Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye Book & Comic Review

[00:00:00] This podcast is a production of Unfiltered Studios. If you would like to know more about joining Unfiltered Studios, please visit our website at unfpod.com for more information. We have a very special guest today, Mr. Alan Dean Foster. Alan Dean Foster has written over 138 fiction and novels, plus also some non-fiction and fiction short works.

[00:00:26] The reason we reached out to you is because of your work on the series for Star Wars, Star Trek, the Alien franchise. So you definitely qualify for our geek culture niche, which is kind of what we're known for. So thank you very much for joining us today. We appreciate your time, Mr. Foster. Pleasure to be here, Kyle. Of course, when the book was written and nobody was thinking about blazing any trails,

[00:00:48] the idea with Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the concept behind it was that George, when he was thinking ahead, wanted to have more material available for people on the assumption that the film Star Wars would be successful. That included such things as comics, spinoff toys and such, and he wanted a book.

[00:01:13] Also, there was the thought that the book could be made into a low budget film if Star Wars was neither an enormous success nor a huge failure, so that you could adapt the book cheaply, utilizing as many of the props and costumes and such from the first film as you possibly could. That was an instruction that was given to me by George.

[00:01:38] He said, the only thing I want you to keep in mind when you write the book is that it should be something that could be filmed on a low budget. So that's why I set Splinter on a fog shrouded planet. Remember, no CGI back in those days. Right. And a lot of it also takes place underground. These are places where your backgrounds are fairly easy to set up in the studio and not expensive to film. So it was an interesting way to approach a novel from the very beginning.

[00:02:07] But as far as blazing a trail, nobody knew what would come after. Nobody even knew there'd be a second film. It's easy to think about these things in retrospect. But at the time, nobody said, well, we're going to blaze a trail here by having this one, this first sequel book come out and then there'll be 500 sequel books to follow. Nobody had a thought in the world about that. Right.

[00:02:31] And what I found was interesting is that a lot of the content in the book, it appears that you actually had picked from old treatments of Star Wars, A New Hope that weren't used in the film. And I love the fact that this is the first time we're actually introduced to kyber crystals, which was in your book. Did George give you the information about the kyber crystals used for lightsabers in the force or did you come up with that on your own? Well, to be perfectly honest with you, there were a lot of discussions at the time.

[00:03:00] And I don't remember whether it was myself or George who came up with that. I'm going to say lightly that it was myself because there was no mention of anything called the kyber crystal in the Star Wars screenplay that I worked from. Nobody said anything to me about it. But we needed kind of a MacGuffin, for those of you familiar with film, film war in the story and kind of popped up with the kyber crystal.

[00:03:26] The reason I spelled it that way, because it's spelled differently now, I believe, is I didn't want anybody to confuse it with the kyber pass in Afghanistan. Okay. That's why the alternate spelling. I thought it would be a fun thing to play with. I thought the idea of having something that could magnify the force would be a useful thing to play around with. And that's where the kyber crystal came from, came into the story.

[00:03:55] So I have you to thank for that. I love the kyber crystal concept. Being a old D&D and fantasy fan, I came into knowledge of kyber crystals on Kotar, a Knights of the Republic game where you built your own lightsaber. And I fell in love with the concept of kyber crystals. So awesome. That was easily one of my favorite items. I hunted down the rare orange kyber crystal because it made it look like my lightsaber was a piece of the sun.

[00:04:23] And like I lived to get that orange kyber crystal, the kind of orange yellow kyber crystal color was beautiful. It looked like a setting sun.

[00:05:19] Well, one quick thing. Why does Star Wars Splinter of the Minds Eye still one of the best books in comics? Because it was the first really direct sequel to A New Hope. Perfect. And and to me, it's like Alan Dean Foster. The guy wrote friggin the guy wrote the guy was like the king of like adapting screenplays. Yeah, didn't he write the alien book? Alien, Star Trek. Novel. Sure. He would always add extra depth. Yeah, I have a book. I'm like, I see that name of like, wait, yeah.

[00:05:49] Terminator Salvation and everything. He was like, yeah, he is the go to. And I've read the comment recently and it's even more visually stunning. So you heard the gang. We just loved just doing all kinds of just movie and TV show discussions. It's May the fourth month where we think Star Wars related. Let's talk about the first direct Star Wars sequel. That's right.

