Star Wars without the Saga

[Falconer]

Heh, it’s a crappy TV Christmas variety special of its time, nothing more, nothing less. I don’t get a nerdgasm from the animated short that introduces Boba Fett, but it’s fun enough and it is the sort of “Adventures of Luke Skywalker” I would have liked to see more of. I do imagine Kazhyyyk (pronounced “ka-ZOOK”) more or less as portrayed, albeit less “domestic” and more savage, like Endor without the Ewoks. Overall, no lasting damage done.

[blackbarn]

I remember the days of Star Wars without the saga too. Also note that the West End Games d6 version is set in that time period by default, right after the original film's events. I think it's for the best, and leaves things wide open.

[murquhart72]

I must be the only one, but I LOVED pretty much everything about the Holiday Special! I still remember being allowed to stay up to watch it and being glued to the screen, feeling like I was being included in the Star Wars universe myself
I also remember reading the novelization and when the part came (early in the book) where a stormtrooper was hit with a blaster bolt and his helmet "exploded in a gout of plastic, bone and blood", I thought to myself "Wait, I thought they were robots!" It blew my mind, Man, BLEW MY MIND!
I don't think I've heard of Splinter of the Mind's Eye 'til now. Gonna have to check it out!

[harami2000]

Aug 15, 2010 13:42:15 GMT -6 murquhart72 said:

I must be the only one, but I LOVED pretty much everything about the Holiday Special!

Oh dear...

Although I must admit the segment with Bea Arthur singing to a giant space hamster is a classic.

Aug 15, 2010 13:42:15 GMT -6 murquhart72 said:

I still remember being allowed to stay up to watch it and being glued to the screen, feeling like I was being included in the Star Wars universe myself
I also remember reading the novelization and when the part came (early in the book) where a stormtrooper was hit with a blaster bolt and his helmet "exploded in a gout of plastic, bone and blood", I thought to myself "Wait, I thought they were robots!" It blew my mind, Man, BLEW MY MIND!

*edges back warily*

Thanks for the smile.

[barrataria]

Curse all of you for hiding such excellent SW discussion under "General SciFi" And curse me for not reading these forums deeply enough to find it.

Anyway, I hope some of you (especially fin) still have interest in this...

Oct 11, 2009 16:58:34 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

Others can certainly add to my list if they think of anything....

I will because it gets to the heart of problems with the prequels. I'm messing with a SW campaign again for the first time in a while, hopefully to run a game for a poster in this very thread And re-reading "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker" again for the first time in at least 30 years, if not more. The day I read this thread I got the book out and started thumbing through it.

The first addition I have to Fin's list is a big one... namely the Emperor and the Empire. Right off I noticed and remembered references to "Emperors", and the introduction passage from "Journal of the Whills" [which seems to be best read as the Jedi/rebel perspective on Palpatine, perhaps the delusion/blindness Lucas showed the prequels].

The best description of the Empire starts in the boardroom scene in Ch. 3, just 3 pages worth.

First, the Sith Lord (oh, how that term was spookier before it involved giant floating bubbles and Emo Anakin and a Scottish martial arts trainer).... a general complains that Sith Lord Vader is "inflicted on us at the urging of the Emperor".

So, the Emperor can order Vader around, as well as the military. That's not news.

But Grand Moff Tarkin can too, as he does when Vader is strangling General Tagge ("shook the Dark Lord off" as no one at the table "would have dared to do"). So, it seems that either appointment as a Moff confers nobility on a military commander, or (which seems more apt) Tarkin has some inborn/political status (but no military rank) that makes him superior to both the military commanders AND Vader. I think I'll see this again later on when Leia spits on Vader (!) and expresses no surprise to find Tarkin "holding [his] leash". Nobody in the next two films does this, ever, and there must be other Moffs in the galaxy.

And Vader is NOT a "toady" here, as Fin pointed out. He states "with sarcasm" that the Emperor's will shall "be" done. And Lucas writes that if "any of the powerful men seated around the table found this disrespectful tone objectionable", their fear of getting "Tagge'd" by Vader kept them quiet.

Tarkin states what WEG would later call his doctrine, that "[e]vents in this region of the galaxy will no longer be determined by fate, by decree, or by any other agency. They will be decided by this station!" And therefore, of course, by Tarkin as commander thereof.

