Jan
Well-Known Member
yes, please. the wealth of material is just very hard to see through. high republic was easy to access because it just started as a new project and did not require any other reading before
STAR WARS! STAR WARS! STAR WARS
- Thread starter David A.
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DJSJ
Well-Known Member
Most Legends novels really don't require much prior reading before hand (though the more you put into it, the more you'll get out). Most everything connects, so you'll probably find a couple names that aren't fully referenced; but I just take a couple minutes, look up the name on wookiepedia and read about it a bit, and then see the "appearances" section for all the other times this person/thing is mentioned. Hell, I still have to do this for High Republic.
The post Return of the Jedi story is the most complicated part of Legends, and the one part that really does require a reading order. While it's a bit of a ordeal I find it greatly rewarding. The 19 part novel series "New Jedi Order", which details the Yuuzhan Vong war, is absolute peak Star Wars in my eyes, on par with the classic films. Jaina Solo is and always will be my favorite character.
But other than post ROTJ, most of the novels are mostly standalone (with the exception of series like Republic Commando ofc). You can really just pick an era or character that interests you, and theres bound to be some books that interest you. The comics (published by Dark Horse but now owned by Marvel, and readily available on Marvel Unlimited) are INCREDIBLE and not to be missed. Some of my favorite series include Knights of the Old Republic, Tales of the Jedi, Dark Times (detailing the transition from the Republic to the Empire) and Legacy (an absolute bonkers series set 140 years after the original trilogy).
It is vast; that'll happen when you have an EU running wild for 20 years. If you have a specific era or character in mind I can give you some more specific recommendations.
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avecigrec
Well-Known Member
I've read the first 19 issues of this (Epic Collection vol. 1 equivalent). I was drawn to it because it's written by John Ostrander who wrote a lot of my favourite DC Comics stuff growing up (Manhunter, Suicide Squad) - I was kinda resistant for the first couple of issues, but I let that go fairly soon after and really enjoyed what I read so far. Gonna have to get back to it once I clear my library backlog.
DJSJ
Well-Known Member
Ostrander is the man. Love all that DC stuff (The Spectre!) and his Star Wars material has that same dark introspection aspect that's so emblematic of his work. He wrote a good chunk of the "Republic" series (the flagship prequel era series coming out at the same time as the films), and is a large reason that run is so highly regarded, even managing to get some of his ideas into the new canon (see: Dark Disciple).
Legacy is so different than everything else, it's like being dropped into post-apocalyptic Star Wars. At first it's kind of jarring: how did we get from The New Republic, to a galaxy with 3 equal ruling factions (one of which is an Imperial remnant?); then the more you read Post-ROTJ things start to fall into place and it starts to make sense. It connects a ton to past work too; one major character in the series is revealed to be a relatively minor character that Ostrander introduced waaaay earlier in the Republic series, and was subsequently included in a bunch of novels. Ah man it's so rewarding.
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dbarila
Well-Known Member
I was actually thinking that this was the most "Star Wars" feeling episode of any TV series yet. Kind of weird that the episode that felt the best to me so far only had Ahsoka in it for the first 2 minutes? I kind of wish this is how the series started instead of being the 3rd to last episode.
wokeupnew
Well-Known Member
I watched this video today on my lunch break and it did a great job of explaining so much of this show that I have no clue about. I still don't quite know things but I know more than I did before today.
When I first started watching I wondered why the series was called Ahsoka because it didn't feel like she's the main character of the show. It still kind of doesn't. They probably could have called it something else to get more people to watch it as well.
dbarila
Well-Known Member
Rebels?
mdmost
Well-Known Member
They aren't really Rebels anymore. And, groan, they'll be the Resistance eventually. Ahsoka is more marketable than Sabine and Ezra. Clone Wars was much more influential than Rebels.
imtheocean
Well-Known Member
I started watching Rebels on the strength of Ahsoka, and am really enjoying it. I couldn't get more than a few episodes into Clone Wars, but I suppose I should watch the essential episodes.
mdmost
Well-Known Member
I was the same. I've only watched the final season of Clone Wars and that was more because of enjoying the Ahsoka parts from Rebels. Rebels feels so much more like the original trilogy. Plus, you didn't have characters where you automatically knew their fate like in Clone Wars, outside of some guest appearances. It was a cool window into how bleak things have gotten.
