Weiser_Cain Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 And I From Star Wars The Visual Dictionary ...While the pure energy blade has no mass, the electromatically generated arc wave creates a strong gyroscopic effect that makes the lightsaber a distinct challenge to handle. Yaw devs, Yaw!!! (
nightcleaver Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 Ah-ha, that's neat. Explains why lightsabers seem to need more training than just how not to hurt yourself. Makes saber whips even more implausible, though.
ShinIchiro Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 Not saber whips. Laser whips are possible in the satr wars universe. They appeared at least once (most memorable time is Jedi Apprentice Series with that bounty hunter).
Weiser_Cain Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 Last time I checked this was about Lightsaber whips. People have brought up Laser whips and while I'm not thrilled about it, my main argument is that lightsaber whips are impossible. Yaw devs, Yaw!!! (
ShinIchiro Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 Alot of people like me have stated that lightsaber whips are not plausible, but laser whips (really really similar) do exist in the star wars universe. If you really want to go into saber whips though, in the NJO Rebel Dream (I think that's the title), the enemy with implanted lightsabers can make the blades bend. E.g., one is implanted into his palm and when he bends his wrist, the saber blade actually bends. If this bending is possible in the star wars universe, then lightsaber whips can theoretically exist. I say theoretically because there is no direct refrence I can remember about lightsaber whips. Whips go against the jedi principal I think. Lightsabers are hard to control as it is even with the force. Therefore, lightsaber whips are infinitely more difficult to control and can be unpredictable. As the jedi order is all about control...saber whips are against their philosophy.
Weiser_Cain Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 I'm quickly learning why so many people flat out dismiss anything in the EU. It seems Lucas has been lax in the extreme when it comes to approving the crap that makes it into print. I belive I also saw curving lightsaber in the D6 rpg but then they also had saber-axes so... Yaw devs, Yaw!!! (
ShinIchiro Posted June 22, 2004 Posted June 22, 2004 Saber axes do seem a little...yah... Well anyway, a saber was originally created using frozen blaster technology and therefore I see it as dififcult ot bend. Only distortion from gravity can bend that energy unless I'm really wrong. Therefore it is unlikely that a lightsaber that bends is plausible. Then again, there is precedent which is the ultimate source.
EnderAndrew Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 I saw vibro-axes in the D6 RPG, but I never saw Saber-Axes. Lucas hand-picked the first authors in the EU. Eventually everything went to crap. I don't recognize the NJO series.
ShinIchiro Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 So of the NJO books are good and should be recognized. I like star by star personally. Destiny's Way is also interesting. Many of the others are...good books that don't hold true to the star wars enviroment. As the NJO grew more popular, many new writers jumped on the star wars series. These writers may be good, but they aren't star wars writers. Thus the books loose some of the star wars feel.
EnderAndrew Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 Maybe I'll someday get around to reading the series. I'm not crazy about the idea of the Vong as a villian. I think constantly raising the scale of galactic badness is not the way to go. How do you top each new threat? I think villians like Thrawn were a much better way to go with EU books because it provides a unique and new storyline rather than trying to create a bigger and badder threat. Look at books like the Courtship of Princess Leia. The Nightsisters weren't all-powerful, and Warlord Zsinj didn't threaten to blow up the whole galaxy. The book had a smaller scale of threat, but had a good story. It introduced interesting and new concepts, and good characters. I wished Bantam had kept the license, and continued to pursue stories like that. That's just me.
Child of Flame Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 Maybe I'll someday get around to reading the series. I'm not crazy about the idea of the Vong as a villian. I think constantly raising the scale of galactic badness is not the way to go. How do you top each new threat? I think villians like Thrawn were a much better way to go with EU books because it provides a unique and new storyline rather than trying to create a bigger and badder threat. Look at books like the Courtship of Princess Leia. The Nightsisters weren't all-powerful, and Warlord Zsinj didn't threaten to blow up the whole galaxy. The book had a smaller scale of threat, but had a good story. It introduced interesting and new concepts, and good characters. I wished Bantam had kept the license, and continued to pursue stories like that. That's just me. The Nightsisters were back in the glory days of old, when Lucas was still handpicking the authors. As was said earlier on, since then it went to hell.
Carth Vader Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 thx for puting it in a simple and non bashing way. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings dude. I still don't like the idea of saber whips though.
MetallicFalcon Posted June 23, 2004 Author Posted June 23, 2004 You didnt, i was just saying. I think if some one is able to harness the force, then they are able to control a beam of energy. If a jedi is able to throw his saber, and then catch it back, dont you think some 1 could use a whip? In any case it being a saber or just energy whip, it should be controlable. If you watch some 1 that is a pro with a whip, it will never touch them. but of course,..even a saber staff seems controlable...if you dont agree then o well. if your gona argue, then tell me something that you havent already.
ShinIchiro Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 I'm not crazy about the idea of the Vong as a villian. I think constantly raising the scale of galactic badness is not the way to go. How do you top each new threat? I think from what I've read the NJO is about the passing down of the line of heroes to a new generation. It's also about the first serious, non empire threat to the New Republic that has had a series. How well the series succeeded in showing these were their intentions... I actually think that the empire is more of a big bad than the vong. The vong are different from what the galaxy has seen before and thus catch the galaxy by suprise. As shown by alpha red and new starfighter techniques, once the galaxy adapts to them they are not nearly as hard.
