TO LFL - Stop abusing Han and Leia's Romance!

Hello! Sorry I've been away for awhile; finals are killing me.

But I must agree with everything Sweetheart and Yanksfan are saying. Mara has been out-of-character for much of the NJO and it's quite annoying. The books needs some romance but regardless of which characters it's about, it needs some moderation. What if all those scenes in BP had been about H/L? I would'nt have minded, but I wouldn't have wanted other fans who don't particularily like them to have to wade through page after painful page of romantic ramblings. There needs to be some limit.

And the thing that most annoys me about Mara is how everyone seems to think all the fans want her to live. As was pointed out, there is a large group of fans who don't like her. And why do the authors defend her so emphatically? Once upon a time, I didn't mind Mara, but now...

And if bria ever was a Jedi... I can just imagine; she'd be the most powerful Jedi ever born and could out-duel Leia any day. Thank God that'll never happen.

 

Gotta agree with what you were saying about Luke and Mara 'SUDDENLY' getting together in VotF. There was no build up to it at all; no sexual tension. Just an out-of-the-blue 'Mara, will you marry me'. HUH????

Personally, I didn't mind MJ in the Thrawn trilogy. I saw her as the set up love interest for Luke and expected them to have got together by the end of it. I mean, he gave her his old lightsabre!

Then the batton was passed to KJAndersson and well... it was all downhill from there

 

Agreed.

 

From what I heard there were no plans to hook Luke and Mara up until Zahn insisted that it be written and that he get to write it. That's why Callista was to be written as the "love of Luke's life" as instructed by Hambly, but fan response made sure she disappeared.

Anyhow, I found this at theforce.net and thought it was interestig. Han and Leia are at 9% for Best Movie Kiss. It's nice to know that they're listed among classic romances and modern day movies (But how did Wild Things get to be #1?!)


Bugsy(Annette Bening & Warren Beatty) 1% 54 votes

Casablanca(Ingrid Bergman & Humphrey Bogart) 9% 382 votes

The Empire Strikes Back(Carrie Fisher & Harrison Ford) 9% 407 votes

Gone With the Wind(Vivien Leigh & Clark Gable) 11% 496 votes

Never Been Kissed(Drew Barrymore & Michael Vartan) 10% 438 votes

A Room With a View(Helena Bonham Carter & Julian Sands) 2% 95 votes

Save the Last Dance(Julia Stiles & Sean Patrick Thomas) 5% 218 votes

Some Kind of Wonderful(Mary Stuart Masterson & Eric Stoltz) 3% 161 votes

Top Gun(Kelly McGillis & Tom Cruise) 10% 430 votes

Wild Things(Neve Campbell & Denise Richards) 35% 1470 votes

 

That poll is interesting. It doesn't really say where this poll is located. I never even heard of Wild Things. Is that a recent movie?

Han and Leia are often times mentioned as a classic movie romance. I wish that the EU had taken more advantage of that.

 

I think theforce.net said it was a yahoo poll. It's funny that almost all the movies listed are romance or drama movies except for Star Wars which has always been known for sci-fi. A romance must really be something if it can come through admist everything else.

Wild Things was a risque film down about three years ago which had this "three-way" scene. I find it fishy that it's at #1, since the movie didn't do that well at the box office.

 

I tried to vote in that poll, but I couldn't find it. Not even in the archives. Oh well.

 

Interesting poll. Nice to see that Han and Leia are included.

 

I think that because Wild Things is at the top sort of discredits the poll. That movie was apparently a bomb and made little money, and for it to be included with movies like Casablanca, Gone with the Wind and Star Wars is wrong. Nice to see H/L included though.

 

I've never seen it. I've heard of it here and there but I don't really know what its about.

 

I ran across this excerpt from TaB and thought it sort of fit in with the conversation of a couple days ago about Leia becoming Han's copilot.

Well. He'd give Leia everything he owned, the whole galaxy if he could swing it, but she wouldn't bump Chewie out of that chair. Yeah, she'd handled the Falcon just fine during a couple of emergencies. But even a smuggler drew the line somewhere.

So it seems even as far back as TaB, the thought of Leia being his copilot must have crossed Han's mind.

 

Yeha I just read the exerpt at another thread.

