User:Hunter Kahn/New Jedi Order

Background
Vector Prime is the first entry of The New Jedi Order, a 19-book series of Star Wars novels published from 1999 to 2003, which depict the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the galaxy beginning 21 years after the events depicted in the film Return of the Jedi (1983). The series was conceived after the license for Star Wars books transferred from Bantam Spectra, which had previously published dozens of novels from the franchise, to Del Rey Books. Rather than continuing to publish standalone books or isolated trilogies as had been done under Bantam, the Del Rey editorial team and LucasBooks, a sub-imprint of Lucasfilm dedicated to Star Wars books and novels, discussed new creative directions the franchise could take. This led to a plan for an epic story told over an expansive multibook series of 29 books over the course of five years, a number that was later reduced to 19. The proposed story arc underwent multiple changes over the course of a brainstorming and development process, which included feedback and suggested revisions from Star Wars creator George Lucas himself, ultimately leading to the creation of The New Jedi Order.


 * Five major hardcovers (others paperback): Vector Prime, Balance Point, Star By Star, Destiny's Way, and The Unifying Force Initial March 1998 planning meeting was to plot out the major story points for the five-year book program, with the big events happening in five hardcover novels; the paperbacks were to be developed later.

Writing
The Yuuzhan Vong species underwent several changes in the early development of Vector Prime. The names Adzakahns and Vici-Vicians were initially considered, and then Shelly Shapiro, editorial director with Del Rey Books, suggested Vong based upon a French-Thai restaurant of that name in New York City. This was expanded to Yuunan Vong, which was based upon by a reference in the Vong restaurant's menu of teas from the "Yunan" region. This was further changed to "Yuzzan Vong" and "Yuzhan Vong" to make the name more alien and less Asian, before the final name of Yuuzhan Vong was established. The look and nature of the species also changes over the course of the book's development. In the first iterations, they were tribal-minded humans who had become physically transformed by ritual tattoos the dark side of the Force. One idea proposed in a 1998 working outline portrayed them as practitioners of the Dark Side not for evil itent, but rather as a means of necessity and survival. This outline proposed that the Yuuzhan Vong had long observed the galaxy, and that they believed the fall of Emperor Palpatine and the rise of the Jedi was the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy that their own society would be destroyed by a "light-bringer", the prevention of which led them to invade. This proposal suggested the Yuuzhan Vong could have given dark side powers to the original Sith, the Dark Side religious order to which Palpatine belonged. However, George Lucas disapproved of the idea of the Yuuzhan Vong as dark side users, because he felt the dark side of the Force inevitably leads to infighting and vying for power in a way that conflicted with a unified invading species. As a result, subsequent revisions of the Yuuzhan Vong eliminated aspects of the Force. Among the first stages of Campbell's structure is the hero leaving the ordinary world to answer a "call to adventure". In Vector Prime, Jacen Solo experiences this call to adventure when he enters the Yuuzhan Vong stronghold to rescue Danni Quee.


 * It was at the March 1998 planning meeting that they all agreed that a well-loved Star Wars character would die. Lucy Wilson, director of publishing with Lucasfilm, wrote: "The general story idea was a big alien invasion and galaxy war, and we wanted people to feel that there are consequences to war."
 * Wilson: "We knew that for anyone to really take a new intergalactic war seriously, and to realize that the New Jedi Order was not just Star Wars fiction as usual, someone who mattered would have to die.
 * It was unanimously agreed upon that someone would have to die, but who that would be was a matter of a great deal of debate.
 * Early thoughts about possible characters that might die were sent to George Lucas for his input.
 * The first thought was Luke Skywalker, but Lucas was against the idea and refused
 * The death of Chewbacca was first suggested by Randy Stradley, an editor with Dark Horse Comics, who suggested the sacrifice of such a prominent character would have a significant impact on the other characters. Stradley said: "Kill the family dog: Chewbacca."
 * Wilson said the NJO team got upset just coming up with the idea, so they knew it would generate a major emotional reaction from readers.
 * Rostoni began to have "more than second thoughts" about the decision and come to think of it as "a really, really bad thing", comparing it to the death of the dog in Old Yeller.
 * Shapiro: "I think we made the best choice (because) his death would strongly affect every other major character in the series, so it would serve as a unique emotional catalyst."
 * Shapiro said Chewbacca's death was also "only partly" because he seemed a difficult character to utilize in the books.
 * They didn't get Lucas' explicit permission to kill Chewbacca, but he was not one of the characters Lucas forbade killing
 * Salvatore created the specific scene where Chewbacca died and according to Rostoni "wrote it with care and great insight"
 * Chewbacca's death sparked a story arc for Han that would last over the course of several books throughout the series: his reaction to Chewie's death and his blaming of Anakin, and how the tragedy affected the whole family

