John Whitman (1)Recensioni

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

The Hunger is a highlight for the Galaxy of Fear series, but a sad way to end the 12-novella YA series. There's not much closure, for one, but some acknowledgement that the stories of Tash, Zak, and Hoole were in safe hands, and would continue in readers' imaginations. It's also clear by this entry that John Whitman had evolved a lot as a writer since he wrote the first Galaxy of Fear novellas a year before. The narrative structure is tight, the story clever and creepy. Gaping plotholes and leaps of logic were staples of the earlier entries, and by this book are all-but-gone (except in the unavoidable context of the movies that came later).

By the Hunger, Tash, Zak, and Hoole are on the run from the Empire, who have finally put a bounty on their heads, even going so far as to personally send Boba Fett (previously seen in book two, City of the Dead) to collect them. Our heroes meet an unfriendly bounty hunter while exploring the spaceport of Nar Shaddaa, and, barely escaping with their lives, decide they must find an obscure corner of the galaxy to hide. With the help of DV-9 (Deevee from the first six books), they fall in with a team of smugglers and rebels escaping to Dagobah, the swamp planet known only for housing Yoda in the Empire Strikes Back.

Dagobah is a crushing environment. John Whitman paints the swamps as being overwhelmed by hunger. Every living thing there is starving for food, including the surviving children of a long-ago research party that got stranded on Dagobah decades before. Our heroes run into these friendly children early on, who resemble rotting corpses with how thin and emaciated they look. Despite appearances, the Children (as they're known) are supernaturally strong and able to care for themselves.

Boba Fett is, of course, hot on their trail, and the the heroes know it. They spend the novella trying to secure themselves safely on Dagobah, looking out for the threat of Fett and the wildlife while repairing their own ship. We also get an extended cameo from Yoda, who surprises Zak and Tash in his friendliness and guidance (particularly for Zak, who at this point we begin to understand has an inkling connection to the force of his own!).

The Hunger is another fine gross-out horror entry, with careful attention paid to advancing both Tash and Zak's growing depth as they deal with personal fears and jealousies. As the horror unfolds, we learn that the true enemy is not Boba Fett, but a desperate horde of ignorant cannibals. The Children themselves, who are so starved with hunger, and whose only positive memories of their parents are a final cannibalistic feast, are eager to feast on our heroes, even going so far as to think Tash and Zak should want to be eaten simply because the Children are capable of eating them. Those are some warped minds, to be sure.

Galaxy of Fear had its ups and downs, but I'm happy with it, only wishing it went on longer. Despite being a cash-in on the popularity of Goosebumps, I actually feel like John Whitman did more with the genre as an outsider than R.L. Stine did. His messages tended to deal with far more complex issues like the deaths of loved ones, or adolescent jealousies and hatred, or even the complexity of our memories and how we can sometimes build false memories to rely on -- all complex, adult themes to be dishing out to a middle- and elementary-school audience. As the twelfth and final entry, the Hunger was an excellent note to send Tash, Zak, and Hoole out on.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#11 Clones | The End.

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

Clones is, like the Doomsday Ship, another fun Galaxy of Fear yarn held back by a couple significant issues. While Whitman's writing and attention to narrative structure are still improving since the first few novellas in early '97, Clones features a story that would immediately be removed from EU canon by the Phantom Menace and the prequel's timeline and use of cloning. It also features some really tacky and out-of-place stereotypes.

Tash, Zak and Hoole land on Dantooine hoping to return to Hoole's comfortable life as an anthropologist. They spend weeks living with a local nomadic tribe. The tribe come off like a mash of tribal stereotypes from Earth, speaking in broken English and getting terrified of anything technologically or magical. (It's silly, bad writing -- but not exactly out of place for Star Wars (hello, Jar Jar; hi Watto). To its credit, Clones does go out of the way, however condescending the method may be, to say that technology and cultural advancement do not necessarily reflect intelligence.) Nearby are some ancient Jedi ruins, as well as a more recent abandoned rebel base. The mystery of the ruins draws the twins away from the nomadic tribe, who are particularly drawn by Tash's force sensitivity: Something not-quite-right is occurring there, and a wave of Dark Force energy fills the Jedi ruins themselves.

