Splinter of the Mind’s Eye – Part 40
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Sorry for the delay this week. I had the work Christmas Party to prepare and bartend this Friday and it was a very exhausting week all around. I have surgery on Tuesday (nothing too serious) and so things are really going to be winding down for the rest of this month as a result. However, we will be putting up a few surprises and teasers here and there. We’re finally at the end. In the comic book Vader’s defeat is actually lamer than our BMS version. He literally trips over his own severed arm and falls in a pit. Clumsy. We will have a SOTME epilogue next week to conclude the very final scene.
It’s time to reflect on Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. Alan Dean Foster is known for his movie-to-book adaptations, including Star Wars (ghost written for George Lucas) and Alien. Splinter of the Mind’s Eye included some of George Lucas’ ideas, but at some point I believe Foster just had to be left on his own and run with it.
Probably also during the writing of the book it had already become clear that the Star Wars movie was a massive success and that Splinter of the Mind’s Eye would probably no longer serve as a guide for the sequel. Elements like the jungle / swamp, the caves, the misty confrontation between Luke and Vader, the primitive native Coway tribe defeating the technologically superior Empire, etc etc. Splinter of the Mind’s Eyes does have some good ideas and some memorable imagery thanks to the eerie atmosphere of the planet and the powerful impact of the Ralph MacQuarrie cover.
The numerous character deviations and inconsistencies with the Star Wars film can almost be excused thanks to the problems at the time of accurate reference material for the author (no DVD to check, and probably no finalized script to refer to). He was writing SOTME in 1977 for it to be published in 1978. Luke fantasizing about Leia, only to keep checking his feelings with the reminder that he is a lowly farm boy and she is far beyond his station, can be excused by the fact that the Luke and Leia sibling relationship was not decided at that time. But Luke hitting Leia in the bar, as if this is the ideal or preferable first choice for a distraction, not only seems wildly out of character, but seriously misogynistic. Grammel abused Leia even further, and Vader does a number on her at the end too.
Vader is convinced Luke is the one who shot him out of the way during the Death Star trench run and he also implies that Tarkin was the one to interrogate Leia so brutally on the Death Star. The awkward prose littered throughout the book, often during action scenes, is about as fluid as dry bantha dung! But, that being said, Foster worked with what he could at the time, and while the final product often doesn’t really feel that much like Star Wars, there’s still something alluring about this often overlooked piece of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Oh yeah… it’s the book cover. ;=
I think BMSketeer T. Gatto defended Foster best with:
1- This was intended to be a low budget adaptation to an, at the time, single movie of questionable success. Not a part of the major multi conglomerate expended universe Star Wars has become. If made into a film, I bet it would have had a somewhat better following, and several supporters willing to overlook its imperfections.
2- Look at most of the Sci-Fi literature from the 70’s, a little is great, some is good, much more is appalling , at least by today’s standards, where we are standing on the shoulders of giants. I used to love “Night Rider” and the “Six Million Dollar Man”, try watching them seriously now.
3- How much of the garbage we read and watch today, which is hailed by critics and fans alike, will only become a guilty pleasure later, after we come to see in retrospect just how mass media bad it really is ( “ID4”, and half of the original shows on the Sci-Fi channel come to mind).
Taken for what it is SOTME is just a story that needed major revision to hold up better (and if filmed Lucas surely would have made some needed changes).
I personally want to thank Alan Dean Foster for providing us much of the inspiration for this 40 strip parody.
Check out these cute Star Wars penguins sculpted by Penguonia webcomic author, Joseph G. His webcomic updates on Fridays and features the cute and often violent penguins and their ongoing Antarctic misadventures.
“I’ve mainly made these as gifts for other people, though the X-Wing Pilot and Jedi Penguins are mine. I didn’t get a photo of Penguin Vader, so years ago the guy that I gave it to took a couple of pictures of him for me, but his camera didn’t have a macro mode, so they came out a bit blurry.
Looking at them again I’m definitely going to have to try and remake the Jedi and X-Wing pilots though. Again, they were made years ago, and I like to hope my skills have improved since then. I made the penguin first as normal, then layered the outfit on top, which is why they look so fat. Out of them I think the Penguin Maul one looks best, so I should really tip the balance back with some better OT ones.”
Vader Did you knoooow???
This is one of your funniest strips yet, I felt like forciness really worked this time.
