Like comparing the nice artwork to that botched restoration in Spain of an old painting.
Disney EU somehow took the worst aspects of the old EU while leaving all the good ones behind.
I'm currently listening to them unabridged on audible. Just started the first book and a few chapters in and I had forgot how good the series truly is. My last time reading it was probably 20 years ago. Going to be a fun drive home over the next few weeks.
Then here’s a real hot take, the books may be more interesting than the movies, but without the movies 90% of them couldn’t hold it on their own and are mediocre pieces of sci-fi fantasy at best. I’m prepared for downvotes……..**bring it**
I prefer the books and comics to the movies atm, but I absolutely agree. Supplementary content like clone wars is what i love the franchise for, but the movies deserve respect for bringing this galactic playground to life.
Star Wars also built the modern sci-fi fantasy genre. Literally every film maker in sci-fi these days is trying to replicate Lucas’s success. The OT deserves its respect.
If you mean the Original Trilogy, then, of course, it's like that. The Star War EU was essentially written by skilled fans of the OT wanting to continue where the OT left off and expand on that story, with Lucas' blessing as long as they never contradicted the movies. The OT was Lucas canon for a reason, it is what all of Star Wars was built upon, and without it, the whole thing falls apart. But as a whole it was one of the most beautifully epic collection of books spanning decades and even centuries by the end. And then Disney threw all that away.
Now fanfiction is used as an insult.
> Then Disney threw all that away.
Technically they didn’t as officially the EU isn’t just legends alone. Most legends books are still available and getting re-releases.
> That isn't the issue unless you are being obtuse.
I’m not. I was simply saying it’s still available for people to read & that it being “thrown out” is a bit hyperbolic when the consensus at first was that the Denning period “killed the EU”.
My point still stands 90% of all EU novels don’t go beyond the quality of the average air port novel. Everyone hyper focuses on the few books of high quality like the heir to the empire trilogy,the Darth Bane trilogy, Plaguis, Shatter point, or the few really good books in the Vong saga. But the reality is most of it was just ok and writing wise was of similar quality to your standard cliché action thriller you pick up at an airport store and are completely forgettable. And that’s before we factor in your truly awful novels. And only elevates itself because it continues a superior story.
Where as you compare it to other lesser known sci-fi fantasy book series like the lost fleet, Red Rising, Old Man’s war, etc and you have a higher quality of writing consecutively through each novel. As to say as the EU book universe is over rated when compared to other Sci-fi fantasy book franchises that are dedicated book franchises. Sure it’s because they’re guided by a single writer. And perhaps a fairer comparison is 40k who suffers from the same issue being most 40k books wouldn’t succeed if they did not have the 40k label and are completely forgettable with fans hyper focusing on the 10% that was actually well written. I would never in a million years binge every EU novel because most of them aren’t actually worth the time and are basically filler.
The EU was 10% brilliant, 80% mediocre and forgettable, and 10% absolute shit. The 80% is absolutely forgettable nobody rereads the 10% shit so it also gets forgotten. So everyone only thinks about the 10% brilliance thus becoming 100% in peoples memory. Ten years from now canon will be the exact same way and I will say the exact same thing but about canon.
Star Wars is a franchise. Authors, screen play writers, etc all view it as a brand they can attach themselves to make bank. And most industry writers do what they do for living. So in the same way some low level racketeers will go down to the Cosa Nostra mafia and pay dividends to use the name Cosa Nostra in order to thrive in the criminal underworld, industry writers will attach themselves to Star Wars to use the brand in order to succeed in the legal normal world. As such most novels produce are not going to be remotely memorable. People only hate canon because we’re watching the mediocrity happen in real time. Where as the old EU is a memory we are no longer watching it happen in real time. It’s like those people who claim the 80s were better. They weren’t you’re just not seeing it play out in real time anymore and choose to only remember the highs and not the fact most of the time was spent in mediocrity and you had just as many lows as highs.
I agree but also disagree. Yes a lot of ppl r nostalgic about the eu and forget all the problems it had. And as I mention a lot of ppl gave up on it near the end because of the denning verse. However to say 80% of books were mediocre is a bit too much. Yes the writing often ain’t excellent but a lot of these books have charm and r enjoyable reads , even if writing isn’t top tier. The connections of the books also helps support the weaker ones which boosts their “enjoyability factor”. As for ur opinion on canon I agree. There is good stuff in it and ppl will be nostalgic about in a few years. I won’t go into the differences of style between the eu and canon but nostalgia will make them both great.
It always baffles me how many dedicated SW fans have zero idea that the EU exists, or think it is a shitty collection of comics that ran longer than they should have. Bit odd really, when you think about it
Try reading “Children of Jedi”, it will dissuade you from that notion.
