STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS
THE MOVIE NOVELISATION BY KAREN TRAVISS
PUBLISHED BY CENTURY PUBLISHING (UK)
Reviewed by Scott Weller
“Senator, I wish we could get one thing straight-I’m not a traitor. I was never on your side. I’m called the enemy.”
Count Dooku to Senator Padme Amidala.
It always amazes me how female novelists can be so blood thirsty and violent. On the crime and suspense front you have eminent people who look and act in real life like they wouldn’t hurt a fly-there’s P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and the appropriately named Karin Slaughter!!! And, on the STAR WARS front, the gung-ho gunpoint (or should that be blaster point!!) penmanship of Karen Traviss.
Many fans of the literary universe of the Expanded STAR WARS Universe were thrilled that Karen Traviss had been announced as writer on the adult novelisation version of the new animated series film. She also has the distinction of being one of the few, as far as I’m aware, non American writers to helm a book for the LUCASFILM/DEL REY range, and as a fellow Brit, having not read any of her earlier REPUBLIC COMMANDOS books that had received many critical plaudits, I approached this novel with great, almost keen, interest to see what she was going to bring to the table as far as the written STAR WARS world went..
Traviss is most renowned in STAR WARS circles for her excellent characterization of the Clone Troopers and the high risk, big octane action sequences they partake in during her highly successfully earlier soldiering adventures-her experience as a real life defense correspondent, and her encounters and working in the job over the years alongside/dealings with military men and women in combat have proved invaluable to her in bringing her unique portrayal of the Clone Wars universe to realistic life. And this new book is no exception, as she brings vital characterization to all of the fighting men, especially the new character of Captain Rex, who has a well highlighted friendship with fellow combat comrade, and Jedi Knight, General Anakin Skywalker. The opening battle on Christophosis and the introduction, to us anyway, of their loyalty and friendship in the deadly ground conflict being nicely described in a different, harder way to anything I’d previously read in the young edition novelisation of the film. Traviss also smoothes over any possible plot holes or things that might contradict the way she needs to portray her characters i.e. Rex doesn’t later succumb to Ventress’s force powers- he merely pretends and calls General Skywalker Anakin deliberately.
The Clone Soldiers of Traviss’s universe lives up to their film characters portrayals-perhaps more so. They are brave, resourceful, loyal, tenacious and cunning and they don’t give up easily. We also find about more about the way they work and the amazing technological things they can do with their armour, like talking to one another on silent channels through their helmets. There’s also some cool action stuff in there for the 501st that will certainly keep its legions of worldwide fans happy!!
(On a side-note, I assume the book doesn’t have any photos section so that it can retain the author’s adult style and reader base-certainly this was very evident with the book’s cleverly designed cover image concept, with the right in your face image of a Clone Trooper’s visage-a unique representation of this epic battle in the STAR WARS universe-more than defining the fracturing Republic at this point in the saga- the polished face is their universe, the white metal helmet’s damage and cracks showing the strain of warfare.)
Of our main familiar characters Traviss brings out the best and worst qualities of all them during the opening battle of the pilot/series. The Anakin Skywalker we know and love, or fear, is much closer in Traviss’s universe to the EPISODE II movie version-still haunted by his anger at the attack on the Sandpeople, yet thriving on the challenge of battle. He is however raked with guilt and desperately trying to live up to the promise made at his mother’s grave-that he won’t let anyone down-the Clone Wars is the conflict that will test that self promise to the absolute limits. There’s also some good moments exploring his unease at becoming a Jedi Knight-how no one had wanted to train him after Qui-Gon’s demise and his resentment that Obi-Wan only took him on out of loyalty and duty to his late master. The villains also show a darker side of their humanity in the conflict-Count Dooku also has moments where he has doubts about what he is doing. Obviously the continuity is good and there is a nice referencing to his youth when the Count’s loyal training as a Jedi first comes into personal question after the Mandalore battle-and also explaining his connection to Jango as the blueprint for the Clone Armies. However, I didn’t like Dooku coming across as too weak as I felt he did in places of the book. I don’t like the villains having too much character and his apprentice, Asaj Ventress says, I feel, too much- better to rely on her silence and charisma-which can sometimes mean a lot more than dialogue ever could. More is less with regards to the villains, I feel-lets keep more dark and centered evil for them both, eh Karen...
