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SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE constitutes one of
the largest tie-in events in the Star Wars Extended Universe: It
featured simultaneous releases of a novel, comic books, video
games, and even a specially-commissioned soundtrack, along with
ancillary releases including action figures, trading cards, and
the like. Multiple, interlocking stories between the three
mediums aimed to tell the untold saga of the events between the
end of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI.
The opening of Steve Perry's novel
exercises an interesting conceit to both hook the reader into
the action and immediately cement the legitimacy of this
"missing chapter": His prologue begins with the
conversation between Darth Vader and the Emperor in EMPIRE
STRIKES BACK. But rather than viewing the conversation from
Vader's end of the holographic communication (as we did in the
film), Perry flips to the other end of the line and shows us
what's happening just off-screen as the Emperor speaks with
Vader.
(Ironically, Lucas decided to re-script
this entire scene for his "extra special" DVD edition
of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Ten years from now we'll have ignorant
Star Wars fanboys reading SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE in college and
wondering why Steve Perry couldn't get the lines right.)
I found that this opening worked for the
length of the conversation, but then did something of a pratfall
as it wrapped up. The problem is that, throughout the
conversation, Perry necessarily shows us Lucas' use of
heightened language: "The Force is strong with him. The son
of Skywalker must not become a Jedi." But once the
conversation wraps up, Perry finds himself needing to script
some original dialogue for the Emperor. What do we get?
"Now, where were we, Prince Xizor?" Chatty cliche.
The book's ability to convince me that I
was actually reading the events between the films went down hill
from there. For example, early in the novel we get a lengthy
explanation that Chewbacca won't leave Leia's side because Han
told him to look after the Princess and Chewie owes Han a
life-debt. This would make a lot more sense, of course, if the
last scene in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK didn't involve Lando and
Chewbacca flying off in the Millennium Falcon... leaving the
Princess behind.
There's always been an open question in my
mind about what, exactly, the plan conceived off-screen at the
end of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was. It involved Lando and Chewbacca
going to Tatooine as an advance team, with Luke and Leia
following later. Somewhere along the line, that plan shifted --
with Lando infiltrating Jabba's palace; Chewbacca teaming up
with Leia; Luke providing mop-up; and R2-D2 inserted as an
insurance policy. Apparently, rather than describing how that
plan developed, Perry has decided to simply ignore the
continuity of the films altogether. Which, in an effort like
this, leaves one wondering: What was the point again?
(Perry also manages to screw up the
continuity at the other end of the book, too, having the Emperor
leave for the second Death Star about a week before Vader does,
rather than the other way around.)
These little inconsistencies are strewn all
over the book. For example, Perry also claims that Leia was
present on the Millenium Falcon for the conversation in A NEW
HOPE which took place on the hyperspace journey between Tatooine
and Alderaan (when Leia was, in fact, still imprisoned on the
Death Star).
And the problem is that, when the little
details are wrong like this, it becomes impossible to accept
Perry's larger leaps. If he can't even get Chewie's continuity
to track, why would I accept his revelation of Prince Xizor, an
Imperial servant wielding as much power as Darth Vader himself?
(It doesn't help that Perry can't seem to grip Vader's
character. Vader as petulant, sulky, and sarcastic isn't a
portrayal that works for me.)
Perry's inability to execute this novel
effectively is so frustrating, in part, because there are some
big ideas here which could have been so right if they'd
been done well. For example, the reptilian Prince Xizor -- cold
and precise in all things -- is conceptually a perfect
counterpoint to Darth Vader's essentially emotional nature.
Putting Leia in a position where her newfound love for Han is
put to the test is dramatically perfect for this transitional
period in the saga. The emotional confusion of both Luke and
Leia as they grope to understand the true nature of the love and
bond between them is very well done.
Unfortunately, there's those pesky details.
And it's not just a matter of those details sometimes being
distracting, it's also a matter of those details frequently
sabotaging the strongest elements in the novel:
If Prince Xizor actually was the
coldly calculating, fiendishly clever, incredibly subtle
crimelord that the novel keeps claiming he is, then he'd be a
villain capable of standing toe-to-toe with Darth Vader. But
when it comes time to show us the actual details of Xizor's
cunning plans and machinations, what we actually see is
irrational, illogical, and frequently thuggish. (Of course,
Vader himself isn't particularly up-to-snuff, either. In one
scene he'll be amazed at the Emperor's ability to see a hidden
truth with nothing but the Force to aid him. In the next, he'll
be apishly destroying video cameras in an attempt to keep the
Emperor from seeing a hidden truth.)
If Leia's love for Han were actually
put to the test, you'd have some interesting drama and character
development: A crucible from which Leia's love could emerge
stronger and purer than before. Instead, Perry just slips her
some date rape drugs.
