Star Wars Insider

EDITING INSIDER

A Force Reawakens was not yet booming, so printed
When it was announced that publications were really the first
and best source for scoops on the MAGIC
George Lucas was beginning work new films. Being able to share some MOMENTS
of the first photos from Star Wars:
on the Star Wars prequels, Madsen The Phantom Menace (1999) was The highlights
extremely exciting, because when a of editing Star
and Lucasfilm Licensing discussed new issue of the Insider would come Wars Insider.
out it set the fan world ablaze! I was
changing the name of the fan club. itching to get each issue out as fast as DAN MADSEN
we could.”
“Since the magazine was going “Rick McCallum invited me
For Madsen, it was a thrilling to Skywalker Ranch to see
to be in the trenches with news, time to find himself working at some of the early work they
the bright center of the Star Wars were doing for The Phantom
interviews, and firsthand accounts galaxy. “The period before The Menace—storyboards, art,
Phantom Menace opened was, maquettes, models of ships,
on the making of the films, we in my opinion, the most exciting and the like—so I had a good
time to be a Star Wars fan,” Madsen idea of the kinds of things
wanted to rebrand to reflect that,” asserts. “You have to remember, we I would be seeing when I
were ground zero for all things Star visited the set a year later.
says Madsen. “Prior to its Wars in those days. I was running When we were finally able
“I wanted fans release, Revenge the fan club, publishing Insider, to get on set and actually
to know that we managing the Jawa Trader catalog, see what George Lucas was
were the first and as well as creating our own exclusive working on, that was an
collectibles. And, on top of all amazing milestone for me.”
best place to get of the Sith was that, we created and produced the
inside coverage supposed to be the very first Star Wars Celebration in SCOTT
of the prequels, Denver, Colorado, in 1999. We felt CHERNOFF
very keenly the excitement swirling
for people who final movie in the around Star Wars at that time. It was “Don Bies let me operate the
wanted to be on remote control R2-D2 on the
set of Attack of the Clones
the ‘inside’ of the saga; and the in Australia, and I promptly
Star Wars world, adrenaline rush of crashed it into a wall. In my
and Lucasfilm defense, this was one of the
most complicated remote
agreed. So, from chaperoning the controls I’d ever seen.”
issue #23 we magazine at the
changed the time was exciting.” BRIAN J. ROBB
title to Star Wars
Insider, and we “Seeing George Lucas
directing Star Wars on set
delivered. In those BRETT RECTOR was something few people
days the internet not directly involved in
making the movies ever got
03 to experience. Watching
Christopher Lee as Count
Dooku pretending to fly his
speeder, while two guys
behind him flapped his cloak
with attached bits of string to
simulate wind, was fun!”

JONATHAN
WILKINS

“Interviews come in all
shapes and sizes, from sitting
with Dave Prowse in his
dining room as he talked
about the fact that he bought
his car second-hand from
Kenny Baker, to Warwick
Davis spending a day with
us in the office guest-editing
an issue of Insider and
making us roar with laughter.
Speaking to Mark Hamill
will always be my favorite
memory. I was nervous, but
within a few minutes it was
just like speaking with a very
enthusiastic older brother.”

50 / STAR WARS INSIDER

exhilarating to know we were on the “Star Wars Insider has
precipice of something really huge, played an enormously
and that Star Wars Insider was the big role in my life and
conduit for us to connect with the I am incredibly proud
fans and show them the amazing to have launched it.”
things they were about to see.”
DAN MADSEN
Inside Star Wars
04
Despite providing the beating heart
of the fan club, Madsen is the first 05 06
to admit he was no one-man band
when it came to putting Star Wars TV comedies Rick and Morty or 03 Connecting believe it existed. I bought it and
Insider together, bringing a team of BoJack Horseman, as the former with fans was thrilled to see that the editor-in-
multi-talented editors and writers writer and editor of Star Wars (and Moffs) chief was a guy named Jon Bradley
into the fold. Insider between 1996 and 2002 at Star Wars Snyder, who had previously put out
went on to write and perform for Celebration. an amazing fanzine called ‘Report
“I would speak with a those shows, and more. from the Star Wars Generation.’ One
considerable amount of people 04 Insider’s of the articles was written by Jamie
at Lucasfilm to decide which “I was a very young journalist founder, Painter, who was a colleague of
projects to cover, although it working at a weekly newspaper Dan Madsen. mine at the newspaper, so I brought
was really up to me as to what in Los Angeles, so I had some the magazine into work the next
made it into the magazine,” says credibility as a writer,” says 05 Madsen’s day and basically begged her to
Madsen. “Then I was very lucky Chernoff of how he first became cameo turn in put me in touch with Jon.”
to be introduced to Jon Bradley involved with the magazine. The Phantom
Snyder, who had a passion for Star “One day, I stumbled upon a Menace Chernoff’s first commission for
Wars and had published his own copy of Star Wars Insider at a (1999). Insider set the tone for his future
fanzine. I recognized in Jon that comic-book shop, and couldn’t work for the magazine, and his
he had all the right elements to be 06 Madsen with subsequent comedy career.
a fantastic editor for Insider, so he Kenny Baker
came onboard and really directed and R2-D2. “It was a fun article that turned
the editorial content from then out to be very funny,” says Chernoff.
on. He and I would sit down for “I was tasked to track down people
each issue and discuss ideas, but who had never seen Star Wars,
I gave the reins to Jon and he did which in pre-social media days
not disappoint. His work, along was actually quite difficult, but
with that of Scott Chernoff, was I found a few and the interviews
cutting edge and really creative. were hilarious—especially when
We did features in the magazine I asked the people to describe what
that you would not see in any other they thought the movies were
publication. I was always impressed about, based on what they had
with and proud of the coverage we gleaned from pop culture. I always
were sending out to Star Wars fans considered myself a comedy guy
all over the world.” who had an amazing day job

Scott Chernoff’s name should be
familiar to fans of anarchic animated

STAR WARS INSIDER / 51

EDITING INSIDER

writing about Star Wars, so whenever 07 08
I saw an opportunity to bring humor
to the magazine, I jumped at it. The in 2001 when Dan Madsen 07 Scott Wizards of the Coast published 11
key to making that happen was the decided it was time to move Chernoff. issues of Star Wars Insider before
leadership of Jon Bradley Snyder and on, although he found it hard the magazine moved first to Paizo
Dan Madsen. Together, they gave me to step away from his passion 08 Jonathan Publishing in 2002, and then to
a ton of freedom and trusted me to project. “I had worked hard Wilkins. IDG Entertainment in 2004 with
walk the line between being funny to build the fan club and the issue #77. Incoming editor Brett
and not doing anything mean to the magazine into something quite 09 Brian J. Robb Rector admits he felt the weight of
movies or the fans.” worthwhile, and Star Wars was (center) on expectation on his shoulders. “It was
such a huge part of my life. It the set of such an honor, but at the same time
Chernoff took over from Snyder was a part of my identity,” he Star Wars: it was very intimidating,” he says.
as Managing Editor from issue #37, says. “But the time was right, Attack of
and found himself caught up in a and we had to get them both into the Clones Rector was writing and editing
whirlwind of opportunity. “One the hands of someone who could (2002). videogame manuals for LucasArts
of the many perks was that I got help them grow even bigger.” when he was approached by
to assign who wrote which article, IDG about taking on the Insider
so of course I assigned myself all Along with taking over the editorship. “I was contacted by
the good ones. Sorry, everyone running of the official fan club, a former boss of mine, Creative
else!” Chernoff laughs. “I was just Director Francis Mao, asking if
a fan who knew how to write, and I wanted to become the editor-
suddenly I was traveling all around in-chief of Star Wars Insider.
and interviewing stars, being one Francis knew of my love for Star
of the only people in the world Wars and felt I would be the ideal
to read The Phantom Menace choice to helm the magazine.”
screenplay and know all the secrets
long before it came out, going to With Star Wars: Revenge of the
Australia to be on the set of Star Sith (2005) about to bring a close to
Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002). the Star Wars saga (for a few years,
Right place, right time. I still can’t at least), Rector soon found himself
believe it happened.” in the thick of it. “We definitely
needed to get up to speed quickly,”
Copy Approved he recalls. “When I came into the
role, we were roughly one year out
Over the course of its 200-issue from Sith’s release, so immediately
history, Star Wars Insider has fallen we looked to run interviews
under the stewardship of several from the cast and crew. One of
publishers. Wizards of the Coast the regular features that had run
became the magazine’s new home through the magazine since The
Phantom Menace was The Prequel
09 Update, in which producer Rick
McCallum would give an update

52 / STAR WARS INSIDER

EDITING INSIDER

on the production of each movie. 10 Beginning life as The Lucasfilm Fanclub Magazine “Star Wars Insider
Absolutely one of the best parts of (issue #1 pictured above), Star Wars Insider had several has always been
my job was the trip I regularly made publishers before finding a home at Titan Magazines. a great package of
to Skywalker Ranch to meet and exclusive content
speak with Rick. To take that to its and brilliant design.”
conclusion was really special. We
also covered the second season of BRIAN J. ROBB
Genndy Tartakovsky’s The Clone
Wars animated show, which ran Insider,” says Robb. “If there was
on Cartoon Network. So, in a one subject that had many, many
time where things were seemingly pages devoted to it in the web’s
winding down with Star Wars, there early years, it was Star Wars ! Our
was still a ton happening.” advantage was that we had access
to lots of material that other people
Fast forward to the present day simply could not get at.”
and Rector is still involved with
Insider, now as a key member of The online competition was
Lucasfilm Publishing’s editorial something that also vexed the
team that supports the magazine’s magazine’s longest running editor,
current publisher, Titan. From that Jonathan Wilkins. “There is always
perspective, what does he think are something going on in the world of
the key elements that have seen Star Wars,” he says. “Could we beat
Star Wars Insider survive and thrive the internet to big stories? Not every
despite its changes in stewardship? time, but we certainly tried!”
“It’s amazing to me how much
fresh, compelling content continues Wilkins was always keen to set
to be generated issue by issue,” he Insider apart from other outlets
says, adding that every editor has through the depth of its content.
“continually given respect to the “I always wanted to make Insider
source material, and striven to make more accessible and broader in
each issue better than the last.” terms of appeal,” he says. “Star
Wars isn’t a cult thing. Star Wars
A Galaxy Across The Pond is for everybody, and we could see
that in the letters we received and
Titan Magazines became the the reaction we had from fans at
publisher of Star Wars Insider in conventions. It’s something that
2007, but the company already had unifies people no matter the gender,
a long association with Lucasfilm, no matter the age or background.”
stretching back to 1996 when the
first issue of Star Wars: The Official In that regard, Star Wars Insider
Magazine went on sale in the U.K. has retained the original goals set
Initially edited by John Freeman and out by Dan Madsen 200 issues ago,
then Marcus Hearn, Brian J. Robb to offer fans the official inside track
took charge of the U.K.-produced on new developments in the saga.
magazine from 1999 and oversaw
its transition to Star Wars Insider. “I took great pride in sharing my
love of Star Wars with fans all over
“The rule was that for each the world in Insider,” says Madsen.
issue of our magazine we would “I have such amazing memories
originate about 20 percent of our of the dedication that went into
content, and the remainder would making each one. Equally, I take
be reprints of material from the U.S. pride in each issue that comes out
Insider,” Robb explains. “Lucasfilm from Titan, to see how the magazine
saw that we were more than capable has evolved and survived all these
of producing Insider, so Titan was years to reach its 200th issue. Back
eventually given the opportunity to in 1987, I would’ve been amazed
originate the magazine for the U.S.” that that first issue would spawn
199 more, and still be going strong
Meanwhile, the publishing world today. I feel like a proud parent!”
was changing, and print media had
a new enemy. “Competing with
the internet became an increasing
issue across my time on Star Wars

STAR WARS INSIDER / 53

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GIVEAWAY

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The Mandalorian have joined the ranks, herself—and a deadly foe in the form of Send your answer to our regular email
and, thanks to our friends at Hasbro, the Incinerator Trooper with his deadly or postal address (see ‘Contact Us’ on
Star Wars Insider has a set of three flame projector, as seen in the climactic page 3), marked “THIS IS THE WIN!” by
figures to give away. episodes of Season One. MARCH 22, 2021.