The title and cover are a bit of a spoiler. The longer our heroes stay within distance of the ruins, the more clones they run into: Of the rebels who lived there before, of themselves, of Hoole...of Darth Vader. And none of them are quite right, mentally. Everything and everyone is only half there.

After Zak's somewhat uneventful story with the Doomsday Ship, focus returns to Tash and her growth into her Force sensitivity. Clones develops her masterfully, and she'll spend the novella struggling to come to grips with the lure of the Dark Side: By channeling her frustration and anger against the Empire for killing her family, her Force abilities multiply ten-fold in an matter of seconds. The lure of the Dark Side offers an easy way out, and Tash has to come to grips with balancing that pull with compassion and empathy.

The characterization of Clones keeps it up with the series' best, and continues to show where the series could have gone had we stayed with twins through their adolescence, and seen them grow and evolve a la Harry Potter. The story itself, though, never quite makes sense, and is, like the clones, only half there.

As a warning, this entry features some surprising violence. Clones of Tash, Zak, and Hoole are freely murdered without any care in the end. The story just throws away their lives as somewhat meaningless or not worth consideration. It seems like a dark choice. Also, an significant plotline about a mysterious stranger attacking the entire tribe is abandoned by the end.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#10 The Doomsday Ship | #12 The Hunger

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

The Doomsday Ship is the most isolated entry in the Galaxy of Fear series. After Project Starscream was laid to rest, the followup adventures have shown themselves to be standalone horror yarns, but still giving attention to character development.

Tash, Zak, and uncle Hoole are still trying to get a proper vacation after barely escaping their six encounters with Boborygmus Gog, and this time has them on an intergalactic cruise ship. The Doomdsday Ship focuses on the younger brother, Zak -- the more hands-on and tech-friendly of the siblings -- who's more interested in how the ship's engines and AI work. Early on, he's introduced to the ship's custom-made AI system, SIM, who befriends Zak and shows him some of the ship's nerdy luxuries (video games!). Before they can get too far, however, the ship suffers an emergency evacuation, forcing everyone but our heroes (of course...) off the ship.

Something murderous and psychopathic is gaining control of the ship's systems, causing the on-board robots to attack, siccing the ship's menagerie of predators on our heroes, cutting oxygen supplies and heating the atmosphere to the boiling point. Dash Rendar provides this entry's cameo appearance, and he's handled fairly well. (Not too difficult, as he's basically a younger clone of Han Solo with less catchphrases.)

This 10th entry keeps up the thrills and cleverness of the last three books, but has a share of issues, as well. Tash takes a backseat to Zak and barely says a word through the entire adventure. It's easy to forget she's even there. Neither Zak or Tash undergo much in the way of character development, which only makes this monster-of-the-week story feel even more isolated. Zak does learn to respect some of Tash's teachings in the Force, but they're short-lived lessons he'll forget by the next book. Hoole is also gone for most of the novella, and appears at the very end to uncharacteristically put both Zak and Tash into extreme danger by acting recklessly.

The implications of AI are a little out of step with Star Wars' canon or EU material. But still, the Doomsday Ship is really fun, and one of the more violent entries. The body count is massive and painful (and a little predictable -- anyone without a name will die). The real villain's identity -- SIM -- is falsely hidden for too long. The narrative makes it obvious early on (even to the target YA audience), but Zak densely ignores the obvious until he finally spells it out to himself. Time is wasted casting suspicion on Dash Rendar, who was a popular Star Wars hero at the time of release (1998), and readers were likely to be aware of that.

Despite the issues, the series was still fun by this entry, and worth reading for either young Star Wars or horror fans already invested in the characters. It's still better than the earlier stories, and I'll be sad to reach the series' end with the twelfth book.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#9 Spore | #11 Clones

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

Spore. The title and cover aren't quite as inviting in this novel. Spore surprised me by keeping up the quality and style of the previous two novellas (the Brain Spiders and the Swarm). Without the convoluted Project Starscream plot of the first six entries, author John Whitman seems to be pulling out stronger stories and stronger characterization (and spookier scares!).

