This story takes place during the opening of Attack of the Clones, in between the assassination attempt on Senator Amidala that opens the film and the elevator scene that introduces Anakin and Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan has just gotten the assignment from the Jedi Council and he tells Anakin to pack his things. Anakin stumbles across an old sketch of Padmé that he drew in his journal some years ago. I think that this is some uncharacteristically thorough promotional synergy, as there was another Episode II tie-in released around this same time called Anakin Skywalker: A Jedi's Journal. Rather than a storybook, it was a facsimile of Anakin Skywalker's in-universe journal, featuring notes and doodles from him, as well as space for the reader to write entries of their own. I'm pretty sure that this is that same journal, here in Anakin: Apprentice! Hurroar, hurroar!
Anakin reminisces about his past adventures, including events from Rogue Planet and Jedi Quest, but also a shocking amount of original story content as well. We see Anakin constructing his lightsaber, littering the Jedi Temple with his pet droids, and participating in various illegal street races. Finally Obi-Wan returns, jarring Anakin from his reveries. The book ends with the two of them stepping into the elevator that will take them to Padmé's apartment, seconds before Obi-Wan utters the immortal line "I haven't seen you this tense since we fell into that nest of gundarks."
The story itself here isn't that remarkable, the whole book takes place over the span of about ten minutes, but I'm still impressed by the multiple levels of continuity at play here in this random one-off children's book. There's the promotional tie-in in with A Jedi's Journal, direct continuity references to other Expanded Universe stories, and then multiple pieces of all-new backstory introduced to further fill the ten-year gap between Episodes I and II. So far these picture books haven't been especially connected to anything in the greater EU, so it's cool to find one that actually feels like a piece of a larger whole.
Like Meet the Jedi High Council, this book is mostly just retold scenes from Episode I with a scant few pages of original story content to link them together. Gungan Trouble! is even more bare bones than our previous entry, though, with no new dialogue or character interactions. Instead, Boss Nass just narrates the Gungans' retreat from their underwater city to the sacred ruins where they go to hide from the Trade Federation army. That's all you get, suckers!
Another children's book taking place during The Phantom Menace, this one bridges the gap between Qui-Gon Jinn's initial report to the Jedi Council after returning from Tatooine and the second meeting where the Jedi test Anakin Skywalker's Force aptitude. In between these two scenes we get a few pages of original story, where the Jedi Council confers among themselves about Qui-Gon's encounter with a potential Sith Lord.
This section is the only part of this book approaching anything interesting, as every Jedi Council member apart from Yoda and Mace Windu goes completely undeveloped in the films and most of them don't get much more development even in the EU. So it's mildly interesting to see each council member briefly foregrounded and find out something about their background and unique abilities. Unfortunately, each one gets nothing more to do than say "I sense danger, Master Yoda!" in slightly rephrased ways.
Also the illustrator ran out of time so two different pages are just solid colors with no pictures on them. This one stinks, don't pay hundreds of dollars for it.
At last, another entry in the Jedi Readers series featuring a 100% original Expanded Universe story. During the scene in The Phantom Menace where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are giving their report to the Jedi Council upon returning to Coruscant, Anakin and Jar Jar wait aimlessly outside the Jedi Temple. Anakin gets bored and decides to go sightseeing. Jar Jar tags along to keep him out of trouble, and they both find themselves hopelessly lost somewhere within the planet-wide city. A malfunctioning nanny droid barrels past them, pursued by a small boy named Finn who is supposed to be in its care. What a great and reliable invention!
Finn is understandably upset about racist trolls on the Internet being lost and missing his mom, so Anakin, missing his own mother (left to languish in slavery on Tatooine), vows to help get the boy home. They chase the droid across busy thoroughfares, over mile-high chasms between the city's skylanes, aboard hoverbuses, through a random funhouse, and finally down a trash chute, where the droid's Energizer batteries finally die and it deactivates. Anakin begins to repair the droid, but the trio finds themselves attacked by vicious garbage-dwelling spider-roaches! Fortunately for them, the bugs make a delicious snack for Jar Jar.
