Splinter of the Mind's Eye Universe?

I'm not a super big fan of the EU, but I know enough to know that Splinter of the Mind's Eye, while being the ORIGINAL EU book, is also set in like "Star Wars bizzaro land," and has basically nothing to do with anything, ever.

I am currently reading it, though, and while it does distance itself from true Star Wars in almost EVERY WAY POSSIBLE, it seems to have it's own entertainment merits. Therefore, my question is:

Is there any OTHER Star Wars literature that takes place NOT in Lucas' Star Wars Universe, but in that alternate reality created by Alan Dean Foster, and showcased in Splinter of the Mind's Eye? I think it would be interesting, and, for a change, unique entertainmnet, while still, in some small way, keeping me in the Star Wars realm.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Well Splinter of the Minds Eye is cannon and is set in Lucus's universe.

But just look for stuff with infinities stamped on it and it'll be different than anything that is cannon.

 

Wait a minute...doesn't Luke DIE at the end of Splinter of the Mind's Eye? That's part of a review I read. Also, one need only get through three chapters before there are blaring oddities in Princess Leia's behavior.

EDIT.

OKay, I went back and read that review..and I get it now...but what about Luke facing Vader. I don't know if he does, but I mean, the cover suggests it. Why would Yoda, in the movies be so against Luke facing Lord Vader if he had ALREADY done it in Splinter of the Mind's Eye? And where is the Caibur Crystle in ESB, and why is it not mentioned???

But, thanks for the tip about Infinities.

 

The Kaiburr Crystal doesn't make an appearance post-ESB (except for some brief mention in Marvel, I believe) because it doesn't have to and because it's power fades off of Mimban.

As for Luke fighting Vader, who's to say that LUKE fought Vader in SotME...

Luke fighting Vader on Mimban in Splinter of the Mind's Eye doesn't mean that that was the first time Luke fought Vader... and it doesn't mean that the first time that Luke fought Vader WASN'T in Empire Strikes Back (chronologically after SotME)...

 

"I am ben kenobi"-luke in SOTME

Ben fought through luke.

"except for some brief mention in Marvel, I believe"

Not that I know of, can you find that for me?

The explanation for kaiber crystal off of mimban, first showed up in EC, as far as I know.

"there are blaring oddities in Princess Leia's behavior."

No there isn't. Her behavior is no different than her behavior in ESB (You wouldn't dare accuse of ESB of having blaring oddities would you?).

What you seem to not know, is that Lucas actually had a hand in the writing of SOTME, it would have been a movie if ANH hadn't sold well enough. So he gave ADF alot of details of what he wanted in the story, and terminology. Infact Lucas gives it high praise as being a story that takes place in his universe, in the recent released edition of the book.

 

Not that I know of, can you find that for me?

My bad, I thought the explanation of the kaiburr/lightwhip connection was made in Marvel, not after the series.

 

The kaiburr/lightwhip connection was first made in Gamer #5, IIRC.

 

Splinter isn't set in some "alternate" universe. It's in the same universe as the films and the rest of the EU.

 

Yeah, it's part of the EU at large. You might want to finish the book before you post next time, so you won't be spoiled. SOTME has been heavily incorperated into the modern EU, if you know where to look. According to the EU, Luke and Vader met face-to-face three times before TESB.

TC

 

Yeah, it's part of the EU at large. You might want to finish the book before you post next time, so you won't be spoiled. SOTME has been heavily incorperated into the modern EU, if you know where to look. According to the EU, Luke and Vader met face-to-face three times before TESB.

Yeah, right. Next thing you'll be telling me that Boba Fett fell into the sarlacc pit like three or four times or something...

 

Splinter of the Mind's Eye does not have the Infinities label placed on it. It's very much a canon part of the Star Wars universe as the movies and novels such as the X-wing series. It's been said that Lucas originally wasn't sure how well ANH was going to do in the theaters and so Lucas was going to use SotME as a sequel to ANH if ANH tanked.