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___ PI[JZW KWU

© and TM 2021 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 55



THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

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WO R D S : K RI S T I N BAV E R

t’s impossible Now, at long last fans can enjoy
the emotional conclusion the way it
I to adequately was meant to be experienced, in the
describe the form of twelve full-length episodes.
elation that Told over three distinct story arcs,
erupted inside the final season of the hit animated
the room at San series brought us closure and fresh
Diego Comic-Con in 2018 on the heartbreak as Anakin Skywalker’s
day that Lucasfilm announced former Padawan, Ahsoka Tano,
plans to bring back Star Wars: The made her triumphant return to
Clone Wars (2008-14, 2020) for its action, and the events of the show
long-awaited conclusion. For years, collided with Star Wars: Revenge of
supervising director Dave Filoni the Sith (2005) and the execution of
could only hint at the stories he Order 66.
had hoped to tell to close out the
animated series, with animatics With the entire series available
and sketchbook pages filling in to stream on Disney+, we revisit
some of the gaps left by the untold the dramatic events that unfold
heroics of the Bad Batch and the during Star Wars: The Clone Wars
events of the Siege of Mandalore. Season Seven!

THE CLONE WARS SEASON 7

A R C I : ENTER THE BAD BATCH

Executive producer and supervising director Dave Filoni had previously released the unfinished animatic for the Bad Batch
story after The Clone Wars was originally cancelled. At the time, the tale of Clone Force 99 wasn’t intended to be part of the
final season of the show, and Filoni never expected to get the chance to tell their story.

EPISODE 1 99—aren’t uniform copies. Thanks EPISODE 2
to desirable mutations and defects,
THE BAD BATCH the experimental unit consists of A DISTANT ECHO
the cunning sergeant Hunter, the
Written by: Brent Friedman hulking Wrecker, the technology Written by: Brent Friedman,
guru Tech, and the precise
and Matt Michnovetz sharpshooter Crosshair. They Matt Michnovetz, and Dave Filoni
call themselves the Bad Batch.
Directed by: Kyle Dunlevy Directed by: Steward Lee
Using their unique skills and
„ On the planet Anaxes, a series of military strategies that are anything „ After Anakin Skywalker checks
Republic defeats suggests that the but by the book, the Bad Batch is in with his secret wife Padmé
Separatists have somehow gained able to break into the command Amidala, hard at work in the
possession of a top-secret military center. But what they find isn’t a Galactic Senate while the Jedi is
algorithm, a playbook that allows computer program. It’s a live signal away on the Outer Rim sieges,
them to flawlessly predict every beamed from the planet Skako the general leads his clones on
move the Jedi and their clone Minor, containing the ghostly voice the mission to Skako Minor. After
army will make on the battlefield. of Captain Rex’s fallen comrade smoothing things over with the
With the help of the elite squad Echo, long thought dead on a native Poletecs, who fear that the
known as Clone Force 99, Captain mission to the Citadel. Republic troopers and the presence
Rex leads a mission to infiltrate a of a Separatist base mean their
Separatist cyber center. Unlike their planet is about to be embroiled in
clone brothers, Clone Force 99— the Clone War, they head for the
named in honor of the fallen Clone capital city of Purkoll, from which
Echo’s signal is emanating. Along
the way, Captain Rex struggles
with the hope that his friend
might still be alive and the very
real possibility that the whole
thing is simply a Separatist trap.

The stealth mission goes awry
once they reach the Separatist
tower, but the team is ultimately
able to breach the doors to uncover
a gruesome discovery. As Wat
Tambor says, Echo’s mind belongs
to the Separatists. Inside a stasis
chamber, what’s left of the clone
lies entombed, a twisted snare
of cables tethering his nervous
system to the Separatist network.
His lower half has been completely
replaced by machinery, as well as
what used to be his right arm. Once
he’s awoken, Rex tries to soothe
his friend, who has no memory
of what’s transpired since he was
trying to escape from the Citadel
with the rest of his squadron.

58 / STAR WARS INSIDER

THE CLONE WARS SEASON 7

EPISODE 3

ON THE WINGS OF KEERADAKS

Written by: Brent Friedman and Matt
Michnovetz / Directed by: Bosco Ng
„ Although the Separatists gained access to
Echo’s higher brain functions and memories,
the time he spent patched into their network
also gave him detailed blueprints and other
intel from their databanks. Using what he
knows, the newly rescued clone is able to
help his friends escape as Wat Tambor and
more battle droids close in on their location.
Stranded outside on a narrow pipe, with
droid forces closing in on both sides, Tech is
able to broadcast the distress call of the native
Poletec’s flying creatures, the keeradaks, and
the beasts swoop in to help.

The rescue brings the Poletec chief’s fears
to fruition, as the Separatists attack the village
to recover their valuable experiment, but
Anakin and the clones join forces with the
natives to send the battle droids into retreat.

EPISODE 4

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Written by: Brent Friedman and Matt Michnovetz / Directed by: Brian Kalin O’Connell
„ Back on Fort Anaxes, Echo helps the Jedi masters Mace Windu and Obi-Wan Kenobi
come up with a plan to retake the assembly complex now that Admiral Trench can no
longer predict their every move. In a daring infiltration of Trench’s dreadnought, Echo
returns behind enemy lines to plug into the Separatist communication network. By
intercepting a request, Echo is able to ensure Trench commands all available battle droids
to the assembly complex where the Jedi and a small number of clones are holding down a
defense. Then, with a single feedback pulse, Echo brings down every battle droid in sight!

Unfortunately for the Republic, Admiral Trench, ever the cunning tactician, has a
backup plan: a bomb. Echo is able to access most of the deactivation code, which Mace
Windu inputs through a ray shield using the Force, but when Echo is silenced by a
jamming signal, it’s up to Anakin to finish the job and convince Trench to give him
the final number through aggressive negotiation tactics.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 59

THE CLONE WARS SEASON 7

A R C I I : AHSOKA’S RETURN

The last time fans saw Ahsoka Tano in The Clone Wars, she was walking away from the
Jedi Order and everything she knew. To reintroduce the character, episode director Saul
Ruiz said it was important to keep that fresh betrayal in mind. “She begins her journey
still a little wounded and feeling abandoned. She hasn’t really been on her own before,
and she doesn’t really know if she fits in anywhere after leaving the Jedi Order,” he said.
And the sisters she meets on Level 1313 give the former Jedi a crash course in how the
average citizens have experienced the war, and how they see the Jedi. “I wanted to show
that in many ways the Jedi are out of touch with people,” Filoni said. “They don’t even
realize that most of what they’re doing isn’t helping the average person.”

EPISODE 5

GONE WITH A TRACE

Written by: Dave Filoni and Charles Murray
Directed by: Saul Ruiz and Kyle Dunlevy
„ Out on her own after walking away from the
Jedi Order, Ahsoka Tano finds herself crash-
landing on a platform far below Coruscant’s
surface. There she meets Trace Martez, a mechanic
who offers to help fix her wrecked speeder bike,
and gives her a fresh perspective on how the Jedi
and the war are perceived by people like her and
her sister, Rafa. Unlike the innocent Trace, Ahsoka
soon discovers Rafa is involved in the seedy
underworld and owes some thugs a debt, which
she plans to pay off by repairing some load lifter
droids that wreak havoc on Level 1313.

EPISODE 6

DEAL NO DEAL

Written by: Dave Filoni and Charles Murray

Directed by: Nathaniel Villanueva

and Steward Lee

„ Aboard the Martez sisters’ ship, the Silver Angel,
Ahsoka joins her new friends on a mysterious
mission to Kessel. Rafa claims they’ve been hired
to pick up medicine, but Ahsoka is all-too-aware
of the illegal dealings that take place on the
notorious spice-mining world. The shipment of
spice soon takes them to Oba Diah to meet with
the leader of the Pyke Syndicate. Fearing that
they’re in over their heads and that crime boss
Marg Krim will take her ship, Trace makes the
rash decision to jettison the spice while traveling
through hyperspace. Upon arrival, Ahsoka uses a
Jedi mind trick to convince the gangsters that they
don’t need to inspect the cargo, paying the spice
runners for empty crates and allowing them to fly
off. But when the ruse is discovered, the Pykes lock
onto the Silver Angel with a tractor beam and pull
them back in.

60 / STAR WARS INSIDER

THE CLONE WARS SEASON 7

EPISODE 7 make a break for it and find Trace in the midst REVENGE
of her own scheme; but before the trio can make OF THE
DANGEROUS DEBT it back to their ship, the Pykes catch up to the SITH
fugitives and only Ahsoka is able to evade them.
Written by: Dave Filoni and Charles Murray Although she’s no longer a Jedi, the Togruta’s Watching the final
good heart won’t allow her to leave the sisters in story arc in Star
Directed by: Saul Ruiz and Bosco Ng the lurch. She grabs a new speeder to double-back Wars: The Clone
to rescue Trace and Rafa before they’re executed Wars casts Star
„ Inside a Pyke holding cell, Ahsoka begins on the docks. Her heroics are short-lived, Wars: Revenge
to hint at her Jedi training, a secret she’s however, as all three soon find themselves of the Sith in an
concealed from the Martez sisters. But they’re right where they started, inside the Pyke prison. entirely new light.
not impressed; they blame the Jedi for a chase During Ahsoka’s
on Coruscant that resulted in the sudden side quest, Maul’s
death of their parents and left them to fend for capture becomes
themselves. After Rafa is tortured, she and Ahsoka even more vital for
the Jedi to unravel
the Sith plot after
Anakin kills Dooku.
But between
Obi-Wan confiding
in Ahsoka about
his worries over
her former master,
Maul’s obsession
over Skywalker,
and the ripple
through the Force
that flattens
Ahsoka as Anakin
turns, we begin to
see the events of
the film with even
more nuance than
before. And, of
course, watching
Ahsoka and Rex go
through Order 66
is heart-wrenching,
especially in the
context of similar
betrayals taking
hold of the galaxy
at large.

