Dark Disciple: Star Wars by Christie Golden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Note: this review was written based on a Digital Review Copy (DRC) uncorrected galley proof provided by NetGalley (https://s2.netgalley.com/catalog/book/65783)
When Disney abruptly and unwisely canceled The Clone Wars animated TV series following their purchase of Lucasfilm, it was inevitable that there would be a number of unfinished stories in various stages of development. Animation has one of the longest lead cycles of any creative endeavor, and things that are seeing release today are the product of years of development.
The Clone Wars was wildly popular, with a dedicated creative team with no expectation that the series was coming to an end, so the unceremonious pulling of the plug meant not only that many things didn’t get wrapped up, but that some storylines that had already been completed had not seen the light of day and now had no venue to see release.
A few of the nearly completed episodes were haphazardly sewn together into an inaccurately named set called The Lost Missions, that wasn’t really lost nor a series of missions, and this was kinda, sorta, Season Six. It was a Netflix exclusive until it was put on disc a little while later, and while the circumstances surrounding the whole affair give the impression of a slapdash scraping of the bottom of the barrel, the episodes are nothing of the sort. The Lost Missions are a bittersweet ending for the series, since they aren’t an ending at all, but display all the quality of the rest of the series and make you even more dismayed that it was shuttered.
A few other episodes have been portioned out as animatics and such, but we’ve likely seen the last of the animated series itself. Fortunately, there is still the less expensive to produce medium of novels in which these stories may still escape.
At least there was until the equally ill-advised decision to scrap the entirety of the long-running Expanded Universe (EU), designating nearly forty years of novels, comics and other stories as “Legends”, and keeping only the past couple of things in play.
Ok, I told myself I wasn’t going to do this here but I need to spend a minute on this EU Legends thing. The choice to throw out all of the material that was created before you arrived is so unbelievably disrespectful to the authors and fans of said work that it could only come from a massive multi-national company like Disney. Or could it? After all, George Lucas himself was completely indifferent to the things he didn’t personally create. Sure, he’d dip into it once in a while, when he saw something interesting he wanted to grab and use for his own purposes, but that is your right with licensed properties.
Years ago I wrote an unpublished piece to TheForceCast (the podcast of theforce.net) railing against Lucasfilm’s cavalier attitude concerning the works they had licensed. (Sidebar: the near continuous dumping on the EU is why I finally stopped listening to the show.) If you’re really interested, here’s the bit: https://www.nowverybad.com/odds-and-ends/
I found it insulting that they considered these stories good enough for me to spend my money on, but not good enough for them to actually take seriously or feel any obligation to acknowledge when coming up with new stories for The Clone Wars show. (Which spawned, wait for it, more licensed stories; none of which count anymore, either. Explain that one…) So this one can’t really be laid at Disney’s door. Lucas, after all, is the one who came up with new storylines for Episodes 7-9 as part of selling his company. (Want a bit of amusing irony? The creative team behind the new films isn’t following his stories…)
I understand the dilemma the new creative team behind the next set of films faces. I really do. You want to forge a new future for the franchise, but oops, you already have the next several decades of the Star Wars timeline filled in by authorized tales. I’m not unsympathetic, but it was your decision to make 7, 8 and 9; not mine. It’s not as though they couldn’t have used the broad strokes of the Expanded Universe and created adaptations of fan-loved stories. In fact, it would have been heaps easier. Marvel Studios will NEVER run out of their own stories to adapt and they’re doing pretty well over there. They have yet to actually write a truly original screenplay for any of their pictures so far; they are all adaptations. By my estimation, Marvel may not even need to write an original comic story ever again and they will still have enough material to make movies for, oh, say, 50 years.
Sorry for the long interlude on the EU thing. I really didn’t intend to go into it here, but it’s really difficult to discuss the new wave of Star Wars stories without dealing with this. In fact, what are they planning on calling these “new EU” stories? If the non-movie stuff before was called the Expanded Universe and now is classified “Legends”, what should we call non-movie “canon” stuff that’s being produced now? NU-EU?
So, back to the book itself…
Dark Disciple is based on a story by Katie Lucas, Head Writer Matt Michnovetz, and Series Supervising Director Dave Filoni that would have been an extended arc of eight episodes on Season Seven of The Clone Wars. Lucas has memorably written previously for the show and particularly for the character of Asajj Ventress, notably with the Savage Oppress arc of Season Four.