EnderAndrew Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 I've been told a lot about the books. I tried reading Vector Prime, which is supposed to be one of the best NJO books. I just felt like all the characters were "wrong". When Bantam had the license, the authors were forced to colloberate alot to keep characters consistent. Chewie dies. Han's family is kidnapped. And Han, man of action sits around with a drink and sulks? It just seemed wrong.
ShinIchiro Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 When Chewie dies it makes sense Han goes into a depression. But he gets up and moves on, eventually growing closer to his family in the end. The characters are fine...at least in the early NJO (I've already talked about non SW writers being brought in and weakening the SW feeling). No, I don't think the characters are off. i think that the books have gone on way too long. The vong would be way cooler if they had seperate series about them, rather than one massive story. The way things are going now we are getting bored with the story, the vong, we are getting frusturated, and we are being taken away from the classic SW era books for longer, causing almost a sense of longing and homesickness.
Weiser_Cain Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 I think if some one is able to harness the force, then they are able to control a beam of energy. If a jedi is able to throw his saber, and then catch it back, dont you think some 1 could use a whip? In any case it being a saber or just energy whip, it should be controlable. If you watch some 1 that is a pro with a whip, it will never touch them. but of course,..even a saber staff seems controlable...if you dont agree then o well. if your gona argue, then tell me something that you havent already. Saber throwing has gotten out of hand. The whip is impossible read my earlier post. Pretending that the whip behaved like you wanted it would still touch the ground draining it making things much more hazzardous for the weilder than any opponent. Yaw devs, Yaw!!! (
ShinIchiro Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 What does throwing a lightsaber have to do with bending the saber beam? You yank the saber back to you when you throw it. What does that have to do with whips?
GhostofAnakin Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 With regards to the NJO series, it actually re-kindled my interest in SW novels again. IMO, it was a decent breath of fresh air from the same Rebellion vs. Empire conflicts that were in every book. The problem I had with the series was that it had too many different authors and thus the characterization of the main characters was thrown all to hell. Just when one character was starting to develop as a character, a different author would take over and completely ruin whatever changes the character went through. Also, the Yuuzhan Vong were a decent enemy, but I wasn't fond of the name. They sounded too Star Trek-ish. The concept was pretty good, but I wasn't too happy with the eventual explanation about why the Vong weren't felt in the Force. The series also went on and on when it could have been condensed. Too many books just dragged the series along with meaningless encounters. Overall though, it's not a bad read. "Console exclusive is such a harsh word." - Darque"Console exclusive is two words Darque." - Nartwak (in response to Darque's observation)
nightcleaver Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 That's right - it's too Star Trekkish. It doesn't fit very well. When I heard the idea it was pretty absurd to me. There are a billion directions to go in; making a new race of aliens to fight isn't the only way to go. Think up more Force powers like battle meditation, give battle meditation to the Sith for once. Have new, interesting character's pop up and FORGET THE OLD ONES! The Star Wars franchise has become stale and derivative over the years in many ways, but putting the vong in was just non-sensical and (I can imagine it would for me) sort of destroyed the whole idea of star wars. We have thousands of years to cover, folks, so why not make use of them? I really wouldn't mind a novelized, less comic-booked approach to the Exar Kun wars. (That's just a Dark Horse comic, right?) That said, I've only read part of a Kevin J. Anderson book. I found it to be exceptionally boring. I think it was the one about possession in the Massassi temple? I'm not sure, there was too much not happening, and I was like five at the time or something. (well, ten maybe.. but still) People confronted the Darkside over and over, I think, but there wasn't any lightsaber battles or heavy action like the series. It was a bit like a Star Wars tv show or soap opera.
EnderAndrew Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 Kevin J. Anderson picked up on Exar Kun from the comics. In fact, Kevin picked up a lot from the comics, and injected it into his Jedi Academy trilogy, being a hack. And after establishing this wonderful villian in Exar Kun, he dispatches the villian like nothing. This villian was the most powerful Force User to ever live. It's Force Ghost possessed Luke like it was nothing. And twelve weak students meditate for a moment, and Exar Kun is taken care of. Weak sauce.
Child of Flame Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 I liked the X-Wing series with Corran Horn, though I only read the first four books because they were all I could find in the used book store, but they were kick ass. It was the first time my young brain was introduced the the Gand, as his wingman was one, you know they can survive in the vaccuum of space? Kick-ass. Don't know how the last (four?) books were though. <_<
EnderAndrew Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 I read the whole X-Wing series and enjoyed it. Corran had a spin-off hardcover book called I, Jedi that was pretty sad however.
Child of Flame Posted June 23, 2004 Posted June 23, 2004 I read the whole X-Wing series and enjoyed it. Corran had a spin-off hardcover book called I, Jedi that was pretty sad however. I got that lying on my bookshelf unread, handme down from one of the staff who I befriended during my stay in the home for wayward boys.
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