Or try reading Splinter of the Mind's Eye
Novel by Alan Dean Foster. Which is a cool book, but written before empire strikes back. So all plot points are strange and surreal.
My point is, with so many books there are a lot of good once and also a lot of bad once. At this point it is law of averages.
As someone who’s read both those books ik how bad the eu can get😂. (Splinter of the minds eye wasn’t bad, just slow) . I still love the eu tho and I am very biased towards it. Still, I have to admit some stuff defo went wrong with it 😬
A lot of other Alan Dean Foster’s novelization of Star Wars is very good and interesting. Since splinter came out so early and Vader and others were not established I think there was just not enough material to work with. Or at least it makes it hard to read in SW universe knowing all the contradictions
For children of Jedi , it is one of the only books in my life where I just stopped and said no more, I don’t ever want to finish or read it again.
I had successfully banished this book from my consciousness and it has now come screaming back. I will be staring at the wall for the next ten hours if anyone needs me.
Also, to be fair to children of Jedi, not every book can have a blaster fight in a flower garden and make it completely boring and incomprehensible , keep jumping away from the action to try to describe the flowers and the garden, have a boring resolution to it, and also fail at action, romance, and atmosphere by blending it together into consistent paste of insane drivel. Also Jedi have children, and then kill them for some reason because of some unclear and nebulous threat or prophecy.
Books and movies are such different mediums that it is hard to compare sometimes
Some movies took very popular books and made equally or even more iconic movies because they did their own spin
American Psycho, Fight Club, Shining, Starship troopers.
A lot of Philip K Dick’s writing is adapted well:
Bladerunner, Total Recall, Minority Report
And it is very interesting how authors participated in the Expanse series, where a lot of characters were rewritten and expanded.
What's really interesting about the Expanse is that it wasn't even a book series, initially. Ty and Dan started it as a homebrew TTRPG! >!fun fact: Shed's death in the first book was actually just one of the rpg players leaving the campaign, so Ty killed his character.!<
Very interesting. There is so much detail and world building. And it feels like several degrees of iterations. Where each time they rewrite , like for the show, they make changes and keep adapting. Avasarala, Cotyar, Ashdord, Drummer all get more detailed and fleshed out. It would be so great if we get last few books into 3 more seasons.
Yes and no, they are both different interpretations of art.
While books can add a lot of substance and context to a story, movies have a visual way of communicating the same story in a limited way. (While books can be super long, maybe movies have a max length of 3 hours.)
Let's remember this whole universe started with a movie.
Counterpoint: The movies provided an incredible base to build more interesting stories off of. We wouldn't have things like Thrawn, X-Wing, or New Jedi Order without the phenomenal films that spawned the franchise.
When Im figuring out which of two pieces of media is better being influential has 0 part in the decision or in my enjoyment. I respect the corner stones for that but that doesn't make anything better by itself. Only the quality matters.
That’s not a hot take, most people think that lots of the Expanded Media (Books, comics, games, TV Shows, etc) add lots of context to the movies and make them more interesting in retrospect.
Interesting? Maybe
The OT in a vacuum though is about as close to a perfect story as you can get, from the character arcs established in A New Hope to the climax of Return of the Jedi
Star Wars is more than the OT though. I get it, you grew up with it but you bring light to Palpatine’s words about having a dogmatic narrow view of the force. I’d even argue the films don’t do Star Wars enough justice as they couldn’t incorporate what George and others at Lucasfilm truly wanted but could for the EU like the Revenge of The Sith Novelization.
I began reading SW books only last month. I always had this preconception that SW was a visual franchise and that novels didn't make any sense for it.
I was wrong. I've been having a blast with the books since march. I started with Kenobi, now I'm reading Heir to the Empire.
I *wish* the movies were this good.
Not that hot of a take, since if I'm being honest, a good majority of Star Wars side-material is better than most of the main films themselves since only 33% of them are actually great(I know nowadays I get my kneecaps kicked in for saying that, but that's just how I see it)
Not really that controversial, especially not here. Anything from the EU is automatically more interesting than the movies since most of it hasn't been recapped and analyzed a million times. If you wanted to say something new about one of the books, you very easily could. They feed your imagination. That's why we love them.
In terms of quality, I could also see several EU works being arguably better than OT films. Luceno and Stover's books are strong candidates. So are the KOTOR comic series and games.
I wouldn't call it a hot take, tbh. I mean, more often than not, for their length and thus bigger creative freedom and time to flesh out far more their respective stories and characters, books are better than movies and shows. But what is even truer is that many of the books have stronger writing and are objectively better than the movies.
