Category Archives: Star Wars

Ninth Batch of ‘EG to Warfare’ Endnotes Talks Baron Fel

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Author Jason Fry released the ninth set of endnotes from Essential Guide to Warfare this morning. This week he discusses being in the Empire’s Service and dives into the War Portrait of Baron Fel as well as what went into the Han Solo section of the book.

Fel’s one of the more interesting EU characters, and I struggled with how to do justice to him, worried that a recitation of his career would be flat and dull compared to Dark Horse’s X-Wing #25, which I think is one of the greatest tales of the EU. I cracked the puzzle – or at least I hope I did — with the by-now-familiar tactic of taking a step back and seeing him through other eyes. Wedge was the logical choice to tell Fel’s story, as he’s not only a fellow pilot but also a fellow Corellian.

For more, head on over to Jason Fry’s Tumblr.

Replace the Catsuit: Costume Entry from Blizz

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Over the weekend, we got our first costume entry for the Replace the Catsuit contest. This one comes from reader Blizz. She says that this outfit was based on Mara’s appearance at the end of The Last Command graphic novel.

Lightsaber? Functional yet good looking jacket? Coruscant background? Nanci and I talked about this entry on the latest podcast episode we recorded and we both agree, this costume is great.

Thanks for submitting, Blizz!

Trope Tuesday: Deadpan Snarker

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"Two fighters against a Star Destroyer!?"

Another Tuesday, another highlighted trope. Every week we venture into the black hole that is TV Tropes and investigate a theme or device that makes the entertainment we love work. Up on the docket is a favorite of mine: Deadpan Snarker.

A character given to gnomic, sarcastic, sometimes bitter, occasionally whimsical asides.

The Deadpan Snarker exists to deflate pomposity, point out the unlikelihood ofcertainplans, and deliver funny lines. Typically a Deadpan Snarker isthe most cynical supporting character. In most cases, it is implied that the snarker would make a good leader, strategist, or consultant given their ability to instantly see the flaws in a constructed plan. More often than not, their innate snarkiness is the only thing preventing the other characters from comprehending this for themselves. In other cases, the Deadpan Snarker resorts to sarcasm because they’re the Only Sane Man.

The Star Wars Expanded Universe has a number of these characters. Most notable is Mara Jade, the snarky foil that Luke Skywalker so desperately needed in his life. Of course, their son Ben takes after mom. One of my favorite lines from him in Fate of the Jedi occured after Luke had relayed some stories of personal failure.

Ben: You know, it gives me hope that you screwed up so badly and so consistently as a kid, Dad.

From the X-Wing novels, you’ve also got Ton Phanan and Hobbie Klivian. The latter of which played the role of Deadpan Snarker perfectly in Starfighters of Adumar. A non-Star Wars example I’ve enjoyed lately was the character Fran Kranz played in Cabin in the Woods. That’s a case of mixing genre savvy with deadpan snarker.

Star Wars…and Wales?

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The BBC has put together an interesting little slideshow discussing the Welsh background of Star Wars, which includes a couple of really interesting pictures of the construction of the Millennium Falcon from The Empire Strikes Back–interestingly, the only point at which there was a full-scale model of Han Solo’s ship during the entire trilogy. Compared with this picture of the Falcon in the Hoth hangar bay, it’s pretty interesting to get a sense of the ship:

Hunting down a picture of the Falcon in the hangar bay, I found a particularly interesting project afoot to build a full-scale Falcon by some fans. This, in turn, led me to a book I’d not heard about that’s been out for about a year that puts together sketches from the planning stages of the movies: Star Wars: The Blueprints. It’s a limited edition run–only 5000 copies, and the cheap version runs $500 a copy, so it’ll remain a book we all lust over for now. They still seem to have plenty of copies left, though, so if you have a spare chunk of change, I can only imagine that this would be an really interesting visual experience.

Star Wars and Stagnation

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No, no I’m not talking about how it might appear that the longer the series seems to go on, the worse it gets, although that argument can certainly be made. No, what gives me pause is the recent popularity of the Old Republic series, the old RPG’s (KOTOR and KOTOR 2) and the new MMO.

I want to go ahead and make the statement that I have only played a touch of KOTOR and none of the MMO at all. This is not a critique of the gameplay or even the plot of the games. All of that is fine. This isn’t even a statement regarding the continuing breakdown of complexity in the expanded universe, where we once had characters like Thrawn that were not simply evil for the sake of being evil and all we seem to have left at this point is new Sith Lord with a really stupidly evil name.

