Bookworms: The Star Wars Trilogy

“We are a couple of shooting stars that can’t be stopped.” – Luke Skywalker

Star Wars Trilogy

The Star Wars trilogy, that is, the original three Star Wars films: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, are my all time favorite films. But actually more than watching the films, I love reading the novelizations. Written by Alan Dean Foster, Donald F. Glut, and James Kahn (respectively), the novelizations capture the magic and the wonder that is Star Wars in book form.

All three novelizations were originally published separately, but these days are usually found in one volume as “The Star Wars Trilogy“.

Star Wars, often attributed to George Lucas but actually written by Alan Dean Foster, was published in 1976, preceding the film. It features several scenes which were deleted from the original theatrical version (later restored to the Special Editions) such as Jabba the Hutt confronting Han Solo before he leaves Tatooine with his newly acquired passengers and some bits with Luke’s friend Biggs Darklighter. Alan Dean Foster is an accomplish author, having written numerous Star Wars novels as well as many original works of fiction and several other film novelizations, including, most recently, Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness.

The Empire Strikes Back, published in 1980 and written by Donald F. Glut, largely follows the events of the film, except there is more detail given about Luke’s training with Jedi Master Yoda. Donald F. Glut is an author and archeologist and in addition to writing many comic books, has also written a lot about dinosaurs.

Return of the Jedi, published in 1983 and written by James Kahn, follows the film, but there are a few extended scenes, such as ghost Obi-Wan Kenobi’s history of Luke’s family (where, interestingly, Owen Lars is Obi-Wan’s brother, not Anakin’s brother), Threepio’s story of the Rebellion as told to the Ewoks also includes pleas from Han, Leia, and Luke for their help, and the Emperor interrogates Luke about his training. James Kahn is a medical professional as well as an author and has written for many television shows (including Star Trek: the Next Generation) and also wrote the novelization for the Lucas/Spielberg film The Temple of Doom.

I love the Star Wars Trilogy in book form because all three authors infuse their work with more depth and imagery than one would expect from a mere re-writing of the screenplays. Take for example this description of Obi-Wan taken from Star Wars: “It was impossible to tell where the odd arrival’s attire ended and his skin began. That aged visage blended into the sand stroked cloth, and his beard appeared but an extension of the loose threads covering his upper chest.” One can see the age, the unkempt nature of the beard, and feel the weariness of sand and time on the old wizard. The characters live and breathe across the pages and the battle of the Rebellion against the Empire and of Luke Skywalker against the evil of his father Darth Vader takes on a special fire and desperation. There is color and emotion here that one would expect of much more “literary” novels. Taken as a whole, the three really work together in a way that few novelizations do. One can read them as one long book in three parts telling a story of a war among the stars.

Obviously, the reading of the Star Wars novelizations are helped by a watching of the Star Wars trilogy, if for no other reason than to put faces and voices to the characters, but the Star Wars books can be read completely apart from the films and lose nothing in the reading. Read again that description of Obi-Wan above. It can stand alone, bringing to mind a weathered old man, or it can be enhanced by a mental image of Sir Alec Guinness in the role of old Ben Kenobi.

Another favorite passage of mine is drawn from Return of the Jedi, and is a description of Luke Skywalker’s mental state as he is entering Jabba’s palace, bent on rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt: “Manhood had given him perspective…a lattice of time and spatial coordinates spanning his existence…a lattice of depths…through which Luke could peer at any new event in his life, peer at it with perspective. A lattice of shadows and corners, rolling back to the vanishing point on the horizon of Luke’s mind. And all these shadow boxes that lent such perspective to things, well this lattice gave his life a certain darkness….He was more aware now.” This description shows how Luke has grown from a wide-eyed farm boy to a mature Jedi Knight, filled in with shading and depth that once had been lacking in his one-dimensional desert life.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but that depends both on the picture and the words. While the Ewoks are a little outrageous and silly in the Return of the Jedi film, in the novel they gain a certain maturity and seriousness that shows them to be fierce defenders of their world. In the Empire Strikes Back film, one can see the ice of snow of Hoth, but in the book, one can feel the cold and the bite of the wind through the vivid descriptions given. The death of Luke’s aunt and uncle in the Star Wars film is a quick vignette, but in the book is a gut wrenching scene in which Luke falls the ground, unable to fathom the horror of their demise and the emptiness of his loss. Similarly, when Yoda dies in Return of the Jedi, there is a fantastic line about Luke’s sadness. He sits outside of Yoda’s hovel, the  “last Jedi sitting in the swamp while the entire galaxy plotted the last war.” One can see Luke, small and afraid and alone in a vast jungle, a warrior in the last great war, unable to move on because of his grief. The right words can paint a thousand pictures.

I could go on, as I’ve said, these three small books, one large omnibus, are among my most favorite of all I have read. I have read them over and again so many times I’ve lost count. I believe they are worth at least one read for the fan of Star Wars, and at least one read for the fan of literature. Are they the greatest works ever written? No, not close, but they are entertaining, enrapturing, and evocative. Pick them up and witness for the first time the Star Wars.