Anakin fixes the droid, who leads them back to Finn's home. Finn's mother is grateful to Anakin for helping her kid and pays for a droid taxi to return him and Jar Jar to the Jedi Temple. Bitch, these guys saved your child and you can't even give them a lift home? They arrive to find Qui-Gon sternly waiting for them outside, wondering what mischief they've been up to. Anakin tells him the whole story and Qui-Gon praises Anakin for his good deed, telling him he did what a Jedi would do.
Probably the best of the picture-book tie-ins to The Phantom Menace that we've read thus far, by virtue of having the most original story and taking place in the most varied original locales. It's cool seeing parts of Coruscant not explored in the movies, including what appears to be the Presidential (later Imperial) Palace. Anakin's face looks a little off but for the most part the illustrations are good as well, done by veteran EU artist Chris Trevas, who would go on to illustrate some of the best-looking books in the Essential Guide series.
Also this picture of Han Solo looking at something very interesting on the ceiling.
Illustrated children's picture book following Darth Maul from the scene on Coruscant where Darth Sidious dispatches him to capture Queen Amidala to his lightsaber duel with Qui-Gon Jinn on Tatooine. Accordingly, much of this book is retold scenes from The Phantom Menace but there is some non-film material in the middle where Maul, while waiting for reports from his probe droids, gets ambushed by a gang of Tusken Raiders and has to fight them lightsaber-to-gaderffii. Even this section isn't really an original story, however, as it's an adaptation of a scene that first appeared in Star Wars Episode I Journal: Darth Maul, a novel by Jedi Apprentice author Jude Watson retelling the events of The Phantom Menace from Maul's point of view. So really Darth Maul's Revenge isn't an original story in any way, and isn't worth tracking down and reading for Expanded Universe fans interested in such. That said, I'm still including it here because it isn't an adaptation of purely movie material and does include some EU content. It's fine for what it is, but that isn't much. The artwork is pretty nice. I guess the title is supposed to be a reference to the "At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at last we will have revenge" line from the movie but since the book doesn't actually feature Maul getting revenge at any point it's a questionable choice.
The Boonta Eve Podrace is about to begin, but Anakin Skywalker's Podracer is mysteriously missing a vital component: the butt I mean power plug! Anakin sends his pit droid DUM-4 to find a replacement part. DUM-4 goes to Gasgano, who will give him the plug in exchange for a thrust cone. DUM-4 goes to Sebulba, who will give him the thrust cone in exchange for delivering a message to Jabba the Hutt. He delivers the message, and Jabba gives him a reply to deliver in return, then throws the droid off the balcony of his private box. DUM-4 grabs onto a passing Podracer that is running around the track even though the race hasn't started yet and hitches a ride back to Sebulba, who gives him the thrust cone, which he delivers to Gasgano, who gives him the part Anakin needs. Anakin is able to repair his Pod just in the nick of time, and when he ultimately wins the race, DUM-4 jumps up and down in elation for doing his best and helping Anakin achieve his victory. Then he folds himself up to take a well-deserved rest, whereupon Anakin will never think of him again and he will vanish from Star Wars canon forever.
This is a cute children's story about a funny robot having wacky misadventures in between scenes from The Phantom Menace. It's never stated in the book, probably because neither author was aware of the other's work, but it's entirely possible that DUM-4 is the same droid from Watto's shop who caused all that mischief for Anakin in Catch That Pit Droid! It makes no difference whatsoever and this character doesn't appear in anything else, so in my headcanon it's the same robot in both books.
(Weirdly, though, he’s also apparently capable of speaking fluent Basic, while the pit droids in the movie communicate only in incomprehensible electronic buzzes and whistles. Maybe Anakin modified him using his technical expertise.)
Wookieepedia says that DUM-4 is also the pit droid who gets sucked into Ody Mandrell's Podracer engine when he pulls over for repairs during the race, but that droid was a completely different color and also part of Mandrell's pit crew, not Anakin's. So I'm afraid I have to call bullshit on that one, Wookieepedia, you unbelievable hacks.
