Star Wars The Last Jedi Novelization - Expanded Edition

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

EXPANDED EDITION

NOVELIZATION BY JASON FRY



I bought this. Starting it tomorrow. It's the Expanded Edition. Notes forthcoming!

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

OK.

Wow!

I listened to it on my commute to work and back. I'm starting Chapter three, having listened to a prologue, too. And, I haven't heard a single scene yet that was in the film!

I know I won't remember all of it, but here are the highlights....



LUKE LARS

The book starts with the prologue, and I was scratching my head. Luke is on Tatooine. He's married. Have you ever read the original novelization of A New Hope or listened to the Radio Play? There's a scene that was cut out of the film that featured Fixer and Luke's best friend, Biggs Darklighter, and Camie. All are pictured in this out-take from the original Star Wars film.



As this book starts, Luke is married to Camie! Fixer has dropped the nickname and is now called Laze Loneozner, a businessman in Mos Eisely. The Empire is in control. There's a garrison of stormtroopers stationed on the planet. And Imperial troops came and carted off with the Darklighter family.

Luke thinks of those two droids, all those years ago--how the little one, R2-D2, escaped in the night, and Luke risked his life that night--instead of waiting until the morn--to recapture the droid. He never got to Kenobi's place.

Troopers came and carted off the droids.

Aldraan is destroyed along with Chandrilla and a world or two more.

That beautiful princess that Luke saw projected by the little droid was executed.

The Empire easily defeats the Rebellion.

And, Luke takes over his uncle's moisture farm. He and Camie run it.

Then...Luke Skywalker woke up on Ahch-To. He knows the dreams means something. The Force is telling him something, but he doesn't know exactly what the dream means.

Isn't that damn cool? What a cool way to start this story!





LEIA

Next, we cut to Leia on D'Qar. She gives a eulogy for the pilots who died attacking Starkiller base.

The First Order is mobilized and is attempting to spread its influence across the entire galaxy--especially not with the Republic having been dealt a mortal wound with the destruction of the Hosmian system. Leia knows that the FO is coming their way.

As evacuation preparations begin, Leia moves off into the woods to do a second eulogy for her husband, Han Solo.





ROSE & PAIGE

On another world, out in the outer rim, we catch up with Rose and Paige Tico--two sisters working for the Resistance. This is where Cobalt squadron is stationed. Paige is a ball gunner on a Starfortress bomber (the one from the beginning of the movie), and Rose is a mechanic. They both believe in the Resistance passionately. They're preparing to answer Leia's call to protect the retreat from D'Qar in the face of the First Order breathing down Leia's neck.

There are lots of different types of payloads for the Starfortress bomber. The bombs are magnetic--they stick to a hull. Some of the alternate loadouts includes observation scout droids.

Here, we see that the Resistance is not just Leia and her band on D'Qar. There are other worlds with other Resistance cells.

[Whill]

[Solo4114]

Interesting! I like the "What if Luke had just stayed home" scenario especially. MESSAGE INCOMING!!!

I also like that this undercuts one of the complaints about the film, that the whole thing takes place IMMEDIATELY after the events of TFA. It sounds like it's a longer time period between TFA and TLJ.

[Whill]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Solo4114]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

I haven't been able to listen to much these last few days. But, I do have two points...

I understand why this first point wasn't in the film, but time is taken in the novelization to really show the reader the relationship between Rose and her sister. They are really close. And, they're all that they have left of family in this universe.

So...when Paige dies (haven't gotten to that part yet, even though it happened in the opening moments of the film), I believe it will have a strong emotional resonance.

The second point is--I'm getting more of a handle on just how powerful the FO is. Out in the Unknown Regions, they are, basically, the Empire. They have taken over, by force (pardon the pun! :b-silly: ), some worlds (Rose and Paige's world is one of them).

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Back on track, listening to this.

I'm at the attack on the dreadnought. It's pretty much the same as in the film. There are two bomber squadrons, though. Crimson and Cobalt.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Maybe this will change, but I do like Alan Dean Foster's writing better than Jason Fry's. And, that comes from listening to the book.

I'm not as "pulled into" the story as I was with ADF's TFA novelization.

It's early yet. So...we'll see.

The prologue and the first two chapters are totally new stuff that is not in the film. Chapter three starts, and quickly, we are into the battle.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

The space battle above D'Qar was presented quite well. It was exciting! It's a good production. Events are spot on with the film--little variance.

What probably would have been boring if done any longer in the film is BB-8's interaction with Black One. That's Poe's customized T-70 X-Wing. Evidently, the Rebels have customized and high-tuned this one X-Wing for Poe. It's not stock.

