The trueish tale of the time the Millennium Falcon’s holochess pieces went rogue; an alternate scene not from Return of the Jedi 1983, where Luke Skywalker asks his mentor to explai
Trang 2THE LONG GAME OF DARTH SIDIOUS REVEALED! T
INTERVIEW:
PAUL
DUNCAN
His epic voyage
into the Star Wars
The Insider guide to
the biggest event in
the Star Wars calendar
Exploring the darkest days of Anakin Skywalker!
Trang 3AVA LABLE N ALL GOOD STORES AND ONLINE
$19.99
ON SALE
NOW
Includes classic interviews with Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman,
Liam Neeson, and George Lucas, as they discuss telling the story of Anakin Skywalker’s
rise and subsequent fall against the backdrop of a burgeoning galactic war.
Attack of the Clones , and Revenge of the Sith with this unmissable collection! with this unmissable co lection!
Trang 4A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
MEET THE CONTRIBUTORS
Christopher Cooper
Editor
WELCOME
WWW WWW.TITANMAGAZINES.COM FACEBOOK.COM/STARWARSINSIDER
@SW_INSIDER
is also available online.
Jake Devine Art Editor / Andrew Leung
LUCASFILM
Senior Editor / Brett Rector Art Director / Troy Alders Creative Director / Michael Siglain Asset Management / Tim Mapp, Erik Sanchez, Bryce Pinkos, Nicole LaCoursiere, Kelly Jensen,
Shahana Alam Story Group / Pablo Hidalgo, Leland Chee,
Matt Martin
CONTRIBUTORS
Tricia Barr, Kristin Baver, Natalie Clubb, Megan Crouse, Dan Jolin, Amy Ratcliffe, Darren Scott, Jay Stobie, Dan Wallace, Toby Weidmann, and Mark Wright
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Lucy Goldsmith, Erich Schoeneweiss
at Random House, Holly McIntosh, Joseph Taraborrelli, Andrea Towers and Jim Nausedas
at Marvel Comics, Lizzy Draeger, Tracy Cannobbio and Chris Argyropoulos
US Bookstore Distribution / The News Group
US Direct Sales / Diamond Comic Distributors
UK Distribution / Marketforce
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© 2019 Lucasfi lm Ltd and ™ All Rights Reserved Used Under Authorization.
Kristin Baver
@KristinBaver Kristin was a card-carrying Star Wars fan before she had reason to own a wallet Now she’s
an associate editor
at StarWars.com.
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith It’s the ‘dark one,’ the pivotal moment in the Skywalker saga, where we finally learned how that sweet kid from The Phantom Menace flipped to full-throttle Dark Lord I don’t know what it says about my parenting skills, but the movie is my eldest daughter’s favorite prequel Actually, she does seem drawn to the ‘dark one’ in every franchise she invests in, so her teenage years look like they’ll be a total blast!
As we’ve discovered over the past few issues, though, there’s no such thing as a ‘pivotal moment,’ but rather a series
of experiences, of decisions, and of events large and small that shape a character—especially one as conflicted as Anakin Skywalker This issue we explore the pivotal chapter in the Jedi Knight’s life as he adopts the mantle of Darth Vader, and
a boundless love is transformed into endless hate But what of the architect of Skywalker’s fall? We’ve got that covered as we shine a light on the long game played by Sheev Palpatine, the secret Sith driven by revenge and a thirst for ultimate power…
Don’t worry, though—it’s not all doom and gloom!
Skywalker Sound’s Matthew Wood relates how he (and a bad cold) became the voice of General Grievous, we discover how fans immerse themselves in Star Wars through the roll
of a dice, and Paul Duncan (the author of Taschen’s The Star Wars Archives Episodes IV-VI: 1977-1983) tells us about his Indiana Jones-style journey into the Lucasfilm vaults All this and a newbie’s guide to surviving Star Wars Celebration, too?
That’s a whole galaxy of goodness
May the Force be with you!
Tricia Barr
@fangirlcantina Tricia is the co-author of DK’s Ultimate Star Wars
She also wrote the acclaimed award-winning novel Wynde.
Jay Stobie
@CaptStobie Starship fanatic and blogger Jay writes articles for StarWars.com and
is searching for a way to reside full time in the Star Wars galaxy.
also writes for
sci-fi and movie
Who-ology and has scripted numerous audio dramas starring the irrepresible time-traveller.
Amy Ratcliffe
@amy_geek Author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy, Amy is obsessed with the saga and loves to visit Disney theme parks as often
as she can.
Trang 5CONTENTS I S S U E 1 8 8 / A P R I L 2 0 1 9
18
“It was said you would
destroy the Sith, not join them!”
Insider revisits Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Trang 6STAR WARS INSIDER / 5
INCOMING TRANSMISSIONS
06
Launchpad
From Fan Awards to personal tness,
plus the latest Star Wars books,
comics, and merchandise.
18
The Power of Love
The Skywalker saga takes its darkest
turn, as we follow Anakin’s fall to
the dark side in Star Wars:
Revenge of the Sith.
26
Matthew Wood Interview
The Skywalker Sound recording genius
reveals how he became the voice of
cybernetic villain General Grievous.
32
Dicing with Destiny
Celebrating the ongoing appeal
meteoric rise of tabletop gaming.
40
The Galactic Archivist
the author who journeyed into the Lucas lm vaults to uncover
50
Surviving Celebration
Our guide to making the most of the biggest event in the Star Wars calendar: Celebration 2019!
56
Sith Unseen: A Retrospective
How novels, comics, and even video games expanded the Revenge of the Sith story beyond the big screen
62
By Royal Decree
Tom Spina of Regal Robot tells
the saga’s props and costumes
74
The Long Game
Exploring the evil machinations of Darth Sidious and his long-term game
plan to rule the galaxy.
Jedi Master’s Quiz
Test your secret Sith knowledge with our Palpatine posers.
38
Win!
The Best of Star Wars Insider :
The Original Trilogy book.
ge 68
SUBSCRIPTIONS EXCLUSIVE
COMIC STORE EXCLUSIVE
NEWSSTAND EDITION
Sub
to St In
a
Trang 7Everyone’s a Winner
The Star Wars Fan Awards 2018
hat do the following
Star Wars stories have in
common? The true(ish) tale
of the time the Millennium
Falcon’s holochess pieces went rogue;
an alternate scene not from Return of
the Jedi (1983), where Luke Skywalker
asks his mentor to explain the real
reasons why Darth Vader is “more
machine than man,” and a collection
of Star Wars toys that have a helpful mission (and minds) of their own;
Answer: They were all esteemed winners in the inaugural Star Wars Fan Awards.
Over the summer of 2018, thousands
of impressive fans submitted ambitious short fi lms, pithy 15 second clips, and stunning photography and visual art, vying for their passion projects to be
celebrated in an ultimate showdown of fan creativity, as hosted by Lucasfi lm and StarWars.com The results were announced in December 2018, and the winners were as varied as a gaggle of patrons in a cantina far, far away
Proscuttio-based Nien Nunb food art (“After shooting, I ate everything,” admitted food photography winner Atsuko W.) was awarded a top prize,
01
Trang 8STAR WARS INSIDER / 7
LAUNCHPAD
tapping into what he felt was the core
of his own longtime love of the saga
“Growing up, I loved collecting and playing with the toys available at the time,” Jason revealed “I really wanted
to capture the essence of my love and appreciation for Star Wars.”
Others expanded their ideas in fi lms
of up to fi ve minutes, exploring visual storytelling with fan-made movies that tested the canonical limits of the Kessel Run, and created all-new characters and stories to pay homage to the saga
In “More Machine Than Man,” which was awarded the Best Comedy
alongside an incredibly accurate cosplay
costume of Cloud-Riders swoop gang
leader, Enfys Nest (see this issue’s
Worldwide section for more details on
that winning item) Intimate family
photos also captured the judge’s
attention, as did a painstaking
recreation of Star Wars poster art
fashioned from action fi gures—and
an adorable pup posing as a porg!
A striking, stained glass-inspired
artwork depicting Rey, Kylo Ren, and
the balance between light and dark was
another winner “This is defi nitely one
of the more diffi cult pieces I’ve ever
worked on,” artist Madison T told StarWars.com, “but it is also one of the most rewarding.”