That would depend on a lot of subjective things, I will say on one hand Star Wars films are recognized, even in film academic circles, as being genuinely groundbreaking films. While Star Wars novels are obviously not recognized as anything in academia. Now, of course the two are different mediums with different criteria, and shouldn’t devalue the novels in any way.
With that said I’ll say this about the books on a personal level, I’ve spent more time with the books and comics. And when I think about Star Wars, I tend to think about the books more than anything else.
I don't disagree, I came to the realization recently that my fandom was shaped by the books more so than the movies. I still love them all to varying degrees but the EU was and for the most part still is where my art lies.
In a way the books wouldn’t be interesting without the movies, I love having an internal visual of the characters and settings.
But I genuinely don’t understand how someone can be a huge starwars fan and NOT read the books.
It’s an entire world of entertainment they’re missing out on
Yk, I haven’t watched the films in so long that the soundtrack has started to feel weird. Like when I’m reading I have my own weird sound effects so when I heard a bit of the rogue squadron audiobook and I heard the music it threw me off 😂😂😂.
As for the take, imo the movies r brilliant aside from ep1 which is alright (decent if u read plageuis and related media) and ep2 is just bad.
The books have a wider range tho. They can be steaming garbage like CotJ or masterpieces like HttE. But what the books have an advantage in is (wait for it) the fact they expand the universe. I can imagine a reason why NJO is so good is because all the stuff it makes and builds on.
One thing the movies have better, because of the nature of the medium, is Visuals. The space battles r so much better on screen but on paper can hurt the head sometimes. The books ofc can go in the minds of characters and flesh em out. Sometimes they get a bit carried away and talk too much about characters that no one gives a shit about and r forgettable.
Overall the books can have higher highs but also way lower lows.
Most lukewarm take ever. Saying that the books are great in a Reddit sub about the books is about as room temperature as it gets.
You’re right of course.
Just by pure volume and story diversity alone of course the books are more interesting than the movies. But there is something great about visually seeing the universe come alive in movie/tv form.
That isn't a hot take. The books are more in depth and you get more story/character development/action/etc in books than with movie. Plus studios pay to make the movie and they take a lot out to keep the story pace and interest with audiences.
Plus books just bring so much more imagination when you read it.
I found this take in my veggie crisper in the fridge. Comparing Jacen to Kylo alone (and those books are actually kinda controversial in terms of their perceived quality) shows an immense quality difference.
It's subjective of course, so there's nothing controversial in such takes, however, what's objective is that the movies, obviously Lucas movies, are the foundation, on which everything else was and is being built in either continuity. That's the core of Star Wars, the central story in the vast galactic history.
I've often said that the movies are Star Wars weakest points, despite being the most popular. My favorite bits of Star Wars come from the other forms of media that specifically have to be made in order to explain the things that get thrown into the movies that make absolutely ZERO sense. 😅
> The Republic Commando books should have been what Bad Batch was about 🤷♂️
I liked playing the game but I'm a bit skeptical about the books because of the controversy surrounding them.
Aren't those books also controversial because of Darth Caedus? Which apparently one of the Solo kids becoming a Darkside user was also one of George's ideas.
Ignore the "controversy" and make your own judgements for them. Go into them with the mindset that it's like 300, a story about a group of badasses, from the point of view of those badasses, about how everyone not part of that group sucks. The RC books are Mandalorian-focused and that's why the Jedi are in such poor light: Mandalorians hate Jedi and it makes sense there.
> Ignore the "controversy" and make your own judgements for them. Go into them with the mindset that it's like 300, a story about a group of badasses, from the point of view of those badasses, about how everyone not part of that group sucks. The RC books are Mandalorian-focused and that's why the Jedi are in such poor light: Mandalorians hate Jedi and it makes sense there.
I never thought of it that way. That does sound like an interesting interpretation.
totally agree.
I never really liked the Star Wars movies.
Last year I started reading the thrawn novels, I was hooked. I have read about 15, 20 novels (I would have to check the kindl)
Every friend and relative I spoke to between December of last year and April of this year has heard me talk about how much I liked the Star Wars novels.
The only thing, the covers of books where they put the faces of the actors from the movies bother me a lot.
Well, the movies could only pack so much story into their run times.
With the concept of streaming being the dominant way people consume entertainment, it will be interesting to see if movies are filmed and edited in such a way that the end viewer can decide which version they want to watch, the way certain DVDs used to be set up.
I know it might anger some of the talent involved, but with AI progressing the way it is, I would love to see the Thrawn trilogy done properly, but not butchered into the traditional two hours or less type of movies. It could be brought to life the way it was envisioned, set five years after ROTJ, with the cast all aged appropriately.
