Hey, Monday is a holiday, isn't it? Huzzah! And wow, is it July already? Man, this year is flying by so quickly. I haven't done so much of what I wanted to do! But...I have done plenty still, so I think I am okay with that.
Just a quick post for you folks today and then I will let you be on your way to enjoy celebrating America's independence however you see fit (though, please, for all of our sakes, do try to refrain from any stupidly dangerous or illegal methods of celebration).
First, a quick reminder: My Stargate Atlantis rewatch kicks off next week you guys! Yay! Tune in Wednesday for my post about the pilot episode "Rising." I am given to understand the the entire series is available on Netflix if you don't have the DVDs and would like to watch along with me. I do hope you'll watch along! SGA posts will be twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday, and I will try to let you know in advance if there won't be a post for some reason.
This leads me into my next bit of news for you, regarding the blog in general. Starting next week, I am going to try something new. Each day of the week will be reserved for a specific kind of post. I know there are a few of you only reading for, say, my posts about yarn crafting. Well, now my main topics will each have their own dedicated day of the week, so you will know when to check for posts about what interests you. I am hoping that this will help streamline my writing for the blog a bit too, as I have found myself often flailing to settle upon topics for each post.
Here's what the new schedule will look like:
Monday: Stargate Atlantis Rewatch
(Please note there will not be a post this coming Monday because I will be enjoying my husband's day off due to the holiday. Depending on how the Stargate Atlantis rewatch goes, we will likely move on to the other Stargate series, and possibly other shows beyond that, like, say, Farscape or Buffy.)
Tuesday: Fun With Fibercrafts!
(This will be the day I feature finished objects, works in progress, projects I'd like to take on, or just talk about some aspect of knitting or crocheting I have on my mind.)
Wednesday: Stargate Atlantis Rewatch
Thursday: Writer's Podium
(Hopefully, hopefully, this will be the day that I can post excerpts of what I am currently working on. I have a new story I would like to start and I think that setting a goal to get a few page or even a chapter out a week to post here will keep me in line writing-wise. On the weeks where I haven't been so productive, I will have posts about writing in general, or what I am working on without it actually being the content. I do have a writing date today, so my fingers are crossed that I will have something fun for you next week!)
Friday: Mystery Bag!
(This will be the whatever post of the week. Here I will talk about my life in general (though I can't pretend that might not slip into other posts as well), parenthood, the video games I am playing or books I am reading, or just whatever is on my mind.)
It is possible that if something comes up about which I am just compelled to write, well, you might see some days with bonus posts. They will be labeled as such though, so never fear.
I am really kind of excited about this change up of "format" for the blog. I hope that you are too. It's all just a grand experiment, but my fingers are crossed that it works out well, for you and for me.
On that note, I will say farewell. Have a spectacular weekend dear readers! Have fun and be safe, and above all, enjoy yourselves, whatever you may do. See you back here next week.
Showing posts with label Farscape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Farscape. Show all posts
Friday, July 1, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Creatively Keeping it Clean
One of the more difficult challenges of parenthood, in my opinion, is learning to change your bad habits when the kiddo arrives so that you don't inadvertently pass them on. For me the most challenging habit to break has been cursing. I have a horrible potty-mouth. (Sorry, Mom.)
This is not my mother's fault, I will point out. If I were going to shrink myself, I would likely conclude that this predilection sprung up as being the lesser of the teenage rebellions available to me. I was always a rather mild-mannered and well-behaved kid (and adult) for the most part. Sure, I had my indiscretions, went through my phases, but my acting out was always minor. Developing a colorful vocabulary of expletives and then putting it to good use was also a way for me to keep my image from being too squeaky clean without having to get into any real trouble. At this point, most of the "bad" words I drop don't even have any real vehemence behind them, they are just part of my vocabulary now. But knowing where they come from doesn't really help address the issue of getting rid of them.
And I do need to start getting rid of them. My daughter is not yet speaking English, but she is already an extremely talkative kid, and she has picked up the odd word here and there. I will sadly not be surprised at all if her first real sentence is something absolutely horrible. While that will certainly provide many funny stories much, much later on in her life, it's really not the goal.
