xtinadoesstarwars

[xtinadoesstarwars]

Dooku: Jedi Lost

I was really apprehensive about starting this book because I wasn’t entirely interested in knowing more about Dooku because what else is there to know? He’s got style, he’s got grace, and he’s a winner, he’s Count of Serenno. Anyway, I find that the books I think aren’t going to interest me are the ones I learn the most from. 

Spoilers below.

First off, this isn’t actually a book. You can buy the script on Amazon but it is primarily available as an audio play of sorts. The script was written by Cavan Scott who has authored several books in the Star Wars literature. The run time is a little over 6 hours, so it’s a lot shorter than other books I’ve listened to in Star Wars canon (Catalyst and Bloodlines - covering those both later). 

The basic plot summary is that Asajj Ventress learns about her master Count Dooku and his past from various sources, including his own recountings to her, communications between him and his sister, Jenza, as well as his holopad journal, while she is on a quest to find Jenza.

Notable things I learned about: 

1) The Lost Twenty - Jedi Masters who became disillusioned with the Jedi Order. I remember this being mentioned in an Episode II: AOTC deleted scene but didn’t give much thought to it. There are many components of the Jedi Order that have perpetually perplex me, especially in light of the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy. The only stories we hear of the Force are those at the opposing ends - the lightest and the darkest. It would be something to see a story of balance. It’s a lot to ask of people to give up familial ties, to take children away from their families, but I also see the importance of learning how to balance one’s power in the Force, lest one becomes a danger to oneself or others.

2)  Expanding upon the idea of balance in the Force, we get an ancient Jedi mantra for balance in Dooku: Jedi Lost:

We call upon the three—light, dark, and balance true. One is no greater than the others. Together, they unite, restore, center, and renew. We walk into the light, acknowledge the dark, and find balance within ourselves. The Force is strong.

3) This may or may not be a correct conclusion to draw from the book but it kiiiiiinda seems like mayyyybeeeee Dooku’s turn to the dark side miiiiiight have been related to the “legend” that Serenno was once part of the Sith empire (Me in my head: spicy peppers for spicy Siths). His sister Jenza recounts to him that once of their ancestors fought off the Sith and the other houses submitted to them. They have a funny little exchange about Jedi and Serennians, but I will leave y’all to read that.

Stuff that made me LOL:

- Dooku and Sifo-Dyas were so cute and shitty to each other, as preteens and teens are wont to do. They had NICKNAMES (Doo and Si), fabulous to see Dooku with a sense of humor not so mired in darkness, although you could argue he is pretty funny in The Clone Wars TV show.

- Asajj having lengthy conversations with Ky about whether or not he’s really in her head or if she’s just losing it, because their bickering was A+.

- Asajj threatening people.

- Dooku fighting with a fucking glass of wine and not spilling it like the bad bitch that he is. The man SIMPLY HAS STYLE!

Characters:

Orlagh Cassidy as Asajj Ventress

Euan Morton as Dooku

Pete Bradbury as Gretz Droom (new character, Padawan to Jor Aerith)

Jonathan Davis as Qui-Gon Jinn

Neil Hellegers as Ramil (New character, brother of Dooku)

Sean Kenin as Sifo-Dyas

January LaVoy as Jor Aerith (New character, Master to Gretz Droom)

Saskia Maarleveld as Jenza (New character, sister to Dooku)

Carol Monda as Lene Kostana (New character, Master to Sifo-Dyas, Dooku is greatly fascinated by her and her work to study and find Sith relics in order to prepare for what she believes is the impending Sith uprising)

Robert Petkoff as Ky Narec (Former Master to Asajj, serving as the voice of her consciousness--the way I heard it anyway)

Rebecca Soler as Yula Braylon (New character, a Seeker and Jedi who had a son Arath--unbeknownst to the Council--who was somewhat of an annoyance or rival to Dooku during their days as initiates)

Marc Thompson as Yoda (Master to Dooku)

[xtinadoesstarwars]

I don’t know why I’m doing this but I am.

Background

So I recently finished my master’s degree at the University of Oklahoma. You would think after writing 140 pages worth of research, I would not want to start yet another writing project but here we are.