Spore is the name of an Itharian -- the long, flat-necked species of the cover, nicknamed 'hammerheads' -- history lesson. Long ago, the Itharians created an immortal monster much like the critter of the Thing or the X-Files' "Ice" episode: An intelligent beast of nothing but tendrils that works its way through populations, infecting and infesting everything. Anything these tendrils touch join the hive-mind known as Spore.

Spore's been released from its tomb in the vacuum of space by witless miners, and nothing's safe. Friends and family become infected with this all-seeing single voice. Spore's cameo is, like Thrawn in the Swarm, another EU character not from the films: The blind sith Jerec from the Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight PC game makes an appearance here, seeking to use the Spore creature as a means of overthrowing the Emperor and becoming a new sith lord.

Spore's another creepy, enthralling entry in this series, and shows, I think, that John Whitman had been improving his narrative skills since the first novella. As this series continues, the stand-alone adventures are showing less and less plotholes, and finer attention to the source material, horror conventions, and the classic quest structure. It's a shame this series is out of print.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#8 The Swarm | #10 The Doomsday Ship½

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

The Swarm is the second self-contained Galaxy of Fear novella after Project Starscream was finally put to rest. It expands on the previous book's style, focusing on gross-out horror and characterization. It's also notable for having the series' best cameo appearance: Admiral Thrawn appears as an anti-hero long before he's fighting the Republic in Zahn's original Thrawn trilogy, and he appears remarkably close to character. (Whitman usually tends to turn cameos into recognizable one-liners, but Thrawn here is tactical, smart, and an idealist.)

After leaving Tatooine, Tash, Zak and Hoole settle down on a planet ruled by insects. They're there to vacation (or hide) in the planet's gardens, and maybe study the planet's unique natives while they're at it. The inhabitants maintain what they believe is a delicate ecosystem, carefully tending native populations of competing species. Most notably, this includes a quickly-producing insect species called drogs, and its natural predators, the shreevs.

As our heroes land, the ecosystem is wildly veering out of balance; shreev populations are suddenly dwindling, and drogs are everywhere: Agitated swarms of thousands upon thousands of insects are overtaking all life, eating their way through everything.

Thrawn, true to character, uses Tash, Zak and Hoole for his own means. He's not necessarily bad, but definitely blinded by the ideals of the Empire he serves. Even when he's on our side, his later intents are still to imprison rebels like Hoole's family. He's the first non-movie cameo, and the best-handled of the series. (He also deserves credit for pointing out the flaws of the plot early on, noting that something bigger than a few dead shreevs was needed to throw the ecosystem this wildly out of balance. And there was.)

When this came out, I was an avid watcher of shows like the X-Files and American Gothic, both of which feature stupendous stories of creepy-crawlies and gross-out horror similar to this story. I remember tying the plots together very closely in my mind, as the overpopulating drogs start pouring from peoples mouths and eyes and other open wounds. Whitman makes these insects and the pain they inflict horrific.

This might be my favorite entry in the series.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#7 The Brain Spiders | #9 Spore

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

After six books, Project Starscream is finally put to rest. Tash, Zak, and Hoole are without a greater purpose when the Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear series was renewed for another six novellas. It should have felt more like a death sentence than it was -- the Project Starscream stories were flimsy enough as they were -- but the Brain Spiders is a complete surprise.

Without Boborygmus Gog as a villain, the Galaxy of Fear series actually steps closer to horror and the supernatural, and away from silly mad science cliches. The Brain Spiders is also more character-driven than the previous installments, and the center story -- not just about the eponymous brain spiders -- is about the relationship between Tash and Zak as they start hitting the pressures of puberty.

After barely surviving Gog's Army of Terror in book six, Tash, Zak, and Hoole return to Tatooine and Jabba the Hutt, once again to ask a favor: Now that Darth Vader's interested in them, they need to think about finding new identities or erasing the records they have with the Imperials. The lovable depressed droid, DV-9, was weirdly cut from the series in this book, and he wouldn't show up again until the 12th and final novella. I'm not really sure why, but I felt like he was missed here, and added a good dynamic to the team.

