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Tosche Station Radio #12: Fandom Nod

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Fan creations are the on the minds of the hosts this week.

Before getting into the show, Nanci and Brian announce that the Tosche Station blog is having a giveaway contest to celebrate going live. You can win one of two copies of the Essential Guide to Warfare! Details here, enter in both places to double your odds. Be sure to also check out the news, reviews, and columns at the new site.

In Fixer’s Flash, Nanci went and saw Titanic in 3D and said it’s the best post-conversion 3D film out there. Of course, Brian’s a little more excited about the Prometheus trailer that showed before the movie started. Nanci is also (re)reading The Seasons of Passage and heartily recommends it. She also wrote a guest post over at Club Jade talking about fan fiction, a topic we’ll be visiting in today’s episode. In preparation for the Avengers next month, Brian has begun his Marvel films re-watch. More importantly, baseball season is back and he can geek out over advanced statistics! But something that will actually interest most listeners, Brian’s also posted the first part of his Fate of the Jedi series review over at the blog.

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Facebook Chat With Jason Fry, Paul Urquhart, and Erich Schoeneweiss

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Yesterday the writers behind the Essential Guide to Warfare stopped by Star Wars Books official Facebook page to answer questions from fans. Among the hard hitting questions: was there a classic Disney influence on the book?

Johann Mitzscherlich: It may seem obviously, but is the name “Skere Kaan” (where you first introduced his forename) to the tiger Shere Khan from The Jungle Book.

Jason Fry: Yep, Skere Kaan is a Jungle Book nod. That was Paul. Made me smile.

I’m always game for clever little nods to things outside of the Star Wars universe. Reading over a Han Solo profile, I spotted an Animal House reference. Austin over at EUCantina noticed a Kent Brockman reference in the book.

For a lengthy recap of the chat, head on over to Club Jade.

Jason Fry Releases Second Batch of ‘Essential Guide to Warfare’ End Notes

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Yesterday, Jason Fry posted a series of end notes from EG to Warfare. Today he drops more!

Blasters: The mechanics of blasters have been explained rather differently in a couple of Star Wars sources, and Paul Urquhart did a lot of heavy lifting helping me sort through the differences. My question about how a stun setting would work led to some breathtakingly geeky emails between myself, Leland Chee, Pablo Hidalgo, Dave Filoni, Tony Rowe and Robert Clarke. Yes, my job kicks ass.

For even more bits of awesomeness, check out the rest of the notes he’s posted on his Tumblr.

The Han Solo Adventures – Fanwork in Video Game Format

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Back in the ’90s, Lucasarts was one of the kings of the video game playground. Among their best titles were their adventure games: Tales of Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Sam and Max Hit the Road, The Dig, Loom. Nearly twenty years after they were published, these games are still regarded as masterpieces. What they all had in common was the engine powering them, Lucasarts’ SCUMM.

Fast forward to 2012. The SCUMM engine is now in the hands of fans who can create homages to the great games of the past. One such in-progress fan creation? The Han Solo Adventures.

I certainly hope Stacy Davidson can finish this game. Just watching that video brings me back to some of the first games I played growing up. For now, I’ll have to go dust off my old copy of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. 

Via Kotaku

Jason Fry to Talk ‘Essential Guide to Warfare’ on Facebook Today

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Don’t forget, at 3PM EDT/12PM PST, author Star Wars Books will be holding a Facebook chat with Jason Fry to talk about the Essential Guide to Warfare. Want to know what went into the various character profiles and warship writeups? You can ask him yourself.

Just remember, this isn’t the chat to ask what’s coming after Fate of the Jedi or when Karen Traviss will come back to the Expanded Universe (she won’t). Your EG to Warfare questions are fair game, though!

Gary Ross Will Not Direct ‘Catching Fire’

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After a weekend of confusion over whether or not The Hunger Games director Gary Ross would return to for Catching Fire, news dropped late Tuesday that he was officially leaving the franchise.

Despite recent speculation in the media, and after difficult but sincere consideration, I have decided not to direct Catching Fire. As a writer and a director, I simply don’t have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule.

I loved making The Hunger Games – it was the happiest experience of my professional life. Lionsgate was supportive of me in a manner that few directors ever experience in a franchise: they empowered me to make the film I wanted to make and backed the movie in a way that requires no explanation beyond the remarkable results. And contrary to what has been reported, negotiations with Lionsgate have not been problematic. They have also been very understanding of me through this difficult decision.

Lionsgate Studio also issued a statement.

