A Question

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

How many "original" books/episodes were there? I heard a rumor that there were 9 original books (Episode I-IX). Would someone please tell me.

[cmulligan01]

There's no truth to that rumor and there never has been. The first SW book ever was the ANH novel ghost written by Alan Dean Foster that came out 6 months before the movie.

[Swamprat_Jedi_Knight]

So people are just writing books after (or slightly before) the movie comes out by reading Lucas' script?

[Nathan Butler]

Yes, that's basically how it works. That's the process called "novelizing" or creating a "novelization" of a script instead of an original "novel." The SW films were created originally as scripts, which were then turned into novelizations, which is why you'll find only novelizations of 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6, leaving out Episode III's, since the script is not yet complete.

[jade51999]

i've heard that there were 9 parts which he has condensed into 6 episodes...

he's said repeadetly that he will not be making 7-9 b/cthey don't exist ..i.e the star wars saga is the story of darth vader..so with his death in 6 the cycle was complete..

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

i think i'm right..if anyone else notes..feel free to tell me i'm wrong..

[Blizzard]

You are right Jade.

Any more questions about this and you can see here...

http://www.galacticsenate.com/ikonboa....lizzard (http://www.galacticsenate.com/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=3;t=240;hl=blizzard)

[Doctor Evil]

From what I have read, GL never had any "Books" done before the films. He claims he had an outline for ep. 1-9, but no details in place. Others have theorized that he had no real thought invested in anything past the current movie in the Ep.4-6, and was kinda making it up as he went along. (The 2 kisses between Luke and Leia being the biggest indicator that this might be the case as well as Han Solo "Shooting First")

About the time Lucas decided to make Ep. 1-3, he stated ther would not be any films past ROTJ in the timeline. This basically allowed the MAJOR changes to the EU like major characters being killed and well known planets being destroyed in the NJO. I think that was the whole idea behind the NJO program. Since the possibility of a new post ROTJ film was out, the shackles were off and major things could finally happen. *

Doc *style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif

[Nathan Butler]

Jade: You're close, but not quite.

Originally, GL had a sort of rough idea for a multi-generational saga. When ANH came out, though, he figured he'd only be able to make one film. So at that time, the series was only 1 film, entitled Star Wars.

The series was: ANH.

Once that was a hit, the earliest reports of sequels from Lucas himself was that what we now know as ANH was to be the first episode in a series of twelve that would be entitled The Adventures of Luke Skywalker.

The series was: ANH, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Then right as ESB was about to be released, we learned that he had changed his mind, and now it wasn't that ANH was the first episode, but the fourth. He'd cut the original ideas for episodes 7 - 12, and added a new 3 episodes before ANH.

The series was: 1, 2, 3, ANH, ESB, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Then came ROTJ.

The series became: 1, 2, 3, ANH, ESB, ROTJ, 7, 8, 9.

Then when the Special Editions came out, and they republished the ANH novelization, Lucas said that he instead had "always" planned only six episodes (which is complete b.s.), which would include a prequel and sequel triloogy.

The series was: 1, 2, 3, ANH:SE, ESB:SE, ROTJ:SE.

Then he released TPM.

The series was: TPM, 2, 3, ANH:SE, ESB:SE, ROTJ:SE.

Then he released TPM on DVD with a few small changes.

The series was: TPM:DVD, 2, 3, ANH:SE, ESB:SE, ROTJ:SE.

And then came AOTC.

The series now stands at: TPM:DVD, AOTC, 3, ANH:SE, ESB:SE, ROTJ:SE.

That story, what Lucas calls "his saga," is what we in the timelining biz call "1st Level Canon."

So, yes, he now says he planned only 6, but it was 1, then 12, then 9, and THEN 6.

[jade51999]

geesh N. Butler you're a fricken encylopedia!

man i wish i knew all that stuff!

[Nathan Butler]

I just have a really good memory. I researched things like the levels of officiality, the number of episodes planned at different times, and so forth for my timeline at different points in the last 5 years, and once I go through them like that, the info tends to stick.

It also helps that those are two questions that come up all the time on various message boards, so I end up given the answers over and over again, helping to reinforce it in my memory.

[jade51999]

Yea..i guess...but its still cool :0

[Blizzard]

Nathan Rocks!

All I have memorized is the Dewey Decimal System and the names and faces of everyone I have met in my lifetime. ;)

[Nathan Butler]

::bows::

Maybe that'd be a good topic to discuss on CR. The whole number of episodes thing. It's covered in the SWT-G appendices, but maybe it deserves a discussion on there too.

[SunTzu]

I had a novelization of Star Wars from just after the movie was released, and on the cover, underneath the title, it said "From The Adventures of Luke Skywalker".

[Keiran_Halcyon]

All hail Nathan Butler. The Cliff Clavin of Star Wars. Bow down and pay homage.

In all honesty at least I know who to go to now when I have a question about Star Wars.