Books A/V Dooku: Jedi Lost, a stand-alone original audio drama

Well after finishing this audio gem I just want more. Needn't be audio but I dig it.

Thing is this audioplay ended at a pivotal moment in Dookus life and while we have bredcrumbs of what happens next till when we meet him again, I want like two more such tales to cover the rest turning it into a trilogy. Personality-wise it was impressive to see Dooku as a Jedi and good man and what changed his life. But we need to see it change further before he becomes the TCW villain or AOTCs stylish dark Lord. The framework setting with Asajj worked well and gave glimpses at later Dooku too but I need this expanded, maybe even showing some events we already know from his pov, be it through journals or else. It would connect the various portrayals better I think for sometimes TCW Dooku is just a cartoon villain, and at other points he is the true AOTC statesman villain.

If not directly Dooku but including him in several scenes/ways, one might make a second part about Sifo Dias especially and show his Jedi life up to TPM and his TCW reveals. That'd leave part III to be all about Asajj herself, the TCW recapped as well as maybe end with Dookus pov again after Asajj fate is done, as epilogue showing Dookus pov during ROTS.

 

I considered TCW relevant because it does more to fill in his background than almost any preceding work.

There certainly aren't many appearances for him before this anyways. I think most of the time it is either a causal mention, or a brief cameo. I think his friendship with Dooku originates with a source book somewhere, but I know it's older than this Audio Drama.

 

So this happened

 

Well that's certainly not good.

 

It’s the book format

 

It's an Amazon France embed linking to this product: ("Relié" = "Hardcover")

 

Amazon UK have a hardcover listed as well - Oct 3 2019. Publisher is listed as Century.

 

So this is just the script or full full booky book with booky text in between scripty script parts of dialogue? I expect them to pull a Rowling and publish the script. Cavan Scott is too busy to expand it to full novel in that short amount of time.. given they tested the audio sales before deciding for a book release, him busy with a new secret project probably already. I'd trust him to write the book in a weekend if he has to given his skill and awesomeness though. But printer times and all else seem to make this a script version only.

 

The cynical conspiracy theorist, would probably say something like, “they always planned on making the story as a book, and adapted the script from the original novel.”

 

I know it's a lot to hope for, but if it really is an adapted prose novel that would be amazing. And I would definitely spend money on it.

 

The timeline is a bit of a pain, as it jumps around.

Dooku gains his Force Lightning from basically two events and not at all from the Sidious or being a Sith Lord. Dooku essentially develops his first step towards the Dark Side when he touches the statue of the Tirra'Taka beast, he somehow awakes the slumbering Tirra'Taka dragon cause he's a Force sensitive and so is the ancient and evil dragon. Was this why his father feared him and wanted him gone off world and despised Jedi? Never really a good reason why his father hated Dooku other than his dad was cruel and vain ect type royal cliche. Later on it revealed at the end of the book when Dooku raises the creature, that this beast can fire Force lightning or something very similar and close to it from its mouth. So somehow this ability attached itself to Dooku cause of his connection and Force two way touchback of being two bodies one mind beast control thingy(warging Force meld stuff).

The scene with the strange Dark Side sect magic and witches called the Presagers of Hakotei act as a sort of plot device akin to The Son was for Anakin for Dooku, it activates or awakens or leaves him vulnerable to the Dark Side both without and within and makes use of the Dark Side possible future. The dragon beast acts as basically a representation of Dooku's inner evil emerging, there is lots of visions and voices, some familiar some not, but its here where Dooku kinda subconsciously or maybe not unleashes Force lightning and wipes out the Presagers(often sounds like just one female witch that did all the talking I remember). Dooku isnt always a reliable pov source, since he often claims he didnt remember when he did something terrible or claims he wont do it again or will forget ect. Dooku is always deceitful and full of himself, its just his nature and not so much nurture.

Dooku's actual descent into the Dark Side is independent of Sidious, but the ancient past of his family, homeworld and the ancient Sith and his own pride and seeking to be the best play their part in forming him. By the end of the book, its again his connection to the Tirra'Taka Sith warbeast that ignites and fuels the Darkside within Dooku, coupled with Ramil's murderous plot to kill his own sister and frame Dooku and enslave Serreno cause he's basically a mad king archtype. Whether Ramil is in league with Sidious (in)directly is never really suggested but the use of Droids and trade Federation meddling and Dooku and Paplatine being introduced its a good guess as a possible.


Dooku's sister tries to save Dooku from himself and from the Hooded man(Sidious) so she's trying to sell him out to the Jedi - so he has Ventress kill her, this act is also to claim Ventress as his slave and extension of his own will forever while also keeping his cowardly hands clean of the actual act while simultaneously reasserting his loyalty to Darth Sidious and the Sith cause. Jenza dies right before AOTC .

