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...

  Han Solo at Star's End Summary: ~2 years BBY (before the Battle of Yavin/pre- ANH) Han Solo is doing normal Han Solo smuggling things, but the Falcon  can't pass emissions/inspection. He goes to meet with an outlaw tech to repair it, but finds out THE CORPORATE SECTOR AUTHORITY (the tenuous connecting thread of this trilogy) has him in space Alcatraz. He goes to rescue him. What it introduces: There's a lot of minor/name drop introductions here. Marauder Corvettes, the Corporate Sector, and who knows how many pieces of terminology. I think this is the first public-narrative appearance of the word bowcaster for Chewbacca's weapon. We get the first appearance of a "Victory" class, but it's probably not the Star Destroyer we'll get to know and love in later books. Most importantly, we get the first appearance of my favorite snubfighter, the humble Z-95 Headhunter Look at that sexy little number (thanks, as always, to Wookiepedia for images) It's bas...

Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker Cover: That is one intense Darth Vader. From Wookiepedia Summary: So this kid who grew up on a "moisture farm" on a desert planet buys a used robot from these little black mage looking dudes. It has a hologram of a princess asking some crazy old guy who lives near him for help. She's hot, so he goes along with it. The old guy is a space wizard, and he agrees to help save her. They get in a bar fight, but hire a guy (who lasers a bounty hunter under the table) to fly them to the princess, but the evil space empire blows up her planet and has her in their giant evil space station. They get caught, but disguise themselves and break her out. The space wizard fights this evil cyborg guy in black armor, dies, and the rest of them escape. Then the space station is going to blow up the planet the rebellion is on, so the kid goes and shoots a rocket up its tailpipe to destroy it. What it introduces: Everything. Commentary:  There...

Splinter of the Mind's Eye Sweet Ralph Macquarie cover art, courtesy of Wookiepedia! Summary: Luke and Leia crash on a swamp planet. Leia has PTSD. Luke has a crush on her. They go looking for the Kaiburr Crystal with cranky Force grandma and replacement Chewie twins. Darth Vader shows up and mostly kicks their asses, but he falls in a hole. What it introduces: Naming things X of the Y : Which would hold for 4 of the 9 movies, 70ish novels, and numerous video games, comics, etc. The Kaiburr Crystal: Shards of which would become the most desirable lightsaber focusing crystals in the later EU. Kyber crystals would make an appearance in the new canon as both lightsaber crystals and part of the Death Star's superlaser.  Commentary:   Splinter of the Mind's Eye is widely considered the first book in the Expanded Universe. It was published in 1978, about half a year after the original release of Star Wars/A New Hope.  Preceding it are a few of the Marvel Comics (which I'll be...