EPISODE 8

TOGETHER AGAIN

Written by: Dave Filoni and Charles Murray

Directed by: Nathaniel Villanueva

„ Using herself as bait, Ahsoka cuts a deal to let the
sisters go free while she remains the Pyke’s prisoner until
they return with the shipment. Once the Martez sisters
escape, Ahsoka uses the Force to free herself from her
cell and gets to work placing explosives around the
complex. When she stumbles upon a conversation
between Marg Krim and Maul, she runs a trace on the
communication and realizes the former Sith Lord is
on Mandalore. In the meantime, the Martez sisters
launch their own cunning plan to trick a refinery into
giving them a new shipment of spice to exchange for
Ahsoka’s life. With Ahsoka’s Jedi past revealed and the
Pykes prepared to kill them all, the reunited friends
make one final and daring escape from Oba Diah.
But back on Coruscant, they’re tracked by an old foe,
Bo-Katan Kryze, who has come to ask Ahsoka for her
help in fighting their common enemy.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 61

THE CLONE WARS SEASON 7

ARC III: EPISODE 10
THE SIEGE OF MANDALORE
THE PHANTOM APPRENTICE
“I’ve always been interested in having the end of The Clone Wars series coincide with
events of Revenge of the Sith,” Filoni has said of the epic finale that reunited Ahsoka and Written by: Dave Filoni
Captain Rex just before the tragedy of Order 66. “There was a responsibility to tell the end
of their story and then hand off Anakin and Obi-Wan to their proper conclusion, which Directed by: Nathaniel Villanueva
was in the film.” Another prequel-trilogy connection took place behind-the-scenes, as
storytellers brought back the original Darth Maul, Ray Park from Star Wars: The Phantom „ Ensnared in his trap, Maul—who
Menace (1999), to perform motion-capture fight choreography for the episode “The was expecting his old nemesis, Obi-
Phantom Apprentice.” Wan Kenobi—confides in Ahsoka
that soon the Sith Lord Darth
For Filoni, the final chapter is bittersweet. Throughout the series, he strove to tell stories Sidious will control the entire
that were filled with adventure, optimism, and hope, yet the final chapter is anything but galaxy. His confession makes it
hopeful. “I always knew the end of the show was going to be difficult, because it doesn’t imperative that he be captured alive
end on the most uplifting of notes. But it’s how this part of the story has to go. It’s what if the Republic hopes to unravel
happens to the galaxy.” The intensity and reality of executing Order 66 on the show also the Sith plot, as Anakin has killed
put Filoni in a conundrum as to how Ahsoka would handle such an obstacle, while also the Separatist leader Count Dooku
being mindful of the younger viewers. He was careful to ensure that Ahsoka emerged from while rescuing Supreme Chancellor
the final battle with her convictions and her morality intact. Palpatine. While Ahsoka tries to
make sense of Maul’s role and
EPISODE 9 orange and white facial markings separate the facts from his deceit,
to pay their respects. And Ahsoka Almec is assassinated. As Bo-
OLD FRIENDS is reunited with her lightsabers. Katan tends to the last stage of
the battle embroiling the city and
NOT FORGOTTEN But before they can agree to the Mandalorians make their last
help Ahsoka, the Jedi are called stand, the leaders of Maul’s crime
Written by: Dave Filoni into action to defend the capital of syndicates scurry into hiding.
Coruscant. Anakin agrees to split
Directed by: Saul Ruiz his forces and send half, led by Inside the throne room,
the newly promoted Commander Ahsoka and Maul have their final
„ In the wake of the Battle of Rex, with Ahsoka and Bo-Katan to showdown, clashing sabers as Maul
Yerbana, Anakin Skywalker and Mandalore so as not to completely reveals his true plan. Believing
Obi-Wan Kenobi return to their Jedi abandon them in their hour of Anakin Skywalker to be Darth
command ship to find a surprising need. On the ground, Bo-Katan Sidious’ new apprentice, Maul
message—a hologram of Ahsoka and Ahsoka fight valiantly, backed plotted to draw Skywalker out
Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze. The by their reinforcements and to destroy him. In desperation,
Mandalorian doesn’t have the Mandalorian loyalists, against Gar Maul asks Ahsoka to join forces
numbers required for a full-scale Saxon and the warriors who work before he’s ultimately captured
siege of the city of Sundari, so she for the crooked Prime Minister by Commander Rex, who comes
and Anakin’s former student have Almec. Deep underground, Ahsoka to Ahsoka’s rescue rather than
come to beg for the Republic’s follows Saxon into the tunnels in allowing Maul to fall to his demise.
military assistance. It’s an awkward pursuit of Maul, while Bo-Katan
reunion for the estranged master takes on Almec in the throne room.
and apprentice, but the clones of
the 501st are excited to have Ahsoka
back, even painting their helmets
in a crude approximation of her

62 / STAR WARS INSIDER





THE CLONE WARS SEASON 7

EPISODE 11 of the Jedi Order, her friend turns EPISODE 12
his blasters on her, and gives the
SHATTERED order for his men to find Maul and VICTORY AND DEATH
end his life as well.
Written by: Dave Filoni Written by: Dave Filoni
After freeing Maul to serve as Directed by: Nathaniel Villanueva
Directed by: Saul Ruiz a diversion, Ahsoka enlists three „ With Rex on her side, Ahsoka and
loyal astromechs who help her her friend try to find a means of
„ After the successful Siege of to make sense of something Rex escaping the cruiser, now crawling
Mandalore, Ahsoka and Rex take was muttering about the fallen with clones intent on killing every
Maul, encased in an ancient clone trooper known as Fives. In last Force-wielder. Meanwhile,
holding cell designed to restrict a password-protected file, Ahsoka Maul stalks in the shadows, killing
Force-wielders, back to Coruscant learns of an earlier inhibitor chip everyone in his path and crippling
on a Republic cruiser. But the dark malfunction that led to the clone the hyperdrive generators, which
side of the Force is stronger than trooper Tup executing his Jedi sends the craft plummeting
ever, puzzlingly centered around general, and an account from Rex toward a nearby moon. True to the
Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, and who watched his friend Fives die teachings of the Jedi, Ahsoka has
the Jedi sense a plot to destroy the after he uncovered the truth. Intent no intention of killing the clone
Order. Once in hyperspace, Ahsoka on helping her comrade avoid the troopers who have turned their
is staggered by a disturbance in the same fate, Ahsoka and the droids blasters on her, instead hoping to
Force and a feeling of impending stun Rex and take him to a medical escape on a smaller craft before
doom surrounding her old master. bay where she uses the Force to the cruiser crashes. To get into
As she rushes to find Rex, she help locate the inhibitor chip and the hangar, Rex leads Ahsoka into
catches the end of his briefing with remove it from his brain. the mass of soldiers claiming to
a hologram of a cloaked Palpatine have captured Tano, but arguing
executing Order 66. With those As the other brainwashed that she’s no longer a Jedi so the
three words, the ship is thrust into clones close in, blasters firing, Rex order doesn’t apply to her. During
chaos as the loyal Republic clone awakens and ends the firefight in the ruse, Maul successfully steals
troopers, like their brothers across Ahsoka’s defense. the ship Ahsoka had planned to
the galaxy, turn on the Jedi. Even commandeer for herself and she
though Ahsoka is no longer a part and Rex are forced to formulate
a new plan.

In a daring escape, Rex hops
into the cockpit of a Y-wing bomber
and Ahsoka uses her Force skills
to navigate her descent through
the atmosphere and a sea of fiery
wreckage, and finally into the
gunner seat of the small craft,
before the cruiser crashes to the
surface. In the aftermath of these
horrifying events, Ahsoka and Rex
mourn the fallen clones, burying
their dead. Ahsoka leaves behind
a single lightsaber hilt, a relic that
will be discovered sometime in
the future by the Emperor’s new
enforcer, Darth Vader.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 63

INTERVIEW: IRA KEELER

FmbOoaZorWcmdk]eeVolrmLnIJanhZkdMiseIur2SsI0tQVrr-iayOae lKMaL‫ٺ‬reiMegcKlhae\r[tre &KleoWroMUaktsXatIghVieca

W ORDS: M IC HA EL KOGGE

W ITH TH AN KS TO PE TER ORR

he speeder bikes

T and scout trooper
costumes in Star
Wars: Return of

the Jedi (1983);

the destroyer

droids in Star Wars: The Phantom

Menace (1999); the DeLorean

time travel machine in Back to

the Future (1985); the German

zeppelin Luxembourg in The

Rocketeer (1991)—these are but a

few of the iconic models, props,

and costumes that Ira Keeler had

a hand in making for some of the

biggest blockbusters of all time.

Despite his historic contributions

to film, this humble modelmaker

from Vacaville, California never

dreamed of working in the movies.

Ira Keeler considered himself just

another hobbyist who loved to build

miniature airplanes and rockets in

his spare time. But his craftmanship

eventually led him to 20-year career

at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM).

Born in 1940 to a homemaker

mother and a machinist father,

Ira Keeler was one of seven

children. He grew up in the little

mining community of La Grange,

California, just east of George Lucas’

hometown of Modesto. To amuse 01

64 / STAR WARS INSIDER

INTERVIEW: IRA KEELER

01 Ira Keeler (pictured bottom
right) made the helmet and
body parts for the biker scout
costume, based on concept art
by Nilo Rodis-Jamero.

STAR WARS INSIDE

INTERVIEW: IRA KEELER

himself and his large family, he and found employment in the 02
found a way to make his own toys. nascent cable television business,
“Up in the attic, I found an old while pursuing modelmaking on Movies had never held much
model airplane kit that my brother the side. It was then that he made interest to Keeler. “I hadn’t even
must have been working on. It had a connection that would change seen the first Star Wars, to tell you
some leftover pieces in it,” Keeler his life. the truth, I was just involved in
says. “I got that out and started model airplanes and flying combat
playing with it and a razor blade. Chocks Away models.” But Fulmer’s job sounded
I made little model planes with little so amazing that Keeler was keen to
tiny wings. From there, I just made When Mike Fulmer, a designer of join his friend and turn his hobby
all sorts of toys and things, carving custom autos and a professional into a career. Fulmer recommended
model cars out of wood.” modelmaker for aviation firms Keeler to his bosses and Keeler
and museums, read a magazine began to take on freelance work,
Life wasn’t just making models article profiling Keeler’s specially including building parts for the Pan
in the attic, however. On Friday and made propellers for flying model American seaplane that transports
Saturday nights in the late 1950s, airplanes, “He contacted me Indiana Jones off on his adventures
Keeler would drive to Modesto for and sent me a sketch for a little in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).
“Draggin’ Tenth.” This was teen propeller. I made it for him and Eventually those engagements led
slang at the time for the cruising he was impressed.” Keller says. So to full-time employment at ILM
and drag-racing that happened impressed that Fulmer travelled to and Keeler joined the company
on Modesto’s Tenth Street, which Vacaville to meet Keeler in person, in 1981. “George Lucas had to get
George Lucas memorialized in his and the two formed an immediate going on Return of the Jedi, and
film American Graffiti (1973). “It friendship based on respect for each ILM was totally jammed with E.T.
was just cars from all around,” Keeler other’s talents. From then on Keeler the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and
recalls, “just like in the movie.” assisted Fulmer on his projects. Poltergeist (1982),” says Keeler. “I
went in to meet Pete Ronzoni and
After a stint in the Air Force after “I did a lot of pattern work for Dick David, and they were blown
high school, Keeler worked in both him. He was making scale model away by my work. They couldn’t
the civil service and at the Boeing airplanes. Beautiful work,” Keeler believe it—and they taught pattern
plant in Everett, Washington says. “One of the best modelmakers making and vacuum forming down
where he helped build the first in the world. And then he was at San Jose State as professors!”
747 airplanes. In the 1970s, Keeler hired by ILM to work on Star Wars:
returned to Northern California The Empire Strikes Back (1980).” The Daily Commute