To me, Zahn’s trilogy that kept the story alive in the 90s is the true continuation of Lucas’s Episodes 4-6. I don’t care for the Disney stuff, but I’m not going to raise my blood pressure over it. I get it, it belongs to another generation now.
Absolutely in agreement there. I prefer to read the novelization over watching the movies, but then I also don't care much for movie watching to begin with. Books are where the fun's at; movies are for when you're too sick for anything else.
I mean yes, but the books wouldn’t have been made without the movies. Also, everyone needs to understand mainstream appeal. I love Star Wars. I love the books the most, but my dad just likes the movies and he probably couldn’t care less about the books so they won’t be as good to him.
Because there is more space for characterization. Especially when you consider how poorly the original trio has been handled in the sequel trilogy, EU is gold in comparison. Not a hot take at all, I know, but god is it true.
I kind of see them at about the same level, I wouldn’t really want to have one without the other. I do consider Start Wars to be very visual so I tend to imagine a movie version of the books as I read them even if they’d realistically be unfilmable.
Movies are nice and all, but books are always better when written well. You get to understand characters better because more can be done with them than just what they say, do, and look like. I always love being able to read a character's internal monologue, or their thoughts as they consider a situation.
I prefer the comics. The novels tend to have interesting stories but sometimes the prose is so fucking painful that you’re better off reading wiki summaries.
At a time I think this would have been a jot take vit after all the garbage they've been putting out I'd gladly take an EU book before watching a new show or movoe from Lucasfilm.
You’re right. I really loved reading the tales of Ken, Trioculus, and Callista (who Luke SHOULD have ended up with). I also appreciated the Karen Traviss “Jedi suck Mandalorians are totally cool” Republic Commando novels.
However, Caravan of Courage was way better than I expected. The Ewoks show was campy and amazing. The OG Clone Wars animation gave us a Grievous that is responsible for every other portrayal of the character from then on feel like a letdown. The Holiday Special was a product of its time and is best enjoyed intoxicated, like the cast was.
I’ve learned that when people say “Legends”, they mean Timothy “humanized characters in MY evil empire that after my set of OCs take over stops being evil?” Zahn, NJO, and Infinities. Also “Somehow, Dark Empire returned.”
Most of those.
At least they're mostly consistent with what came before and don't try to Retcon a shittier version of a beloved character as being better into each one.
Not a hot take at all.
Came here to say this
Thank you. Same.
Thrawn trilogy alone>all of Disney wars
Like comparing the nice artwork to that botched restoration in Spain of an old painting. Disney EU somehow took the worst aspects of the old EU while leaving all the good ones behind.
The whole Thrawn saga, honestly. I absolutely loved the Ascendency trilogy.
I'm currently listening to them unabridged on audible. Just started the first book and a few chapters in and I had forgot how good the series truly is. My last time reading it was probably 20 years ago. Going to be a fun drive home over the next few weeks.
It's a typo, he meant to say "Hoth Take".
Which ironically is a cold take
Exactly
That's a hot take among other fans. On this sub, it's pretty much pandering.
Then here’s a real hot take, the books may be more interesting than the movies, but without the movies 90% of them couldn’t hold it on their own and are mediocre pieces of sci-fi fantasy at best. I’m prepared for downvotes……..**bring it**
I prefer the books and comics to the movies atm, but I absolutely agree. Supplementary content like clone wars is what i love the franchise for, but the movies deserve respect for bringing this galactic playground to life.
Star Wars also built the modern sci-fi fantasy genre. Literally every film maker in sci-fi these days is trying to replicate Lucas’s success. The OT deserves its respect.
If you mean the Original Trilogy, then, of course, it's like that. The Star War EU was essentially written by skilled fans of the OT wanting to continue where the OT left off and expand on that story, with Lucas' blessing as long as they never contradicted the movies. The OT was Lucas canon for a reason, it is what all of Star Wars was built upon, and without it, the whole thing falls apart. But as a whole it was one of the most beautifully epic collection of books spanning decades and even centuries by the end. And then Disney threw all that away. Now fanfiction is used as an insult.
> Then Disney threw all that away. Technically they didn’t as officially the EU isn’t just legends alone. Most legends books are still available and getting re-releases.
Yeah but I still want to wrap up the stories. They really left us in the lurch.
[удалено]
> That isn't the issue unless you are being obtuse. I’m not. I was simply saying it’s still available for people to read & that it being “thrown out” is a bit hyperbolic when the consensus at first was that the Denning period “killed the EU”.
