Doc Beechler > Jeff of Earth-JAugust 13, 2026 at 2:51pm
So, I guess you weren't a student who highlighted parts of novels to later quote in letters to people you were trying to impress (see: weird love life hacks).
No, but while I'm here I thought I'd take the time to mention that The Jedi Path is a real dud. I was going to sneak back in at some point and quitely ad an EDIT without bumping it back up to the top with a new post, but the entire point of this book seems to be the "insightful" margin notes.
I didn't really intend to read The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi this time around (I'm reading toward a particular goal), but they're quick reads so why not? The first thing I noticed was the credits: "Donald F. Glut - Based on a story by George Lucas - Screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan." That's more than Alan Dean Foster got, even in 1995. In the introduction to that edition, George Lucas wrote: "When I wrote the original Star Wars screenplay, I knew that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father; the audience did not." I'm not sure I believe the first part of that assertion.
I think this is my third time through Empire. I read the paperback in 1980 and the hardcover in 1995, but I don't think I read it in the 2Ks when I re-read Star Wars. One thing about reading the Star Wars novelizations (or Star Trek, too, for that matter) is the thrill of what today might be though of as "DVD extras," i.e., extra scenes. There were a few in Star Wars (see above), but not too many in Empire. The only thing that struck me as significantly different is that the Empire's probe droid destroyed a Wampa (not the one that attacked Luke) on Hoth. Another thing is the dialogue of the shooting script (on which the novelization is based) can be somewhat different from the final version. Almost always, the final version is an improvement, and Empire contains a prime example: Leia and Han's final exchange in the carbon-freezing chamber.
BOOK:
LEIA: I love you. I couldn't tell you before, but it's true.
HAN: Just remember that, because I'll be back.
MOVIE:
LEIA: I love you.
HAN: I know.
I imagine some of this is left up to the discretion of the actors and their delivery, perhaps, at times, ad libbing on the spot.
Doc Beechler > Jeff of Earth-JAugust 13, 2026 at 2:52pm
In the summer of 1980, I took my mother for our third visit to our family in England. The Empire Strikes Back had only recently been released there. It was the middle of the day, so there were no lines. I had arrived just as it was scheduled to be shown. The woman selling tickets wanted to sell me a ticket for the next show. This was a single screen theater, so this was a long way off. I talked her into selling me a ticket for the show that was just beginning. She was sure I’d missed the beginning and said that (unlike the then-current U.S. practice) I wouldn’t be able to stay over to watch the beginning. I promised that I wouldn’t try to stay. When I went inside, it turned out that I had only missed the Coming Soon trailers. There were only a few people there. All of the seats came with ashtrays that were definitely in use. This first sequel to the original has always been my favorite Star Wars movie.
Above I speculated that I had read The Empire Strikes Back three times. That's not correct; it's four. I realized that when I found some notes I took in the early 2Ks between the pages of Jedi, and I wouldn't have re-read Jedi without re-reading Empire as well. [When we watched all three movies over the weekend, I thought it was the first time Tracy and I had watched them together, but she quickly disabused me of that notion as well.] Regarding (what I refer to as) "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker," I'm not as concerned about what happened between Empire and Jedi as I am with what happened between Star Wars and Empire. For one thing, three years passed (both in real time and in movie time) between the first two, and although another three passed IRL between the second and the third, only six months passed between Empire and Jedi movie-time. (That's "six months" on Tatooine, but I figure six months our time would be about what it would take to plan and execute Han's rescue from Jabba the Hut.
The biggest question I have about the timeline of the original trilogy is why didn't Han pay off his debt to Jabba in the three years between Star Wars and Empire? I don't think I've ever seen that question addressed. EDIT: In Marvel's Star Wars comics, Han lost hios reward money to pirates, but in #28 repaid his debt to Jabba by saving his life.
I read a fair bit but almost never post in this thread. In the last few months (and excluding obscure writing-related research), I have read the following:
The Future of a Different Timeline – Annalee Newitz
Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage - Heather Ann Thompson
Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation - Terri Favro
Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) - Jeff Vandermeer
Well Met: Renaissance Faires and the American Counterculture - Rachel Lee Rubin
My Name is Will— Jess Winfield
Bread of Angels- Patti Smith (a few pages left)
Recommendations / thoughts offered if any of these interest anyone.
The Future of a Different Timeline – Annalee Newitz
Interesting, uneven, but very readable: Newitz has penned a feminist take on The Legion of Time, with two different cabals using time travel to set different visions of the future in place. The Daughters of Harriet want to make things good for women; the Comstockers want to impose an agenda taken off extremist MRA/incel boards. One of the key jonbar points occurs at the 1893 Chicago Fair. Another time travel as wiki-edit tale. The book led me to buy one of her historical sources.
Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation - Terri Favro
Well-done, now somewhat dated non-fic look at robots in pop culture (I wish she'd done more of this) and in reality. The book features a blend of researched facts and personal reflection. The book caught my attention before I realized who wrote it (I know Terri a little, but did not know that she had written this book).
My Name is Will— Jess Winfield
This is the strangest of the lot. It interposes a possible, but highly improbable account of the early adulthood of William Shakespeare and the experiences of a 1980s academic slacker who is running drugs to a Renaissance Faire. An excess of bawdy humour and a surfeit of entertaining reworkings of Shakespeare's lines elevate or lower this novel, depending on your personality, inclinations, or frame of mind when you read it. Although written early in this century, it feels as though it should have been penned in the 80s. Well Met: Renaissance Faires and the American Counterculture by Rachel Lee Rubin led me to read this book.
