Splinter of the Mind's Eye

Now that over thirty-one years have passed and we have six Star Wars movies in the can and the Star Wars empire has been a huge success, it’s hard to imagine that it would have turned out any other way. But imagine if Star Wars had not been a huge hit in 1977. What if something went wrong in the production or editing or suppose the moviegoers weren’t in the right mood for it? What if it tanked? Or what if it was just good, but not great? What if it went the Planet of the Apes route, with sequels that explored more of the Star Wars universe, but didn’t have ever-increasing budgets and technology? Splinter of the Mind's Eye was originally written by Alan Dean Foster as a sequel to Star Wars that would have been used if the 1977 film was sequel-worthy, but not a huge hit. With its lack of the full cast of original characters, brief outer space action and setting on and beneath the surface of a dark, foggy planet, it was a sort of "Battle Beneath the Planet of Star Wars". But, just as the Ape movies have their own brilliance and high points, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye is a fun read and had lots of items that showed up in later Star Wars Movies:

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:
Luke Skywalker and Artoo crash land on Mimban, a dark, swampy, foggy planet.
The Empire Strikes Back:
Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 crash land on Dagobah, a dark, swampy, foggy planet. Leia and C-3PO crash on the same planet at a different site.

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:
Luke meets Halla, a seemingly crazy person who is actually a minor user of the Force.
The Empire Strikes Back:
Luke meets Yoda, a seemingly crazy person who is actually a major user of the Force.

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:
Luke fights a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader. Luke cuts off Vader’s right arm and then Vader falls in a deep hole, but does not die. Luke uses the Force to sense Vader’s survival.
The Empire Strikes Back:
Luke fights a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader. Vader cuts off Luke’s right hand and then Luke falls in a deep hole (the shaft in Cloud City), but does not die. Vader uses the Force to sense Luke’s survival.

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye:
The rebels join forces with the primitive Coway, who use their home turf advantage to defeat a technologically superior Imperial force.
Return of the Jedi:
The rebels join forces with the primitive Ewoks, who use their home turf advantage to defeat a technologically superior Imperial force.

So, there is a lot of good material in the book, partly due to its place in the primeval “expanded universe”. It is also just plain fun.

On a final note, check out the cover of the book (featuring an excellent painting by Ralph McQuarrie). Note that it claims to be “From the Further Adventures of Luke Skywalker”.

Nowhere on the cover do the words “Star Wars” appear. It was added on later printings, but it is just not there on the early editions. Hmm.