[00:06:13] Written before Empire Strikes Back 1978 by Alan Dean Foster. So as you heard in that clip, I just was asking James, the mega Star Wars fan on the show to disclose it as well as have Ethan Weeks geek out about it. But yeah. Alan Dean Foster, he has covered all kinds of stuff. He got his Master of Fine Arts and Cinema from the University of California in 1968.

[00:06:41] He's covered a lot of science fiction, fantasy as well as nonfiction. And 1995, he wrote a novelization coincidentally for the Lucas Arts video game called The Dig, which was based on a original idea by Spielberg. And he wrote the novelizations for Star Trek, the motion picture, Star Trek 2009 and into darkness, as well as the novelization of the first free alien movies.

[00:07:08] And it is so funny how the alien three one differs so much from the different thing. And he published on his website and unofficial treatment for Star Wars Rise of Skywalker. So he was a ghostwriter for Lucas, writing the novelization of the original movie, New Hope. But yeah, Splinter of the Mind's Eye. That's the first actual expanded universe novel. I've read the book. It's been a mile. It's been a minute.

[00:07:40] And I just wasn't different to it. I thought, OK, cool. But I didn't really remember it much. But I decided to check out the comic book. That's what we do. We cover all different angles of it. But it is interesting because this is before the unintended incest of Leah and Luke, where, you know, they're smooching but not realizing they're brother and sister. And fortunately, it doesn't play into any of that bullshit.

[00:08:05] It's just the most we get is, you know, they're both trapped on a planet. And it is none other than it's like that. It's Sir Coppropos, which they're trying to get some of the rebel underground to enlist in the battle against the Empire.

[00:08:29] And unfortunately, when they crash land in the Swamplands of Mimban, the landing destroys him and Leah's ships. And they haven't counted on any of the things they would encounter on that strange planet. And of course, they got their trusted droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO. There's a secret base of Imperial Stormtroopers thriving on Mimbon.

[00:08:50] If that's not trouble enough, there's the Kyber Crystal, a mysterious gem that will give the one who possessed it such powers over the force that would make them all but invincible. In the wrong hands, the crystal could be deadly. So Luke has to find the Kaibor Crystal and find it fast. And it is interesting how this is later referenced in the sequel trilogy and other expanded universe. But this was the first one introduced this.

[00:09:14] But yeah, they find the temple of Pumahima and for desperate confrontation deep beneath the surface of the alien world, find the most fierce of the middle in the galaxy. I'll spoil it. It's, of course, Darth Vader. But yeah, and not too many cringy things.

[00:09:34] But yeah, Alan Dean Foster would return to do another book that was none other than The Approaching Storm, which was just a side prologue novel to Attack the Clones.

[00:10:02] And then, of course, aside from the novelization of Force Awakens, he also writes Bait, which is published in Star Wars Insider. It's a short on a Force Awakens character. But yeah, he's just big in the Star Wars lore. Again, as Ethan was joking about, I was like, yeah, I know that name. I'm like, yeah, you trust me, you've seen his name. And in addition to that, he's done other stuff.

[00:10:32] Like just original works like Flink's Transcendent, Midworld, Ice Rigger, A Call to Arms. And so, yeah, he's, I respect him immensely. I haven't read the Dinotopia books. I'm familiar with the versions that have been adapted from it. And he's done, you know, everything.

[00:10:58] But I just feel like stuff like that is pretty underrated. And it's a shame that he doesn't do too many just original works because he really should at this point do some original Star Trek and Star Wars stuff given what he's adapted from him. And he's written for Transformers.

[00:11:26] I already mentioned the movie novelization of Terminator Salvation. And these other novelizations he's done have been for Dark Star, The Black Hole, the original Clash of the Dinens, Outland, The Thing, Kroll, The Last Starfighter. And it's Storybook, Starman, Pell Rider, Alienation. And the last big one was Chronicles of Riddick. But yeah, he came up with the story for Star Trek The Motion Picture.

[00:11:53] So that's as well as wrote an episode of the Sci-Fi Channel Twilight Zone inspired anthology show Welcome to Paradox. So, I mean, he's definitely a go-to fiction guy. But so this has always been a big deal because much like Shadows of the Empire, which is between Empire and Jedi, is like this is between Star, you know, the original Star Wars and Empire Stripes Back.

[00:12:19] And according to Starlog magazine, Foster's Star Wars contract would have allowed for Splinter of the Mind's Eye to be the next one filmed. So, Han Solo is absent from this novel. And at the time, you know, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were the only ones contracted for a film sequel. And it's made the New York Times bestseller list from 1978 of April to July.