Jabba promises that he can find our heroes new identities if Hoole translates an ancient B'omarr scroll for him. Undernearth Jabba's palace hides an obscure sect of monks called the B'omarr Order. Jabba took the palace from this order, originally, and simply allows them to persist in the underground tunnels below the palace as long as they're okay with Jabba occasionally bullying them (by, for example, stealing ancient scrolls).

Tash is immediately drawn to the order and their goal of a Buddhist-like enlightenment. She sees the B'omarr's ultimate ideal -- transferring the brains of the enlightened into mechanical spiders to quietly roam and ponder the universe forever -- as her own, and cozies up to members of the order who praise her for her wisdom and put her through trials.

It's a little convoluted for so short a story, but this series isn't a stranger to that.

The brain spiders aren't quite what they seem, however. Not only are there far too many of them milling the tunnels of the palace, but they're erratic in their behavior and threatening. Jabba, too, is his untrustworthy self, and soon Zak's friends and family are starting to act as erratic and threatening as the brain spiders.

The Brain Spiders may actually be an improvement over the last many books. The direction away from evil science experiments towards horror was a benefit, I think; and with a far less convoluted story, this book didn't have the same degree of plot holes as previous entries. (They're still there, however. The evil scheme still makes no sense.) Despite the ever-present issues, however, I'm continuing to enjoy this series as a wonderful trip down memory lane. Galaxy of Fear was one of my best childhood reading experiences, and every single book so far has been nothing but nostalgic.

## "Besides, how often does a guy get to pummel his own snobby sister and come out looking like a hero?"

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#6 Army of Terror | #8 The Swarm½

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

Army of Terror wraps up the six-novella Project Starscream story arc -- and goes to some of the series' darkest places in the process.

The whole story feels climactic. John Whitman goes out all on the cameos, bringing both the original gang -- Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie -- and Darth Vader back for the whole ride. (It's fun to have some of the most popular and recognizable characters around, but in such a short story, their parts are still largely recognizable one-liners and attitudes.) After heroes Tash, Zak, Hoole, and DV-9 foiled five of the major Project Starscream experiments, Hoole takes us to Project Starscream's homebase.

Project Starscream was conceived on a barren wasteland: A once-prosperous planet whose entire living populations were wiped out by the Empire long before the Death Star met Alderaan. It's nothing but solid igneous rock now, and a few facilities devoted to Boborygmus Gog's experiments.

Planetary defenses lead Hoole and his family on a crash course, and what they find on the planet's surface surprises everyone: A mass of writhing, screaming shadows -- all that's left of the planet's original inhabitants --, a baby boy named Eppon that's aging at an alarming rate, and the secrets to Hoole's past.

Hoole was once part of the Empire's scientific research department and worked alongside Boborygmus Gog, to the extent that he was even partially responsible for wiping out every living thing on the planet they're currently on. The inhabitants' agonized shadows exist only for retribution; even Tash and Zak are hesitant to rescue Hoole, wondering if he deserves to die. It's a shockingly dark turn for the series.

## Neither of them spoke. Neither of them wanted to admit the horrible truth going through both their minds: they weren't sure they wanted to save Hoole.

Eppon is really the final stage of Project Starscream; a hybrid combination of all five previous experiments from the five preceding books. (Except, it turns out, the force experiment of Ghost of the Jedi, which failed utterly at harnessing force power.) On top of Eppon, Darth Vader, an army of imperial forces, and Boborygmus Gog have all converged on the planet to stop the lovable rebels and harness Starscream's remnants for greater uses.

It's non-stop action start to finish, with some of the series' strongest character development coming to fruition. (Tash finally uses her force powers for more than just having premonitions!) The writing carries holes and sloppy editing, two negative trademarks for the series, but I still feel like the devotion to growing the characters over these six books has been really well-done. With the Project Starscream plot complete, and the evil scientist Boborygmus Gog finally out of the series -- and his death is absolutely horrific -- I only wonder if the next six books will lose focus without the overarching plot, or be better for it. In all honestly, Project Starscream and its goals never really made much sense.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#5 Ghost of the Jedi | #7 The Brain Spiders½

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

There's a moment near the end, a calm moment after the Empire's mad scientist has explained exactly where the good guys went wrong and what's in store for them, where the hero takes a moment to reflect on Boborygmus Gog's nefarious plans. In this moment, her response so perfectly encapsulates the issues with this book, and really, the greater issues with this series' interweaving narratives.