 

Met three times. dueled only twice.

 

Let me guess:

1. Splinter's of the Minds Eye (obviously although Ben fought Vader trough Luke)
2. Vader's Quest (met only at the end and didn't fight)
3. ???Marvel story?


and then came the ESB duel.

 

Oh yeah four en****ers plus the ESB one.

And yeah he meets Luke once in Marvel but they don't duel. Vader tests Luke's Force sensitivity a "If he can't sense and survive this blindingly obvious trap, he's not worth my time" kinda thing similar to the ESB duel. Fortunately , Luke senses Vader's trap and runs away from Vader.

 

Sigh this is a hot topic over at starwars.com...

Some people(specifically a Darth Talas) can't see it as part of continuity and want to go by outdated quotes, despite newer direct and complete refrences to it in continuity, and the fact that all official starwars timeline keeps it on the non-infinities list...

Darth Talas: Star Wars Insider #50

pg. 72 BOOKSHELF: ALAN DEAN FOSTER Author Of The Mind's Eye

by Jason Fry

Star Wars of course, would become a blockbuster; by the time Splinter appeared in early 1978, a decidedly big-budget sequel to the movie was in the works, and Luke and Leia's confrontation with Darth Vader on Mimban was destined to remain a fascinating "what-if" in the saga's history.

Seems like its already considered an "Infinities" tale. As it should be.

Starwars.com Databank

Despite the fact that the story is refrenced completely in the current EU; If it was non-continuity no such refrence would be made in the EU;

"Upon uncovering it, the Rebel heroes had to face Darth Vader before they could escape with their prize."-starwars.com

"Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa crashlanded on this planet when en route to a diplomatic meeting on Circarpous IV. The two faced many natural dangers in the Mimban swamps, and also confronted Darth Vader in a quest to find the legendary Kaiburr Crystal." -starwars.com

The Temple of Pomojema was the site of Luke Skywalker's first duel with Darth Vader."-starwars.com

"The two were in pursuit of a powerful Force relic, the Kaiburr crystal, and dueled in the ancient Temple of Pomojema. Guided by the spirit of Obi-Wan, Luke held Vader off, and even managed to sever the Dark Lord's mechanical arm. Stunned, Vader tumbled down a deep pit, and their duel was interrupted"-starwars.com

"Where he and Leia faced Vader with unusual help from the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who actually possesed Luke's body during the duel."-NEGTC.

"After severing Vader's arm, Luke escaped. Twice More Vader faced Luke in combat...First Duel took place over the wind core of Bespin's Cloud City...The second father-son duel took place on Emperor Palpatine's second Death Star."-Secrets of the Sith, pg 28

"Possibly the Kaiburr crystal provided an edge, but Skywalker later admitted that the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared to have inhabited his body, guiding his actions as a puppeteer directs a marionette. Kenobi's energy propelled Skywalker in a furious drive that severed the Dark Lord's sword arm, but the effort seemed to exhaust Skywalkers intangible benefactor."-Essential Chronology, pg 54.

related thread

related thread 2

What kind of logic are the detractors using? It doesn't make much sense to me...

 

ScottAlmighty, although it's a proven fact that SOTME is as canon as any other Star Wars novel, I can sympathize. Read alongside the host of other, more recent novels we have nowadays, SOTME seems a bit dated and incongruous. So does the Marvel series. They're products of their time, but warmly accepted part of the continuity.

Besides, if someone in 1977 read The Unifying Force they'd barely recognize it was Star Wars at all.

 

I disagree, imo, SOTME, and much of marvel is more like star wars than alot of the modern stuff. They feel more like the Original Trilogy, which is timeframes to which they fit around.

For example, from ANH through ESB we know that Luke and Leia had no problem having a budding romance because they didn't know that they were brother and sister. So any stories set before ROTJ that have Luke and Leia kissing fit within what was established in ESB. However Once Luke found out Leia was his sister, all kissing stopped like it should.