[E-ũ2ŏKMş 7Q 8 J%ţŭşM2SIŢ1 ŧWM 8 X ůG,P%Š)Vŭ Q)Z -3ũM şNKI9 Ũ0Ů TXS0 (ŨŜŠREP)( ŮŞŠ E; %6ŤŮŧXP ,3 ŮŰPXS-ů 6ŪXůJ0WŠ Ų Ū8SJŤR3ů=şS Ő=Ů At first, Keeler worked out of his
home shop in Vacaville until ILM
made room in their San Rafael
studio space. The commute from

03

04

MODELLING MALAKILI

Keeler’s two decade tenure at ILM didn’t just

Vacaville to San Rafael and back made from a piece of plastic from involve making models—at times he was called
was around 100 miles, but Keeler a model kit, a motorcycle head fin, on to be a model himself. For Return of the Jedi,
didn’t mind because he loved the and the nozzle of a kitchen faucet. the costume makers based in the U.S. needed
work. “We ended up with a little We made a mold and cast copies someone who could try on the costume for the
shop in Phil Tippett’s area,” he out of urethane, which were glued rancor keeper (later christened Malakili), and
recalls of his first months at ILM. into the opening in the nose.” Keeler fit both the bill and the grubby garments.
“Our job was to create the biker
scout, and that’s where I started Keeler worked through the “I wasn’t in the movie, they just wanted
making parts for the patterns for someone to put it on so they could take a
vacuum forming. I did the helmet picture,” Keeler remembers. “They shipped
and a lot of the body parts, and the the photo over to England, so the costume
gun and holster.” department over there could see how it

Keeler relied on concept artist winter of 1981-82 on the biker was supposed to look when they put in on
Nilo Rodis-Jamero’s concept scout costume and props, then the actor.”
sketches for the biker scout, also
known as the Imperial scout moved over to the model shop to
trooper. The helmet was cast
out of ABS plastic so it could be build the speeder bike miniatures
lightweight. Keeler devised the
detailing for the helmet, such as with Mike Fulmer and Mike
the breathing filter. “That was
Cochrane. Though life-sized 02 Time out available, the modelmakers
speeder bike props were for Keeler crafted scaled down miniatures
used for filming much of the at ILM. using measurements from one of

highspeed chase through the 03 Ira Keeler the full-sized props. Keeler also
forests of Endor’s moon, ILM at work in detailed the Luke, Leia, and scout
needed smaller-scale models the ILM trooper puppets that rode the
model shop.

for the shots where the riders 04 The speeder bikes, referring to his patterns for
made abrupt banking turns bike models the biker-scout costume as a guide

or moves. With no blueprints were scaled to create the parts at 1/12th scale.
down from These 30-inch long models with
the full-size accompanying riders remain some
prop.

05 Keeler of Keeler’s favorite endeavors on
detailed the the Star Wars movies.
miniature
figures for After working on the speeder
the speeder bikes and the scale figures, Ira
bike models. was assigned to build one of the

desert skiffs, and then assist on

Jabba’s sail barge. For the scene

in Return of the Jedi where the

vessel explodes, ILM decided to

shoot a model of the barge on the

roof of the main studio in San

Rafael, in lieu of going to the

05

STAR WARS INSIDER / 67

INTERVIEW: IRA KEELE

Yuma desert in Arizona. The crew

DUCKING poured sand across the roof and the
FOR COVER
barge sat on solenoids that were
Eagle-eyed guests who
enjoyed the original Star set with pyrotechnics. When the
Tours attraction might
remember a mustached man pyrotechnics exploded, the barge
in the spaceport control room
who dives for cover at the would drop and appear to lose its
very end of the ride. That
man was none other than Ira ability to hover. To capture the
Keeler, and his starring role
was a case of being in the moment, the crew used an ultra
right place at the right time.
high-speed camera designed for the
ILM had been working on
the effects for the attraction military. “It sounded like a turbine.
for a year when Keeler and
Star Tours director Dennis It just rang,” Keeler remembers.
Muren traveled to Southern
California to survey the work In addition to the models, Keeler
of Disney’s Imagineers at
W.E.D., the Walter E. Disney helped make the Ewok weapons
Studios where many famous
Disney attractions were that Rodis-Jamero had sketched,
brought to life.
working on spears, arrows, bows,
“We went down to
get the scoop on the clubs, sticks, and even the rocks that
StarSpeeder 3000,” says
Keeler, who wasn’t expecting the Ewoks tossed at stormtroopers. 06
to end up on camera. “At
some point they said, ‘Ira, Broomsticks and ABS plastic pipe
we’ve got a deal for you,’
and they took Dennis and me served as the base materials for
over to an area where they’d
fixed up this little booth with the spears and clubs, while the 06 The Ewoks the modelmakers only built two.
some stuff on the wall. It bows and arrows were crafted were armed One had fin-like wings and the
looked like a control room.” from dowels and cedar arrow with weapons other was larger and rounder. The
blanks. Silicone rubber replaced and rocks modelmakers merely redressed and
This was a set that would sharp stone and wood to make made by repainted these two cruisers into
eventually be composited the arrowheads, boulders, and Keeler and different versions to bulk up the
into the very sequence that slingstones. Keeler also added the ILM rebel fleet.
the ILMers were working on. model
“They gave me a clipboard makers. The modelmakers based their
and a headset, and I wore creation on a 16-inch maquette,
this shirt with a tag that said rubber to the Mandalorian 07 Jabba’s sail sculpted by Lorne Peterson. “I
‘Bob’ on it,” Keeler laughs. helmet and armor worn by the barge met started out with three big blocks of
“So, I got in there, and went stuntman for the scene in which a fiery end basswood,” Keeler recalls. “Those
through the routine of diving Boba Fett tumbled off the skiff, on the roof were split from bottom to top, and
under the table, and that’s to cushion any impacts. of ILM in then shaped. Then I made these
what they used!” San Rafael. little bumps from pieces of battered
wood, which were long with round
Gone Surfing 07 points on the end. I made those
in all different shapes and sizes,
The Mon Calamari star cruiser— vacuum formed them, and started
or what Keeler and his colleagues to add them onto the ship. When
referred to as, “the pickle ship,” that was all set up as a pattern,
because of its resemblance to a a mold was made and then the
brined cucumber—was among the miniature was cast out of fiberglass
most challenging miniatures built so it would be clear. I drilled little
for Return of the Jedi. But although holes in the paint for the windows,
the climatic space battle features a so the light from a neon bulb inside
number of Mon Calamari cruisers, would show through. By the time
we were done, the model was eight
feet long, so I had to sit it on two
garbage cans to work on it. It was
a big, big job.”

At one point, executive producer
George Lucas visited the model
shop to see how the cruiser was
progressing. “I had a piece of wood
laid out to cut it down and shape it,
and George said, ‘Are you making
a surfboard?’” Keeler laughs at the
memory. “Yeah, pretty much yeah,
I was!”

08

ŏSMQ8M9 %L%ů%Ŧũ8Mş2ŪHŢ%'ŢŰ%ITX3-ŠWŭŤXG9K)ŭ)şSSJW&*;%Ū[ŤũEH 63%ŌŪşEũH#ŭHōŐIŧEŮŴ-LşS%9ūI

Lucas returned when Keeler was to the Future, and Jurassic Park
busy adding the bumpy “pickle
warts” he’d crafted to the exterior (1993). This period witnessed
of the cruiser—the type of detailing
that ILM modelmakers called the rise of computer-generated
“greebles.” Lucas brought with
him concept artist Joe Johnston, effects, which became ILM’s bread
who had designed the cruiser, and
modelshop supervisor Peterson. and butter. Despite advances in
“George was moving some of the
greebles around, placing them digital techniques, modelmaking
where he thought they might go.
And then Joe came over and he remained, “pretty much the same
moved them around, saying where
he’d like them. And then Lorne thing,” according to Keeler. When
said he’d like to see some of them
go over here and over there... he began working on the N-1
‘Oh, brother,’ I thought, ‘What
am I gonna do?!’ In the end, I just Naboo starfighter model for The
decided I was going to put them
wherever I could figure out,” Phantom Menace, Keeler had to 09
Keeler chuckles.
create a wooden master of the ship
Trusted Techniques
from drawings, using the same city set on Star Wars: Attack of
During decade-and-a-half the Clones (2002), decided it was
between Jedi and The Phantom methods he’d employed more than time to stop making the daily
Menace, ILM deployed Keeler’s 100-mile commute from Vacaville
modelmaking skills on other a decade earlier for Jedi. The same that same year, and retired from
special effects extravaganzas like ILM. The company rewarded him
the Indiana Jones sequels, Back was true for the podracer models, for his long service with a golden
C-3PO statuette. The modelmaker
the droid starfighter, and the has nothing but fond memories of
his time with the company, and
full-size, six-foot tall destroyer marvels at his experiences at ILM.

droid he helped to construct. “I just happened to fall into it,”
Keeler reflects. “What a place, what
“Many viewers thought the 08 Keller (left) a place. It was a wonderful group of
destroyer droid was completely and his ILM people. A magical place to be.”
computer generated, but that colleagues
wasn’t the case,” he says. “Any add detail And how does he fill his spare
shot where the droid wasn’t to a Mon time since his retirement? He
Calamari makes model rockets.

moving in the film, it would cruiser.

be our model. They used it 09 “The Pickle
as a stand-in for when the ship” being

background was still.” moved into
Keeler, who also worked on position for
an effects
the walkways for the Kamino shot.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 69

Soule
Man

Former legal eagle turned
author Charles Soule is well
versed in writing Star Wars
adventures, across all eras
of its rich history. Now, with
his new Star Wars novel,
Light of the Jedi, he introduces
readers to the glory days
ofThe High Republic.
Star Wars Insider recently
spoke with Soule about his
writing career, his Star Wars
comics, and what lies ahead
for the characters of this new
age of Star Wars storytelling.

WORDS: AMY RICHAU

F ew writers have

told stories
about as many
iconic Star Wars

characters, in as

many different

time periods, as Charles Soule.

Over the last five years Soule

has written dozens of Star Wars

stories, including six Marvel

Comics series, spanning the

entire Star Wars timeline. Obi-

Wan and Anakin focused on the

Jedi and his Padawan after the

events of Star Wars: The Phantom

Menace (1999), Darth Vader:

Dark Lord of the Sith began its

story immediately after Star

Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005),

and Poe Dameron followed the

adventures of the eponymous

hero from shortly before Star

Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

to just after the events of Star

Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).