Budding fi lmmakers submitted short videos that varied from revealing why Willrow Hood was carrying an ice cream maker as he fl ed Cloud City, and poking fun at Vader’s oft-misquoted line from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by positing that even Vader would need help remembering his lines
Jason Y.’s retro toy commercial took its cues from the original Kenner action
fi gure TV advertisments from the 1970s, capturing the spirit of fandom by
01 A (Tiny) New Hope, recreating a classic movie poster with action figures by Trevor W.
02 Nien Nunb rendered in a Proscuttio salad by photo category finalist Atsuko W.
03 Balance by Madison T.
04 Forgotten AT-AT by Mirko M
05 Darth Maul drawing by Justin M.
03 02
04
05
Trang 9by a panel of Lucasfi lm judges—and
snagged the Filmmaker Select gong, as
chosen by Dave Filoni—one fan put his
own spin on the conversation between
Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in
Return of the Jedi “I thought about
what Obi-Wan would have had to admit
if Luke had pressed him for just a little
more information,” said winner Mark
G “I mean, seriously! All he said was
‘He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and
became Darth Vader.’ He left out the key detail, ‘I cut off his arms and legs, let him catch fi re, and left him for dead!’”
One thing all the winners share is an appreciation for the Star Wars galaxy, and an enduring love for its characters and themes that sparked such uniquely creative entries You can fi nd out more about the Star Wars Fan Awards 2018, and see all the winning entries, at
starwars.com/news.
06 Rex and Baby Rey Family Portrait, by Isaiah T.
07 “Misquoted” short video, by Jared H.
08 Film Select winner and Best Comedy “More Machine Than Man,” by Mark G.
09 Funniest Photo: You Think This is Weird
Wait Till You See the Egg, by Aaron A.
The Kessel Run, by Brian W
Best Choreography &
Best Visual Effects
Exile: A Star Wars Fan Film,
by Noel B
Spirit of Fandom & Best Stop Motion
Star Wars: The Toys Awaken,
by Raymond M
Short Video
Filmmaker Select, Best Comedy,
& Best Stop Motion
Ice Cream to Go, by Jordan & Cody G
Audience Choice
Vader Misquoted, by Jared H
Best Animation & Best Choreography
Grievous Versus Praetorians, by Brian W
Spirit of Fandom
Simple Tricks & Nonsense, by Jason Y
Best Visual Effects
A Close Call, by Jared P
Visual Art
Best in Show & Best Poster Art
A (Tiny) New Hope, by Trevor W
Audience Choice & Best Digital Art
Balance, by Madison T
Best Custom Costume
Enfys Nest Costume, by Michaela M
Best Custom Diorama
Forgotten AT-AT, by Mirko M
Best Custom Figure
Krayt Dragon Action Figure, by Brad H
Best Physical Art
Kirie: Black and White Joined in Battle,
by Yukiko K
Best Traditional Art
Darth Maul Drawing, by Justin M
Photo
Best in Show & Best Family Portrait
Rey, BB-8, & Chewbacca on Jakku,
Best Original Concept &
Best Star Wars Food Presentation
Nien Nunb Prosciutto Salad,
by Atsuko W
Best Pet Photo
A Dog Hope, by Kazuya O
Best Scene-Inspired
Scavenger, by Carlo V
Best Throwback
Trang 10Resistance Renewed
Team Fireball and the First Order line up for a rematch
he adventures of Resistance
spy Kazuda Xiono and
his fellow racers on the
Colossus are set to continue
in a second season of hit Lucasfilm
animation seriesStar Wars Resistance,
Disney XD confirmed in early January
With season one seeing the First
Order become an increasing threat, and
at least one additional major villainfromStar Wars: The Force Awakens(2015) putting in an appearance in thesecond half of the season, it’s certainthat things will be hotting up for theHosnian pilot, played by ChristopherSean The actor shared his enthusiasmfor the announcement via Instagram,saying “So excited to announce we
T
are renewed for season two! This show is only getting better and better Defi nitely tune in, everyone!”
Sean, appearing at this year’s Star Wars Celebration with co-star Suzie McGrath (Tam Ryvora), will be joined
in the Dave Filoni-created show by co-stars Scott Lawrence (Jarek Yeager), Myrna Velasco (Torra Doza), Josh Brener (Neeku Vozo), and Donald Faison (Hype Fazon) Returning behind the scenes are executive producers Athena Portillo, Justin Ridge, and Brandon Auman
Fuel Your Force
aunched just before the 2018 holidays—and no-doubt with New Year’s resolutions
in mind—StarWars.com has begun a new initiative to help fans fi nd their “inner Force,” and encourage them
to live a healthy and active lifestyle in
2019 and beyond
Taking inspiration from the characters, stories, and events of a galaxy far, far away, Star Wars Fuel Your Force reaches out to fi tness enthusiasts and beginners alike, in an effort to form a community of like-minded individuals looking to bring balance to
their physical and mental wellbeing through exercise and
a good diet StarWars
com will be promoting recipes, fun activities, and fi tness advice throughout the year at starwars.com/fuel-your-force.And if you need a goal to aim for, why not sign up for runDisney’s Star Wars Rival Run Weekend at Walt Disney World Resort, Florida, this April? Events cover distances from 5K up to a half-marathon, with a host of kids’ races and other challenges along the way Visit
runDisney.com for more information.
L
STAR WARS INSIDER / 9
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Trang 11(Book) End of Empire
our collection of books,
DVDs, and Blu-rays could
soon feel the power of the
Force (of gravity, at least),
with a pair of Imperial bookends from
Gentle Giant Ltd to keep them in
line These limited edition pieces, from
the studio’s new STONEWORKS line
of faux-marble bookends, are made
of solid polystone—so those precious tomes won’t be going anywhere!
The two iconic sculpts can be purchased individually, so you can display them as a matching pair or mix-and-match the detailed Imperial Stormtrooper with the dark helmet of Darth Vader Striking pieces of art in their own right, each bookend has been
designed at a 90 degree angle, making them great for display whichever end
of the shelf you need to place them Each 6.5 inches-high piece is hand-painted, and comes with a numbered certifi cate of authenticity Available now for $85 each, you can fi nd more details on these Imperial-spec bookends
at gentlegiantltd.com/star-wars
Y
Available now from Gentle Giant Ltd.
Trang 12Bee Boop Pop!
From Reel to Real Art
Hang a cell of movie history on your wall
ere’s your chance to take home
an actual piece of a Star Wars
movie—specifi cally 2005’s Star
Wars: Revenge of the Sith—in
the form of a specially framed piece of art
that is utterly individual
The latest release from Film Cells Ltd.,
priced at $69.99, is limited to only 1,000
pieces worldwide, and features
hand-selected cells cut from genuine reels of
fi lm of the fi nal chapter in the prequel
trilogy Mounted in a black wood frame,
measuring 11 inches by 13 inches, the
fi lm cells are accompanied by a print
of the original movie poster, and each comes with a certifi cate of authenticity
Film Cells Ltd also offer a huge range
of cells from other Star Wars movies, similarly packaged with anything from
a single cell to half-a-dozen, and at price points to suit all fans—there are even bookmarks with fi lm cells in them!
For more information on the range, visit Filmcellsltd.com/star-wars.
H
here’s nothing like watching
aStar Wars movie with a bowl
of fresh popcorn by your side,
and now you can pop your own
with the R2-D2 Mini Stir Popcorn Popper
from Select Brands Inc
With a simple press of a button, this
handy item of astromech-styled homeware
can make up to six full cups of perfect
popcorn in just a few minutes Scoops to
measure exact amounts of kernels and
oil are included, and the lid even fl ips
to become the idea bowl Yet another
surprising function of your favorite R2
unit—available via online retailers now!
T
Pop some corn with R2-D2
STAR WARS INSIDER / 11
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1914 Apr 2: Original Obi-Wan Kenobi
actor Sir Alec Guinness is born
1971 Mar 31: Ewan McGregor, the
prequel’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, is born
1976 Mar 22: Filming begins in Tunisia
on Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
1981 Apr 19: Hayden Christensen
(Anakin Skywalker) is born
1992 Apr 10: Daisy Ridley (Rey) is born
1996 Mar 26: Dark Horse Comics
published Star Wars: Tales from Mos Eisley
1997 Mar 31: Barbara Hambley’s novel
Star Wars: Planet of Twilight is published by Bantam Spectra
2000 Mar 22: Star Wars: Force Commander video game is released for PC by LucasArts
2009 Mar 20: Season one of Star Wars: The Clone Wars concludes with the episode “Hostage Crisis.”
Timeline
Important dates
in Star Wars history
Trang 13Parisian Pins
Exclusive collectibles from Disneyland Paris
t Disney parks around
the globe, fans can find
some amazing Star Wars
collectibles—with many
exclusively at each location Insider
recently spoke to Patrice Girod, who
has designed a brand new set of pins
for Disneyland Paris that will be
available from spring 2019.