Here we have the fact that the Dark Side of the Force chose Dooku very early on as Sith once he touched that statue it latched onto him, and then again in the hidden vault containing the Bogan collection. Lene Kostana believed the Sith would return and that they possibly survived, Dooku shared that sentiment and always seemed drawn to them and to Lene Kostana and her work. Once the Sith were many, but the Bane legacy of Rule of Two would never allow for someone essentially now a Dark Side Jedi like Dooku to live. Its very unclear how Yoda and the Council knew of the Rule of Two, since during this time in the book, the ancient Sith were still many and the believed completely gone forever. The Jedi seem also just lock the Sith relics away rather than study them, cept for a certain select few and during this period they're not fond of future prophesies and premonitions.

Sidious despite not being in the book all that much, especially he's pretty inactive, just leads us to believe he takes advantage of the fact that Dooku, a former Jedi Master, had already fallen to the Dark Side and became a very powerful warlord sitting on goldmine and he lost his own Sith Apprentice or so he thought. Dooku is as much a gamble like Anakin was, a conflicted man with divided and often contradictory loyalties and motives who could either interfere or become an powerful asset and seeking greater power. Since Maul was believed dead Sidious was alone and Naboo was a set back . Sifo-Dyas could've ruined things had Dooku not already been corrupted and self serving at such an early point prior to Naboo. Sifo seems a wreak in this book, and had he not have turned a blind eye despite all the trauma he had with his torturous premonitions for decades and remained loyal to Dooku he may of stopped this mad man before it was too late. Lene really did no better at the end nor the Council. They basically all allowed Dooku to run amok and descend further away. Lene knew of Dooku's use of Force lighning but she hid it from the council and trusted Dooku too much, he spent years secretly trying to control it use it on his own without Sith teachings, but pain and those bandages had a lot to do with it.

Jenza acts as a type of Leia or Padme for Dooku, but more tragic as she was abandoned by the Jedi Council, only the Republic Intelligence was interested in her, and apparently by this time Palpatine was head of the Republic as she dies right before AOTC starts hiding Dooku's Sith affiliation. Still its not really believable why Kenobi would've been so sure Jinn would not of joined him or how come Kenobi saw right through Dooku while Yoda, Windu and everyone else could not for apparently many years leading up to AOTC.

The book is successful in its portrayal of much needed insight into Dooku and Ventress, it gave Dooku more personality. Dooku just isnt a likeable character, he always had a choice and chose wrong despite access to the Jedi, Yoda , close friends and family and many chances. In the end he kills his sister and subjugates Ventress into slavery to be his own personal abuse case and killer while he regulates himself to henchman and servitude of someone else all in one stroke and we know where this all leads.

 

What makes you think the present day part of the story takes place before AOTC? I assumed it was after, mainly because Dooku “rescuing” Ventress from the fighting pit is taken directly from the Clone Wars cartoon, but is there a detail I didn’t pick up on?


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That was my assumption as well. I've heard others say it takes place before AOTC, but I find it weird that Dooku is training a dark side assassin even before the Jedi know he's fallen.

The way he calls him, and all Jedi "Freaks" led me to assume it was just a general prejudice against force users.
Serreno's past with the sith, and the legend that it was his ancestors who drove them off without aid from the Jedi would give him reason enough to be suspicious of them.

I think his experience with the cult definitely left him vulnerable to the dark side, but Sidious just exploited it.
The flashback to him taking his title certainly left me with the impression that he was not lost yet. Perilously close after encountering the Tirra'Taka? Yes. But he offered to turn in his lightsaber, and was nothing but respectful to Yoda and Lene. He even asked her to offer his best wishes to Quigon and Rael.

It seems to me that at this juncture his primary motivator is his attachment to his sister and his planet that led him to leave, but something happened after this point that exploited his vulnerability. My guess is Sidious approached him, and convinced him to turn completely. We know he was serving the grand plan by the time of TPM when he killed Sifo-Dyas and supervised the creation of the clone army, but we don't know how that happened. Lots can happen in the decade following the conclusion to this story.

It's the choice that is important to me. He may have a preexisting vulnerability, but at some point he made a definitive choice to join the Sith.

This is one thing that gets me, Republic Intelligence nabs her right as she is about to board a shuttle to Coruscant, then they hold her on Serenno.
They could have let her board the ship and apprehended her on Coruscant, but nope, lets hold her right under her brothers nose.

Maybe Palpatine was manipulating things on their end, but still I can't help but feel these are some pretty terrible intelligence operatives.

It's implied in other sources that the Sith had adopted some variation of the rule of two before they went into hiding.
In rebels it is shown that the Jedi attacked a Sith Temple built around the premise of only two Sith accessing it, so that is one thing to consider.

 

Kinda bummed by all the cries to make this into a book. While I do hope that there are plans to somehow make an accessible version for the hearing-impaired, I don't think that there should be a novelization simply for the sake of there being a book version. The cries remind me of the never-ending calls for a novelization of Dark Empire --- DE's story was designed for a comic, not a novel, and important chapters of the EU have been happening outside of the novel format for decades now. The books don't have a monopoly. The EU has always embraced multiple kinds of media: books, comics, TV shows, video games, tabletop RPGs, and now a new medium. Variety is the spice of life.