Other comic series have featured 01

Lando Calrissian, Ben Solo, and

most recently Luke and Leia’s

escapades post-Star Wars: The led somewhat rapidly to work at It could have gone either way, but

Empire Strikes Back (1980). Marvel, where I signed an exclusive I ended up writing for Lando, and

Soule’s new novel, Light of the contract for four more years. During I’m glad I did. I love that book,

Jedi, kicked off a publishing event that time, I put out some creator- and it led to so much more.”

centered around a new Star Wars era owned comics featuring my own In addition to the five-issue

called the High Republic, centuries characters, and two Lando mini-series, Soule

prior to The Phantom Menace. novels, The Oracle Year “I pitched for wrote a Lando-centric
and Anyone. I closed my two characters: story for the Star Wars:
Soule’s Star Wars journey began law practice a few years A New Hope (1977)

while he was practicing law—first

at a large firm in Manhattan doing into the Marvel exclusive, Palpatine and anthology From a Certain
when it became clear that Lando. It could have Point of View, called “The
corporate law, and later focusing I couldn’t really do both Angle.” The cape-loving

on immigration law at his own

practice. The transition from lawyer at the same time to the gone either w but smooth-talker appealed
level each career deserved. I ended up writing to Soule for a variety of
to writer didn’t happen overnight. And somewhere in there, for Lando, and I’m reasons, and he sees the
Star Wars came calling.” glad I did. I love potential for many more
“I found my work very rewarding, that book, and it led Lando stories somewhere
Not Such A Long along the road.
and things were going well, but I Time Ago….
“Lando jumped off
always knew I wanted a life based When Marvel re-launched the screen in Empire—he

in creativity,” explains Soule. “So,

on the side, in my tiny bits of spare

time, I wrote. First, a novel (which to so much more.”

remains unpublished, maybe for Star Wars comics in 2015 was larger than life from
with the flagship Star the first moment we saw
the best) and then comics. I started

to get traction in comics after four Wars title, Darth Vader, him, the archetype of

or five years of learning the craft Soule reached out to Marvel editor many charmers-with-a-heart-of-

and the business, and around four Jordan White to let him know he tin to come,” says Soule. “I love

years later I started writing Swamp was interested in writing a new taking characters that are portrayed

Thing for DC Comics—that was Star Wars story. “I pitched for two one way in, say, a film, and then

my first big gig in comics, and it characters: Palpatine and Lando. spinning them out into new

STAR WARS INSIDER / 71

INTERVIEW: CHARLES SOULE

directions. I thought Lando was 01 (Previous Charles. Adult Charles is pretty FORCES OF
ripe for something like that. It page) The fond of them as well.” EVIL
could be interesting to explore cover art
what he did between Star Wars: for Light Calling Back Soule had the chance to take a
of the Jedi. deeper look at the psyches and
Anyone who reads more than motivations of Darth Vader and
Return of the Jedi (1983) and 02 Lando #5 one of Soule’s Star Wars comics will Kylo Ren, two iconic characters
The Force Awakens. We haven’t cover art by sooner or later discover a familiar who fell to the dark side, in his
seen much of Lando in that era Alex Maleev. object or character from another Marvel Comics series’ Darth
one of his stories. Momin’s mask in Vader and The Rise of Kylo
besides his part in Battlefront II 03 Variant cover the Lando series played a large part Ren. Both projects had their
and Daniel José Older’s novel, art for Lando in Darth Vader; the character Verla unique challenges.
Last Shot.” #1 by Mike first appeared in Darth Vader and
Mayhew. recently popped up in the Star Wars “They kind of work on a
Lando is also a part of one of comic. These connections, as you different scale,” explains Soule.
might expect, are very intentional. “We knew a lot about Vader
Soule’s most recent projects, the 04 Issue #1 when I wrote the series, and
relaunch of the Star Wars main cover for The “I don’t always have a grand not all that much about Kylo.
comic. It’s fitting Soule is telling Rise of Kylo plan, but I definitely love callbacks, So, I could use things we knew
stories that take place between Ren. Art by and do them whenever I can,” about Vader to boost the
Clayton Crain. says Soule. “It’s part of the fun impact of certain scenes, but
of working in a multi-era-shared it also meant there were more
the events of The Empire Strikes 05 Issue #1 galaxy. I’ve done others, too—Papa guardrails around some of the
Back and Return of the Jedi, cover for Star Toren first appears in Lando, and storytelling. For Kylo, I had a lot
as that era of Star Wars films is Wars (2020) then again in my Poe Dameron of room to move and invent.”
the one he feels the strongest by R.B. Silva. series, and there are more. It’s fun
using stuff I create because there Soule described his work
connection with. aren’t as many strings attached. on Vader as, “fitting pieces into
I can do things with Verla, perhaps, a jigsaw puzzle that already
“I was devoted to the prequels that would be impossible with had a lot of its pieces in place.”
There were less puzzle pieces
when they hit and was anticipating in play when it came to writing
a comic series about the young
the sequels as much as anyone, but Ben Solo. “I think I’d say Rise of
Kylo Ren was more challenging,
I was an original-trilogy kid,” he because when I started writing
I didn’t know Ben Solo would
says. “Those were my gateway. die in The Rise of Skywalker,”
Soule admits. “I did suspect it,
I spent years obsessing about what and I wrote to that a bit, but
the comic would have worked
would happen in the next film, either way.”

and they didn’t disappoint Young

02

03

72 / STAR WARS INSIDER

INTERVIEW: CHARLES SOULE

someone like Ahsoka. (Verla, by the

way, I did always have a plan for,

and it’s what we see in the comic;

I just wasn’t sure if I’d ever get a

chance to do it.)”

Speaking of grand plans, Insider

asked Soule if he’d had concrete

outlines for different story arcs, or

indeed the endings, of his long-

running comic series’ Poe Dameron

and Darth Vader, before he started

writing them.

“When I get a job on a long-

running title, like Poe, Vader or the

current Star Wars series, I always

provide an outline to Lucasfilm and

Marvel, explaining what I think

will happen, the characters I’ll use,

and so on,” Soule reveals. “They’re

usually set up for 25 issues, and if

I get to go longer, I just add to the

outline. They’re detailed but not too

detailed, and often things change 04 05

during the writing, as I respond to Republic. I have a feeling you’ll see
some of those, one of these days.”
one character or another, or just
The High Republic begins with
have ideas that hadn’t occurred to calling it Project Luminous yet. Soule’s novel, Light of the Jedi,
centered around a catastrophe
me when I wrote the outline. That The other writers, of course, are in hyperspace. “I was just really
fortunate,” says Soule. “I’d come off
said, I generally do have a plan in Justina Ireland, Claudia Gray, some very high-profile, challenging
Star Wars gigs that had done well
most cases for what will happen. It’s Daniel José Older, and Cavan Scott, (Vader and The Rise of Kylo Ren, in
particular), and I think that helped
like a house that’s mostly built, but and together with some amazing, in terms of giving Lucasfilm the
confidence that I could introduce
there is always room in the plans dedicated people at Lucasfilm, The High Republic to the world.
I love writing novels, and I had a
for adjustments, some additions, we’ve built a new era known clear vision for what I thought Light
of the Jedi could be. This can be a
and decorations.” as the High Republic.” challenging, complex job, but it’s
been very rewarding to create all
It’s common for a Star Wars these new ideas. I’m very proud of
the book.”
A Longer “He wanted five author to check in with
Time Ago…. writers to help another writer working Populating An Era
build out the on a project in a similar
Soule is now one of universe, to find timeline, but The High Predating established Star Wars
five writers behind the the best new story Republic has taken that history by two centuries meant that
ambitious publishing we could tell, and sense of a collaborative The High Republic writers were
program initially dubbed he wanted me to be group effort to a new charged with creating an entirely
Project Luminous, set in level. Multiple meetings new set of characters to populate
an era 200 years prior to at Skywalker Ranch the galaxy. Soule relished the
The Phantom Menace. helped drive the project’s opportunity to cast Jedi Master Avar
Soule’s involvement ambitious narrative. Kriss as the central player in Light
began with a call from of the Jedi. “She is unique, and has
Lucasfilm’s Creative “The five writers, along a very interesting way of looking at
the Force—she ‘hears’ it as much
Director of Publishing, one of them” with Lucasfilm editors and
Michael Siglain. many members of Story

“Mike reached out Group, met a number of

to see if I might be interested in times to figure out the story we

participating in a project he’d were going to tell,” says Soule. “It

envisioned—an epic, multi-year, was fascinating to see so many

multi-publisher story,” Soule different points of view on what

recalls. “He wanted five writers Star Wars is, and what makes it

to help build out the universe, to work, and how we might present

find the best new story we could those ideas in new ways for the

tell, and he wanted me to be one fandom. A lot of incredible ideas

of them. Easiest yes ever—and came out of those rooms, and not

that was so early we weren’t even all of them ended up in The High

STAR WARS INSIDER / 73

INTERVIEW: CHARLES SOULE

as feels it,” Soule says. “The Force Joss and Pikka Adren are a really 06
is music to her, and that allows her fun married couple. The San
to do some very cool things. Avar Tekkas; Marchion Ro; the Tempest they wouldn’t be interesting. 06 Variant cover
is part of a huge cast in Light of the Runners... Honestly, I like them all,
Jedi, and while she’s the first Jedi we for different reasons.” But we are absolutely trying to for issue #2
meet, there are many more, of all tread new ground here with the of The Rise
descriptions. The Star Wars galaxy While some of these names are characters and their arcs. I think of Kylo Ren.
is huge. There’s room for everyone,” as yet unfamiliar to readers, Soule many, if not all Jedi probably Art by
he adds. promises we’ll run into old friends Jodie Muir.
on our High Republic journey,
Soule is also enthusiastic about including Jedi Master Yoda. “The struggle to understand the two 07 Star Wars:
other new characters we’ll soon High Republic is set centuries before
meet. “Loden Greatstorm and The Phantom Menace, but we know sides of the Force and their Obi-Wan and
Bell Zettifar are a fantastic master- that Star Wars has a number of relationship with them. After Anakin #1
Padawan duo,” he tells us. “Porter long-lived characters and species, all, that was a central part of cover art
Engle is a great old grizzled warrior. beyond Yoda,” Soule intimates. Luke’s training on Dagobah, and by Marco
“We’ve known from the beginning Checchetto.
LESS THAN that there are opportunities for
DIVINE some familiar faces to pop up, and
INTERVENTION we’ve taken advantage of that here
and there, just for fun.”
Many different things can be
true from a certain point of The nature of the Force and the
view in Star Wars stories—and choices made by those who use it
that’s just how Charles Soule have often played an important part
likes it. Hearing various fan in Soule’s Star Wars storytelling,
interpretations, even ones he and The High Republic will be no
never intended, “is one of my different, although its creators have
favorite parts of the job,” says striven to explore such themes in
Soule. “It’s the sort of thing that new ways. “Every character has
I used to do when I was a kid their own struggles,” Soule says of
wondering about Luke or Vader the characters of the era, “otherwise
or Obi-Wan. In fact, I often lean
away from direct explanations. 07
I think it’s much more fun for the
fans (and me) to let them piece
together their own theories.”

even Rey’s training on Ahch-To.

There are many ways to depict that

sort of thing.”

But what of the villains of the

piece? Having written extensively

about tormented bad guys like

Darth Vader, was it fun to write

about the Nihil, the anarchistic

marauders of The High Republic

who appear to be bad simply

because they can be?

“Oh yeah. They’re a blast,”

laughs Soule. “They’re not some

buttoned-down group with planet-

killing superweapons. They’re

smaller than the Empire, and they

fight amongst themselves, but that

doesn’t mean they’re not a massive

threat. The Nihil fight in ways we

haven’t seen before in Star Wars,

and they’re very dangerous.”

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YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

A CERTAIN
POINTOFVIEW

Our resident Star Wars expert, Michael Kogge,
consults his library of holocrons and ancient Jedi texts

to answer your questions about the events, people,

and places of the galaxy far, far away….

