The New Essential Guide to Droids: Review

As usually, the latest Sourcebook, 'The New Essential Guide to Droids' has been released in utmost silence. If it wasn't for author Dan Wallace's blog, many probably wouldn't know it had been released (no new announcement was made on SW.Com). It's a shame because the 'NEGTD' is one of the best (probably the best) in the series of the Essential Guides.

Made in the same style as 'Vehicles' and 'Weapons', the new guide to Droids has a beautiful lay-out. Every Droid in this book has an image (stylishly created by the computer), a small data chart and a technological chart. The Droids are devided into the five known degrees / classes of Droids. You also get a list of the most important Droid manufacturers and a short (this may have been longer) history on Droids.

A large majority of entries (+/- 85%) in the book are indeed essential. This has been different in past 'Essential Guides'. A large majority of entries hail directly from the movies and from spin-offs such as the Clone Wars Cartoons, Animated Droid Adventures and even Star Tours (yes!). The remaining entries are from 'inter movie' EU sources (Marvel comics, Clone Wars era, games). Only a few obligatory hocus-pocus entries from the post 'RotJ'-era are present.

Many Droids from the prequels (including 'RotS') have also found their way into this book. For fans who don't have the Fact Files, this book will have a lot of new information (the FF had the droids from 'TPM' and 'AotC'). The entries of the Droids are interesting and add information to the already existing background. If you turn the pages you'll notice that every entry is almost an invitation to read.

Positive: + Many entries are Droids from the movies !+ Adds new information to already established material !+ Spin-off entries: Droids, Clone Wars & Star Tours !+ A totally different book than the first 'Guide to Droids'+ Limited amount of entries from the post 'RotJ' era+ Some really obscure, but interesting entries (ex.: BRT Supercomputers)

Negative: - Some Droids from the movies are still missing. Most of them don't have much screentime, but it would have been nice to see a background for them (KPR Unit, 'Rolo' Droid, Mos Espa mining droids, M-HYD Binary Droid, giant MSE Droid, etc...) as well.- Why so many entries about Super Battle Droids?

The New Essential Guide to Droids is easily one of the best Essential Guides ever because it really is essential. If you already have the first volume, don't hesitate, this is something completely different. So if you're planning a vacation and need something to read, this is an excellent choice.

PS1: Don't expect to find rosters of Astromechs and Protocol Droids from the movies. This book is mostly about Series, not individuals.PS2: Don't search for Droid Vehicles such as the Tri-Fighter or the Persuader-Tank Droid. Some of them are found in the 'Vehicles' Guide.

Alderaan / Skyhook / Imperial Senate

In this blog entry I have translated my article that appeared in the magazine of the Belgian Star Wars Fanclub TeeKay-421vzw, in issue 30, 'A New Hope'-special. It's about three important events that take place between 'Episode III' and 'Episode IV'. It's a period of Civil War and the world has changed. Lucas has closed the first trilogy 19 years before 'Ep.IV'. How LFL intends to fill in this gap is still unknown (we all know about the TV series and novels as 'Coruscant Nights' and 'Dark Lord'). Of course we know what happened between 'RotS' and 'ANH' in general. Palpatine expands his New Order with the help of Darth Vader, the local Governors and his military regime. But seeds of resistance have begun to grow. We now know that this resistance already begun during the last days of the Clone Wars with the Delegation of 2000. This resistance expanded into the Corellian Treaty and the official birth of the Rebel Alliance. In this article we will discuss three items that took place between 'Ep.III' and 'Ep.IV'.

Alderaan: "Alderaan is peaceful, we have no weapons, you cannot ..." (Leia Organa)