I also found the "revelation"
that the Bothan spy mission which uncovered the existence of the
Death Star was actually carried out primarily by Luke Skywalker
to be fairly insipid. One of the things which made the original
trilogy of movies special was the implied depth of the universe:
There were things happening in the galaxy which didn't
directly involve the main characters. The Bothan spy mission was
a prime example of that, and "revealing" that it was
Luke Skywalker all along doesn't add depth to the Star Wars saga
-- it cheapens it.
There's also the problem that the main plot
of the novel makes no sense: Vader wants Luke captured alive so
that he can convert him to the dark side. Xizor wants Luke
killed in order to thwart Vader, his rival. The problem? Well,
simply having Xizor say, "I wanna thwart Vader just
'cause!" is kinda weak and relatively pointless. So Perry
tries to raise the stakes by having Xizor set things up so that
it will look like Vader had Luke killed. Why? Because
Vader promised the Emperor that he would deliver Luke alive; so
if it looks like Vader killed Luke, instead, the Emperor is
going to be pissed off at Vader.
The only problem here is that Vader did
not, in fact, promise the Emperor that he would deliver Luke
alive. What he actually says is: "He will join us or die,
Master." And, in fact, the Emperor wanted Luke dead from
the get-go; Vader was the one who suggested the possibility that
he might be turned instead. Xizor, remember, knows this because
he watched the whole conversation.
So you've got an Emperor who wanted Luke
dead, but is willing to entertain the possibility that he might
be turned into an asset. Why, exactly, would killing Luke piss
the Emperor off?
And you've got Vader who just got done
convincing the Emperor that Luke might be more valuable alive
than dead. Why, exactly, does Xizor think it would be
believable, in any way, to make it look like Vader then promptly
turned around and ordered Luke's assassination?
Xizor's plan is just stupid. Which is the
problem with most of the plans in this novel:
Attacking an Imperial outpost because Boba
Fett's ship is docked there may make some kind of sense. Failing
to (a) anticipate that Boba Fett might simply fly away in his
ship; or (b) keeping some kind of look-out to track him if he
does fly away... that's stupid.
Arranging for the destruction of a rival's
shipyard in order to send a message to their leadership that
you're not going to tolerate them honing in on your territory
makes sense. Of course, it makes more sense if you didn't
simultaneously dispatch your top assassin to kill the
organization's entire leadership.
Failing to learn a vital piece of
information until it's too late for you to do anything about it
does not constitute a devious plan on your part. No, the fact
that your rival also found out about it too late to do
anything about it doesn't make it devious, either. And, no,
cackling into the narrative camera isn't going to change
anything.
Other bits of stupidity:
- Leia's top secret password for receiving
secret intel is "Alderaan". (It will no doubt baffle
the Imperial crypto-analysis teams for weeks.)
- Leia is baffled that Vader isn't
disguising his interest in tracking down Luke. (Because after
confronting Luke directly on
Cloud
City
, chopping off his hand, and telling everyone involved that his
real goal was luring Luke to him, it would make perfect sense
for Vader to suddenly start pretending that he has no interest
in Luke.)
- I never knew this before, but apparently
Vader hates subterfuge and deceit. (Did Perry even watch EMPIRE
STRIKES BACK?)
- Leia goes to considerable effort and
calls in a life-debt to confirm that Prince Xizor runs the Black
Sun crime syndicate. Once she's done that, she says: "Well,
it seems as if that much of X's story is true." The only
problem? X didn't tell her that. Lando did. (And it proves
nothing. If I said, "I'm the Vice President of the
United States
. The President of the
United States
is George W. Bush and he would like to meet with you." You
couldn't prove the veracity of my statements by calling in a
life-debt to confirm that George W. Bush is, in fact, the
President of the
United States
.)
- The introduction of cross-species mating
to the Star Wars universe seems a trifle Trekish.
- Princess Leia's inner voice will be
played this week by none other than... Queen Latifah.
- If you're in a large high-rise building
full of work-a-day stiffs, you should feel absolutely no
compunction about blowing the building to kingdom come. After
all, the guy who owns the building is a crook -- so anyone
working in the building must be equally complicit. The building
is in the middle of an incredibly crowded urban area? Well, all
for the better. After all, anyone living anywhere near a
building owned by a crook deserves to die.
- The Rebel Alliance
does not, in fact, have any problem dropping military vessels
into orbit around Coruscant, blowing a bunch of stuff up, and
then leaving again. The Imperial navy won't even bother
responding to activity like that.
- The Empire has a holonet which stretches
from one side of the galaxy to the other... but Coruscant
doesn't have a communication network that will let you place a
phone call to any point beyond the planetary horizon.
In the end, the novel's very structure
fragments. Scenes become shorter and shorter, until -- finally
-- they're little more than three-paragraph segues of disjointed
action. Under those conditions it becomes impossible for Perry
to maintain any kind of character development or plotting. The
short, staccato beats of his narrative become a discordant mess.
GRADE: D-
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