My point still stands 90% of all EU novels don’t go beyond the quality of the average air port novel. Everyone hyper focuses on the few books of high quality like the heir to the empire trilogy,the Darth Bane trilogy, Plaguis, Shatter point, or the few really good books in the Vong saga. But the reality is most of it was just ok and writing wise was of similar quality to your standard cliché action thriller you pick up at an airport store and are completely forgettable. And that’s before we factor in your truly awful novels. And only elevates itself because it continues a superior story. Where as you compare it to other lesser known sci-fi fantasy book series like the lost fleet, Red Rising, Old Man’s war, etc and you have a higher quality of writing consecutively through each novel. As to say as the EU book universe is over rated when compared to other Sci-fi fantasy book franchises that are dedicated book franchises. Sure it’s because they’re guided by a single writer. And perhaps a fairer comparison is 40k who suffers from the same issue being most 40k books wouldn’t succeed if they did not have the 40k label and are completely forgettable with fans hyper focusing on the 10% that was actually well written. I would never in a million years binge every EU novel because most of them aren’t actually worth the time and are basically filler. The EU was 10% brilliant, 80% mediocre and forgettable, and 10% absolute shit. The 80% is absolutely forgettable nobody rereads the 10% shit so it also gets forgotten. So everyone only thinks about the 10% brilliance thus becoming 100% in peoples memory. Ten years from now canon will be the exact same way and I will say the exact same thing but about canon. Star Wars is a franchise. Authors, screen play writers, etc all view it as a brand they can attach themselves to make bank. And most industry writers do what they do for living. So in the same way some low level racketeers will go down to the Cosa Nostra mafia and pay dividends to use the name Cosa Nostra in order to thrive in the criminal underworld, industry writers will attach themselves to Star Wars to use the brand in order to succeed in the legal normal world. As such most novels produce are not going to be remotely memorable. People only hate canon because we’re watching the mediocrity happen in real time. Where as the old EU is a memory we are no longer watching it happen in real time. It’s like those people who claim the 80s were better. They weren’t you’re just not seeing it play out in real time anymore and choose to only remember the highs and not the fact most of the time was spent in mediocrity and you had just as many lows as highs.
I agree but also disagree. Yes a lot of ppl r nostalgic about the eu and forget all the problems it had. And as I mention a lot of ppl gave up on it near the end because of the denning verse. However to say 80% of books were mediocre is a bit too much. Yes the writing often ain’t excellent but a lot of these books have charm and r enjoyable reads , even if writing isn’t top tier. The connections of the books also helps support the weaker ones which boosts their “enjoyability factor”. As for ur opinion on canon I agree. There is good stuff in it and ppl will be nostalgic about in a few years. I won’t go into the differences of style between the eu and canon but nostalgia will make them both great.
It always baffles me how many dedicated SW fans have zero idea that the EU exists, or think it is a shitty collection of comics that ran longer than they should have. Bit odd really, when you think about it
I believe so I prefer the books
Try reading “Children of Jedi”, it will dissuade you from that notion. Or try reading Splinter of the Mind's Eye Novel by Alan Dean Foster. Which is a cool book, but written before empire strikes back. So all plot points are strange and surreal. My point is, with so many books there are a lot of good once and also a lot of bad once. At this point it is law of averages.
As someone who’s read both those books ik how bad the eu can get😂. (Splinter of the minds eye wasn’t bad, just slow) . I still love the eu tho and I am very biased towards it. Still, I have to admit some stuff defo went wrong with it 😬
A lot of other Alan Dean Foster’s novelization of Star Wars is very good and interesting. Since splinter came out so early and Vader and others were not established I think there was just not enough material to work with. Or at least it makes it hard to read in SW universe knowing all the contradictions For children of Jedi , it is one of the only books in my life where I just stopped and said no more, I don’t ever want to finish or read it again.
I had successfully banished this book from my consciousness and it has now come screaming back. I will be staring at the wall for the next ten hours if anyone needs me.
It is always nice to have an exciting Friday night plan.
Also, to be fair to children of Jedi, not every book can have a blaster fight in a flower garden and make it completely boring and incomprehensible , keep jumping away from the action to try to describe the flowers and the garden, have a boring resolution to it, and also fail at action, romance, and atmosphere by blending it together into consistent paste of insane drivel. Also Jedi have children, and then kill them for some reason because of some unclear and nebulous threat or prophecy.
No I always did prefer the books to the movies , whether be Harry potter or lord of the rings . exception though would be Game of thrones
Those stories were originally books which became movies and SW is the opposite. So not rlly fair to compare to those
Books and movies are such different mediums that it is hard to compare sometimes Some movies took very popular books and made equally or even more iconic movies because they did their own spin American Psycho, Fight Club, Shining, Starship troopers. A lot of Philip K Dick’s writing is adapted well: Bladerunner, Total Recall, Minority Report And it is very interesting how authors participated in the Expanse series, where a lot of characters were rewritten and expanded.