I have been a Star Wars nerd since I saw Revenge of Sith in theaters three times because I could NOT get over Anakin Skywalker in May 2005. I think I was in seventh grade at the time, just on the precipice of my teen years. To be honest, my infatuation with Anakin (Hayden Christensen) had more to do with that than how amazing I thought the Star Wars universe was.

My mom and her college friends took me to see Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones but honestly, elementary school me was not into scary red man with horns OR Jango Fett clones. 

Anyway, after I started thirsting for Anakin/Hayden, I became utterly OBSESSED with Star Wars. I can’t remember if I saved money or asked for the special edition DVD set of the original trilogy, but after that, it was over for me. My Xanga (remember that?) page became a Jedi-worshipping page. I watched the movies over and over and over again. I never touched the books or comics because well...that was a lot to cover. I was content using Wookieepedia or whatever the equivalent was in the 2000s to look up any lingering questions I had.

And then Disney bought Lucasfilm. At first, oh I was angry. I was appalled. They were going to ruin the SANCTITY of my beloved Star Wars. It was announced that the books and comics and other "Expanded Universe” media were going to become part of the “Legends” brand, therefore non-canonical. For those of you who don’t understand canon, here’s an explainer:

Canon: Describes people, events, times, places, etc. that have actually appeared, been mentioned, or happened in the movies, TV shows, and certain media.

Non-canon: Relationships, people, events, places, etc. that have never been shown, spoken of, or hinted at in movies, TV shows, books, etc. 

From Wallaroo Media: 

Since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, there has been a substantial amount of new STAR WARS material, including comic books, novels, TV series, and games. What casual fans may not know is that all of these productions and publications are now officially part of the new canon, meaning that they are included in the fictional history of that galaxy far, far away. With this new STAR WARS canon timeline, you can now stay current on everything STAR WARS, and how these materials are connected with both the old and new films.

I perked up at this because it meant that I could conceivably “catch-up” and be the Star Wars know-it-all I’ve always wanted to be but never had the time. Obviously 2012 was 8 years ago and all I’ve managed to do is complete two degrees, watch the movies, and read a couple of books. 

To get to the true heart of why I am doing this, I have to get personal with you, reader. The world is a pretty fucking depressing and anxiety-inducing place right now and I suffer from depression and anxiety. Sometimes I take medication for it, other times I’m just out here raw-dogging life, as a meme once so eloquently put it. So I know what it’s like to feel like there’s nothing worth living for, even though logically I know that there is, and the anxiety of losing something that you love. If I don’t give myself huge projects to do, my depression and anxiety cause me to want to give up, to lay in bed for days on end, to not eat, to shut down. I need things to be excited about and commit myself to (other than work and my other hustles). As a nerd, I’ve used fandom to pull myself out of a lot of dark places throughout my life. As a child, I was shy and lonely and used books to escape from reality and to imagine wonderful worlds to different from ours. I guess I’m doing the same thing again now.

After I watched the Rise of Skywalker, I felt an intense wave of depression come over me. I can’t seem to accept that it’s over. This particular saga has ended, the stories I have come to know and love will no longer have additions for me to consume. There is a big reason why this specific episode affected me so much, but we’ll get to it later. It’s a story and explanation for another time and also filled with spoilers so I’ll give you more time to GO SEE THIS MOVIE.

Methods

This is how I know I’m a nerd. I organized this post starting with my introduction and background, and now I’m moving into my methods, aka how I’m going to conduct my project. Some things never change. 

My idea is to start with the chronological beginning of the canon timeline according to this webpage. I started a spreadsheet which records the title and author of the media, the type of media (book, comic, movie, etc.), era, short synopsis, release date, when I started and finished, what I learned, what I liked, and what I didn’t like. I’m sure that this spreadsheet will expand to include other things but my goal here is to create something that will help me track my knowledge of the Star Wars universe. I’m a researcher by nature, what can I say? 

I’m giving myself one year to do all of this but I’m not holding myself to it. If it happens, cool, if not, I’m gonna keep going until it’s finished. I don’t know if anyone else has ever tried this before but it’s an idea that I can’t get out of my head so I might as well just try it.

If you made it to the bottom of this post, congratulations and thank you. You a real one! If you have any questions or comments leave them here or catch me on Twitter @ tina_ffg or on my personal Tumblr @odasjimi.