General Discussion: Canon Novels/Comics/Short Stories

I was once chatting with Bob Wilkins, who hosted a popular late night Bay Area TV show called Creature Features in the ’70s, which has since attained cult status. Apart from achieving local fame, he was the first to broadcast Night of the Living Dead, and I remember he brought author Anne Rice onto his minimalist set to talk about her new book, Interview with a Vampire. Locally, Wilkins was the only one paying attention to the genre, the only one to broadcast old horror movies, the good, the bad, and the horrible, as well as old Japanese monster flicks—while genteelly mocking it all, in suit, tie, and nerd glasses. Lucas wore similar glasses and must have been a big fan, for, Wilkins told me, he offered Wilkins the job of Lucasfilm president circa 1974. Wilkins declined. He passed away in 2009 and I spoke to him circa 2002.

SanghaRen wrote:I hope I am in the right thread for it. So Star Wars Adventures... I am so hoping we get something on Lil'Ben in one of the issues. Please  

http://www.starwars.com/news/get-a-first-look-at-idws-sdcc-star-wars-adventures-ashcan-comic

Experience The Force Awakens as a Shakespeare play, complete with Elizabethan verse, Shakespearian monologues, and theatrical stage directions! As the noble Resistance clashes with the vile First Order, Rey, Finn, Poe Damaron, Kylo Ren, and BB-8 are pulled into a galaxy-wide drama—in iambic pentameter! Star Wars fans and Shakespeare enthusiasts alike will enjoy the authentic meter, reimagined movie scenes and dialogue, and hidden Easter eggs throughout. Chewbacca speaks! Leader Snoke gives a soliloquy! And the romance of Han Solo and Leia Organa takes a tragic turn that Shakespeare would approve of. All with woodcut-style illustrations that place Star Wars characters into an Elizabethan galaxy. The story may take place in a galaxy far, far away, but you’ll be convinced it was written by the Bard.

Kessel wrote:
I can't wait to check these out. I hope there's something with Ben some point after TLJ.  I don't think we'll get anything on his past until there's enough backstory provided in the ST. I just hope that's after TLJ and not only after Episode IX.

I also had to do my day job while I was in Australia, which would be the template whenever I was writing a book at Lucasfilm: research (except in the archives) and writing was always done mornings, nights (not too often), on the bus, and weekends. I was assigned a table up on a mezzanine above a small stage where photographer Keith Hamshere was taking reference pics of each actor in costume following their scenes. This was done for licensing’s sake; Hamshere’s photographs were essential to many products, from books and posters, to clothes, to whatever. In the same area an immense full-body scanner, which looked more sci-fi than anything on set, had been set up to create full-body scans of actors in costume for the action figures and high-end sculpts. So while Hamshere would ask Ewan or Natalie or a Neimoidian to turn for a profile, I’d be busy upstairs doing email. (Hamshere’s work was important to licensing, but not so important to a few who saw these photography sessions as an imposition. One of them refused to cooperate, Rick said, until he threatened a lawsuit.)
  Back on set, whenever George asked Jimmy Smits (Bail Organa) to modify his performance or alter an action, Smits would reply, “Yes, sir.” Often when George asked Christensen or McGregor, they would reply, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
     They weren’t disrespectful, but they weren’t necessarily buying it either. They were going along with it.
     Back on the Original Trilogy, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) had understood instinctively where Lucas was coming from, though he was famously uncommunicative. It was nothing personal. As many know, “Faster” and/or “More intense,” was what Lucas often requested of his actors.
     Part of his general reticence on any set was due to the fact that he simply didn’t want to be there. Lucas had told Roger Christian back in 1976, set decorator on Star Wars, that each day he woke up with a metaphorical sack of large stones on his back and spent the day struggling to remove them, painfully, one by one. On set for Episode III, I overheard George asking himself one morning, “Why am I putting myself through this again?”
   In 1978, three crewmembers got into a post-film analysis of their ex-boss, concluding that he took too much on himself and stressed himself out unnecessarily. They also thought he often put his trust in the wrong people. I’ve read similar complaints about similar visionaries. Evidently, when you’re hounded by success, it often becomes difficult to tell who has your best interests at heart, particularly given that many folks may have already told you things that didn’t turn out to be true, or said that something wouldn't work that did turn out to work, and vice versa, etc., etc. It’s a difficult position to be in.
     Despite his directorial shorthand and his on-set suffering, Lucas, Ford, Fisher, and Hamill worked well together on the Original Trilogy and remained friends afterward. Lucas seemed particularly close with Fisher.
      It didn’t help that Portman and McGregor had been wounded by negative reviews of the first two prequels, making this last one harder for them. In fact when I was given the greenlight to talk to McGregor on set, I went over to introduce myself and before I’d said two words, he shouted in a loud and annoyed voice, “Well, I’ll just let you know then!”
    It was a tad awkward. Crew would tell me that on Episode I McGregor had been enthusiastic and kind, helping to move chairs for the next setup. But he’d changed. Rick told me that the actor was frustrated, and on an “emotional rollercoaster.”
    He and Portman were never ready to be interviewed (instead I relied on EPKs). Christensen, on the other hand, had less history and was more relaxed. I was given the go-ahead to shadow him for a day, morning till evening. He was ready to talk: young, smart, with his own production company. Like many actors, he was smaller in person, more vulnerable. When we walked from his dressing room to the immense soundstage, where Lucas and dozens of veteran technicians and craftspeople were waiting to shoot the next scene, with thousands of dollars disappearing every minute, I asked Hayden if he wasn’t apprehensive or scared.
    “No,” he said. “I’m excited.”
Because it was winter down under, it was dark by the time we drove from the studio to his rented apartment (or house, I can’t remember). Christensen was up front, next to the driver, and I was in the backseat when he turned around and started telling me how hard it was playing Anakin Skywalker the way George wanted him to. He said that he didn’t understand why his director was holding him back, why he was asking Hayden to restrain his feelings in scenes that seemed to require a rawer emotional performance. Hayden spoke for around 20 minutes about his uncomfortable situation.
I listened, knowing I wouldn’t be able to write about it then, but trying to explain that Lucas was perhaps not explaining why he was doing things in a certain way because he simply didn’t have the time or the inclination to do so. It wasn’t his style.
(Please note: This was not Christensen’s verdict on Lucas—only a step along the way.

