The 'Episode V' Before 'Episode V': 'Splinter Of The Minds Eye'

With 12 Star Wars feature films (including The Clone Wars) and a worldwide box office of more than $10 billion, it is hard to imagine that there once was a time when there was serious doubt about Star Wars being a splendid success.

But in October of 1976, things didn’t look so bright: The shooting in Tunisia hadn’t gone exactly as planned, with storms, heavy rains, and constantly malfunctioning droids, the movie being behind schedule but over budget, ILM having just completed one special effect but already used nearly all of its money, tension within the crew rising, and, apart from Alan Ladd Jr., hardly anyone at Twentieth Century Fox seeming to think that the movie would even make its money back. Gorge Lucas himself was exhausted, depressed, and had nearly suffered a heart attack a short time before.

Nevertheless, he, Charles Lippincott (Lucasfilm's president of marketing and merchandising) and Alan Dean Foster sat down on October 13 and then again on October 20, to discuss what would be the first piece of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (although, of course, it wasn’t called that back then): Splinter of The Mind’s Eye

The picture above shows the German cover of this book, which I discovered in a local bookstore a long time ago. The title translated as The New Adventures of Luke Skywalker, which is basically the tagline of the English edition.

For those who are not familiar with the book, here is a quick synopsis:

In 2 ABY, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, and R2-D2 accompany princess Leia on a diplomatic mission to the Circarpous system, when Leia’s ship suddenly malfunctions and crashes on the planet Mimban. Luke tries to help the princess, but also crashes his X-wing. The four of them make it to an imperial mining facility, where they meet a mysterious woman named Halla, who claims to know the Force and senses it within Luke. She tells them about a Kaiburr crystal, which can amplify the Force, and asks them to help her retrieve it from an ancient temple in the jungle. But before they can start their journey, they are imprisoned by the Empire and put in a cell with two Yuzzems, a race that’s a mixture of wolf and Wookiee.

They escape the prison with the help of Halla, and on their way through the jungle, they have to fight giant snakes, spirits, and primitive natives. Finally, they arrive at the temple, but before they can retrieve the crystal, Darth Vader arrives. Luke is pinned under rubble, and so Leia fights Vader with Luke’s lightsaber, but is seriously wounded. Luke manages to get free, and with the power of the crystal and the spirit of Obi-Wan, he cuts off Vader’s arm. Before the Dark Lord can kill Luke, he falls into a deep well. Luke heals Leia and himself with the power of the crystal, and they leave Mimban.

When Lucas, Lippincott, and Foster came together, the latter had already written the novelization of Star Wars (which would be published in November of 1976), and the three of them discussed a sequel – not only in the form of a book, but also as a movie. A film that could be made if Star Wars wasn't a total failure and made at least make enough money, so that Lucas wouldn't have to give up his beloved characters. But a movie with a much smaller budget than that of Star Wars, with only one planet and without Han Solo or Chewbacca, as Harrison Ford had not signed on for a second movie at that time and, honestly, what good would Chewbacca be without his trusty pilot?

Both meetings were more like brainstorming sessions with Lucas, Foster, and Lippincott bouncing ideas off one another. Still, quite a bit of what was discussed there actually made it into the book, like the crystal itself, the prison escape, the journey through the jungle, Luke fighting the chief of a tribe to gain their support, fighting an ethereal being (the lake sprit), and Leia having to fight Vader and not having a chance. But other things didn’t make it (and for the better!), and some things even seem to foreshadow events that would be introduced into Star Wars lore much later:

• Lucas wanted Luke to be much stronger in the sequel, more like a spy or an experienced warrior type of person.
• The two Yuzzem that helped Luke, Leia, and Halla on their mission were initially planned to be Wookiees, but neither Lucas nor Foster were fond of killing Wookiees.
• Lucas wanted R2-D2 to have a little sidekick droid that would bug him constantly.
• Initially, Luke and Leia weren’t supposed to go on the mission together, but Luke should search for the princess at the beginning.
• The idea of Luke and Leia being siblings wasn't present at this point, as Lucas was open to a romantic relationship between the two (and there are some small hints of that in the book, showing Luke’s interest in the princess).
• Lucas didn’t mind killing Leia off at the end and admitted that he at one point had thought of the princess running away with Chewbacca (but admitted himself, that this sounded perverted).
• At that time, Lucas thought of Vader as a rather weak villain, just a pawn of Tarkin with a bigger, more evil person somewhere in the shadows.
• The light side of the Force was called the white Force.
• Lucas didn’t want Han Solo or Chewbacca in this book, as he didn’t see a role for them, and Han is not a peripheral character. But he hinted at later stories, where Han would be the main hero, possibly foreshadowing Brain Daley’s Han Solo trilogy.
• Lucas wanted Vader to throw things at Luke with the Force, when they fought in the ancient temple.
• The tribe that helped Luke and Leia use tactics that are similar to those the Ewoks would apply on Endor
• Lucas also wanted Luke to kill Vader in the end, as he wanted to present an even bigger villain later on.
• Luke ought to keep the crystal, which would help him to become stronger in Force, but not become a superhero

Alan Dean Forster said in an interview in 2017 that after these two meetings, he was basically free to write whatever he wanted, as everybody else was busy completing the movie.

Splinter of the Mind’s Eye was published on February 12, 1978, nearly 9 months after the release of Star Wars. At this point, the movie was already a huge success, and it was clear that there wouldn’t be a small little sequel film, but something much bigger: The Empire Strikes Back.

Neither Lucas nor Foster ever discussed a follow-up to Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, although Foster admits that he would have liked to have written more about Halla (whom he compared to Maz Kanata) and possibly a further use of the Kaiburr crystal.

Between December 1995 and June 1996, Dark Horse Comics released a 4-part comic that followed the events of the book relatively closely, but made some changes so that the comic better reflected the power of Vader.

The planet Mimban was mentioned in The Clone Wars series and appeared in Solo. The Kaiburr crystal, which itself was based on the Kyber crystal that was mentioned in early drafts of the Star Wars screenplay as a Force-focusing artifact, got its original name back and returned into canon as both part of the lightsabers and the Death Star’s superlaser.

With Lucasfilm declaring all works of the Expanded Universe Legends, Splinter of The Mind’s Eye officially became what it had been in the eyes of many fans for years: non-canon. Although it was not the first expansion of the Star Wars story beyond Episode IV (Marvel comics did this starting with issue 7), it will forever be the first novel to tell the further adventures of Luke, Leia, and the droids, and to broaden our view on the galaxy far, far away.

Written By Gerald Petschk

Source(s): Star Wars Insider #145-146, Star Wars News Net

Syndicated From Culture Slate

Join The Team