Episode I Journal
Anakin Skywalker
by Todd Strasser

Published by Scholastic

Scott's Rating:   3 out of 4

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This story is told under the premise that, after the events of Episode I, Anakin recounts everything that happened to him out of respect for Qui-Gon Jinn. He recaps everything that happened in the film from his point of view and a few things that happened off screen or before the film.

The book is printed on nice glossy paper with color photos for backgrounds and cool borders that feature the flags of the pod racers.

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Scott:

    One of the highlights of this book that jumps out in my mind is a scene where Anakin tells us about the first time he heard of the Sith. He finds an old battledroid in Watto's junkyard and replays its memory. Amid scenes of a battle, Anakin hears people screaming about the Sith. Anakin then goes to one of the deep space pilots and asks him about them. This is a rather momentous event in the Star Wars Universe and it alone makes this book worth adding to your collection.

The book also has some cuts scenes from the film and the names of a few pod racers that were changed before the movie came out. It is kind of neat for history's sake.

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Scott:

    Besides the brief things mentioned above, this book does not add much to what we see in the film. That's what makes me question the purpose of these Journal series of books. We already know what happened in the film, and this does not add much to it. I think the author's talents (and fan's money) are better put to use on an original story. But for what it does, it does well.

I should also mention that there are a ton of continuity problems between this book and the film. This is because the writer had to write this without seeing the film and Lucas changed things up till the last minute. These continuity problems do make it distracting.

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Scott:

    Darth Maul's ugly mug. He's obviously been beat a few times with the ugly stick by Sidious.

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