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How much does the galaxy know about Darth Vader in the new canon?

anh-vader-corridor

There are several issues with the old Expanded Universe that I was hopeful would be addressed in the new Star Wars canon, and chief among them is how much the general public knew about Darth Vader and his connection to the Skywalkers.

When the EU started in earnest in the early ’90s, Vader’s identity as Anakin Skywalker and his relation to Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa was still a secret: It’s actually a huge plot point throughout Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy. But as the EU, um, expanded, it became less and less so, until it was just public knowledge not only that Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker, but that both Luke and Leia were his kids. It doesn’t seem like it was ever planned or addressed: It just happened, and the full implications were almost never addressed. Such were the early days of continuity. But with the old EU now set aside as Legends, how much does the galaxy actually know?

We might already have an answer.

Continue reading “How much does the galaxy know about Darth Vader in the new canon?”

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Journey to The Force Awakens: Aftermath synopsis points to book being set just after Return of the Jedi

And just like that, we have our first blurb for the most relevant (so far) of the Journey to The Force Awakens books, Aftermath, from Barnes & Noble.

The second Death Star is destroyed. The Emperor and his powerful enforcer, Darth Vader, are rumored to be dead. The Galactic Empire is in chaos. Across the galaxy, some systems celebrate, while in others Imperial factions tighten their grip. Optimism and fear reign side by side. And while the Rebel Alliance engages the fractured forces of the Empire, a lone Rebel scout uncovers a secret Imperial meeting…

A new character seems likely, which is a bit of a downer. My level of excitement for this one is really dependent of who’s writing it. It’s not Mary Franklin, as the URL suggests: The theory is that Untitled Novel #4 was at one point the long-canceled nonfiction book on fandom by Franklin and Bonnie Burton in some database or another. (via)

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Journey to The Force Awakens is on, and it’s big

star-wars-craniodsgnOh boy.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Journey to Episode VII – of which we’ve already heard about in drips and drabbles – will in fact encompass 20 books and comics across the various publishers. (Including such things as ‘sticker books,’ so it’s not exactly the New Jedi Order all over again, thankfully.)

“The Force Awakens is an extraordinarily, heavily guarded storyline. To track it, a lot of top-secret meetings were happening up in San Francisco as we worked through this program,” says Andrew Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. The company is managing the release through its own imprints as well as at least seven outside companies, among them sci-fi publisher Del Rey, Dorling Kindersley, and Marvel Comics.

The only Del Rey book mentioned is Star Wars: Aftermath – no author is given, but it certainly sounds like something in the new gap years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Marvel will put out at least two TFA prequel stories, including one from Threepio’s perspective.

The YA books – the one we’ve primarily heard about thus far, do get authors:

Cecil Castellucci (author of Tin Star) will write Moving Target, an adventure following Princess Leia; Jason Fry, who earlier wrote Darth Maul: Shadow Conspiracy, will be the author of The Weapon of a Jedi, about Luke Skywalker; Claudia Gray, author of the Evernight series of fantasy books, will write a book titled Lost Stars; and Greg Rucka, a comic book scribe and writer of the Atticus Kodiak novels, will pen Smuggler’s Run, a Han Solo tale.

We knew about Claudia Gray, and Jason Fry is (so far) our only returning author. Now, we wait for more from Del Rey and Marvel… Cross your fingers.

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Star Wars canon’s first LGBT character to appear in an upcoming novel

kemp-sithIt’s not the first time Star Wars has featured LGBT characters, but an upcoming novel will be the first to introduce one into Star Wars canon as it now stands.

Paul S. Kemp’s Lords of the Sith, out in April, features Moff Mors, a lesbian and “Imperial who has made some very serious mistakes but is an incredibly capable leader and spends much of the book working hard to prevent absolute failure,” Bryan Young at Big Shiny Robot reports.

“There should be diversity in Star Wars,” Del Rey editor Shelly Shapiro told Young for Full of Sith. And what more is there to say than that?

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Today in The Force Awakens: Meeting Rey, the IMAX sequence, and (false) second trailer reports

spoilers-swirl-daisyMaking Star Wars has a report today about how we met Rey and how the Millennium Falcon IMAX sequence plays out. We already knew that the Falcon sequence we saw in the trailer is part of it, but Jason goes into further detail. Or possible detail. In any case it sounds pretty cool.

→ And speaking of trailers… There’s a rumor floating around today that gives a supposed play-by-play of the second trailer. While there is not a doubt in anyone’s mind that there will be a second trailer debuting at Celebration, it won’t be that one, per Jason. And honestly, I trust Jason more than I do the sites originating/spreading this rumored breakdown, almost all of which draw from concept art and other reports from (you guessed it) Making Star Wars.

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Harrison Ford stable after crash landing

Officials have confirmed that Harrison Ford was indeed involved in a crash landing at an L.A. area golf course this afternoon. Ford is in stable condition, People reports. A family member told the local NBC station that the actor is fine and suffered only a few gashes. And his son, Ben Ford, tweeted “At the hospital. Dad is ok. Battered, but ok! He is every bit the man you would think he is. He is an incredibly strong man.”

UPDATE: Ford’s publicist has released a statement:

Harrison was flying a WW2 vintage plane today which had engine trouble upon take off. He had no other choice but to make an emergency landing, which he did safely. He was banged up and is in the hospital receiving medical care. The injuries sustained are not life threatening, and he is expected to make a full recovery.

The pilot’s injuries were classified as “fair to moderate” by first responders. TMZ was first to report the crash.

You said it, Chewie.

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Dave Filoni on the Rebels finale, returning characters and delayed gratification

rebels-ahsokaDave Filoni talks further about the Rebels finale, the return of Ahsoka and what’s up next with IGN. There’s an interesting bit on how there was a lot of interest in exploring hercontinuing story in other media, where Filoni argues in favor of, basically, delayed gratification:

I always feel strongly that while we can have everything at our fingertips right now, something that made Star Wars so powerful to me growing up was we would go through a long period of time where we wondered what happened to Han Solo. He was stuck in carbonite. Now, everything’s instant. But I think we built a deep love and connection to our characters because, for lack of a better term, we dreamed about what they were going through. We wondered and we anticipated, so when the payoffs came, I think it was a lot better, a lot stronger, so I thought making people wait to find out what happened to Ahsoka just built up her mystique a little bit more, a little bit better until we nailed her down.

He also addresses the challenge of Vader, including the (inevitable?) Ahsoka confrontation, the Inquisitor, the larger Rebel Alliance and more.

UPDATE: The third part of Filoni’s StarWars.com interview is up as well.

While we’re talking Rebels, there’s also a rumor making the rounds about a familiar voice actor returning to play an established (though not unexpected) character.