But...there is a need for some expletives in anyone's language. I truly do believe that. For a while I have been thinking about how to weed out the words I really don't need my daughter repeating in politer company (or teaching other children with much less laid-back parents). I am really bad about the F-bomb, and the synonym for waste often sneaks in, as well as "damn" and "hell," though those last two are not in and of themselves bad words. My aim is to implement the tried and true method of substitution, and since phrases like "golly gosh darn it" just hold no weight in my mind, I have decided to turn to my love of all things geeky for help in finding some good replacements.
The Little Mermaid
Okay, I know this one might throw you for a loop, but it is the source of the word snarfblatt, which I have actually long used as a replacement for my bad language (I can occasionally filter myself). This one is pretty versatile, actually, and can be used to replace the F-bomb, damn, and hell. So I think I will be keeping that one around for sure.
Farscape
When astronaut John Crichton got swept off through that wormhole, one of the first things that happened to him aboard Moya was that he had translator microbes implanted in his body so that he could understand all of the aliens he encountered. For some strange reason though, curse words did not translate (gee I wonder what the reason for that could have been), so we were treated to quite a lovely lexicon of alternative curses to pick from this series. My two favorite are frell (substitute for the F-bomb) and dren (substitute for the word that rhymes with "hit"). I have been using these occasionally for some time now, so it is just a matter of more consciously choosing them to replace their more mundane counterparts. I have tried to get behind Hezmana a time or two (it is their equivalent of hell), but it just doesn't quite roll of the tongue.
Red Dwarf
Ah, this lovely series gives us the word smeg, which is another good all-purpose swear. It comes in handy in pretty much any situation where you have plenty to say and none of it is nice and keeping it bottled in would just plain be hazardous to your health.
Battlestar Galactica
Of course, from one of my favorite space operas we get the ubiquitous frak. I doubt there's any question of what that one replaces. I actually use this one about equally with its Earth-bound counterpart these days, so maybe that means I am halfway to conversion? Though this one is so close to the actual term that I think it will need to be reserved for when I am really mad. Side note: Yes, I am going with the four-letter spelling. In the original version of the series, back in the eighties, the word also appeared and was spelled "frack." That's all well and good, but RDM officially changed it to "frak" for his series, and that is the one I watched, so that is how I spell it. In case you were wondering. (Yes I realize that was some excessive nerdery there, still, it needed to be said.)
Star Wars
Specifically the Republic Commando series. A big part of that series, as I mentioned before, was delving into Mandalorian culture, and that definitely included Mando swear words. I rather liked quite a few of them. My favorite is osik (can range in strength from "crap" to that other word that is worse but means the same thing only with more intensity). There is also shabuir, which is what you call someone you really don't like, and shebs, which refers to one's hind parts.
That's quite a collection to start with, I think. I have a few others that come from life rather than the realm of geeks, too. For example, back in college, I had a friend that used the term heezy instead of hell, and I quite like that, so I have used that one pretty much since then. Also, at some point in high school I thought I should clean up my language a bit. It didn't take, but I was using the term fruitbat in place of another word that starts with the same letter, and I'll be darned if that doesn't crop up every now and again as well. I have heard from a few sources the phrase Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? to replace What the F-bomb? and have also been incorporating that.
So really, it comes down to just getting better about actually thinking about what I say before I actually say it. Really, that's good advice for anyone. It has the added bonus that sometimes just pausing to think takes all of the heat of the moment and the desire to curse at all goes away (sometimes). Honestly, the words themselves are only of marginal importance, because it is the intent behind them that really matters. I know this. But it is nicer for the people around you if you don't walk around muttering obscenities where they can hear (or at least that they can understand).
There are those, I am sure, who feel that because it is the intent that matters, even the replacements are bad and I should strive to not want to have or express those feelings at all. I can only say to those people that their souls are much purer than mine. Either that, or they run into far fewer idiots on a regular basis than those I seem to come across.
Hopefully I can remove the "real" swear words from my vocabulary so that when my daughter does start picking up those phrases, at least she won't get them from me. Also, this way, if she does go around repeating what I say, hopefully the other authority figures won't catch on to what she is saying, or will be amused enough to let it slide.
Also, you know, there's the fact that I do plan to actually teach her about the function and appropriate use (or lack thereof) of such words, but still. Kids are kids, even the good ones. Just look at how I turned out...