We’re very sorry that Gary Ross has chosen not to direct Catching Fire. We were really looking forward to making the movie with him. He did an incredible job on the first film and we are grateful for his work. This will not be the end of our relationship, as we consider Ross to be part of the Lionsgate family and look forward to working with him in the future.

As I mentioned over the weekend when dueling reports from the press hit the Internet, I was going to be surprised to if Ross left. Color me surprised, but I do understand his reasoning. With the mammoth success of The Hunger Games, expectations and deadlines were going to mount for the sequel. I did hope Ross would stick around for no other reason than his ability to work with Suzanne Collins to adapt the book to the screenplay. Hopefully whoever Lionsgate brings in next will be able to pick up right where Ross left off.

What this means for the future of Catching Fire is unclear and the rest of the planned four-film series is unclear. Most fans will want to know if this means the production schedule has been set back. When a film loses its director, there’s always the risk that the timetable can slide while studios scramble to find a replacement. For now, fans and the Internet will begin speculating over who will step up to direct in Ross’ place.

For the rest of Ross’ statement, head over to the Wall Street Journal blog.

Trope Tuesday: Buffy Speak

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I need to go put the sharp pointy thing in the thing with the sharp pointy fangs now.

Introducing Trope Tuesday!

What’s Trope Tuesday? It’s a weekly sojourn into the land of fiction and literature to learn more about the devices and themes that resonates with its audience.*

*It’s a thinly veiled excuse for me to destroy your productivity by linking you to that great time-sink in the cloud: TV Tropes.

Every Tuesday we’ll feature one new trope. This week we’re highlighting one of my favorites: Buffy Speak

Buffy Speak is that thing where they say that a guy is saying things too fast, or can’t figure out what the thing they want to say is, or doesn’t have enough learning and stuff to say what the thing they mean is.

A thing you see a lot with this is when they don’t know the right words and stuff, so sometimes you see noun and verb things combined like in “shooty-gun thing”, and stuff that goes in a cycle thing in frustration: “That idea went over like… like… like a thing that doesn’t go over very well.” That thing where you go on and on and forget the stuff you were trying to say comes up a lot. Sometimes it uses that verb-noun-ing dealie thing, and sometimes that name thing where it’s like, descriptive, but not really their name, because you don’t really know their name? Or are trying to make a point? I dunno, just click on the link.

The Trope Namer is, obviously, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Ever find yourself doing this when trying to explain Star Wars to someone who hasn’t seen it? “No, no. You see Hyperspace is this wibbly-wobbly … thing … that lets other things go from one place to another place all quick like. You know. Like a thing that goes really fast.”

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get back to surfing … that thing. With all the links. And pictures of cats.

New ‘Essential Guide to Characters’ in the Works

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Yesterday, the official Del Rey Star Wars Twitter account dropped this tease:

I know I’d love to see a number of post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe characters included. A longshot, sure, but any chance I could see something about the Antilles sisters?

Who would you like to see in the third EG to Characters? Drop a comment in this post to tell us!

Jason Fry Releases ‘Essential Guide to Warfare’ Endnotes

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Over on his blog, Jason Fry posted a set of endnotes from his latest Expanded Universe release, the Essential Guide to Warfare.

The book originally began with a transcript of a briefing featuring Admiral Motti, Bevel Lemelisk, a general from the Department of Military Research and Dr. Insmot Bowen, a pre-Republic specialist from the Obroan Institute. Dr. Bowen explained that some of the odd characteristics of the galaxy — including that barrier west of the Core — were the remnants of Celestial technology, and told the panel of an ancient war between the Celestials and the Rakata. (Motti, as you might imagine, wasn’t believing it.)

The section was fun, but my editor at Del Rey, Erich Schoeneweiss, felt it wasn’t the best beginning for the book. He felt we needed something that put the reader in a dynamic scene rather than a briefing room, and that had some actual warfare in it, instead of a discussion of it. I fumed about that for a bit, then fumed a lot more because I realized Erich was right.

I have to say, I’m glad Schoeneweiss suggested a different opening. The prologue was one of my favorite parts of the book and really helped set the stage for perhaps the best Essential Guide I’ve gotten my hands on.

For more interesting notes and tidbits from Jason Fry, head on over to his blog.

Fate of the Jedi Retrospective – Part I

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With Apocalypse hitting bookshelves last month, the three-year Fate of the Jedi series came to a conclusion. Not only did it mark the end of the nine book series, but the end of the megaseries concept Del Rey has been known for since New Jedi Order kicked off in 1999. FotJ marks the end of an era in more ways than one, but how effective was it?

Part I of the Fate of the Jedi retrospective below the cut.

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