[00:12:47] And it's also got the subtitle The Foto Adventures of Luke Skywalker. So, apparently the Kyber Crystal, the Force-focused artifact, that was in the second and third drafts of the original Star Wars script. And in the current canon, they are the power source for lightsabers. According to the Clone Wars CGI cartoon show, great poster arc.

[00:13:12] You look at that cover, it's like Darth Vader's hovering over a giant cliff, sometimes with a lightsaber in hand. There's the crystal, there's Luke and Leia as they're running away and going, oh no. Yeah, Dark Wars Comics published their version of it in 1995. And that's what I'm reviewing for this.

[00:13:32] It's a music track, in name only, was composed for the 2019 video game Star Wars The Old Republic expansion of Onslaught. So, I think that's cool. It is in a Kylo Ren comic book, but I'm not going to talk about that. It's, the planet Mim Bomb does appear in Solo, A Star Wars Story. But again, I'm not going to talk about that. Because those are fucking abominations. But, let's move on to the stuff that is good.

[00:14:02] So, yeah. The comic book is just bossing up. It's so engrossing. Great artwork. Everybody gets some action. Including R2 who gets to start up a vehicle they've stolen. But, yeah man. It's engrossing. Because again, they're in the wilderness. It's kind of even more Indiana Jones Temple of Doom adventure at times.

[00:14:32] And, I think aside from the artwork and decent scripting, you overall are just really into it.

[00:14:47] And, what's also just unique is seeing just Luke get to take on these crawler lizard creatures. The Kauai people have these unusual just deals.

[00:15:14] And, the scene-stilling villains are amazing. You got Captain's Supervisor, Kramel. He's just a ruthless Imperial who's been in some spinoff material. He would appear in a lot of the computer CD-ROM games. He gets a brutal end by Darth Vader. Darth doesn't really come into the later half. Basically, he wants to steal this crystal.

[00:15:42] And, of course, he can suspend reality. He doesn't know that Luke is his son yet. And, he's just trying to kill him because he's being a menace. He wants him to join him. But, of course, that does not go down. You get Princess Leia fighting him briefly. So, that's awesome. And, it's just also neat how these governors are just so stuck up. These Imperial governors are like, I'm a humble servant.

[00:16:12] I'm in charge of the secret mind. You call it man. It's just, it's also cool how they try to fit in. They notice they were sticking out like a sore thumb. Leia and Luke end up rescuing. After they're arrested and break out of the Imperial prison, they rescue these large, heavy, but heavily furred humanoids with long snouts and black eyes. Call it the U-Zone. There's two of them. It's a shame that they get killed by Lord Vader later on.

[00:16:39] But, in the canon, they are later revealed to be distant relatives of the Wookiees, according to an alien species guide on Star Wars. Yeah, they're really neat. They take out a bunch of Stormtroopers. So, a lot of cool Sasquatch-level fights. And, yeah, Ben Asada is the other Imperial in command. He's basically one of the moths, much like Tarkin. He's the main governor who the others report to.

[00:17:07] And, his disfigured face just allows for amusement. He gets owned, basically. He's just looking at the screen, looking at Krammel, and he's like... He knows about radiation. This is where, basically, you also get some good dialogue in the comic book version by the Stormtroopers. They're like, who's this guy? Get that saber, you know? I like how they detail the different cafes and minor colonies. He's...

[00:17:36] The main savior who Leah and Luke look up to is Hala, who's a Force-sensitive human female. She helps him in the Kyber crystal trail. She takes a liking to the droids and helps him still one of those Imperial walker vans. And, yeah, she keeps going. I'm a master of the Force. But, strikes a deal. She's like, I'll help you find the crystal. If they did, I'll help you get off the planet. Membond.

[00:18:05] You don't have to be strained anymore. It's just really badass. It's unlikable. The only issue I had at first is I couldn't tell specifically who she was because she was unusually drawn at first. But, yeah. It's so funny how she has already made a living just doing deeds for people seven years, searching for the crystal. She's like, she'll give you alcoholic beverages and return if you... by helping out the natives. So...

