Books A/V STAR WARS: ROGUE #$^$%&ING ONE: A STAR WARS STORY

Their roles are reversed though - Andor is more like Jan than Kyle, and vice versa for Jyn.

 

I don't really see the Kyle and Jan with Jyn and Andor. And, if they have Jyn "dating" Han in the Han movie, then she'll definitely be Bria.

 

Andor's "secret assassination orders" aren't quite the same as Jan's, but they did bring that Dark Forces novel scene to mind.

 

If by stand-ins, you mean they are involved in one generally similar mission, and every single thing else about their characters is totally different, than who they are supposedly standing in for, then, yeah, sure. maybe. Whatever.

 

I do think the smash cut to "Jyn in jail" is going to be explained and heck, even when I saw it open up with that I thought to meself "Well, we'll see how Jyn ended up in jail in the Han Solo movie!" I mean, probably not a co-starring role (Emilia Clarke I'd wager would be that one) but I could see more of a cameo Han and Chewie do XYZ antics and then the punchline is Jyn ends up in the pokey.

Anyway, semi-related:

 

That seems like Marvel movie thinking, honestly.

 

All under the Disney umbrella, there is a likely bit of cross-pollination in vibes and stylistic flourishes (both TFA and Rogue One are nearly as quippy as your average Marvel movie). Hell, look at the way Disney Animation and Pixar have influenced each other over the years (arguably, Disney Animation is now doing more original work than Pixar is).

Speaking of Marvel influences, I did see a post on a talkback on AICN where someone suggested maybe throwing in as a post-credit in Rogue One the ANH deleted scene with Luke seeing the skirmish above Tatooine while he's cleaning the droids. While that didn't happen, oddly, I think it could have worked.

And, also speaking of ANH deleted scenes and the Battle of Scarif, I don't see Biggs there which means at that point he's on Tatooine meeting up with Luke so that sort of makes those deleted scenes canon, possibly.

 

The Databank had already basically done that

http://www.starwars.com/databank/biggs-darklighter-biography-slideshow

And the newcanon Complete Locations, with TFA content and lots of things being updated to be more compatible with the newcanon (R22 Spearhead on Yavin IV becoming Phoenix Squadron A-Wing springs to mind) - also references Luke & Biggs's conversation, in the Lars Farm section.

 

THIS IS AMAZING.

I wish the novels would opt for this kind of style.

 

Thinking Jyn/Cassian are the canon version of Jan/Kyle is like thinking Lando is the RotJ version of Luke.

 

He's the RotJ version of Han.

 

And Han is the RotJ version of Obi-Wan.

 

Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor are far too unsuccessful to even be comparable to the great Kyle Katarn. If Mon Mothma had just told Kyle Katarn to get the plans, the only casualties would be Imperials.

FTFY

 

Well, since dead men make awful player characters for video games, it makes sense that Katarn would be more "successful."

However, conversely, Jyn arguably has a wider reach of the fanbase, since Katarn is a game-centric character for an out-of-date system, kind of limiting his fanbase to the gammer's community. Also, did Katarn ever get as much depth and character development as Jyn did? Player characters tend to be on the thinner side to allow players to project themselves more into the character than the game. (Having read the Rogue One novelization, I would be willing to bet that Jyn is the better character, but I know next to nothing about Katarn to make a valid comparision.)

 

Katarn started out as a shooting player stand-in, basically, given marching orders by Mon Mothma but eventually subsequent games (especially the Jedi Knight sequels) fleshed him out along with appearances in Legends. As randomly jarring as "Oh, I'm actually a Jedi" was when Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight happened it gave the character some more scope.

Now I got more emotional satisfaction out of Jyn's arc but I really think a lot of that is due to Jones' performance more than how she was written. Jyn kind of flips a switch from cynic to idealist at around the halfway point but Jones' is great at showing depth there and she can say the word "hope" with the best of 'em, which is actually kind of key for a lead in Star Wars. Although it perfectly fits with Rogue One's World War II Mission movie vibe, the characters are never really that layered but they have memorable quirks and great exits, with each one brought to life by some very good actors who make them stand out.

 

Kyle Katarn has way more character development than Jyn. Not knocking Jyn, but she only had one movie that she shared with others. Katarn starred in Dark Forces 1 and 2, Jedi Outcast, and was a main supporting character in Jedi Academy. He also had a trilogy of books that focused on him.

These chronicled his (short) Imperial military career, his defection upon finding the Empire killed his father, stopping the Dark Trooper project, battling his father's killer (Inquisitor Jerec and his 6 fellow Inquisitors), ultimately choosing not to give in to revenge but still killing Jerec in self defense, and temporarily falling to the Sith under the influence of a Dromund Kaas temple before being redeemed by Mara Jade.

Kyle then turned away from the Force (a la Baze Malbus), but got pulled back into it when a rogue student of Luke's called Desann tried to kill all of Luke's students (Desann was the precursor to Kylo Ren with almost identical plotlines in their relation to Luke's Jedi Academy). Kyle also had a developed romance with Jan Ors, and then joined Luke's Academy as a teacher to teach Jedi Jaden Korr.

If Jyn gets more material, she may be able to compete with Katarn as far as character development.

 

Also who can forget all the sweet FMV?!

 

It works on so many levels!

 

Ah, you beat me to it.

I love this!

I would buy a large hardback edition if it had this cover. (And of course it had just the character names, it being a book cover and not a film poster).

 

http://ew.com/movies/2017/01/12/rogue-one-mystery-hammerhead

That's brilliant!

I'm crossing fingers for a good Blu-ray commentary track and meaty extras, exploring these little details.

Edit: I'm still in the middle of the novelization, but does it give any definitive answer to fate of the crew?

 

I remember how in the old days comic book covers, including Star Wars, had outrageous lines of dialogue on the cover that never actually appeared in the story itself. For example
(spoilered for size):

Spoiler

Marvel should do this with the single issue covers of the Rogue One adaptation, using now famous lines from the trailers that never appeared in the film itself.
"This is a Rebellion isn't it? I rebel!"
"What will you do when they catch you? What will you do if they break you?!"
"The power we are dealing with is immeasurable!"

EDIT: Meant to put this in the Rogue One comic thread, but mistakenly put it here...

 

from http://breath-art.deviantart.com/

 

...I'd actually be into that.

 

That is a very corpse-y looking Galen