Alderaan never was a common Core World. The citizens always choose to live by the laws of nature as much as possible. They build ecological cities and travelled by Thranta's whenever possible. If Coruscant was the political centre of the universe, Alderaan was the cultural centre of the galaxy. Alderaan delivered poets, painters, sculptors and other kinds of artists. The planet was one of the most loyal supporters of the Republic and its Senators were always highly regarded like Bail Antilles, once nominated to succeed Chancellor Valorum. Antilles' successor, Senator Bail Organa, was part of the Loyalist Committee and became good friends with Senator Mothma and Amidala. After the horrors of the Clone Wars, Alderaan became a peaceful planet and all weapons were forbidden on the planet. These weapons were loaded in the ship 'Another Chance' and were send into Hyperspace. Viceroy Bail Organa and Queen Breha managed to install a period of peace and serenity after the Clone Wars. In this period, Alderaan once more grew in respect and attained its former status and glory. However, Bail Organa and his foster daughter, Princess Leia, who had taken over his role as Senator in the Imperial Senate, both hated the Empire, although Alderaan was supposed to be neutral. Rumours about the Organas favouritism for the Rebellion were heard in Imperial circles, so the Empire kept a close eye on all the activities of the Organa's.The decision to destroy Alderaan with the 1st Death Star was typical for Grand Moff Tarkin's delusions of grandeur. The Death Star appeared to give the Empire a notion of invincibility, although Vader knew better... Why did Tarkin decide to destroy Alderaan? Of course he wanted Princess Leia to betray the location of the Rebel Base, but why was it convenient that Alderaan was to be destroyed? In the first place Tarkin wanted to test the power of the Death Star. Secondly, the Empire was now sure that Alderaan had become a supporter of the Rebellion. The death or Lord Tion on Alderaan and Leia's role in the theft of the Death Star plans only proved the rumours about a Rebellion on Alderaan to be true. In third place, Alderaan was an icon of the Republic and the Clone Wars. The Empire banned this era into a mythical past by their propaganda. But Tarkin's 'rule through fear' didn't work as Leia had warned him. By destroying Alderaan, the Empire hit the heart of many citizens in the galaxy. Of course the Empire stated first that tectonic and geological forces destroyed Alderaan. Later they changed their official communiqué and said that Bail Organa had threatened to use biological weapons. Nobody, except the most loyal supporters of the New Order, believed this. Alderaan was a place of peace and serenity and had consciously banned all weapons. By destroying Alderaan, the Empire destroyed itself. The Death Star wasn't invincible at all and more and more planets joined the Rebel Alliance. Alderaan continued to live as a martyr of the Civil War and during the first years, the Rebel Alliance was often led by capable Commanders with a connection to Alderaan or Bail Organa like Jan Dodonna, Vanden Willard, Carlist Rieekan and of course Princess Leia Organa.


Operation Skyhook: "Where are the plans you've intercepted?" (Darth Vader)

Just as the Battle of Naboo began with a blockade, so did the Battle of Yavin. The financial important Core World, Ralltiir, was blockaded and occupied by Imperial Lord Tion (owner of the Star Destroyer Devastator before Vader). Ralltiir was a planet loyal to the Empire, but failed frauds threatened the innocence of the Empire, so Tion was sent to blockade the planet. During a 'mercy mission' (deliverance of medicines) the local resistance managed to lure the Imperials away from Princess Leia and the Tantive IV. A wounded rebel revealed the name of a secret Imperial project: the Death Star. The Death Star had been secretly built since the end of the Clone Wars and was now nearing completion. Leia travelled to Alderaan and spoke about the Death Star to Bail. The Organas invited the Imperial noble Lord Tion to a banquet; hoping he would reveal something about the Death Star. Leia assumed Tion liked her and everything went well until Leia accidentally said the words 'Death Star'. Tion knew something was wrong and drew his Blaster. In a duel with Leia, Tion killed himself by accident. Bail Organa knew there was no way back and ordered his daughter to recruit a hero from the Clone Wars who resided on Tatooine: General Kenobi. While travelling to Tatooine in the Tantive IV, Leia received the stolen plans from the Death Star under the coded name of 'Operation Skyhook'. The plans had been stolen by Rebels on Toprawa and were now in the possession of Leia. But a Star Destroyer commanded by Darth Vader himself blockaded Toprawa and witnessed the arrival of the Tantive IV. They immediately asked for a thorough inspection of all cargo and documents; even though the Tantive wore the red colours of diplomacy. The Tantive IV escaped into Hyperspace, but due to the innocent Espionage Droid U-3PO, the Devastator was able to follow the Tantive's route. Captain Antilles and Leia decided two Droids to continue their mission. Antilles remembered where these Droids came from and knew they could be up to the challenge. He programmed them 'not to talk too much' about the Princess. Just before Leia recorded a message for General Kenobi and stowed the plans for the Death Star in Artoo Detoo, Imperial Stormtroopers and Darth Vader boarded the Tantive IV. All hopes were now set on a pair of Droids...