In Dark Disciple, the Jedi Council, appalled at the most recent atrocity of Count Dooku, this time the near complete genocide of a race of aliens, takes the uncharacteristic and unprecedented step of sanctioning the assassination of the Separatist leader. The instrument they choose to perform this most un-Jedi act is Master Quinlan Vos, who has previously flirted with the Dark Side and worked undercover for Dooku (or has he? I don’t think those stories count anymore…)
Since Vos stands little chance of getting close to the public face of the Confederacy of Independent Systems (the Separatists), Master Obi-Wan Kenobi suggests enlisting the assistance of former Dooku apprentice Asajj Ventress. Of course, Ventress is hardly a friend of the Jedi, even if she did briefly ally with Kenobi against the sort-of Sith brothers Darth Maul and Savage Oppress – enemy of my enemy and all that – so Vos will have to be clever in tricking Ventress to help him, posing as a fellow bounty hunter. Oh yeah, Ventress is a bounty hunter now, finding it the best option for survival after her revenge attempt against Dooku for trying to kill her failed and he massacred her family, the Nightsisters.
You know, as I try to summarize the plot of Dark Disciple, I’m kind of making the point of the EU-bashers for them – that the Expanded Universe got too convoluted and detailed to follow and created a huge barrier to entry. Which would all be fair, except that everything I just summed up happened on the TV show. That’s a TV show for kids that ran for only five seasons, with Ventress’s story making up only a fraction of those episodes. Sure, I intentionally wrote some of the previous history above with an eye to satire – making the whole thing sound sort of like a comic book / soap opera. Because make no mistake, any long-running franchise has to face and cop to the completely valid criticisms of being over-complicated and not noob-friendly.
The fact is, I’m not sure you can completely avoid excluding new fans from any series any more than you can keep basketball discriminating against short people (stolen from 1980’s Doonesbury strip by Garry Trudeau). Let’s face it, these Expanded stories, whatever they want to call them, are aimed at existing fans – it’s like selling coffee mugs at a café – you are cultivating your audience from an existing group that has already shown an interest in your product. Sure, you want to increase your base, which is why that’s not the only place you sell your mugs, but you have to know where your main customer lives, so to speak.
Asajj Ventress is one of the most interesting characters to come from the Expanded Universe and The Clone Wars (she was an EU character first, of course – created for stories that now don’t count…). A former Jedi Padawan who came to hate the Jedi for what she perceived to be their failing of her master; a former slave who transformed herself into a skilled warrior and dark-side adept, pledging her allegiance to a fallen Jedi turned Sith Lord who responded with no such allegiance; an orphan whose surrogate families have been repeatedly destroyed.
Quinlan Vos, too, is a product of the EU and one of its most popular characters. A Jedi who has walked the narrow path between the dark and the light; particularly adept at undercover work but divided by his split roles; a Kiffar with an ability to gain information about objects by a mere touch who always been forced to remain untouched by attachment.
The narrative works very well, pairing these two multi-faceted characters on a mission of dubious morality. One of the things the TV show struggled most with was the tonality and seriousness of the stories. Star Wars is theoretically supposed to be family-friendly entertainment, but, well, it does have the word “war” in the title. Sometimes these things get dark. Throughout all of the material, canon and otherwise, creators (even the notorious GL) have searched for the right amount of gravity and import, the whole dark/light balance. The Dark Horse Comics telling of the Clone Wars tended to deal more plainly with the adult-oriented war stories, but the TV show itself occasionally featured murder, terrorism, torture, suicide bombing and slavery. These episodes would sometimes follow a light-hearted escapade with Jar-Jar or the droids.
Here in Dark Disciple, author Christie Golden is able to indulge in a story that fully explores the nature of the Dark Side, treachery, secrecy and the lengths to which you will go to achieve your goals.
The story may be a touch on the long side, but not by much and not because it wasn’t interesting. Golden writes Star Wars very well and brings the tale to life with good beats and a strong story. I really enjoyed the consistent characterization and the integrity of the story along its predecessors. I can’t imagine that this would have been any better as a fully realized TV story. Highly recommended for fans of the Wars…
Bonus:
Check out some cool concept art from the proposed show: http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/dark-disciple-concept-art-gallery