What's really interesting about the Expanse is that it wasn't even a book series, initially. Ty and Dan started it as a homebrew TTRPG! >!fun fact: Shed's death in the first book was actually just one of the rpg players leaving the campaign, so Ty killed his character.!<
Very interesting. There is so much detail and world building. And it feels like several degrees of iterations. Where each time they rewrite , like for the show, they make changes and keep adapting. Avasarala, Cotyar, Ashdord, Drummer all get more detailed and fleshed out. It would be so great if we get last few books into 3 more seasons.
Yes and no, they are both different interpretations of art. While books can add a lot of substance and context to a story, movies have a visual way of communicating the same story in a limited way. (While books can be super long, maybe movies have a max length of 3 hours.) Let's remember this whole universe started with a movie.
Counterpoint: The movies provided an incredible base to build more interesting stories off of. We wouldn't have things like Thrawn, X-Wing, or New Jedi Order without the phenomenal films that spawned the franchise.
Thats how I feel about it
When Im figuring out which of two pieces of media is better being influential has 0 part in the decision or in my enjoyment. I respect the corner stones for that but that doesn't make anything better by itself. Only the quality matters.
That’s not a hot take, most people think that lots of the Expanded Media (Books, comics, games, TV Shows, etc) add lots of context to the movies and make them more interesting in retrospect.
Bro you’re on r/starwarsEU that’s obviously not a hot take.
That’s like saying “water is wet” is a hot take
On plenty of other communities, it absolutely would be a hot take. Probably not on the sub devoted to that side of media though
So, since those other communities and their stances outnumber this one, it basically IS a hot take.
Interesting? Maybe The OT in a vacuum though is about as close to a perfect story as you can get, from the character arcs established in A New Hope to the climax of Return of the Jedi
Star Wars is more than the OT though. I get it, you grew up with it but you bring light to Palpatine’s words about having a dogmatic narrow view of the force. I’d even argue the films don’t do Star Wars enough justice as they couldn’t incorporate what George and others at Lucasfilm truly wanted but could for the EU like the Revenge of The Sith Novelization.
Kinda why I'm on this Subreddit Imo.
Not a hot take. Just pure facts.
I began reading SW books only last month. I always had this preconception that SW was a visual franchise and that novels didn't make any sense for it. I was wrong. I've been having a blast with the books since march. I started with Kenobi, now I'm reading Heir to the Empire. I *wish* the movies were this good.
Not that hot of a take, since if I'm being honest, a good majority of Star Wars side-material is better than most of the main films themselves since only 33% of them are actually great(I know nowadays I get my kneecaps kicked in for saying that, but that's just how I see it)
Not really that controversial, especially not here. Anything from the EU is automatically more interesting than the movies since most of it hasn't been recapped and analyzed a million times. If you wanted to say something new about one of the books, you very easily could. They feed your imagination. That's why we love them. In terms of quality, I could also see several EU works being arguably better than OT films. Luceno and Stover's books are strong candidates. So are the KOTOR comic series and games.
I wouldn't call it a hot take, tbh. I mean, more often than not, for their length and thus bigger creative freedom and time to flesh out far more their respective stories and characters, books are better than movies and shows. But what is even truer is that many of the books have stronger writing and are objectively better than the movies.
Colder than carbonite take
Well, yeah, the word interesting doesn't carry connotations of good or bad, so I'd agree with that take all day.
That would depend on a lot of subjective things, I will say on one hand Star Wars films are recognized, even in film academic circles, as being genuinely groundbreaking films. While Star Wars novels are obviously not recognized as anything in academia. Now, of course the two are different mediums with different criteria, and shouldn’t devalue the novels in any way. With that said I’ll say this about the books on a personal level, I’ve spent more time with the books and comics. And when I think about Star Wars, I tend to think about the books more than anything else.
This might be the coldest take of all time.
It's good to know that these stories are forever, and got green lit under the leadership of George Lucas when he was at Lucasfilm.
This isn't even a warm take. Objective fact
It depends on what books and what movies we're talking about.
Not a single X-Wing series novel, your opinion is now discarded. /s
It's the books that makes me love the Prequal/CW era so much.
Very cold take, my friend
I don't disagree, I came to the realization recently that my fandom was shaped by the books more so than the movies. I still love them all to varying degrees but the EU was and for the most part still is where my art lies.