The history of the Star Wars galaxy was free from taxation. While this policy increased
constantly being written and rewritten as the flow of peoples and goods, it did not deter
opposing forces sought to shape the vast the pirates and plunderers who preyed on
expanse of star systems in their image. It is a the trade caravans traveling these routes.
timeline that is so deep and complex that it can The Outer Rim of the galaxy was,
be overwhelming, so sometimes it’s a good idea for the most part, a lawless frontier,
to step back, focus on one particular event, and outside of the general jurisdiction
consider those that led to it. As a case in point, of the Republic. As a result, major
our first dip into the “A Certain Point of View” shipping, financial, manufacturing,
inbox takes us back to the very start of the and commercial enterprises banded
Skywalker saga: together for protection. They formed
the Trade Federation, an organization
“I find the political scenes in Star Wars: The designed to thwart piracy, arbitrate
Phantom Menace (1999) enlightening in how disagreements between factions, and
they paint a picture of the complexity of present a united front to promote
running such a vast, interplanetary society. shared mercantile interests in the
What went so wrong that it led to the Trade Republic’s bureaucracy.
Federation blockade of Naboo and war?”
Sam Vale, Michigan. The Trade Federation gradually
grew in prestige and power, with its
As has often been the case with historical events own representative in the Republic
on our own world, the blockade of Naboo boiled and a sizable fleet of battleships. As
down to that most hotly debated of issues: taxes. the Trade Federation expanded in
size, it, not the Republic, became the
To encourage economic development far from dominant player on and around these
the galactic core, the Republic designated trade trade routes. It could exert its influence over
zones around these outlying star systems to be neighboring systems and extort exorbitant fees

Major Players Lott Dod Senator Sheev Palpatine

Nute Gunray Lott Dod snaked his way into Not being one of the major power
representing the Trade Federation brokers in the Senate, Palpatine
The Viceroy of the Trade in the Republic Senate after the had made few enemies as a
Federation was an arrogant, incident on Eriadu. Although he consequence—unlike most of his
ruthless Neimodian who played couldn’t gather enough support peers. Known for his gentility and
the suffering victim during to prevent the taxation bill from passing, he willingness to compromise, the dispute
negotiations, yet deployed brute employed all the bureaucratic loopholes he propelled the senator to the role of
force to get his way. Gunray owed his rise to the could to keep the blockade of Naboo “legal.” Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.
echelons of the galactic elite to a shadowy figure
who oversaw all his major decisions.

78 / STAR WARS INSIDER

Timeline Purpose-Built
Paramilitary
52 BSW4
To fill the ranks of its private security
• Sheev Palpatine elected force—which was a military force in
to represent Naboo in the all but name—the Trade Federation
Republic Senate. moved from hiring mercenaries to
purchasing preassembled battle droids.
33 BSW4 Not only were these automated soldiers
much cheaper over the course of their
• The Nebula Front, mechanical lifespans, and required no
a radical political meals or living quarters other than the
group opposed to vast space they occupied, they would never
corporate conglomerates, organize or rebel against the Federation
assassinated the directors about unfair working conditions. If there
of the Trade Federation at was one thing the corporate partners
the Eriadu trade summit. of the Trade Federation detested more
A group of ambitious than piracy, it was labor disputes.
Neimodians, led by Lott
under the guise of protection. Special privileges Dod and Nute Gunray,
were afforded to associated members, while stepped in to lead the
independent traders were compelled to follow Trade Federation.
onerous regulations and pay hefty tolls to use the
Federation-supervised routes. The zones that the 32 BSW4
Republic had demarcated for free trade became,
in effect, free only for those mega-corporations • Queen Sanandrassa’s
affiliated with the Trade Federation. Everyone two-year term in office
else had to pay up whatever fee that the Trade ended. In her place,
Federation demanded. Padmé Amidala was
elected to the throne.
A budget crisis compelled the Republic to act
after decades of protest at such injustices. During • In spite of Trade
the administration of Supreme Chancellor Federation opposition,
Valorum, the Senate passed legislation to tax the the Republic Senate
Free Trade Zones in the hopes that it would break passed Prop 31-814D
the Trade Federation’s monopolistic stranglehold levying taxes on the
over the region while also funding the ballooning formerly Free Trade Zones
Republic budget. In retaliation to what it viewed in the Mid and Outer Rim.
as a violation of their centuries-old authority, the
Trade Federation blockaded the Mid Rim world of • The Trade Federation
Naboo, with which it had a long-running dispute blockaded Naboo with
over exports of its plasma. Unforeseen at the warships converted
time, the blockade set in motion a conflict that from Lucrehulk-class
would shake the foundations of the Republic, LH-3210 cargo freighters,
sending the galaxy spinning into a devastating depriving the planet’s
civil war and the rise of the Empire. citizens of necessary
supplies, medicines,
and food. During
sessions of intense
debate in the Republic’s
Senate, the Trade
Federation maintained
it had not broken any
laws or committed acts
of aggression against the
planet Naboo.

• While the Senate
remained deadlocked,
Supreme Chancellor
Valorum secretly
dispatched two Jedi
Knights as ambassadors
to negotiate a peaceful
settlement to the crisis.

Queen Padmé Amidala Supreme Chancellor CONTACT US
Finis Valorum
Padmé Naberrie was a mere Send your in-galaxy queries to
fourteen years old when she was A life’s service in government and [email protected]
elected as the Queen of Naboo. pedigree from a prominent Coruscant with the subject header,
Her youthful idealism was inspiring, family vaulted Finis Valorum to the “A Certain Point of View.”
yet she also had practical government Supreme Chancellorship of the Republic.
experience as a senatorial aide and junior Though a skilled politician, baseless accusations of STAR WARS INSIDER / 79
legislator. She chose “Amidala” as her regal corruption tarnished his reputation and hampered
name upon election. his ability to resolve the Naboo crisis.

WORLDWIDE
C E L E B RAT I N G T H E SAGA

BECOMING BOUSHH “My mind was blown when the
Infiltrating Jabba’s palace in style mysterious bounty hunter’s helmet
came off, revealing Leia as the one
Destyni Baca credits her so much for our community. The rescuing damsel-in-distress Han,”
father for passing on his opportunity to express my love for remembers the fan. “'A girl can be
love of Star Wars to her Star Wars is so important to me, as a bounty hunter?!' I thought to
myself. I knew from that moment
during the prequel trilogy era, and is passing the torch down to the that girls could be fearless and
inventive, as well as being the
her involvement in our fandom has younger generations.” hero of the story.”

grown exponentially since that time. Princess Leia has served as a It was only natural that Baca
elected to pursue a cosplay build
“I have been a member of the source of inspiration for Baca since based on Leia’s bounty hunter
disguise. After acquiring the pieces
Dewback Ridge Garrison and the she was a child, and the scenes necessary to construct the armored
portions of the suit, the intrepid fan
Rebel Legion Bantha Canyon Base involving Leia as Boushh in Star began working with her father to

since 2017,” says Baca. “I am so Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)

grateful to be a part of such remain particularly memorable

wonderful organizations that do moments for her.

80 / STAR WARS INSIDER

INSIDER NEEDS YOU! ARTISTS’ ALLEY

We want to hear from you! Tell us about your Talented Star Wars fans share their amazing
Star Wars experience. What made you want drawings inspired by the galaxy far, far away....
to become a fan? What have you done in the
name of Star Wars? Tell us your Star Wars
story by sending your photos, art, and
letters here:

[email protected]

Or via regular post: UNITED KINGDOM
Star Wars Worldwide,
UNITED STATES Star Wars Insider,
Star Wars Worldwide, 144 Southwark
Star Wars Insider, Street, London,
Titan Magazines, SE1 0UP,
2819 Rosehall Lane, U.K.
Aurora, IL, 60503,
U.S.A.

assemble the ensemble. “My dad 01. “WOOKIEE COOKIES” BY MOLLY KATHRYN
and I sanded, painted, and
assembled the ‘hard parts’ of the Eleven-year-old Molly Kathryn says, "I was so thrilled when my Star Wars Insider
costume, which includes shoulder arrived in the mail today! I have literally been waiting by the mailbox for months.
armor, a bandolier, back tanks, and I love two things in life: Star Wars and baking. I bake every day. I was so excited,
of course, the helmet,” explains I made a Wookie cookie with some gingerbread!"
Baca. A friend taught her how to
sew, and the pair worked together 02. “RETRO RUFFIAN”
to lay out patterns for the costume’s BY JON
suede and leather elements. “With
the help of numerous supply runs Fan artist Jon’s endeavor
from my mom,” Baca adds, “we to craft a 1980s-inspired
pulled off the bounty-hunter image of Darth Vader
costume in time for our Garrison’s began when he looked at
biggest annual event, the other pieces of retro art
Albuquerque International Balloon and decided he wanted
Fiesta.” to make something
quite unique. Impressed
by Vader’s powerful
onscreen presence, Jon
selected the Sith Lord as
the focus for his colorful
piece. “Darth Vader has
always been visually
amazing,” explains
the artist, who sought
to highlight what he
describes as Vader’s
“cool, vengeful, and
mysterious” qualities in
his artwork.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 81

WORLDWIDE

BOUNTY HUNTERS

Scouring the galaxy for the
stars of Star Wars...

Meet the stars, show the evidence, win BUILDING BUCKETS
the bounty! Bounty Hunters is sponsored
by Kotobukiya. Each issue's winner will The art of decorating stormtrooper armor
receive a fantastic Kotobukiya Star
Wars statue kit! To see more, T  he latest Star Wars films have in Hoth gear from Star Wars: The
visit www.facebook.com/kotobukiya introduced us to the likes of Empire Strikes Back (1980) have also
jet troopers, patrol troopers, been tackled by Solano in her crafty
JULIAN GLOVER death troopers, and shoretroopers, endeavors. These pieces serve as
but fan Vicki Solano has opted to wonderful tributes to George Lucas’
An Imperial general veers develop fun and innovative designs work, and the Southern Californian
towards his fans that she applies to the classic fan even named her
Imperial stormtrooper helmet. son Lucas after the Maker himself!
F  ebe, Arno, and Jasper may have been
cosplaying as the legendary rebels Solano’s approach to each Solano is also an avid cosplayer
Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Luke project, using purchased trooper who attends conventions and other
Skywalker, but they truly had a blast when headwear, varies as much as the Star Wars-related events every year.
they met one of the Empire’s finest officers patterns themselves. Some of the As a member of the Pinkwookiee’s
at a recent convention. buckets simply receive a fresh coat Pink Crew, Solano wears a Pink Ewok
of paint, while others have been costume that would surely make the
Julian Glover, who portrayed General Veers vacuum formed or adorned with inhabitants of the Forest Moon of
and led the assault on Echo Base in Star Wars: no-bake clay or pages from comics. Endor cheer. For another build,
The Empire Strikes Back (1980), delighted the Solano assembled a Han Solo-like
three fans with stories about his work in the “I like to do a lot of mash-ups of outfit that she wears to cosplay as a
Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Game of retro cartoons and movies with Star character she named “Hannah Solo.”
Thrones franchises. Wars,” says Solano of her subject The ingenious fan even constructed a
matter. These topics are reflected in a wearable Millennium Falcon out of
“We had a fun experience meeting him,” stormtrooper helmet based on the papier-mâché that includes a seat for
recalls Febe, “because he took his time to color scheme of Scooby Doo’s her Wookiee co-pilot (also known as
talk to us and was very kind.” The group Mystery Machine van, with an AT-AT her dog Rigby!).
discussed the timeless nature of Glover’s painted to match. BB-8 and Han Solo
roles, and the actor even did a brief
impersonation based on his appearance in
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).
To top it all off, Glover went out of his way to
compliment the trio of friends on their
outstanding outfits.

