Review: Star Wars: Frames, the poor person’s edition

Star Wars Frames

It’s that most wonderful time of the year, when all the Star Wars gift books are out. So which ones are worth putting on your gift list?

Star Wars: Frames was originally released as a limited edition, glorious, really expensive monstrosity of awesomeness that few of us could justify putting into our collecting budget. (Yeah. I SO wanted that one. Wasn’t going to happen.) This version is in the way more reasonable price range and still contains all the frames that George Lucas personally selected from the Prequel and Original trilogies.

It comes in two volumes nestled in a plastic case. Original Trilogy in one volume. Prequel Trilogy in another. There are two frames per page, instead of the one frame per page of the original. The binding is sewn, which will hopefully help hold these hefty suckers together as you drool over the book. (Note: This sucker weighs in at 20.9 pounds! Please use proper lifting technique when maneuvering these books. An appointment with your chiropractor should probably also be on standby.)

Looking at the movies in frames is really interesting. The frames he chose are not always the choice you’d expect. Some are even blurry with action. (“Faster! More intense!”) So you aren’t just looking at images that have already been released as publicity stills; which makes this an interesting new perspective.

So yes. This is one to add to your wish list. Enjoy!

Out this week: Making of eBooks, Legacy #8

Making of eBookReleasing Tuesday are the eBook versions of J. W. Rinzler’s Making of books for the original trilogy, featuring video, audio and other extra content. Random House has them priced at $17.99, but check your device’s marketplaces.

Comic fans can head to the shops on Wednesday for Legacy #8.

It’s also time to keep an eye out for the new Star Wars Insider, which features a Leia short story bu editor Jen Heddle.

Next week brings The Bounty Hunter Code: From the Files of Boba Fett (now dated to the 29th) and the still-pricey-but-not-ridiculously-so version of Frames.

And there’s a fairly recent update to our book release schedule – the Crucible paperback is scheduled for May 27.

EUbits: Looking ahead to Rebels

Luke, Leia and HanRebels. Austin at Fandom Apocalypse takes a look at what we know about the forthcoming Rebels series that was announced last summer. He reached out the authors Martha Wells and Kevin Hearne, who are handling books on Leia and Luke.

The blogside. Tor’s Ryan Britt explores the differences between A New Hope and its novelization. What’s a duck? And Tosche Station’s Bria continues her EU retrospective after Endor with True at Bakura and Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. And over at Big Shiny Robot, Bryan lets the darkness take hold wondering if The Clone Wars won’t be coming back at all.

Podcasting. After something of a hiatus, EUCantina’s EUCast is poised to make their return soon. In the meantime, here’s Episode 0. And if you’re interested in podcasting, Tosche Station host Brian wrote at length about the gear you’ll need and what he uses.

Frames gets cheap(er.) TheForce.net spotted an Amazon listing for a paperback edition of the fancy screenshot book Frames. At $150 retail it’s still not pocket change, but seeing as the original would set you back $3000… Amazon being Amazon, we’d wait for official details before pre-ordering, though.

Interviews. Paul S. Kemp talks about Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons and his non-franchise work with SF Signal. And Timothy Zahn chats Scoundrels on Fictional Frontiers.

Out this week: Knight Errant, Legacy, Lost Command

Today brings our first book release of the new year, John Jackson Miller’s Knight Errant.

You might have heard of it, since John Jackson Miller has been going above and beyond for this one. There’s a three-part Q & A on his blog (Plus a LEGO look at the Diligence,) an interviews with Lightsaber Rattling, About.com and, oh yeah, one with us. I’m not sure the guy sleeps.

And because it never rains when it can pour, there are two comics out Wednesday: Darth Vader and the Lost Command #1 (which I keep reading as The Last Command, which is so not right) and Legacy: War #2. Someone has set Nyna Calixte’s makeup gun to ‘whore’ and man is she pissed!

Meanwhile, if you’re wondering what to do with that spare $3000 you have laying around and want your coffee table and your coffee table books to be an all-in-one package, Frames is available for pre-order on Star Wars Shop. And to think people bitch about buying hardcovers…

$4000?? Oh yes, I am scoffing at Frames

Jedi News has the price-points for the glorified screenshot book Star Wars Frames, and they’re more ridiculous than I would ever have imagined. The higher (??) your edition is, the more you pay, but the cheapest edition is still $4000.

Frames pricing is as follows:

BATCH A (#1 – #250) $4,000
BATCH B (#251 – #500) $4,250
BATCH C (#501 – #750) $4,500
BATCH D (#751 – #1,000) $4,750
BATCH E (#1,001 – #1,138) $5,000

So basically, one copy of Frames is worth anywhere from 12.5 to 10 Lego Death Stars. (Which doesn’t exactly cost chimp change.) And you have to assemble the Death Star yourself.