Revenge of the Sith novelization

I must say, Matthew Stover took the steaming pile that was ROTS's screenplay and made it into something that has made the story somewhat tolerable, enjoyable even. The book succeeds way more than the movie itself does. It might be the best movie novelization ever.

Also, the dude looks like Chuck Norris in his author pic. Do you think he could roundhouse kick a bantha into a port chamber?

 

Stover... Chuck Norris...

You just made my day.

 

The novel is one the favourites in my collection; the only downside I can think of is that the last third seems slightly less filled out compared to the first with all the emphasis on Dooku and what-not.

I think my favourite paragraph in the whole book is when Anakin is considering the possibility that senators like Padme, Bail and Mothma could be corrupt; he convinces himself that, however unlikely, it might be possible for someone to gain the post of Senator and work tirelessly for years to build themselves a reputation of honesty and integrity, all the while hiding the true evil underneath until it is the optimal time to strike...

...oh the irony!

 

Much of the tension and intrigue in the novel was seeing how Stover massaged away flaws in the films. For instance: the emotionless faces on the Jedi are not a result of green screen technology (real reason) but b/c of the jedi code.

And the parts he put in, like Obi-Wan cradling Yoda like a baby were funny.

Yeah, the last 3rd seems phoned in though, this is in comparison to the first part. Then again, as novels end you just want conclusion, and flashy narrative techniques tend to fall by the wayside by then. Also, he was hamstrung by the screenplay.

I can almost imagine the frustration of a Star Wars writer with some of the fundamental choices in this series.

 

The movie and the novelization together are my favorite Star Wars experience. You can sense from the pages the histories of these characters, all those years of galactic history, movies and EU leading to this point, which will change everything. I especially liked characterizations of Palpatine, Grievous and mostly Dooku (some of his thoughts somehow don't fit my idea of him). The prelude is pure gold, as are those "This is xx"-bits. So many great ideas, Jedi trap, Obi-Wan being the ultimate Jedi and his views of the Force and its Will, Sidious vs. Yoda being the Jedi vs Sith duel while Anakin vs. Obi-Wan was Anakin vs. Obi-Wan, and so on.

I love both the movie and the novelization, and you know what they say about love?
Love can ignite the stars.

 

The part I enjoyed most from the novel that was not expounded upon in the movie was when Palpatine/Darth Sidious turned on and off his recording device during his early verbal exchange with the Jedi lead by Master Windu who had come to arrest him. He only allowed certain parts to be recorded so that he could make it sound as though the Jedi were trying to overthrow the Chancellor.

Minor details ... gotta love em!

 

Aside from it being a SW book it is simply very well written. It gave me a nostolgic feeling reminding me of when I read the ROTJ novel for the first time(an underrated piece of writing).

I won't say that I liked it better than the film, but it't pretty close.

 

dude, the film was terrible. I mean, the internal logic of it is all screwed up. There isn't any artistry really, it's all CGI.

The book is the redeeming aspect of the film IMO. It salvages the story. I do have to give Lucas props for his ambition, even if his craftsmanship as a writer is a lacking

 

Please stop assuming your opinion is the only valid one.

 

Upon viewing ROTS alone, the movie left out things that were needed to make Anakin's turn more believable, IMO. I loved the movie, but it was lacking some peices to me. But the novel filled these in perfectly. I remember reading the pages leading up to Anakin's fall, and the building of the tension, along with Anakin's anxieties and stress right before going to bed one night and not being able to sleep because it stressed me out so much.

There were parts of Anakin's internal dialogue that had you thinking, "Good grief, no wonder he turned." The lack of sleep, the stress put on him by the Council and all the "is he or isn't he the Chosen One?", not to mention his sheer panic of knowing that his wife would die because his visions come true. Matt managed to build on that and the years Palpatine had spent working on Anakin's psyche, the Jedi's expectations of Anakin and Anakin's fear of failing them all including the galaxy, which kind of manifested itself in this fear of death and of failuer. It was awesome.

Anakin had started figuring out that he would get no help from either the Jedi or Palpatine regarding Padmé, and the Jedi started doing things that were actually proving Palpatine right about them like using him to spy on Palpatine. The conversation that Obi-Wan had with Yoda and Mace was heartbreaking because you could literally hear him saying, "This can only end badly". He knew Anakin better than anyone, and they refused to give his opinion a second thought.

 

Couldn't agree with you more, Merk.

I have long touted the Novel's story OVER the movie's presentation.
The turn was one-hundred-fold BETTER. The tension was more palpable, I could go on and on. ROTS is my favorite novel of this era, followed by Dark Lord. Shame the movie was re-edited and revised, they lost something along the way... so I'm most-pleased that the Novel didn't.

 

Stover did a terrific job on the seduction of Skywalker. He also really didn't make it seem like Anakin was falling into a trap until the door was slammed at the very end when he had the moment of clarity.

But the envisioning of standing on a cold mountain top looking down on the rest of the world was really well done. Because of the editing the seduction was rushed in the movie, but we had a real sense of the inner monologue and Anakin's fear of loss combined with the dragon whispering in his heart. You also got a better sense that Yoda was wrong when he talked about the fact that Anakin was gone consumed by Vader. In the end we saw that Anakin was still very much there and he wasn't consumed by the Dark Side as much as he was consumed by his choices, his emotions and his desires.

 

That's another thing I remember about the book. The beginning and the part about the Age of Heroes made you sad... because you knew it was about to end and Anakin, the Jedi and the galaxy never really stood a chance. Palpatine was just that good.

 

stover did a fantastic job when you consider what he had to work with.

but the follow-up novel, which is not at all constrained by Lucas's writing, is even better

 

What's with all the backhanded complements?

 

I forgot about it, but I also really like the fact that dialogue was inserted into Vader's slaughter of the Seperatist leaders. It was something that I thought was missing from the movie, and would have made the "I find you're lack of faith disturbing" and "Apology Accepted Captain Needa" moments in the original trilogy make more sense.

 

The movies were really really bad.

 

I remember reading ROTS when it first came out in hardcover. I loved it. Still do. The Seduction part had me going "No, Anakin, no. It's a trap!" followed by "What the kriff?" when I saw the movie. I was disappointed by that movie, not as much as TPM and AOTC, but disappointed none the less.

Great Novel.

 

The Labryinth of Evil, Revenge of the Sith novel, and Lord Vader book that followed it were awesome. I thought those were the best three parters ever put together, and no, I loved both the novel and movie and are both essential, to include the screenplay, art book, and the video game. They all added something to the story. Even I, one of the big negative guys on the boards loved this. Not too mention the micro series to.

 

The novelization is a mixed bag (and a tad overrated IMHO) and I personally favor the movie. The opening scenes of the movie are described in explicit detail with mostly good prose but then it's like Stover realized that he had a deadline and glossed over important events (the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel fell flat) or skipped them altogether (Yoda on Kashyyyk). The prose is uninspiring (such as the endless "This is how Anakin/Obi-Wan etc. feels"). Stover is good at characterizations which shows in this novel (except for what I mentioned earlier) and overall it's one of the best novelizations.

 

Fixed. Funny you mention those three. I have them sitting on my desk here at work, and I'm giving them to a friend whose son just turned eleven. Can't wait to hear his reactions...

I figured those were better to give him than the Bane trilogy since he knows nothing of that era and they are a little more on the adult side of things. Oh, to be a kid again with Star Wars....

 

Rise of Darth Vader is very very good. I especially like it when Palpatine gets annoyed at the whiny Darth Vader.