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Star Wars history question
Terranah
Member UncommonPosts: 3,575
Hey guys/ladies,
I've read over 100 Star Trek novels over the years, but that doesn't help me at all with Star Wars. Like most people on the planet, I've watched all the movies...many times. But I had a couple questions for people well read in the Star Wars universe.
1) Why is technology from TOR era and A New Hope look so similar? In another post, someone said TOR is 4000 years in the past, so I am assuming there must have been a dark ages or something when tech went backwards or stagnated? Perhaps it was something like our Medieval period after the fall of the Roman Empire?
2) I've noticed different novel series based in the Star Wars universe. Is there one of those series that stands out above the rest and/or is there a series that you think is good to start off with?
Thanks in advance.
Comments
was too busy podracing to advance technologically
I wouldn't be surprised. It looks fun!
1) Star Wars isnt about the technology. There is really little scientific explanation how most of it works. But for me.... This is really personal opinion more then anything else. But I think its because they hit the wall on technology. They got to the point where they couldnt go any further. So everything is just the same tech with different window dressing.
2) The best series to start with has to be the Heir to the Empire trilogy. It was the first big book series in the Star Wars universe and I really think saved the universe from dust. But if you want to get to know the TOR world more.... Well you should check out Revan, Deceived, and Fatal Alliance. They are kind of precursors to the TOR storyline.
Hope this helps
Kai
To your third question. It is all a continuing story. After each trilogy or book, a new author will add onto it or start a new story but keep what was added in the last book's or previous book's. I would say start after the return of the jedi and go from there. Most of the book's will have a referene on where to start and how to compete it.
Edit: hmm wonder why there where three questions lol anyway's yeah.
most of the books I read are new republic and onwards but If I was to say why more than likely its because the war. The empire taking over the galaxy has bound to put a damper on these sort of things.. Although the Death Star is pretty amazing technical achievement if you ask me. Also you can't really judge from just the movies. If IV,V, and VI were made today you would see a lot more technology in the movies. The re-releases of those movies showed little glimses here and there but without completely changing the locations and making it a whole new movie theres only so much they could of done.
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/339443/Video-FollowUp-Guide-For-Enhancing-Graphics-and-Performance-in-SWTORSorry-still-Nvidia-Only.html
Mostly this but some book series are stand alone but set on certian time frames.
The bounty hunter series for instance happens shortly after Episode 6 (the movie) yet its pretty much a stand alone trilogy. There are a few sets like that.
for books i like the story right after epsidoe VI although its been awhile since I read them
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_books
that shows all the books and timeline for them
oh and Shadows of the Empire which takes place between episode V and VI is a great one
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/339443/Video-FollowUp-Guide-For-Enhancing-Graphics-and-Performance-in-SWTORSorry-still-Nvidia-Only.html
1. Trying to apply logical historical narratives to fantasy isn't a good idea. I'm sure some will explain it away by saying there was a "dark ages" of some sort, but honestly... it's a fantasy series that has spaceships, magic, laser guns and light sabers. Trying to logically make sense of it is just going to give you a headache.
2. Rogue Squadron has always been my favorite. Not that many Jedi's, mostly just Wedge Antilles with a crew of special forces type of characters.
The Darth Bane trilogy, by Bioware's own Drew Karpryshyn, who also was lead writer for KOTOR, and the Mass Effect series, and had a hand in some of SWTOR's wriging as well.
Probably three of the best Star Wars books ever written.
Most of the development and technology in Star Wars really hinges on the history and implementation of the Hyperdrive.
And a lot of technology simply wasn't needed over time, and was forgotten about, such as Cortosis armor and melee weapons.
In the time of the movie series, for example, there were not enough force users around for people to bother lacing their gear with Cortosis. The extra credits weren't worth it to guard against a legend.
You might also be interested in historical events such as The Great Hyperspace War, and some of the other apocolyptic events that helped shape the Star Wars galaxy.
they just want the technology to remind us of what we already know to be "Star Warsy" from the original movies...it's not a history thing, it's an imagery thing. It was never mean to depict a technological time period.
1) Well, the real reason is that they wanted to keep the same atmosphere, but didn't want the restrictions of the movie timeline. However, there were many major battles that would have set one or both factions back to a point where they had to rediscover/reinvent things. Both Jedi and Sith were nearly wiped out at times. It was actually Jedi that were responsible for the resurgence of the Sith. Plus, some one once suggested that they may have simply hit a technology wall where they could not, or had no reason to, advance past.
2) If you want to get into things for the game, you might want to focus on books that focus on the Old Republic Era. First, you may actually want to start with the SWTOR site (when it comes back up, it is down for maintenance, atm). They have a short timeline video that helps set things up. They also have an online graphic novel that is a prequel to the game called "Threat of Peace".
When their site comes back up:
Timeline video
Threat of Peace
Someone mentioned Deceived, Fatal Alliance, and Revan. Those books are set in the heart of The old Republic.
The Darth Bane books are good, though they are set near the end of the Old Republic Era, and cover the Sith change to the Rule of Two. Very good books from a Sith perspective.