Interestingly, unlike the young reader’s novelisation, newcomer Ahsoka Tano doesn’t come to the fore as much as I thought she would. Though her youthful character is retained, her role in the book is toned down from the way she’s portrayed in the film. In some ways Ahsoka, who betrays some intriguing feral animalistic tendencies in Traviss’s adaptation, and Anakin are cut from the same compulsive, adventurous cloth (it could also be said of the Clone Troopers under Skywalker’s command, too-perhaps they re picking up his bad habits, as the war intensifies!!!), and in the book their pairing is well developed.
Strictly adhering to the film plot and only developing the main proactive characters of the story, Traviss’s adaptation basically centers on Anakin, Ahsoka and the Troopers-everyone else outside of that domain suffers a bit. Padme Amidala’s miniscule involvement in wrapping up the story remains just that, and I didn’t like the way that her sequence was confined to just one chapter pretty much, without her being in any main action with the Clone Troopers that rescued her-in fact, that sequence was obviously considered a waste of pages by the author as her rescue is confined to literally a quote paragraph without any of the Protocol Droid, See Threepio’s assistance (I missed not reading anything with Golden Rod in it!!)
Additionally, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s presence is also sadly lacking and I feel more could have been done with him to enhance his importance in the story. Intriguingly, as a character side note, we discover that he gave up the love of his life for the Jedi Order-I wasn’t aware of that one but I’m looking forward to reading about it someday!!
Despite those disappointments, the joy of an adaptation is that the author can expand on the minor characters at times, and the Spy Droid later cut down by Ahsoka makes some intriguing observations about the difference between good and evil relating to the Republic and Separatists war.
Interestingly, Traviss decides to show that that the power mad, duplicitous and creepy Ziro the Hutt, minus any kind of campy voiceover, is in on the kidnapping right from the start with Dooku, rather than doing what the film did and introducing him/it as a perpetrator later in the film. Additionally, she has Palpatine talking to his people/the Jedi as his benign Supreme Chancellor self, then revealing his dark thoughts about them is his true identity as Darth Sidious at the same time-as far as I’m aware-forgive me if this is inaccurate as I haven’t read all 90 whatever number they’re at new books in the Expanded Universe- that hadn’t been done before, as most writers like to play with the pretences that he’s a good, but clever and ambitious, man revealed as a baddie from EPISODE III onwards, rather than showing him as the downright baddie he was right from the start.
With the other well known villains from the film series, the appearance of the super slug Jabba the Hutt is always a welcome one- his character is expanded in the novel-he hates human beings with a passion!!- and he doesn’t go along with Count Dooku quite so easily as he does in the film, questioning both the Count’s and the Republic’s motives during the continuing battles to return his son Rotta to him. On that note, his/its relationship with the newly created Huttlet is also brought to life in the book well, though, like the young readers adaptation and the film itself, his kidnapping takes place with very little description and happens way too quickly for me-even within the same chapter of this book (!!) which is a bit disappointing- like the film we don‘t find out which members of the Separatist race, in league with Ziro and Dooku, took the child or where that intriguing vessel with octopus like tendrils came from-unless that’s to come in the series? The lead in to the Bounty Hunters discovering the Huttlet on Teth was okay but it would have been nice if we could have had something action-wise on them heading to the planet and how they got the lead to find him in a different way, rather than having the Techs/hackers provide the info to Jabba- it’s time saving info but still a little convenient. Alternatively, not every line/ part of a plot has to be totally explained, even if it is logical that Dooku and Ziro the Hutt would provide clues to the kidnapped creature’s location...
