Ultimate Visual Guide & Vader: The Ultimate Guide
Ultimate Visual Guide
Today I was able to pick up the 'Ultimate Guide' by DK publishing. I've finished reading the book, so here is a review. SW.Com Preview
The book has about 100 p. which is more than I had expected. The UG is in fact some kind of illustrated SW chronology. It's the perfect book for the 'new' fan. It's a mix between a sourcebook, EU and making of (15%) and a nice attempt to create a 'Star Wars Introduction Guide'.First you have an introduction about SW technology & the galaxy. Then, there is an elaborate illustrated (pictures or artwork) chronology from the events in the Star Wars universe. The lay-out is very rich with detail and photographs from the movies or artwork from the comics or trading cards. The pages depict every major event in the movies and events that took place before the movies (Battle of Ruusan) or between the movies (Clone Wars). Luckily the book only contains 3 double pages about the EU after 'RotJ' and that's more than enough for my taste. After the chronology you'll find different pages about the making of, special effects, costuming, George Lucas, merchandise, tv spin-offs, LFL timeline, etc... Example
It seems a great book for fans who feel they need to update their SW knowledge. I'm afraid that this book will have few secrets for the more experienced fans.
Positive Highlights:
- It does contain an updated starmap where some planets can be found for the 1st time like Utapau, Mustafar, Polis Massa, Saleucami, etc ...
- Many pictures & illustrations
- Heavy use of comic art. This means that you'll also find incorrect artwork in the book like Adi Gallia with a crimson Lightsaber ...
- Useful LFL timeline
Negative Highlights:
Important events don't receive enough credit. The Yavin 4 ceremony, the redemption of Anakin Skywalker have pictures about the size of a stamp and the text isn't more elaborate than anywhere else. So important events and less important events are treated the same.
- EU involvement (ex: In the New Jedi Order the Jedi decided to abandon some of the old order's customs)
- Too much comic art. I agree that sometimes some artwork can be great, but why use so many artwork and certainly about the movies? It seems that the comic books are more important than the movies.
- Too much EU interference. A sentence is written and suddenly the EU pops-up without any possible connection to it. Example (not in the book): Momaw Nadon is an Ithorian and many years after the destruction of the DS Ithor get's destroyed.
- Chances are slim I'll ever read it again, because I hardly learned anything from it.Final conclusions: At first I was enthousiastic about this book, but at the end it was a bit of a letdown.
When you are an experienced fan, you will hardly learn anything from the book. Comic art is used too often and the EU interferes anywhere when possible. Luckily the book doesn't cost that much, so it's still worth the money. But beware ... this is a good book for the rookie fan.
VADER: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE:
Today I finally received 2 copies (one for a friend) from IDG entertainment. I placed my order in the beginning of August and nothing arrived. Last week I mailed IDG and I got a friendly reply from Dawnielle. She promised me to send 2 copies to me, because obviously something had gone wrong with the first package. And today the postman brought me the two copies. I must admit that this is a first class service from IDG. I will not forget this in the future.Now about the magazine. I haven't been able to read it completely. It's not really a magazine when you hold it. It's more like a small book. The cover is sturdy and features a beautiful Vader. There is a chapter about Anakin / Vader's biography, a chapter about his life & the technology he used (features a nice chronological table with important events like the foundation of the Trade Federation), there is a short story in it, there are features about the actors who helped to make Vader the legend he is today and there is a final chapter about famous Vader merchandise. - Anakin / Vader's biography is neatly written because it's not always that simple to write a biography for well known characters. The author (Daniel Wallace) even includes the hypothesis that Anakin has indeed been created by Darth Plagueis or Sidious. He does also indeed confirm that Vader didn't tell Palpatine about Luke until Palpatine and Vader's communication in 'TESB'.- The Path of Evil & Vader Tech (by Abel Pena) are very interesting pieces about the history of the Sith, important events in the universe, Vader's armor and his vehicles / ships during the saga. Now this is where the fun begins, because you learn some new things like when Anakin met Garven Dreis (Red Leader 'ANH'), what happened to his TIE Advanced X1, etc...- Bringing Vader to life is a very interesting article about Lucas, McQuarrie and John Mollo, the 3 men who were responsible for Vader's appearance.- The Men in Black is an article about the most important people who brought Vader to the big screen like Prowse, Lloyd, Christensen, etc. These are basically old interviews, so it's not that amazing, but it's satisfying.The magazine is filled with photographs and nice art of Vader. There is one haunting rendition of a sad Vader sitting in his meditation pod thinking about Padmé drawn by Joe Corroney:http://www.joecorroney.com/cgi-local/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Star_Wars/Star_Wars_Misc_Art&image=VadersRemorse.jpg&img=12&tt=imgIf
Today I was able to pick up the 'Ultimate Guide' by DK publishing. I've finished reading the book, so here is a review. SW.Com Preview
The book has about 100 p. which is more than I had expected. The UG is in fact some kind of illustrated SW chronology. It's the perfect book for the 'new' fan. It's a mix between a sourcebook, EU and making of (15%) and a nice attempt to create a 'Star Wars Introduction Guide'.First you have an introduction about SW technology & the galaxy. Then, there is an elaborate illustrated (pictures or artwork) chronology from the events in the Star Wars universe. The lay-out is very rich with detail and photographs from the movies or artwork from the comics or trading cards. The pages depict every major event in the movies and events that took place before the movies (Battle of Ruusan) or between the movies (Clone Wars). Luckily the book only contains 3 double pages about the EU after 'RotJ' and that's more than enough for my taste. After the chronology you'll find different pages about the making of, special effects, costuming, George Lucas, merchandise, tv spin-offs, LFL timeline, etc... Example
It seems a great book for fans who feel they need to update their SW knowledge. I'm afraid that this book will have few secrets for the more experienced fans.