What was the inspiration behind the design of the pins?
When I fi rst saw Star Wars in 1977,
I loved the Millennium Falcon, but
it became iconic for me from the moment the Kenner toy came out
I fantasized about that toy, which
I never owned as a child Through
my personal Star Wars journey, I had the opportunity to get to know Joe Johnston, who is a director that I have admired enormously His work on Star Wars is just phenomenal, and basing
my pin collection on the Millennium Falcon is my way of paying homage to Joe’s design of Han Solo’s iconic ship
Can you tell us more about each individual pin?
I had a fl ash of inspiration for one where we could have a Falcon cockpit that could open to reveal all the characters sitting in the ship One of the pins features dice, which of course
is an homage to Han’s lucky dice that we saw in Solo : A Star Wars Story(2018) That one, I really like a lot On the “spinner” pin, you can spin the dial behind the Millennium Falcon to show the lightspeed effect, and fi nally we have the “Jumbo,” a huge, out-of-this-world chrome pin It’s breathtaking The box is wonderful, with a blueprint
Star Wars Insider: How did your collaboration with Disneyland Paris come about?
Patrice Girod: As your readers will know, Disneyland’s pins are very popular around the world Disneyland Paris had already collaborated in the past with key infl uencers to develop specifi c collections for fans As I have been lucky to have worked with the Star Wars brand for more than 20 years (Girod was the fi rst editor of Lucasfi lm Magazine, France’s fi rst offi cial Star Wars magazine), my relationship with the saga is unique, and has made me something of a specialist in France
I also worked on several Star Warsexhibitions and offi cial books, most recently with my longtime writing partner Arnaud Grunberg, on the art book Star Wars: Objets du Mythe
Since 2015, I have collaborated with Disneyland Paris on a number of Star Wars events, so all of that experience led the team there to contact me to develop this new collection of pins for 2019
Trang 14Get into Character
Fancy dress to impress, from in atable Wookiees to capes
osplay is a huge part of Star Wars fandom, but sometimes you just need an outfi t that’s perfect to party
in If you’re looking for fun Star themed gear, then Rubies have—quite literally—got you covered, offeringalmost every imaginable item ofStarWars fancy dress you could wish for
Wars-If you’re the kind of person thatwould love to dress up as a Wookieebut has an allergy problem with fakefur, then Rubies has the answer—afully-inflatable Chewbacca plasticbodysuit! Bringing back a trend fromthe early 2000s, this $90 outfit coversthe entire body and then inflates withthe help of a battery operated fan Justtake care you don’t get caught on thepointy end of a lightsaber!
For a much more classic Star Wars look, the new Lando Calrissian Grand Heritage Adult Costume ($120) brings some Bespin style to your party proceedings Coming in standard and extra-large sizes, the set comes with Lando’s shirt, belt, and pants.However, it’s the cape that has ussold, as it’s perfect for swishing past,say, that inflatable Wookiee thatgatecrashed your big night!
Bringing us up-to-date—andbecause everyone loves a bad boy—you can now update your standardKylo Ren costume with his hairdo andfacial scar fromStar Wars: The Last Jedi(2017) Thankfully, the scar is only atemporary tattoo, so there’s no needfor a medical droid Find your neareststockist atrubies.com.
C
of the Millennium Falcon on the back
That one is defi nitely a “must have” for
any collector
This experience has been so unique
and fantastic, because from day one on
this project I was given no constraints
at all I had complete freedom, and the
team at Disneyland Paris have been
incredibly supportive I was allowed to
let my imagination go wild so I could
conceive the pins of my dreams It has
been simply amazing
STAR WARS INSIDER / 13
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Patrice Gerod (above) and with Robert Watts at Disneyland Paris (below)
Trang 15Book Club
Prequel era adventures and a journey through alien
Author Claudia Gray’s previous Star
Wars novels have seen her explore
both sides of the confl ict between
the Empire and the Rebel Alliance,
from 2015’s Lost Stars, to the details
of Leia’s tribulations forming the
Resistance in The Force Awakens
prequel Bloodline (2016), to the
young royal’s early adventures in
Leia: Princess of Alderaan (2017)
This time, Gray excels as she applies
her storytelling talents to the prequel
era, turning her attention to the
relationship between maverick Jedi
Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his
fresh-faced Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, in
the much-anticipated new novel,
Star Wars: Master & Apprentice
Debuting on April 16 from Del Rey,
Master & Apprentice centers on an
unexpected offer that threatens the
bond between Qui-Gon and young
His
Master’s
Voice
The bond between Qui-Gon
Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi is
stretched in Claudia Gray’s
Kenobi, as the two Jedi navigate their way across a dangerous planet and face an uncertain future
Meanwhile, as Qui-Gon struggles
to pass on his knowledge of the Force to an apprentice that doesn’t always understand his methods, the elder Jedi is haunted by visions of
violent disaster in their future Years before Qui-Gon fi rst meets Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine, this iconic Jedi duo must fi nd a way to balance the differences in their sometimes-clashing personalities in order to defend the Republic’s ideals and execute the will of the Jedi Council
On sale from April 16 2019
Trang 16STAR WARS INSIDER / 15
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01
03 02
01
Star Wars Jedi Academy:
Revenge of the Sis
The bestselling Jedi Academy series
continues on March 26 with an
all-new story in Revenge of the Sis,
by co-writers Amy Ignatow and her
writing partner, National Book Award
fi nalist Jarret Krosockza, who also
provides the illustrations
After several books featuring her
brother Victor, Christina Starspeeder
takes center stage in her fi rst story,
inviting readers to experience an
all-new adventure at a previously
unseen academy campus Even
though the surroundings might be
different, the series’ warm moments
and light-hearted tone remain
Longtime fans of Jedi Academy and
new readers alike will love reading
Christina’s autobiographical take on
school-age frustrations, as fi ltered
through a galaxy-spanning lens!
03 Star Wars Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan
& Anakin Adventure
If you were a Jedi, how would you fare in the face of danger? And what path would you choose to solve a mystery? On March 19 you’ll be able
to fi nd out in the latest Choose Your Destiny book, which uses interactive page-fl ipping to put you in charge
of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker on a vital mission to rescue captured Jedi Master Yoda Think like a Jedi as you work through this adventure written by Cavan Scott and featuring illustrations by Elsa Charretier, and guide the heroes
to one of 20 possible outcomes while steering clear of battle droids and masked marauders And once you’ve fi nished, just start again along
a new path!
02 Star Wars:
Alien Archive
From strong-willed Wookiees
to sharp-toothed wampas, the Star Wars galaxy is fi lled with alien specimens both heroic and horrifying In Star Wars: Alien Archive: A Guide to the Species of the Galaxy, you’ll learn everything you need to know about these strange galactic denizens, as told via an old traveler’s journal that details more than 200 creatures
he encountered while journeying
to locations like the Mos Eisley cantina, Maz’s Castle, and the holy city of Jedha, Jedha This book is
fi lled with stats on alien cultures and famous specimens Written by Katrina Pallant and Nicole Clubb, and illustrated by Tim McDonagh, Alien Archive hits U.S shelves on April 30.
Trang 17Comics Roundup
Gain new perspectives on the heroes and villains
Who is Darth Vader? The former Anakin Skywalker has been both a Jedi hero and the agent of the Order’s destruction With the exception of Emperor Palpatine, no one casts a longer shadow across the the Empire
That outsized reputation is reframed through new points of view in Star Wars: Vader–Dark Visions, a 5-issue Marvel series by writer Dennis Hopeless (Cloak and Dagger) In this far-ranging collection of tales, those who have met Vader (and survived the encounter) offer up their takes
on the black-armored Force-wielder, and not all
of them think he’s a bad guy!
Greg Smallwood’s cover on issue #1 provides
a visual introduction to the strange world of Dark Visions Looking like something from the Dark Age of Camelot, Vader sits astride an alien mount, holding a shield emblazoned with the symbol of the Empire and holding his lightsaber aloft Is it possible that in the most desperate corners of the galaxy, even a Sith Lord might be a savior?