This is not my mother's fault, I will point out. If I were going to shrink myself, I would likely conclude that this predilection sprung up as being the lesser of the teenage rebellions available to me. I was always a rather mild-mannered and well-behaved kid (and adult) for the most part. Sure, I had my indiscretions, went through my phases, but my acting out was always minor. Developing a colorful vocabulary of expletives and then putting it to good use was also a way for me to keep my image from being too squeaky clean without having to get into any real trouble. At this point, most of the "bad" words I drop don't even have any real vehemence behind them, they are just part of my vocabulary now. But knowing where they come from doesn't really help address the issue of getting rid of them.
And I do need to start getting rid of them. My daughter is not yet speaking English, but she is already an extremely talkative kid, and she has picked up the odd word here and there. I will sadly not be surprised at all if her first real sentence is something absolutely horrible. While that will certainly provide many funny stories much, much later on in her life, it's really not the goal.
But...there is a need for some expletives in anyone's language. I truly do believe that. For a while I have been thinking about how to weed out the words I really don't need my daughter repeating in politer company (or teaching other children with much less laid-back parents). I am really bad about the F-bomb, and the synonym for waste often sneaks in, as well as "damn" and "hell," though those last two are not in and of themselves bad words. My aim is to implement the tried and true method of substitution, and since phrases like "golly gosh darn it" just hold no weight in my mind, I have decided to turn to my love of all things geeky for help in finding some good replacements.
The Little Mermaid
Okay, I know this one might throw you for a loop, but it is the source of the word snarfblatt, which I have actually long used as a replacement for my bad language (I can occasionally filter myself). This one is pretty versatile, actually, and can be used to replace the F-bomb, damn, and hell. So I think I will be keeping that one around for sure.
Farscape
When astronaut John Crichton got swept off through that wormhole, one of the first things that happened to him aboard Moya was that he had translator microbes implanted in his body so that he could understand all of the aliens he encountered. For some strange reason though, curse words did not translate (gee I wonder what the reason for that could have been), so we were treated to quite a lovely lexicon of alternative curses to pick from this series. My two favorite are frell (substitute for the F-bomb) and dren (substitute for the word that rhymes with "hit"). I have been using these occasionally for some time now, so it is just a matter of more consciously choosing them to replace their more mundane counterparts. I have tried to get behind Hezmana a time or two (it is their equivalent of hell), but it just doesn't quite roll of the tongue.
Red Dwarf
Ah, this lovely series gives us the word smeg, which is another good all-purpose swear. It comes in handy in pretty much any situation where you have plenty to say and none of it is nice and keeping it bottled in would just plain be hazardous to your health.
Battlestar Galactica
Of course, from one of my favorite space operas we get the ubiquitous frak. I doubt there's any question of what that one replaces. I actually use this one about equally with its Earth-bound counterpart these days, so maybe that means I am halfway to conversion? Though this one is so close to the actual term that I think it will need to be reserved for when I am really mad. Side note: Yes, I am going with the four-letter spelling. In the original version of the series, back in the eighties, the word also appeared and was spelled "frack." That's all well and good, but RDM officially changed it to "frak" for his series, and that is the one I watched, so that is how I spell it. In case you were wondering. (Yes I realize that was some excessive nerdery there, still, it needed to be said.)
Star Wars
Specifically the Republic Commando series. A big part of that series, as I mentioned before, was delving into Mandalorian culture, and that definitely included Mando swear words. I rather liked quite a few of them. My favorite is osik (can range in strength from "crap" to that other word that is worse but means the same thing only with more intensity). There is also shabuir, which is what you call someone you really don't like, and shebs, which refers to one's hind parts.
That's quite a collection to start with, I think. I have a few others that come from life rather than the realm of geeks, too. For example, back in college, I had a friend that used the term heezy instead of hell, and I quite like that, so I have used that one pretty much since then. Also, at some point in high school I thought I should clean up my language a bit. It didn't take, but I was using the term fruitbat in place of another word that starts with the same letter, and I'll be darned if that doesn't crop up every now and again as well. I have heard from a few sources the phrase Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? to replace What the F-bomb? and have also been incorporating that.
So really, it comes down to just getting better about actually thinking about what I say before I actually say it. Really, that's good advice for anyone. It has the added bonus that sometimes just pausing to think takes all of the heat of the moment and the desire to curse at all goes away (sometimes). Honestly, the words themselves are only of marginal importance, because it is the intent behind them that really matters. I know this. But it is nicer for the people around you if you don't walk around muttering obscenities where they can hear (or at least that they can understand).
