Author: David Schwarz

Fifty Ways to Leave Your Daughter: Rey Durron, and Other Fun Ideas

Posted on January 8, 2016by , , , and Not A Committee

reymask

Let’s get this out of the way: even many detractors of The Force Awakens concede that Rey is the wonderful, nuanced female Star Wars lead we’ve always wanted but never dared to dream we would get. That was the case from the moment she popped up on our movie screens, and it’s enormously unlikely that any new information regarding her origins would change that. Her being a Skywalker would not diminish her value any more than Darth Vader being a Skywalker diminished Luke’s.

That said, I’ll be damned if it isn’t fun to guess! Speaking for myself, it all comes down to the execution; I can see a version of Rey Skywalker that I love just as easily as I can see one I hate, and that applies to all the possibilities. There’s more than enough evidence to go around (there’s even a spreadsheet out there, because of course there is) and keep us guessing and debating for the next eighteen months—at least!—so I wanted to see where we at ETE stand right now. Think of this as a snapshot more than battle lines; I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of our minds are changed as the months go by. Mine has already.

Speaking of which, I’ll be back at the end with my own totally batshit theory, because that’s how I roll, but where are you guys leaning right now? What’s the most important piece of evidence as you see it—or is it more your personal hopes than an objective analysis? Read More

Victory Lap – Continuity, or Why You Are a Bad Person and Should Feel Bad

Posted on December 31, 2015by

Continuity, or Why You Are a Bad Person was my first article as a regular staff member of ETE, and it’s probably the one that has caused the most controversy and discussion, both here and off-site. This article came out of my need to express my frustration with the approach that I saw in the most vocal part of the fandom and to state my belief that that continuity-trumps-quality point of view had been partially responsible for, well, almost driving me off Star Wars forever. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I expected this piece to resonate with at least part of the fandom. Actually, I needed it to resonate with people: I needed to know that I wasn’t alone in having grown tired of the encyclopedic approach to world building that had been reigning for one decade. And now, taking a look at it, I can see that some of my journalism professors would have killed me if they had caught me writing this: it came from the guts, not from the brains; it’s mostly raw and unedited, and I think it shows. For good, for bad… well, that’s for you to say.

It’s been eight months since I yelled my frustration here, and I’m really happy with the way things are going. I feel relieved every time I read whatever Pablo Hidalgo has to say about continuity and canon, and I’ve come to trust the Story Group. Things are exactly how I hoped they could be: the powers that be seem more than happy to leave things undefined, continuity is a means to an end and not the end, and solid storytelling appears to be pulling the cart. No more anal need to fill in every minute detail and let the authors try to find a way to write around them.

And on a personal level, I no longer feel like whatever is said in a secondary source should be binding anymore: I merely shrug when people point out contradictions with the Ultimate Star Wars sourcebook. I no longer feel that need to make everything fit neatly. I don’t feel bad spending my hard-earned money on Star Wars material anymore. I haven’t felt this engaged as a fan since… well, since ever. Things are looking up, friends.

» Read more..

Looking to the Past: Star Wars Rebels and West End Games

Posted on December 16, 2015by Six on the Wild Die
Yes, I first owned the sometimes hilarious Spanish translation. Leave me alone.
Yes, I first owned the sometimes hilarious Spanish translation. Leave me alone.

Since the first announcement of the Expanded Universe reboot, it was said that what now is known as Star Wars Legends was still going to be used, not as gospel but as an inspiration and source for the new canon. And there’s perhaps no better place to see that The Powers That Be were not kidding than in the romance that the Star Wars Rebels cartoon has with the old roleplaying game published by West End Games, a game that introduced such classic concepts as Imperial Inquisitors, the Imperial Security Bureau or Interdictor cruisers, concepts that have lately graced our TVs. But why the WEG game? What makes such a venerable source so suitable to become part of the backbone of the new continuity?

West End Games published the very first Star Wars roleplaying game. The first edition of their game was released in 1987, and soon became the most authoritative source of reference material on anything related to the Galaxy Far Far Away. Initially having nothing to base their sourcebooks on but the original trilogy, the novelizations and radio dramas, and Brian Daley’s Han Solo novels, the developers of the roleplaying game took on the task of expanding this universe and not only dissected and classified the existing sources, but also put together a pretty thorough description of almost every corner of the Star Wars universe. In the times before Essential Guides and Visual Dictionaries, WEG published dozens of roleplaying manuals covering topics as vast as the Galactic Empire itself or as narrow as the legal situation of scouts in the New Republic era, describing almost every single nook and cranny of the galaxy with a level of detail that probably has never been reached again. Read More

Twilight Company: The Return of the Rebel Alliance

Posted on November 2, 2015by Six on the Wild Die

THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SOME MINOR SPOILERS. ABANDON YE WHO ENTER HERE ALL HOPE.

twilightpatchStar Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company is not your typical videogame tie-in. Even though it borrows part of its title from a soon to be released FPS game (that promises to be quite spectacular), Twilight Company works on its own without the need of the Battlefront crutch. The novel is pure military sci-fi. It’s less glamorous than the Rogue Squadron novels and more gritty than the Republic Commando series. Our main characters are not starfighter pilots or special forces commandos: they are the infantry, the people fighting the Galactic Civil War in the frontlines. Most importantly, Twilight Company gives us a hard look at what being a soldier in the Rebel Alliance during a period of open conflict is like and boy, is it engaging.

Let me preface this column by saying that I still find hard to believe that Twilight Company is Alexander Freed’s first novel. Freeds displays a firm grasp of what makes Star Wars loved by millions around the world and introduces us to a new cast of multi-layered characters in a gritty-yet-epic story about war, choices, and why it´s important to fight for a cause. Twilight Company is military sci-fi at its best, so good that even those that usually don’t enjoy the “military” part of it (like this author) will enjoy it. This column is going to focus on something particular: on how this book managed to give us an unprecedented look at how the Rebel Alliance works through the eyes of its foot soldiers, those who might not be galactic heroes but still fight and die for freedom. Read More

The Theatrical Trailer – The First 24 Hours

Posted on October 21, 2015by , , , , , , and

Almost exactly eighteen months ago, Lucasfilm announced the reboot of the Star Wars Expanded Universe—or Legendsification, if you will. It happened on a Friday, and it was such a seismic moment for your humble nerds at Eleven-ThirtyEight that I wanted to document the days that followed as accurately as possible. The next Monday, we published Das Reboot – The First 48 Hours, a group piece that, unlike our average Not a Committee, I presented entirely in chronological order, timestamps and all—so readers could feel the sequence of emotions unfold in “real time”.

With Tuesdays being an off day, I thought it’d be fun to cover the first 24 hours after the new trailer the same way—but while the trailer technically went public at about 10pm Monday night, interest was so high that the Jedi Council Forums were down on and off for a couple hours (and then again Tuesday afternoon)! I eventually got a DM off to the gang, though, and below is what followed.

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12:14 AM – Mike: So, JFC, LOL, and TBH, that was a trailer. I’m not even going to try to be especially coherent right now, but there’s just so much to freak out about here: new character voices! A mountain range with a familiar-looking trench in it! Finn’s “oh shit” face when he sees Kylo’s lightsaber! Han and Leia being all tender and stuff! How are you guys feeling? Read More