tbh.

 

I think every EU author tried to give Luke some new way of reestablishing the Jedi. Zahn had the twins and Mara Jade, DE2 had Solusar and the Ysanna, JAT has the stupid paddles and the dumb Force technique that objectively established Kyp being stronger than Luke and Leia and the actual Praxeum, etc., and by the time you got a decade out from ROTJ it became implicit that Luke's Jedi were self sufficient since he was always out doing crazy stuff with Lando.

I'm trying to remember if Luke was perpetually absent in JJK since that had Ikrit as bunny Yoda.

 

Reading Balance Point. The first 12 chapters of this book would make for a terrible movie. No one wants to watch Luke have a proto-Council doing nothing, or the Solos in a refugee camp.

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The NJO probably could have been cut in half TBH

 

uhh I do lol. Especially when it's written by Tyers who gets the Skywalker/Solo family so much better than most.

Anyway it's because the NJO is structured and paced like a TV show, not a movie. Balance Point is the start of Season 2.

 

NJO is definitely a TV series. Beginning of BP feels like BSG when they had that colony that the Cylons took over, and then they had the insurgency. It's been a while since i watched that show.

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Yes! New Caprica's exactly what Balance Point feels like to me-- coming into a new season after a time jump, the characters are all split up, half of them are stuck dirtside, etc.

Honestly I've always felt like BSG and the NJO have kind of the same DNA... like obviously the specifics are very different but the themes and irl context are pretty similar. Even some of the character arcs (Gaius Baltar and Nom Anor being the most obvious parallel).

 

I may have to rewatch BSG. My tv schedule has just opened up, because i'm pretty sure i've lost interest in all the DC shows on CW.

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they have the same theme of exploring self and other

same with the matrix

which is ultimately what the Star Wars movies themselves are about on a personal level, with Vader being the other but also being Luke's shadow

probably should have just wrapped it up with traitor

all is one

 

Or not -- with the exception of Force Heretic, everything after Traitor is awesome in my book! The second half of the NJO is just great imo. In the end it really ties itself up in a nice package with those last two books.

 

Just read Han and Leia's reunion on Duro. It's just as good as, maybe better than, their reunion in TFA. I think that's what i appreciated about their reunion in TFA, actually.

I like that there are echoes of Legends in the ST, and it enables me all the more to think of there being divergent timelines that were spawned by whatever minute differences between the two. Maybe they take shape differently because of changes well before the Saga even begins.

For instance, without KOTOR and TOR happening as they did Canon takes a different shape but with many many similarities as Legends. So, you still get a Solo son going dark, family tragedy causing a rift between Han and Leia that causes them to separate for a time, and Luke balking at what needs to be done.

On a metaphysical level, episodes 1-6 being the time of the Prophecy of the Chosen One remain unchanging in either time stream because it is this big turning point for the Force.

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I think it's much better as we can read their emotions, they weren't apart for X years, and they get to grow [stronger] together again unlike in TFA. It is beautifuk

 

Hmmm, that got me curious to think of it as a tv series now. I would have thought Balance Point would be more of a mid-season cliffhanger or possibly season finale rather than episode 1 of season 2. I mean the main thing about Balance Point is really the ending and you meet the bad guys ‘Dragon’ namely Tsavong Lah and surive. There was that sense of achievement of getting away yet loss with the fall of Duro.

 

If we consider Balance Point both a second season starter, or a first season finale. Why not compromise. The moment the Yuuzhan Vong arrive and Leia is captured could be considered the end of Season 1, with Season 2 continuing the end of Balance Point.

 

Out of curiosity if they were to ever make a GOT style NJO TV show what would production and special effects costs look like?

 

Balance Point would be the first, like, four or so episodes. Maybe five? Basically I think it'd go something like this (~13 episodes per season):

Intro Miniseries: Vector Prime
Season 1: Dark Tide, Agents of Chaos
Season 2: Balance Point, Edge of Victory
Season 3: Star by Star
Season 4: Dark Journey, Enemy Lines
Season 5: Traitor, Destiny's Way, Ylesia
Season 6: Force Heretic, The Final Prophecy
Season 7: The Unifying Force

 

I figured four of five seasons myself (with one or two original episodes here and there to make 10 episodes per season).

Season 1: Vector Prime, Dark Tide, Agents of Chaos
Season 2: Balance Point, Recovery, Edge of Victory, Emissaries of the Void?
Season 3: Star by Star, Dark Journey, Enemy Lines, Traitor, first half of Destiny's Way
Season 4: Ylesia, second half of Destiny's Way, Force Heretic
Season 5: The Final Prophecy, The Unifying Force

 

Star by Star through the first half of Destiny's Way to do well could take up to 7-11 hour long episodes to do.

Come to think of it-with the money involved and proper commitment of studios, actors, producers etc... you could probably do-five or six seasons of the NJO with 50 minute or hour long episodes.

Though the production costs would be huge.

 

Could you do NJO within the new canon?

Rey's new order, First Order has fallen, as Hux dies he tells them of the threat beyond the stars that they have held back, that Star Killer base was to help them defend against, a space station that could destroy the living planet ships of these invaders..

Rey in the Luke role, Kylo potentially redeemed as the Kyp, not sure how the roles would all line up, but would be interesting.

Just think as you guys say, it'd be almost the perfect TV show. Just probably a bit too dark for Star Wars. And too Sci-Fi.