There are those, I am sure, who feel that because it is the intent that matters, even the replacements are bad and I should strive to not want to have or express those feelings at all. I can only say to those people that their souls are much purer than mine. Either that, or they run into far fewer idiots on a regular basis than those I seem to come across.
Hopefully I can remove the "real" swear words from my vocabulary so that when my daughter does start picking up those phrases, at least she won't get them from me. Also, this way, if she does go around repeating what I say, hopefully the other authority figures won't catch on to what she is saying, or will be amused enough to let it slide.
Also, you know, there's the fact that I do plan to actually teach her about the function and appropriate use (or lack thereof) of such words, but still. Kids are kids, even the good ones. Just look at how I turned out...
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Discovering the Star Wars Expanded Universe
Alright, I don't know if I've actually mentioned this yet, but I absolutely LOVE Star Wars. I hear the sizzle of a light saber and my imagination just bolts off to a galaxy far far away. I can't help it. It is second only to Stargate in the realm of things Cori is a huge fangirl about.
Yes, Stargate still comes first. In fact, just so there's no question, let's go ahead and get Cori's space opera hierarchy on the record, shall we? First to last, it goes: Stargate, Star Wars, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica (the 21st century version), and Farscape. Okay, have we got that out of the way? Good. Now, back to Star Wars.
For the sake of clarity, when I say the Expanded Universe (or EU), I mean things that are considered officially Star Wars but not part of the main cannon, which for my purposes includes the original trilogy, the new trilogy, and Clone Wars (the movie and cartoon). So EU would be the official novels and comic books (of which there are a LOT), and video games. I think technically Lucas is only counting novels and comics as EU, but there is a ton of story in the video games (and many of them are getting novelization tie-ins anyway), so I consider those part of the Star Wars EU.
Now, I think it would be fair to say that I have always enjoyed Star Wars. It was always in the background when I was a kid, I was all about Ewoks, and USA used to always show the trilogy during holidays so I caught bits and pieces of it here and there. It wasn't until the summer before my sophomore year of high school though that I actually actively watched the entire original trilogy (which I actually did at a sleepover at a friends house--back to back--staying up to finish long after she had fallen asleep). When I was a senior in high school the theatrical re-release of the trilogy happened, and I got to go with my friends to see all of the movies on the big screen. Yes, they were the special editions, but I didn't know any better, so I'll have to admit that the changes Lucas made have never really annoyed me as much as they have all of the fans who came before me. (Though I will admit that once I was older and wiser I was very irritated that he tried to take back Han shooting first. That is truly just an insult to the character.)
The summer after my freshman year of college, The Phantom Menace came out. My sister (a year younger than me) had fallen in with a crowd of ultra geeky Star Wars fans (one of whom was the assistant manager at the local theater), and so they had camped out for opening day tickets (ah the days before online movie ticket sales) and they got me one too. And you know what, I really liked Phantom Menace. I went to see it at least five times that summer. (Admittedly, this was partly because I often got into movies for free that summer, and I saw a lot of things multiple times, but still.) Was it as good as any of the original films? Hell no. Does it hold up well under scrutiny eleven years later? Not really. Was it a lot of fun for a casual Star Wars fan who just wanted more of the story? Oh heck yeah. I also liked Attack of the Clones, which I went to see at opening with my best friend (and now husband) and our ultra-hard core Star Wars fan roommate. Sadly, I didn't get to see Revenge of the Sith when it opened (I liked Attack of the Clones but it was a bit of a let down and some of the fervor had died), but I did get to see it in theaters and am so glad I did. It is arguably the best of the new trilogy and damn it if isn't just a good movie. Still not quite up to par with the original trilogy, but I don't think anything ever can be because we've all placed it on a pedestal that is too high for mere mortal filmmakers to reach anymore.
Revenge of the Sith got my excitement for the franchise back up a bit, actually. It is what got me to start thinking about the EU. I thought maybe I might like to give some of the novels a try. But oh my goodness, where to start? Seriously, next time you're in a bookstore or goofing around on Amazon, check out the Star Wars books. There are a very very lot. My husband suggested the logical place to start would be with the three books by Timothy Zahn that essentially stand in for episodes seven, eight, and nine (The Thrawn Trilogy). Those would be, in order, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. So I read those books, and they were okay. I have to admit some of the writing really took me out of the universe. Zahn didn't quite have the world in his grasp--some things were just too close to Earth, and it felt a little like laziness on his part, given how rich this universe is, that he couldn't come up with something more Star Warsy than hot chocolate (if you've read them you probably know what I mean, if not, yes, Luke discovers that he loves hot chocolate in this series). But the story itself was pretty compelling and it was a nice continuation of the original trilogy. We got some closure and paths to whole new stories and adventures were opened up. We also got some perspective on the events of the original trilogy from characters that weren't in the spotlight in the movies. But still, I was sated. I thought I might like to read more but didn't have enough motivation to find out which series should be my next to pick up. At this point, I was still just a casual fan.
