Ship Approaching, X-Wing Class! – The OT Aesthetic of Episode VII

Posted on October 6, 2014by

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—WARNING: THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES SPY SET PHOTOS FROM EPISODE VII—

Despite nearly a decade and a half of Star Wars media being inundated with the look & feel of the Prequel Trilogy and the subsequent Clone Wars series, the aesthetic of the Original Trilogy is back in a big way for Episode VII. That J.J. Abrams and his crack team are doing this is no surprise, given that the majority of them grew up during the original releases of Episodes VI, V, and VI. This really sank home for fans last month when an intrepid fan with the skills of a Bothan spy released several images and aerial drone shots of an Episode VII set. And not just any set. This set had all of the classic trappings of a Rebel Alliance base.

As a 31 year old fan who encountered Star Wars as a young kid via VHS tapes and had his love of it sustained by the Expanded Universe, the sight of a Rebel base is exactly what Star Wars is all about. The set has all the familiar elements of Yavin Base, Hoth Base, and the hangar on the Rebel flagship Home One. When I first saw these images, I felt a level of excitement for Star Wars that I hadn’t felt in a long time. My beloved EU had died a slow and painful death, so my interest in Star Wars (well, at least in new stories) was dying too. The announcement of the Sequel Trilogy changed all this. Suddenly, there was that old excited feeling and the sense of wonder. Read More

Rebellion and the Call to a Higher Cause

Posted on October 3, 2014by and

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Note to our readers: this article was written with full knowledge of the Rebels pilot, Spark of Rebellion, in mind. As such, spoilers will be found related to the characters, plot and themes of the episode(s). If you want to get the most out of this article, the ETE staff would recommend reading it after you’ve watched the pilot for yourself.

“I’m all for sticking it to the Empire, but there’s no way I’d stick my neck out this far. I mean, who does that?” “We do.” – Ezra Bridger and Hera Syndulla

“If all you do is fight for your own life, then your life is worth nothing!” – Hera Syndulla

What drives the spark of rebellion? What brings beings to the point where they openly defy the galaxy’s one major ruling power? For one Ezra Bridger, it was just a game, something he did to get enough food to keep his stomach happy until the end of the day and make fools out of the men in white armor. Life, for him, is lived in the now, in what he does from day to day. He has no plans, no future, nothing to look forward to except possibly stealing something worthwhile that he could sell on the black market to get enough credits to buy a slightly nicer meal. His rebellion is less about fighting the Empire and more about being independent. Read More

The Excitement is Back

Posted on October 1, 2014by

The excitement is back. I admit, the down time of not having any new Star Wars books almost made me walk away. As each day passed without having a new book and not knowing what the future was going to hold my brain distanced itself from the Star Wars Universe. Those nagging thoughts that I shouldn’t invest anymore of my money into something that might not matter on the whims of people who don’t get what being a book fan has meant to some people over the last twenty-some years. These last few months have been especially hard. I don’t remember a time when I went on a summer trip and didn’t have a new Star Wars book to accompany me on a plane flight. Anyone paying a lot of attention to this site has also noticed my lack of articles lately. That’s because I almost walked away. Completely. Sure I would’ve gone to see the Star Wars movies when they came out but I was seriously thinking about not reading anymore.

RogueSquadron_cover_artAt the start of all this, when we found out about the reboot I was excited. I get that these things don’t happen overnight but there is some millennial generation in me that wants things instantly and the wait for a new book began to weigh on me. Would I care about the characters anymore? I admit that part of me stayed with the EU because I just couldn’t handle not knowing what was happening to “my people”. Was Corran Horn being treated all right by the authors? Did Wedge Antilles ever get married? Would Gavin Darklighter ever lead Rogue Squadron? I had to know. How could the new universe ever replace the 17 year relationship I had with some of the EU characters. Those characters helped me through high school, college and some dark times in my life. How can I betray them by starting a relationship with new characters while not knowing if they’re going to be grandfathered in to the new universe? Read More

A Tale of Two Reboots (aka Why You Should Read A New Dawn)

Posted on September 29, 2014by Obiwomble's Outlook

So, Star Wars rebooted huh? Big deal, it’s happened before elsewhere with about as much success and failure. 2010-11 saw two comic companies reboot their superhero lines – Top Cow and DC. Of these two, the DC one was by far the most controversial. The reason for it being that, demonstrated by the comics, the creative teams got two months to wrap up their stories and if they failed to do so? Too bad. More than a few such end issues indicated there were longer plans in place, which were no longer in the picture!

It would be logical then to conclude that post-reboot, no one bought DC comics, much in the way some fans have decided against the new SW post-reboot books. It would, but there’s more than one kind of logic and there’s loyalty to consider. Oh yes, consumer loyalty can well survive a brand reboot, but it tends to be only certain types of loyalty that can do this – namely to a writer or artist. The company name may be mud but there’s a sense that it’s not fair to punish a writer or artist for a reboot they had no ability to affect. Read More

In Defense of Bantam

Posted on September 26, 2014by The Holocron

Thrawn_NECWe all have fond memories of the time when Bantam held the Star Wars publishing license- a time that brought us everything from the Thrawn trilogy to The Crystal Star. It’s a universe rife with opportunities and new ideas, full of unexplored territory and possibilities. The sense of wonder and exploration is one vital to the Star Wars universe, and the first authors to set pen into a much wider universe established many precedents. Some of this era has been retconned, some is known well as the strangest things of the EU, and some is lauded as the best of the best. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and see why Bantam’s contributions to the EU are so vital, warlord of the week notwithstanding.

First of all, let’s make fun of Bantam. I think we have to start with Waru, the entirety of The Crystal Star, and the very fact that some extremely silly things happened in this era of Star Wars publishing. There are so many odd plot holes, confusing references to whatever may have happened in the Galactic Civil War, and myriad kidnappings of the Solo kids. There’s the ghost in the computer who possesses someone else’s body and falls in love with Luke Skywalker. Han Solo wins a planet in a card game, and no one seems to think this is weird.  However, this era does establish some good precedents. Seeing the Solo kids in danger all the time really establishes just how high-profile the New Republic’s First Family really are, even though the kids really just are trying to be normal kids. We don’t know what we’re going to find in backwater planets that haven’t really had much contact with the New Republic, and it could be extradimensional beings, unusual aliens, or stray Imperials. Having such a big galaxy and so few precedents set for just how it would all work gave the plotlines enormous creative freedom. Read More