From a Certain Point of View Part 1

“From a Certain Point of View” has a concept so interesting, one wonders how it has not been done before. Essentially the book is a retelling of the original 1977 Star Wars film, but told from the perspective of side characters. The 40 stories are written by 43 authors and I will be covering 10 per week until the end of the month.

Raymus by Gary Whitta

Raymus Antilles is quite an obscure Star Wars character, but he has been played by 3 different actors in 3 different Star Wars films. He is the captain of the Tantive IV and this story bridges the gap between the last scene of Rogue One and the first scene of A New Hope. The story, if nothing else, tells why Tantive IV is being pursued in sublight speed rather than just warping right to Yavin IV. Antillies meets his end when he is choked to Death by Vader in the opening scenes of A New Hope, which is where this tale leaves off and the next tale begins.

 The Bucket by Christie Golden

TK-4601 is the stormtrooper who stunned Princess Leia shortly after she gave the Death Star plans to R2. Like FN-2187 would do in the distant future, TK-4601 questions many things about the Empire he serves. He seems to have a soft spot for the princess that he captures. TK-4601 also appears in Christie Golden’s novel “Battlefront II: Inferno Squadron”.

The Sith of Datawork by Ken Liu

This story is full of wit and sarcasm and its purpose is to explain why the Death Star trooper does not blast R2 and 3-PO’s escape pod to smithereens when it was determined that it had no life signs. Apparently the Empire was rewarding employees on a shot-to-kill ratio, meaning if a rebel didn’t die, the shot would count against your record. The story also focuses on bureaucratic paper-pusher who is a master of her trade and is one of the highlights of the first quarter of this collection.

Stories in the Sand by Griffin McElroy

Jot, the Jawa, is aware of the galaxy outside of Tatooine and would do anything to escape it. When Jot encounters a blue astromech droid, he learns of a heist that could change the fate of the galaxy. Jot’s decisions become intertwined with the fate of the droid and decisions are ultimately made.

Rerin by Sabaa Tahir

This story is kind of an oddball and doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of this book. Rerin is a Tusken Raider who steals half of a green crystal from some Jawas. Rerin escapes with the shard, and that’s pretty much it. The implication is that the shard is half of a kyber crystal, I guess, but the story seems disconnected from any bit of Star Wars canon that I know about.

The Red One by Rae Carson

This story tells the tale of R5-D4, the red droid with the bad motivator that Luke and Owen almost purchased from the Jawas before settling on R2. While listening to this tale, I noticed immediately that it was very similar to the 1999 comic “Skippy, the Jedi Droid”. Both stories insinuate that R5-D4 self destructed on purpose to help R2 on his quest.

Rites by John Jackson Miller

I was sort of floored by this story because it tied in perfectly with my John Jackson Miller journey that started with a question that I posed to him in May. “If you could choose one of your old Expanded Universe characters to bring into the new Disney canon, who would you choose?” Miller told me that he would choose Gryph, but what Miller didn’t tell me (couldn’t tell anyone because of secrecy) was that he had already brought back A’Yark.

A’Yark was the female Tusken warrior in Miller’s novel Kenobi, which I read in August and is a part of the Old Expanded Universe. “Rites” seems to insinuate that everything that happened in his novel “Kenobi” is accepted in the New Disney Canon. By extension of that you could also accept into Canon the events of Star Wars: Outlander (A prequel-era comic) and probably many other connected comics.

I’m very surprised that keeper-of-canon, Pablo Hidalgo, would allow Miller to blur the lines between the new Disney Canon and the Old Expanded Universe Canon, especially with the prospect of a Kenobi prequel film in the works. 

Still, it is very cool for fans of Miller to see A’Yark back in the fold. Especially since she’s the only character I know of, after Grand Admiral Thrawn, to be “Re-Canon-Ized”.

Master and Apprentice by Claudia Grey

After writing three Star Wars novels in the past few years, Grey brings us a short story focused on the Force Ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn. While Luke looks on over the dead bodies of his Aunt and Uncle, Qui-Gon appears to Obi-Wan to talk about the boy’s familial past, and the destiny that shapes his future. Jinn seems to actually be able to see the future. It’s nice to see this Master/Apprentice pair interact with eachother after 20 years since Phantom Menace. The character of Qui-Gon has been mostly absent from Star Wars since Disney took over.

Beru Whitesun Lars by Meg Cabot

A brief story told in first person by Beru Whitesun Lars, who is reflecting on her life after she was killed in a Stormtrooper raid. Blue Milk and Bantha Cheese are frequently mentioned.

The Luckless Rodian by Renée Ahdieh

Greedo seems to hate Han Solo, quite a bit. I guess Han might have stole a love interest from him or something? This book ends with Greedo’s demise and, though there is no evidence that would conclusively settles the "Who Shot First" debate, this story seems to insinuate that Han was the only one who shot.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back next week with 10 more stories