Tagge encapsulates the sentiment echoed, more or less, by Han Solo when watching Luke train later in the book, when he mocks Vader's "sad devotion to that ancient mythology" and belittles his efforts to find the rebels or the data "tapes" like a police detective scorning an astrologer brought in to solve a murder case.

So in this little scene, which was fun in the movie and contrasts strongly with the later movies' commanders that Vader strangles willy-nilly as he kowtows to the Emperor, you have:

- Vader openly dismissive of the Emperor before military and noble/civilian commanders, but still obeying directives from the Emperor and Tarkin (presumably as the Emperor's vassal)

-Tarkin, able to stop Vader's killing, presumably because of his noble/special status (but which is apparently not so close to the Emperor as for Vader to fear the Emperor finding out about his open "sarcasm" and "disrespectful tone" to get back to Coruscant).

-the Generals, ignorant and dismissive of the Dark Side and subject to the Emperor's will and Vader's powers (except as restrained by Tarkin).

-the Imperial "bureaucrats", apparently "Governors" and "potentially traitorous local governors" who, no longer subject to the dissolved senate, will be "kept in line" by fear of the Imperial fleet and the battle station.

- all of them as jackals fighting for power and influence in the Galactic Empire/New Order, on the battle station, and in the galaxy. It reminds me of EGG's descriptions of drow.

All of this will be upset, I think, by destruction of the battle station, Tarkin, and everyone in the room. I have a lot of thoughts on what that will do in the galaxy (at least MY galaxy far far away) but that's not so much in line with Fin's thoughts. I'll post anything else that I find that's different in an important way.

[Finarvyn]

Aug 29, 2010 11:46:24 GMT -6 barrataria said:

Curse all of you for hiding such excellent SW discussion under "General SciFi" And curse me for not reading these forums deeply enough to find it.

Hey, barrataria, glad you found it. I guess I'll have to hide the good stuff better next time, eh?

You bring up some great points. I just think it's so interesting how the whole Star Wars thing has changed so much from its inception to its current state. Heck, I can't even keep up with the "force unleashed" and the stuff pertaining to characters a generation or more later than Luke/Leia/Han/etc. It's just insane the total number of books and quantity of source material that has slowly evolved into the Star Wars universe, and how little of it actually matches the original concept.

I still go back to the days before SW was "Episode VI" and wish we could see more of it. Leia was important. Heck, she was a princess! Later, she becomes just another senator. Ho, hum. Vader was terrifying. Later, he was a trusted underling. It's just not the same.

The "without the Saga" SW universe was a lot of fun, and it's a shame that it's been slowly edited and deleted so that newcomers can't experinece it, too.

[murquhart72]

Now I want to run a game in the world of The Adventures of Luke Skywalker and Splinter of the Mind's Eye! Only question is, should I use the 70's sci-fi RPG Traveller? Or something quick and painless, like Mini-Six (a distilled version of the original Star Wars RPG)? Maybe just adapt OD&D?
Might have to use concept art too, like stormtroopers with light sabers and blast shields! KEWL!

[barrataria]

Sept 16, 2010 19:46:47 GMT -6 murquhart72 said:

Now I want to run a game in the world of The Adventures of Luke Skywalker and Splinter of the Mind's Eye! Only question is, should I use the 70's sci-fi RPG Traveller? Or something quick and painless, like Mini-Six (a distilled version of the original Star Wars RPG)?

Fun!

If you are going to strip it down THAT much, I'd vote for MiniSix in a second. It would be fairly easy to crib things like force powers, if you wanted them, from the WEG books. But with the slate THAT blank, you could just make up whatever you want and their "Imperium in Revolt" pages have all the detail you need.

[Malcadon]

Sept 16, 2010 19:46:47 GMT -6 murquhart72 said:

Might have to use concept art too, like stormtroopers with light sabers and blast shields! KEWL!

I know how you fell. Stormtroopers with standard issue light sabers and blast shields is way KEWL! Imagine how even more awesome Buba Fett would be with one? Search your feelings, you know this to be true!

Much like the concept art for Battlestar Galactica - with images of sorcery and such - I have been intrigued in a SW setting that tries not to take itself too seriously as a sci-fi. I dont even give a d**n if its called Star Wars or not, I just what something that plays out like the 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Solo at Stars' End, and A Princess of Mars, but with more light sabers and personal energy screens. That would truly kick ass!!! ;D