Thunder BB8

A View to a Starkiller

Holocron Crystals Are Forever

On Her Worshipfulness’ Secret Service

The Sith Who Loved Me

That line alone sold me on the movie.

Does West Side Story borrow from Romeo & Juliet? Sure, but that doesn’t preclude it from being able to stand as a work on its own. You can’t own ideas (under copyright law), only their expressions.

We probably shouldn’t, but I think it still informs most people’s book-buying habits. It’s not entirely a bad thing for a reader to seek out what they’re comfortable with, but it can be hard for an author to bust out of those literary ghettos. I often think it’s easier for someone who’s established a rep as a literary…

You don’t remember all the themes of duty vs. loyalty and exploration vs. militarization that get tossed out the window in favour of messy action scenes and misguided fanservice once Khan starts capping Klingons?

Admiral Robocop was exploiting Kirk’s grief at Pike’s death. If Kirk had a moral objection to attacking an uninvolved party at that moment—or even a legal one, like “Has the Federation’s civilian leadership signed off on an attack against a people we’re not currently at war with?”—he could have voiced it to the…

No, that’s the last part of the movie that has a point. Kirk is so fired up for revenge on one guy, he considers bombarding a civilization the Federation doesn’t like very much but had nothing to do with his crimes, just because he’s been told the guy is there. You couldn’t get a more on-the-nose metaphor for the War…

Well, technically they didn’t recognize him until the historian put the pieces together, Khan confirmed it, and then they looked him up in the ship’s database (I don’t understand why they didn’t do that in STID). Then they had their lightbulb moment and said, “Right, that guy!”

That, and the theme of duty vs. loyalty between Kirk & Spock gave me hope STID could have been a good movie. Even if they had come back to it somehow, like if Spock had to defy orders to save Kirk’s life instead of just punching some guy, it might have saved the story.

Because the moment he reveals he’s Khan, the movie turns from a promising film to a terrible one?

Justin Lin has said they’re essentially ignoring Into Darkness, and if Beyond is decent I’ll be perfectly happy to consign STID to the dustbin like the other crappy Trek films.

It’s fun whenever the main cast is allowed to interact with each other. As soon as CumberKhan and the Marcuses come crashing in to remind us of the stupid main plot, the fun leaves the room.

Ah, sorry, you were referring to the date of the pitch, not the publication of Heir to the Empire! My apologies.

I suppose it would defend on your definition of “materialism”. I’m using the definition often used in the philosophy of science, i.e. that modern science takes the view that all phenomena are subject to the laws of nature and can be defined by them, even if we as a species don’t understand all of them yet. E.g.,…

The first edition predates the Zahn trilogy by a couple of years. Wookiepedia claims Zahn was sent a box of WEG supplements by Lucasfilm when he was commissioned to write the trilogy. The second edition must have been released in anticipation of the Zahn books.

The US military did explore similar directions...