[00:18:36] And fortunately gets to join the Rebel Alliance after this scuffle. And she later admits, I'm actually a faker. I'm a charlatan. I do parlor tricks, but... Luke and Leah don't seem to care. They just wig it off. They're like, hey, you helped us find what we needed to find. We know who we truly are. It's a shame that... I mean, there's... For some reason hasn't been any audiobook adaptation of this.

[00:19:06] It's so weird. I'm just like, what? Because it's still worth it. You can find plenty of YouTube channels that do their own audio take on it. And those are very entertaining. Yeah. I mean, there's some audibles, but those are like text-to-script kind of things. Not... Yeah.

[00:19:36] Most of these are just fan-made versions. But, hey, pretty cool. And much like we were doing with Young Jedi Knights and all the other material, it should be seen by more. Especially if you want to see the earlier Marvel comics run of Star Wars. It's like the Dark Horse comics. It's probably the better way to go. A little more accessible. But if you want to read the book, go for that too. You'll be very entertained. Everything you need

[00:20:05] in a good, solid read. And, again, just the descriptions of the planet are just grossing. Grossing. And, I mean, it's a big deal because... And... The comic illustrates it even better. It's like, Leia doesn't know how to swim. Luke is still arrogant. The magical world is just very captivatingly in its detailing. When Leia and Luke are fighting Vader, they...

[00:20:35] You know, Luke gets, you know, punched away. And he's still got his blue lightsaber. And Leia fights back with them. They're both injured, especially Luke. He gets force lightning shocked by Vader. Luke cuts off one of Vader's robotic arms and Vader falls into the cave giving way as he's monologuing. So... It's very interesting how there's all these rink or type... You know, giant creatures, one giant worm.

[00:21:05] I forget what it was called, but that was creepy. And... R2 and Freefield have enough back-and-change dialogue. But... Yeah. R2 is helping Hala get the... giant... vehicle. They... R2, you know... You know, starts it up and runs over two Imperials. But... Yeah. But, yeah. It's... It's... As intense as it needs to be.

[00:21:35] Well, much like Star Wars. It's keeping it PG. Not too grim. And... Yeah. All together, it's just very engrossing. Good artwork. Solid body count. Solid action. And... Just... The sense of adventure is present. You don't feel like it's just... You know... For a lot... It's just formulaic, running out of steam, and pretty hard to do. Especially since this is 95, where...

[00:22:04] They're still at arm's length. They're still keeping the saga alive back then. And so, I really long for stuff like this. I really do. I miss this kind of engrossing material. Because... This is what I think of when I think of Star Wars. I think of just... The dark fantasy world. It was more accessible and not... Limited to a certain age. It wasn't like 10 years old. I'm no longer watching this. Like... People at Disney

[00:22:34] growing up that, you know... I was more of a Hanna-Barbera guy, but like this... This was basically Pixar level, where this is for all ages. This kind of Star Wars. And... You never stopped looking back at it or thinking about it. It was... Everything I want with escapism. And... When you can just make us feel like you're in that world, that is more powerful than anything else. That's more... Better than any words put on the... In the script.

[00:23:04] That's... Or on the page of the book. That's... That goes beyond any comprehension. That... That's just pure imagination. That is... Everything you want in a spectacle. That is Star Wars. That's... So this is probably definitely more Star Wars than the actual movies. It's like... This is how invaluable it is. Because like... Shadows of the Empire is epic. This is just fantastic. Like... I'm just... Don't know how else to put it. Because... Splinter of the Mind's Eye and I... That's... That's when you're

[00:23:33] getting into pure Star Wars lore. And... Most people are going to just know the simple facts. Yeah. Except between the first two original movies, first expanded universe is like, yeah, but it's more than that. There's a reason it's still talked about. It's... It's almost as... Shadowy as the various mysterious planet Yoda's on Dagobah. You know, this is before we get into the treacherous Ewok forest. This is...

[00:24:02] A minor colony. All kinds of trouble. Perfect detailing of the Imperial rule and how they're going to get away and take them down. And... Villains who just root for their demise and the Yuzum were just awesome creatures that helped them out. And while they don't make it, it's just... This was very much like the Botham spies who stole the Death Star plans. I wanted to know more about those mysterious races that they'd created.

[00:24:32] And... While, unfortunately, this is not before we see Lando and we don't see Wedge, you know, the missed opportunities are very sparse. What you gain so much is just the elevated drama and adventure that you really like in these kinds of material. So, here it is for Star Wars week. Hope I entertained your ears and enjoy the rest of these deep cuts for our final Star Wars

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