Paolo Villanelli (Lando: Double or Nothing) handles the art duties for issue #1, with Brian Level (Thanos Legacy) taking over on issue #2 Look for the fi rst installment in stores on March 6
Visions of Vader
Uncover legends of the Sith Lord in Star Wars: Vader–Dark Visions
Republic series in March with two
new one-shot issues set during the
chaos of the Clone Wars Writer
Jody Houser pens both adventures,
depicting the confl ict from opposite
sides as the galaxy threatens to split
apart at the seams
In Age of Republic: Padmé
Amidala, Houser teams with artist
Cory Smith to chronicle Senator
Amidala’s mission to bring a neutral
world into the Republic’s fold But is
this a genuine offer, or just another
Separatist trap? And by rejecting the help of the Jedi, has Padmé made a deadly error of judgement?
Age of Republic: Padmé Amidala is available from March 6, with Age of Republic: General Grievous in stores the following week In this one-shot, Houser and artist Luke Ross turn the spotlight on the notorious Separatist cyborg, as Grievous stumbles across
an unimaginable power But what secrets will he fi nd inside a lost Jedi temple? Find out when the issue hits stores on March 13
Age of Republic:
Trang 18STAR WARS INSIDER / 17
Star Wars Adventures Treasury Edition: Prequel Trilogy
IDW Comics
Writers Various Artists Various Cover Artist Elsa Charretier
Doctor Aphra #30
Marvel Comics
Writer Si Spurrier Artist Emilio Laiso Cover Artist Ashley Witter
Solo: A Star Wars Story adaptation #6 (of 7)
Marvel Comics
Writer Robbie Thompson Artist Will Sliney
Cover Artist Phil Noto
Star Wars: Vader–Dark Visions
#2 (of 5)
Marvel Comics
Writer Dennis Hopeless Artist Brian Level Cover Artist Greg Smallwood
Don’t Miss TheseUpcoming Releases
This issue kicks off “The Scourging
of Shu-Torun,” the latest storyline in
Marvel’s ongoing Star Wars comic
Subtitled “Road to Revenge,” Star
Wars #62 begins the tale of Princess
Leia’s mission to attack Shu-Torun,
starting by assembling an all-star
assault team and brainstorming an
impeccable plan
Writer Kieron Gillen and artist
Andrea Broccardo introduce a host
of new characters, including Queen
Trios and Kanchar (with his amazing
cybernetic arm), each of whom have
roles to play in Leia’s stratagem
Featuring a cover by Gerald Parel,
Star Wars #62 is on sale March 6
Han Solo: Imperial Cadet #5
Marvel’s limited series, detailing Han
Solo’s academy years hinted at in Solo:
A Star Wars Story, wraps up on March
13, with issue #5 of Han Solo: Imperial
Cadet by writer Robbie Thompson
and artist Leonard Kirk, featuring a
stunning cover by David Nakayama
Han and his fellow cadets fi nd
themselves behind enemy lines, forced
into a situation in which they must risk
their lives to save one of their own It
doesn’t look like everyone will make
it back from this dangerous mission,
and even if Han survives, he’s facing a
prison sentence—or worse—courtesy of
the Imperial Navy
Out this month from IDW Comics—and
the fan-favorite team of writer Cavan
Scott and artist Derek Charm—comes
an all-new tale set during the
high-stakes confl ict of the Clone Wars
Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and
diminiutive Jedi Master Yoda must
undertake an urgent mission, but
Anakin’s rebellious nature threatens
to spell trouble for the Republic!
This fi nal installment in a three-issue
run exploring the prequel era timeframe
clears the decks for an all-new story arc
beginning with issue #21 that will star
characters from the original trilogy
Star Wars Adventures #20 hits stores
on March 13
Trang 19T H E P O W E R
O F L O V E
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Why does Anakin Skywalker’s need to recreate the parental connection he lost as a child overshadow the bonds created by love in his adult life? And if absolute power corrupts absolutely, how dangerous can the power of love become? Insider considers these and other philosophical, political, and moral dilemmas posed by Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Words: Tricia Barr
Trang 20STAR WARS INSIDER / 19
whole month before the movie’s release, fans who attended the
centerpiece Star
Wars: Revenge of the Sith panel at 2005’s Star Wars
Celebration III in Indianapolis had the treat of watching the opening scene of the fi lm, in which Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi run the gauntlet of Separatist ships in their Jedi starfi ghters
With the booming pulse of war drums and a sweeping shot that follows the starfi ghters through the massive space battle above Coruscant, the movie establishes that the Clone War—which began
in the Outer Rim at the conclusion
of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
(2002)—has reached the very heart
of the galaxy After screening the high-octane footage, host Rick McCallum, the movie’s producer, asked the audience if they wanted
to hear him talk about the movie
or to watch the scene again The audience chose wisely:
a second viewing
Politics of War
Episode III is the culmination of visionary George Lucas’ prequel trilogy, and like all his work was infl uenced by the real-life events that shaped his worldview Born in
1944, Lucas grew up in an era that was heavily impacted by World War II, and the iconography of this global confl ict is pervasive
throughout Star Wars In the
original trilogy, the Empire overtly evokes the fascist dictatorship
of the Nazis, for example The parable of Episodes I through III more broadly, however, refl ect the political climate of the 1990s, the time period when the story
of Anakin Skywalker’s fall was germinating in Lucas’ mind
The concluding years of the Cold War in the late 80s mirrored the events of the original trilogy:
evil dictators and oppressive regimes fell, ushering in a new era
of optimism for democracy across Eastern Europe Yet despite the success of America’s philosophical arm wrestling with the Soviet Union, Lucas’ generation had
Run time / 140 mins
MPAA / “Rated PG13 for
Awards / Saturn Award for
Best Science Fiction Film
THE SKYWALKER SAGA
Trang 21grown up in a time of huge social
upheaval domestically They still
harbored suspicions of the U.S
government, which had raised a
banner for equality and justice
elsewhere but resisted the claims of
civil rights and anti-war protestors
within its own borders
In the absence of the
Russian-U.S stalemate, political uncertainty
opened the door to smaller despots
to make their power grabs, such
as Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein,
whose invasion of Kuwait in 1990
threatened America’s interests,
particularly in oil President George
H.W Bush rallied a worldwide
coalition of forces to drive Hussein
out of Kuwait While some would
view the military operation as
a necessity, others believed that
the enormous military industrial
complex (which had grown during
the Cold War) was influencing
political motivations for profit
This distrust in the industry ofwar plays out on an epic scale in
Revenge of the Sith The Republic’sadversary is named a Confederacy
of Independent Systems, buttheir actions are controlled by
a conglomeration of corporateentities: the Trade Federation, theTechno Union, the Retail Caucus,the InterGalactic Banking Clan,the Commerce Guild, and theCorporate Alliance
Japan’s attack on Pearl Harborrallied the U.S into World War II,even though the Hawaiian Islandsare more than 2,000 miles fromthe continental United States The1990s saw a series of major terroristattacks on U.S soil, including theWorld Trade Center in New YorkCity (1993), the federal building
in Oklahoma City (1995), theOlympics in Atlanta (1996), and—
as Lucas was completing EpisodeII—the September 11 attacks in
2001 Public agencies used theseincidents to expand methods
to surveil and track suspectedterrorists, sparking a public outcryagainst invasions of civil libertiesand politicians oversteppingtheir mandated boundaries thatcontinues to this day
What with the Whitewaterscandal and Monica Lewinsky
Trang 22STAR WARS INSIDER / 21
THE SKYWALKER SAGA
affair, President Bill Clinton’s behavior brought a new level of distrust of people in power as Congress became bogged down
in impeachment proceedings
His successor, George W Bush, pivoted the retaliatory anti-terrorist military action in Afghanistan
in 2002 into a second invasion
of Iraq in early 2003, projecting the U.S into a much broader role in the region than originally contemplated Although the Separatists are the Republic’s
battlefi eld opponent in Revenge
of the Sith, the movie pulls back the curtain on the enemy within:
Darth Sidious The Sith Lord, in his role as Sheev Palpatine, uses corruption within the democratic system to rise to the position of Chancellor and then exploits the war, political machinations, and corporate greed to gradually consolidate power
A Father Figure
As the movie opens, the Separatist Fleet has breached the Core and their leader, General Grievous, holds Chancellor Palpatine captive
on his fl agship, where Skywalker and Kenobi race to save him
Although Anakin sometimes calls Obi-Wan a father fi gure, the
Jedi Master acknowledges after their fateful duel that they were brothers This parallels iconic mythic struggles between siblings
from Cain and Abel in the Bible and Quran to William Shakespeare’s
Hamlet, and in modern times from
John Steinbeck’s East of Eden to classic TV series Dallas’ Bobby and
J.R Ewing
But it’s not Kenobi who has become the steadfast confi dant and trusted ear of Skywalker; the avuncular Palpatine is the parental
fi gure who accepts the brooding young man for who he is, rather than trying to change him into who the Jedi think he should be
In Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
(1999), Anakin’s mother played
a crucial role in Skywalker being
a happy and good person despite his circumstances Shmi wants a better life for her son and offers him reassurance as he walks out
of her life and embarks on a new, hopeful adventure Deep down in Anakin’s psyche exists the little boy whose mother told him to never look back and sent him on his way with a promise of a better future
As an adult, Anakin still craves that trusted guiding hand
After Kenobi is knocked unconscious in their duel with
Trang 23like he did years ago when he took those fateful steps away from his loving mother.
