Chefelf.com Night Life: The Novels - Chefelf.com Night Life

Hey guys.

Recently I read the novelizations of the Star Wars trilogy--the Del Rey mass-market paperback edition, specifically (the one that collects all three of 'em). I was wondering if these novels have been tampered with the same way the movies have? I know for a fact that the A New Hope novelization was originally named "Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker" but am unaware of any changes beyond that, save that the older editions had more attractive covers.

Also, has George Lucas tampered with any of the EU Novels?

Thanks in advance.

That is a very good question. I'm not sure. I know that someone scanned and posted the first couple of pages from the first Star Wars novelization here. It was very odd. I don't remember who posted it but it was early on so it was probably one of the first posts on this forum.

[EDIT: I found the link here: http://www.chefelf.c...hp?showtopic=53 I think srmoore may have sent it to me.]

I don't think he's changed them but it wouldn't hurt to research. The original novels are pretty good in that they have a few little scenes that didn't make it into the movie that give you just a little more back story.

Yea... those books are what got me into Star Wars. Many people tend to overlook the movies as just being a special effects fest, the books make it clearer that there's a complex and intricate storyline and character relationships behind all the glitter.

It's funny you know the Greedo shooting first scene? Well Lucas says now that that is the way he always wanted to do it. I went back to my novel of it (which was pre-SE I believe) and looked to see. It's interesting. It doesn't say who shoots first. It basically says there was smoke, and Greedo was dead. It certainly does make you think that Han drew first though.

Lucas is so full of crap. That's like Spielberg saying he never wanted to have guns in the hands of the cops in E.T. but they just didn't have the budget to be able to afford walkie-talkies.

Oh no I agree it's ridiculous. I'm just saying it is interesting that the book doesn't say exactly who shoots first so he can get away with it, saying he "always intended it to be that way", but didn't have the budget. Which is BS too. How much extra money would it have taken to add a streak of light going past Solo's head? And if those streaks of light cost so much, then take away a meaningless stormtrooper shot (they always miss anyway) and add it to that scene if it's so important to you. It's crap.

It's also interesting that in the novels Luke flies with Blue Squadron, not Red. I'm surprised Lucas didn't dub everyone's voice in the SE saying Blue Five, reporting in. You see, he couldn't do it originally because it costs more to get the rights to say the word Blue than it does to say Red, and saying Blue would have put them over budget.

I looked over the novel, and it gives a clear indication Solo shot first. Misplaced my script copy so that's no good. what with special editions and all, I've a greater respect for the library of congress.

BTW, the book mentions greedo using a translator device. That's a great idea. why don't we see more of those in this expanded universe?

Translator devices seem to be rare in most Sci-fic works. The only other place that I know that had one was Space Quest 1, a game by Sierra Online back in 1987 (or was it 1986?). Anyway, I'm not really that much of a sci-fiction fan anyway.

The books had some dialogue that didn't exist in the movies, I don't know whether they're really bad or not, I never read any of them, just skimmed through some when I was looking through a book shop.

I think it was 1986. I'll have to double-check my copy of the Space Quest Collection and get back to you.

As for Translator devices... Star Trek had them to during the Next Generation era on up. I think the reason they're so rare is because people consider them scientifically implausible.

No more implausible than the notion that everywhere our heroes go, people speak their language. (ok, save the ewoks. damn care bears...)

BTW, I've seen advertised a dog collar that translates what they're saying with their barks and cries. You could even program it to record their thoughts (well, not *thoughts*) during the day. I'd hate that option as I'd feel guilty for not being there to constantly let him in and out.

There's also one for cats. But I don't think it's for real. I mean, how do you really know if he's actually saying something? Sure, I've seen cats meowing to each other and look like they're communicating, but I can't really tell whether they're saying something or the tone of their mewing is the key to the 'translation'.

I've seen a decoder card for cats. Stuff like "this look means" "I tolerate you", or "you worthless person." it was probably written by a dog person.

The whole 'dogs vs cats' and 'dogs and cats hate each other' is just plain childish. There isn't anything inherit in cats and dogs to make them hate each other. It's only the differences in their nature: Cats are solitary creatures and guard their 'territory' from others; dogs are far more social and frequently live in packs, they also tolerate other dogs far more.

Because of this, introducing a cat to a dog takes a little work, but if you do it right, they'll be best buddy's for life. The only way it can go wrong is if the individual animal has an aggresive personality (yes, cats and dogs DO have unique personalities, just like humans).

I'd just like to mention that I've managed to find an old copy of The Empire Strikes Back. So far, I've found that there's not a lot of difference between it and the Del Rey edition (whcih, BTW, was the edition scanned in the other thread linked to elsehwere) except that the Del Rey edition has worse formatting--paragraphs being run together etc.

EDIT: Upon further research, my verdict is that it doesn't seem like the movie novelizations have been tampered with that much, if at all (I should note that there are new hardcover editions with forewards by GL that I have not read yet). If someone cares to prove me wrong in the future, please do so. As for me, I personally think Star Wars was better as a book than as a movie, so I would suggest, those who don't like the special editions, pick up the books.

This post has been edited by JamesEightBitStar: 26 February 2004 - 06:43 PM