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3.5 stars rounded up to four.

My memories were correct; this is the best written of the original trilogy novelizations. That doesn't mean it's great literature. After all, the bar was set pretty low with the first two installments. But if you read a novelization of a movie expecting prose that will knock you off your feet, you're asking to be disappointed. Still, there was nothing in here that made me roll my eyes... well, too much. At least there was nothing that made me wince. This is good because Mr. Kahn also wrote one of the Indiana Jones novelizations I have on deck.

Almost every change in the final cut of the movie is an improvement over the screenplay which is what this book was based on, but there are a couple of minor scenes I wish they had left in involving the Emperor. He questions Luke about who taught him after Obi-Wan died. After he discovers it was Yoda, he kind of mocks him using Yoda's object-subject-verb sentence structure for a couple of lines. It was a nice touch. And while we're on the subject, why couldn't the greatest Jedi of all time learn to form a simple declarative sentence?



The Emperor also orders Jerjerrod to use the Death Star to destroy the moon of Endor if the shield goes down. He does this in front of Luke to make him angrier, but he's serious about the order and is just fine with all the imperials on the planet getting blown to perdition along with the rebels. Jerjerrod almost pulls it off, but Lando and Wedge blow up the Death Star in the nick of time. That plot twist was a nice touch, and I would like to have seen it in the movie. Another scene I'd like to have seen was Luke constructing his new lightsaber in Obi-Wan's old hut on Tatooine before sending Artoo and Threepio on their quest to Jabba's palace, though I can see why it was left out. It doesn't really fit in well, and going from Vader landing on the Death Star to the droids walking the desert works great. The lightsaber thing was just another nice touch.

But the rest of the stuff getting left out was just fine. A lot of the early scenes with the Ewoks (Leia meeting Wicket, the others getting captured, then released, then explaining the Rebellion and the universe to the Ewoks, etc.) are extensively expanded. These stayed on the cutting room floor which is right where they need to be. We also get Vader's and Luke's inner thoughts and struggles, though I wish we didn't. It makes Vader much less hardcore, and Luke more wishy-washy. I always assumed Luke had gotten over all that silliness between Empire and this story, and it's easy to make that assumption if you stick with the movies. In fact, all of the characters are better in the movies, mostly due to the actors who portrayed them including the five puppeteers who operated Jabba.

(Side note: I found out about the puppeteers a few years later on some TV documentary. I assumed they were all still in the costume when Jabba's sail barge blew up, and I wondered how the producers could let five people die just to make a movie... I was a rather stupid child.)

And now for some more movie talk. (Book review is over; these are just some memories I feel like dropping here.) This wasn't the first movie I saw in the theater (that honor belongs to E.T.), but it's definitely the one that made the biggest impression on my youth. In fact, it might be safe to say it made the biggest impression on me of any movie I've ever seen in the theater in my entire life. I was only four years old, and I remember the experience clearly. Mama and daddy took me, and I had to sit on one of our orange sofa pillows, or maybe even both of them, to see over the seat in front of me. Jabba was the best thing I had ever seen until I saw the Rancor. I tried to make my lips purse out as long as Sy Snootles', because why not?


"Kiss me, you fool."

And if I'd had my way, would've been in the Billboard top 40. I was so enthralled with the speeder bike chase that I actually felt like I was flying through the woods myself when I watched it. (I guess being in a big theater can have that affect on a little tyke.) Then there was the piece de resistance:



I've been trying to learn this skill for the past 39 years ever since I saw it, and if you ever see me with a scowl on my face and pointing all my fingers at you, you better believe I'm frying your ass in my mind.

I've never been a super fan of the Ewoks, even when I first saw them, though I know they were geared towards someone my age, but I've also never disliked them. I used to like the two Ewok movies when I was a lad (The Ewok Adventure [later called Caravan of Courage] and The Battle for Endor). Mama found them on DVD several years ago, but I've not been brave enough to try them again. I have a feeling they both actually suck, and I don't want to make that discovery since I watched them all the time back in the day (hallelujah for VCRs). Hell, the second one stars Wilford Brimley, so how good could it possibly be?


"I may not be able to use the force, but only I can save the Ewoks from diabeetus."

What the hell am I talking about? I seem to be setting forth on one of my typical digressions. My apologies.

Anyway, just like I state in my other reviews for this series, just watch the movie instead of reading the book unless you're a die hard Star Wars fan. This book adds more than the others, but I'm not sure if it was worth adding.