A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, Mike Austin asks: Why has Disney-owned Lucasfilm focused so much attention towards the time before Star Wars: Episode IV with all of their spin-off material? And here's my reply:  That’s not entirely accurate. But we’ll get to that in a bit. I’m not an employee at Lucasfilm Ltd., the folks at the creative end, nor am I privy to the corporate doings at The Walt Disney Company (other than those that we know about from reports in the media). Thus, any answer I give is purely speculative, though it’s based on observation of how the franchise has evolved since 1977. I think that Lucasfilm has chosen to focus on the period that leads up to the Galactic Civil War and the Battle of Yavin because, for many fans, that is  Star Wars.  The Rebel Alliance’s conflict against Emperor Palpatine’s New Order is what the Generation of 1977 grew up/grew old with, and even though the non-canonical Expanded Universe told one possible version of the aftermath of the Empire’s de

Cover art by Doug Wheatley. © 2014 Del Rey Books, an imprint of Random House, and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) A NEW DAWN For a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights brought peace and order to the Galactic Republic, aided by their connection to the mystical energy field known as the Force. But they were betrayed--and the whole galaxy has paid the price. It is the Age of the Empire. Now Emperor Palpatine, once chancellor of the Republic and secretly a Sith follower of the dark side of the Force, has brought his own peace and order to the galaxy. Peace, through brutal repression--and order, through increasing control of his subjects' lives. But even as the Emperor tightens his iron grip, others have begun to question his means and motives. And still others, whose lives were destroyed by Palpatine's machinations, lay scattered about the galaxy like unexploded bombs, waiting to go off.... - "Title Crawl" from John Jackson Miller's Star Wars; A

Cover art by Two Dots. (C) 2018 Del Rey Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  On July 24, Penguin Random House’s science fiction imprint Del Rey Books published Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances, the second canonical novel by Timothy Zahn that features the Hugo Award-winning author’s most famous character, Grand Admiral Thrawn. Set between Seasons Three and Four of Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn: Alliances is a sequel to 2017’s Star Wars: Thrawn, Zahn’s origins-of story that is partially based on details from the original Expanded Universe/Legends version of how an exiled Chiss military genius joined Emperor Palpatine’s New Order but was tweaked to consider the character’s canonical introduction as a Grand Admiral before the Battle of Yavin. As the book’s title and cover art by the Paris-based studio Two Dots suggest, Thrawn: Alliances is a story that is many a Star Wars reader’s dream-come-true: the joining of forces between Emperor Palpatine’s most powerful servants, Grand Admiral Thra

(C) Buena Vista Home Entertaiment/Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm Ltd.  On July 31, 2018, Buena Vista Home Entertainment – Walt Disney Studios’ home media distributor – released Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season Four on Blu-ray (two discs) and DVD (three discs). This 16-episode collection presents the fourth and final season of Lucasfilm Animation’s hit Disney XD show about the adventures of Ezra Bridger and the crew of the Ghost during the early years of the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire. As the Rebellion struggles against the might of the Empire, Ezra leads the 'Ghost' crew back to his home world to defeat the oppressive forces under the command of cunning Grand Admiral Thrawn. Old friends are reunited and new alliances are forged as the critically acclaimed series builds to a transformative conclusion that reveals our heroes' destinies. – Synopsis on the package, Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season Four Created by Dave Filoni ( Star

Cover art by Two Dots. (C) 2017 Del Rey Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On April 11, 2017, Del Rey Books, an imprint of Random House, published Timothy Zahn's canonical novel, Star Wars: Thrawn, the long-awaited origin story of one of the greatest villains ever created for the space-fantasy franchise set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away." Grand Admiral Thrawn was originally conceived by Zahn in the early Nineties when Lucasfilm and Bantam Spectra hired the Hugo Award-winning author to reboot the moribund Star Wars Expanded Universe. Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. the final chapter of George Lucas's storied trilogy, was only followed by a handful of Lando Calrissian novels set before Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope and a lackluster Marvel Comics line that ended publication in 1986. And with the long-rumored Prequel Trilogy apparently on permanent hold, it looked as though the franchise itself was in danger of dying. The publication

(C) 2015 Dorling Kindersley Limited and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) On April 28, 2015, Dorling Kindersley Limited's DK Books published Ultimate Star Wars, a large "coffee table" format visual encyclopedia which covers "characters, creatures, locations, technology, and vehicles" that have been depicted in the Star Wars saga in film and on television. Written by Ryder Windham, Adam Bray, Tricia Barr, and Daniel Wallace, this 320-page volume delves into the history of a certain galaxy far, far away across various time periods, including the decline of the Old Republic, the Clone Wars and the birth of the Galactic Empire, and the Galactic Civil War.  Ultimate Star Wars is a comprehensive, wonderfully detailed encyclopedia of the entire Star Wars galaxy that explores characters, creatures, locations, vehicles, technology, and more.  Reflecting the saga's epic scope, Ultimate Star Wars is structured chronologically from Episode I: The Phantom Menace