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Welcome
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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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| October 2012 |
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Aquilae Base briefing..... AND NEW STAR WARS FILMS UNDER DISNEY !!!
31st October 2012 |
| Continuing the sequence of illustrating events at Aquilae Base on the water world of Mon Calamar, we have a shot of two more senties guarding Aquilae Base, this time close to the massive ship entry doors. |
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| Meanwhile, inside the base, the briefing for the quick-strike against the secret Imperial operations on Kessel continues. General Madine points out the rift fissure in the stoney desert near the old Hutt castle, now used as the Imperial base of operations : this was known to Han Solo as a useful smuggling route, and proved successful for him and his friends' investigation into the mysterious goings-on surrounding Ondos and Nal Hutta. Now, this rift can be used by the Alliance's small fightercraft to sneak under the Imperial shield, and strike at the heart of the Imperial Base and the aura gas factory ! |
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| You can see the VE artwork in the 'Mon Cal' art gallery as well as in the online illustrated story, and you can discuss this in the forum here ! |
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| In other - earth-shattering ! - news, just yesterday it was announced that DISNEY would be purchasing LUCASFILM, and the accompanying Star Wars franchise ! George Lucas re-confirmed that veteran executive producer Kathleen Kennedy would be taking over the chair of LFL, and revealed that he wanted to "pass on the baton" within his lifetime, securing a future for the company and its products, including Star Wars. He felt that the Disney Corporation was very much the natural home for the new Star Wars. |
| Added to that news was the announcement that by 2015 we would be enjoying a new Star Wars movie, but not only that, it would be Episode VII, heralding the fabled and long-anticipated Sequel Trilogy ! Also, a commitment to re-investing in other projects, including the TV shows. This latter might well include the stalled live-action TV series, working title Underworld, following the gangsters and bounty hunters in the Episode III-Episode IV timeframe. |
| It was revealed that since at least the summer, writers and concept artists had begun early pre-production work on possible stories and scenarios for Episode VII. Lucas has passed all his relevant Sequel Trilogy notes on to Kennedy, and he will remain as a "Creative Consultant" on the projects. Knowing the trials and tribulations of the cost of producing any of the Star Wars movies, the time frame of 2 and a half years might be quite tight, but we shall see ! |
| Major fansites like TFN and T'Bone have obviously picked up on this news, and already commented. Some are simply reporting the facts, others are cautious-to-positive, other netusers are unsurprisingly wholly negative. Some have rightly raised their concerns about the vitality and freedom of the fan community, from costuming to fan-fiction. |
| The SW.com blog already has some interesting (and positive) opinions from the insiders, people like Rinzler, Hidalgo, and Sansweet. They point out that in some respects this move, planned since spring/summer of 2012, is not surprising, and that the SW franchise can only really live on with new movies ; also, a reminder that Lucas had originally considered a 9-12 part Saga, with possible successive non or semi connected original stories set in that galaxy far far away. An interesting conundrum would be how the official Sequel Trilogy timeframe would fit with the existing EU material, bearing in mind that what comes from the pen of Lucas is immediately and strictly canon, a case in point being the revisionism brought about by the backstory of the Clone Wars and the Fetts in Lucas' Prequel films. |
| Personally, I'm genuinely excited for this development : it revitalises and retains the Star Wars 'brand' and all accompanying material, good or bad. We shall have to see how the fan community is catered for and how Disney reacts to their creativity. But of course, from my point of view as co-author of our own little Sequel Trilogy project I'm somewhat anxious to see how we'd 'survive' against Disney/LFL, as well as how the lore continuity could affect our plotting. Assuming that Lucas would hold to his timespan between trilogies, as well as his contemporary comments to Mark Hamill (of Luke passing the sword on to the next generation, Old Obi-Wan style ; and not forgetting his repeated 'promise' that the droids ultimately recount the Saga to the Whills), it would not be unexpected if the official ST is set about 20-30 years after Episode VI, and thus potentially not affect our stories set in the more immediate timeframe. |
| All in all, great news, embraced with positivity and a little caution. I've added a new thread posting for this Episode VII news to the old discussion forum here. |
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| Nathaniel Reed, 31st October 2012 |
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