Jan
Well-Known Member
Being sick the last days npmadd me binge through highlights from essentials more easily.
What I liked really well is the Characterization of the ghosts Crew, their stories and interactions. That's where rebels shines for me. I also like thrawn as a villain and him bringing some tactical manouvering to the battle that was completely missing from clone wars. There were some cool Story arcs with mauls return and end and ahsokas confrontation with vader. The backs and forths with thrawn in season 3 with the counter spionage thing was well done. Also the mandalore plot gave some background iwish i had before watching mando.I know it's supposed to rather be a kids show but overall the writing was not good. The empire seems to have a major human recourse problem because except thrawn everyone else running a command is utterly incompetent. Also after season 2 the writers obviously had no ideas what to do with vader and the inquisitors so they just never appear again which is even more surprising given the turn season 4 takes.
This might be a hot take given some internet reviews I just skimmed through but I hated season 4 ( beginning with the strange bendu storyline in seaon 3). The whole thing with spirit animals, force sensitive wolves traveling through the planet, time traveling jedi temples was too much on the mystery side for me. The main character death came as no surprise because it was so obvious in the episodebecause everyone was having his big farewell moment with him in the episode. And his death was completely forced with the empire working completely against their own interest in this case.
And again, the empire tries to uncover this big time traveling jedi temple that is connected to he mortis legend and the empire does not have vader who was at mortis nor his inquisitors close while the two jedis that made most trouble for the empire at yhat time were known to be around regularly. So, yes, Sorry but season 4 was not good, so I'm alittle afraid going into ahsoka if that's really season 5 of rebels
This might be a hot take given some internet reviews I just skimmed through but I hated season 4 ( beginning with the strange bendu storyline in seaon 3). The whole thing with spirit animals, force sensitive wolves traveling through the planet, time traveling jedi temples was too much on the mystery side for me. The main character death came as no surprise because it was so obvious in the episodebecause everyone was having his big farewell moment with him in the episode. And his death was completely forced with the empire working completely against their own interest in this case.
And again, the empire tries to uncover this big time traveling jedi temple that is connected to he mortis legend and the empire does not have vader who was at mortis nor his inquisitors close while the two jedis that made most trouble for the empire at yhat time were known to be around regularly. So, yes, Sorry but season 4 was not good, so I'm alittle afraid going into ahsoka if that's really season 5 of rebels
DJSJ
Well-Known Member
Yeah I'd have to agree with you there
I have pretty similar sentiments regarding Rebels. The best part (other than small scenes like the last one I posted) is the interactions between the Ghost crew. They made a good decision in starting small, working on characterization and depth, before adding in more pieces of the galaxy as a whole. I liked the episodes with Saw Guerera, where it ties into Rogue One and starts to make the formation of the Rebel alliance in Canon make sense.
But theres a lot more I don't like. You see what I meant when I said this was more "made for kids" than TCW. There's a feeling of less logic to characters actions, and a lack of depth beyond "Hey, we need to do this thing so we're gonna go to this place and do it!". It was on Disney XD after all. This was also Filoni's first project after the canon reset, where he could really start doing anything he wanted, and it shows.All the force sensitive animals, space whales that can travel to diffrent galaxies, time travelling temples etc. The whole Ahsoka/world between worlds thing really pissed me off, because here you have Filoni putting time travel into star wars, not for a grand story, but so he can reach in and grab his Mary-Sue character out of a guaranteed death situation. The amount of leeway Filoni's favorite characters get is exhausting, I don't know if you saw the episodes where Rex and Wolf somehow got their inhibitor chips out, didn't kill any jedi (they're still the good guys!) and are now still somehow in fighting shape even though they should be old, decrepit men due to the excellerated aging.