So Vader chopping off Luke’s hand in Empire is just payback, which Luke pays back later in Jedi?
Hope your surgery goes well (obviously it is to relieve the Carpel Tunnel Syndrome you contracted while typing today’s commentary).
BTW Love the penguins, bet they would have liked Hoth.
Glad you like them. I have been thinking about a Hoth cross-over/fan comic for a while now…
Great one Rod! If you finished with this it would have that great Monty Python feel. A sudden, anti-climactic ending; with an irreverent dispatching of the powerful, evil villain.
“Tremble before my awesome might… (trip) Oops.” THE END. NOW SOD OFF.
Hope everything calms down for you!! Take it easy for awhile!!!
Am I wrong in this? It seems in the original SOTME comic panel that Vader trips over his own arm and falls down a hole? That in of itself is funny :).
Nope. That is exactly what happens, hence my brief comment about it in the blog. It’s so unbelievably retarded.
Definitely. I have a feeling Vader ends up being so incompetent just because he wants to get back at Palpatine for ruining his life. Black metal armor & respirator and all. Who would be happy about something like that? Imagine the nosedive in your dating life…
Almost as if ADF was fed up with a project Lucas had lost interest in and thought:
“I think I’ll just totally take the piss now. Let’s see if Lucas even notices.”
Reading some of Alan Dean Foster’s other novels as a kid, I have the impression he was all right fleshing out someone else’s world, but struggled when asked to do his own stuff.
Vader tripping over his own arm does at least fit into the original idea of the Dark Side of the Force, where you tap into the universal rage. More raw power, but less useful in the end because it feeds upon itself. In the original novel I can see Vader being extremely pissed, so blind with rage he makes that screw-up.
In the end, it was just ADF trying to write a scene where Luke beats Vader, but leaves Vader alive to get away for another episode. Tough enough on its own, especially when trying to keep Vader more powerful than Luke. The one improvement ADF could have made, possibly, would have been to have Luke’s telekinesis powers finally work, so it becomes more Luke throwing the arm stump between Vader’s legs. But that’s neither here nor there.
As for the violence against women, yeah, it’s a cringeworthy part of the era, especially the thriller/spy genre like Clive Cussler. Anyone remember Nick Carter, or Remo Williams? We cringe now, but back then, it was so common we never noticed. We were just supposed to want to rescue the poor girl, I guess.
Actually, if I remember right, in the original novel he doesn’t trip over his own arm–he’s actually *tired*, as Luke has managed to hold out exceptionally well, along with cutting off his arm. He’s got his saber raised to make the final blow, starts to move forward and instead staggers to the side a bit–and then we have Vader go down the hoooooole.
Granted, the bit that happens to Luke just after is pretty silly anyway. 🙂
When you think aboout it – this is the only way this story CAN end. Nicely random.
I’m almost sorry to see this strip come to an end – it seemed SOTME had a rich vein of nonsense that you could have mined ad infinitum. That said – the folks baying for ESB wouldn’t be happy 🙂
So glad I joined this boat.
“mined ad infinitum” O.K. I worked midnight last night, lets lay off the big words and phrases I need a dictionary to understand! 😉
My pretentiousness knows no bounds.
Usotsuki da!
I’m a fraud?
Jodan da….. And I’m impressed anyone understood that.
That’s “Joking,” btw
Oh great;
Now, not only do I need a dictionary to understand, I need a Japanese one too. I might as well just drill another hole in my head now to relieve the pressure. I’ve only got about a dozen active, and surviving, brain cells until I get my breakfast, please quit pounding on them with a hammer! 😉
But on the flip side Robotech, Vampire Hunter D, Lone wolf and Cub, Appleseed, and the like, you can keep them coming. 🙂
I googled it – LOL. I’m probably wrong too 🙂
I’m even more impressed now.
Boy we are off topic. We should all be banned from posting, for at least 5 minutes. 😉
Ever get the Crumb carton made Neil? I have mine on the bottom of a pile, but I’ll get to it.
It’s my favorite to so far. (I also made a Dr. Doom, Freddy Kruger, Jason, and I’m working on Indiana Jones. I just need to find a place to post them, as they don’t really belong here. I guess I’ll have to start a face book account or something. First person who tries to get me on Farmville will be de-friended!