01

01 Febe, Arno, and Jasper pose with Julian Glover,
known for his role as General Veers in The Empire
Strikes Back (1980).

82 / STAR WARS INSIDER

WORLDWIDE

STITCHING IN THE STARS
Intergalactic embroiderer maps the Star Wars galaxy

Marriage usually marks a new ingenious collection of gifts to give fan managed to capture each
chapter in the lives of most to her husband that just happened world’s unique attributes while
people. For Ana Lúcia to combine her professional talents making sure to reflect the roles
they played in the movies. From
Maretti Ceccarelli, her wedding with the Star Wars galaxy… literally! Tatooine’s twin suns and Hoth’s
shield generator to Dagobah’s
represented a commitment to Ceccarelli decided to embroider swamps and the Death Star II in
Star Wars! a series of collectibles that reflected Endor's sky, Ceccarelli’s creations
act as a beautiful travel guide to
Ceccarelli’s husband maintains a various planetary locales from the the galaxy’s most interesting
locales. Other highlights include
collection of more than 2,000 Star films. “It was the perfect way to Naboo, Coruscant, Geonosis, and
the tree dwellings of Kashyyyk.
Wars action figures, and the couple incorporate my crafting into our Each of the detailed pieces would
surely feel right at home in the Jedi
are members of a Brazilian fan club, collection,” says Ceccarelli. “For Temple’s archives.

regularly attending screenings of the the embroidery I've used several

films set in a galaxy far, far away. techniques to add texture and

With her husband's enthusiasm for colors, as I've tried to recreate

his hobby quickly capturing his the scenes we love so much.”

wife’s imagination too, embroidery The results of Ceccarelli’s hard

teacher Ceccarelli devised an work are absolutely stunning, as the

STAR WARS INSIDER / 83

TK-101

HINTS, TIPS, AND IDEAS FOR CRAFTING
YO U R OW N S TA R WA R S GA L A X Y

BAKE-OFFTHE GREAT GALACTIC measured out our ingredients. The
cake would be comprised of two
standard sponge cake layers—the
main cake and a smaller layer for the
logo (see boxout for a handy
recipe). We wanted the inside to

look as spectacular as the outside,

As Star Wars Insider celebrates its 200th issue, we so added bright blue food coloring
couldn’t think of a more fitting way to commemorate and a starfield of silver candy cake
the occasion than by baking ourselves a special balls and white chocolate stars to
birthday cake with a Star Wars twist! the mix.

Once baked, we carved the top
layer into the shape of the logo,

For this first edition of of honor around the original. Safe stacked our layers, and began to
our new crafting feature, in the knowledge that the standard pipe on the white and blue icing.
TK-101, we’re going to show size for Star Wars action figures is With the addition of more silver balls
and a handful of candles, the cake

you how we baked a Star Wars- 3.75 inches tall, the was ready for its

themed birthday cake—and easy part was photoshoot.

a very specific cake at that. Back in figuring out the Maybe not in the

1978, when the Star Wars saga was dimensions that our same league as the

just one movie, the first anniversary cake needed to be. original but it’s got

of its release was marked by a Easy, that is, until we it where it counts.

special poster known as the Star had to find a cake tin BASIC SPONGE CHOOSE
Wars Happy Birthday One-Sheet, that was big enough. CAKE RECIPE YOUR DESTINY
featuring a cutely decorated cake A frenzied trawl
surrounded by eleven of the twelve through our kitchen Eleven action figures
original Kenner Star Wars action drawers drew a
was okay for the first

figures (see insert). What happened blank, so it was time Ingredients anniversary (that
to the Jawa, no one knows. Was its to turn to our 3 eggs was all that was
absence a cryptic foretelling of the parents… and then 175g caster sugar available at the time,
future rarity of the nylon-caped the parents of our 175g butter/margarine ignoring the missing
figure, or was the disgusting little friends. In the end, it 175g self-raising flour Jawa), but we had

creature somewhere around the was Steve's mom, Method grander ambitions.
back, scavenging for ingredients? homespun domestic • Preheat the oven to 200 ambitions, in
goddess Maureen, fact. Luckily the
The task we set ourselves was who came through, 180 degrees (fan oven). team
to replicate that cake, although we with a baking tray • Next, cream the butter at Insider have a
intended to make a few special that measured 12 creditable collection
modifications ourselves. inches in diameter. and sugar until light of Star Wars toys,
An inch shy of our and we surrounded
SIZE MATTERS NOT, BUT… estimate for the and fluffy. our version of the
original, but close • Then add each egg, one classic cake with
Making a cake is usually a piece of, enough. an additional 189
well, cake ! Mix the ingredients at a time whilst adding characters and
together, stick them into a suitable A TOUCH critters—including a
baking tin, and pop that in the oven. OF STARDUST a bit of flour each time. Kenner Jawa (albeit
But our recreation of the Star Wars • Fold in the remaining the cloth cape
first anniversary cake had an extra Next, we set our version. We’re not
caveat—we wanted it to be exactly mixing bowl in flour until all ingredients
to scale with the twelve Kenner
are mixed in.
• Grease your cake tins

with some butter.
• Add the mixture into

two cake tins, making

sure they’re equal.
• Put both in the oven and

bake for 20 minutes.

action figures that provided a guard attack position and made of money!)

84 / STAR WARS INSIDER

WORLDWIDE

STAR WARS INSIDER / 85

The

Star Wars

Archive

The behind-the-scenes
story of a galaxy far,

far away....!

BANTHA
TRACKS

Of all the other-wordly creatures
designed for the Star Wars saga,
perhaps none feel as “real” as
the banthas of Tatooine—those
enormous beasts of burden ridden
by the Tusken Raiders in Star
Wars: A New Hope (1977).

Such believability was achieved
in large part because a living,
breathing being was disguised
beneath the bantha’s wooly hide
and prop horns. The bantha was
played by Mardji, an Asian elephant
that usually spent her days water-
skiing at Marine World Africa U.S.A,
a popular tourist attraction located
in Redwood Shores, California at
the time.

Mardji’s scenes were shot in
Death Valley, with Doug Beswick
playing the part of the Tusken
Raider who rode her.

01 Mardji, the 22-year old Asian
elephant, prepares for her moment
of screen fame.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 87

THE STAR WARS ARCHIVE

The bantha was initially 02

visualized by concept artist Ralph

McQuarrie in a series of thumb-

nail sketches, depicting the large

creature as having

a pig-like face, the

“When it came tobody of a bison, and

the stature of some-

casting an animalthing larger. When

it came to casting an

that could embodyanimal that could

embody this design,

this design, anan 8,500-pound

elephant was the 8,500-pound
perfect, and prob-

ably only, choice. elephant was the
Elephants are perfect, and probably
only, choice.”
noted for their
intelligence and
prodigious strength,
which meant

Mardji could be

relied upon to give a convincing

performance while coping with the

heavy costume in the oppressive

heat of Death Valley. To make the

task easier and distract her from

shrugging off her garb, a ready

supply of apples was provided to

the gentle giant by her handler.

The costume she wore took

a month to develop, with a team

of six prototyping the various

layers that would eventually 03

render Mardji unrecognizable.

The creature’s “fur” was actually

constructed from palm-tree fronds,

made to look more realistic with

the addition of horse hair around

the face. The body was dressed

with a rugged blanket and saddle,

making the palm-frond fur less

obvious. The horns began life as

ventilation tubing, and Mardji’s

trunk and beard were hidden

away behind a mask molded

from chicken wire and foam.

To achieve Luke Skywalker’s

view of two banthas through

his macrobinoculars, Mardji

was filmed twice and the shot

composited in post production.

Her performance was later used

as reference for the animators

working on the AT-ATs for The

Empire Strikes Back (1980).

Mardji sadly passed away in

1995, but her unique contribution

to Star Wars is unforgetable. 04

88 / STAR WARS INSIDER

THE STAR WARS ARCHIVE

05 Return of
the Bantha
02 An early bantha concept
sketch by Ralph McQuarrie. While we only spotted a pair of
banthas in the original Star Wars
03 McQuarrie sketched a movie, the lumbering creatures
larger bantha for Star have returned to the saga on a
Wars: The Empire Strikes number of notable occasions.
Back (1980).
In the 1997 Special Edition of
04 Ralpth McQuarrie’s Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, an
production painting entire herd of the magnificent beasts
featured a pig-snouted roamed across Tatooine’s Dune Sea,
bantha design. in one of several new shots created
especially for the original trilogy’s
05 Mardji in the re-release. A brief cameo in Star Wars:
almost-completed The Phantom Menace (1999) was
bantha costume. followed by a slightly more lingering
appearance in Star Wars: Attack of
06 Prototype costume the Clones (2002), at around an hour
elements for the bantha and four minutes into the movie (see
were refined and built up above), and more recently, banthas
over a month-long had a starring role—ridden single file
by Tusken Raiders—in the second
06 development process. season of The Mandalorian (as
pictured below).

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC

90 / STAR WARS INSIDER

EXCLUSIVE FICTION

STA R LIGHT

Go Together
PART TWO
By Charles Soule
Star Wars Insider ’s all-new fiction continues, in this

exclusive follow-up to The High Republic novel, Light of the Jedi.
Having halted a catastrophic malfunctPionrethvatitohrueastelyne:d to destroy Starlight Beacon before its

mission of hope could even begin, engineers Joss and Pikka Adren found themselves battling to
save lives from a deadly new threat to peace in the Republic – the Nihil...

STAR WARS INSIDER / 91

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC

A long time ago, in a fear—Pikka felt herself trembling, and What is this, exactly?”
galaxy far, far away.... forced herself back to calm. Whatever Pikka grimaced.
the reason she and her husband had Avar Kriss grinned.
ikka Adren been summoned here, she and Joss had “I get it,” she said. “I was up late last
surveyed wanted to help. That was all.
the room, night myself. Quite a party. I know this
sensing the On the chancellor’s left, a high- isn’t what any of us want to be doing
comforting ranking officer in the Republic Defense this morning, but it won’t take long.
bulk of her Coalition. His name was Admiral Pevel You were both instrumental in helping
husband Kronara, silver-haired in a uniform of to defeat the Nihil at Kur. We have some
just behind gray and blue, and Pikka knew him a questions about how you did it.”
her. Joss, for little bit too. A good, straightforward,
once, was being quiet—a good thing, hugely competent career soldier. Pikka exchanged a glance with her
considering the people seated around husband, and then looked back at the
the table waiting for them. They did The rest of the seats were occupied Jedi and shrugged.
not seem like types for idle chit-chat. by a combination of government and
She and Joss had been on this station coalition officials—she knew Senator “We just tried to stay alive,” she said.
before. Starlight Beacon, the massive Izzet Noor, but the others were new to “Not much more to it.”
installation constructed in the Outer her. A bunch of those gray and blue
Rim as one of Chancellor Lina Soh’s RDC uniforms, though. Pikka frowned “I disagree,” said Admiral Kronara.
Great Works, emblematic of the Galactic a little. A lot of warriors for a galaxy “You flew one of our Longbeams, as part
Republic. But since her last time here, supposedly at peace. of a Republic Defense Coalition fleet
the path she and her husband had assembled to go up against a group of
taken had led them to unbelievable “Welcome,” said Chancellor Soh. Outer Rim marauders called the Nihil.”
places, and they had done things she “Please sit. We want to get through the
still couldn’t believe they’d achieved, debriefings as soon as possible.” “You helped bring justice for the
billions of innocent lives ended by their
Joss and Pikka stepped forward, savage attacks,” added Chancellor Soh,
pulling out chairs and sitting down. somberly, yet with a note of approval, of
The message they’d received, from one consequences duly meted out.

