The Force Awakens

The Force Awakens

   I did not know what to expect with this movie. Disney was making a gamble on this. The prequels were hated by so many. (not by me) It's not like Star Wars fans will love anything labeled Star Wars.
   To me I have read 40+ EU novels so now the future of those become uncertain. Jaina, Jacen, Mara Jade... what will happen to these beloved Old EU characters? (I'll call it OEU for short)
    I know this review comes late. I saw TFA when it was still in theaters but now I have watched it a number of times and have noticed a number of details I missed at first. Looking at it through the eyes of an OEU fan...
    In TFA the New Republic apparently didn't rise like it did in the OEU. In the OEU Coruscant once again becomes the Capital of the Republic. Mon Mothma it's leader and eventually Leia takes her place. The fall of the New Republic comes with the Yuuzhan Vong. This would take place before TFA so I guess you could use that to explain why Coruscant is no where to be seen in TFA but what I got from the movie was the New Republic never took hold and this First Order is what rises from the fall of the Empire.
    As in the OEU Luke Skywalker starts a Jedi school where he does teach his niece and two nephews. Jacen and Jaina (twins) and Anakin. In TFA so far we know he has a nephew named Ben not Jacen but clearly the actor was cast to look a bit like Jacen who also ends up falling to the Dark Side. There is a Ben in the OEU but it's Luke's son whom he has with Mara Jade who is one of the most beloved character's in the OEU.
    That brings us to Rey. A girl left on a planet that is quite reminiscent of Tatooine but it is not. So what happened to Tatooine? Anyway... I love when they show she lives in an AT- AT walker and made a doll that looks like a rebel solder! So who is Rey? We know she is force sensitive and is waiting for someone to come for her. Later Leia tells her they won't come but she should seek out Luke... well, that crosses Luke off the list of who was coming back for her. Also at one point she states "Thought Luke Skywalker was a myth" this is puzzling if she had been in his Jedi school and doesn't know he is even real. So I cross Luke off the list. Is she Han and Leia's daughter? Ben's sister like with Jacen and Jaina? This is puzzling too cause wouldn't Leia and Han have known this was their daughter and told her? Leia just simply says that Rey knows who was coming back for her wasn't coming back... which makes me wonder... who can not come back? Yeah, Han. So is this their daughter? Leia nor Han seem as emotionally connected with her then with Ben. I really believe she is either a Skywalker or a Solo but not sure which.
    Just a personal tidbit: Rey looks so much like my mother at that age it is CREEPY! Since I look a bit like my mom I guess I found my Star Wars look a like :-) Rey costume in the works!
    Sticking with Luke Skywalker it seems in TFA his school failed and he split. This is very typical for Luke in the OEU as well. He constantly battled the idea of what if one of his students fell. He also ran off for this reason in the OEU. He does so in one of my favorite trilogy The Dark Fleet Crisis. He also has students fall, one being his nephew Jacen Solo. But is Luke running here or more looking for something? Could he be searching for information about the Jedi? In the OEU he had little to go on but his short time with Yoda and Obwan. In one series there was a holocron with the secrets of the Jedi. Could he be searching for something like that?
    OK, here's the thing... I've been into Star Wars for years and have read many books (I've even played KOTOR)... who on earth are The Knights of Ryn!?! I missed this somewhere... I see people talk about them like they are old news and I've never heard of them nor heard of any knights in Star Wars other then Jedi Knights, so you got me on that one....
    Snoke. I've heard this and that on who Snoke could be. First I cross Darth Vader off the list. "Why?" Well, think about it. In Return of the Jedi we she Anakin as a force ghost showing he was indeed saved. As may times as the first trilogy was messed with I don't think they are going to mess with that. I will admit I've heard some interesting theory but I just don't think they are going to go in that direction. Let's look at the OEU. Who does come back? Emperor Palpatine. In the comic series Dark Empire Emperor Palpatine returns using cloned bodies to live in. His gole is to take over the body of Leia's unborn child Anakin. Also Luke gets pulled under by the dark side and is really never the same in the future because of it. But my point is, I would lean to this being Emperor Palpatine. In the Rogue One movie coming in Dec. Someone pointed out the Emperor kneeling at a bakta tank in one of the clips... interesting... could this be his old master... or maybe a body he has cloned to move into like with the OEU Dark Empire. Mara Jade later on doubts the Emperor ever returned being she would have felt him if was alive but that may have been just to cover up and inconsistency.
    Speaking of inconsistencies. In the OEU Jedi could not read your thoughts. Only feel your emotions. Vader was able to discover Leia was Luke's sister not by reading his mind but reading how he felt about her. So Kylo Ryn seeing the map in Rey's head would not be possible.
    Another thing is with the release of TFA they started using the term "the light side" in fact that was not a real term before. There was only the "Dark side"
    Random notes. Starkiller sound a lot like Star Crusher which destroyed stars. In the OEU a student of Luke's, Kyp Durron turns to the Darkside and runs off with this weapon.
    Anyone ever wonder if Finn was related to Lando? And come on, Fin likes Rey. Fin is not gay. I think they threw that out there just to get people talking knowing people would.
    Who is Poe anyway? I don't know what part he really plays in all this...
    Captian Phazma... no. Why? Just trying to get another female in the cast? Yeah, everyone was just dieing to see a female storm trouper finally, weren't you? They can lose her if you ask me. I don't see the point. She's just annoying.
    One thing had me puzzled, why did Kylo Ryn keep hitting his blaster woud? Was there a meaning to that? Coolist effect in the movie... the frozen blaster bolt! I'm not kidding, I though that was really cool!