Brothers at War
The bonds forged by men who
fi ght side-by-side in wars are central to Hollywood’s rise to prominence in storytelling after the close of World War II
Revenge of the Sith plays to the audience’s cinematic and mythic understanding of how war forges fraternal bonds where they haven’t existed previously In the tragedy
of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, we observe the sundering
of a brotherhood between two men, built through a decade of conjoined service as Jedi Knights and strengthened over the course
of long years of war
Episode III begins as that war ends, the two Jedi swooping through the chaos of a full-scale
Count Dooku, Skywalker bests
the Sith, dismembering both his
hands Encouraged by the captive
Palpatine, Skywalker decapitates
Dooku, then immediately regrets
it because it’s not the Jedi way
Amid his persuasive reassurance
that Dooku was “too dangerous
to be kept alive,” the Chancellor
reveals to the audience that
Skywalker had confi ded in him
about the slaughter of the Tusken
Raiders after his mother’s death
It is from this non-judgmental
position of surrogate father fi gure
that Sidious suggests to his future
apprentice that sometimes revenge
is acceptable
In this moment, Skywalker is
embarking on a new adventure;
it is not as stark as the scene
where Shmi bids him farewell,
but the Jedi Knight’s descent into
moral decline, and ultimately to
becoming a Sith Lord, has begun
As much as his love for Padmé
Amidala blinds Skywalker, so too
does his desire for a parental fi gure
obscure his ability to recognize
Palpatine’s true intentions
Compounding the
manipulation, Palpatine offers
Skywalker truths throughout
the movie The Jedi are afraid of
Anakin’s power The Council is
planning to betray him During
a key scene when they are
attending the opera, Palpatine
insidiously preys upon Skywalker’s
greatest fear: that he could lose
the person he loves and the Jedi
will do nothing to stop it While
the movie doesn’t explicitly say
Palpatine knows about Anakin’s
secret marriage to Padmé, the
implication is that this too is
something confi ded between the
pair As Palpatine plants the notion
that the Jedi and Sith aren’t so
different in Anakin’s mind, he
offers the seeds of hope that there
is a power to keep loved ones
from dying This isn’t a power
that a Jedi would seek; their code
forbids attachments, after all In
this moment, Anakin Skywalker’s
bridge to becoming Darth Vader
has been built Now all the young
Jedi must do is walk across it, just
invasion in their starfi ghters Visually, Skywalker, in his yellow starfi ghter, is set apart from Kenobi
in his maroon starfi ghter, which matches the color of the rest of the Republic fl eet Yellow is ripe with confl icting meaning It can represent optimism, energy, and loyalty, but it is sometimes associated with cowardice and deceit, all of which Skywalker embodies over the course of the movie
Revenge of the Sith
perfectly threads the needle in Obi-Wan Kenobi’s characterization, balancing his portrayal as
a heroic yet flawed man.
05 Anakin’s vision
of Padmé (Natalie Portman) dying
in childbirth.
06 Young Anakin (Jake Lloyd) takes leave
of his mother Shmi (Pernilla August).
07 Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda make a shattering discovery.
08 His choice made, Anakin embraces the dark side.
05
06
Trang 24STAR WARS INSIDER / 23
The film’s beginning showcases
why the Jedi duo have become
standouts in the war They are bold
and fearsome fi ghters, slipping
through a minimal opening onto
Grievous’ fl agship and dispatching
droid troops in the hanger with
relative ease The scene ends with
them in a back-to-back pose that
will later be echoed by Rey and
Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Last
Jedi’s (2017) throne room battle
Throughout this opening act,
Kenobi and Skywalker’s bond is
brought to the fore: during the
space battle, Anakin wants to go
back and help his clone wingmen,
but heeds Obi-Wan’s command to
stay on mission; fearing his fi ghter
is lost to buzz droids, Kenobi
implores his apprentice to press
on alone, but Skywalker refuses to
let his master perish in space His
fi rst attempt at saving his master is
both rash and unhelpful, but once
it is apparent Skywalker isn’t going
to give up on his friend, Kenobi
doesn’t try to press him on the
matter, signaling that he is aware
of his former Padawan’s emotional
limitations as a Jedi
Revenge of the Sithperfectlythreads the needle in Kenobi’s characterization, balancing his portrayal as a heroic yet fl awed man, one who often sees the moral quagmire he is standing in but can’t quite overcome decades
of ingrained Jedi dogma He rightfully doesn’t trust Palpatine, but is also troubled with tasking his apprentice to spy on a person
he knows he admires Even the way Kenobi asks Padmé about the paternity of her unborn twins, a rhetorical question, suggests that
he has understood the complex duality of his brother-in-arms Yet his love for Skywalker prevents him from accepting the true extent of the deeds of which he is capable—until the holovid of his former Padawan killing younglings makes
it undeniable Most of us can relate
to knowing something troubling about a person close to us, but overlooking it for the sake of love
Trang 25and Padmé If not for the prospect
of death and war, their love might
have simmered and remained
unrequited War leads to tragic
endings for many romances, not
just those at the centerpiece of an
epic monomyth
The brotherhood of Skywalker
and Kenobi is at the heart of the
movie’s laser sharp focus on the
story surrounding Anakin’s fall to
the dark side, pushing the Padmé
relationship into a secondary role
Perhaps her death was deemed
inevitable in the eyes of George
Lucas, with all roads leading to the
showdown on the volcanic world
as foretold in the original trilogy
Several deleted scenes flesh out
Senator Amidala’s participation
in seeking a diplomatic solution
to civil war, but were omitted
in trying to preserve the core
story of Skywalker’s fall, which is
motivated by fear of her demise
not her politics Amidala is more
a plot device than an agent of her
own destiny, tragic or otherwise
One beautiful moment permits thecharacter some room to breathethough, accompanied by JohnWilliams’ heart-wrenching pieceentitled ‘Padmé’s Ruminations.’
Nothing is said, but her hopes,dreams, and worries are expressedthrough her eyes, juxtaposedagainst Skywalker’s expression,displaying the fears of a youngman pained by his many losses
In that intense scene, Skywalkerchooses selfishly and rushes to
stop Master Mace Windu fromkilling his father figure, Palpatine,despite knowing that the man is aSith Lord intent on destroying theRepublic that his wife and Kenobihold so dear It is an allegiance thatcosts Skywalker everything: hisfamily, his best friend, his body,and his soul
He ends the movie isolated fromthe galaxy inside a life-sustainingarmored suit, with his new masterand the dark side of the Force ashis only companions
10
War leads to tragic endings
for many romances, not just
those at the centerpiece of
an epic monomyth.
09 For doomed lovers Anakin and Padmé, their fate is already sealed
10 Medical droids tend to all that remains
of Anakin Skywalker.
Trang 26OFFICIAL MARVEL STUDIOS
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Academy Award winning actress Brie Larson plays a noble Kree warrior hero w th a mysterious past.
Trang 28STAR WARS INSIDER / 27
GRIEVOUS
Matthew Wood reveals his incredible double life
as supervising sound editor and sound designer at
Skywalker Sound—and the Separatist droid army’s
fi endish cyborg leader with a hacking cough.
W O R D S : A M Y R A T C L I F F E
THE GRIEVOUS
GROWL
t’s fall 2002 George Lucas, producer Rick McCallum, concept artists, and other key production members are meeting each Friday to review the latest designs for Star Wars: Revenge
of the Sith (2005) On November
22, Lucas tells the assembly that the Episode III villain could be a Separatist droid general “I won’t limit it at this point to a droid It could be an alien of some kind I’m not sure if I want him to be human It’s the Darth Maul It’s the Jango Fett Darth Vader ” he’s recorded explaining in The Making of Return of the Sith He tells the artists the villain is not
a Sith, that it has to be able to do dialogue scenes, and that it has
to be iconic.
