Author Topic: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Excellence  24488 posts
Registered: Jul '02
6338_New Republic Seal
Date Posted: 4/25/06 2:03am Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)

Yeah, but . . . Ortolans. What a cheap movie costume! tongue

 

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Biddybot  240 posts
Registered: Aug '02
39903_Obi-Wan Kenobi
Date Posted: 4/25/06 5:00pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Daniel-K: Check out the Revenge Of The Sith Visual Dictionary's pages on Grievous for a pretty good overview of how he's 'wired' together inside to handle the extra limbs. There are some peripheral processors and brain implants involved that no doubt deal with this. The same pages also give you a good sense of how very little remains of his organic body. He's really not much more than a brain and eyes and whatever minimal organs are needed to keep those parts nourished and oxygenated, living in a highly customized droid body. And since the limbs themselves are purely mechanical, I expect that it mainly just took time, concentration and mucho practice for Grievous to learn to use his extra arms, and that '...gradually the knack had come to him as his heuristic programming accumulated a store of commands, the separate steps beginning to come together into coordinated motions aided by his peripheral processors until he no more had to think about how to control his metal limbs than he’d had to think about controlling his flesh and blood ones.' That's my take on it, anyway!

Also, reference the planet Kalee, somewhere, not that long ago, I swear I read that it was located 'near Dantooine'. I know I was in a Chapters bookstore when I read that, flipping through one of those big 'art' books I enjoy looking at but can't bring myself to shell out the bucks for, so it was likely in one of the newer 'Making Of...'-type SW books. Might've just been that particular writer's decision, though...I don't know how 'canon' all those various background books are... At least one fansite has already picked up on this. By googling in 'Kalee' and 'Dantooine', I quickly found: 'Kalee is a planet in the Kal system that lies between Muunilist and Dantooine along the Outer Rim.' That sounds fine to me...at least for now.

My own latest burning query about all things Grievous: So when is the movie poster for 'Sheelal And Kummar Go To White Castle' coming out?
tongue

 

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Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
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Date Posted: 7/15/06 3:13pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Hey folks! It's taken a while, but the Endnotes for the Story of General Grievous continue. Part 3 start in on Lord of War, and last part should be coming soon.

 

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Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
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41556_Halagad Ventor
Date Posted: 7/15/06 4:20pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Boy it's been a while since I visited this thread.

Thrawn McEwok posted:
Halagad_Ventor posted:
The Law of McEwok's Claw has always existed, though its identification in this context is entirely new.


It's one of those things that's theoretically defined by half-a-dozen unrelated incidents in prior continuity, but only gets clearly defined when you mention it explicitly? tongue
laugh I know you're not supposed to laugh at your own jokes.... but McEwok's Claw, that was heh heh inspired.

Thrawn McEwok posted:
And... a potentially explosive question: you mention Grievous concieving of battledroid numbers "like a barely fathomable string of trinary code"... does he do his arithmetic in decimal, or not?
He may or he may not. That is the answer.

Daniel-K posted:
Able, I have a question about Grievous and his species. We see in ROTS that Grievous is very capable of wielding 4 arms at once - they all act independently just like our two arms do, meaning that the brain and neural system is wired to accept that. The problem there in lies that the images of the Khalee show them with just two upper limbs. I realize that this is from Visionaries and you kinda got stuck with the look, but is there a rational for this? The sheer difference in tissue and neural wiring that would require is massive, look at the diference between lizards and snakes. One could put it down to SW medical tech being that advanced, but based off what we've prievously seen, its a bit like jumping straight from building the pyramids to building a space elevator. There's nothing that says it isn't the case, its just that the difference is so huge its a bit hard to swallow.

So is it just "the doctors are that awesome" or is there another explanation out there, like the Khalee having little vestigal nubs there (akin to the mating spurs some snakes have) and the doctors just amplified the connections? Or something else? Or did a crazy old wizard do it, now get off your lawn, you dern fool kids?
It's a really good question, that's come up before. At this point, I'm not sure. Ann Lewis and Helen Keier who wrote the New Essential Guide to Aliens may have tackled this in their Kaleesh entry.

Whatever the case, I think it will remain true that you've often gotta look at Star Wars logic with one eye closed.

Ive_Got_Two_Legs posted:
Also, will we ever get a placement for Kalee's location? I'm definitely hoping for it to be withint he Imperial Remnant, so that someday there might be a chance for a story of Pellaeon using Kaleesh warriors to fight the Vong...
Kalee borders the Kardok Regions. Has the placement of that been established?

Biddybot posted:
My own latest burning query about all things Grievous: So when is the movie poster for 'Sheelal And Kummar Go To White Castle' coming out?
tongue
This year's San Diego Comic Con?

