Lit The Essential Reader's Companion by Pablo Hidalgo.

Check out the NJO intro - lots of new details on the "Jacen dies" version of the story. It's waaaay different, not just a swap of Anakin and Jacen.

 

I am glad they did not take the original story idea... the dark horse one was much better with Unknown Regions. and the NJO as it turned out too.

though them changing the Vong away from proto-Sith.. only to have post-NJO feature Lost Tribe, One Sith etc.. well.. d'oh.

 

The guides have been so studiously IU for so long that seeing real-world names and dates casually in the text is a little jarring. I mean, it absolutely makes sense but it'll take a bit of mental recalibration.

Remember when books like The Guide to the SWU used things like "BSW4" instead of "BBY"?

 

It's refreshing to see a format where the narrative can stop for a second and say "this story saying X and that story saying Y is interesting, because..." The BtS material alone on EU history could be a book all by itself.

Edit: my takeaway from the Clone Wars intro is, we'll fit as many stories in as we can, but don't expect the whole series to be shoved into the last six months - Lucas' timeline wins because it's Lucas' timeline.

 

From the publication order list in that preview, it looks like the Ewoks short stories aren't covered.

 

@Coop:

Agreed. I could be wrong but I saw that as mostly damage control for more casual fans. With guys like Pablo and Leland at the helm, I suspect when the dust settles in a few years we'll be pleasantly surprised by how well it will be made to fit. Frankly a lot can be solved by simply shoving existing dates around and we're plenty used to that.

 

It appears that graphic novels, other than "important" ones, might not get covered or mentioned at all. TOTJ, Dark Empire, KOTOR, and Legacy all might make the cut, but I wouldn't expect much more, to be honest.

That might explain why we haven't seen many (or any?) comic exclusive characters?

--Adm. Nick

 

Well there goes all my interest in this one.

According to the preview:

The Essential Reader’s Companion focuses on prose fiction. Graphic novels, every bit as essential to the Expanded Universe, are beyond the scope of this book, though where relevant mentions of certain stories are given in the text. The younger end of children’s literature—the illustrated storybooks, chapter books, and beginner books—is also excluded, though works for young adults (ages twelve and up) are included. Stories with variable plots—Solitaire Adventures, Choose Your Own Adventure, Decide Your Destiny, and similar works—are also not included.

Stories of videogames, which often form important chapters in the lives of Star Wars characters, are not covered unless they’ve been adapted into a book. Sometimes game books—such as roleplaying game supplements and videogame strategy guides—include fictional sidebars or a fictional story that frames the rules and game information. These, too, are not in the Companion.

 

I was watching Horrible Histories videos when I came across that one. I do love historical satire.

On topic, the artwork alone easily makes this book worth the twenty bucks, I thought it would be more considering its size.

 

There was a guide for comics that come out several years ago. I wouldn't mind a guide to comics and or games. That would be very helpful.

 

Urgh.... that sounds ludicrous. Then again, there may have been a good reason for the sibling rivalry.... I'll be honest; while I've heard of alternative plot lines for the NJO before, this one's a new one to me.

 

Sounds interesting. They also seemed to recycle the "Sith infiltrator girl who falls for the good guy" plot in Vestara.

 

Maybe short story entries are listed separately, but just looking at the preview, aren't there a few short stories missing between Lost Tribe and Revan? The KOTOR stories "Labor Pains" and "Interference" should be in there, plus maybe "Jedi Protector," but I'm not sure what that is.

 

Ooh, good point. "Labor Pains" and "Interference" should definitely have been in there, as well as "The Secret Journal of Doctor Demagol." I thought Pablo said this book was covering the Hyperspace short stories.

 

Maybe it's an elaborate conspiracy by Janu Godalhi?

 

Based on their garments in the pictures and their centers of interest in the books, it looks like Tash became a Jedi Knight, while her brother Zak became an anthropologist.

 

I now want to see a loosely-Indiana Jones-inspired adventure series, starring Zak Arranda as our dashing xenoanthropologist.

 

Zak was confirmed to be Force sensitive at the end, wasn't he? Suppose it could make sense that he didn't really follow up on it.

I suppose he could be like Tyria from the Wraith series. Force sensitive, but according to Luke, not strong enough to become a full Jedi knight.

 

It also had Jerec and a bubblegum monster (Eppon always seemed like that to me. Sue me) and Vader being cloned by Jedi Technology

 

I remember that it actually had a surprisingly strong Vader depiction (no, really). Jerec also made an appearance.

That series is all about the cameos. Even if most of it is incredibly forgettable.

 

Wait, only twenty bucks? I was ready to shell out fifty! Nuts to this, I'm pre-ordering this bad boy!

 

A great musical, and probably partly responsible for my later obsession with the American Revolution. Points off, however, for cementing the portrayal of James Duane and the New York delegation as a bunch of fat Tories, which they most certainly were not. This portrayal was echoed, amongst other times, in the HBO John Adams miniseries, which was both good and popular enough to give its mistakes real sticking power.

Odd that we see shades of it brought back for FotJ, but with Ben/Vestara. Very glad they did away with the sibling rivalry plot - that would have been unworkably petty, especially if it did end in murder.

Here's a bit of a grenade rolled into the room: "No Sith or proto-Sith appear in the series." What, then, was Vergere?