Traviss: Mandos just as important as Jedi, Sith

[FA Xerrik]

It's going to be interesting to see how Traviss' novelization of the movie is going to be like (if that rumor is correct).

WHAT :shock:

It was speculated over at TFN a while back that an untitled Star Wars novel by Traviss spotted over at Amazon.com set for release on July 29 is the Clone Wars novelization. There's also speculation that an untitled Star Wars novel by Karen Traviss' friend, Karen Miller, which is set for release in November is a tie-in to the novelization. Sue Rostoni has so far refused to comment on this and referred to an upcoming announcement.

I thought when you said "the movie" you meant the woman was making her own novelization of the films or something. That would have been utterly ludicrous. As it stands, I can't really say I'm looking forward to any more bantha crap she might be putting out.

[Darth Hoth]

Oh, and Hoth... while Lucas is hardly a mastermind, but stop acting like a pompous twit. Traviss and her Mandalorian wanking is NOWHERE near as bad as psycho Darth Emo Skyawlker. I can at least rewatch the prequels and mostly enjoy them. All I can get from TRaviss' novels nowadays is some occasionally interesting technical tidbit. Nevermind her anti-Jedi sentiments, the massive intellectual and logical gaffes she makes (IE "A planet doesn't have enough materials to build manyy battle droids" from True Colors, for example) and her blatant disregard for the work of her fellow authors and works.

Besides which, its Lucas' fucking universe, which means he pretty much DOES have ultimate say. TRaviss is just someone allowed to play in the sandbox, so to speak. The two are quite different.

Hmm, did I not said just that; while he royally kriffed up the prequels, he would have to be far, far worse than his usual lacklustre performance to even approximate her wanktardries?

Much as I deplore Lucas's later works, and especially his blatantly retarded view of the original films (paraphrase: "Star Wars is Anakin's saga! He's the main character of the OT too, anyone could see that, and after his death there's no story!"), apparently matching sense for the story ("The reaction people should have when they see Vader entering the Tantive IV is, 'Oh, is that poor guy still trapped in that armour?'!") and personal egotism and hubris ("No, I planned it all in advance, there are no ret-cons, I had the prequels all thought out back in the '80s!"), they do not come anything like close to Traviss. She has all of his worst traits raised to the power of ten, with the addition that while Lucas, as you point out, does own the franchise, for better or worse, and can do what kriffing ever he wants with it, while she merely acts like she did.

And there is also, of course, the fact that she is a worse writer.

[VT-16]

Actually, in a recent interview, he said it was Anakin and Luke's story. It's in the canon sticky thread.

[Darth Hoth]

Actually, in a recent interview, he said it was Anakin and Luke's story. It's in the canon sticky thread.

Hm, indeed it appears he did. I cannot see how I missed that, when it was posted so recently. Well, that sounds quite a bit less retarded; on the other hand, looked upon unfavourably it could be taken as further evidence that he just cannot make up his mind...

Anyway, my rant was based on the old quote:

It [Star Wars] s a certain story about Anakin Skywalker and once Anakin Skywalker dies, that's kind of the end of the story. There is no story about Luke Skywalker, I mean apart from the books.

[myrddian]

K.W. Jeter is probably the intermediate step between Moran and Traviss. Jeter gave Fett a conscience (a good step and not overplayed IMO...yet) and made him Sir Pwns-A-Lot (but not against fucking Jedi and Sith).

I rather liked Jeter's Boba Fett. Yes, he "always won", but that was kind of part of the charm of the whole novel. And his "always winning" wasn't really affecting things on any large scale, it just affected him personally. After all, Boba Fett WAS supposed to be the BEST bounty hunter, so you naturally expect him to always win, that was part of the Pre-Traviss appeal.

That series was my introduction to the EU I was out of town for some conference thingy, and I didn't realize that I had left my book at home. I found The Mandalorian Armor at a used book store near the hotel, and couldn't put it down. Though I've read some of the other EU since, that series is still my favorite. I told you that story only to say this: Traviss is an idiot, and she has done some foul, awful things to Boba Fett and the Mando-whatevers.

Not that you all didn't know that. It's just that I hardly see reference to The Bounty Hunter Wars, and wanted to share. Back to lurking!

[Balthea]

Like everyone else, I just wish Traviss would stop touching the EU with her terribly written fanfics. She doesn't care about making sense, she just has her crazy Mando-fetish that she satisfys while the SW fans cringe in fear of what she's going to do next to their canon.

I couldn't imagine being in her shoes. A writter hated by the majority of fans who would even consider reading her books.