And then Clone Wars came out and everything changed. I knew I had to see the movie because it came out just a few days before my birthday, a birthday which my husband and I were celebrating with a trip to my hometown, hanging out with those same friends I saw the original trilogy in theaters with. So, on my birthday, my husband, my best friend from high school, and his daughter all went to see Clone Wars. I think I liked it best out of anyone in the group. It got my imagination going again. There was a lot of negative feedback for Ahsoka Tano--but even at her whiniest moment (and remember, she's a teenage girl and a padawan being tossed at a new master who isn't really a master himself yet, just a knight) she was nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE, near as whiny as Luke Skywalker in A New Hope. And she stepped up pretty darn quick. Plus, I thought the baby hutt was cute. Sue me.
But the point is, I was quickly falling more in love with the Star Wars universe than I ever had been before. I had dithered on getting the new trilogy on DVD but suddenly, I had to. My husband, who had been trying to get me to see the awesomeness of PC gaming (at this point I was strictly Gamecube, Wii, and PS2 games, and really only casually), was finally able to talk me into playing Knights of The Old Republic (which was totally my gateway drug into PC gaming and I really haven't looked back). In between KOTOR and the Clone Wars series, I was gone. Total fangirl. I wanted, no I needed, more. The joy I get from dipping my toes into the Star Wars universe takes me to a happy place surpassed only by Atlantis. And thus, I have begun my foray into the EU. On the video game front, I have played KOTOR and its slightly less entertaining sequel, as well as, of course the Lego Star Wars games for each of the trilogies. My copy of the Clone Wars Lego Star Wars game, coming out next month I think, is already on preorder. I've got quite a few console games (like The Force Unleashed) sitting in my Amazon wishlist waiting patiently for me to bring them home and give them a whirl. I just picked up Republic Commando and will be playing it as soon as I finish my current game. As far as comics go, I have been reading the online tie-ins to the upcoming MMO The Old Republic (set after the events of KOTOR), which I am eagerly awaiting. For my birthday I picked up the first volume of the Legacy series, set a few generations after The Return of the Jedi. I enjoyed that quite a bit, and will be picking up the rest of the series as my budget allows. There's also a new series of comics called Knight Errant about to come out that I've subscribed to.
And what about the insanely massive amount of EU books I mentioned earlier? Well, I've jumped back into those waters as well, with the Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss. I just finished the first book, Hard Contact, a few days ago and am currently working on book two, Triple Zero. In all honesty, everything that I've said so far was supposed to be a quick intro into my review of Hard Contact. But it is clear that I have more than a little to say about Star Wars and the EU. So we'll save my book review for tomorrow, and I'll wrap this up.
You may have heard that George Lucas has recently announced his plans to re-release both trilogies (in chronological order, which I think is just a terrible idea) in 3D (which is an even worse idea) over the coming years. This is getting him a lot of (well-deserved) flak. But the fallout is landing on Star Wars itself as well, and that makes me more than a little sad. Flick Filosopher, who I adore, asks in her question of the day why we keep letting Lucas make us his bitch. And instead of focusing on why we, the fans, time and time again give Lucas money in exchange for disappointment, the comments have mostly been just remarks on how the new trilogy sucked and no one will be seeing them in 3D, and they refuse to give any more money to Lucas. While I respect their right to these opinions, and the fact that they don't want to pay for what they perceive as crap, they are clearly in the minority--because Lucas doesn't keep messing with the original trilogy (and didn't get to make the new trilogy) because nobody went to see what he came up with. So I suppose my point in all of this is just to say that yeah, somebody needs to love Lucas enough to tell him "no" once in a while (and actually enforce that no), but just because he's gone off the deep end, we shouldn't forget that without him, we wouldn't have this wonderful sandbox that is the Star Wars Universe to play in at all. Right now, with the movies and the television show, along with all of the EU, Star Wars has something to offer pretty much any fan. I, for one, will remember to thank him for that at least, while hoping he eventually realizes he's a bit too big for the sandbox and maybe he should just let the other kids play in it now.
