Bizarre Lit-related find...

After years of collecting EU related literature, I often reach points where
I'm absolutely, positively sure that I know about every single Star Wars
book and comic ever released. Occasionally, a weird item will pop up
somewhere and prove how very wrong I am.

Combing as usual for Star Wars stuff at my local Half Price bookstore, I
happened to find what appeared to be a Star Wars rip-off. The book was
titled "Beyond the Stars: Tales of Adventure in Time and Space". The
starfield cover features a kid in pose and uniform taken directly from Luke
in TESB posters, complete with blaster. In place of a lightsaber, he has
some kind of odd box-thing dangling from his belt. Also on the cover are a
droid and princess, similar to what one might find in Star Wars, but aside
from the blaster held by the princess, the influences are nowhere near as
obvious. There are also three spaceships, which look almost exactly like
the ships I've seen on "Battlestar Galactica". The cover is repeated on the
reverse side, with the following information given:

"Seventeen stories from the exciting world of science fiction, including
Star Wars and Doctor Who and tales by Jules Verne, Robert Heinlein and
Arthur C. Clarke.
This spectacular collection is illustrated throughout with specially
commissioned drawings."

"Ah ha!" I thought "It has an excerpt from Star Wars!" Thus, the cover was
not a rip off at all, but rather a cleaver reference. Flipping through the
book, I found that it had been published in Great Britain in 1983, and that
the Star Wars section was an excerpt from Alan Dean Foster's (George Lucas
being the credited author) Star Wars novelization titled "Escape From the
Death Star".

Now, here's the interesting part, and what made me buy the anthology for my
collection. Remember that each of these stories have "specially
commissioned drawings." The Star Wars excerpt is no exception. Only, it
seems that while the illustrator (Peter Dennis) had seen Star Wars at some
point, he took great pains to make it seem as though he *hadn't* been
influenced by the movie. A weird alternate depiction of the Star Warriors
begins on page 12, with Artoo and Threepio. Artoo is short and round all
right, but he looks like a cross between a Jawa and a Gonk droid--legs and
all. Threepio looks oddly sinister and streamlined. On the next page,
Chewie resembles early production artwork in that he has ears. He is also
short (for a Wookiee) and chubby. The Falcon is so completely unlike *any*
version that we've seen before, in post- or pre-production that I can't even
describe it. The Death Star hanger bay seems to have been inspired by a
castle. Page 17 has a very nice, dramatic scene. It's the one where Luke
and Leia take a "wrong turn". Pages 20 and 21 give us the alternate Han,
Chewie, and Ben. Page 24 and 25 show Vader and Ben's duel. Vader's helmet
is, like the Falcon, completely different from any depiction I've seen. The
lightsabers look just like swords. Pages 28 and 29 cover the Falcon's
escape. The TIE fighters are squat little things. The solar panels are the
same size as the rest of the vehicle, and Luke's gunnery station is a huge
bulky chair.

This just goes to show that, for the collector, there is always something
interesting out ther to find. I also have to wonder if the illustrations
were authorized by LFL (probably not) and what the EU implacations might be.
Is the spaceship shown in place of the Falcon official? Another member of
the YT line, manufactured by the Millennium Corporation, perhaps?

Sorry, the fanboy in me can't help but wonder.

TC

 

Bizarre indeed. What the hell is a Gonk droid??

One of them boxy power droids? TalonCard, when you come across things like that, I guess, you know well and truly SW has become an entire universe, where anything is possible.

 

Gonk droids are indeed the boxy droids.

And I'd love to see this... you wouldn't happen to able to make a scan of one of the pages? I'm very curious how Vader looks.

 

//gonk
//gonk

 

I'm madly in love with the Gonk Droid.

He Gonks my world.

 

Sounds good. I say we petition GL to make it Absolute Canon.

 

the true gonk droid text is found in Ben Burtt's intergalactic phrase book on the bottom of the title page...

anyone remember the GONK wars back on r.a.s.s.? where gonkites and anti-gonkites had it out over the divinity of Gonk.

 

Wow, good find!

 

I've actually got that book somewhere LOL... For anyone interested, the DW excerpt is from, let me see, one of the Peladon stories iirc?

 

Oh right---those walking power droid boxes in Jedi Outcast that tempt me to shoot them. I remember Champions of the Force, on Anoth, calling them GNKs.

 

yeah, well, they ARE the ultimate power...I mean, christians say God has eyes everywhere and is omniscent...well, according to games like Dark Forces: JEdi Knight, they are EVRYWHERE. SO, what if they all had a secret networking thing happening, and they are the keepers of a vast knowledge of secret codes, documents, briefings..all becuase they look so ugly and innocuous! HAHA! GOnk conspiracy!

 

>I've actually got that book somewhere LOL... For anyone interested, the DW excerpt is from, let me see, one of the Peladon stories iirc? <

That's the one. I'd be interested in knowing how much Dr. Who resembles his television counterpart(s). (For anyone interested, my name is actually derived from that of a Dr. Who character.) The chapter is by Terrance Dicks.

TC

 

Yeah, I have blasted a few of those 'Gonk' droids in the Bounty Hunter game as well. The Strategy Guide for Bounty Hunter has a short entry on them under 'Power Droids':
"Many different power droid models are available, all built around the same basic form. Veril Line Systems manufactures the EG-6 model. While most power droids are simple mobile fusion generators, the later EG-6 models are more advanced. The EG-6 unit is equipped with diagnostic software and sensors including an infrared receptor, sonar X-ray, and spectometer equipment. The 1.1 meter tall droid is capable of charging the power calls of large vehicles in one standard day. After this the droid must be hooked up to an energy resevoir to recharge its containment cells. Another popular model is the Industrial Automation GNK unit, which is often referred to as a 'gonk droid' for short".

 

think about it. You are Mon Mothma, looking over the death star plans and maiing secret communications. Then, your desk lamp runs out of power! now, a GONK droid comes, charges u up all the while scanning ur room, dtecting everything. It's pure genius.

 

Could you guys list the info on the book like editor, publisher, year, ISBN, etc. etc. for us?

Sounds like a cool find.

 

...without them, starships would sputter, instruments would falter, and modern society would generally grind to a halt. -from The Essential Guide to Droids

Tht's how important Teh Mighty Gonk is. Without him, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force... erm, yeah!

 

Sounds like they went out of their way to get stories for the book considering Verne died 1905. Could the editor and/or publishers have been trying to introduce folks who might not have normally have read authors like Verne and Clarke to such authors by including SW and Doctor Who stories to the mix?

 

>Could the editor and/or publishers have been trying to introduce folks who might not have normally have read authors like Verne and Clarke to such authors by including SW and Doctor Who stories to the mix? <

Considering that the book was obviously aimed at younger teens and pre-teens, I have no doubt that this was the case.

>And here I thought your name was based on that one Zahn character, what a coincidence... <

Yes, well, I did mean my *real* name (Adrick), Bill...

ISBN is 0 86178 294 1. Publisher is Cathay Books, illustrator was Peter Dennis, and the collection was originally published in 1983.

TC

 

No more bizarre, really, or less funny, than HK-47 calling all non-mechanicals meatbags.

 

"Escape from the Death Star."

Now where have we heard a title like that before?