Lit The Official StarWars.com Blog Thread - That's right, I went there

I really liked the Kashyyyk piece for using the battle to tackle the value shift in the Republic (and make fun of Lucas's cinematic nineteenth-century battle tactics). And I loved the excerpt from Tarkin -- it captures his voice well and is a good example of Imperial propaganda at work. It also reflects Tarkin's place as the Empire's go-to voice on political philosophy quite nicely, and it's gratifying to actually see some credible excerpts of the sort of mass-audience political writing being done in the early days of the Empire.

The Mad Clone of Kaikielius is a great detail -- that's the perfect kind of insanity to grow out of the Kaminoans' insane training environment.

I enjoyed the profile on Metalorn -- it's always nice to see Marvel referenced. And I loved the little detail about it being a social control experiment testing out strategies for Palpatine's Byssization program. Best part is the little girl who rebelled against the Empire by planting a flower . . . turning into a Peace Brigader. Believable but tragic.

 

So happy we finally got this, I was looking forward to it. I'm wondering about one thing however, since there are only 3 updates left and they will probably be about the Galactic Civil War, does that mean that the other bits in the book had no cut content or that they had but it wasn't worth sharing or something? Just curious.

 

Neither of those made it. Every book has stuff that was cut for a reason instead of just for space, and I thought those two were pretty flat and didn't add a whole lot. Sorry GAP.

I did have an idea a while back, though: With the last installment, run the original EGTW outline and note what became of each proposed item -- made book, pubbed in Author's Cut, written but never published, never written, etc. Would that be of interest?

 

Answer is that we'd written through the end of the Clone Wars when I stopped to do a word count and realized I already had a book and a half with the entire Galactic Civil War and NR/NJO eras yet to write. (Which was not a good day.) So there's relatively little cut content from the classic era onward -- from this point on, most cuts were made at the outline stage.

 

Wow, that was a quick reply. Interesting, I'm now left wondering what sort of monster book would have been made if someone would have told you it's in digital format so no page count (or it will be split in two volumes). Sigh. I'm addicted to this stuff, always asking for more.

 

Darn, I even rewatched Storm Over Ryloth in anticipation of this month's release. But if you say they were flat, I more than trust your judgement. Thanks heaps for taking the time to answer my question. I really appreciate it.

And I think that would be an incredibly interesting behind the scenes glimpse, even if it runs the risk of making us all wistful about what might have been.

 

I like the article on how certain fans make metal Mando armor - fascinating stuff:

http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/2014/06/24/mandalorian-mysteries-crafting-the-armor/

 

Thanks! It's a labor of much love, and detail.

 

While short - this article on TCW: A Sunny Day In The Void has some interesting insights:

http://www.starwars.com/news/happy-rancor-the-wonderful-weirdness-of-a-sunny-day-in-the-void

 

Easily the best of the run so far!

 

Should've known it was McEwok who tried to sneak the word "taint" in there.

 

Great stuff yet again, though I wish we got some capital ship stuff too. Definitely a big fan of all TIE's being part of the Navy, no need for a air force/starfighter corps

 

The piece on the 181st was all kinds of awesome. Seeing Myrette Davani again was a beyond pleasant surprise. I always wondered what happened to her after she graduated the Academy. It's nice to see that her time with the future Lady Lumiya didn't scar her mentally and hold back her promising career.

I always thought that Phennir was Corellian, although I'm guessing that must have just been fanon conjecture that I just assumed was correct. I'm glad he isn't, since Corellians are woefully overused as it is. I'm guessing that the 61st is another name for Vader's Black Squadron, since their squad ideas were DS-61-x.

I wonder if Makkor von Urron is supposed to be one of the as yet unnamed 181st pilots, such as the mysterious "Fel's Wrath"? Also, I have to say I just love the name. Even though the names in Star Wars are "spacey" and not what you'd find on Earth, I still feel that the ethnocentricism of a lot of authors shows in how a lot of those names still utilise typically English conventions, styles, sounds, etc. One of my favourite things about the fanon essays of Publius is that he uses clearly Germanic, Arabic and Latin style names for characters to reflect the radical diversity of cultures in the Star Wars universe. I did notice a positive shift in the last sector map, where Jason used things like Cantons, Marshes, etc and clearly non-English inspired names like the Nuon e Safyd and the Arc d'Stot in lieu of traditional sectors. I really hope that this trend continues.

Also... That bit at the end of the Blast Shield piece. I see what you did there too. That was clever. Although now I feel a bit silly for never having questioned the use of a blast shield you can't see out of until now...

All in all, it was another fantasic piece and I look forward to seeing the rest.

 

Not from Marvel, I'm afraid. She's from Carida: Heavy Duty, one of the Planet Hoppers supplements from Wizards of the Coast. The series was more of an expose on Shira Brie back during her Academy days than Carida, told through the eyes of her classmate, Davani. The articles are still archived online.

 

The TIE thing has been around so long I'd absorbed it without giving it much thought, but connecting it with the attitude toward "meat droid" clones is genius. And the nod at the end?