Narrated by Watto in first-person present-tense, this book chronicles the wacky misadventures of Anakin Skywalker and his abusive slave-master earlier in the day that Qui-Gon Jinn and the gang encountered him on Tatooine. Watto starts off addressing the reader directly, as if we are a customer in his shop, but this conceit is quickly abandoned as in his ignorance Watto accidentally sets a malfunctioning pit droid off on a rampage across the city of Mos Espa. He and Anakin pursue it as it wreaks havoc, knocking over old Jira's fruit stand, disrupting cafe patrons, and disturbing Jabba the Hutt at the Podracing track. Finally Anakin manages to jump on it from above and deactivate it by hitting its nose. Watto congratulates Anakin and proclaims that he taught him well. The book ends with Qui-Gon, Padmé, Jar Jar Binks, and R2-D2 arriving in the junk shop in search of the part they need to repair their ship. Watto observes that Anakin has a strange look on his face and wonders if the boy senses something about these outlanders.
This book takes place immediately prior to and during the opening events of The Phantom Menace, concluding just as the first Trade Federation troops are touching down on the planet during the invasion of Naboo. Queen Amidala wakes up that morning and realizes that the amulet she always wears around her neck is missing! It was a gift from her father from before she became queen, and she is frantic to retrieve it. Amidala and her handmaiden Sabé (played by Keira Knightley) venture outside the palace grounds before the rest of her entourage awakens. They find the amulet buried in the leaves beneath a tree in a meadow outside the capital city of Theed. Presumably there's an interlude here where the queen communicates with Nute Gunray and then Senator Palpatine via hologram, because the next thing that happens is Amidala and Sabé trading places in preparation of the arrival of the invading Trade Federation army. Amidala gives Sabé her amulet to wear as recognition of her bravery for being her body double, vowing to wear it again once the crisis has passed.
Unfortunately, no other Expanded Universe authors ever read this book so the queen's beloved amulet was never mentioned again. Apparently Amidala traded it in for the japor snippet charm Anakin carved for her during Episode I, although she presumably never wore that until after her marriage to him ten years later.
Anyway, this story is mercifully short, which already gives it a high rating in my estimation. But I also find the art by Matilda Harrison uniquely charming. I'm not sure if it's the style or the coloring or some combination of the two, but it's almost reminiscent of the art from a stained glass window or a medieval tapestry, despite not really looking like that at all. There aren't a ton of illustrations but they aren't really similar to any other Star Wars art I can think of.
At only a few pages long, the actual book The Queen's Amulet is kind of not even the main feature of this product. The book itself was originally sold inside a larger keepsake box that came with a real-life replica of the eponymous amulet that you could wear, as well as a printed note advising you to keep the box to store your childhood valuables. A very cool and unique piece of Star Wars merchandise for anyone who was a five-year-old girl in 1999.
This is the story of how Anakin Skywalker "smashed up [Watto's] Pod in the last race." A Step 4 Jedi Reader book in comparison to Queen in Disguise's Step 2, Anakin's Fate boasts slightly longer sentences and more words per page, as well as individually titled sub-sections that break up the narrative. It's recommended for Grades 2–4, which means it takes just long enough to read to be slightly aggravating while also being short enough to embarrass you for being aggravated by it.
This book is kind of a bridge in Anakin's pre-TPM backstory between the events of the Episode I Adventures RPG books and his introduction in the opening chapter of the Episode I novelization. The final act of Anakin's Fate, comprised of the big Podrace where Sebulba forces Anakin to crash his Pod and Anakin's meeting with an inspiring old spacer, is essentially the abbreviated picture-book version of those TPM chapters.
Prior to that, however, we get an original story where Watto dispatches Anakin to trade some junk with a visiting Jawa sandcrawler for some salvaged Podracer thrusters. Anakin brings his home-made protocol droid, C-3PO, along for the ride, while pondering the dream he recently had of finally winning a Podrace and meeting a wiseman and an angel. When Anakin first retrieves C-3PO from the scrap pile behind his house, the droid only has one eye, as he does when he's introduced in The Phantom Menace. However, when they go to visit the Jawas he's drawn as having both eyes. The book remarks that Anakin has to disguise his projects as garbage so Watto won't confiscate them, so maybe when C-3PO is turned off Anakin also partially disassembles him. That could explain why Threepio also appears with both eyes in the pre-TPM 3D comic Duel of the Fates!