There are the Lost Tribe of the Sith books by John Jackson Miller. They are free Kindle books that you can download for free on Amazon. If you don't have a kindle you can download the kindle app for your computer or smartphone.
There are also the Knights of the Old Republic graphic novels, and the Star Wars "Essential guides". I see the Jedi vs Sith one mentioned a lot, though i have never read it.
You could also play the Knights of the old Republic games.
I thought about it and I think it is largely due to many of the factors already mentioned. From a lore standpoint:
1) The people and representatives of the republic have shown that they're not exactly super bright. They applauded Palpatine as he stole their freedom and liberty. If people are so quick and eager to turn over their freedom for a sense of security, then it speaks to their character. Generally, a population that is not vigilant or focused on responsibility (delegating their rights) is not inovating or pushing the boundaries of industry.
2) Constant conflict as has been mentioned prior. While conflict can produce great technological innovations if there is a clear and decisive winner, it can also lead to degredation due to from what we've seen, which is a devastating back and forth between two major alignments. If you want an example of war destroying tech, look at KotoR 1. The leveling of Taris and KotoR 2 focusing heavily on projects meant to rebuild planets that were devastated (such an importance was placed on bringing these planets back to LIVABLE conditions that it was implied that if they didn't, it would lead to a colapse of the Republic.) So, imagine, if they are having to import wild life from a planet where it is resiliant to revitalize planets, how much more damage was done to any research, industries, or planned developments? Now repeat this on a semi-regular basis, would make sense for tech to ebb and flow.
3) Tech is only as relevant as our need for it. As mentioned before, the cortosis weave. It was an aditional expense to the creation of armor and weapons. When lightsabers became less of a concern/focus due to reduction in force users, then why bother with the excess expense? Also, look at the personal cloaking technology. Could easily be explained away by an affordable counter being developed. Why produce or purchase cloaking technology when you buy a decloaking unit for cheap at the five and dime. One product eliminates the other, leading to less people bothering even purchasing or wearing a cloak generator, until they both fade due to reason 2 somewhere in the big galactic shuffle.
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In the star wars universe actually technolgy was better in the past. think of it in history of the golden years to the dark ages. the wars kept goign on and destroyed so much that technolgy p[retty much stayed at a stand still and that is from george lucas.
You see a lot of people will tell you that Star wars is sci-fi but it really isn't star wars is really a fantasy story. It has a princess, a dashing rogue, a wizard (obi wan), an evil empire, swords (lightsaber), magic (force) etc. Even the story takes place "long time ago in a galaxy far far away."
A great article on this : http://thetorchonline.com/latest/what-the-hell-is-star-wars-anyway-science-fiction-or-fantasy/
Currently Playing: SSFIV AE, SFxTekken, SWTOR, WoW. Waiting for: GW2, Resident Evil 6.
On 1 there is little to say. SW is more a fantasy than sci-fi. I guess they wanted to have people being able to visually identify things easy and still have the freedom of a setting way in the past.
On 2: I read a lot of Star Trek and SW novels. Here are some I found good from SW:
- the entire Jedi Padawan series: it's about Obi-Wan being the young apprentice of Qui-Gon and tells a lot about what it means to be a Jedi
- the Mace Windu novel "shatterpoint", imo one of the best novels
- "The Cloak of Deception": a political thriller set just a bit before Episode I, also a very cool novel
-if you like it dark, the "Darth Bane" books; tho I am not into them so much, even tho they are well written, the focus is on the Sith Lord Bane
- then there is "The Rise of Darth Vader", about the first days and weeks of Vader; not SO great but many interesting lore-wise
- "Yoda: Dark Rendevous" also only so-so, but fills another gap in the Movie-Era
There are TONS of books set after Episode VI in the New Jedi Order of Luke, but I profoundly dislike them, because I felt after Ep. VI everything should be "happy ever after", and in those new stories the entire Galaxy just falls back into darkness after darkness, and thats why I stopped reading them.
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
1) I contribute the technology issue into something VERY akin to the Warhammer 40K universe. The growth was so out there that some things were gradually lost. It's very much NOT the case but I think the universe kind of stagnated for a good chunk, PRINCIPALLY because of the Sith Wars. I personally believe they sent the universe into a sort of Dark Age of technology.
2) I personally love the Thrawn trilogy to start with. That series turned me from a casual Star Wars person into a REAL fan.
The next favorite was the most recent Legacy of the Force... but you can't jump into that without some pre-existing information about Anakin Solo and the Yuuzhan Vong (not to mention the Dark Nest). A quick wiki read can catch you up.
Tech wise, the star wars universe has advanced as far as it needed to. As with most progress it is in need of a nessesity they pretty much have everything covered. Now onto the fact that Between the time of The Old Republic and The Skywalker Periods the tech all looked the same because in the movies (4-6) they even mention that most everything they have is refits of old tech. When the empire took over (the 20 years between episode 3 and 4 ) they pretty much heavily policed the Galaxy in which SW happens. Much like real life alot of Government bans on weaponry and fighterships kept the Empire in control as long as it did. That is why everything Looks old and rickety, its because that is all they could get their hands on.