And I can't help but suspect that everyone calling for a novelization has never listened to the Orij Trij's radio dramas before. For shame.

 

I agree. I feel like this story wouldn't translate as well out of the audio format because that's how it was designed. I think the story is best appreciated in this format. A novelization would require a fairly extensive restructuring. Now I do hope the script is released, not to supplant the audio dramas, but to allow a closer analysis of the story. I doubt I could ever just read the script. I'd feel I was missing out. But I would love to relisten to it while following along with the script. It's not a necessity, I see myself listening at least a couple times without a script. This format is very immersive and worth giving a chance.

 

Can't understand this at all. If a book version were to be made (however unlikely that is) it's not going to replace the audio drama, or make the audio drama unavailable as a result. There's really no downside so I don't see why you'd be "bummed" about it. There's nothing wrong or unusual about different people preferring different forms of media, and adapting stories can only be a positive surely? Already in the new EU novels have had comic book adaptations.

 

About the only thing this book's version of events has in common with the micro-series, is just that Ventress was in a gladiator pit on Rattatak. Its not the same thing as the old cartoon, the events and characters are a lot different. Also it was Osika Kirske that enslaved Ventress and used her as a gladiator, while it was Dooku that slayed him to gain Ventress in neo-canon. It was his act of gaining ownership and dominate power over her. The denial of her taking his life was something that really bothered her.

 

One thing that confused me was how Sifo-Dyas near the end was a nervous wreck due to his visions, however in TCW it's mentioned that he sat on the council around the time of TPM.

I mean, why would the council let someone so obviously unbalanced among their numbers.

Plus, I also remember in TCW that Winud says they kicked him off the council because he started having visions about a clone army (which the audio drama does help explain) but no one believed him. But to that I ask, doesn't Yoda or anyone else remember the time Sifo foresaw an entire planet dying and being proven right? Yeah it was a long time ago but surely it'd be enough to lend a least some credibility to his clone visions.

 

I haven't listened to the story yet, but this is the exchange from the episode:

MACE WINDU: "Prior to the blockade of Naboo, Sifo-Dyas sat on this Council until we judged his ideas to be too extreme."
PLO KOON: "Indeed, he said he foresaw a great conflict and that the Republic would need to raise an army."
MACE WINDU: "At the time, the Council rejected those ideas."

I read this to mean that it wasn't his visions that had him removed from the Council, but the course of action he recommended following them.

 

Because it doesn't need a book version. You admit that there's nothing wrong with different people preferring different types of media, and here it is --- a different type. This not needing a novelization is no different than a video game not needing one either, and calls for one can't help but strike me as stemming from the idea that novels should be the norm and the default (the same logic behind most of the calls for a Dark Empire novelization).

As for adapting stories only being a positive... I can't agree. This audio original standing alone without needing to be translated into something else would be a positive, as it would be a good step in the direction of variety. A book adaptation could lead to the mindset that fans aren't ready for anything new and feel that novels and comics are the only way to go. Let's open our minds and get more audio originals going, and let's let them stand on their own without needing to be adapted. And then let's keep trying new things. Hell, let's take a cue from Cursed Child and get an EU stage play. And let's not novelize it.

 

I can't see how there would be any truth to this. I'm sure the audio drama was very successful financially, a book adaptation coming later on isn't going to mean less exploration by the publishers in the future. By not adapting it you're just cutting off a proportion of the fan base, that's a big negative. And I still don't see an actual positive for not adapting it.

If people like something they will consume it. Forcing people to consume a format they dislike because you want "more variety" makes no sense, when you can be more inclusive. You'd be forcing people like me to just miss out on stories, because I can tell you that I definitely won't spend money on another one of these. Luckily audible had a free trial + free bonus title or I wouldn't have consumed this one.

Adapting to novel format = available to more people + more sales. And there's no reason to think that it would have the negative affect on "trying new things" as you're suggesting. I think you're off the mark from both an artistic and financial standpoint.

This is of course still a big hypothetical, I would still be surprised if Dooku: Jedi Lost will be adapted.

 

I'll admit it's also a bit of an assumption that adapting it would be a financial success. From what I've gathered a lot of people listen to audiobooks these days as standard practice anyway, maybe adapting a story to a physical book wouldn't be worth the cost. I'd like to think it would though.

 

As one user pointed out back in the thread, he/she has accessibility problems with the audio format. Others (like me) might prefer to read the matter (book/Kindle) rather than have it in audio format. Having a book available caters for those with hearing issues and the audio format caters for those who might have vision issues.

 

If there were to be a second format at some point, it would most definitely not be a novelization or adaptation at any level. It would be a publication of the original text - that is to say, screenplay - as that is the only form the text exists in, or ever has existed in. We'd never consider novelizing the text.

Asking for a novelization is like asking us to take our "regular" novels, turn them into proper scripts/screenplays to and produce full-cast audio performances like Dooku: Jedi Lost. We do don't that, and so we wouldn't do that here, even going in the opposite direction.