[Molyneux]

Like everyone else, I just wish Traviss would stop touching the EU with her terribly written fanfics. She doesn't care about making sense, she just has her crazy Mando-fetish that she satisfys while the SW fans cringe in fear of what she's going to do next to their canon.

I couldn't imagine being in her shoes. A writter hated by the majority of fans who would even consider reading her books.

You think she realizes it? Odds are pretty good she's told herself that it's only a few jerks who don't like her work. It's obvious to everyone else that it's masterpieces! Ev'e'ry'one' lov'es th'e M'a'n'do's, d'on't they?

[Havok]

Like everyone else, I just wish Traviss would stop touching the EU with her terribly written fanfics. She doesn't care about making sense, she just has her crazy Mando-fetish that she satisfys while the SW fans cringe in fear of what she's going to do next to their canon.

I couldn't imagine being in her shoes. A writter hated by the majority of fans who would even consider reading her books.

Well the problem is that the majority of fans DO like her and her wanking.
I have a buddy who is a producer on The Force Unleashed, and used to work for the Insider and I almost had to punch him when he told me,
"Hey, you know what author I REALLY like?"
"Oh don't say it!"
"Man she is great!"
"No don't say it!!"
"Karren Travis! Man she is awesome you really should check out her stuff!!"
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"
I then had to spend the next two drunken hours explaining why he HAD to hate her!
Basically though, when even the people in the business like her, anything short of horrendous sales isn't going to make a difference.

[Darth Hoth]

Well the problem is that the majority of fans DO like her and her wanking.
I have a buddy who is a producer on The Force Unleashed, and used to work for the Insider and I almost had to punch him when he told me,
"Hey, you know what author I REALLY like?"
"Oh don't say it!"
"Man she is great!"
"No don't say it!!"
"Karren Travis! Man she is awesome you really should check out her stuff!!"
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"
I then had to spend the next two drunken hours explaining why he HAD to hate her!
Basically though, when even the people in the business like her, anything short of horrendous sales isn't going to make a difference.

What, seriously? The majority do like the wanktardries?

And here I was living by the hope that it was only the most jaded Star Wars freaks and Fandalorians who bought the books out of either franchise-worship or M'a'n'd'o fanboyism... If they do represent the mainstream, I might just be persuaded to join the "kill the EU" camp...

[NecronLord]

What, seriously? The majority do like the wanktardries?

Remember, most people never think about the scale of it, and instinctively reject the notion of anything more than hundreds of star destroyers and such, even though that's blatantly stupid when you sit down and think about it.

[Darth Hoth]

What, seriously? The majority do like the wanktardries?

Remember, most people never think about the scale of it, and instinctively reject the notion of anything more than hundreds of star destroyers and such, even though that's blatantly stupid when you sit down and think about it.

I have always failed utterly to understand that; that is to say, frankly, those minimalists are not even wankers. A wanker wants things to be bigger and better than they really are; they want them smaller and weaker for no apparent reason. What is their point, assuming that they have any? Inclusiowhoring to the point where even a self-avowed inclusionist such as myself find it bashes-head stupid, or merely plain incomprehension?

[Aratech]

What is this shit? Mandalorians were only important during that KOTOR era, and only because they were at war, after that, they lost most of their planets, and were reduced to being bounty hunters and most of them were dead.

And what is this shit with this virus?

Also, SilverWingedSeraph, doesnt Kreia say something about a Jedi kiling the last Mandalorian?

The only thing that comes to mind is the nanovirus in Hard Contact (one of Traviss' decent novels, before she took the plunge into the deep pool of mando wank and the insane 3 millionsz!1! bit).

In that case, though, it was not an anti-mando virus so much as something specifically meant to attack Clone Soldiers with Jango's genetic heritage. Which, considering that's what a decent portion of the GRA was composed of, actually makes quite a bit of sense from a military perspective.

[Havok]

What, seriously? The majority do like the wanktardries?

Remember, most people never think about the scale of it, and instinctively reject the notion of anything more than hundreds of star destroyers and such, even though that's blatantly stupid when you sit down and think about it.

I have always failed utterly to understand that; that is to say, frankly, those minimalists are not even wankers. A wanker wants things to be bigger and better than they really are; they want them smaller and weaker for no apparent reason. What is their point, assuming that they have any? Inclusiowhoring to the point where even a self-avowed inclusionist such as myself find it bashes-head stupid, or merely plain incomprehension?