No, I’m talking about the kind of stagnation we talk about when we mention it historically. To be succinct, what I’m referring to is a state in which a culture ceases to develop in meaningful ways, culturally and technologically. Culture stagnation generally occurs when no new material is being introduced and instead all that seems to appear is derivative of already existing works. Technologic stagnation is essentially the same.

So, Star Wars, the prequels and the trilogy, there is an established setting that has a diverse population of humanoid and completely alien life and two different ruling bodies, one a tyranny and the other an ostensible democracy with a single legislative and executive office combined into a senate, so essentially a parliamentary body instead of a separation of powers. There’s a lot of history regarding a body of enforcers that are separate from the government (and apparently derive their authority from a genetic mutation and have no oversight). Faster than light travel not only exists but is easily obtained by civilians and what is likely to be plasma based weaponry, again easily obtained and common technology.

This is where my problem starts. The Star Wars setting gives us a huge, interconnected galaxy related through conflict and trade. Now, if we’re willing to set a few things aside, like how does Thyffera supply literally thousands of worlds with a miracle drug, we end up with something not altogether outlandish considering the technology. Except for one thing.

What is that issue? Alright, I don’t have a problem with the Clone Wars or Galactic Civil War eras, it’s the KOTOR era stuff that’s causing all the problems. All of the technology seems to be the same, the FTL, the weaponry, lightsabers, Jedi, everything, it is all the same. And here’s the real kicker, this setting is supposed to be 5,000 years prior to the events of the movies.

So, nothing has changed in 5,000 years except governments. What is wrong with this galaxy?

Replace the Catsuit: Art Entries from Victoria

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We’ve got another pair of entries for the Replace the Catsuit contest! These come from Victoria and I’ll let her describe them for you.

The first picture (“Rogue Skywalkers”) is an illustration of Mara and Luke in Rogue pilot fatigues heading to/from their star fighters. I knew Mara was a talented pilot and even though she was probably not of Luke’s caliber, I’m sure the two of them had plenty of flights with one chasing the other, trying to prove which one of them was the best. And even though I don’t think she was ever officially a part of the Rogues, it’s hard for me to think that the members of the Squadron would not consider her at least an honorary member. 

The second picture (“Formal Jedi Gown”) came to mind when I thought of Mara being the type of woman who didn’t mind being a girl and wearing pretty gowns every once in a while. This dress would be something she would wear if she needed to attend a formal event as a Jedi – not necessarily in her robes or flight suit – and she wanted to impress others. Also, it could be something she would have worn to her Jedi wedding in the comic “Union” (I know, she’s wearing something different in the illustration, but this is my vision haha) when she and Luke had their private wedding. 

Thanks for submitting these, Victoria! I dig both of them, but I really love the flightsuit.

We’ll have another entry up tomorrow morning. Remember, you’ve got until August 15th to submit costumes and art for the contest.

Tosche Station Radio #17: Better Than It Sounds

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Starting off the show, the hosts highlight what’s new on the blog. Maggie wrote a column analyzing Natasha Romanoff’s role in The Avengers. Gorram Girl sent in the first entry for the Replace the Catsuit contest. In this week’s Twitter list, we asked you to tell us who your favorite non-Force sensitive Expanded Universe characters are. Nanci also implores you all to read the Mageworlds books.

Fixer’s Flash shows us that Nanci has been busy enjoying fandom. She caught the first installment of this year’s Star Wars Weekends at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Somewhere in there, she also managed to finish the Mageworlds novels. Suffice to say, she loved it. Meanwhile, Brian went and saw The Avengers. For the fourth and fifth time. He’s also getting set to travel to Columbus, Ohio for the Origins Game Fair where long-time EU legend Aaron Allston is the guest of honor.

Continue reading →

New Star Wars Video Game At E3

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Lucasfilm announced today that a new video game franchise tied into the Star Wars IP would be unveiled at this year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo, one of the nation’s largest video game conventions. The debut trailer will appear on May 31st on the Spike network’s Gametarilers TV with a gameplay premiere taking place on June 4.

What could the game be?  Game Informer thinks it could be related to the recent “Star Wars 1313” trademark, which would suggest perhaps a Boba Fett game. I’m secretly wishing for an all new line of space combat simulators, but I’m not holding my breath.

Via

Star Wars Turns 35

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Happy Real Star Wars Day!

Thirty-five years ago today, Star Wars: A New Hope hit theaters and gave birth to the wonderful and occasionally nutty fandom that we all love so dearly. As you can expect, the entirety of the Internet is getting in on the action and celebrating both the 35th anniversary of A New Hope and the 29th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. To keep tabs on what’s going on around the web, keep your eyes on this Club Jade post.