A few fun quick links for you folks:
Darths & Droids (A webcomic that retells the new trilogy as if it were a RPG campaign, using stills from the movies. It is hilarious.)
The Old Republic MMO (I seriously cannot wait for this game to come out--at which point my family and friends are probably going to need to just say goodbye to me for a while.)
Yes, Stargate still comes first. In fact, just so there's no question, let's go ahead and get Cori's space opera hierarchy on the record, shall we? First to last, it goes: Stargate, Star Wars, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica (the 21st century version), and Farscape. Okay, have we got that out of the way? Good. Now, back to Star Wars.
For the sake of clarity, when I say the Expanded Universe (or EU), I mean things that are considered officially Star Wars but not part of the main cannon, which for my purposes includes the original trilogy, the new trilogy, and Clone Wars (the movie and cartoon). So EU would be the official novels and comic books (of which there are a LOT), and video games. I think technically Lucas is only counting novels and comics as EU, but there is a ton of story in the video games (and many of them are getting novelization tie-ins anyway), so I consider those part of the Star Wars EU.
Now, I think it would be fair to say that I have always enjoyed Star Wars. It was always in the background when I was a kid, I was all about Ewoks, and USA used to always show the trilogy during holidays so I caught bits and pieces of it here and there. It wasn't until the summer before my sophomore year of high school though that I actually actively watched the entire original trilogy (which I actually did at a sleepover at a friends house--back to back--staying up to finish long after she had fallen asleep). When I was a senior in high school the theatrical re-release of the trilogy happened, and I got to go with my friends to see all of the movies on the big screen. Yes, they were the special editions, but I didn't know any better, so I'll have to admit that the changes Lucas made have never really annoyed me as much as they have all of the fans who came before me. (Though I will admit that once I was older and wiser I was very irritated that he tried to take back Han shooting first. That is truly just an insult to the character.)
The summer after my freshman year of college, The Phantom Menace came out. My sister (a year younger than me) had fallen in with a crowd of ultra geeky Star Wars fans (one of whom was the assistant manager at the local theater), and so they had camped out for opening day tickets (ah the days before online movie ticket sales) and they got me one too. And you know what, I really liked Phantom Menace. I went to see it at least five times that summer. (Admittedly, this was partly because I often got into movies for free that summer, and I saw a lot of things multiple times, but still.) Was it as good as any of the original films? Hell no. Does it hold up well under scrutiny eleven years later? Not really. Was it a lot of fun for a casual Star Wars fan who just wanted more of the story? Oh heck yeah. I also liked Attack of the Clones, which I went to see at opening with my best friend (and now husband) and our ultra-hard core Star Wars fan roommate. Sadly, I didn't get to see Revenge of the Sith when it opened (I liked Attack of the Clones but it was a bit of a let down and some of the fervor had died), but I did get to see it in theaters and am so glad I did. It is arguably the best of the new trilogy and damn it if isn't just a good movie. Still not quite up to par with the original trilogy, but I don't think anything ever can be because we've all placed it on a pedestal that is too high for mere mortal filmmakers to reach anymore.
Revenge of the Sith got my excitement for the franchise back up a bit, actually. It is what got me to start thinking about the EU. I thought maybe I might like to give some of the novels a try. But oh my goodness, where to start? Seriously, next time you're in a bookstore or goofing around on Amazon, check out the Star Wars books. There are a very very lot. My husband suggested the logical place to start would be with the three books by Timothy Zahn that essentially stand in for episodes seven, eight, and nine (The Thrawn Trilogy). Those would be, in order, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. So I read those books, and they were okay. I have to admit some of the writing really took me out of the universe. Zahn didn't quite have the world in his grasp--some things were just too close to Earth, and it felt a little like laziness on his part, given how rich this universe is, that he couldn't come up with something more Star Warsy than hot chocolate (if you've read them you probably know what I mean, if not, yes, Luke discovers that he loves hot chocolate in this series). But the story itself was pretty compelling and it was a nice continuation of the original trilogy. We got some closure and paths to whole new stories and adventures were opened up. We also got some perspective on the events of the original trilogy from characters that weren't in the spotlight in the movies. But still, I was sated. I thought I might like to read more but didn't have enough motivation to find out which series should be my next to pick up. At this point, I was still just a casual fan.