    OK. Now the BIGGIE! Before they decided to do this last trilogy it was common knowledge that Harrison Ford would not be in another Star Wars film unless they killed him off. They were going to kill him in The Empire Strikes Back but didnt. So yeah, I even told my friends this when they asked me about what did I think might happen in the new movie. I don't know what was wrong with me. I sort of forgot that fact when I started watching it. He was so good in the part! When it happened I was kind of shocked! They really killed him! They REALLY killed him! Wow... that was a little hard and I was never even that big of a Han Solo fan though he was winning me over a little.

    Last but not least. The whole silent Luke deal is Epic! Top billing, no lines, and a couple of minutes of film time... how much did he get paid for this? You know it's funny after Star Wars Mark Hammel became a voice actor... back to Star Wars, no lines....

( I came across this on Wookiepedia. I wondered why they only gave Luke a minute of screen time in TFA. I liked the fact it made Han more of the Star and Luke gets the next film but here is what they say...
'"Luke's minimal screentime in The Force Awakens was decided by screenwriter Michael Arndt, who felt whenever the character entered his draft of the script, he would upstage Rey and the audience would cease caring about her. Ultimately, he, J.J. Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan agreed Luke would have to withdraw from the story and become a plot device instead.[42] Hamill still attended the cast's script reading, thereby concealing Luke's role, and was assigned to read the stage directions. "It was a way of having [him] be part of every scene, every moment, not just spiritually or thematically or narratively, but actually," Abrams said. "Having his voice in it made the read through a better experience for everyone.")

Allegiance

    How did I miss this book before now?! The reason I have a copy is that when I find a EU Novel at a good deal I'll will buy it knowing I'm going to read it eventually. This has been a good practice and saved me the time and the pain of cliffhangers due to having to track down the next book! (I'm currently dealing with a cliffhanger in the New Jedi Order! Till I get my hands on a copy I picked up this one.)

   Really I started off reading Choices of One. I had been looking forward to reading it. I knew it was about Mara Jade when she was working for the Emperor as "The Emperor's Hand". It takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. About 2 chapters into Choices of One I realized I was missing something! Something came before this book... characters I have never heard of were too well established. It didn't take me long to figure out it was Allegiance. And as I said before I already had a copy. I had not looked at it sooner being the cover of storm troopers and I had never seen anything about the book being about main core Star Wars characters. I thought it was about some pack of random storm troopers. But it was a Zhan novel so I picked it up at some point in my adventures of Star Wars book hunting.
 
  The only other novel that takes place in this time period is Splinter of the Mind's Eye. Splinter of the Mind's Eye is a good book. I recommend reading it if you're a Star Wars Fan but it was written as an alternative sequel had A New Hope not done well in theaters. It's a good "what if" but doesn't work with Star Wars as it later became. I have to wonder if the next movies by Disney are going to turn this EU into something similar... we shall see...

   Why is it that Zanh is the only writer that is able to capture Mara and Luke dead on. I mean yeah, Zhan created Mara Jade but other writers can not capture her spirit, fire, and strength very well. He seems to understand Mara and Luke so well. I love the super hero type character Mara is in this novel. In the Thrawn Duology a point is made that Mara believes Luke has willfully gone to the dark side in the past and therefore effected in his life up to that date. But you're thinking, she has a lot of room to talk! She was the Emperor's Hand! But she claims she never willingly went for the dark side. The explanation seem to be that she is young, idealistic, and ignorant about what is going on around her. She repays kindness with kindness... you have to wonder if Darth Sidious is aware of Mara's rebellious nature for doing good.

 And what about Vader? They went to all that trouble to destroy the Jedi but now Sidious is training this young girl. Could the plan be to use her against him to take his place or at least make him uncomfortable that Vader could be replaced. After all he used Luke against him later on... and hey, they are Sith, they like mind games. It is clear Vader does not like the girl but there is no clear answer as to exactly why.

    I wish I could recall if Mara had a light saber ever before Luke gave her his father's. In this book she does carry one. The color being magenta. An interesting color choice being she's sort of a bad guy cause it's in the red spectrum but yet it's not red either. Ah, symbolism!

Mara Jade

    One inconsistency I noticed, correct me if I'm wrong, was Mara being able to put herself into a healing trance. In the Thrawn Duology Mara is injured but she was unable to put herself into a healing trance so Luke had to put her in it. As he does so she remarks that is something she needs to learn how to do.

    There were a few other flaws in the story but hey, don't really care. That was just the one that really jumped out at me.

    So... is Disney going to do away with Mara??? She is one of the most loved EU characters in the Star Wars EU galaxy! And she is such a strong female hero... I don't know if Disney will use her but it's a sad for those of us who love her if they don't. We can only hope they can create an equally dynamic female to replace her with... let's have it Disney.... gives us what you got!