Take care,
Abel

 

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Barriss_Coffee  5780 posts
Registered: Jun '03
13744_Barriss Offee
Date Posted: 7/16/06 8:28pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)

Halagad Ventor posted:
It's taken a while, but the Endnotes for the Story of General Grievous continue. Part 3 start in on Lord of War, and last part should be coming soon.



More to say, have you?


dancing

I didn't even know there was going to be a Part 3! Or 4! Or maybe I did... once long ago. Ah, I love it when I forget something and then relearn it completely anew...

 

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Rogue_Follower  8549 posts
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Date Posted: 7/21/06 6:26pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Ah! So that's the Terminator reference. Subtle indeed. thinking

 

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Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
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41556_Halagad Ventor
Date Posted: 7/24/06 8:39pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Barriss_Coffee posted:
I didn't even know there was going to be a Part 3! Or 4! Or maybe I did... once long ago. Ah, I love it when I forget something and then relearn it completely anew...
You must relearn what you have unlearned...

Endnotes for The Story of General Grievous, Part 4: Lord of Worlds and War

Rogue_Follower posted:
Ah! So that's the Terminator reference. Subtle indeed. thinking
Just a small nod to another childhood obsession.

 

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Biddybot  240 posts
Registered: Aug '02
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Date Posted: 7/29/06 7:29am Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Yay! Just went through your last two Grievous updates...thanks for keeping my favourite cyborg's official existance alive and well! Enjoyed the reads and liked picking through some of those background links you provided. I don't have as much time as I'd like sometimes to explore all my interests in detail, so really do appreciate it when other rabid fans do the work of condensing all that's out there down to the 'good stuff' for me. Also especially enjoyed some of the tech info in Part 4 and will be saving it for reference for my own fannish pursuits later on. Even though I'll always have my own personal and now entirely non-official background ideas of what made Grievous the character he is, it's interesting how two 'versions' nonetheless wound up having similar personality traits. I early on expected he'd have violent racist tendancies, for example, because of a single line of dialog he had in Warren Fu's story 'The Eyes Of Revolution': his abbreviated statement, "The sooner I return to exterminating Huk colonies, the sooner I can redeem--" Sure, you've since provided some pretty good reasons as to why Grievous would want to 'exterminate' Huk, but still, only someone who was genocidally inclined would even think that way about their enemies, let alone voice it aloud--I thought and still consider it the best snippet of insight into Grievous's temperament. On the other hand, he also says, just before setting out on his ill-fated shuttle ride, "As long as this old thing holds together, we'll be okay.", and no one who's a total ass EVER talks like that--that line I interpreted as the best clue to what Grievous's disposition must've once been like. So that's where my thinking on how the character ticks stemmed from. I'd say everything you've provided since seems to keep reinforcing those early hints quite nicely, really!

And you're going to provide still more--yay again! As always, I'm just glad someone 'official' is still keen on working on the Grievous character and look forward to your real-life inspirational notes with interest. I think I already know where Qymaen jai Sheelal the Kaleesh warlord comes from, but, well, we'll see. Still waiting for that Grievous novel too. You KNOW you want to write it...
angel praying

PS: Since your Grievous articles have been so well received and IF you're currently casting around for another like assignment, why not consider doing something about the Jedi character K'kruhk next? Seems to be quite a fan favourite, has that obvious Grievous connection and comes equipped with a ready-made angsty crisis of faith already established, purportedly survived Order 66, and is another kinda interesting alien, not another boring ol' human, to boot. I think he's more than worthy of an article detailing his history, and the tale of how he miraculously survived being 'killed' by Grievous at Hypori would IMO make for a GREAT little short story for the Insider magazine...all I'd ask is that you end it with K'kruhk coming face to face with the jerk clone trooper leader who made the decision to leave 'dead' K'kruhk behind and snarling at him words to the effect that he'd never trust any of "you clones" again, heh. Seriously, I think you could do a terrific job and have some fun with this character! Don't make me resort to writing some junk on my own again because I've gotten desperate!

Till next then...
Cheers!
--Biddybot

 

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Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
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Date Posted: 7/29/06 6:04pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Thanks for the kind words and enthusiasm, Biddybot.

Biddybot posted:
Even though I'll always have my own personal and now entirely non-official background ideas of what made Grievous the character he is, it's interesting how two 'versions' nonetheless wound up having similar personality traits. I early on expected he'd have violent racist tendancies, for example, because of a single line of dialog he had in Warren Fu's story 'The Eyes Of Revolution': his abbreviated statement, "The sooner I return to exterminating Huk colonies, the sooner I can redeem--" Sure, you've since provided some pretty good reasons as to why Grievous would want to 'exterminate' Huk, but still, only someone who was genocidally inclined would even think that way about their enemies, let alone voice it aloud--I thought and still consider it the best snippet of insight into Grievous's temperament. On the other hand, he also says, just before setting out on his ill-fated shuttle ride, "As long as this old thing holds together, we'll be okay.", and no one who's a total ass EVER talks like that--that line I interpreted as the best clue to what Grievous's disposition must've once been like. So that's where my thinking on how the character ticks stemmed from. I'd say everything you've provided since seems to keep reinforcing those early hints quite nicely, really!
It's long been said that villains don't see themselves as villains. I don't think that's always or even mostly true, but Grievous certainly seemed to have redeeming or at least identifiable qualities.