I think NecronLord is half right. Most people never think about the scale of it. Period.
I have plenty off friends that I have explained these things too and they were quite understanding and in agreement. It's not that they were stupid or they rejected the ideas, they just never thought about it because they don't really care.
What it is, is that we are fucking GEEKS. We spend hours and hours thinking about and talking about Star Wars. Your casual fan doesn't. They just like watching and reading about cool Jedi and cool Boba Fetts and cool space battles and lightsaber fights and the next big ginourmous space weapon and that is it.
They don't give any thought to how strong a turbo laser is, or if Aldderann had shields, or to canon. They just don't and they never will. There is nothing you can do about it.
These are the people that will buy something with the Star Wars label on it, just because. They may even think the novel is fucking retarded as all hell, but the difference is that they will just stop reading that novel, but they aren't going to go find a BBS to vent on about it. And they will buy the next book because it is Star Wars, or because it's the next book in the series, not because of who wrote it. They just want that little feeling that they had when they first saw the movies.

[Darth Hoth]

Casual fans, certainly. I was thinking more about those who are part of the online community and are frequent posters (the vast majority of them not here, though) but still think they are somehow required to defend Traviss's stupidities. Most of these people are mere Fandalorian wanktards, true, but many also appear to follow a model akin to "It's Star Wars, therefore it can't be bad". They are not entirely unlike the Lucas apologists who simply refuse to admit that Jar Jar is lame or whatnots, only more extreme.

[NecronLord]

Remember, Star Wars, Death Stars aside, doesn't go out of its way too often to show you its scale. It has thousands in the senate - the casual viewer could be forgiven for thinking that represents the entire Republic, one pod per planet. And some of those pods may represent corporate entities!

The shows spend a lot of time out in the boonies - where three star destroyers is a big deal. The only really grand fleet we see is the Trade Federation Doughnuts, and there aren't too many of those. What's that I hear you say? Battle of Coruscant? Yes, that's one of the bigger ones, but it still doesn't instinctively scream 'fifty million worlds are backing these guys' at a random viewer; just that this is a big impressive battle.

Really, there's no reason for most fans to have an idea of the scale - and when they do, they often pick it up from something erroneous, like WEG or Traviss. And once ideas are established, they're often hard to reason away.

[Havok]

Jar Jar is lame or whatnots

WHAT?! Jar Jar is LAME!?!?!?!

[Jim Raynor]

Traviss's writing is shit even if you don't care about things like numbers and scale. Odds doesn't qualify as a real story. The whole thing was about a pair of clones waltzing into a Separatist factory, which the story stated to be unguarded (thus removing any sense of danger), before chatting it up pointlessly about the fucking numbers.

Odds was the single most agenda driven non-story I ever read...before Revelation came out and I saw pages and pages of ridiculous Jedi-bashing. The book was supposedly written for SW fans, yet it went out of its way to put down and pussify the Jedi, who are at the core of the saga. Who the fuck wants to read that? Oh sorry, I forgot, SW "fans" who are just slaves to the brand name, and don't actually care about the quality of the franchise.

[Darth Hoth]

Jar Jar is lame or whatnots

WHAT?! Jar Jar is LAME!?!?!?!

The single lamest of all the lame computer-drawn stupidities Lucas has poisoned the films with; such, at least, is my opinion. Judging by what I have read here and elsewhere, I should not be alone in thinking thus.

[VT-16]

WHAT?! Jar Jar is LAME!?!?!?!

The single lamest of all the lame computer-drawn stupidities Lucas has poisoned the films with; such, at least, is my opinion. Judging by what I have read here and elsewhere, I should not be alone in thinking thus.

*WHOOSH*

----

Your head

[Havok]

WHAT?! Jar Jar is LAME!?!?!?!

The single lamest of all the lame computer-drawn stupidities Lucas has poisoned the films with; such, at least, is my opinion. Judging by what I have read here and elsewhere, I should not be alone in thinking thus.

*WHOOSH*

----

Your head

Thank You.

[Darth Hoth]

Did I miss a sarcasm?

(Yes, I am that clueless. This once, any and all mockery is probably deserved.)

[Balthea]

Well the problem is that the majority of fans DO like her and her wanking.

Nowadays, I use the word 'fans' lightly. For some reason, I can't call these Clone-fetish 12yr olds fans of Star Wars. I guess I always forget that they tend to have mommy and daddy money, whereas the rest of us have poor college student pennies. XP I am surprised that people who work there like her, but maybe it's an infamous thing. We are giving her the time of day and talking about her, therefore she's good for Star Wars [/lackoflogic]

I suppose she probably has convinced herself that it's only a few jerks who hate her. Didn't she use the number twelve or something? I shouldn't be surprised about that either, since there are lots of people on the internet I encounter daily who convince themselves of the stupidest things.