I’ve very little, if any, memory of not being into Star Wars. I’ll dare date myself and say tiny tot me saw the original in theaters. I played with the action figures, flipped through picture books and thrilled when Vader was redeemed. I spent decades imagining who he was before he fell! Luke was my hero – and I’ll dare say here I am female and so lets debunk the notion I needed a female hero to be number one!
Obviously there was no EU as we knew it back then. I couldn’t get into comics as you need an adult willing to keep up the supply so you don’t get left hanging. But there were the animated Droids and Ewoks adventure hour, Ewok movies and then, I happened on the Return of the Jedi novelization. That, with its brief looks of the prequels (along with some red herrings later dropped) fired me up for the prequels. My first Expanded Universe book was Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. This was followed by the Han Solo and Lando trilogies.
When Heir to the Empire came out I was all over it. I found some WEG game books (not that I had anyone to play with) and dabbled in the comics like Dark Empire, until I fell in love with Tales of the Jedi and the X-Wing series. Finally, someone gave me an old Xbox and I even got to sample the games. I’ve loved most of it.
I can’t really tell you my favorite story because I love so many so much. I do think Jedi Academy the most important, as it has Luke reestablish the Jedi Order and Leia become President, both critical for future stories. I can tell you my fav character of the comics is Nomi Sunrider, so hesitant and reluctant to become a Jedi. Of the games my favorite is surely Kyle Katarn. As for the movies…well I love them all, and there are so many great new characters in books I can’t choose.
So here I am, decades later. I loved the prequels as much as the originals. I watched the Expanded Universe born, not without some mis-steps, but on the whole out of love. I read how the continuity was tracked, starting with notebooks and binders. I loved how I could read about a character in a comic, have him pop up in a book and have the whole planet show in a video game.
Well, I can’t afford infinite consoles for the games, and the few comics and overseas books are getting expensive. And I still feel the wound as I reread and replay and find unanswered questions and storylines.
You see, Star Wars is my home, almost as much as my real one. It was quality too, realistic in that it had things I didn’t like happen and others I did. The characters I met there are my friends and foes. I feel I’ve been exiled and done nothing to deserve it. Sure, I can revisit those memories and find new things, but its not the same as looking forward to sharing their adventures! At the very least, I think we deserved a wrap up, whether it was a big story cliffhanger or a small one.
Meanwhile, I’ll just leave this vid link here. I didn’t join in due to ‘life’ interfering. But it’s a great view of how many people still love the Expanded Universe.
Also, Twin Suns Foundation still has a fundraiser going so don’t forget to donate or share!
Meanwhile, I’m between stories right now…so I’ll just be testing out Dark Forces Remastered and my latest Star Wars the Old Republic character. alt. Because the galaxy far far away is still my home.