Indy could fit in. I mean, it is a Lucasarts thing, not to mention, he kinda fits in with Biggs. 🙂
Sorry, not yet, Mr. T. I got sickly, then my kids got sickly, then the whole house got sickly. Recovering now, so should be up and gluing before the week is out. 🙂
I remember my older brother acting out Vader’s final moments in the book for our amusement, stagger stagger left… stagger stagger right… trip, fall. This was 30 years ago. Parodying SOTME has a long history.
This was possbly the funniest sotme strip yet.
I heard the famous nooooooo in my head the whole way down.
You guys need an award.
I can’t believe Vader would trip on his own arm. Forciness fail! Having him dive in to save his coffee makes much more sense.
It really does!
Tripping over his own severed arm? After he picked up the weapon from mentioned arm ?
That is way too much retarded!
The BMS version gets the situation way better… who wouldn’t jump to get his Latte back? ;-P
Very retarded, however BMS makes much more sense thus i agree with you completely.
I would jump off a cliff for a Latte, why not Vader?
I like your user name. %-)
It makes even less sense in the novel that Vader falls at all. Didn’t he just used levitation when he tried to electrocute Luke just some minutes beforehand? Or does that force power needs some mumbo-jumbo beforehand to work at all?
We never know as it’s the novel plunging to death into its well deserved mega-plothole – and not Vader.
At least I CANNOT accept that they would have killed off Vader in such a cheap fashion.
On the other hand – they wasted the only cool character in Episode One by slicing him in half and let him fall down a shaft…
Wow, if I were a villain / hero in the SW universe I would avoid shafts or great heights at all costs… Darth Maul, Mace Windu, Luke (well, he didn’t die but almost), Palpatine. Not to count for all the Stormtroopers “finding the lack of railing disturbing”.
Vader’s (current) coffee mug isn’t gone for good, is it? And what I never understood is why Vader never even tried to use his signature Force choke on Luke. He hasn’t even received any real Jedi training yet; he’d be defenseless against it!
I know it has been mentioned before but I just love the “Monty-Python-ishness” of the last panel!
Y’know, this is a really stupid ending. I’m just gonna’ say it right now.
SoTME is shit. Completely.
I’d say Tarkin interrogated Lea quite brutaly by blowing up Alderaan, didn’t he? It must have been realy painfull for her to see all those people dying – perhaps even more painfull than the interrogation of Vader.
Yes, you can rationalize an explanation for it like that. I thought of that too. The problem is that its pretty clear that’s not what Vader is referring to. Occam’s Razor and all that. The simplest explanation is the most likely ie Vader was literally referring to her literal interrogation in the prison cells.
A new thought: if you want to take this as canon, consider that Vader might also be messing with her head, trying to make her think she remembered it wron- nah, it doesn’t work either. The part about Luke I can understand, as he says his spies told him so it might be bad info from the spy network playing Telephone. But this? Come on, the guy even ghost-wrote the novelization!
I guess the only fig leaf he has left is that this was before the War on Drugs.
Actually, the only thing that makes sense about the entire novel is that Leia has PTSD. She’s pretty classic about it–constantly pissed off, freaked out at memories, screaming when confronted with a mild trigger…Vader is *intentionally* triggering her memories of being tortured. Actually doing the whole villain thing for a change.
Yeah, I guess at least her beef with Vader is sort of acknowledged in Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. She had a lot to settle with him… and it’s stuff that is never acknowledged in Empire or Return. Let’s make a list: Alderaan, her adoptive parents’ death, her friends and people’s deaths, the world she knew, her torture at his hands… Not to mention that he was every bit as much her father as he was Luke’s. So the fact the trilogy makes it all Luke’s story just shows how god damn weak it was to throw that sibling twist in so suddenly into Return of the Jedi. Remember, it was only done to up the emotional stakes during Luke’s confrontation with Vader, but it completely fails to realize the consequences for Leia. Star Wars should have been just as much her story as Luke’s, especially given that she ends up being his sister. Star Wars is NOT perfect by a long chalk. Fortunately the thrill ride does a good job of blinding us to these questions.
“Darth Vader has fallen to a painful, clumsy death.”
I love that he tripped over his own arm in the book/comic. Too hilariously awful.
I figured the Dark Lord could just stock up on these now that he’s lost his latte: http://goo.gl/5ZVcB
Hey, wait a minute. Where’s nekkid Leia? I want my money back.
