StarWarsClassics

     Return of the Jedi Boring and wordy. A perfect cover for a bad book.  (Wookiepedia) Summary: With Han Solo frozen in carbonite and a second Death Star under construction, things have never been more dire for the Rebellion. Luke must claim the mantle of Jedi Knight and face down his father, while his friends find a way to stop the Empire's superweapon from bring the galaxy to heel. What it introduces:  The Second Death Star The Emperor (actually showing up in person) Force Lightning (Mostly) Jabba The Hutt (not counting that one scene in ANH ) Ewoks (and like 50 other kinds of aliens) AT-STs A Wings, B Wings, Mon Calamari Cruisers, and Lambda class shuttles Admiral Ackbar IT'S A TRAP! Crix Madine Manny Bothans Commentary: Let's just drop the opening paragraph in here: THE very depth of space. There was the length, and width, and height; and then these dimensions curved over on themselves into a bending blackness measurable only by the glinting stars that tum...

     The Empire Strikes Black Kinda spoilery.  (Wookiepedia) Summary:  It is a dark time for the Rebellion. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the Rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy. Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters led by Luke Skywalker have established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth. The evil lord Darth Vader, obsessed with finding young Skywalker, has dispatched thousands of remote probes into the far reaches of space.... What it introduces:  YODA! (and Dagobah) Lando and Bespin (and Lobot and Ugnauts) Hoth and Tauntauns AT-ATs TIE Bombers and Interceptors The Executor   The Emperor (on screen) Vader is Luke's father! Commentary:  I'm going to start by saying I'm the weirdo who thinks Empire  is actually the worst of the original trilogy. ANH  is a classic. RotJ is fun. ESB  drags hard in the middle, and ...

    Han Solo and the Lost Legacy Now THIS is a classic sci-fi cover!  (Wookiepedia) Summary:  Han Solo races against a rival crew of treasure hunters in search of (eventually worthless) treasure, guarded by an army of war droids. The Falcon  gets ship jacked, and Blue Max does a proto version of the C3PO fake robot god thing. What it introduces:  The a prototype of the Standard Star Wars Novel Cover. It comprises the following: 1.Title of the book in big letters center top (no Star Wars yet!) 2. A big thing central to the plot in the middle 3. Partial portraits of characters (bonus points if it's not quite a match for a real life actor) flanking it 4. Related "stuff" at the bottom. Star Wars hardly invented this style (I'm going to assume it's an evolution of pulp novel/magazine covers) but we're going to see a lot of it through the 90s and 00s. We get a name drop for the piping on Han's pants (THE CORELLIAN BLOODSTRIPE) and I believe this is the first tim...

  Han Solo's Revenge The covers are getting worse (wookiepedia) Summary: After his pirate movie theater gets taken down by a religious mob, Han Solo goes back to smuggling. He accidentally takes a contract as a slave trader, frees the slaves, and goes to get his money from the head of the slavers. The Falcon  almost gets repoed, and Han and Chewie link up with Fiolla, who thinks the slavers are led by Corp Sec higher ups. They get followed and almost assasinated a bunch of times. Eventually, they get on a space cruise ship, it gets attacked by the slavers (disguised as pirates). Eventually, they find the evidence they need and (after a brief hostage standoff) take the money and run. What it introduces:  SWOOPS! Which is actually kind of weird. I (and I think most people) generally think of swoops as speeder bike's bigger, badder cousin. But here we are, four years before speeder bikes show up in ROTJ  with Han riding around on one. That's really it. I'll be honest, t...