Anakin has an inkling that an old vaporator cylinder he salvaged could come in handy, so he brings it along on his float sled with the rest of Watto's garbage. The Jawas are unwilling to trade their Podracer parts for the junk, but they're very interested in the vaporator component. Anakin discovers that the sandcrawler's own vaporator has broken down, leaving the Jawas in desperate need of water. In exchange for all the Podracer parts they have, he gives them the cylinder and modifies it to work with their technology. The Jawas are saved, and Anakin has procured not only the thrusters that Watto wanted, but also the engine he needed to complete his own Podracer that he's been building in secret. Comically, when Watto's Pod is shown it just looks identical to Anakin's Pod as it appeared in The Phantom Menace. John Alvin's illustrations in these Jedi Reader books have been pretty good but I guess they didn't pay him enough to come up with an original design.
Then they have the race and Anakin crashes and the book ends with him resolving to not give up on his dreams. Maybe he'll meet that angel one day soon!
"My goodness, you've grown!"
Fine book for kids learning to read at a slightly advanced level, but, as an Expanded Universe entry, not quite as noteworthy as Queen in Disguise due to not being a completely original story. There are so many tie-ins and side stories connected to The Phantom Menace, every minute we have to spend retreading ground we've already covered just feels like a huge waste of time.
Queen in Disguise takes place during the latter chapters of James Luceno's Cloak of Deception, the political thriller lead-in to the events of The Phantom Menace. King Veruna of Naboo has already abdicated the throne and Padmé Naberrie has been "elected" to succeed him as Queen Amidala. Captain Panaka pitches her the idea of disguising herself as a handmaiden whenever she's in danger, while Keira Knightley body-doubles as the queen. Padmé doesn't like the idea of having these teenage girls put their lives on the line for her, but Panaka assures her that the handmaidens are well trained in defensive techniques. Padmé wants to receive the same training so Panaka introduces her to the others as a new handmaiden, and the girls have no idea that she's really the queen.
Amidala's real identity is something that always felt like a half-baked idea that George Lucas never really thought through or cared very much about beyond the initial concept of revealing that the lowly servant girl baby Anakin had been crushing on was really royalty all along. What a twist! In The Phantom Menace she's exclusively referred to as "Queen Amidala," only going by "Padmé Naberrie" when in her handmaiden guise. I, along with most Episode I tie-ins apparently (check out that cover branding!), assumed that Amidala was her real name and Padmé Naberrie was just a fictitious alias she used when in her handmaiden persona. But then Attack of the Clones came out and now she was a Senator named Padmé Amidala. What.
So I guess Padmé Naberrie was her birth name, and she took the regnal name Amidala upon becoming queen, then after leaving the throne her legal name became Padmé Amidala, right? But she was democratically elected by the citizens of Naboo, because George Lucas doesn't know what a monarchy is, so wouldn't she have been a public figure before becoming queen? How is her handmaiden disguise supposed to work if she uses her real name and doesn't conceal her face? Good luck for her that the whole masquerade subplot only mattered as an excuse to have her go on the mission to Mos Espa and never actually did anything to save her life, I suppose.
Wait, Amidala's just a Senator, right? Why does she still have a decoy protecting her?
Anyway the point is that none of the handmaidens recognize Padmé by name or by appearance, despite her having just been elected ruler of their planet. But I can't blame the book for that, none of this never made no sense from the minute old George came up with it.
So Padmé watches Panaka put the handmaidens through their paces, running obstacle courses and scaling walls like they're in Full Metal Jacket. Eventually they're beset by training droids that fire stun blasts at them. They're supposed to deactivate when the handmaidens shoot them back, but one droid has a mind of its own! It tanks multiple shots from Rabé's training laser, because Panaka doesn't trust the girls to handle real firearms, and keeps coming after her, zapping her with painful but non-debilitating stun blasts. Rabé hides behind a waterfall but Panaka is off shooting up behind a tree somewhere so it's up to Padmé and Sabé to save the day. Padmé fires her cable gun onto a tree branch and swings across a ravine, kicking the droid into the falls where it crashes into a rock and is destroyed, a huge waste of taxpayer space dollars.
