Complete novelization analysis- spoilers

[Lord Poe]

I just finished the novelization last night, and it has to be the best SW book ever written.

I can't believe Obi-Wan went up against Darth Maul, General Grievious, and Anakin Skywalker, and didn't even get a SCRATCH. Dooku is the only one to ever injure him in lightsaber combat. That easily makes Obi-Wan the baddest MoFo to ever wield a lightsaber.

What a sad ending to Anakin. Now I know why Vader is so pissed off. There's an old Marvel comic where two stormtroopers are talking, saying they can't wait to get off duty so they can get out of their armor., because they feel like a borg. Vader overhears them and orders the ship on full alert status until further notice, and makes sure even off duty stormtroopers stay in full uniform!

Personally, I LIKE the fact that Vader is only a fraction of what he was. That's what makes the story all that more tragic.

If Dooku, at age 80 can flip around and move as he does, what the hell happened to Kenobi in ANH?

[Alexus]

He was being defensive. It's that thing where you don't immediately jump in and kill everyone.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Pardon the guy from the birthplace of the American language, but how does American short-scale notation go?

To borrow from IP:

1e9 = 1 x 10^9 = 1 billion
1e12 = 1 x 10^12 = 1 trillion
1e14 = 1 x 10^14 = 100 trillion
1e15 = 1 x 10^15 = 1 quadrillion

[Alexus]

Oh, I thought you meant giving a Billion 12 zeros or something. Okay, it's cool.

[Stofsk]

If Dooku, at age 80 can flip around and move as he does, what the hell happened to Kenobi in ANH?

TPM and AOTC doesn't really show Obi-wan using flips and somersaults in duels, AFAIK. So perhaps it's only a question of style, not ability?

[FTeik]

And there wasn't lots of space to jump and flip around in those DeathStar-corridors anyway.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Vader and Kenobi's fight on the Death Star was supposed to be more like a chess match between two samurai masters.

[Vympel]

If Dooku, at age 80 can flip around and move as he does, what the hell happened to Kenobi in ANH?

Realistically, of course we know that Alec Guinness didn't have a 20-something stunt double with his face digitally composited

In canon, though, the novelization:

Ben sensed something directly ahead and slowed cautiously. It had a most familiar feel to it, a half-remembered mental odor he could not quite place.

Then the figure stepped out in fromnt of him, blocking his entry to the hangar not five meters away. The outline and size of the figure completed the momentary puzzle. It was the maturity of the mind that had temporarily confused him. His hand moved naturally to the hilt of his deactivated saber ...

Kenobi blinked once, shook his head, and tried to clear his eyes, which had begun to water slightly. Swet beaded up on his forehead, and his eyelids fluttered again.

"Your powers are weak," Vader noted emotionlessly. "Old man, you should never have come back. It will make your end less peaceful than you might have wished.'

Of course, a lot of dialog in the duel in the novelization isn't present in the film, and in the novelization Vader cleaves him in half without clear evidence of Obi-Wan just surrendering, but it appears that Obi-Wan was weak- at least, compared to Vader, reduced though he was from his injuries.

[Tsyroc]

I just finished the novelization last night, and it has to be the best SW book ever written.

I agree. I haven't read many SW books but I really liked this one.

I can't believe Obi-Wan went up against Darth Maul, General Grievious, and Anakin Skywalker, and didn't even get a SCRATCH. Dooku is the only one to ever injure him in lightsaber combat. That easily makes Obi-Wan the baddest MoFo to ever wield a lightsaber.

I really like how they handled Obi-Wan in this book. I have a feeling that a lot of this won't make it into the movie. It might be just enough if they include the part where Mace Windu points out that Obi-Wan is "the master" of whatever lightsaber form Obi-Wan uses.

I also liked how the interactions with the force was written for Obi-Wan and to a lesser extent Anakin and Mace. It really makes the Jedi seem bad without coming across as some sort of uber fanwank thing.

IMO it was a really good book for Obi-Wan and shows why he is so highly thought of by the Jedi Council. That being around Anakin's influence actually made him better was a nice touch too.