## "This doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone go to all this trouble? There's no reason to fool people with [this]."

I love this series despite its many faults, but this is the weakest of them, and the most prone to plotholes. "It's a children's series" is an excuse that can only go so far, and I think if your own characters calling the story out for not making any sense, the suspension of disbelief has been passed. Beyond this point, the audience is being insulted.

Ghost of the Jedi has a great set-up: A brief cameo from Jabba the Hutt sends the Arranda twins and their uncle Hoole deep into the Outer Rim, hunting for signs of rebel activity and a rebel 'hacker' (for lack of a better word) named ForceFlow. Their story lands them on a long-lost derelict space station, Nespis VIII, home to only ghosts and legends of treasure. An ancient jedi library is said to have been lost with the ship's disappearance, and legend has that only those with the force can find and enter the library without falling under the curse.

After a great introduction -- a massive, dark, creaking structure drifting eternally in the void; ghostly whispers and breezes the only company you can expect -- Ghost of the Jedi's plot goes haywire.

Nespis VIII, it turns out, isn't so lost, and has been occupied on and off by a never-ending cycle of fortune seekers -- a cartoon cast if ever I saw one -- from across the galaxy. Or at least for ~20 years, because the timeline of events within the Star Wars films leading up to this story and during it are riddled with plotholes. Characters from the Nightmare Machine are written as here on the ship during the events of the previous novella. Dianogas exist where it's impossible to exist, and only serve to repeat an iconic scene from the first movie. And Boborygmus Gog's evil plan -- to harness the power of the force through the most obtuse, nonsensical sort of deception imaginable: An evil plan of falsifying rumors and then spending his every waking moment on board this ship in the off chance the right person hears said rumor, believes it, seeks its source, is lucky enough to find its multiple stages of hidden secrets, and finally fall victim to his trap -- makes absolutely no sense, as Tash Arranda was quick to point out.

It's ridiculous. It's lazy. And it fails to make use of the interesting setting.

On the matter of the overarching plot and character development, Tash Arranda has now come to accept her sensitivity to the force (hooray!), the identity of ForceFlow is revealed in a genuinely shocking twist, and Hoole's secrets (both good and bad) are finally shedding light on his mysterious character.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#4 The Nightmare Machine | #6 Army of Terror½

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

Whitman hits a high note with the Nightmare Room, the fourth entry in the Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear series for young adults. After the near-death experience Tash, Zak, Uncle Hoole, and Deevee all faced in Planet Plague, Uncle Hoole takes his family on vacation to a space station disguised as a theme park.

Hologram Fun World is a blandly-named theme park built around holograms and deception. Rancors prowl the streets, scaring the park's guests; rollercoaster rides are disguised as giant sea serpents; model galaxies spiral before our eyes; and one new ride preys on the distress of those who enter, conjuring each guest's worst fears in...the Nightmare Room. The shared theme between all their rides and exhibits is a pervasive use of holograms. Nothing's ever as it seems in Hologram Fun World, including the unusual definition of 'fun.'

The Nightmare Room is still under construction, set to be the park's newest and most-advanced ride. Sneaking into the construction area, Tash and Zak find themselves in a loop of overlapping nightmares, sometimes unique, sometimes shared. The Nightmare Room is broken, with some serious kinks to work out in how it scans the guests, not allowing them to leave. The only constants are the friendships of Deevee and, always just out of sight, a slithering monster with long, sucking stalks.

If it sounds familiar to some, it should. It's been done by shows like the Twilight Zone, the X-Files, and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still, the plot -- however lazy the theme park's set-up and name -- works really well with the Star Wars universe and with Galaxy of Fear's cast. The layers of deception expand far beyond the Nightmare Room's secrets and into the players of the park itself, tying into the overarching Project Starscream plot from the three preceding novellas. Lando Calrissian also makes an appearance before his Empire Strikes Back role, offering glimpses of personality and guidance to Tash and Zak.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#3 Planet Plague | #5 Ghost of the Jedi½

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

Planet Plague, the third book in the Galaxy of Fear series, is a big improvement over the first two in telling a coherent, enjoyable plot. Despite being written in (reportedly) a frenzied 48-hour span with no sleep, the adventure Tash, Zak and the whole family faces on the Gobindi planet is far more cohesive than the first two books.

