chat corner 107: Dark Disciple

[annathecrow]

Welcome to the Monday chat corner!

This week, the topic is “Dark Disciple”, the unused TCW script turned novel about Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Voss.

You know the drill by now: have you read it? Did you like it? Any other thoughts?

As an alternative discussion topic (I’m aware I’m dragging out increasingly obscure stories as times go on): characters that appear across different stories, and how they (don’t) change. Do you have any feelings about that? R2 is in everything (oh the implications), the Sequels are sure a thing (and so is the entire post-OT EU, of course), and I’ve just learned there’s an EU book where Anakin Skywalker teams up with Nejaa Halcyon and excuse me, that’s a trip.

(This is of course inspired by Quinlan Vos, AKA the SW patron saint of getting a complete personality transplant via adaptation.)

 

Comments

[havendale]

It’s been quite a while since I read Dark Disciple, but I recall being a bit disappointed by what felt like a narrative choice to kill off Asajj in order to further Quinlan’s story. That said, I did like the end in which it’s made clear that despite all the dreadful things Quinlan has done, the Jedi are still allowing him a chance to atone and redeem himself.

On the subject of characters who change from one story to the next, I was recently reading Alan Dean Foster’s novelisation of ANH, which was written before the film came out, and I was both bewildered and intrigued by the depiction of Emperor Palpatine as a figurehead controlled by his own bureaucrats.

[yourlibrarian]

Just as a sidenote since I haven't read DD but did read the ANH novelization. I'm disappointed to hear that about Asajj as I hoped to see her appear in the new shows.

My memory of the novelization is now vague, but I recall finding it incredibly enlightening about different parts of the film which had seemed rather confusing -- as if there were scenes or exposition missing. The movie only truly made sense to me after the book.

[annathecrow]

Oh, yep, that's precisely the reason I don't plan to read Dark Disciple, I really dislike it when women's deaths are used to drive the men's stories (ahem, both Padmé and Shmi), and it seems so blatant in DD.

I haven't read the ANH novelization yet, but that's really interesting! In my last ANH rewatch, I've been thinking a lot about the story hooks that get dropped, and how differently I might have interpreted them if I've only saw that one movie. Might be an interesting fanfic idea, actually...

[havendale]

I mean, if Maul and Palpatine can come back from the dead, with any luck Asajj can too!

The novelisation does a lot of gap-filling, I think. ANH struck me as fairly fast-paced, whereas the novel is a bit slower and has more time to spend exploring the GFFA.

[havendale]

It is an unfortunate trend in Star Wars, isn’t it? I’m still a bit grouchy about Satine’s death, too.

That’s an interesting idea about looking at ANH by itself! I’ve been slowly making my way through the post-ANH, pre-ESB Marvel comics, and it’s such a different-feeling universe than what we ended up with.