What a sad ending to Anakin. Now I know why Vader is so pissed off. There's an old Marvel comic where two stormtroopers are talking, saying they can't wait to get off duty so they can get out of their armor., because they feel like a borg. Vader overhears them and orders the ship on full alert status until further notice, and makes sure even off duty stormtroopers stay in full uniform!

Personally, I LIKE the fact that Vader is only a fraction of what he was. That's what makes the story all that more tragic.

That Vader is weakened from what he was does turn out well. Even better when not long before he was already thinking of killing Palpatine and taking over. It still makes me wonder about the Vader/Palpatine relationship. Hopefully there will be a decent book or two that bridges the gap between this one and ANH.

I think it's the Visual Dictionary, it's stated that because all his limbs are articial Vader can't generate Sith lightning, and that his artificial parts also make him much more vulnerable to it than he would have been without them.

It was a little creepy when the book was discribing Vader's reconstructed body. Not having lungs anymore. He really is a lot less than a guy with no arms and legs.

Given Palaptine's penchant for using people it seems a little odd that he went to so much trouble to save Vader. I suppose he could really consider him a friend but I have to wonder if at the end of the book he isn't just using Vader a stop gap until he can find the next sutable canidate to be his apprentice. Maybe Palpatine already has an idea who that will be (Luke) but I would think that over 20 years Vader would still have to deal with at least a couple challengers to his position.

[Darth Wong]

I've been avoiding the spoiler threads and I haven't read the novel or the ICS books because I don't want to spoil the movie for myself the way I did AOTC. Therefore, apologies if this has already been brought up before, but there is a reason why I have not read the entire thread. I just wanted to point out, regarding the issue of Coruscant's planetary shield:

There are millions of cargo ships entering and leaving Coruscant airspace every single day, ferrying food and other supplies which are necessary for the continued survival of the planetary population. The disruption caused by raising the planetary shield would be severe, and the technical difficulties of managing this traffic and all of the necessary localized shield aperture openings and closings would be enormous. So unless they are quite sure of an impending attack, they would keep their shield down almost all of the time.

Is this overconfident? I suppose so. American preparations at Pearl Harbour were overconfident too. But it hardly means that Coruscant cannot possess a planetary shield; when faced with one argument which contradicts other canon and another which requires only the simple factor of overconfidence, only a raving lunatic would pick the former.

[Lord Revan]

snip

Well when think about range of SW sensors and the power needed to use a planet wide shield it makes sense to keep it down when not needed.

[Darth Servo]

Is this overconfident? I suppose so. American preparations at Pearl Harbour were overconfident too. But it hardly means that Coruscant cannot possess a planetary shield; when faced with one argument which contradicts other canon and another which requires only the simple factor of overconfidence, only a raving lunatic would pick the former.

Yes, but we ARE talking about Darkstar here.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

I've been avoiding the spoiler threads and I haven't read the novel or the ICS books because I don't want to spoil the movie for myself the way I did AOTC.

If you see any movies before Ep 3, be sure to show up 10 minutes late so you'll miss the trailer. It's so full of spoilers that you might as well have been following every gossip thread if you see it.

[Master of Ossus]

Incidentally, the lack of mobility shown by Kenobi in ANH may also be attributable to his style of combat, which is extremely defensive according to EU accounts. The SWI article on it posited that he had completely altered his lightsaber fighting style between TPM and AotC, and that his new style was much more static and not given to wide and potentially dangerous moves or actions.

[Illuminatus Primus]

I've been avoiding the spoiler threads and I haven't read the novel or the ICS books because I don't want to spoil the movie for myself the way I did AOTC. Therefore, apologies if this has already been brought up before, but there is a reason why I have not read the entire thread. I just wanted to point out, regarding the issue of Coruscant's planetary shield:

There are millions of cargo ships entering and leaving Coruscant airspace every single day, ferrying food and other supplies which are necessary for the continued survival of the planetary population. The disruption caused by raising the planetary shield would be severe, and the technical difficulties of managing this traffic and all of the necessary localized shield aperture openings and closings would be enormous. So unless they are quite sure of an impending attack, they would keep their shield down almost all of the time.

