Happy 30th Heir to the Empire!
Heir to the Empire at 30
It's hard to believe that it has been 30 years since Heir to the Empire was released, and Star Wars, a franchise that had been dormant for 5 years was back! This started a snowball, that became an avalanche. More books would come, and a comic book mini series, plus other adventures, leading up to Kenner bringing back Star Wars toys in 1995!
If you remember 1986-1991 as a Star Wars fan, you call it the Dark Times. No more toys, save at clearance aisles. Marvel ended the comic book series and both Ewoks and Droids animated series were cancelled. The 2 live action Ewok movies came and went. Star Wars was dead. Except for the release of all 3 movies on VHS, that was it. West End Games had the only new Star Wars stories for role playing games, and corrected the Zuckuss/4-LOM issue once and for all, and gave names to Hammerhead, Walrus Man, Squid Face and the other various aliens in the OT. But that would all change in May of 1991.
Bantam published Heir to the Empire, written by Timothy Zahn. Set 5 years after ROTJ, we would not only find out what happened to Luke, Han, Leia and Lando but what happened to the Empire. The Rebel Alliance was now the New Republic. Coruscant was the galactic capital. New allies and enemies debuted, the most impactful were Mara Jade, who quickly became a fan favorite, and the one and only Grand Admiral Thrawn. Rogue Squadron was also official.
The Thrawn Trilogy showed how hungry Star Wars fans were, but Lucasfilm made certain that all stories coming out fit together in a complete saga, which had not been done for past Star Wars stories. In time, the old Marvel Comics series would be retconned into the Expanded Universe, which is now called Legends. While movie technology progressed, the success of HTTE played a role in George Lucas to begin writing the Prequel Trilogy in the early 1990's.
Hasbro would also make toys, in time of characters from the book. In 1998, Thrawn and Mara Jade both got action figures. In 2007, Mara Jade got another figure in a 2 pack with an X-Wing Luke from the comic adaptation of HTTE. In 2009, Thrawn would get another action figure in a 2 pack with Talon Karrde, who also debuted in HTTE. In 2013, Mara Jade got another action figure in the 3.75 inch Black Series line. Thrawn got another figure in the 5 POA Rebels line in 2016, and a Black Series 6 inch figure in 2017, that was just released again this year.
The Star Wars craze started here. While time hasn't been kind to some elements of the story (Force blocking creatures, the time of when the Clone Wars took place, Jedi bonding to those in the afterlife), other elements still hold up after time. Thrawn's strategies, Republic political intrigue and some very cool battle scenes with our new and old heroes alike. As I mentioned, Coruscant was first named here, and was in the Prequel Trilogy. When Disney bought Lucasfilm, their 1st TV show, Star Wars Rebels brought back Thrawn and his Noghri bodyguard Rukh for that show. Plus Timothy Zahn is still writing Thrawn novels, and is at work on a origin story trilogy for Thrawn. The novel, the writer and what followed are still relevant today. And more importantly new readers are discovering the original novels by Zahn, the comic adaptations and the new Disney era stories with Thrawn. Needless to say, it's a favorite of mine! I hope it is for you as well.
It's hard to believe that it has been 30 years since Heir to the Empire was released, and Star Wars, a franchise that had been dormant for 5 years was back! This started a snowball, that became an avalanche. More books would come, and a comic book mini series, plus other adventures, leading up to Kenner bringing back Star Wars toys in 1995!
If you remember 1986-1991 as a Star Wars fan, you call it the Dark Times. No more toys, save at clearance aisles. Marvel ended the comic book series and both Ewoks and Droids animated series were cancelled. The 2 live action Ewok movies came and went. Star Wars was dead. Except for the release of all 3 movies on VHS, that was it. West End Games had the only new Star Wars stories for role playing games, and corrected the Zuckuss/4-LOM issue once and for all, and gave names to Hammerhead, Walrus Man, Squid Face and the other various aliens in the OT. But that would all change in May of 1991.
Bantam published Heir to the Empire, written by Timothy Zahn. Set 5 years after ROTJ, we would not only find out what happened to Luke, Han, Leia and Lando but what happened to the Empire. The Rebel Alliance was now the New Republic. Coruscant was the galactic capital. New allies and enemies debuted, the most impactful were Mara Jade, who quickly became a fan favorite, and the one and only Grand Admiral Thrawn. Rogue Squadron was also official.
The Thrawn Trilogy showed how hungry Star Wars fans were, but Lucasfilm made certain that all stories coming out fit together in a complete saga, which had not been done for past Star Wars stories. In time, the old Marvel Comics series would be retconned into the Expanded Universe, which is now called Legends. While movie technology progressed, the success of HTTE played a role in George Lucas to begin writing the Prequel Trilogy in the early 1990's.
Hasbro would also make toys, in time of characters from the book. In 1998, Thrawn and Mara Jade both got action figures. In 2007, Mara Jade got another figure in a 2 pack with an X-Wing Luke from the comic adaptation of HTTE. In 2009, Thrawn would get another action figure in a 2 pack with Talon Karrde, who also debuted in HTTE. In 2013, Mara Jade got another action figure in the 3.75 inch Black Series line. Thrawn got another figure in the 5 POA Rebels line in 2016, and a Black Series 6 inch figure in 2017, that was just released again this year.
The Star Wars craze started here. While time hasn't been kind to some elements of the story (Force blocking creatures, the time of when the Clone Wars took place, Jedi bonding to those in the afterlife), other elements still hold up after time. Thrawn's strategies, Republic political intrigue and some very cool battle scenes with our new and old heroes alike. As I mentioned, Coruscant was first named here, and was in the Prequel Trilogy. When Disney bought Lucasfilm, their 1st TV show, Star Wars Rebels brought back Thrawn and his Noghri bodyguard Rukh for that show. Plus Timothy Zahn is still writing Thrawn novels, and is at work on a origin story trilogy for Thrawn. The novel, the writer and what followed are still relevant today. And more importantly new readers are discovering the original novels by Zahn, the comic adaptations and the new Disney era stories with Thrawn. Needless to say, it's a favorite of mine! I hope it is for you as well.
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