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Lots of people name the Thrawn Trilogy whenever there's a discussion about which EU novels could be made into films. However, I don't think they would make very good movies unless you make a lot of changes. They're regarded as some of the best EU novels, but that's not really saying much.

The biggest problems I have with this trilogy are the deus ex machinas and the lame ways the villains are defeated.

-Thrawn spends all of Heir to the Empire setting up his attack on the Sluis Van shipyards, and the details aren't revealed until the attack actually comes. Then Lando shows up and uses his secret code (which hadn't been mentioned at all) to cause all the mole miners to shut down.

-Two ISDs are battling the Republic and smuggler forces over the remnants of the Katana Fleet, in a climatic battle that is probably way too small scale for a SW movie anyway. Everybody practically shits their pants when the second ISD shows up, and tell each other to make it out if they can. Then Han suddenly remote-controls a Dreadnaught into ramming one of the ISDs, destroying it.

-Grand Admiral Thrawn gets stabbed in the back by his own bodyguard. The Imperial forces quickly fall apart without him. Come the fuck on.

Split because you're not a retard .

And that topic is so very old...but at least your post has value as well...so new topic it is.

TTT is the most overrated thing in the EU.

Ah, nostalgia.

lol... it won't be the first movie to use deus ex machina FTW... Return of the King anyone?

000 wrote:TTT is the most overrated thing in the EU.

Ah, nostalgia.

At least things were much simpler then.

Now it's like a copy cat fest. UGH.

Lessee...

ANH: The big indestructible sphere o' fear is destroyed by some backwater farm boy because Tarkin... doesn't feel like launching fighters. Ignoring the inability of the Empire's finest engineers to put a shield or armor grating over the main exhaust port.

TESB: No real deus ex machina, but the bad guys win.

ROTJ: Ewoks. And Lieutenant Dumbass. And... oh, hell. The whole fucking movie.

TPM: The big indestructible donut of death is destroyed by some backwater... hey, haven't we done this one before?

AOTC: I really can't say. It sucked so badly my brain has rejected all memory of it, in order to preserve itself from annihilation.

ROTS: No real deus ex machina, but the bad guys win. Again.

Yeah, the Thrawn Trilogy fits right in. Except this time the bad guys were the sympathetic ones, and having them lose for no good reason bites. Which is, I suspect, why I read it once and only once.

There were a lot more pretty starships in ROTS than the other prequels.

Having 'the bad guys' win is, in my opinion, a very rare trait amongst fictional media, which means I applaud any source that goes against the grain. My problem with TTT is that the bad guys lose for no reason other than they're the bad guys, so they have to lose. Of course, it's SW, so this is universally the case, which means I can't really gripe about something which is a core trait of the franchise...

Well, Zahn rectified some of the minimalism later. I'm currently reading Outbound Flight and while there is some minimalism, so far I've particularly liked the reference that the Corporate Alliance was "galaxy spanning" and the implication that the Unknown Regions are outside the galactic disc and inside the galactic halo (as they encounter a globular cluster, something I doubt that Wallace's upcoming Atlas will establish).

Jim Raynor wrote:The biggest problems I have with this trilogy are the deus ex machinas and the lame ways the villains are defeated.

To be fair, the trilogies themselves have some pretty big leaps that they ask you to make as well. The ending to TPM is pure authorial fiat, as are Palpatine's numerous potentially fatal gambits, and the odds on some of the other occurrences are not deus ex machinas but are also extremely improbable.

Zahn's Star Wars books have their flaws but overall, they're some of the few that are well written with both interesting characters and an engaging plot. That's something which is relatively rare in the SW EU and is one reason he remains a stand out even now.

Jim Raynor wrote:-Thrawn spends all of Heir to the Empire setting up his attack on the Sluis Van shipyards, and the details aren't revealed until the attack actually comes. Then Lando shows up and uses his secret code (which hadn't been mentioned at all) to cause all the mole miners to shut down.