The abolition of the Imperial Senate: "The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us" (Tarkin)

This is an important event in the history of the galaxy, but it's only slightly mentioned in 'ANH'. Why did Palpatine (have to) wait 20 years to abolish the Imperial Senate? Many people might not believe this, but although the Imperial Senate almost had no power left, it still contained a potential danger for Palpatine's New Order. It is mentioned several times in 'ANH' that the Imperials have to make sure the Senate is not upset with their actions: "If word of this (capture of Leia) gets out, it could generate sympathy for the Rebellion in the Senate" Commander Daine Jir. Palpatine knew the Senate better than everyone else. He himself had been chosen as Chancellor by playing some of the shrewdest political games ever and even Palpatine himself had to thank the Senator for giving him his 'emergency powers' in the first place. Palpatine knew the Senate was a place of rumours, influence, bribes and possible resistance. Of course we have to wonder how much the Imperial Senate had in common with the Republic Senate. Was it still the same building? Did Palpatine leave the Senate in ruins after his duel with Yoda or did he move the Senate to another building? Did Palpatine continue to appear in the Imperial Senate or did he instruct his acolytes such as Mas Amedda, Sly Moore, Sate Pestage or Sim Aloo to fill in that position? Palpatine had placed all his allies in the Senate (the local Governors), planets had left the Republic / Empire during the Clone Wars and probably didn't have to count on clemency and what happened to the non-human representatives? Many planets were enslaved or occupied like Kashyyyk, Utapau or Calamari. And perhaps some planets even withdrew their representatives in the Imperial Senate. So Palpatine must have had his reasons to let the Senate continue to exist. One of these reasons was to let the citizens believe the New Order was still a democracy. The Senate had been a cornerstone of the Republic and when it continued to exist the people would feel the transition as less sudden and dramatic. The Senate existed as a spirit without a physical presence (Emperor August of Rome also allowed the Senate to exist under his rule as an remnant of the Republic). After 20 years Palpatine decided it was time to end this charade. Palpatine choose the right time. The organization of his Empire was complete. The bureaucrats were installed in governments, important companies became supporters of the Empire and local order was usually in the hands of the Empire. The Moffs and Governors replaced the Senators and reported to the newly installed Grand Moffs in Priority Sectors and to the Emperor's closest Advisors. This shows how the New Order expanded his military regime. A Moff was an administrative and a military title and that shows how the Empire managed to militarise many civil duties. The fleet, the army and other aspects of the military were expanded and optimised. A young and new generation, filled with Imperial Propaganda, had begun to fill in the ranks of the Empire. Young people only knew Jedi Knights from fairytales or some stories and the Force was something only crazy men talked about. The older people surely remembered the Jedi Knights and the Clone Wars, but they kept silent out of fear for repercussions, or were already on the run for the Empire. Individual attempts to undermine the power of the Empire came to an end when the 1st Death Star had been finally completed over Despayre almost 19 years after construction had begun. No one would dare to oppose the Empire now. After the 1st Death Star had been officially declared operational, Palpatine simply abolished the Senate. The last remnants of the Old Republic had been swept away ...

Complete Locations: Review

In this blog I will post a review of 'Star Wars Complete Locations'. This book has collected all 'Inside the Worlds'-books that have been published by DK so far. These are 2 Prequel books ('TPM' & 'AotC') and one Classic volume. This book also has the new 'RotS' feature. The book has a large format and has about 175 pages.

I can't help to feel fooled by DK. Of course I knew that this book would contain the other books, but I love these books so much, I couldn't miss the 'RotS'-pages. So what could I do? Order the book, tear out the pages of 'RotS' and send it back? I have bought every publication of DK and most of them right after the initial release. I'd say DK does not reward it's loyal fans by doing this. It's obvious that they are trying to take profit now that 'Star Wars' is still popular ('Ep.III' and the dvd release). They sell a more expensive book and simply reprint the other volumes. Since this book is rather heavy I think I'll still use the other seperate volumes, because they are easier to handle. I mailed Hans Jenssen (one of the artists) about this book and if you read between the lines, you could understand he and Richard Chasemore (the co-artist) were not that satisfied about this book. There are also other artists who have drawn pages in the 'RotS'-part. These drawings are not bad at all, but you can see it's no Jenssen or Chasemore. Hence my comment that this book was rushed. On the other hand, for fans who don't have every (or none) of the previous 'Inside the Worlds'-books, this edition is probably one of the best 'Star Wars'-books ever published.These are the 'RotS'-pages:- Battle of Coruscant (schematic evolution with ships)- Jedi Temple- Palpatine's office- Utapau (photos)- Pau City- Kashyyyk (photos)- Wookiee Tree (Kachirho)- Battlefronts (photos)- Mustafar (photos)- Mustafar Mines- Mustafar Duel- Polis Massa- Sith Medcenter