Shortly after their escape from City of the Dead's zombies, Zak's having medical aftereffects, and the family finds themselves touching down on the planet Gobindi to get medical attention and visit a contact of Uncle Hoole's in the Imperial Biological Welfare Division. Keeping with the theme of anthropology, Gobindi holds an interesting history to explore: The planet contains massive cities of nothing but temples towering over dense jungles: Empty cities, as the original inhabitants all vanished long ago. (Where they originally got the material to build such places, no one knows.)

As in the prior two books, Planet Plague features a guest appearance from a well-known Star Wars celebrity. Corellian pilot Wedge Antilles provides a helping hand to the rest of our heroes.

And just as before, things aren't as they appear on the planet, and, as our heroes soon find out, a horrific virus is spreading among all the visiting aliens. The virus effectively uses the DNA of whatever biological matter it infects to replicate itself at a terrifying rate, resulting in people appearing to turn into gargantuan, parasitic blobs. By no surprise, the virus is a piece of the greater Project Starscream puzzle defining the first six books in the series, and the Imperial Biological Welfare Division is really a Weapons division run by the Project Starscream mastermind.

While I love and applaud the Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear series, and each entry has so far improved on the prior's faults, they certainly have consistent problems. John Whitman wasn't a writer, but an editor for translating comics and books into radio dramas for LucasFilm, and his prose consequently feels like an outline: like a headlong rush through the plot, originally intended to be acted out with crackling lightsabers and squawking alien life forms providing the soundtrack. That works more towards Planet Plague's favor, since the whole story takes place over only a few hours.

One of the worst consistencies are the prologues that tie the first six Galaxy of Fear books together in a cohesive arc. In a scene right out of Inspector Gadget, it always features an evil, scarred scientist in a dark, Imperial cave, looking over a myriad of flashing computer screens, analyzing his latest failed experiments and the happy-go-lucky kids that accidentally -- unknowingly -- defeated him. But! -- he always has a back-up plan! A new nefarious scheme that will show those meddling kids what-for, full of cliche lines and family-friendly curses. This time -- this time! -- those kids will rue the day they messed with Dr. Evil Scientist Man. And, for that matter, so will his bosses in Empire. So will everyone! The whole galaxy will bow down before his evil genius!

Those prologues are necessary to tie the story together, but with Whitman's writing faults, and only at 3 pages on average, they can only convey the weakest and the briefest of stereotypes to propel whatever fun Star Wars adventure comes next. Even though the faults are still faulty, and the scares more thrills, Planet Plague is a step in the right direction for the series, and provided some of my fondest memories for the series.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#2 City of the Dead | #4 The Nightmare Machine½

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

A step above the first Galaxy of Fear novel, which spent more time introducing the interesting cast than telling an interesting story, City of the Dead is an exciting, if flawed tale of zombies and Boba Fett in the Star Wars 'verse.

After a narrow escape from Eaten Alive's living planet, the Millennium Falcon drops our gang -- siblings Tash and Zak, their shape-shifting uncle Hoole, and the salty droid DV-9 -- off on the planet of Necropolis. As the name implies, this is a planet obsessed with death, and despite the amount of technology they use, the planet holds on to some very ancient superstitions about honoring the dead. If the dead's rights or violated, legend has it that the great dead witch Sycorax will raise all the dead of Necropolis to seek revenge on the living.

12-year-old Zak takes a specific interest in the legends, as he's only just coming to terms with his parents' deaths six months earlier. He and some local boys sneak into the city's great graveyard to investigate the legends -- and perhaps find a way to bring back Tash and Zak's parents. At the graveyard's center, he finds what he's looking for: Zombies rising from their graves, a malicious and very-dead scientist up and about, and Boba Fett.

Boba. Fett.