Is this overconfident? I suppose so. American preparations at Pearl Harbour were overconfident too. But it hardly means that Coruscant cannot possess a planetary shield; when faced with one argument which contradicts other canon and another which requires only the simple factor of overconfidence, only a raving lunatic would pick the former.

According to the ROTS ICS, the filmic combat takes place wedged between the defense shield and the atmosphere. This explains both the cramped quarters of combat and the relatively low altitude.

By the post-Endor era anyway, they used overlapping shield spheres with a highly sophisticated system of individually manipulated interlocking segements that were raised and lowered for traffic. Presumably they had a much less complex and thorough defense at this date.

[NRS Guardian]

The EGTW&T in the planetary turbolaser or KDYv-150 section says that planetary shields are usually kept down because of the massive power requirements, and that planets depend on fire from planet based guns to deter attackers while the shield comes online, or something. So taking all EU evidence it seems probable that Coruscant didn't have its shield up to keep from bottle-necking traffic and to save on power expenditures, and that the CIS came in fast enough that Coruscant didn't have time to raise the shield until they were under it and when they found out that Palpy had been taken they probably raised the shield to keep the Invisible Hand from escaping. Or at least its a plausible theory taking what evidence there is so far into account.

[Knife]

Incidentally, the lack of mobility shown by Kenobi in ANH may also be attributable to his style of combat, which is extremely defensive according to EU accounts. The SWI article on it posited that he had completely altered his lightsaber fighting style between TPM and AotC, and that his new style was much more static and not given to wide and potentially dangerous moves or actions.

And reiterated in RotS against Dooku. Dooku even muses that Kenobi is probably the best at (insert some Kendo sounding name here) he's ever seen.

[Dahak]

And keep in mind that American (short scale) notation is used. European (long scale) notation has been pretty much dead throughout the world for the last 30 years except by malcontents and morons who don't know any better.

The "long-scale" notation isn't quite as dead as you want it to be

[Knife]

And while I'm on the RotS, I bought the ICS a few days ago, and the novel today. Now I poured over the Sepertists ships sections and all that, so when I was reading today, I noticed that the Invisable Hand kept being called a Trade Federation Battleship and while Anikin and Obi were goint toward the bay then the bridge, they kept mentioning the distinctive conning tower and bridge of the Trade Fed ship.

I'm guessing they wrote most of this before coming up with the SFX?

[Darth Servo]

And while I'm on the RotS, I bought the ICS a few days ago, and the novel today. Now I poured over the Sepertists ships sections and all that, so when I was reading today, I noticed that the Invisable Hand kept being called a Trade Federation Battleship and while Anikin and Obi were goint toward the bay then the bridge, they kept mentioning the distinctive conning tower and bridge of the Trade Fed ship.

I'm guessing they wrote most of this before coming up with the SFX?

Just rationalize it by saying that since the Trade Fed was the main group that started the Sepertist movement, the ships on that side generally were nicknamed Trade Fed ships.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

And keep in mind that American (short scale) notation is used. European (long scale) notation has been pretty much dead throughout the world for the last 30 years except by malcontents and morons who don't know any better.

The "long-scale" notation isn't quite as dead as you want it to be

Well, you're European, so what the hell do you know?

[Knife]

Just rationalize it by saying that since the Trade Fed was the main group that started the Sepertist movement, the ships on that side generally were nicknamed Trade Fed ships.

I can, but it's still a hole that shouldn't be there considering all the trouble they've gone through with other holes.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

I'd just chalk it up as a fuck up and ignore it.

Besides, it's overridden by the film itself.

[Knife]

I'd just chalk it up as a fuck up and ignore it.

Besides, it's overridden by the film itself.

True.

[Techno_Union]

And while I'm on the RotS, I bought the ICS a few days ago, and the novel today. Now I poured over the Sepertists ships sections and all that, so when I was reading today, I noticed that the Invisable Hand kept being called a Trade Federation Battleship and while Anikin and Obi were goint toward the bay then the bridge, they kept mentioning the distinctive conning tower and bridge of the Trade Fed ship.

I'm guessing they wrote most of this before coming up with the SFX?

The ROTS:VD called it a Trade Fed ship because it used to be the personal ship of Nute Gunry, but he was forced to give it up to Greivous.