Although Mara Jade Skywalker is said to be suffering from her mysterious alien illness before the events of Vector Prime, this was not portrayed or established in any earlier works. Rather, it was first described in Vector Prime but presented as if it occurred between Star Wars books.

UNSURE: As with other New Jedi Order books, Shelly Shapiro, editorial director with Del Rey Books, worked to make sure Vector Prime worked primarily as a novel, while Sue Rostoni, managing editor with Lucasfilm, ensured it fit in with the overall Star Wars Expanded Universe and that there were no continuity errors.

Themes
Pablo Hidalgo said Vector Prime presents the Star Wars galaxy experiencing a type of millennialism, a belief advanced by some religious denominations that Golden Age will occur prior to the final judgment. Although the galaxy is in a stage of relative peace at the beginning of Vector Prime, some of its citizens sense an impending war or disaster in the near future, foreshadowing the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Fan response

 * The death of Chewbacca drew grief and shock from Star Wars fans and longtime readers.
 * Pablo Hidalgo called Chewbacca's death "one of the most polarizing moments in Expanded Universe history, heralding a level of gravitas that would dominate Star Wars novels for years to come".
 * Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group described Chewbacca's death as "a seismic event designed to mark a bold new era of storytelling".
 * Rostoni: "It was such a shock, though, that the readers had such emotion! But if you think about it, it shows the strength of Star Wars and of the publishing program that our readership is this invested in the characters." LEFT OFF HERE
 * Del Rey described Chewbacca's death as "probably the single most controversial aspect of the NJO
 * Salvatore received death threats for killing off Chewbacca. At the time he received the threats, his brother had just died at Bob at his bedside, so the threats from fans was particularly upsetting to him.

TO DO

 * Hardcover novel of The Unifying Force came with a CD-ROM of supplemental materials, including a round-robin interview with "members of the New Jedi Order development team, a description of the Yuuzhan Vong from the series planning documents". The paperback edition of The Unifying Force included the round-robin interview. Much of it can be found in the Amazon preview of the Unifying Force book and on Google books and here

New Jedi Order

 * Five major hardcovers (others paperback): Vector Prime, Balance Point, Star By Star, Destiny's Way, and The Unifying Force
 * Initial story conference at Skywalker Ranch in March 1998, then a follow-up conference in May to fine-tune the ideas discussed at the first. Shelly Shapiro wrote an outline. Luceo and O'Shea spent weeks working on it to develop story arcs, developed into a writers' bible, social structure for Yuzhaan Vong, etc etc.
 * Initial meeting was to plot out the major story points for the five-year book program, with the big events happening in five hardcover novels; the paperbacks were to be developed later.
 * (Really good information about the conception of NJO in Hidalgo, Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion, pp. 369-370. Discusses the transfer of license from Bantam to Del Rey, the conception of the series, the original number of books being larger, the very different original story draft, changes to the Yuuzhan Vong, and George Lucas' input)
 * Round Robin 531: Shelly Shapiro was the editor at Del Ray in charge of the NJO, was involved in planning on it from the start, initial meeting various people including Luceno and Stackpole and Dark Horse Comics guys
 * Info about how Lucano came to be involved in the NJO (Could be used in this page, or just in the pages on the Lucano books)
 * Round Robin 537: Shelly and Luceno sketched many of the promiment characters for the series "over espressos in Sausalito and pizza at Point Lobos
 * Why they went the multibook saga route compared to what came before
 * Round Robin 537 = Lucas' involvement, major decisions he changed such as Vong not being Dark Side users, Luke can't die, Anakin Solo couldn't be protagonist so wouldn't get mixed up with Anakin Skywalker. This presented a challenge, because James Luceno felt Anakin was the most ideally set up character from the Bantam Star Wars books to inherit the Jedi mantle from Luke
 * Round Robin 539 = Because of Lucas' feedback on Anakin, they decided on Jacen to be the hero of the series and the one to undergo the most changes
 * A multibook series was made part of the license for Star Wars book rights when they came up. Also, the reduction from more titles to just 19
 * How used the NJO bible and the later the Holocron to maintain continuity
 * The New Jedi Order was conceived as having the type of mythological structure established by Joseph Campbell in work The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).
 * Round Robin 538-540: More on the Joseph Campbell's hero's journey concept, and other ways the story was fleshed out. Shapiro said that aspect didn't end up as well developed as she hoped across all the books

