2. The Crystal Star
An Imperial officer who is planning to restore the Empire to its former glory has kidnapped Han and Leias children. They, along with Luke and Chewbacca, begin a rescue operation. Leia splits up from her brother and husband as she traces the kidnappers across several planets. Han and Luke discover an unknown species called the Waru who has mystical powers that the Jedi cannot explain. Eventually they rescue the children and neutralise the Waru threat.
Why it might not make a great film: Fans almost universally hate this particular novel. The obvious problem stems from the plot, which rather than focus on new characters and ideas instead recycles stories from the rest of the expanded universe. Han and Leias children are kidnapped on such a regular basis that we cant help but think they need to invest in some security, or at least a baby monitor. Then there is Luke. For the entirety of the novel he acts incredibly strangely and out of character. The plot does nothing to explain his weirdness, so it just leaves you with the suspicion that Luke was on some sort of narcotic throughout. For some reason we just cannot see this translating to screen very well. The oddest thing about The Crystal Star though is the Waru. They have powers that no one can understand; though it is mentioned that their power may be some sort of anti-force. We, along with every character who is part of this shambles, dont know what that means. Having a film in which the main villains have powers that go against everything that has been established in the six previous films might be difficult. To be honest this should not even have been a book, never mind a movie.