 

Nice excerpt Sologal, thanks for posting it

Here's the new Rebirth summary:

The Star Wars epic continues its dazzling space odyssey in The New Jedi Order?as Luke and Mara, Leia and Han, and others battle the mighty enemy from beyond the galactic rim.

The brutal Yuuzhan Vong are scouring the universe for Jedi to slaughter. With no help from the divided New Republic, the Jedi stand alone against their seemingly invincible foe. Han and Leia Organa Solo risk deadly consequences with their controversial tactics to bolster the Jedi resistance. After uncovering a new Yuuzhan Vong menace, Anakin and Tahiri find themselves wanted for murder by the Peace Brigade. To avoid capture, they jump into hyperspace . . . and into trouble far graver.

Hunted by the Yuuzhan Vong, wanted as criminals by the New Republic, and with unrest stirring within their own ranks, the Jedi find peril everywhere they turn. But even in the midst of despair, while the most fiercest battle of all looms on the horizon, hope arises with the birth of one very special child. . . .


So Han and Leia will definitely have starring roles, but it does look like the birth of Mara and Luke's child will be the main focus of the book.

 

Nice excerpt Sologal, thanks for posting it

Here's the new Rebirth summary:

The Star Wars epic continues its dazzling space odyssey in The New Jedi Order?as Luke and Mara, Leia and Han, and others battle the mighty enemy from beyond the galactic rim.

The brutal Yuuzhan Vong are scouring the universe for Jedi to slaughter. With no help from the divided New Republic, the Jedi stand alone against their seemingly invincible foe. Han and Leia Organa Solo risk deadly consequences with their controversial tactics to bolster the Jedi resistance. After uncovering a new Yuuzhan Vong menace, Anakin and Tahiri find themselves wanted for murder by the Peace Brigade. To avoid capture, they jump into hyperspace . . . and into trouble far graver.

Hunted by the Yuuzhan Vong, wanted as criminals by the New Republic, and with unrest stirring within their own ranks, the Jedi find peril everywhere they turn. But even in the midst of despair, while the most fiercest battle of all looms on the horizon, hope arises with the birth of one very special child. . . .


So Han and Leia will definitely have starring roles, but it does look like the birth of Mara and Luke's child will be the main focus of the book.

 

Okay umm...I find that Rebirth excerpt a little ridiculous. I mean, there's a big war going on, and Luke and Mara are relaxing and making out on a beautiful tropical island while Han and Leia have to go into the heart of war with probably very little time for any private moments? Isn't that a little far-fetched from the "realism" they're going for?

 

OKay, I can't hang around - gotta work - but here's a letter I wrote to Del Ray today. We'll see what happens!

Fans of the original Star Wars series and in particular the characters of Han and Leia are, quite frankly, growing increasingly frustrated with the continued desecration of Han and Leia in the EU book series. For years now, we have been forced to watch these two beloved characters grind themselves into the dirt by taking actions they should not take, exchanging words they should not be exchanging, and treating eachother in a way no married couple should treat eachother, especially a couple who are (or were) in love as much as Han and Leia are/were.

Since before the release of Balance Point, we have been continually reassured in mass produced letters that Han and Leia's characters will be treated much better in the next book, that we will be 'pleasantly surprised' etc. etc. Well, we were surprised, all right, but not pleasantly. The solution to these complaints, in Conquest, was simply to NOT INCLUDE HAN AND LEIA IN THE BOOK AT ALL! This is a blatant case of adding insult to injury. After all the trumpeting from Del Ray about how Han and Leia would be treated much better, their relationship resolved and the like, we got absolutely nothing. Nothing. This is a direct hypocrisy to the letters we recieved stating that Han and Leia's relationship would be dealt with to a satisfactory level. I myself, and the thousands of fans I represent by writing this letter are simply not willing to watch Han and Leia be treated so miserably without a light at the end of the tunnel.

This letter may be taken as a rage against the characters of Luke and Mara. It is not. We are simply angry at the fact that Mara and Luke get so much time as a couple, and Han and Leia, on the flip side, get none at all. In Rebirth, we were once again promised that we would see Han and Leia's marraige make a comeback. Instead, I am informed that they were ONCE AGAIN split up to follow different paths across the galaxy. We are SICK of this marraige-by-hololink arrangement. Han and Leia went on adventures together in the three movies. There is no reason why they should not continue to do this.