What money? *grabs and runs away*
The penguins happen to be humorously ironic right now – I am watching “Happy Feet” as we speak (er, write … read … whatever … )
😉
I have that recorded on my digibox from last year, and I still haven’t watched it…
He…TRIPPED…over his own arm. Wow. Just wow. Lucky for george lucas this never came out.
Now that was a nice surprise to see some of my penguins at the bottom of the page today! And thanks for the website plug 🙂 Interesting to see that the whole arm chopping off routine was still in there at that stage. I wonder if that came from George Lucas or ADF? Also good to see Vader’s cheesy “Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” in there too 🙂
Y’know I almost think the comic version of Vader is more BMS than BMS Vader going after his latte. Perhaps in the book, he would have been so desperate to get that Kaiburr crystal he plunges to his “death” to get it. I just see BMS Vader being so clumby that he trips on his own latte mug. But it’s still a terrific ending; I laughed all night over it.
Whatever.
Wait a minute, I thought Luke was “taken over by the spirit of Obi-Wan”. Doesn’t he even have a quote in there to the tune of “I AM Obi-Wan!” Then Vader falls into the pit, and then Luke does this, I’m gonna lie on top of Leia and gyrate while letting the powers of the crystal flow thru me to bring her back to life….
Or did I misread it the last time?
Yeah. Skipped it because I just didn’t feel the production time vs laugh factor would be worth it. It was a weird moment though.
Yeah. It was kind of a WTF moment wasn’t it.
WTF? How come I don’t remember THAT?
Gosh, Lucas MUST’ve had all these vader “nooo!” times from the EU non-film/tv media evetn where you can’t hear any sounds, in mind when he created that ending in Ep III… Sure makes it alot better to read :3
Rod, I have an Idea for a poll;
Why do you think George Lucas altered the Cantina Scene, in episode IV, to make Greedo shoot before Han?
1- Because the films are really made for kids, and a having Han shoot first was not heroic enough.
2- Because Han shooting first is not politically correct.
3- Because he really believes it better fits the characters or the overall story.
4- Just to see if he could do it and/or what the response would be.
5- To create controversy (which often sells more tickets or DVD’s).
6- Other ________________________________________________.
7- So that “Blue Milk Special” would have a good reason to do a “Spaghettooine” story.
I like it!
Hmm… couldn’t really decide…
See, Han is a complete asshole at the start of Episode IV and transforms veeery slowly to something you could call a hero – right at the end of the movie when he rained on Vaders parade in the deathstar trench.
Shooting Greedo first could have raised some eyebrows but it wasn’t the time back then. Han whacks bad guys. Good enough. A million people die in the death star explosion. Bad guys anyway. Political correctness is conceived at a later moment in time.
So it’s suddenly not okay for Han to shoot first. So edit => special edition => old fans flabberghasted, new “politcal correct” parents happy. Credibility gone, much money raked in, give shit => Profit!
Don’t you mean Han was a likeable asshole, like Downey’s Tony Stark?
He certainly seems to fit that stereotype.
He is more asshole at the start of the movie than Tony Stark’s ever been. Early Tony Stark seemed more the combination spoiled brat/genius/profiteer who happened to sell death to the highest bidder while Han was formed by the Empire and the harsh life of a smuggler in a deadly universe.
Though Han is a dirty version of the classical heroic rogue (better: a cutthroat), he is kind of “on the better side of things” as his adversaries are unmistakenly more evil, corrupt and greedy (“Greedo”, what an coincidence) …aaand he happens to side with the good guys – for a price.
Han’s main problem is a soft spot somewhere in his badass facade that got the better of his common sense (Got kicked out of Imperial Academy for helping a goddamn Wookie! Joined the hopeless crusade of the rebels!).
It’s almost like he is a sociopath with a special kind of Tourette syndrome : being accidentally a good guy when it kicks in.
The audience doesn’t care : Han joins the rebels, fights the Empire and *bam!* he is a good guy.
Don’t mind the harsh words; I am not mad at anyone and still a fan of SW and BMS.
Maybe I’m a bit in a troll mood. 😉
He. Tripped. Over. His. Own. Arm. Bwa Ha Ha! Suddenly the Holiday Special doesn’t seem so bad. This feels like the author was either late with the assignment and rushed the ending, or was just tired and wanted to go to bed.
I’m pretty sure everyone just heard the Episode 3 “No” in their head just there. XD
of course vader would jump down a hole to recover his latte