snufkin wrote:Official announcement he took it down. Something must've happened because this is all he's saying about it



I had the RSS feed set up in my Feedly account, so if anybody missed some of the posts and want to read it, PM me and I'll send you a copy.

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Darth Dingbat wrote:Really disappointed in the Maul comic.

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SanghaRen wrote:

Darth Dingbat wrote:Really disappointed in the Maul comic.

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@Darth Dingbat

I stay clear now from comics. I gave it a shot with Dr Aphra but all in all I am always left frustrated by how little emotions are explored. Also I have to make a choice time-wise if I want to only have SW-related leisure or other stuff and I prefer to keep it balanced out with other stuff. Anyhow, not watching TCW and not being a fan at all of the PT, I never quite got the fascination with Maul. It's only recently by reading posts here that I understood that there was a lot of potential to make him more complex and a lot of hope that it would happen. I have to say I was quite disappointed myself, without being a Maul fan, with his end in SW Rebels. It was just too quick. Just a couple of minutes more of maybe Maul really trying to kill OB1 before breaking down would have made it more poignant. This is probably over 3 seasons my least favorite scene and development for a character. It was like "wait, that's it?"

But now I am more intrigued by the twi'lek you mention. I still have my hopes that twi'leks will make it somehow into the ST. Just because I like them.

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snufkin wrote:@ISeeAnIsland - that would be my guess, especially with the drug, Hunter S. Thompson,counter culture, and Portman and McGregor being unhappy references. Their lawyers supposedly blocked the authorized biography of Ward Kimball that Chronicle Books was going to publish because it doesn't fit into their shiny, family friendly brand.

An enemy will almost never be anything except an enemy. All one can do with an enemy is defeat him. But an adversary can sometimes become an ally.

There is a cost, of course. In all things in life there is a cost. In dealing with an adversary, sometimes the cost is paid in power or position. Sometimes it is paid in pride or prestige.

Sometimes the cost is greater. Sometimes the risk is one’s future, or even one’s life.

But in all such situations, the calculation is straightforward: whether or not the potential gain is worth the potential loss.

And the warrior must never forget that he and his adversary are not the only ones in that equation. Sometimes, all the universe may hang in the balance.

panki wrote:@Darth Dingbat

I am pretty disappointed with the Eldra arc myself

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Darth Dingbat wrote:

panki wrote:@Darth Dingbat

I am pretty disappointed with the Eldra arc myself

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@panki

Exactly, exactly!

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