One of the local boys ends up dead -- murdered -- and Necropolis' customs and prejudices spiral out of control (as, of course, do the zombies).

There are issues mixed in with the good qualities of this series, however: John Whitman's writing style bounces between exquisite and lazy. There's a wealth of clever foreshadowing in every chapter, but also a number of tiny plotholes or unexplained peculiarities bored into the story's foundation (like...is Necropolis a city or a planet? if everyone knows that boy was murdered, why is his death still being dismissed as a dumb accident? how are the zombies controlled again? what exactly do cryptberries do -- kill, induce comas, or specifically deathlike comas? if this fruit is this common in an urban environment, how come the locals don't bring up that a character who ingested the cryptberries might be alive...and how come that 'death' wasn't investigated at all despite the mysterious circumstances and preceding pattern of murders...and how come no one noticed the airholes bored into the casket...seriously, how did someone in a coma get buried six feet under without anyone noticing?!).

Zombies are a bit out of place for Star Wars, sure, but boy does it still make a great entry to the series. Tash and Zak develop a lot here as they mourn the loss of their parents -- it's handled quite well for a plot that's intentionally mimicking Goosebumps! Boba Fett's extended cameo is also awesome, and befitting the character's limited personality. Even with the number of goofy conveniences in the story, I still find City of the Dead an improvement in the direction of the series and can't wait to revisit more sequels.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
#1 Eaten Alive | #3 Planet Plague

Note: While the below text represents a brief review of this specific Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear entry, a greater retrospective on the entire series, complete with images and footnotes, can be found here on my site, dendrobibliography.

In 1997, LucasFilm contracted author John Whitman, an editor for radio dramas (and now one of the world's leading instructors in...Krav Maga?), to translate the Goosebumps formula to the Star Wars universe. Rather than relying on a vast array of popular characters, he was tasked with creating his own heroes with their own unique personalities. Twelve books were written in the Galaxy of Fear between '97 and '98, and they were amazing.

When I saw the covers for the first four books at a Scholastic Book Fair in '97, I was sold. Goosebumps was feeling pedestrian by then, and Applegate's Animorphs series was rolling out too slowly to feed my obsession. Galaxy of Fear was dark, brooding, funny, and too creative for its own good. It stood alone on its own characters, but was enriched by the Star Wars mythology peppering the background. This made spotting connections like krayt dragons fun, but never a detriment if it went over the reader's head.

Tash and Zak Arranda are two young siblings stranded by Alderaan's destruction in Star Wars: A New Hope. With their entire family killed in the attack, they've been living with their unusual Uncle Hoole for the last six months, tagging along with him (often to his annoyance) as he does anthropological 'research.' He's not good with the kids; quite awkward, actually, and a terrible parental figure in these early books given his personality and discomfort with children. In order to avoid the kids as much as possible, he's assigned the perpetually-salty and -snarky research droid DV-9 (or, DeeVee) to be their personal tutor and caretaker.

(Hoole's the single unoriginal character in the main cast, being a Shi'ido (i.e., shape-shifter) anthropologist devised a few years earlier, and included in the cast by request from LucasFilm. Despite his unoriginality, I believe this was still the first real story to feature him or give him a personality.)

Eaten Alive, the first novel in the Galaxy of Fear series, sees the whole gang -- and they feel like a 'gang' in the Saturday Morning Cartoon sense -- land on a 'new' planet called D'Vouran. D'Vouran has only just appeared on the galaxy's radar, which, of course, has our heroes asking Why? Especially since the intelligent locals, the Enzeen, and nothing but eager to have travelers touching down and even making a home for themselves. D'Vouran is beautiful and inviting in every way, and our heroes -- the force-sensitive Tash in particular -- feel things aren't as they seem.

Investigating the origins of D'Vouran, the family meet a number of faces new and old settling down on this apparent paradise. The Enzeen have opened their borders, so to speak, to free use of any resources the planet may have, which means the planet's getting a lot of roughneck visitors looking to capitalize on that sort of freedom. Smada the Hutt, an old acquaintance of Hoole's, plays the typical hutt in trying to blackmail and murder to get Hoole in his pocket; we also meet Bebo, who discovered the planet months earlier by crashlanding on it, losing his crew, his family -- and his sanity. Bebo gives us most of the mystery, as he wanders the spaceport streets screaming about invisible monsters and friends vanishing in broad daylight. The Enzeen ignore him, Smada and other unsavory characters would rather kill him, and meanwhile more people seem to be vanishing.