Dark Tide duology (Onslaught and Ruin)

 * Changes in the publishing schedule required that Michael Stackpole's trilogy be compressed into to novels

Agents of Chaos duology (Hero's Trial and Jedi Eclipse)

 * Luceno was originally commissioned to contribute one paperback novel to the series, but at the last minute his one became two when changes to the publishing schedule required Stackpole's trilogy to be compressed into two novels

Balance Point

 * Five major hardcovers (others paperback): Vector Prime, Balance Point, Star By Star, Destiny's Way, and The Unifying Force Initial March 1998 planning meeting was to plot out the major story points for the five-year book program, with the big events happening in five hardcover novels; the paperbacks were to be developed later.

Rebirth

 * (Since this is the first one that will introduce Onimi...) Lucas took exception to early descriptions of Onimi as "dwarfish"

Star By Star

 * Five major hardcovers (others paperback): Vector Prime, Balance Point, Star By Star, Destiny's Way, and The Unifying Force Initial March 1998 planning meeting was to plot out the major story points for the five-year book program, with the big events happening in five hardcover novels; the paperbacks were to be developed later.
 * Originally they planned to kill Jacen instead of Anakin, but George Lucas directed that it should be the other way around. Didn't want Anakin to be the protagonist because feared people would get him mixed up with Anakin from the prequel trilogy. This presented a challenge, because James Luceno felt Anakin was the most ideally set up character from the Bantam Star Wars books to inherit the Jedi mantle from Luke.
 * During planning stages for the NJO: Rostoni said "We discussed how Anakin was the stronger of the siblings, and how his death would affect things, since he was the obvious choice as Luke's successor."

Traitor

 * Shapiro felt Stover's book most adhered to Campbell's hero's journey

Destiny's Way

 * Five major hardcovers (others paperback): Vector Prime, Balance Point, Star By Star, Destiny's Way, and The Unifying Force Initial March 1998 planning meeting was to plot out the major story points for the five-year book program, with the big events happening in five hardcover novels; the paperbacks were to be developed later.

The Unifying Force

 * Five major hardcovers (others paperback): Vector Prime, Balance Point, Star By Star, Destiny's Way, and The Unifying Force Initial March 1998 planning meeting was to plot out the major story points for the five-year book program, with the big events happening in five hardcover novels; the paperbacks were to be developed later.
 * Luceno began work on the novel in May 2002 after having been heavily involved in the development of the NJO series and discussion with multiple people

Yuuzhan Vong

 * (All the stuff from Vector Prime about the development of the characters. Round Robin 537 also has stuff about Lucas saying the Vong can't be Dark Side users)
 * (Hidalgo, Star Wars: The Essential Reader's Companion, pp. 369 and 373-74 has great info about the early conception of the Yuuzhan Vong and the changes they underwent, including George Lucas's influence on them and his suggestion they not be dark side users)
 * Development of the Yuuzhan Vong social structure and invasion corridor

Nom Anor

 * Dark Horse Comics had a character the NJO team thought could be used as a bad guy in Vector Prime: Nom Anor, the original concept for whom came from the Crimson Empire II comics.