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Nathaniel Reed's
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:: A trilogy of fan-fic set after Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and inspired by George Lucas' historical draft concepts ::
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| January 2016 |
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The Force Awakens rockets around the world !
31st January 2016 |
Throughout the months of December and January, Episode VII The Force Awakens became a global phenomenon, rocketing its way around the world, proving a popular and financial hit !
As I reported in my review for the December editorial, TFA is certainly a fun rollercoaster with great visuals and gags peppered through the latest episode. By the end of January 2016, the film was grossing towards $2 billion worldwide, and is racing up several award nominations across the film-making associations.
However, it's not been without its detractors, and seems to have divided opinion down the middle, be it the core fan base or the populist critic representing the generic audience. The main criticism levelled at it is how derivative it is of Episode IV A New Hope, that even George Lucas would have pushed the story with more originality. The familiarity was deliberate, but still something a little more different would have proven that the film-makers were not afraid to push a beloved story in a new direction, or simply with new plot devices. With subsequent analysis, many people began to question the 'logic' of certain situations, which immediately pulls the audience out of the experience. Many were surprised and disappointed by the lack of involvement for Luke Skywalker, and saddened too that the 'Big Three' of the much-admired Original Trilogy never reunited in character on screen.
Howver, everyone appears to have applauded the actors, in particular citing the british 'newcomers' Daisy Ridley and John Boyega highly.
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| Interestingly, it was revealed that in the vision sequence that Rey experiences, we hear both Alec Guiness and Ewan McGregor ! For the former, the word "afraid" was lifted from an ANH line and edited to retain "Ray", while the latter was asked at a very late stage to record a few words ; with many fans hoping for an Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off character story, it's heartening that LFL approached Ewan to add to the SW myth.
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| Already Episode VIII is in full swing in pre-production, and is scheduled to start very soon at Pinewood Studios in the UK. A recent report revealed that it had been delayed, possibly by "re-writes", but if so, these narrative changes might have been fairly minor. It's interesting to note that the director, Rian Johnson, had asked for some small changes in TFA, so there could be a more organic interplay between these two episodes. However, the Official Site also announced that the release for Episode VIII was being rescheduled from May 2017 to December the 15th 2017 ! Fansite SWNN helpfully provided a summary of the supposed cast for Episode VIII, listing those returning as well as some new faces, including Benicio del Toro and possibly british actress Geraldine James.
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And it seems that production for the first stand-alone 'Anthology' story is now winding down. Scheduled for release this December, reports are suggesting the story describes an Imperial scientist morally outraged and offering his knowledge to the rebel alliance. As expected, Darth Vader is set to re-appear, probably with Tarkin, but the former has garnered much interest as the Sith Lord's role seems to have been increased ?!
In addition, a recent toy fair in Germany had Rogue One costumes on display !
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| In the illustrated fan-fic Episode VII : Plague of Doom Leia Solo rockets away from the exploding Imperial gas factory complex on Kessel ! |
| Leia whoops with excitement and triumph as her missiles rip through the aura gas production facility ! |
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| You can see the VE artwork in the 'Kessel' art gallery as well as in the online illustrated story, and you can discuss this in the forum here ! |
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| For the VE fan-fic Episode IX : Duel of the Fates I've extended the Corellia sequence into the next 'act' to show what happens after our heroes escape in the Millennium Falcon. This allowed me to retain the sense of overall jeopardy, as well as illustrate the very real danger posed by the hyper-point drones that are sowed by the Imperial Navy ! Since the neutralising of these drones is one of the keys to the conclusion of the plot, it made sense to emphasise their presence and effect.
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| Nathaniel Reed, 31st January 2016 |
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