From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars)

From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars) by Austin Walker, Hank Green, Tracy Deonn , Martha Wells, Mark Oshiro, Seth Dickinson, Tom Angleberger, S.A. Chakraborty, Mike Chen, Adam Christopher, Zoraida Córdova, Delilah S. Dawson, Alexander Freed, Jason Fry, Christie Golden, Rob Hart, E. K. Johnston, Lydia Kang, Michael Kogge, R.F. Kuang, C.B. Lee, Mackenzi Lee, John Jackson Miller, Michael Moreci, Daniel José Older, Amy Ratcliffe, Beth Revis, Lilliam Rivera, Cavan Scott, Emily Skrutskie, Karen Strong, Anne Toole, Catherynne M. Valente, Django Wexler, Kiersten White, Gary Whitta, Brittany N. Williams, Charles Yu and Jim Zub

This is a collection of short stories from other "points of view" covering the events of The Empire Strikes Back. Some cover relatively anonymous characters, while others give viewpoints of the main characters. It is essentially a collection of fan-fiction written by a number of big names in science fiction. There are a large number of authors and narrators in the collection. the stories range in quality and length. I enjoyed some that tried to tell the story from the point of view of random "extras". There is the rebel fighter or the person merely working their job for the empire. The stories have obviously been written with modern points of view. (Very interesting that a culture a long time ago seems to evolve with our society today.) There are also bits from the view of "creatures" and main characters. Some of the stories even overlap, giving different views of similar stories.

The Princess Diarist

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher has been forever typecast as Princess Leah. She had the role when she was young, and has had very few other well known roles. She can use that to make money when needed. In this book, she explores some experiences she had recorded when making Star Wars. It was on a small budget, and nobody knew how big it would. A lot of the time is spent on her proto-affair with Harrison Ford. It is a relatively short book without a lot of substancee.

The World According to Star Wars

Cass Sunstein draws understanding of the world based on the story of Star Wars, while also delving into why Star Wars succeeded. There are a lot of different views presented, with favor given to some, but little concrete decisions made. (For example, a "Christian" interpretation of Star Wars makes more sense than that of the Empire being the "desired good".) 

The success of Star Wars is also explored. It was not expected to be a very popular movie, yet it had extremely good word of mouth. Eventually, the popularity was part of the news. Was Star Wars popular because it was the right movie at the right time? Was it just a really good movie? Or was it just luck that caused a few influencers to like it, leading to a snowball of popularity?

The book was written shortly after The Force Awakens was written. There was an afterward that mentioned the remaining 3rd trilogy (along with Rogue One, but not the Han Solo movie.) There is little attention to the vast expansion of the franchise under Disney. It is mentioned, but the greater focus is on George Lucas's vision and how it was influenced and how it was carried out. Our "favorite" Star Wars movies tend to change over time and is influenced on other opinions. I had previously preferred Return of the Jedi. Later, Empire Strikes Back became my favorite. I liked Phantom Menace when I first watched it. Later, I found myself starting to sour on the prequel trilogy. Then I reassessed and decided they were among my favorites. I enjoyed Force Awakens, but then soured on the Disney trilogy. Rogue One was challenging. The movie was good. However, the music was just not quite right. How much has this been me following public opinion versus my personal opinion? Star Wars has played such a role in our society that this can be discussed.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Rougue One takes place immediately before the first Star Wars movie (A New Hope.) We see a society that still has degenerated under imperial control, yet still has some bits of republic and Jedi remaining. The Republic has for all intents and purposes fallen, yet people still cling to the hope that it is still functioning. The Rebel Alliance is for the most part solidified, yet still has some splinter groups. In this backdrop, we have the valiant quest to uncover the Death Star plans to be able to uncover its weakness and save the galaxy.

The story is fairly exciting and feels like a decent middle ages war movie. However, it tries too hard to not be a "star wars" movie. The opening credits lacked a star wars crawl or anthem. (Even clone wars cartoons had this!) The music as a whole was just a little bit off. You could feel bits of Star Wars motifs, but they didn't seem right. Only the Imperial March and closing credits pieces felt right. This was the first score not made by John Williams, so that may have accounted for some of the differences. However, I think there may have been a further deliberate effort to be "outside the canon". The casting also felt like a blatant attempt to pander to ethnic groups, while still falling victim to stereotypes. (There is an Asian character! However, he is a blind monk who is an expert at martial arts.) There were also cameos from characters in the other movies. R2D2 and C3PO felt fine. Darth Vader felt a little off. Some of the human characters looked pretty good - in spite of being CGI assisted.

The movie ended moments before the start of Episode IV. There is never any doubt that they will succeed. (That would put a sever kink in the Star Wars storyline.) However, there are plenty of suspenseful moments. (Though it may be better if a few of the more manufactured ones were left out.) A new droid provides the best comic lines. The human leads have some complexity to them as they struggle between individual and group needs. However, there are few surefire action figures. We also get a large scale destruction inflicted by the death star. It would be nice to come up with another evil force to fight against, but I'll give this one a pass since the whole point is to still the plans for the weapon. I did like the scene where are heroes get to make peace with each other as they witness the end of the world. Their place in the Star Wars universe is now complete and we can go on to wait for the next rehash. Disney owns Star Wars and they know how to milk things for all they are worth, playing on nostalgia and blowing up lots of things. It can keep you occupied for a bit, but leaves you wanting in the end.

Darth plagueis

Darth Plagueis takes place before "Phantom Meance". Plagueis is the Sith mentor of Darth Sideous, who would later become Emperor Palpatine. He works hard to overcome death. But in the end, he is defeated by  his own apprentice, right before he becomes chanecelor. When you live by the duplicity,  you die by it also.

Attack of the clones

Attack of the Clones is the "love story" interlude in the second Star Wars trilogy. In the novelization, there are a number of details that help clear up some early parts of the movie. The movie is not as operatic as the final film, but instead contains a lot of action that sets up the final showdown. The duplicity of the emperor is in full force.