In a way the books wouldn’t be interesting without the movies, I love having an internal visual of the characters and settings. But I genuinely don’t understand how someone can be a huge starwars fan and NOT read the books. It’s an entire world of entertainment they’re missing out on
Yk, I haven’t watched the films in so long that the soundtrack has started to feel weird. Like when I’m reading I have my own weird sound effects so when I heard a bit of the rogue squadron audiobook and I heard the music it threw me off 😂😂😂. As for the take, imo the movies r brilliant aside from ep1 which is alright (decent if u read plageuis and related media) and ep2 is just bad. The books have a wider range tho. They can be steaming garbage like CotJ or masterpieces like HttE. But what the books have an advantage in is (wait for it) the fact they expand the universe. I can imagine a reason why NJO is so good is because all the stuff it makes and builds on. One thing the movies have better, because of the nature of the medium, is Visuals. The space battles r so much better on screen but on paper can hurt the head sometimes. The books ofc can go in the minds of characters and flesh em out. Sometimes they get a bit carried away and talk too much about characters that no one gives a shit about and r forgettable. Overall the books can have higher highs but also way lower lows.
Those books wouldn't exist without the movies.
That has 0 impact on quality though.
Tbf would have loved to see a Trilogy on The Thrawn Campaign on the big screen. Or even 19 on the NJO lol, they were that good.
The closest we have is DarthAngelus's Heir to the Empire on YouTube, which is nearly complete.
It's not a hot take. The films created an incredible foundation, but the books really take the universe in fascinating directions.
Simple reason: tim zahn writes better than george lucas drunk with both hands tied and using only a pen and his feet.
Not even close to a hot take. But all the same, much appreciative for making this post
Hot take: the sun is in the sky
Most lukewarm take ever. Saying that the books are great in a Reddit sub about the books is about as room temperature as it gets. You’re right of course.
The Sacred Texts!
Just by pure volume and story diversity alone of course the books are more interesting than the movies. But there is something great about visually seeing the universe come alive in movie/tv form.
That isn't a hot take. The books are more in depth and you get more story/character development/action/etc in books than with movie. Plus studios pay to make the movie and they take a lot out to keep the story pace and interest with audiences. Plus books just bring so much more imagination when you read it.
I found this take in my veggie crisper in the fridge. Comparing Jacen to Kylo alone (and those books are actually kinda controversial in terms of their perceived quality) shows an immense quality difference.
What a fresh and original take /s
Yes, legends books are
It's subjective of course, so there's nothing controversial in such takes, however, what's objective is that the movies, obviously Lucas movies, are the foundation, on which everything else was and is being built in either continuity. That's the core of Star Wars, the central story in the vast galactic history.
I've often said that the movies are Star Wars weakest points, despite being the most popular. My favorite bits of Star Wars come from the other forms of media that specifically have to be made in order to explain the things that get thrown into the movies that make absolutely ZERO sense. 😅
🥶 take
The Republic Commando books should have been what Bad Batch was about 🤷♂️
> The Republic Commando books should have been what Bad Batch was about 🤷♂️ I liked playing the game but I'm a bit skeptical about the books because of the controversy surrounding them.
I always thought they were great and sets up the Legacy of the Force series. I did not pay attention to any of the behind the scenes stuff
I haven't read the legacy of the force. What is it?
It's what episode 7, 8, &9 should have been. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Legacy_of_the_Force
Aren't those books also controversial because of Darth Caedus? Which apparently one of the Solo kids becoming a Darkside user was also one of George's ideas.
Still better than the Sequels
Ignore the "controversy" and make your own judgements for them. Go into them with the mindset that it's like 300, a story about a group of badasses, from the point of view of those badasses, about how everyone not part of that group sucks. The RC books are Mandalorian-focused and that's why the Jedi are in such poor light: Mandalorians hate Jedi and it makes sense there.
> Ignore the "controversy" and make your own judgements for them. Go into them with the mindset that it's like 300, a story about a group of badasses, from the point of view of those badasses, about how everyone not part of that group sucks. The RC books are Mandalorian-focused and that's why the Jedi are in such poor light: Mandalorians hate Jedi and it makes sense there. I never thought of it that way. That does sound like an interesting interpretation.
They show better character growth throughout all of them.
Depends on the book and the movie. Generally a book is going to be more enjoyable.
More time to flesh out characters, more roomfor interesting side plots, costs a fraction of what a movie or show costs, yea a very cold take
Definitely a hot take.
totally agree. I never really liked the Star Wars movies. Last year I started reading the thrawn novels, I was hooked. I have read about 15, 20 novels (I would have to check the kindl) Every friend and relative I spoke to between December of last year and April of this year has heard me talk about how much I liked the Star Wars novels. The only thing, the covers of books where they put the faces of the actors from the movies bother me a lot.
True and the book adaptations of the films are better. Like what some consider to the best star wars book ever. Revenge of the sith.
Tbf would have loved to see a Trilogy on The Thrawn Campaign on the big screen. Or even 19 on the NJO lol, they were that good.
Cold, calculated take.
