The 'Forgotten' Star Wars Stories

I'm as excited about the new television series as anyone else. As a child I was taken to see Star Wars close to my seventh birthday and avidly remember hiding behind my Dad as Darth Vader made his way onto the big screen. Now Star Wars continues to be a growing success, with die hard fans across the world.

I doubt there are many that don't know the names of all six movies, and most know of the Thrawn trilogy books, the Jedi Academy and Rogue Squadron. But what about the earlier spin offs?

One of the first spin offs was a book called Splinter of the Minds Eye by Alan Dean Foster, a man also famous for more than a few other movie related books including Aliens. Splinter of the Minds Eye was released in 1978 by Del Ray, a division of Ballantine Books. The book was originally written to be a low budget spin off movie of Star Wars if the first movie was not a success. And I have to say there's a part of me that wishes it had been made anyway as the novel is both dark and well written. It also hints of the Jedi connection for Leia and throws her into a fight scene using a light saber against Darth Vader. Looking back the book is the first of the expanded universe books for Star Wars and well worth the read.

Two trilogies join the ranks of the often forgotten Star Wars stories. The Han Solo trilogy by Brian Daley. Han Solo at Stars End, Han Solo's Revenge and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy began to grace the book shelves in 1979 and were also released by Del Ray. These three stories pre-date A New Hope and set the stage by explaining just why Han Solo ended up in the Cantina in the first place. They also expand on the friendship between Han and Chewbacca, and introduce background information on the Hutts.

The second trilogy is the Lando Calrissian one by L. Neil Smith, again from Del Ray. The books are Lando Calrissian and the Mind Harp of Sharu, Lando Calrissian and the Flame Wind of Oseon and Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of Thonboka. Like the Han Solo trilogy these are prequel novels from the time when the Falcon belonged to Lando.

Whilst more than a few people know about the radio adaptations of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, not everyone realizes that these adaptations provide a lot more information on the Star Wars universe. We all know that Biggs Darklighter was a good friend of Luke's before the battle of Yavin and the destruction of the original Death Star, but the radio version introduces not just Biggs but Cammie and other friends from Tatooine. The back story in the radio version includes a speeder race, Biggs leaving for the Academy, and scenes such as Princess Leia's interrogation by Darth Vader. Whilst not all of the big screen names joined the cast for the radio adaptations a few did, including Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels.

And it should be noted that the new Star Wars TV series isn't the first one, back in 1985 and 86 R2-D2 and C3PO had their own cartoon series called Star Wars:Droids, also known as Droids: The adventures of R2-D2 and C3PO. The stories in that show were set in the 19 year story gap between episodes 3 and 4. And we can't forget the Ewoks in this list either! There were two spin off movies and a Christmas special.

So, with Star Wars celebrating its 30th year and the news about not one, but two new TV shows, one of which is set to be a 3-D Clone Wars series, perhaps it's time to brush off the memories and look at some of the shows, books and other productions that helped keep the fan base going during those earlier years...