Biddybot posted:
And you're going to provide still more--yay again! As always, I'm just glad someone 'official' is still keen on working on the Grievous character and look forward to your real-life inspirational notes with interest. I think I already know where Qymaen jai Sheelal the Kaleesh warlord comes from, but, well, we'll see. Still waiting for that Grievous novel too. You KNOW you want to write it...
angel praying
The clues are there, and I've discussed some more here and on the blog. I just plan to be a bit more specific.

Biddybot posted:
PS: Since your Grievous articles have been so well received and IF you're currently casting around for another like assignment, why not consider doing something about the Jedi character K'kruhk next?
Neither Insider nor StarWars.com is likely to give a single non-movie character the kind of attention I got to give Grievous, but there's always a chance.

Thanks again Biddybot!

 

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kecen  1354 posts
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Date Posted: 7/31/06 1:27pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
I was thinking this thread would never update again until I found more endnotes. My thoughts?

*The parable of Sheelal reminds me of a rather mushy song called "Autumn's Monologue", which I associate with lots of things,
especially since it has a reply song called "The Fiction We Live", which is rather fitting of Grievous.
*I'd like to think Qymaen is a name of a tiny pink----I mean desert flower which is the national flower of the region with the Mayan style pyramid.
*Is Kalee truly near Bastion? I mean that's the base of operations for the Imperial Remnant and that means the likelihood of Kaleesh imperial knights (I would suspect the Kaleesh to see the Empire as better than the Republic because the Empire buys Kaleesh chocolate and canned fish).
*Are Mumuus like unicorns?
*Can the flag of the Kaleesh royal army be a black Mumuu unicorn against a rainbow?

 

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Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
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41556_Halagad Ventor
Date Posted: 7/31/06 10:55pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
kecen posted:
I was thinking this thread would never update again until I found more endnotes. My thoughts?

*The parable of Sheelal reminds me of a rather mushy song called "Autumn's Monologue", which I associate with lots of things,
especially since it has a reply song called "The Fiction We Live", which is rather fitting of Grievous.
I've never heard of that song. How about Row, Row, Row Your Boat?

kecen posted:
*I'd like to think Qymaen is a name of a tiny pink----I mean desert flower which is the national flower of the region with the Mayan style pyramid.
A rosebud twist? (I've been on a Citizen Kane kick for the last week).

kecen posted:
*Is Kalee truly near Bastion? I mean that's the base of operations for the Imperial Remnant and that means the likelihood of Kaleesh imperial knights (I would suspect the Kaleesh to see the Empire as better than the Republic because the Empire buys Kaleesh chocolate and canned fish).
I don't know, to be honest.

kecen posted:
*Are Mumuus like unicorns?
Perhaps. We'll see if the New Essential Guide to Aliens has any more to say about em.

kecen posted:
*Can the flag of the Kaleesh royal army be a black Mumuu unicorn against a rainbow?
Sure.

Hey Rogue! Want to handle this one, or would you like to do the honors, kecen?

Take care,
Abel

 

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Rogue_Follower  8549 posts
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Date Posted: 8/1/06 4:58am Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
If I had a scanner right now, I would so do this one. But I don't. sad

 

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kecen  1354 posts
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Date Posted: 8/1/06 12:24pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Here's the flag. And a person wearing the flag.
http://pics.livejournal.com/kecen/pic/0001fa9c
http://pics.livejournal.com/kecen/pic/0000t6xt

 

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Halagad_Ventor  1278 posts
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41556_Halagad Ventor
Date Posted: 8/1/06 1:08pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86)
Terrifying. Truly.

What species is that second one?

 

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kecen  1354 posts
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Date Posted: 8/1/06 1:11pm Subject: RE: "Unknown Soldier: The Story of General Grievous" & "Lord of War" by Abel & Joe (SWI #86) - Date Edited: 8/1/06 1:12pm (1 edits total) Edited By: kecen
Halagad_Ventor posted:
Terrifying. Truly.

What species is that second one?

Kaleesh of course. But albino and wearing an 1800's style dress. They're a marine biologist of course and an avid goldfish breeder.
Unless you're talking about the emblem. That's a chubby winged mumuu symbolising non-combat.

 

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