Thrawn is the best and worst parts of the show. The level of strategy he brings he is MUCH needed, but it's such a sad bastardization of the character it kind of falls flat. In the Heir to the Empire novels, Thrawn is a master strategist who almost singlehandedly brings the New Republic to his knees. As you get further into the books his plans start to come into fruition and you get "holy shit" moments as it all comes together, really making him feel like the master strategist he is. In Rebels, he's chasing around a ship full of mostly teenagers, getting outsmarted week after week, only for him to go back to his seemingly endless drawingboard and come up with a plan for next week. Makes him feel like a cartoon (pun not intended).
But theres a lot more I don't like. You see what I meant when I said this was more "made for kids" than TCW. There's a feeling of less logic to characters actions, and a lack of depth beyond "Hey, we need to do this thing so we're gonna go to this place and do it!". It was on Disney XD after all. This was also Filoni's first project after the canon reset, where he could really start doing anything he wanted, and it shows.All the force sensitive animals, space whales that can travel to diffrent galaxies, time travelling temples etc. The whole Ahsoka/world between worlds thing really pissed me off, because here you have Filoni putting time travel into star wars, not for a grand story, but so he can reach in and grab his Mary-Sue character out of a guaranteed death situation. The amount of leeway Filoni's favorite characters get is exhausting, I don't know if you saw the episodes where Rex and Wolf somehow got their inhibitor chips out, didn't kill any jedi (they're still the good guys!) and are now still somehow in fighting shape even though they should be old, decrepit men due to the excellerated aging.
Thrawn is the best and worst parts of the show. The level of strategy he brings he is MUCH needed, but it's such a sad bastardization of the character it kind of falls flat. In the Heir to the Empire novels, Thrawn is a master strategist who almost singlehandedly brings the New Republic to his knees. As you get further into the books his plans start to come into fruition and you get "holy shit" moments as it all comes together, really making him feel like the master strategist he is. In Rebels, he's chasing around a ship full of mostly teenagers, getting outsmarted week after week, only for him to go back to his seemingly endless drawingboard and come up with a plan for next week. Makes him feel like a cartoon (pun not intended).
Jan
Well-Known Member
The character hat m e interested in the thrawn novels. I did not have the feeling of him getting outsmarted that much but having his plans being foiled buy the other commanders being completely incompetent.
I liked how they presented Saw guerera. The effects of the clone wars was visible on him.
I like ahsoka tano as a character as well, but it would have been so much easier to write her back to life. They did better jobs with maul and even boba. I still don'tknow what the age of the audience is suposed to be because it would surely be to violent for my 7yo and probablymy 9yo, too
I liked how they presented Saw guerera. The effects of the clone wars was visible on him.
I like ahsoka tano as a character as well, but it would have been so much easier to write her back to life. They did better jobs with maul and even boba. I still don'tknow what the age of the audience is suposed to be because it would surely be to violent for my 7yo and probablymy 9yo, too
DJSJ
Well-Known Member
If you ever want to read Legends Thrawn, the "Heir to the Empire" trilogy is the place to start. Along with the Dark Empire comics, it's what really kickstarted the EU, and is probably the single most important piece of non-film Star Wars media. It just lays the groundwork for everything that came afterward.
The Canon Thrawn novels are also pretty great. They'd already decided they were gonna bring him into Canon at this point (through Rebels), and they offered the original author, Timothy Zahn, the chance to author new books about the character. Since then he's cranked out 6 books about the character, and they all are generally regarded as some of the best novels of the new canon. Zahn writes them so that they fit into Legends continuity as much as possible, and in doing so really makes it so everyone, of all levels of EU knowledge, can enjoy reading them.
dbarila
Well-Known Member
It's fun to see the Rebels characters in live action but for Ahsoka the villains are definitely a lot more interesting in this series. I want to know more about what's happening with Baylon and Thrawn than I do Ahsoka and Sabine. (I'll take more storylines with those rock turtle creatures though!)