Positive Highlights: - New 'Revenge of the Sith' information- New planets receive a position on the starmap

Negative Highlights: - Only one chapter is new in this book when you have all the previous editions- Previous editions are unchanged- Galactic Map does not feature enough planets

This book takes you inside the worlds of the complete Star Wars saga, compiling the individual books already produced for Episodes I, II and the Star Wars Trilogy, updating the text and filling it out with all new Episode III material. < This sentence was printed in the SW.com preview. If anybody can tell me where the text in the previously printed books has been updated, please let me know!

SW.com feature

Review 'Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels'

In this entry I'll review 'Star Wars Chronicles: the Prequels'. As you might know, the 'Star Wars Chronicles' are (now plural) wonderful books. The 2nd volume is as good as the 1st one and maybe even a bit better. It has 340 pages and is so heavy you can hardly lift it without support of a table. The pages are large and feature many, many, many pictures. Don't let the price cloud your judgement.As in the 1st edition, the book first has a comparative size chart of characters, vehicles and ships. It's not been done in a rush, because some lesser-known vehicles are also there (such as the HAET-221 and the Mankvim-814). Great job!The three prequels are then covered from the beginning to the end. Most of the coverage is done chronologically. At the end of each movie there is a short review of the 'making of'. There are also 2 pages about the 'Clone Wars Animated Series'.The 'Chronicles' is most of all a picture book. The digital models of the prequels really show their value because you can see them from every side in the Chronicles. Not only ships, but also creatures and characters are featured prominently. From the podracers, the senators, the Jedi (some cool unseen and unknown Jedi in the 'RotS'-war room f.e.) and the Squid Lake visitors. You can easily spot the influence of Pablo Hidalgo in this book. Many characters have their proper names and many new names appear for the 1st time in this book. Well done!

Positive highlights: + Comparative size charts+ Dazzling amount of photographs+ Characters and creatures are also covered+ New names+ The ultimate prequel book

Negative Highlight:- Why does that chronology timeline feature post 'RotJ'-things? Isn't it possible to let them out of the picture for once?

New names & items:
- TC-3: Silver protocol Droid serves the Swokes Swokes delegation in 'TPM'.
- TC-4: Red protocol Droid, serves Palpatine. Name was already known, extra information wasn't.
- Bairdon Jace: Male Jedi (appears in 'VD AotC'). Someone of LFL played him.
- Khaat Qiyn: Female Jedi (appears in 'VD AotC'). Someone of LFL played her.
- Onie Arkmen: Outlander patron, Asian looking female with some kind of chain mail for a top.
- Dyemma Reel: Outlander patron has a long braid and wears a leather jumpsuit.
- The homeplanet of the Holwuff is Alliga.
- Koffi Arana is pictured in this book (Holonet Insider # 84)
- Rian-327 Airspeeder: Used by Padmé in 'RotS'
- FA-5: Droids that are seen on Coruscant, look like FA-4 but with legs.
- Utapau Scoop Skimmer: Airspeeder used on Utapau. Not the Mankvim or the Porax.
- Arakyd HL-444: Repulsorlift worker droid (VD RotS)
- Cybot Galactica CLL-M2: Huge Binary load lifter like Worker Droid from 'RotS'. Taller than the IW-37 Pincer.
- Diamond-class Courier: Is the class of the Commerce Guild cruisers.
- Ultimate Projection is the name of the Lucrehulk-class Core Ship of the Federation that has been modified as a base of operations on Utapau.
- There is also extra information about Squid Lake visitors and Senators.
- And a character from the EU has become source. Sheltay Rectrac is the mother of Winter.

That means that Winter is really tied to someone who appears in the movies.