That's definitely a deus ex machina. But then again it's also not something you can necessarily work into the plot with out being horribly obvious either. It's probably the worst offender but also the least important all things considered.

Jim Raynor wrote:-Two ISDs are battling the Republic and smuggler forces over the remnants of the Katana Fleet, in a climatic battle that is probably way too small scale for a SW movie anyway. Everybody practically shits their pants when the second ISD shows up, and tell each other to make it out if they can. Then Han suddenly remote-controls a Dreadnaught into ramming one of the ISDs, destroying it.

That's more of a forlorn hope working than a deus ex. We know the Katanas are slave circuited so the tactic follows from previously established points. Given that they nail the least experience Captain, Thrawn gets most of the ships, and the NR mostly loses this whole thing isn't really a case of author fiat or deus ex machina.

Jim Raynor wrote:-Grand Admiral Thrawn gets stabbed in the back by his own bodyguard. The Imperial forces quickly fall apart without him. Come the fuck on.

Which is a consequence of a story line running through the entire trilogy. It's a perfectly reasonable payback for Thrawn's part in the massive conspiracy against the Noghri. It's a major plot point and it's not unreasonable at all for the bodyguard to turn at one of the most advantageous points. Furthemore, Paelleon is definitely characterized early on as lacking initiative and willingness to gamble (both reasonable traits in a totalitarian military).

So while it does deprive us of a massive space battle, it is a legitimately developed plot.

Hm... kudos for being someone to go against the "there's never going to be a sequel trilogy... but if there was ZAHN RULES ALL!" popular conception.

What series would you suggest to be adapted instead?

None. Star Wars is the Darth Vader Story. The Darth Vader Story is over, and with it all that makes Star Wars special. The universe is decent, sure, as universes go, but decent is all.

Stormbringer wrote:That's definitely a deus ex machina. But then again it's also not something you can necessarily work into the plot with out being horribly obvious either. It's probably the worst offender but also the least important all things considered.

Plus you have to consider that even the characters consider it something of a Phyrric victory themselves. Sure Thrawn didn't get the ships, but what did he really lose? Some spacetroopers and TIEs? Meanwhile the NR is left with some pretty serious damage to a good number of warships (IIRC there was at least one described as a mole miner burning completely through one ship; that's not going to be so easily fixed). Plus they lost at least one assault frigate that Thrawn used as an extra shield from the defense fleet.

For me, I'd like to see the X-Wing series done as a movie, or maybe TV miniseries (1-7 at least since they follow each other). If you want some starship porn, you'll at least get some of that, even though the fleet battles weren't that big. Still, lots of X-wings flying around, so it can't be all bad. But that's more a secondary one; I'd like to see TTT myself, because I think it'd be interesting to see Thrawn potrayed by an actual actor.

To be prefectly honest I don't think any of the books are appropriate enough to be made into a movie. As stated about the two SW trilogies where the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker.

'Shadows of the Empire' might work best as a movie. I admit it doesn't change the 'Star Wars' universe much, but that also means you can squeeze it in between 'The Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi' without people complaining about change.

Splinter of the Mind's Eye . Unsanctioned published fanfic anyone?

Lord Relvenous wrote:Splinter of the Mind's Eye . Unsanctioned published fanfic anyone?

I remember reading a graphic novel based on 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye', and being very disappointed in it. If it is made into a movie, I expect a lot of people to bitch about how Vader's intelligence was downgraded in that POS.

Sidewinder wrote:

Lord Relvenous wrote:Splinter of the Mind's Eye . Unsanctioned published fanfic anyone?

I remember reading a graphic novel based on 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye', and being very disappointed in it. If it is made into a movie, I expect a lot of people to bitch about how Vader's intelligence was downgraded in that POS.

My comment was completely sarcastic. Vader is portrayed as a cumbersome tool defeated by two completely untrained force-adepts, and also a tactical idiot. No bueno.

I think i would like a miniseries based on the X-Wing books. Yes they might be lower grade writing, but they were fun and action packed.

