Tag Archives: Thrawn: Alliances

Holonet Blast #69

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Welcome to our weekly roundup of news. Early this week I was beginning to wonder if maybe I’d have nothing to report, but Star Wars came through in a big way in time for this post.

Thrawn: Alliances

This week’s addition to the Star Wars canon from our folks at Del Rey Books is Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn: Alliances. The new book is getting rave reviews from fans of the Thrawn of Legends as well as those who were only introduced to the character via his appearances on Star Wars Rebels. Have a look at our Staff’s GO/NO GO article, and Bria’s REVIEW to know more about this newest adventure featuring our favorite Chiss Grand Admiral.

 

Fox shareholders okay Disney deal

For those of you who follow Lucasfilm’s parent company, Disney, on the corporate level, it is important to note that this week the contentious acquisition of much of the Murdoch media empire was finalized. The $71.3 billion purchase includes film properties such as Avatar and the X-Men series, television including The Simpsons and This is Us, the FX family of cable networks and National Geographic, and the streaming service Hulu. The deal must be approved by regulators in more than a dozen countries, but has been approved by shareholders in the US and abroad.

 

Cast announced for Star Wars Episode IX

The big news out of Lucasfilm this week was the announcement of the principal cast for the next (and reportedly final) episode in the Skywalker saga. Sequel Trilogy stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac were no surprise. TFA and TLJ veterans Domnhall Gleeson, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Billie Lourd, and Lupita Nyong’o will also be returning. New cast members announced include The Americans’ Keri Russell, well-known British character actor Richard E. Grant, and 2017 BIFA Most Promising Newcomer award winner Naomi Ackie.

While I was pleased as punch to hear of both the returning cast and the newcomers,  it was the news of certain members of the Original Trilogy cast that got me gushing. Mark Hamill’s return to the role of Luke Skywalker has many people speculating as to whether he will appear in flashbacks or as a Force Ghost to live up to his iconic pledge to “see ya ’round, kid”. Either way, fans will once again get to see Luke Skywalker on screen, and that is never a bad thing. Anthony Daniels will once again don his signature golden plates as C-3PO. And in a delightful surprise, it has been announced that Billy Dee Williams will once again bring Lando Calrissian to the screen.

But the news that had me in tears was that the role of Leia Organa will once again be played by the late Carrie Fisher. Since Carrie’s untimely passing in December of 2016, there has been much speculation as to what would happen to the character in the final episode of the saga. Director J. J. Abrams has announced that there is enough existing footage of Fisher’s Leia to tell her story to its conclusion. The choice to use existing footage (and likely ADR) possibly alongside body and photo doubles as opposed to digitally re-creating the actress in total or re-casting the role was the one I was hoping the team would make and has been signed off on by Carrie’s daughter, Billie and her brother, Todd.

John Williams will be scoring the film.

Principal Photography on Episode IX is slated to begin August 1 at Pinewood Studios in London.

The film’s release is currently scheduled for December of 2019.

 

That’s it for this week’s news from a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Send Star Wars news tips to us here at Tosche Station and send Carrie Fisher feels to @MandaTheGinger.

Review: Thrawn: Alliances

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If you’d told me three years ago that we would see Grand Admiral Thrawn not only brought back into canon as a major villain for two seasons of Star Wars Rebels but that we would also have two novels with his name in the title written by Timothy Zahn, I would’ve said that you were crazy and yet here we are. Thrawn: Alliances is out today. Look around, look around, how lucky we are to be alive right now!