And then Clone Wars came out and everything changed. I knew I had to see the movie because it came out just a few days before my birthday, a birthday which my husband and I were celebrating with a trip to my hometown, hanging out with those same friends I saw the original trilogy in theaters with. So, on my birthday, my husband, my best friend from high school, and his daughter all went to see Clone Wars. I think I liked it best out of anyone in the group. It got my imagination going again. There was a lot of negative feedback for Ahsoka Tano--but even at her whiniest moment (and remember, she's a teenage girl and a padawan being tossed at a new master who isn't really a master himself yet, just a knight) she was nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE, near as whiny as Luke Skywalker in A New Hope. And she stepped up pretty darn quick. Plus, I thought the baby hutt was cute. Sue me.
But the point is, I was quickly falling more in love with the Star Wars universe than I ever had been before. I had dithered on getting the new trilogy on DVD but suddenly, I had to. My husband, who had been trying to get me to see the awesomeness of PC gaming (at this point I was strictly Gamecube, Wii, and PS2 games, and really only casually), was finally able to talk me into playing Knights of The Old Republic (which was totally my gateway drug into PC gaming and I really haven't looked back). In between KOTOR and the Clone Wars series, I was gone. Total fangirl. I wanted, no I needed, more. The joy I get from dipping my toes into the Star Wars universe takes me to a happy place surpassed only by Atlantis. And thus, I have begun my foray into the EU. On the video game front, I have played KOTOR and its slightly less entertaining sequel, as well as, of course the Lego Star Wars games for each of the trilogies. My copy of the Clone Wars Lego Star Wars game, coming out next month I think, is already on preorder. I've got quite a few console games (like The Force Unleashed) sitting in my Amazon wishlist waiting patiently for me to bring them home and give them a whirl. I just picked up Republic Commando and will be playing it as soon as I finish my current game. As far as comics go, I have been reading the online tie-ins to the upcoming MMO The Old Republic (set after the events of KOTOR), which I am eagerly awaiting. For my birthday I picked up the first volume of the Legacy series, set a few generations after The Return of the Jedi. I enjoyed that quite a bit, and will be picking up the rest of the series as my budget allows. There's also a new series of comics called Knight Errant about to come out that I've subscribed to.
And what about the insanely massive amount of EU books I mentioned earlier? Well, I've jumped back into those waters as well, with the Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss. I just finished the first book, Hard Contact, a few days ago and am currently working on book two, Triple Zero. In all honesty, everything that I've said so far was supposed to be a quick intro into my review of Hard Contact. But it is clear that I have more than a little to say about Star Wars and the EU. So we'll save my book review for tomorrow, and I'll wrap this up.
You may have heard that George Lucas has recently announced his plans to re-release both trilogies (in chronological order, which I think is just a terrible idea) in 3D (which is an even worse idea) over the coming years. This is getting him a lot of (well-deserved) flak. But the fallout is landing on Star Wars itself as well, and that makes me more than a little sad. Flick Filosopher, who I adore, asks in her question of the day why we keep letting Lucas make us his bitch. And instead of focusing on why we, the fans, time and time again give Lucas money in exchange for disappointment, the comments have mostly been just remarks on how the new trilogy sucked and no one will be seeing them in 3D, and they refuse to give any more money to Lucas. While I respect their right to these opinions, and the fact that they don't want to pay for what they perceive as crap, they are clearly in the minority--because Lucas doesn't keep messing with the original trilogy (and didn't get to make the new trilogy) because nobody went to see what he came up with. So I suppose my point in all of this is just to say that yeah, somebody needs to love Lucas enough to tell him "no" once in a while (and actually enforce that no), but just because he's gone off the deep end, we shouldn't forget that without him, we wouldn't have this wonderful sandbox that is the Star Wars Universe to play in at all. Right now, with the movies and the television show, along with all of the EU, Star Wars has something to offer pretty much any fan. I, for one, will remember to thank him for that at least, while hoping he eventually realizes he's a bit too big for the sandbox and maybe he should just let the other kids play in it now.
A few fun quick links for you folks:
Darths & Droids (A webcomic that retells the new trilogy as if it were a RPG campaign, using stills from the movies. It is hilarious.)
The Old Republic MMO (I seriously cannot wait for this game to come out--at which point my family and friends are probably going to need to just say goodbye to me for a while.)
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