Chronicles prequels on sw.com

Dressing a Galaxy

Dressing a Galaxy: Review + New Characters
In this entry I'll review 'Dressing a Galaxy'. I'll add more whenever I continue to read in the book. This is the regular edition. There is also a deluxe edition of the book, but I found the difference in price between the deluxe edition (euro 250.00) and the regular editon (euro 50.00) too much. If anybody has been able to discover any new information found in the deluxe edition, please let me know.'DaG' is a beautiful hardcover book that has been published as a companion to an exhibition in the US. As the title already informs us, the book deals with the costumes of the (prequel) movies. The normal edition is a book about the prequel costumes. They are photos about the OT in it, but they are small. The pictures are large and a dream to fans who like costumes. The book has +/- 215 pages.

Chapters in this book are: Jedi vs Sith, Royalty - Military Wear - The Galactic Senate - Slaves, rogues and Bounty Hunters & Padmé's journey. At the back of the book there is a very cool index of many costumes of the saga.

They are pictures of those costumes and the characters that wear them. These pictures are very small, but nevertheless they are very nice to see. You still have to read this book, but you'll spend more time studying the pictures than reading the fragments of text. 'DaG' does not only focus on the main characters, but also shows costumes from lesser-known characters such as Sheltay Retrac or Queen Breha Organa. This book has given many characters a new name.

Positive Highlights: Many beautiful pictures - Attention for lesser-known characters - Many new names: new information - Plenty of costumes worn by female characters in this book - Costume index at the back of the book

Negative Highlights: Not that much about the OT - Existence of Deluxe Edition could have been avoided.

SW.com Feature

Here is a list of the new characters in this book:
- Sateen Vestwe: Bearded Alderaanian Aide seen in Tantive IV (III)
- Neb Creip: Dark skinned human Senator (III)
- Cellheim Anujo: Veiled Senator who accompanied Tundra in a recent Sith Snapshot (III)
- Kaycee Kollenz: Passenger aboard the Jendirian Valley who sports a breathing apparatus (II)
- Gondrin Upal: Nikto on Jendirian Valley (II)
- Reina March: Female who is seen on a picture with Faytonni in Outlander (II)
- Joshua Jinzler: White, short, spiked hair, possibly Advozsec from Outlander (II)
- Duke Teta: Squid Lake visitor. Wears some kind of bishop like headwear (III)
- Opula Deget: Female, with golden skin - Squid Lake (III)
- Lt. Col. Ejai: From 'RotS' (III)
- Shadday Potkin: Female Jedi from 'RotS' (III)
- Led Daragon: Squid Lake, wears some king of sleeping cap (III)
- Ulfor Bombaasa: Wears a pink shirt - Squid Lake (III)
- Son Halliikeenovich: Wears a beige outfit and a black hat - Squid Lake (III)
- Kar Plaushe: In Outlander. Wears a transparent veil, female (II)
- Mik Regrap: Aide of Lott Dod in TPM, Has the oval shaped hat (I)
- Rute Gunnay: Neimoidian with brown clothes on Mustafar. Weird name, but it's there. (III)
- Zyn Javeb: Black dressed Pau'an (III)
- King Grakchawwaa: Wookiee Warrior - Hasbro Wookiee Preview figure (III)
- Eugroothwa: Wookiee Warrior. Looks like the Wookiee Warrior from Hasbro (III)

Star Wars Poster Book

Star Wars Poster book review
In this entry I'll review the 'Star Wars' Poster Book, 'written' by Stephen J Sansweet en Peter Vilmur.The SW Poster Book is no Source book (of course), but since it's a non-fiction book, I'll review it. The Poster book is an elaborate book, with 320 p. It covers posters from 'ANH' until 'RotS'. Does this book show every poster ever created about 'SW'. No, of course not. You would need 25 of these books to accomplish that. The book shows the most famous posters and unique, rare, foreign and akward posters. At the back there is some kind of price guide and much more posters are mentioned. The chapters on the prequels are much shorter that the chapters on the classics.You can see that Sansweet was involved in the creation of this book. It's no secret that he likes Japan and has many contacts there. So there are many Japanese posters in this book. Some of the posters have appeared before in other Sansweet books such as 'From Concept to Screen to Collectible'.The text in this book is very interesting and relates many things about the most important SW posters. I was really surprised by that, because almost nothing had ever been written about that. Thumbs up! Also notable is the mentioning of our colleagues of the Dutch fanclub Echo Base in the book. Matt Busch painted a beautiful poster for their Echo Base Con in 2002.