And so General Grievous, the Supreme Commander of the Separatist droid army, was born Two weeks after Lucas’ instruction
to design the foe, concept artist Warren Fu presented illustrations for the character that caught the director’s eye Fellow concept artist Ian McCaig had advised them to think of their worst nightmares, and
Fu imagined a scary masked enemy His designs became the foundation for the fearsome cyborg who would stalk across the big screen in the
fi nal Star Wars prequel
Bela Lugosi
A combination of robotic technology with an organic base, General Grievous’ voice is grating and loud, part mechanical and part biological That voice is provided
by Matthew Wood, supervising sound editor and sound designer at Skywalker Sound, and it came to be rather late in the process “My
I
Trang 29fi rst look at what fully rendered
Grievous was going to look like
was actually in Star Wars Insider,”
Wood tells us “It was on the cover,
and I remember thinking, ‘Whoa,
that’s cool Who’s gonna voice
that?’ Because the character has
no mouth, we could wait a certain
amount of time before Industrial
Light & Magic (ILM) needed our
fi nal voice-overs.”
Busy working on audio effects
for Revenge of the Sith, Wood
knew that Lucas wanted the voice
to sound as if it was synthesized
through the circuitry of a voice
box, with computerized, cybernetic
qualities, and he and co-sound
editor Christopher Scarabosio
developed a distinctive resonance
for Grievous “We ran it through
some processing, including
ring modulation, to give it that
synthesized timbre We put every
audition we got through that same
process, as an egalitarian method
for every actor’s performance I
would play those for George to get
his feedback on what things he did
or didn’t like And I had the ability
to sit in on all those auditions and
also process them,” Wood explains
Having that perspective put
Wood in a very unique position
McCallum was getting nervous
because they needed to cast the role
of Grievous and time was running
out, so Scarabosio encouraged
Wood to audition Wood, a trained
actor, had performed voices for Star
Wars before, so he anonymously
submitted his fi le to Lucas with the
other auditions He approached
Grievous with a gruff, harsh voice,
something to convey the character’s
militaristic sense And he also added
a little old-school villain style, in
the vein of 1930s horror movie
actor Bela Lugosi Wood recalls,
“I’d coincidentally come back from
visiting a friend in Prague, so
it was fresh in my mind, and that’s what I went with: yelling
in a classic villain voice with
an Eastern European accent
As that hit the processor, I could hear there was this nice gravelly quality Then I got the surprising call that George had picked my audition.”
Wood’s performance of General Grievous’ biting metallic voice cuts through the Battle of Coruscant in Episode III’s opening scenes, as Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen)and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) confront the metal general after his kidnapping
of Chancellor Palpatine, but McGregor never knew who voiced Grievous until some years after the movie’s release
Grievous battled with Kenobi more than once in Revenge of the Sith, and during fi lming McGregor was most often sparring with stunt double Kyle Rowling, who stood in for the CG cyborg, with Grievous’ lines being read in from off-camera “I worked with Ewan in my sound capacity
on all the prequels,” Wood says
“I’d record him all the time for the post-production dialogue recording
we had to do It wasn’t until I worked with him years later, when
I brought him in to do a whispery voice for The Force Awakens, that
I actually got to tell him, ‘Hey, did you know what ended up happening with that voice? It was me.’ And he was like, ‘No way!’”
Catching Breath
After Dooku’s death, Grievous took over his position and moved the Separatist Council from Utapau to Mustafar at Darth Sidious’ behest
The over-confi dent cyborg engaged with Kenobi for what would be the fi nal time, as the duel ended with Grievous’ demise To his last, Grievous barked out orders and taunts punctuated by a phlegmy cough Lucas wanted Grievous to have breathing troubles because
he was essentially a testing ground for the technology that would
02 Wood again played the general in Star Wars:
The Clone Wars (2008).
03 Grievous played a big part in The Clone Wars animated series.
04 General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith.
05 Matthew Wood in a recording booth at Skywalker Sound.
06 Grievous versus Obi-Wan.
01
03
05
Trang 30STAR WARS INSIDER / 29
GRIEVOUS
start coughing We captured a lot ofGeorge’s really bad coughs from theday, and ended up rolling some ofthem into Grievous’ performance.”Wood thinks of Grievous’
voice as comprising of two-parts:the dramatic element and theprocessing layer “I pitch him downabout a semi-tone to give him thatlower pitch register, and in a waythat his voice has an artifactingquality to it where it doesn’t soundperfect,” he explains “I’m going forimperfection, so when he’s yelling,
I want to make it almost like he’s
so angry that his vocal processor isunable to translate his emotion intovoice perfectly.”
Wood had to perform with ahyper-enunciated yell in order toget Grievous’ words and emotionacross through the gravelly, scratchyqualities in his voice The delay
“We captured a lot of George’s really bad coughs from the day, and ended up rolling some of them into Grievous’ performance.”
eventually create Darth Vader By luck, both Wood and Lucas were
in a state to provide the required rattles and hacks
“For a lot of those lines, you really have to use the diaphragm big time and yell this guttural performance,” Wood recalls “I would run out of breath and cough, and George himself had a really bad cough that day I remember telling Chris Scarabosio to keep the tape rolling, because George would come up to direct me and he would
06
04 02
Trang 31and ring-modulation Wood applied
is not unlike the standard procedure
he uses for droid processing, but
Grievous got a little something
extra “It’s a mix and match of
a few different things, because
George wanted to communicate
that Grievous had a biological
component to illustrate that he had
a weakness,” says Wood “The cough
was to illustrate that, too It’s such
an odd and creepy character It’s a
part I’ve really loved and respected
all these years.”
The Grievous Gig
Wood had the opportunity to
reprise the role in Star Wars:
The Clone Wars Set in the years
between Star Wars: Attack of
the Clones (2002) and Revenge
of the Sith, the animated series
takes an on-the-ground look at
the galactic confl ict between the
Republic and the Separatists, with
Grievous and his droid army
at the center of numerous key
struggles The Art of Star Wars:
The Clone Wars explains how
they adjusted General Grievous’
grim countenance to match the
style of the show Designer Atsushi
Takeuchi used simpler shapes
for Grievous’ complex head and
limbs to maintain the look of the
character, while exaggerating the
chest and shoulders to make him
more menacing Grievous strode
into battle with an intimidating lumber, while attempting to pair his excellent planning with commanding an army of inept battle droids
“My main performance goals were frustration,” Wood says “I think the guy was always frustrated
He was trying to be something more than he was, and making
a name for himself by going up against the Jedi is the ultimate thing he could do Feeling like
he technically knew the ways of the Force and knew how to wield the lightsaber was just enough for him to try and take on the Jedi Of course, it wasn’t Ultimately, the combination of his cowardice and going up against the Force is never going to work And then his battle droids really are quite dumb, and their processors are not very high-end because the factory stamps out thousands of these things.”
So this clever, nearly indestructible, and bold-yet-craven leader was stuck with commanding
an endless supply of incompetentsoldiers Grievous found a
way to work with the battledroids, even if it meant usingthem as fodder while seeking
a Jedi to fight, or taking arisky move, such as abductingSenator Amidala in the episode,
“Destroy Malevolence.”
Dooku found Grievous to be
GENERAL GRIEVOUS
A sharp military strategist and dangerous fi ghter trained by Count Dooku in the ways of Jedi combat, Grievous is all the more formidable because of his cybernetic enhancements He’s not Force-sensitive, but with his multiple claw-like limbs and graceful articulation, he’s more than agile enough to wield lightsabers with precision A Kaleesh warrior who was critically wounded, Grievous voluntarily gave himself over to mechanical modifi cations; his brain, heart, lungs, spinal cord, and haunting golden eyes are the only organic remnants of his body.
08
07
07 Grievous’ sharp golden eyes are some of his few remaining organic parts.
08 Woods reprised his Grievous role for the video game Star Wars:
Battlefront II.