What we long for at this point, above all, is honesty. We do not to read any more letters saying Han and Leia are going to get screen time when they don't. We don't want to hear that they are going to be a happily married couple when they aren't. We don't want to hear that they are going to spend time together when they are split up. Which is why we became very alarmed when we read in one letter the words 'Han and Leia will be on the stage for a long time to come'. Given the current success rate of the promises made in these letters, it is starting to look like a safe bet that Han and Leia will both be dead by the time the next book comes out. We don't want excuses, we don't want promises. We want CHANGE. We refuse to sit by and watch our characters (and they ARE our characters; the fan base are their protectors. No one else is looking out for them) be slowly turned into cynical old people that look a bit like some people we once knew called Han Solo and Princess Leia.

Maybe you are not aware of the fanbase out there; maybe you don't realise how much support there is out there for these two wonderful (at least they used to be) characters. I ask you to please click on this link;

http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=1741104&replies=4340

and you'll see exactly how important this is to so many people.

Maybe you'll reply to me. Maybe you won't. But if you do, I don't want to be lied to. I don't want to recieve exactly the same letter as my friends have. I want the truth, I want to hear it from someone who is prepared to tell it like it is.

Yours very very sincerly,
CMinor

 

Very nice letter, C_Minor. VERY nice.
I personally like L/M but it has angered me how they get so much on screen 'lovey dovey time' and H/L get what amounts to an occasional glance at one another.

~*~Bria

 

Nice letter CMinor.

I just read the sample chapter from Rebirth. Looks like we're going to get lots more lovey-dovey scenes between Luke and Mara.

 

Fans of the original Star Wars series and in particular the characters of Han and Leia are, quite frankly, growing increasingly frustrated with the continued desecration of Han and Leia in the EU book series.

LFL does not share your sentiments and probably will not change. They are in the business to sell books. I doubt they would take a letter into much consideration from one fan, and this thread alone is very small and represents a tiny fraction of all the readers. They know you will continue to buy the books so it's not as if they are loosing any business.

 

C_Minor that was a beautifully written letter. It expressed my feelings exactly. But I'm going to have to agree with Lott_Dod. Capitalism will dominate the fans.

 

Hey, great letter!

And sorry, but writing letters *can* make a difference. They have been known to alter the courses of television shows, or save them from outright cancelation. Why can't it be the same way for books?

 

That was a great letter CMinor. I think I'll write a letter too, I already sent an e-mail.

If Han and Leia have such a small following, why are there so many fanzines, chalk full of stories about them? People shell out $30-$40 for these zines. I know, I'm one of those people. I haven't bought an official book in ages. I've been checking them out from the library, but the way things are going I'm not even going to do that.

 

Actually, writing letters *can* make a difference. That's why Luke and Mara are so lovey-dovey now, because L/M fans protested their treatment in Vector Prime. Ms. Shapiro said in her interview much of the story arc is dominated by fan reaction. And no, I don't buy every book that comes out like a mindless droid. I have already said in the letters I have sent out that I'm not buying any more NJO books.

It's not just a few of us, anyhow. I'm on quite a Han/Leia mailing lists, some have up to a few hundred people, and the great majority of them hate the EU. Also, who won the official couple poll by a landslide?

That Rebirth excerpt was really over the top. There's a war going on and they're just kissing on a tropical paradise island? Puh-lease.

 

I won't buy every book no matter what. I didn't buy Conquest. I'm not buying Rebirth until I decide that it's worth my time and money.

Lord Lott, you oblivously have not check out all of the mailing lists and clubs that are on the internet for Han and Leia. This is not a small group. These clubs have members that number in the hundreds. As someone else mentioned, people are spending a lot of money of fanzines that feature Han and Leia. There's,

You Could Use a Good Kiss
Bloodstrips
Never Say Die

Plus most of the general Star Wars zines have a large amount of space given to Han, Leia, or Han/Leia stories.

 

I just re-read the Rebirth excerpt. Does anyone else think the way Luke and Mara both hinted that Leia was a bad mother annoying? Granted, she hasn't always been the best, but it annoyed me how they said because she was a politician her children suffered.