The expanded universe of the Star Wars franchise is chock full of things that would make the canon ‘verse so much cooler.  However, it seems Lucas is pretty stubborn about adding things to it (excluding, of course, cartoon-like CGI to forty-year-old movies).  Here are a few things I’d love to see on the big screen.  Other than Jar Jar dying, of course.

Colored Lightsabers

Sure, Hollywood’s number one badass geek Samuel L. Jackson got his way and was able to wield a purple (his favorite color is purple?) saber in the prequel trilogies.  But honestly, with the only other options for saber colors being red, green, and blue, scenes like the epic start of the Clone Wars on Geonosis lost a lot of umpth.  According to the Wookiepedia, Expanded Universe saber colors have been “orange, silver, cyan, viridian, gold, bronze, and even black”.  Since a lightsaber’s construction is the final test of a Jedi, wouldn’t it make sense that the color of the blade would be just as personalized as the hilt?

And if you’re a Star Wars enthusiast, lightsaber shop Ultra Sabers does offer several blade colors. So you can be cooler than an actual Jedi at the next comic con.

Asajj Ventress

I normally don’t find the whole Sinéad O’Connor look attractive, but Asajj does it for me. I don’t know, maybe I have a thing for damaged goods or something.  Anyways, if you haven’t seen either the Star Wars Clone Wars tv show or Gendy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars miniseries (which is the better choice), she’s the angry chick with two red curved hilt sabers training under Darth Tyranus. Yes, Tyranus.  I refuse to call him Dooku.  Asajj is apparently a warlord on her planet, and quite strong in the Dark Side. After seeing what Darth Maul was capable of, I would love to have seen how Kenobi and Skywalker would handle fighting against her in a prequel film.

Bounty Hunters

I’m quite aware we saw the Fett man and his dad, and a whole slew of bounty hunters in the Empire Strikes Back (include Bossk, not on a Segway) but really, we don’t see a whole lot of hunting.  And ever since the anime Cowboy Bebop ended the way it did, I’m always left wanting to see more bounty hunting.  Sure, Jango subbed out a hit on Padme, and Han was frozen, but that’s more of an assassination, and a science fair project, respectively.  I want to see real bounty hunting. With nets and flamethrowers and poison darts and the like.  Especially during the Jedi Purge; you know that’s when it gets down and dirty.  I guess it’s a good thing Dog the Bounty Hunter is back on tv.

Darth Maul and his Mechanical Legs

Darth Maul is one of the cooler looking Sith Lords in the movies (especially since the vast majority are apparently just really powerful old guys).  It is a shame we see him for roughly five minutes in the Phantom Menace.  As a result, there has been a slew of books, comic, and other adaptations using the Sith in a variety of different ways – resurrection from his death, holographically fighting Luke, etc.  But my favorite is Maul surviving Obi-Wan’s attack and being fitted with new legs.  The story then goes on to describe how he spends the rest of his life hunting down old Ben and finally confronting him on Tatooine. This story intrigues me, as it involves a Sith no longer caring about the Sith order, casting aside his duties as Apprentice, and using all his hatred on carrying out his revenge on one Jedi, as opposed to the whole order.  I think this whole story arc could have a full feature film dedicated to it, and would be great at expanding the canon universe.

Force Powers

Watching the films, you’d think there are only about five powers available to Force users; Push, Pull, Choke, Lightning, and Mind Trick.  In the Expanded Universe, there are more, and more useful ones.  Heck, Starkiller alone uses a broader range of powers.  There are a variety of powers, as battle preparations, such as meditative and shielding powers, to attack powers (increase in speed and strength) to revitalization (Force Heal).  None of these are mentioned, however, and as a result, being a Jedi really doesn’t seem too special.  An expansion of taught powers would make battles between Jedi and Sith more than just “who can throw bigger rocks at whom” and “who can wield a saber the fastest” contests.