Trang 32STAR WARS INSIDER / 31
Wars galaxy Notably, he appeared
in Dark Horse Comics’Darth Maul:
Son of Dathomir (in which he killedMother Talzin), and two MarvelComics series,Jedi of the Republic:
Mace Windu and Kanan Mostrecently, Wood voiced the villainagain in downloadable contentfor the video gameStar Wars:
Battlefront II He had to break hisrecording sessions up over multipledays so that he didn’t destroy hisvoice “You can’t really be subtle
Grievous having a fireside chat withsomebody is not something we’veseen before or are likely to,” Woodjokes “Most of his lines have to besuper-projected In order to hit theplug-in processor that I use, the waythat I want it to, the voice definitelyhas to be pushed.”
In performing a characterthat presents such physical andtechnical obstacles, what is it
a successful leader because the cyborg looked at the big picture;
the general executed high-handed plans like using hidden listening posts to ambush Republic fl eets and attempting to invade Kamino
to stop clone production As Wood said, he was always trying to make
a name for himself and his every appearance during The Clone Wars certainly emphasizes that
The Allure of Grievous
General Grievous has also gone
on to appear elsewhere in the Star
that keeps Wood coming back
to the role? “I like his struggle,”
he answers “It’s nice to have a character as a juxtaposition to the heroes Grievous is somebody
in whom you can see all his bad points He’s cowardly, and he doesn’t really have many friends—
in The Clone Wars we went to his lair, and there’s a droid that’s his bickering friend, but it’s pretty stark
He lives alone, he’s always boastful about all the things he’s going to
do to you or how he’s going to rule you, and it’s obvious his ego gets the best of him So, I try to look for the empathy in the character that way, and perform him as a lesson as
to what you don’t want to be That’s how it is for me, showcasing that you can’t have light without dark;
my performance in this dark world exists to give the light something
to shine on.”
“I try to look for the
empathy in the character
that way, and perform
him as a lesson as to what
you don’t want to be.”
Trang 33If you thought there was nothing more to Star
Monopoly, think again! Thanks to a board gaming
renaissance, there’s never been a more exciting
time to experience the galaxy far, far away on
a tabletop near you.
W O R D S : D A N J O L I N
W I T H
DESTINY
DICING
Trang 34STAR WARS INSIDER / 33
h boy—I reached the Millennium Falcon!” trills a mop-haired child
as he moves his Han-and-Chewie token across
a colorful game board “The
Force is with you!” says the
dungarees-wearing girl sitting
across the table from him Then
a stentorian narrator announces
over an incongruous, jazzy
soundtrack, “You too can play
the space fantasy Star Wars game
Escape From Death Star…”
This cheesy 1977 television
commercial was most people’s
fi rst-ever glimpse of a Star Wars
board game With a spinner to
determine moves and a deck of
cards that could help or hinder
players’ attempts to get their heroes
from ‘the garbage dump’ to the
safety of Yavin 4, Kenner’s Escape
From Death Star wasn’t exactly
the most sophisticated of tabletop
gaming experiences; it was strictly for
children and rather forgettable
These days, things couldn’t
be more different The boardgaming industry has radicallychanged and expanded, undergoing
an astonishing, designer-led renaissance: games have become more engaging to people of all ages, exploring countless different themes
in a variety of innovative ways, and often boasting impressively high production values
Unsurprisingly, Star Wars board
games have evolved, too Whether you want a quick card game, a furious, sprawling tabletop battle,
or an absorbing, epic strategy game, then there has never been
a better time for you to get into
Star Wars board gaming—even if all you want to know is who would win in a dogfi ght between Wedge Antilles and Hera Syndulla
The Big Bang
The current tabletop resurgence
is the result of numerous factors,
but primary among them is a widespread desire to disconnect from digital environments
“You’re seeing people socializing more in real life and moving away from their phones
or playing video games over the internet,” says Matt Jarvis, editor
of the U.K.’s Tabletop Gaming
magazine, “as well as a revival in physical items, which has also seen vinyl records come back into popularity, for example It all feeds into this appeal of just sitting around a table with friends.”
Frank Brooks, designer of the recently released second edition of
Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars:
X-Wing agrees “Games are a really great way for people to interact with each other in a physical space, doing something fun as a group,” he says This is especially
DICING WITH DESTINY
01 The box art for Fantasy Flight’s 2016 original trilogy game, Rebellion, by artist Darren Tan.
01
O
Trang 35true now that most board games
are meticulously calibrated to
maximize engagement
(posterior-numbing play times are much
rarer now), and come with
attractive, often geek
culture-inspired themes
“Geeks are cool now,” says
Alex Green, commercial director
of Asmodee U.K., Britain’s biggest
board game distributor He points
at programs like The Big Bang
Theory, the sitcom which helped
bring many niche obsessions such
as science fi ction, comic books,
and gaming into the mainstream
And then there’s the ever-growing
popularity of Star Wars “It’s a great
story and a great backdrop, so you
have a lot of people wanting to live
out the stories themselves,” he adds
Getting Rolling
As Escape From Death Star proved
a long time ago, the journey
towards fully realizing the Star
Wars galaxy in tabletop form took
many years
“We didn’t know a lot about
game design back in the day,” says
Brooks, “so a lot of games were just
roll-and-move There was no skill
involved, no decision points, zero
agency You just resolved the game.”
With early titles like Adventures
of R2-D2 (1977), Hoth Ice Planet
Adventure (1980), or Yoda the Jedi
Master (1981), the Star Wars theme
was front-and-center, but the game
mechanisms didn’t engage beyond
someone eventually, randomly
managing to win Then there
were (and still are) the Star Wars
versions of existing, classic board
games: the mystery-solving Clue,
the territory-dominating Risk, the
fog-of-war weaving Battleship and,
naturally, the property-trading
mainstay that is Monopoly
“The idea of buying property
around the galaxy is a bit odd,”
laughs Jarvis “Especially as it’s one
where planets get blown up It’s
like, ‘well the property market onAlderaan’s really gone downhill—
there’s nothing left!’ But I like Star
Wars, so I’d prefer a version thatreflects my personal taste.”
Away from such branded
tie-ins, pure Star Wars gaming took a
leap forward in sophistication andcomplexity with West End Games’
Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game(1987) Published to coincide with
Star Wars: A New Hope’s (1977)10th anniversary, it was a majormilestone As withDungeons &
Dragons, it enabled players to createtheir own heroes and undertaketheir own quests, but in GeorgeLucas’ galaxy rather than a fantasyworld of treasure and magic Itproved hugely popular—and not
02 Alex Kim’s powerful box art for the
Star Wars: Legion game.
03 A group of gamers roll several dice
to discover their Star Wars: Destiny.
02
03
Trang 36STAR WARS INSIDER / 35
only because it was fun to play
“Its source book became this bible of Star Wars lore before there was anything else like it,” explains Jarvis “Even if you didn’t play role-playing games, you still wanted to pick up the source book because it gave you all this information you couldn’t find elsewhere.”
Naturally, when the prequel trilogy arrived, fresh games came with it, including one that was almost too ambitious: The Queen’s Gambit (2000) Based on the climax
to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
(1999), it re-enacted the four battles
on Naboo, spreading its action across three different boards and a central three-tier representation of the Theed Royal Palace, with 155 miniatures representing Gungans, Trade Federation droids, star
fi ghters and more
“It goes for unbelievable money now,” says Jarvis “People love it.”
However, despite the success of
Decipher Inc’s popular Star Wars:
Customizable Card Game, which allowed deck-collecting players
to play out light-versus-dark-side battles between 1995 and 2001, both Jarvis and Green agree that
modern Star Wars board gaming
didn’t truly come into its own until Minnesota-based publisher, Fantasy
Flight Games, acquired the Star
Wars license in 2012 and released
the Star Wars: X-Wing miniatures
game “They’ve really pushed the envelope in terms of what they’ve
been able to do with the Star Wars
universe,” says Green
Attention To Detail
It’s hard to think of any other cinematic franchise that feels so thematically ripe for the modern tabletop experience Not only is the Star Wars galaxy huge, but it also compels you to explore its every Naboo nook or Corellian cranny “I watch the cantina scene
in A New Hope, and I’m thinking,
‘Who are all these people?’” says Fantasy Flight Games’ Frank Brooks “It’s this very rich, detailed world that makes you want to try living in it and playing in it.”
“Star Wars has captured the
Insider ’s pick of the most memorable Star Wars games.
