Thursday, July 19, 2012

Coruscant Fatigue: Are you as tired of the Galactic Capital as I am?


So admittedly I probably read and re-read Star Wars books an unhealthy amount, so maybe this is something that is only bothering me, but I want to get it off my chest.

                                   ENOUGH CORUSCANT!

Since the introduction of the massive City covered planet by Timothy Zahn as Coruscant in Heir to the Empire and it's subsequent appearance in the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi, the throne world of the Empire and the Republic has become a central point in Expanded Universe story telling.

As a key planet in the Core of the galaxy it makes sense that Coruscant would play a role in the large scale conflicts of the galaxy, but it seems like almost every book series we have gotten lately has been far to focused on the planet.

Coruscant also gets featured very frequently on The Clone Wars series, is getting a staring role in LucasArts new game, Star Wars: 1313 and if it ever gets off the ground will be a central location on the Star Wars Live Action Series.

There isn't anything wrong with using Coruscant as a location, it is particularly visually compelling, but there are simply two many diverse planets and locations to focus so much time on this one particular planet.  We have two full books dedicated to the planets of the galaxy, The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, and Star Wars: The Essential Atlas.

I will say that I am pleased that in the post-Fate of the Jedi novels the Jedi are moving away from Coruscant, it also seems likely we are less likely to get the sort of Galactic Civil War scale conflicts that make Coruscant a central story telling location.

A few years of novels without more than passing references to Coruscant would be awesome and would make a future stories set on the planet much more compelling.  Look at it this way, if George Lucas could make the Original Trilogy without showing the Galactic Capital world, I think we can manage a few more books without it.

What do you think?

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