Star Wars Splinter of the MInds Eye direction?

blip

Sr Member
Not sure if anyone has seen this old 1978 book, But it's called STAR WARS Splinter of the Minds Eye.

It looks like it was going to be the second chapter of Star Wars.
It's all small scale encounters, just like the first 1977 film.

I'm thinking that this would have been a better way for George to go in order to keep true to the small scale "human type" adventures that made the first film so enjoyable.
Once it got all super space opera, the series lost my interest.
Thoughts on Splinter or what the movie and following series might have looked like?
 
I just re-read it earlier this year after picking it up on the bargain rack. It's a fun and quick read. Not screenplay material as a follow up to the original Star Wars, but still a fun read. I liked it and the encounters that the characters have. It's a little slow in the middle, but altogether a fair pace.....aimed right at its target audience of 3rd-5th graders.

And considering the nostalgia that floods back when reading it I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars :)
 
That's a good point, the First Star Wars film was aimed at that age group as well. Like Harry Potter, the SW films seemed to shift up with time.

7668-splinter9.jpg
 
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It was never the intended second film plotline. Del Ray wanted another book, and SW novelization ghostwriter Alan Dean Foster was keen to expand upon all of the backstory notes Lucas had given him access to, which included abandoned concepts like the Khyber Crystal. Lucas said sure and gave some feedback but it, along with the comic book, was the first emergence of an EU and never part of Lucas' "vision".
 
This is just from memory (and we could all Wiki it, I suppose), but it involved Leia crash landing on a jungle planet that was Imperial-occupied, and Luke coming to the rescue. Also features aforementioned crystal that amplifies use of the Force, and a Luke/Vader confrontation. And Vader was most definitely not his father (nor Leia his sister).
 
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The story was in development while Star Wars was still filming. It was created to be a low budget sequel should Star Wars not be successful. And because of that, it was written in a way that when made into a movie, it would not need a lot of costly special effects if filmed.
 
^ah yes, there was that aspect. Although I don't think it was designed to BE a cheap sequel, only that they kept that in mind when developing the novel, should it be needed to be used as the basis for a film later. (perhaps splitting hairs here)
 
I posted this a few months ago in the prop replica forum but I want to share it here as well...

This is a version of Luke's lightsaber as painted by Ralph McQuarrie on the cover of the first Star Wars novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye

I made it about ten years ago. I wish I still had it. :cry

mysplintersaber2.jpg


tumblr_lf0wyoWzF21qa0q13o1_r1_500.jpg
 
Yeah. It could have been made with a smaller budget than Star Wars. Lots of questions answered, what can a lightsaber do, what can the force do, that sort of stuff. The sort of questions that got washed under the carpet by the huge operatic storylines of the latter develpoments.

What I really liked about this book was that it had , the very next day in the life of Luke Skywealker feel to it. Kind of like "the Space Hangover".
 
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(nor Leia his sister).

Most defintely not as in the book Luke had many romantic thoughts going on about her. I certainly doubt it was in the plot line at this early stage of story telling. Kinda funny and creepy reading just how much he was pining for her in the book knowing how the story goes. It's all in good fun reading those old books.
 
This is a version of Luke's lightsaber as painted by Ralph McQuarrie on the cover of the first Star Wars novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye

I made it about ten years ago. I wish I still had it. :cry

mysplintersaber2.jpg

Interesting design, it's got the McQuarrie signature elements - simple geometric shapes.
 
I just re-read it earlier this year after picking it up on the bargain rack. It's a fun and quick read. Not screenplay material as a follow up to the original Star Wars, but still a fun read. I liked it and the encounters that the characters have. It's a little slow in the middle, but altogether a fair pace.....aimed right at its target audience of 3rd-5th graders.

And considering the nostalgia that floods back when reading it I give it a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars :)

It seems to have enough content in there as a starting point for a 2hr film.
There are enough "rides" in there to satisfy the rollercoaster school of fim making.

Y wing crash at the start,
bar room brawl,
huge hairy monster escape,
super worm chase,
fighting the blackwater pod thing,
fighting the natives,
fighting the dragon,
fighting the stormies,
fighting Vader.

So yep, enough to fill 2 hours. You just need to speed it up by cross cutting between different story lines as they did in the first film.
 
Kinda funny and creepy reading just how much he was pining for her in the book knowing how the story goes.

To me the creepy part is the 2-hour big-budget fan-film that is ROTJ. In that, we're supposed to believe Leia is suddenly Luke's sister. Despite all the romantic teases in the previous films. Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy.

It seems to have enough content in there as a starting point for a 2hr film.

I always bought the 'low budget cash-in sequel story' explanation. That kind of thing happened a bit back in the day and we still get direct-to-video sequels now and then even now. It'd allow re-use of props, models and designs without requiring the full range of effects and construction.

Some of SotME got re-purposed itself, later on - some elements made it into The Dark Crystal.

Why is this topic causing me such strong deja-vu, though?
 
^ah yes, there was that aspect. Although I don't think it was designed to BE a cheap sequel, only that they kept that in mind when developing the novel, should it be needed to be used as the basis for a film later. (perhaps splitting hairs here)

If you believe what you read on wikipedia...

Though Foster was granted a great deal of leeway in developing the story, a key requirement was that many of the props from the previous production could be reused when shooting the new film. Foster's decision to place his story on a misty jungle planet was also intended to reduce set and background costs for a film adaptation. According to Foster, Lucas's only request upon inspecting the manuscript was the removal of a space dogfight undertaken by Luke and Leia before crash-landing on Mimban, which would have been effects-heavy and expensive to film.

The titular "Mind's Eye" of the story is a MacGuffin called the Kaiburr crystal. This was based on the "Kiber" crystal, a Force-amplifying talisman that was included in early drafts of the Star Wars story, but later eliminated by Lucas in favor of making the Force a more ethereal power.

There was an article in the Insider years ago but I got rid of most of them.
 
The story was in development while Star Wars was still filming. It was created to be a low budget sequel should Star Wars not be successful. And because of that, it was written in a way that when made into a movie, it would not need a lot of costly special effects if filmed.

I didn't know that. Is it covered in the Making of SW book at all?

....And Vader was most definitely not his father (nor Leia his sister).

At a screening of the reworked ESB in Westwood back in '97, someone yelled "Incest" at the moment Leia kisses Luke in the hospital, and the entire audience went "Eewww".

Gene
 
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