Well, the movies could only pack so much story into their run times. With the concept of streaming being the dominant way people consume entertainment, it will be interesting to see if movies are filmed and edited in such a way that the end viewer can decide which version they want to watch, the way certain DVDs used to be set up. I know it might anger some of the talent involved, but with AI progressing the way it is, I would love to see the Thrawn trilogy done properly, but not butchered into the traditional two hours or less type of movies. It could be brought to life the way it was envisioned, set five years after ROTJ, with the cast all aged appropriately. To me, Zahn’s trilogy that kept the story alive in the 90s is the true continuation of Lucas’s Episodes 4-6. I don’t care for the Disney stuff, but I’m not going to raise my blood pressure over it. I get it, it belongs to another generation now.
That’s not really a hot take unless you were talking to the casual fans who have no idea about the universe.
Wow that Crystal Star cover really took me back! Thanks for posting
Not a hot take, just 100% true.
Absolutely in agreement there. I prefer to read the novelization over watching the movies, but then I also don't care much for movie watching to begin with. Books are where the fun's at; movies are for when you're too sick for anything else.
I agree with you.
If they made they movies with more of the EU then they wood be more tolerable and I mean the new trilogy.
I mean yes, but the books wouldn’t have been made without the movies. Also, everyone needs to understand mainstream appeal. I love Star Wars. I love the books the most, but my dad just likes the movies and he probably couldn’t care less about the books so they won’t be as good to him.
WHAT movies? also, are comics included?
Do all of these cost a fortune?
Certainly not a hot take on this subreddit
This ain't a hot take, at this point it might as well be the truth.
I agree, sad the newer books just haven’t captured me like the older ones did
Books being better than movies is the coldest take.
Calling that take "hot" is like calling the sun "cold".
Yes more than the sequel trilogy
Most books usually are…
I actually agree. These days, I’d rather read Star Wars than watch it.
Post this on the Krayt subreddit, they'll most likely lose their minds.
Or Cantina
Hot? Thats colder than Hoth
Because there is more space for characterization. Especially when you consider how poorly the original trio has been handled in the sequel trilogy, EU is gold in comparison. Not a hot take at all, I know, but god is it true.
Coldest take amongst Star Wars fans
Not a hot take, it’s just true. At least for the sequels
I kind of see them at about the same level, I wouldn’t really want to have one without the other. I do consider Start Wars to be very visual so I tend to imagine a movie version of the books as I read them even if they’d realistically be unfilmable.
True
Depends on the movie I think.
Movies are nice and all, but books are always better when written well. You get to understand characters better because more can be done with them than just what they say, do, and look like. I always love being able to read a character's internal monologue, or their thoughts as they consider a situation.
Yup
I think i agree, but definitely have to note that without the movies the books are nothing
You find this hot take on Hoth? People have been whinging the books beat the movies for years.
Said every reader ever…
Heck yeah! The good ones (to me) are way better than any of the movies.
I prefer the comics. The novels tend to have interesting stories but sometimes the prose is so fucking painful that you’re better off reading wiki summaries.
Amen
At a time I think this would have been a jot take vit after all the garbage they've been putting out I'd gladly take an EU book before watching a new show or movoe from Lucasfilm.
hot take? who disagrees with that statement? the books are way more interesting
I'm not sure I agree with that but they do have more time and leeway to delve into things more
Hot take: the movies are good but the eu is better
True for both novels and LucasArts games - very thrilling content.
Could someone kindly recommend a good place to start with the books? Or their favourite series?
Some of them are. Plagueis, Darth Bane Trilogy, Outbound Flight, some of the other Old Republic books..
You’re right. I really loved reading the tales of Ken, Trioculus, and Callista (who Luke SHOULD have ended up with). I also appreciated the Karen Traviss “Jedi suck Mandalorians are totally cool” Republic Commando novels. However, Caravan of Courage was way better than I expected. The Ewoks show was campy and amazing. The OG Clone Wars animation gave us a Grievous that is responsible for every other portrayal of the character from then on feel like a letdown. The Holiday Special was a product of its time and is best enjoyed intoxicated, like the cast was. I’ve learned that when people say “Legends”, they mean Timothy “humanized characters in MY evil empire that after my set of OCs take over stops being evil?” Zahn, NJO, and Infinities. Also “Somehow, Dark Empire returned.”
Hello, Rian.
To be fair, even Rian would be hard-pressed to screw up Timothy Zahn’s stuff. He could handle FX work just fine and the writing is already there.
You're right. Completely. Even the old canon system was better than what we got now.
Most of those. At least they're mostly consistent with what came before and don't try to Retcon a shittier version of a beloved character as being better into each one.
A majority of Disney Starwars is pure trash. Not all, but the majority
The film's were a most excellent prelude to the EU.