Rabé has twisted her ankle so Padmé has to carry her back down to the ground. Panaka has reappeared and tells Padmé what a brave queen she is. The handmaidens are shocked but delighted to know that their employer is also a loyal friend.
WOKE Cute girlpower story for little kids. There aren't many Padmé stories in the EU so this "Step 2 Jedi Readers" book for Grades 1–3 weirdly fills a kind of significant niche in Star Wars storytelling. I'd rather read this blessedly brief picture book for babies than whatever this junk is.
The first new SWTOR short story in four years, "Quite a Story to Tell" is, weirdly, a sequel to the Paul Kemp novel The Old Republic: Deceived. And only a decade too late!
Aryn Leneer meets with former Jedi Grand Master Satele Shan to deliver shocking and terrible news: Darth Malgus, the iconic face of Star Wars: The Old Republic who died the stupid death of an MMO flashpoint boss, is alive again, and he's come to Dantooine. Jedi dropout Aryn, along with her domestic partner Zeerid "Z-Man" Korr and his daughter Arra (do you remember all these iconic characters???), have been living on a farm on Dantooine for the last... twenty-seven years? That little girl with the robot legs has to be pushing forty by now, time to kick her out of the house, Z-Man.
Anyway Malgus comes to town and goes to investigate the ruins of the Jedi Enclave that got blowed up way back in the first Knights of the Old Republic game. I guess Aryn senses him for some reason and so they lock down the farm (what does that mean?) and Zeerid takes Arra somewhere safe. She's thirty-six, leave her alone!
For some reason, Aryn goes to face Malgus, and for some reason Zeerid is okay with leaving her behind to do this. Nothing about this setup makes any sense, but whatever, this thing's like two pages long and something needs to happen. Aryn ventures down into the darkness of the enclave ruins, where she sees Malgus fighting a seemingly unending horde of Jedi combat droids. You know, I've played KotOR several times and I don't seem to recall any combat droids in the Jedi Enclave. But I digress.
Aryn realizes that Malgus is as powerful as he ever was and she has no hope of beating him, so she turns tail and makes a run for it. What was your plan from the beginning when you got down there?
She makes it outside just as Zeerid is pulling up to help her. "This was a terrible idea," she says. "Let's make like a tree and get the fuck out of here." Then Zeerid and Arra go into hiding again while Aryn visits Satele Shan to tell her this whole story. Great!
The Mandalorian clans of Nerak and Shale are in dispute so Jekiah Ordo, Arbiter of the Mandalorians, declares that the clan leaders will fight each other to the death, with the loser's clan being put under the knife as well. I guessed this was going to be a Judgment of Solomon parable but instead both Mandalorians agree to the terms and then the one who wins refuses to kill the loser and the Arbiter is like "Good enough."
Disorder
Medium: Cinematic trailer
Publication Date: February 15, 2022
Timeline Placement: 3,625 BBY
Jedi Master Denolm Orr and his Padawan, the Twi'lek Jedi Sa'har Kateen, battle a Sith Lord in the ruins of the Temple of Nul on the planet Elom. Suddenly a blade of crimson light bursts from the Sith Lord's chest. Darth Malgus has arrived, presumably straight from his visit to Dantooine in the earlier story. Master Orr tries to hold him off while Sa'har races to destroy the giant gyroscope machine housed in the temple before Malgus can use it for his own nefarious ends.
But Sa'har stops in her tracks as she hears the voice of her long-lost brother and remembers when Master Orr took her for Jedi training as a child but left her brother behind to a life of slavery. Seeing her hesitation, Master Orr uses the Force to tear down the machine, breaking its hold over Sa'har. The broken device spits out a Holocron through a vending machine slot and Orr is like "Hand it over," but Sa'har refuses. She blames Orr for abandoning her brother, but while they're distracted Malgus uses the Force to wrap up Master Orr in a dangling cable. He explains to Sa'har that the Holocron contains the locations of Force-sensitives throughout the galaxy who the Jedi didn't consider worthy of training, including her brother. So what did the giant machine do?