Thrawn: Alliances takes place in the aftermath of Star Wars Rebels Season 3 with everyone’s favorite grand admiral fresh off a defeat involving a giant deus ex Bendu. Darth Vader is less than impressed but that doesn’t matter to Palpatine who sends them to the Outer Rim planet of Batuu to investigate a disturbance in the Force. Funnily enough though… they’ve both been there before. It’s where Anakin Skywalker also met Thrawn while he was looking for Padmé who’s gone missing. It sure would be convenient if they were somehow connected… Continue reading →

Go/No-Go: Thrawn: Alliances

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nasa-mission-control-3Welcome back to Go/No-Go, Tosche Station’s regular feature where we offer our spoiler-free opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a book, film, or other entertainment. Today on the launch pad: Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances. In the highly anticipated sequel to last year’s Thrawn, we get a Thrawn/Vader team up and a Clone Wars era adventure but how did we actually like the book? To mission control for the verdict!

Bria: I didn’t dislike Thrawn but Thrawn: Alliances was a hell of a lot more fun for me. The smaller scale story absolutely works to its benefit and also PADMÉ! There was lots of Padmé in this book! (I know what I’m about.) Also… it’s basically a Vader and Thrawn road trip which is everything I ever wanted but didn’t know until now. (Also I am now inclined to defend Karyn Faro with my life. Can she go hang out with SLOANE?) Zahn does an excellent job of telling both the Clone Wars era and the current timeline story, weaving them together and slowly showing us how they’re connected. This feels like one of those books that will appeal to a broad range of Star Wars fans and for different reasons. It may not be my favorite Star Wars book ever but it was definitely hard as hell to put down. Thrawn: Alliances gets a GO from me.

Nanci: Like Bria, I enjoyed Thrawn but Thrawn: Alliances hit way more buttons for me. I’ll say this right off the bat – it is my favorite Del Rey book of the new canon. That’s high praise from me, especially for a book that partly takes place during the prequel era (not my jam), but Zahn proves once again why he’s the master of writing Star Wars books. The two plot lines (Thrawn, Anakin, and Padmé in the Clone Wars era, and Thrawn and Vader in the Rebels era) weave together expertly, with revelations from one pushing the other forward and adding to the tension. Zahn’s characterization is superb, especially his take on Padmé, a character I’ve had a hard time relating to in the past. The other crew members on the Chimaera add a lot of flavor to the story; my personal favorite is Commodore Faro, and I would love to see more from her in the future. (Can I add that I love how Canon Rukh continues to annoy people as much as his Legends counterpart did?)

The real stars of this book, though, are Thrawn and Anakin/Vader. I love how Anakin and Vader are written so differently (as they should be) while Thrawn remains consistent through both timelines. The scenes with Thrawn and Vader on the Chimaera are where Zahn really shines. The tension between the two men is palpable, as well as the grudging respect. These are two extremely competent men and it is so satisfying to see them forced to work together (although sadly in the service of a fascist dictatorship). Two common Legends criticisms regarding Zahn’s writing had to do with his treatment of Vader and writing Thrawn as too omnipotent or “whitewashed.” While I didn’t share these views, I can safely say that Zahn’s portrayals of both characters are superb and it would be hard pressed for anyone to make the same criticisms here.

Thrawn: Alliances gets the highest of GOs from me. I can’t wait to read Zahn’s next contribution to the Star Wars saga.

Chris: Just to be a broken record, I, too, liked Thrawn but didn’t love it. Alliances, on the other hand, might just be my new favorite Star Wars book. Readers (or listeners to the Book Wars Pod) know that Anakin/Vader is my all-time favorite Star Wars character, so the deck was stacked for me going in, but the parallel plots – between “present” and past – worked together seamlessly, and I could just feel the similarities and differences between the Chosen One’s personas in a way I’ve always wanted to see in the canon. Thrawn, on the other hand, shows us an entirely new side of himself: he’s vulnerable – dare I say, almost human. Watching two titans of the Empire work together and sharpen each other’s skills in the process was a joy to read, as was Zahn’s portrayal of Padmé, who is portrayed not simply as Anakin’s damsel in distress but as a star in her own right, as she should be. Go, go, GO to read Thrawn: Alliances immediately – and start petitioning LFL for more Zahn books.

Flight Director’s Ruling: Thrawn: Alliances is a GO for launch!