It looks to have been 86ed in the manuscript stage. The published version was different (a Wook-check says "Rohlan" was his birth name).

It was actually at CV so don't worry, you'd already missed it by a much wider margin. And Jason, per the acknowledgements in Warfare we are still owed beers, although I owe you a few for using my Pius Dea stuff, so I'll call it even.

 

And even as late as the Rebels Visual Guide - we are being reminded that TIEs have no shields and no hyperdrive.

 

Maybe TIE pilots are respected for their bravery.

 

Man, I cannot wait for the last two entries in this series. The Marvel goodies are just awesome.

Wait, the Executor was at Derra IV? I'm not sure what to trust in this entry, since its framed as a propaganda piece.

Holy cow, this is obscure. Are we meant to connect the Kopa Khan god from the freaking Holiday Special, with the Lortan fanatics? That is a crazy connection. Nice touch by making Wynssa Starflare the star of the film Light the Sky on Fire, which is also the name of the song from the Holiday Special, which mentions Kopa Khan. If you really want to take this to a crazy conclusion, this could mean that Starflare is actually Grace Slick from Jefferson Starship. She had left the band before they performed in the Holiday Special, and doesn't appear in the hologram band that performs Light the Sky on Fire, but there might be a connection there. Also, Starflare's an actress, not a singer, but it's still something to ponder.

I also like the touch of calling Starflare "Orman-nominated". It's funny to me that the Star Wars version of the Oscars is probably named after Orman Tagge. I wonder if Starflare's other film, Hitchhiker, is a reference to something, or if it was just an allusion to Starflare having to hitchhike to run away from home.

Man, that's a cool connection to Hero of the Confederacy, what with the obvious connections to World War I pilots that appeared in that story. The strong piloting heritage of Valahari fits in really well with Phennir's attitude. There's a really cool connection here also, that confirms longheld speculation. Turr Phennir's brother was said to have been killed at Yavin in Phennir's card in the TCG, meaning that the 61st is probably Black Squadron from A New Hope. But the real cool connection is that Phennir's brother is nicknamed "Chaser". http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Chaser_(pilot)][/url]"Chaser" was a character in The Force Unleashed novel, who flew with Juno Eclipse in Black Eight Squadron, and was passed over to lead the squadron for the more sociopathic "Redline".

This seems to make explicit what was always implied--that Black Eight Squadron eventually became Black Squadron from the film. Of course there are other explanations, maybe "Chaser" got reassigned, etc., but it's still a fun link.

It was always weird that Rette was from Beheboth, a backwater world that barely has technology and fights over water supplies. Her heritage makes her movement to the Imperial Academy make a little more sense.

Cool shout-out for Brandei in the Makkor von Urron entry. I wonder if Oovri II is a reference to something. Never heard of that planet.

Man, hfredium almost never gets referenced. Also, another new planet? Ongary IX? Fun to see the long many-names history of the Falcon given a shout-out. Too bad, that's probably all been chucked in the dustbin now.

 

I'm not sure that's the proper conclusion to draw from the wording. It merely says the following:

1.) That the 181st was assigned to and therefore stationed aboard the Executor.
2.) That the 181st won key victories at Derra and Hoth.

That's pretty much it. And when you combine that with other source materials, you get the sense that the Executor was NOT present at Derra - or, that if it was, it was cloaked as all hell, assuming that's even possible, and in any case made no contribution of its own during the engagement.

First, the ESB radio dramatization shows that Narra's forces can't pick up anything other than TIE fighters approaching them from three directions, either visually or with sensors. A massive dreadnought would have been either seen or spotted on sensors if it was there (and uncloaked). Second, the WEG sourcebook Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back confirms that the TIEs didn't even arrive at Derra for the ambush aboard the Executor, but a much smaller escort carrier. It states: "The Imperials hypered in on the far side of Derra IV, using an escort carrier to disgorge dozens of TIE fighters. The transports were destroyed. All in Renegade Flight were killed."

No, the Executor was NOT at Derra, and could not have been based on the available evidence. The Executor was their base of operations, but in all likelihood their fighters were loaded aboard an escort carrier to be flown to Derra for the ambush from wherever Death Squadron happened to be situated at that time (possibly Qiemet, since according to the Essential Atlas the fleet was still there days later when the news from the Hoth probe came in), then returned to the carrier afterward and were hauled back to the Executor for post-mission debriefing.

Of course, there ARE parts of the Legends/EU where everything about this battle doesn't all line up: the comic The Making of Baron Fel went so far as to throw an actual Imperial Star Destroyer into the mix, but that completely contradicts all earlier accounts of the battle. The escort carrier was already in place to do the job of fighter-carrier that a Star Destroyer could do; in any case, one is never mentioned in the radio drama, let alone seen by the pilots - and yet they have one RIGHT THERE in the middle of this fracas. Why? There's not even (as I recall) any text in the comic that SHOWED it to indicate one was there; I have to assume that was a choice made by the artist to spruce up the pictures, or because he/she thought an escort carrier wasn't cool-looking enough to draw (and really, next to an easy-to-visually-read Star Destroyer, it's not.).