Positive Highlights:
- It does contain an updated starmap where some planets can be found for the 1st time like Utapau, Mustafar, Polis Massa, Saleucami, etc ...
- Many pictures & illustrations
- Heavy use of comic art. This means that you'll also find incorrect artwork in the book like Adi Gallia with a crimson Lightsaber ...
- Useful LFL timeline
Negative Highlights:
Important events don't receive enough credit. The Yavin 4 ceremony, the redemption of Anakin Skywalker have pictures about the size of a stamp and the text isn't more elaborate than anywhere else. So important events and less important events are treated the same.
- EU involvement (ex: In the New Jedi Order the Jedi decided to abandon some of the old order's customs)
- Too much comic art. I agree that sometimes some artwork can be great, but why use so many artwork and certainly about the movies? It seems that the comic books are more important than the movies.
- Too much EU interference. A sentence is written and suddenly the EU pops-up without any possible connection to it. Example (not in the book): Momaw Nadon is an Ithorian and many years after the destruction of the DS Ithor get's destroyed.
- Chances are slim I'll ever read it again, because I hardly learned anything from it.Final conclusions: At first I was enthousiastic about this book, but at the end it was a bit of a letdown.
When you are an experienced fan, you will hardly learn anything from the book. Comic art is used too often and the EU interferes anywhere when possible. Luckily the book doesn't cost that much, so it's still worth the money. But beware ... this is a good book for the rookie fan.
VADER: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE:
Today I finally received 2 copies (one for a friend) from IDG entertainment. I placed my order in the beginning of August and nothing arrived. Last week I mailed IDG and I got a friendly reply from Dawnielle. She promised me to send 2 copies to me, because obviously something had gone wrong with the first package. And today the postman brought me the two copies. I must admit that this is a first class service from IDG. I will not forget this in the future.Now about the magazine. I haven't been able to read it completely. It's not really a magazine when you hold it. It's more like a small book. The cover is sturdy and features a beautiful Vader. There is a chapter about Anakin / Vader's biography, a chapter about his life & the technology he used (features a nice chronological table with important events like the foundation of the Trade Federation), there is a short story in it, there are features about the actors who helped to make Vader the legend he is today and there is a final chapter about famous Vader merchandise. - Anakin / Vader's biography is neatly written because it's not always that simple to write a biography for well known characters. The author (Daniel Wallace) even includes the hypothesis that Anakin has indeed been created by Darth Plagueis or Sidious. He does also indeed confirm that Vader didn't tell Palpatine about Luke until Palpatine and Vader's communication in 'TESB'.- The Path of Evil & Vader Tech (by Abel Pena) are very interesting pieces about the history of the Sith, important events in the universe, Vader's armor and his vehicles / ships during the saga. Now this is where the fun begins, because you learn some new things like when Anakin met Garven Dreis (Red Leader 'ANH'), what happened to his TIE Advanced X1, etc...- Bringing Vader to life is a very interesting article about Lucas, McQuarrie and John Mollo, the 3 men who were responsible for Vader's appearance.- The Men in Black is an article about the most important people who brought Vader to the big screen like Prowse, Lloyd, Christensen, etc. These are basically old interviews, so it's not that amazing, but it's satisfying.The magazine is filled with photographs and nice art of Vader. There is one haunting rendition of a sad Vader sitting in his meditation pod thinking about Padmé drawn by Joe Corroney:http://www.joecorroney.com/cgi-local/imageFolio.cgi?action=view&link=Star_Wars/Star_Wars_Misc_Art&image=VadersRemorse.jpg&img=12&tt=imgIf
posted by Sompeetalay (Tim Veekhoven) | 8:17 AM
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