And, kind of like the Falcon, Black One has its issues. It is always fighting with BB-8. Black One prioritizes insignificant warning buzzers over more serious problems. The droid has his "hands" full in dealing with Poe's ship.

Ahch-To isn't a floating island. What we see is the tip of a mountain jutting out of the ocean.

Luke's X-Wing is glimpsed in the film, but the book goes into more detail. It is not fairing well under the sea. The salt water is tearing it up. It's an unusable hulk. Luke has cannibalized different parts from the ship. Part of the wing, Rey sees, Luke is using for the front door to his hut. Rey spies other parts around the camp--to her practiced eye.

[Whill]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Lots of good stuff. I hope I remember all that I wanted to remember to tell you....



LEIA

There's a nice scene in the book where Leia is thinking about her past, using the Force, wondering where her brother might be, and just about everything. The scene is in the film, but it is short. In the film, it looks like she connects with Luke. But not quite that in the book.

She thinks about how her untrained Force powers have grown (foreshadowing the space walk, I would guess).

Her mother's name is Bria. Bria Organa. Wife of Bail Organa. She died on Alderaan when it went boom.





WHERE ARE THE OTHER PILOTS?

The ones we saw in TFA, like Snap Wexley. Leia has sent them off to the far corners of the galaxy to gather help. Now that Starkiller base has gone boom, she knows that the First Order will be hotly on their tail soon. She knows that D'Qar is a lost cause. It's go-disappear-into-the-galaxy time, mimicking the Rebel Alliance. Run.

But, she wants to gather her allies.

There are other Resistance cells. There are military leaders and politicians who survived the destruction of the Hosnian system. There are sympathetic world governments who might support them openly, now that Starkiller base has been revealed, the Republic Capital System destroyed, and the Resistance has won a clear victory against the First Order.

Leia sent the pilots to find as much help as they can.

Which brings us to the questions...why did no one answer when Leia sent out the call for help before the last battle in TLJ?





Kylo Ren's Helmet.

This is in the film. Snoke makes fun of Ben wearing the helmet. "Take that stupid thing off," he says, or something to that effect. That's when Ben gets so angry that he leaves Snoke and busts up the helmet.

But, why did he have it in the first place? I think it was in the TFA Incredible Cross-Sections (or maybe the Visual Dictionary) book that I read all of the Knights of Ren wear helmets to conceal their identities.

I would think that Snoke would push Ben to wear the helmet since he is the head of that order.

But, in the book, and in the film, Snoke belittles Ben for wearing it--almost as if Ben is a child trying to be Darth Vader. Snoke even calls him a child of some sort to that effect.

I'm sure this will be answered at some point, but for now, it remains a mystery.





Tracking.

As I was hoping, the book goes into more detail about how the hyperspace tracking was accomplished. The explanation is different that what we see in the movie--though I can see why the movie went with what it did. A long, detailed explanation can be interesting in a book but not so much in a film.

So....for what its worth...here's how the hyperspace tracking was accomplished. I should note that even Snoke didn't think it was possible. This is a part where Hux shows his worth--with the new technology.

The explanation is: The First Order has the biggest library ever assembled in galactic history. It has the old Empire library, plus stuff dating back to the prequel era and beyond.

Remember. This is Space Opera.

There is all this data about hyperspace--all the logs from uncountable starships (just the Imperial military logs would be incredible) from history.

If a ship has a sensor lock on a vessel as it enters hyperspace, then the entry vector into hyperspace is known.

The vast computers on the Supremacy, Snokes flagship (which also serves as the Capital of the First Order Regime), where all this data is stored, crunch the data and compare it with all these logs from all these starship trips for a century or more.

The crunchy takes hours. It is implicated, no said, that this can only be accomplished by the Supremacy. I got the feeling that the Star Destroyers don't have the computer process ability to do this.

So, at least in the book, it looks like there is only one ship can can track ships through hyperspace, and that feat of impossibility takes hours.

The computer compares and narrows down and compares and narrows down, until it finds the most probable destination.

The pick seems to be not 100% accurate, but close to it.

I like the book's interpretation because it actually gives some limitations to the use of it. And, now that Supremacy is gone, then the ability to track is also gone.

[MrNexx]

So, it basically builds a profile of where they might head, rather than actually tracking? "They left X on Y vector, which puts Z, A, B, and C in their path. Of those, C is most likely."

Given that it takes hours, it seems of limited use... a ship could make a second hyperspace jump while you're crunching the data.
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