Vintage Victor
D E S T R O Y D E AT H S TA R ( 1 9 7 7 )
One of the best of the fi rst Kenner games, this wasn’t just a straightforward spin-the-spinner- and-move affair, it required each player to lead
a squadron of three X-wings along the Death Star’s trench and blow it up before it can turn
Yavin 4 into asteroids Just
to complicate matters, the board’s Death Star rotated, meaning you had to time those trench runs
just right
Mastering the Lore
S TA R W A R S :
T H E R O L E - P L A Y I N G G A M E ( 1 9 8 7 )
The fi rst ever Star Wars role-playing game
(RPG), allowing players to create their own heroes in a galaxy far, far away and go off on adventures devised by the Games Master Using
the same system as
in 2018 by Fantasy Flight Games.
The Lost Classic
S TA R W A R S :
T H E Q U E E N ’ S G A M B I T ( 2 0 0 0 )
Still praised by many gaming die-hards, this monster of a game recreated all four theaters of the Battle of Naboo on a table- swamping arrangement of boards, cardboard constructions, and plastic miniature fi gures One of the designers, Rob Daviau, went on to become one of today’s most celebrated and innovative game designers.
ACROSS THE BOARD
“People might
grow up, but we
retain our creative
Trang 37department “As kids, we’d play with action fi gures, and at some point we’d need to resolve the debate of, ‘I shot you!’ ‘No you didn’t!’ So then you have dice,
or cards, or you roll marbles at things Those systems got more and more developed until it’s still the thing you loved to imagine, but now you have a game system built out of it.”
Brooks believes Fantasy Flight
Games is the ideal home for Star
Wars because “we’re very much theme-fi rst.” He cites Rebellion (2016), which encapsulates the story of the entire original trilogy into a two-to-four hour tabletop experience “Everything you do in the game feels like something that’s advancing the story,” he says Or, as Flugaur-Leavitt puts it, “Your choices
in Rebellion affect how the original trilogy plays out You can create an entirely different trilogy of movies through each and every interaction with your opponent in that game.”
“We’ve treated Star Wars
with such respect,”
says Brooks “And Lucasfi lm really trusts
us to do the setting justice.”
“We’re all fans
in slightly different ways,” adds Flugaur-Leavitt “I read the novels very heavily
Frank has read more
of the comics And
we both love the movies and play thevideo games.”
Brooks and
Flugaur-Leavitt’s passion for Star
Wars is undeniable, whether they are beaming with pride at the fact
that the Raider-class corvette they
invented for Fantasy Flight’s X-Wing
game later appeared in the Star Wars
Battlefront video game, or talking in great detail about the joys of making
the gun turret of a Star Wars Rebels Season Two Lancer-class cruiser work
within the X-Wing system
End Game
Fantasy Flight Games’ attention
to detail and profound respect for the source material is obvious in all their titles
“What they do goes far beyond just having Obi-Wan Kenobi or Luke Skywalker as playing pieces
on a board,” says
Tabletop Gaming
magazine’s Matt Jarvis “In their games you are able
to actually tie those people together in
a way that makes them feel like the characters are coming alive You have all these neat thematic flavors where it could be that you’re essentially creating battles that you didn’t see on screen, or you’re even making mini storylines of your own.”
In the miniature-based wargame Legion (2018), for example, you could re-enact the Battle of Endor on your kitchen table With the smaller-scale skirmish game Imperial Assault, you could send a small team to rescue Leia from the Death Star
A Miniature Marvel
S TA R W A R S : X - W I N G
M I N I AT U R E S G A M E ( 2 0 1 2 )
What fi rst strikes you about Fantasy Flight
Games’ Star Wars-branded debut is the
sheer quality and detail of its huge array of
pre-painted miniatures, which scream to be
collected even if you don’t want to play with
them (the second edition’s X-wing even comes
with S-foils that open and close) But the game also has fantastic, quick-to-learn, and intuitive gameplay, which keeps the table-based dogfi ghting fast and furious.
Risk Re-skinned
S TA R W A R S R I S K ( 2 0 1 5 )
Compared favorably with The Queen’s Gambit,
Star Wars Risk plays out Star Wars: Return
of the Jedi’s three-way fi nal confl ict—but to
look at it, you wouldn’t think it was Risk at
all Appealingly structured to resemble a TIE
fi ghter, it makes so many changes to the way
Risk plays it’s almost a completely different
game If you’re looking for a tactical but casual
entry-point into Star Wars board games, then
look no further
The Big One
S TA R W A R S : R E B E L L I O N ( 2 0 1 6 )
Designed by Corey Konieczka, this
beautiful-looking Fantasy Flight Games’ offering
compresses the events of the original Star Wars
trilogy into a single, two-player (or two-team)
game It takes a while to get your head around
to interact with each other
in a physical space, doing something fun
as a group.”
B R O O K S
F L U G A U R - L E A V I T T
Developer, Fantasy Flight Games
04
Trang 38STAR WARS INSIDER / 37
just want to hang out in hives ofscum and villainy
Fantasy Flight Games alsooffers two different flavors ofminiature spaceship combat:
the “white-knuckle” dogfightingX-Wing, or the slower-paced, morelong-term strategic Armada “It’s really cool to be able to experience
the Star Wars setting in all these
different ways, with different games emphasizing different parts
of the experience,” says Brooks
Flights Of Fancy
When it comes to Star Wars, Fantasy
Flight Games always has its eye
on the future As new movies are released and new characters or starships revealed, its games can be adapted and expanded to encompass them “Destiny, X-Wing and Legion are the kind of games which can be evolved over time,” says Jarvis
Brooks is very happy he’s fi nally
The new dice-and-card collecting
game Destiny (2017), meanwhile,
enables you to play out duels
between different characters
Just as Star Wars itself was a
heady mash-up of different movie
genres, so the new wave of games
it’s inspired fall into a variety of
game genres The new role-playing
game system even comes in
three strands: Force And Destiny,
for those who want to wield
lightsabers as Jedi and Sith; Age Of
Rebellion, for those who want to
get on the frontlines of the battle
against the Empire; and Edge Of
The Empire, for scoundrels who
been able to add Clone Wars-era starfi ghters to X-Wing, and has cracked how to incorporate the Force into their second edition system
“So you’ll basically be able to play the entire timeline,” he beams “You want to know if Darth Vader could beat Kylo Ren in a dogfi ght? Well, now you can try it out.”
As a keen Star Wars gamer,
Jarvis says he’d like to see a big Rebellion-style game that takes
in the entirety of the new trilogy once Episode IX is released, but until then there’s plenty of life
left in Star Wars’ gaming galaxy,
through the way it’s experienced, adapted, enjoyed, and played out
by thousands of gamers worldwide
“Our games allow you to justify playing with toys and telling stories with them,” asserts Flugaur-Levitt
“People might grow up, but we retain our creative imagination Tabletop games let you express it.”
04 Imperial Assault is a head-to-head game of rebels versus the Empire.
05 Collectible dice-and-card-game Star Wars: Destiny pitches players into “What if” battles.
06 Miniature vehicles, starships, and characters play a big part in the appeal of tabletop games.
06
05
Trang 39Celebrating its 25th aniversary in 2019,
Star Wars Insider has long been the
go-to publication for fans eager to know
everything there is to know about the
galaxy-spanning saga created by George
Lucas in 1977
The latest volume in Titan Magazines’
The Best of Star Wars Insider series—
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy—takes
us back to where it began, with an
all-encompassing guide to the on-screen
and behind-the-scenes adventures of
Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han
Solo and their allies as they battle the
evil Empire in Star Wars: A New Hope
(1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980),
and Return of the Jedi (1983)
This fascinating collection featuresclassic interviews with members of thecast and crew of the originalStar Warstrilogy, including Mark Hamill, CarrieFisher, Anthony Daniels, Billy DeeWilliams, and Harrison Ford, offering
an insightful look at the making of themost iconic movie franchise of all-time
In-depth articles and essential triviaexamine key scenes in each movie,including rarely seen images from thecreation of the epic space fantasy thatchanged cinema forever
To be in with a chance of winning acopy of this fabulous book, all you need
to do is answer the followingStar Warstrivia question correctly:
www.titan-comics.com
© and TM 2019 Lucasfi lm Ltd All Rights Reserved
What was Luke going to pick up
at Tosche Station in Star Wars:
A New Hope ?
A) An Academy application form B) Some power converters C) A droid motivator
Send your answer to our regular email
or postal address (see ‘Contact Us’ on page 3), marked “ORIGINAL TRILOGY”
by April 30, 2019
Terms and conditions are available
at titanmagazines.com
May the Force be with you!
Back to the Beginning
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Trang 40AVAILABLE IN ALL GOOD BOOK STORES AND DIGITALLY AT
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