 

I disagree, imo, SOTME, and much of marvel is more like star wars than alot of the modern stuff. They feel more like the Original Trilogy, which is timeframes to which they fit around.

I'm not saying that SOTME and the Marvel series don't fit with the films, I'm saying they seem entirely dissimilar from the EU we have today. What we now call the Expanded Universe has changed a lot since the publication of SOTME.

Could you really see Han battling a red-bearded pirate named Crimson Jack who wears no pants, not even when heading out into space (albeit protected by a forcefield, but come on: no pants?) in today's EU?

You're right in that at the time, given that the only Star Wars material we had was ANH, both SOTME and Marvel make sense. But surely you agree that the GFFA as presented in the late 70's and early 80's is a very different place?

 

I have to disagree with that. The EU of the late '70s and the '80s do not feel out of place with the EU of the '90s onward. A great many of us, myself included, were introduced to the EU in the '90s. When I found SotME in a used bookstore back before it was rereleased in the '90s, I thought it was so intresting that there was a Star Wars book I'd never heard of that looked like it could actually be much older than Zahn's books. And when I read it after learning it was from the '70s, I found that it was very much Star Wars and that it very much fit into the Expanded Universe material that came much later. It is entirely on par with the EU of the '90s onward.

 

Could you really see Han battling a red-bearded pirate named Crimson Jack who wears no pants, not even when heading out into space (albeit protected by a forcefield, but come on: no pants?) in today's EU?

Could you see the Galaxy at large refusing to punish, and indeed reward with their own planet, a heretofore unknown species that's wiped out 375 trillion sentients and plenty of the Galactic infrastructure?

In today's EU?

Oh, wait...

 

Could you see the Galaxy at large refusing to punish, and indeed reward with their own planet, a heretofore unknown species that's wiped out 375 trillion sentients and plenty of the Galactic infrastructure?

Yeah but they had Jedi guidance, and the Jedi are big on, you know, acceptance, not revenge... and really they weren't all that bad...

And like 374 trillion of them were Gungans, so, you know...


Okay, that's a pretty ridiculous little event in modern EU, I agree. But I think the biggest difference between today's stuff and the Star Wars material of a quarter century ago is that now everything takes itself so seriously. The authors seemed less concerned with that sort of thing back in the day. They were more interested in crafting fun and adventurous little Star Wars stories. Maybe I'm thinking more about the comcis than SOTME, though.

 

SotME takes it's self pretty seriously, as do the Han Solo Adventures and the Lando Calrissian Adventures.

 

Why didn't you actually read the book anyway? Why did you only read the review?

 

>But I think the biggest difference between today's stuff and the Star Wars material of a quarter century ago is that now everything takes itself so seriously. The authors seemed less concerned with that sort of thing back in the day.<

Yeah, I have to agree. I'd like to point out, though, that this has nothing to do with continuity. It's partly because Star Wars fans themselves are taking everything a little too seriously. I haven't seen a wacky, fun continuity story in years, though Allston's recent "League of Spies" has come close.

TC

 

Could you see the Galaxy at large refusing to punish, and indeed reward with their own planet, a heretofore unknown species that's wiped out 375 trillion sentients and plenty of the Galactic infrastructure?

In today's EU?

Oh, wait...

Well, I'm glad, as I would be unwilling to continue to read about a galaxy that punished an entire species collectively, no matter what had happened, and it would leave a really bad taste in my mouth whenever I watched the Trilogy.... Heh. A massive retribution against the Vong that had been made out to be a good thing would have turned me into a purist faster than just about anything else.

At any rate, I have yet to read SotME, but I agree that the Marvel stuff does have quite a different feel to it. For that matter, so do the Han and Lando books.... The Han trilogy was my pre-TTT intro to the EU, and I enjoyed it well enough at the time, but they really do feel dated to me now.

Personally, I like the direction the modern EU has taken much better. But I am glad the old stuff remains in-continuity.

-Paul