Malgus is like "Give me the Holocron and we can find your brother together." She won't do it, though, so Malgus decapitates Master Orr and comes at her dual-wielding her dead Master's lightsaber and his own. The fight is badass but eventually ends when Malgus uses the Force to pull down the stone ceiling on top of Sa'har, making her drop the Holocron to save herself. Malgus picks it up while the Padawan struggles with the crushing weight of the rubble.
"When you're ready," he tells her, "break free." He pulls up his hood and walks away, leaving her screaming in rage.
Like all the SWTOR cinematic trailers, this is awesome, probably the third best behind Sacrifice and Betrayed. Unlike those two, however, it doesn't really tell a complete story in and of itself. You can kind of tell that it's meant to tie in to a specific storyline in the game. If all the information was in the Holocron, what was the point of the giant machine? Who built it, and why did they bother collecting the names and locations of all the Force-sensitives the Jedi didn't want? Why does Malgus want that information? You would think if those people were so weak in the Force the Jedi rejected them for training, they wouldn't have much value to Malgus.
I'm sure all this is explained in the game, and the fact that it isn't in the trailer doesn't really affect the awesome action spectacle that is here. Malgus is still the most interesting villain of this era, declining to kill Sa'har when he has the chance and instead leaving her to struggle with her own feelings and inhibitions.
Another winner, bravo. Too bad they still can't make the game this good.
Shortly after the events of Disorder, Sa'har is a stowaway on a passenger transport vessel headed nowhere in particular. In her possession is a Holocron she happened across while escaping the temple on Elom. Not the one Darth Malgus took from her, some other one that also happened to be there, so her losing it to Malgus didn't really matter at all. She tries to access the Holocron but is psychically rebuffed, so she wanders into the galley where she meets a woman with cybernetic legs who talks about her drug-runner father. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be Zeerid Korr's stupid daughter Arra but she's never identified by name. As Maybe-Arra talks about learning to forgive her father and deciding the course of her own destiny, Sa'har comes to forgive her dead Jedi Master Denolm Orr for abandoning her brother to slavery and lying to her her whole life. When she returns to her room, she's able to access the Holocron, which she realizes is even betterer than the one Malgus took from her. She resolves to use it to find her now-grown brother, her destiny her own at last.
Shae Vizla is mad because someone called Heta Kol attacked her ship, the Spirit of Vengeance II, the original Spirit of Vengeance having been blown up. Shae, or "Mandalore the Avenger" as she's now known, can't find Heta Kol, however, so instead she's hunting for Mandalorian crime boss Indigo Montoya. She has a Wild West shootout in a saloon trying to find him, but when this yields no results she just shows up to his hideout and knocks on the door. Indigo foolishly comes out to taunt her, but the local peasantry are tired of being extorted by his gang so they show up to help. Then Huttbreaker, the queen of Mek-Sha, also shows up to help. Indigo has gotten too big for his britches and Huttbreaker has come to slap him back down. He gives Shae Vizla the name of the broker who put Heta Kol in touch with her mercenary army: Carl Friedrich Gauss. Shae leaves town to find him and take her revenge.
Shae Vizla fights Mandalorian mercenaries and potted plants in her quest to find Carl Friedrich Gauss. After an extended chase sequence that takes way too long, Shae gets blown up, knocked out, and captured by Carl. Rather than tie her up or remove her weapons and armor while she's unconscious, though, Carl's goons don't do that, so after waking up she just murders all her captors with her armor's built-in flamethrower and tracks Carl to the planet Ruhnuk using the tracer she planted on the rifle Carl's bodyguard took from her, a prize she knew would be too tempting for him to resist. At last she will have her revenge on Heta Kol, whoever that is! Except now after taking on dozens of mercenaries single-handedly she's too afraid to infiltrate Heta Kol's stronghold by herself so she sets course for the planet Odessen. I didn't bother looking it up because I don't care but I bet she's going to get help from you, the player.
Hey, lady, aren't you Mandalore? Don't you have people you could send to take care of this for you? Now I remember why I stopped doing these reviews.