Replies
So, I guess you weren't a student who highlighted parts of novels to later quote in letters to people you were trying to impress (see: weird love life hacks).
No, but while I'm here I thought I'd take the time to mention that The Jedi Path is a real dud. I was going to sneak back in at some point and quitely ad an EDIT without bumping it back up to the top with a new post, but the entire point of this book seems to be the "insightful" margin notes.
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK:
I didn't really intend to read The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi this time around (I'm reading toward a particular goal), but they're quick reads so why not? The first thing I noticed was the credits: "Donald F. Glut - Based on a story by George Lucas - Screenplay by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan." That's more than Alan Dean Foster got, even in 1995. In the introduction to that edition, George Lucas wrote: "When I wrote the original Star Wars screenplay, I knew that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father; the audience did not." I'm not sure I believe the first part of that assertion.
I think this is my third time through Empire. I read the paperback in 1980 and the hardcover in 1995, but I don't think I read it in the 2Ks when I re-read Star Wars. One thing about reading the Star Wars novelizations (or Star Trek, too, for that matter) is the thrill of what today might be though of as "DVD extras," i.e., extra scenes. There were a few in Star Wars (see above), but not too many in Empire. The only thing that struck me as significantly different is that the Empire's probe droid destroyed a Wampa (not the one that attacked Luke) on Hoth. Another thing is the dialogue of the shooting script (on which the novelization is based) can be somewhat different from the final version. Almost always, the final version is an improvement, and Empire contains a prime example: Leia and Han's final exchange in the carbon-freezing chamber.
BOOK:
MOVIE:
I imagine some of this is left up to the discretion of the actors and their delivery, perhaps, at times, ad libbing on the spot.
Harrison Ford is on record for that famous ad lib
I suspected as much.
In the summer of 1980, I took my mother for our third visit to our family in England. The Empire Strikes Back had only recently been released there. It was the middle of the day, so there were no lines. I had arrived just as it was scheduled to be shown. The woman selling tickets wanted to sell me a ticket for the next show. This was a single screen theater, so this was a long way off. I talked her into selling me a ticket for the show that was just beginning. She was sure I’d missed the beginning and said that (unlike the then-current U.S. practice) I wouldn’t be able to stay over to watch the beginning. I promised that I wouldn’t try to stay. When I went inside, it turned out that I had only missed the Coming Soon trailers. There were only a few people there. All of the seats came with ashtrays that were definitely in use. This first sequel to the original has always been my favorite Star Wars movie.
RETURN OF THE JEDI:
Above I speculated that I had read The Empire Strikes Back three times. That's not correct; it's four. I realized that when I found some notes I took in the early 2Ks between the pages of Jedi, and I wouldn't have re-read Jedi without re-reading Empire as well. [When we watched all three movies over the weekend, I thought it was the first time Tracy and I had watched them together, but she quickly disabused me of that notion as well.] Regarding (what I refer to as) "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker," I'm not as concerned about what happened between Empire and Jedi as I am with what happened between Star Wars and Empire. For one thing, three years passed (both in real time and in movie time) between the first two, and although another three passed IRL between the second and the third, only six months passed between Empire and Jedi movie-time. (That's "six months" on Tatooine, but I figure six months our time would be about what it would take to plan and execute Han's rescue from Jabba the Hut.
The biggest question I have about the timeline of the original trilogy is why didn't Han pay off his debt to Jabba in the three years between Star Wars and Empire? I don't think I've ever seen that question addressed. EDIT: In Marvel's Star Wars comics, Han lost hios reward money to pirates, but in #28 repaid his debt to Jabba by saving his life.
I read a fair bit but almost never post in this thread. In the last few months (and excluding obscure writing-related research), I have read the following:
The Future of a Different Timeline – Annalee Newitz
Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage - Heather Ann Thompson
Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation - Terri Favro
Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1) - Jeff Vandermeer
Well Met: Renaissance Faires and the American Counterculture - Rachel Lee Rubin
My Name is Will— Jess Winfield
Bread of Angels- Patti Smith (a few pages left)
Recommendations / thoughts offered if any of these interest anyone.
The Future of a Different Timeline – Annalee Newitz
Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation - Terri Favro
My Name is Will— Jess Winfield
Tell me more
The Future of a Different Timeline – Annalee Newitz
Interesting, uneven, but very readable: Newitz has penned a feminist take on The Legion of Time, with two different cabals using time travel to set different visions of the future in place. The Daughters of Harriet want to make things good for women; the Comstockers want to impose an agenda taken off extremist MRA/incel boards. One of the key jonbar points occurs at the 1893 Chicago Fair. Another time travel as wiki-edit tale. The book led me to buy one of her historical sources.
Generation Robot: A Century of Science Fiction, Fact, and Speculation - Terri Favro
Well-done, now somewhat dated non-fic look at robots in pop culture (I wish she'd done more of this) and in reality. The book features a blend of researched facts and personal reflection. The book caught my attention before I realized who wrote it (I know Terri a little, but did not know that she had written this book).
My Name is Will— Jess Winfield
This is the strangest of the lot. It interposes a possible, but highly improbable account of the early adulthood of William Shakespeare and the experiences of a 1980s academic slacker who is running drugs to a Renaissance Faire. An excess of bawdy humour and a surfeit of entertaining reworkings of Shakespeare's lines elevate or lower this novel, depending on your personality, inclinations, or frame of mind when you read it. Although written early in this century, it feels as though it should have been penned in the 80s. Well Met: Renaissance Faires and the American Counterculture by Rachel Lee Rubin led me to read this book.
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