It’s 2014, which means we’ve long since passed the theoretical Judgment Day when Skynet gains intelligence (1997, in “The Terminator”) and the year when supercomputer HAL 9000 turns on Dave Bowman in interplanetary space (2001, in “2001: A Space Odyssey”). Heck, it’s been a full 10 years since Lincoln Child wrote about a computer-controlled building […]
“The Approaching Storm” (2002) has a heckuva hook: It’s the first “Star Wars” novel from Alan Dean Foster since the late 1970s, when he wrote the “A Nope Hope” novelization and “Splinter of the Mind’s Eye,” the first Expanded Universe novel. And it’s a lead-in to “Episode II: Attack of the Clones.”
Although the propaganda in conjunction with Disney’s “Star Wars” reboot would have us believe that the Expanded Universe was licensed fan fiction, the reality is that readers saw EU stories as being the true continuation of the saga. As such, we were hit hard by the death of Chewbacca – which was approved by George […]
“Rebels,” set between Episodes III and IV, will premiere on Oct. 3 on the Disney Channel, but as fans know, for many years there was another TV series planned for this era: “Underworld.” This live-action series hasn’t been talked about lately, so it’s safe to assume it went the way of the later seasons of “The […]
Writer Haden Blackman’s “Jango Fett: Open Seasons” (2002) is one of the most essential pieces of “Star Wars” storytelling, as it mends the contradictions between “The Tale of Boba Fett” and Boba’s portrayal in “Attack of the Clones.” But earlier in 2002, Blackman penned perhaps the least essential “Star Wars” story, the three-issue “Starfighter: Crossbones.”
As fans know, there are two continuity branches to “Star Wars” storytelling: The movies and TV shows overseen by George Lucas (and now Disney) and the Expanded Universe that was kinda-sorta overseen by Lucas (and has now been canceled by Disney). On a handful of occasions, stories from the former contradicted stories from the latter, […]
“Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” was apparently made for me and about five other geeky guys, as almost no one went to see it on its opening weekend. One of the theories for the low interest level is that a sequel was not needed because the 2005 original, a stylistically perfect comic book come […]
Lucasfilm arguably dropped the ball in telling Anakin’s story between Episodes I and II, when he aged from 9 to 19. From 1999 through May 2002, only two adult novels (“Rogue Planet” and “The Approaching Storm”) told of his exploits, along with one junior novel, Jude Watson’s “Jedi Quest: Path to Truth” (2001), which was […]
I don’t know if it’s coincidence or correlation, but Timothy Zahn’s first five “Star Wars” books (the Thrawn trilogy and “Hand of Thrawn” duology) were great, and those were set at the end of the timeline as it stood at the time. His last five books (the “Outbound Flight” duology and the three post-“A New […]
“Episode II: Attack of the Clones” came out in May 2002, but that month’s issue of “Star Wars: Republic” — No. 42, the start of “Rite of Passage” – didn’t jump directly into the Clone Wars. I’m guessing that the folks at Dark Horse needed a bit of time to map out their Clone Wars stories, which […]