Other than books previously stated, I can't really think of movie grade material in the original EU. Rebel Dream and Rebel Stand were good NJO books, and I'm sure there are many others that I haven't read, but they are disconnected from the OT and PT, and don't really have happy endings, more like Alamo style moral victorys.

I think that any book that already exists wont make it well as a movie. EU and the established timeline really constricts the ability to expand theatrically, unless the movies expand to somewhere completely away from the PT and OT, like say the Great Hyperspace War. But still, a Star Wars movie that doesn't directly tie into the existing ones will be risking failure.

As a form of heresy, the Jedi Academy Trilogy can be reworked into a standalone movie..... Its limited enough in plot/scope, action packed once you translate it into pictures and squeeze 3 novels into one 1 hour plus movie and "grand" enough that it can work as a movie, as opposed to other EU novels that are either too limited or too galaxy spanning threat.

PainRack wrote:As a form of heresy, the Jedi Academy Trilogy can be reworked into a standalone movie..... Its limited enough in plot/scope, action packed once you translate it into pictures and squeeze 3 novels into one 1 hour plus movie and "grand" enough that it can work as a movie, as opposed to other EU novels that are either too limited or too galaxy spanning threat.

I'm all for this as long as the ending is as such:

Kyp: Dude. Sorry I killed some guys and trashed a star system.

Luke: I sense the Force is strong in you. You will be a great asset to the New Republic. You will try to atone for your crimes in your own way. You will not be prosecuted. You will not be punished. We will forgive you as long as you forgive yourself.

Kyp: blink blink Really?

Luke: Not really. Just kidding. *SWING* A single lightsaber swipe cuts Kyp in two.

The End

Sidewinder wrote:

Lord Relvenous wrote:Splinter of the Mind's Eye . Unsanctioned published fanfic anyone?

I remember reading a graphic novel based on 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye', and being very disappointed in it. If it is made into a movie, I expect a lot of people to bitch about how Vader's intelligence was downgraded in that POS.

It very well could have been Empire Strikes Back. Originally, if ANH hadn't done well, Splinter was to be the sequel because (a) Harrison Ford wouldn't need to be in it and (b) the foggy planet setting made it easy for a low-budget film.

Old Plympto wrote:I'm all for this as long as the ending is as such:

Kyp: Dude. Sorry I killed some guys and trashed a star system.

Luke: I sense the Force is strong in you. You will be a great asset to the New Republic. You will try to atone for your crimes in your own way. You will not be prosecuted. You will not be punished. We will forgive you as long as you forgive yourself.

Kyp: blink blink Really?

Luke: Not really. Just kidding. *SWING* A single lightsaber swipe cuts Kyp in two.

The End

No, no. Just let Kyp die when he trashes the Suncrusher and that ISD. Much cleaner that way.

Feil wrote:None. Star Wars is the Darth Vader Story. The Darth Vader Story is over, and with it all that makes Star Wars special. The universe is decent, sure, as universes go, but decent is all.

You know, for me, it never has been. I got into the EU at an early age (think I read TTT when I was about 8-ish, then moved on to X-wing etc) so the books were always just as important a part of SW to me as the movies themselves. The principal characters weren't that important to me, my favourite character from very early on was Wedge (this was before I read any of the books, though my original reason for this was because Luke got his arm cut off and Han got frozen...).

I've disliked the Jedi for as long as I can remember, because it annoyed me that legions of elite troops could be effortlessly butchered by a guy with a glowing stick. The Empire was the most attractive element of SW to me after I read TTT because Thrawn inspired me quite a bit, and both he and Pellaeon have remained firm character favourites of mine since then.

Whatever he thinks now, Lucas originally intended for there to be a sequel trilogy, and according to some rumors, a second sequel trilogy (eps. X-XII). The films would involve an older Luke. So, it's quite likely the films aren't about the virgin-born angsty teen-turned mechanical monstrosity, but rather about the Skywalker clan as a whole.