The family animation humour of the movie has been replaced or toned down with Traviss’s own style of sly black, dry humour and description- I liked Dooku being described as “an elegant cadaver”- especially with the way she brings it into the Clone Trooper character’s themselves, especially with Rex, who she clearly loves writing for with the naturalness of a duck taking to water, though Ahsoka’s referencing Anakin as “Skyguy” is still in there whether you like it or not- fortunately we’re spared any comedy battle droid moments and they are given a more decent opportunity to work in the story rather than acting as continual comedy cannon fodder.
On a slightly negative note, some added moments and dialogue from the author don’t always feel a natural part of the STAR WARS universe, sometimes there may be too much dialogue from some of the characters which slows things down a little when the visual pace of the STAR WARS film itself is so overwhelming, but for the most part there are some striking observations and descriptions of the battle scenarios and life during the conflict by Traviss.
As mentioned earlier, continuity is very good with what has been established with the Expanded Universe and the films- sequences are also condensed into nice little quotes which can often say more about the characters and situations than they do in the films- some very nice war time story quotes highlight the bravery, loyalty, dark humour and horror of warfare-be it in the STAR WARS universe or our own real life one!!-the scene with Kenobi’s line about having battlefield tea with Separatist General Loathsome being much more funny and satisfying reading as a paragraph than seeing the whole sequence in the film!!
Like the earlier THE CLONE WARS novelisation for young readers, there are no wasted and un-necessary scenes like those set at the film’s beginning with Admiral Yularen, either-though fine in the film, they aren’t needed in the written form...its quite possible that the Yularen scenes may have been added on anyway, whilst the film was in it’s post production phase, to bolster the film s running length..
Other notable differences/inclusions in the new book are the welcome addition, albeit very briefly, of Luminara Unduli, saved for the series, who even gets some dialogue, whilst Rex is described as being bald in this version of Traviss’s STAR WARS universe. Some scenes are also condensed together, as in the kid’s novelisation.
On the movie cut scenes front, an action sequence involving Anakin and Ahsoka seeing their rescue LAAT destroyed and then taking on a Vulture Droid makes its way into the novel (and the Young Readers Version as well). A further intriguing scene, whether or not was originally written for the movie, has Rex and his men, in battle in the abandoned monastery on Teth, and pinned against their fallen AT-TE, giving a damaged Super Battle Droid new orders to blow up his fellow droids. The pointless short sequence of Ahsoka in the Twilight hold during the battle to escape Teth, ejecting its contents onto attacking enemy fighters still remains pointless, however, even in this version.
As the film adaptation raced towards it’s closing chapters, I ultimately felt began to feel rushed whilst reading it-the feeling that Traviss may have been forced in wrapping the adventure up to within a certain amounts of pages- for me the important section on Tatooine involving Ahsoka’s fight with the droids should not have been cut by the author-I’m assuming she thought it was a fight too many and that it wasn’t necessary, though some more observations about the new young character and her situation, I felt, would have been quite interesting at that point, what with her being on her own (with only Artoo to help), dangerously cut off from her Master. In the film the young Togruta realizes that being a Padawan is harder than she thought it would be and I was disappointed that Traviss didn’t develop that a little further. Though expanded as a slightly more serious, less silly Hutt gangster, Ziro is also hardly used in the last half of the book as well after such a promising intro in the book’s beginning.
Being my first foray into Traviss’s realm of STAR WARS soldiering and battle, I overall found the book to be a well written and detailed affair, though I hope that her future adventures, or those by other writers, allows us to get into the minds of other heroes and villains during the Clone Wars and not just our main heroes and the soldiers-one book like this was sufficient for me unless the future books are different-as THE CLONE WARS animated series will show, I ‘d like a little bit more variety...
AFICONADO RATING: Karen Traviss gives us her own inimitable and gritty take on the first animated STAR WARS film and its universe, whilst, at the same time, adeptly making it a part of her own STAR WARS storytelling structure, with deft flair, as well. Though it hasn’t proved to be my favourite novelisation of an official STAR WARS movie adventure, I found Miss Traviss’s writing style for this universe better than I expected it to be-a well realized, atmospheric war story mixed in with the traditional STAR WARS adventure elements, making it an enjoyable page turning adaptation. 8 out of 10.
