I'm actually not a big fan of Hemingway's writing, but I can at least respect that he managed to get a lot of economy out of his writing. There was a lot of subtext hidden between the lines. That's not the case with the excerpt listed. I find it to be just outright bad. It looks like bad fan fiction.

Welcome to the world of Star Wars books, where 85% of it is fan fiction that someone payed way too much for someone to put to paper.

Isn't that description true of most, if not all, novels based off of TV or movie franchises?

Sadly, yes. The one series I can think of that bucks that trend is Doctor Who - and even that, with a 50+ history, has plenty of crap. It's just that the ratio seems to be much lower than Wars or Trek.

Babylon 5's novels were pretty good most of the time. The creator was consulted on most of them so the key plot points were usually canon even if some of the details weren't. And Its the first Scifi franchise I know of to have a novel declared fully canon.

Back on topic I was re-reading Tarkin and there's an Escort Carrier in it. The class isn't named but the armament and fighter compliment match that of a Ton-Falk class Escort Carrier exactly down to the model of lasers and missiles carried on the carrier. But in the EU/Legends the battle which both served as a namesake for and inspired the creation of the Ton-Falk class didn't take place until over a decade after the events of Tarkin took place. So do people think they made the battle of Ton-Falk take place earlier with different factions or did they change the class'es backstory completely?

Isn't that description true of most, if not all, novels based off of TV or movie franchises?

But, there are extremes. Terry Brooks is a good writer so I wouldn't say, "all", for example. Aftermath appears to be horrible even when measured against other medicore EU writers. Try reading that exerpt entirely. I said in the other thread it reads like a high schooler's attempt at a screenplay. There is some very laughable stuff in the example we got.

I like his style, but it may not be for everyone. I thought the character insight was way ahead of most of the EU.

You know, after suffering through the shitstorm that was the Vong Invasion, Jacen going batshit crazy and Ben falling in love with a Sith, Aftermath could be written in crayon and it would be a step up.

I didn't mind the Ben and Vestara being a couple until the FOTJ writers decided to have her fall back to the dark side for no reason

I watched the Ep. 4 DVD recently and I swear Han shot first. Maybe he changed it back. I remember that scene sold me on the film back in 77

I watched the Ep. 4 DVD recently and I swear Han shot first. Maybe he changed it back. I remember that scene sold me on the film back in 77

Depending on which DVD set you have, some of them contain the original theatrical release rather than the special edition versions. You can tell by the fact that Han's neck doesn't get weirdly bent out of shape when the shooting happens.

I have the original theatrical release on DVD and han doesn't shoot first.
He's the only one that shoots. Greedo doesn't even shoot after being shot.

He straight up murders Greedo.

(well, it could be considered self-defense since greedo has him at gunpoint, but still)

Yeah when someone has a gun pointed at you and has made it clear they plan to kill you shooting first is called self-defense and having a working brain.

^{Han shot first.}

^{OK, the wife and I watched ROTJ the other night and I noticed something I have never noticed. In the Forest battle after the Rebels were captured and were being escorted back outside, they come out of the bunker and see all the Imperial troops and the camera pans to the right and you see the other commandoes standing there with their hands on their heads. Just to the right of them you see a lone scout trooper with his helmet off and his hands also on his head. He is an old guy with a big grey mustache. There screen changes to a side view and you see him ever so briefly still standing there with his hands on his head still. Any idea what this was about? Was there a deleted scene where they stole scout armor or something?}

Yeah, the guy was the "guard" that was left outside to maintain normalcy. You can JUST see him behind Han and friends as the door closes.

My issue isnt so much with Ham shooting or not shooting first. my issue is that it looks like crap. That Han's vaguely disembodied head suddenly flies to the right, "dodging" the shot. Hell, I could do a better cut and paste job in photoshop!

Yeah when someone has a gun pointed at you and has made it clear they plan to kill you shooting first is called self-defense and having a working brain.

Of course, the fact that Han could have just as easily used his stun setting but instead chose to preemptively act with lethal force really throws the self-defense argument down pretty hard.

Yeah when someone has a gun pointed at you and has made it clear they plan to kill you shooting first is called self-defense and having a working brain.

Of course, the fact that Han could have just as easily used his stun setting but instead chose to preemptively act with lethal force really throws the self-defense argument down pretty hard.

That's provided that his blaster could even do stun. As far as I can recall, we've only seen stun used once, and that was in Ep IV to capture the princess. At least as far as the live-action movies go.

Yeah when someone has a gun pointed at you and has made it clear they plan to kill you shooting first is called self-defense and having a working brain.

Of course, the fact that Han could have just as easily used his stun setting but instead chose to preemptively act with lethal force really throws the self-defense argument down pretty hard.

That's provided that his blaster could even do stun. As far as I can recall, we've only seen stun used once, and that was in Ep IV to capture the princess. At least as far as the live-action movies go.

Of course, that's assuming that the Empire would care either way and not just arrest whoever survived and send them off to hard labour for murder...

Han stuns Greedo then what? Unless there is a local jail willing to hold a minion of Jabba the Hutt and don't let him go for a hundred credits, neither of which is very likely IMO, he'll just come back after Han until one of them is dead so why not just end it then and there>

If Han actually planned on paying Jabba, then perhaps leaving an IOU to that effect on Greedo's still-living body would send that message better than leaving a dead body and jetting out of town.

Maybe Han was pissed cuz some @$$hole stuck a gun in his face an threatened to kill him..I would be.

If Han actually planned on paying Jabba, then perhaps leaving an IOU to that effect on Greedo's still-living body would send that message better than leaving a dead body and jetting out of town.

The cold, callous way that he dealt with the issue was exactly like the old west that Lucas was recreating in the saloon scene. If you live in a world where life is cheap, killing someone and casually walking off isn't exactly "jetting" out of town. He had a job to do to get the money he needed to pay back Jabba and meant to deal with the debt when he could.

Killing Greedo, then acting like the mercenary that he was and running off right as the final battle was all the way he was, but he got character growth by coming back to help out in what he had previously deemed a hopeless situation.

A couple of things to consider: greedo hated Han, we don't know why, but he state he's been waiting for this. Second, if Han actually did just stun greedo and leave an IOU, would Jabba even get it? I'm sure greedo would "lose" it.

The cold, callous way that he dealt with the issue was exactly like the old west that Lucas was recreating in the saloon scene.

Of course that's what he was trying to convey. I'm not arguing against that at all. However, I am arguing against Solo's actions being justified as self-defense. Lucas wanted to play up the scum and villainy angle, and Solo fed right into it in the original version through preemptive use of lethal force against what appeared to be an incompetent fool playing at bounty hunting.

Of course it's self defense. When someone has a deadly weapon in your face and has threatened lethal force, forcing you into a position where you have to unholster a secured side arm one handed under a table withot looking, an expection of also being expected to change the weapon's setting in that scenario is not even remotely reasonable.

Of course it's self defense. When someone has a deadly weapon in your face and has threatened lethal force, forcing you into a position where you have to unholster a secured side arm one handed under a table withot looking, an expection of also being expected to change the weapon's setting in that scenario is not even remotely reasonable.

An expectation of self-defense would start with the weapon always being in stun setting unless the user selects otherwise.