Since this is Star Wars, the rebel heroes from the original movies have their requisite cameos: Vader, Luke, Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO all show up to help our heroes solve the planet's mysteries. Later novels make use of other popular characters from the movies and Expanded Universe.

I loved this series as a kid, and I still feel that love for it 20 years later. It's thrilling, quirky, and far more complex than the Goosebumps length would have you expect. The mystery of the planet is clever, and not at all what I expected. Tash, Zak, Deevee and Hoole are all memorable, well-crafted characters who evolve tremendously over the course of the series and make for great heroes with their own tragedies to overcome. Reading it as an adult, however, I was put off a bit by the frequency in plotholes underlying everything, and the high number of misused scientific or ecological terms (but this is Star Wars, so that doesn't mean much). The cameos can be both satisfying or annoying: I loved seeing Chewie and Han and the whole cast as a kid, but sometimes they recycle their movie lines so frequently that their entire personalities have wasted away under surviving stereotypes, and the more prominent their characters were in the films, the more hammy the dialogue gets.

Still, this series is really fantastic, and only improves volume by volume. The first six even form a cohesive series of related conspiracies, building up into a singular plot around Project Starscream, a sinister series of experiments by the Empire. I really wish it as back in print, as it did something no other Star Wars story had done before or since, and it did it wonderfully.

John Whitman's Star Wars: Galaxy of Fear (1997–1998):
Start. | #2 City of the Dead

This is an easy-reader style book, with the left page as the text of the story, and the right page a detailed illustration of something written on the opposite page. It must have been a movie tie-in, as it was published with Tri-Star's blessing, but there's not much to suggest that it is copying any "movie look" (except for the long build-up to several quick sword fights and battle scenes).

Unfortunately, there's an expectation the reader already knows something about Zorro, as there's not much of an (original) origin story here. The Zorro mantle does get passed on, but the beginning is weak if one is not familiar with any other Zorro stories.

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LT Haiku:

Legend of Zorro
will continue through ages;
not always same guy.

For the mummy to revive again, to knock down the mummy, and to defend the world, it stands up.
The scene of the fight had power very much as well as last time.

The mummy relived again. Rick, Evelyn and their son stood up enemies. But The Scorpion King also relived. This is the continue story. In addition this story is more exciting than that of first. I thina that this contains love, family, fight and culture.½

I enjoyed this book because I love this movie very much!
A man,Oconnel goes to Egypt with family(his wife,his son and his brother-in-low) to fight against a lot of mummy sleeping under the grand and exile evil king oh mummy foever.
The characters in this book is very unique and I was attracted from the love between Mr. Oconel and his wife.
It is very exciting story,so please try it if you have a time.
You can finish reading soon.

A　family was doing the excavation investigation of ruins.
However the family was attacked by a group.
They came to steal the treasure of ruins.
The family was able to repulse the group barely.
This was a start of a new adventure.
Because this book had existed in the form of the book, I read though I had already seen the movie version of this book.

"The Mummy Returns" is the second story by Stephen Sommers about Rick and Evelyn O'Connell and their battles with mummy,Imhotep.
It is also a movie.

I have ever seen this movie three or four times.I am a fan of "Hamunaptra" series.
I read this as I remembered the scenes in the movie.I was very excited.

This book is written based on the movie.Richard and Evelyn like excavation of ruins. However, they are attacked by mummies and they fighted.

that book was easy for me becase i already saw the film and it was exciting
khalid mohamed

the book is about people in egypt told story of the scorpion king and the great pyramid of anubis. and he and his soldiers will wake up .
khalid khalfan al marri

I knew this story because I whatched this movie version.It was not so interesting.

good short read

I like this movie very much!!So I started to read this book.
In the movie,the mummy was very scared ,so I was really excited,but I could read this book calmly.

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