+ Positive Highlights: Beautiful hardcover book - Many pictures - More (interesting) text than you'd expect - Many foreign posters

- Minor Issues: You have seen some of these posters before, but yeah - No Belgian posters are printed, but yeah - No 'RotS' (only 3 posters)

SW.Com Feature

Creating the Worlds of Star Wars in 365 Days

Creating the Worlds of Star Wars in 365 Days

In this entry I'll review 'Creating the Worlds of Star Wars in 365 days'. It has just arrived yesterday (it took a longtime to arrive) so I'll add more to the review as I read it. This book is not a Sourcebook, but I'll review it anyway.

This book has a weird format (it's very fat) and contains an additional cd-rom. It's written by John Knoll from ILM and Jonathan Rinzler (The Making of Ep. III).

As I said before this is no Sourcebook, but a magnificent 'making of' volume. On every double page, Knoll shows us pictures from one particular set from the Saga. Every episode is covered, from the Tantive IV to the Mustafar Conference Room. Knoll is a technical wizard from ILM (and co-creator of Photoshop) and does not always know the names of characters and vehicles. Instead of saying 'The Bespin Void Spider stood in front of the Cantina' he says 'There was a weird thing in front of the Cantina'. But it didn't disturb me, because this is not the goal of this book. It has many, many pages and many pictures. Some pictures are a bit too small and you'll find that the printing is also rather small.

The cd-rom is not another worthless extra item. It features the sets from 'Ep.II' and 'Ep.III' just like the Knoll Visions we used to have on Hyperspace. It has already helped me with an article about Dex' Diner, so it's very usable.

This book will be a must-have for everybody who likes the technical side of the SW movies, the making of the movies and also fans who like to make their own dioramas.

Positive Highlights
- Many pages
- All movies are covered
- Many (rare) pictures
- Bonus cd-rom
- No EU

Negative Highlights
- None really ...

SW.com Feature

'Star Wars: Where Science meets Imagination' Book

'Star Wars: Where Science meets Imagination' Book

I have been able to find this companion to the exhibition in Boston, co-published by National Geographic & Lucas Books. This book is a HC and has 208 pages. I will add more additional and detailed comments about this book in the future.

The first thing that comes to your mind is that this is a beautiful book. It's in danger to become completely forgotten in the wild 'Star Wars'-book autumn (why are there so many important books in a few months?). Some people may not know it exists and will want to get other books first.

The book has two main parts (there is also an intro by Anthony Daniels). The first part is about technology in general and the world of 'Star Wars'. There are chapters like: 'Space, time and Star Wars', 'Living on Coruscant' & 'Making the Jump to Lightspeed'. The 2nd chapter is about robots and robot like aspects such as A.I, cybernetics & 'human-robots relations'.

'WSMI' has many beautiful full color photos from the 'Star Wars'-saga and even features some very nice galleries of ships and droids. I do fear though that the texts will not always be easy to read and to understand. It seems very scientifically with terminations we might not be familiar with about robotics, electronics and physics. So I hope the text will not be too difficult or a bit boring for the average reader. Many known scholars have written chapters in this book, as did some of ILM's supervisors like Rob Coleman.

It seems that this companion wants to compare the technology in 'SW' to our own technology. When are prosthetics used, how far are we to developing an independent working robot, what's the deal with Ion drives, what urban architecture looks like Coruscant, etc... So it seems very interesting indeed.

'Star Wars: Where Science meets Imagination' can be compared with 'Star Wars: Magic of Myth'. But now, science replaces mythology. Two completely opposite concepts on earth, but 'Star Wars' has them both.

It does seem a bit strange that Curtis Saxton (who writes the 'Cross Section'-books and who is a theoretical astrophysicist) wasn't evolved in the creating of this book.

StarWars.Com Feature

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

Sompeetalay's Source Blog: Appendix

Hi ! I will use this blog as an appendix for my blog on starwars.com: http://blogs.starwars.com/teekay-421

On this blog, I'll review non-fiction books about 'Star Wars'. Enjoy !