“Just so,” Kronara agreed.

PIKKA ADREN SURVEYED THE ROOM, SENSING THE
COMFORTING BULK OF HER HUSBAND JUST BEHIND HER.

JOSS, FOR ONCE, WAS BEING QUIET.

or even survived. As a result they of Kronara’s aides, was vague, only He tapped a control on the table,
now stood in an elegantly-appointed indicating that their presence was and a hovering comms droid projected
conference chamber, summoned to requested to help with the creation a two-dimensional image. It was a bit
some sort of debriefing with a good of an after-action report on the Battle crude, more graphic than realistic,
portion of the Republic’s most senior of Kur. While Pikka didn’t have much but Pikka recognized what was being
leadership. Chancellor Soh herself sat interest in reliving those moments, she displayed immediately.
at the head of the table, with a blonde understood the importance of passing
human woman in white and gold robes along their impressions of the fight. At her side, Joss grunted. He had
to her right—Jedi Master Avar Kriss, the recognized it too.
highest-ranking member of her Order But she and her husband had figured
stationed at Starlight. on a quick interview with an RDC The Kur Nebula. And in a zone
functionary, not an audience with not far from its center, a vast array of
Pikka knew Master Kriss from a some of the most important people warships depicted as brightly colored
space battle in which they had recently in the galaxy. This felt like some sort symbols. The Republic’s forces in
both participated. A space battle! What of interrogation—or a trial! She was green—a number of RDC cruisers
terrible sins had she committed in a exhausted, Joss was too. Neither of including Admiral Kronara’s flagship,
former life to find herself fighting in a them had slept well since Kur, and the elegant Emissary-class Third
space battle? She and Joss were basically they’d probably overindulged at Horizon, along with a wide complement
just high-level construction workers. Starlight Beacon’s dedication ceremony of smaller attack ships, the mid-sized
They’d helped to complete Starlight the night before. She felt like a shadow, Longbeams and single-pilot Incom
Beacon, in fact. barely present, her insubstantiality Z-28 Skywing fighters. The Jedi cruiser
underscored by the brightness of Ataraxia, and its own spread of the
In truth, she had no one to blame everyone else in the room. small, nimble Vectors, each with a
but herself. She and Joss had actually Jedi pilot at the helm, all in blue. And
volunteered to fight at the Battle of Kur. “So… good morning,” Joss said. the Nihil in red—their ugly, blocky,
“If I’d known this would be a formal spike-covered ships, each with the three
Remembering the feeling of that occasion, I’d have brushed my teeth. glowing lightning strikes slashed across
battle—the chaos, the intensity, the

92 / STAR WARS INSIDER

EXCLUSIVE FICTION

their hull. The Nihil vessels were like and deliberately trying to ram into “We still don’t know how the Nihil
jagged, broken teeth in a diseased jaw. Republic ships. did this,” said Admiral Kronara, “but we
know the tactic was devastating in the
She and Joss were somewhere in Joss caught panicked reports from battle-space. Only the Jedi seemed able
that mix too. One of those Longbeams other pilots across the fleet. None of to effectively fight them off, through
was theirs, the Aurora III, with Pikka them were cowards—far from it—but no their enhanced reflexes and speed.”
navigating and running the weapons one had ever fought anything like this.
systems and Joss in the pilot’s chair. “Through the Force,” Avar said.
Flying, fighting, trying desperately to A proton torpedo lanced out from Kronara gave a tight nod in
stay alive. the Longbeam’s weapons array, and a acknowledgment, then turned back
small, ugly Nihil fighter vanished.“Good to Pikka and Joss.
Pikka clenched her trembling hand. shot, Pikka!” Joss called back. “I misspoke,” the admiral said.
She could feel the weapon controls “The Jedi were not the only pilots who
under her fingertips, see the Nihil His wife didn’t answer. Staying seemed able to counteract the Nihil
targets on her display. Their cockpit focused on the task at hand. That was micro-jumps.”
awash in the green light of the nebula, good. They both needed to do that. He He pointed, all the way down the
not knowing if they’d be alive ten flew, she chose the targets. And it was table, right at them.
seconds later. She could hear Joss, working. As Joss looked over his tactical “You did it too. Your Longbeam
shouting out— display, he had a sense that the Nihil was able to react and maneuver with
were losing, slowly but surely. RDC precision and speed beyond that of the
*** discipline and training was overcoming rest of our fleet. Where others died, you
the Nihil’s willingness to fight dirty. two survived. We need to know how
“By the light… what are they you did it.”
doing?” Joss cried out. Something happened. Pikka swallowed. She glanced at
The red icons representing the her husband.
Looking out from the Longbeam’s Nihil forces began blipping in and “Would you believe we’re just that
cockpit, he could see one of the Nihil out of existence, disappearing and good?” Joss said.
ships, a big, bulky thing. He thought reappearing. Joss slammed the heel of
maybe it was a converted waste hauler, his hand against the console, figuring
maybe there was a short—nothing like

TWO SKYWINGS AND ANOTHER LONGBEAM WERE
ON THE NIHIL’S TAIL, ALL MOVING AT SUCH SPEED THAT

THEY HAD NO OPPORTUNITY TO DODGE.

and that suspicion was underscored a good thump to fix a poorly seated “Probably not,” said Kronara.
when the ship opened its cargo wire—but nothing changed, except “Maybe we used the Force,” he said.
compartment and released a sea of that now, Republic and Jedi ships “In a way, all living things use the
horrible sludge in its wake. started to disappear from the display. Force,” Avar said. “But no. You didn’t.”
Not so dramatic when it was little Chancellor Soh spoke, the first words
Another Longbeam and two icons on a screen, but… Joss looked she’d said since welcoming them in.
Skywings were on the Nihil’s tail, all up. He could see what was actually “Joss, Pikka. We need to know what
moving at such speed that they had happening with his own eyes, and you did. Was it luck, or something we
no opportunity to dodge. They flew it was horrifying. Unbelievable. The can replicate? Something that might
straight into the cloud of awful, gray- Nihil ships making what seemed to be save other lives, in potential fights yet
brown filth, which was ignited by their micro-jumps through hyperspace, tiny to come.”
engines, and all three Republic ships hops that made them impossible to “But the Nihil are gone. All of their
vanished into balls of flame. target, vanishing and reappearing short ships were destroyed in the battle.”
distances away. And all around them, “Yes,” the chancellor said. “I know.
What a horrible, disgusting, explosions blossoming against the Still… indulge us.”
dishonorable way to go. And it wasn’t blackness of space, as good people Pikka looked at Joss. He shrugged.
the worst tactic the Nihil were using died trying to do the right thing. “Tell them,” she said.
out here, either.
*** ***
The Nihil fought like beasts, like
cornered animals, trying anything they Pikka looked at the projection above Joss looked at the uptight, buttoned-
could to destroy, to kill. They used laser the conference table, remembering the down, frowning faces seated around
cannons, missiles and torpedoes, but horror of that moment, realizing that the table. The only people who seemed
that was just the beginning. Some of their enemy was capable of something relaxed were the chancellor and the
their ships were venting radioactive gas they weren’t, and had no way to fight. space wizard, which made sense—they
from their reactors, poisoning pilots
unlucky enough to fly through it.
Others, heavily armored, were actively

STAR WARS INSIDER / 93

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC

were the most powerful people in the “All right,” she heard Joss say. “Pffff,” Joss said. “Can’t believe we
room. He sighed. They were stuck. “That’ll work. Let’s see what this thing got up early for this. Skipped breakfast!
can actually do.” As a matter of fact…”
“We sliced the security systems on
the Longbeam’s operational code,” he The Longbeam moved again, He stood up.
said. “Or, actually…” sidestepping, skipping across space. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving, and you
It felt different, alive in a way that it know how good the food is on Starlight.
He pointed his thumb at Pikka. hadn’t before. Let’s hit a canteen, and then we’ll find
“…she did.” a transport back to Coruscant and take
“Thanks a lot,” his wife muttered. Joss grunted in approval, and then that little trip we’ve got planned, yeah?”
“Slicing Republic military hardware he flew, and Pikka fought, and around Pikka stretched and rubbed her eyes,
carries heavy penalties,” one of the RDC them, the Nihil ships exploded, and trying to find a little energy.
officials said. somehow, impossibly, they survived. “All right, Joss,” she said. “I could
“Higher than dying?” Joss shot back, use a cup of caf.”
heated. “Pikka and I are tinkerers. It’s *** A chime from their door, and they
how we make our living. We figure out both looked in that direction. Frowning,
systems and think of ways to improve “Those systems are linked to prevent Joss tapped a control. The door opened,
them. Whether it’s a space station or a overstressing the Longbeam’s frame! You revealing Admiral Kronara.
starship, we both like to know how stuff could have broken apart!” said another “May I come in?” he said. “It won’t
works. We weren’t going to take one of RDC flunky. take long.”
your Longbeams into a battle unless we “Are you going to throw us in the
knew what it could do.” Joss rolled his eyes. He opened his brig?” Joss said. “Fair warning, I don’t
He looked at Pikka, nodded for her mouth to answer, but Pikka got in first. do well in cages.”
to continue. “I’m sure that’s true,” the admiral
“So, yeah. I sliced the ops code. “Not with Joss at the helm,” she said, said. “No. I have an offer for you.”
That’s all. I didn’t change anything.” simple, short, confident. “Let him in, Joss,” Pikka said, and
“Well…” Joss said. her husband stepped aside.
Pikka shot him a glare, then took “I have a good feel for what a ship
can take,” Joss said.

Silence around the table, as the
assemblage thought this over.

THE LONGBEAM MOVED AGAIN, SIDESTEPPING, SKIPPING
ACROSS SPACE. IT FELT DIFFERENT, ALIVE IN A WAY IT
HADN’T BEFORE. JOSS GRUNTED IN APPROVAL.

a deep breath. She looked up at the “So…” Admiral Kronara said, “you The door slid closed behind Kronara,
battle display, remembering. broke our ship to save our ship.” and he spoke.

*** Joss nodded. “I’ll make this simple,” he said.
“Guess so.” “We are not confident that the Nihil
“Uncouple the thrusters!” Joss The admiral looked at the chancellor. we destroyed at Kur represented the
shouted at her. “Thank you both,” said the most entirety of their numbers. We have to be
powerful woman in the galaxy. “You sure. Chancellor Soh has authorized the
“What?” Pikka frowned. may leave.” RDC to inaugurate a special task force
“That thing you found in the code!” to hunt down any Nihil that might be
he said, as the ship jerked sharply, *** out there. Find their base, learn more,
probably narrowly avoiding some eradicate them if we can.”
version of a hot, agonizing death. “You may leave,” Joss said, perfectly
She realized what he meant. When imitating the chancellor’s tone as he “Okay…” Pikka said.
she had sliced into the Longbeam’s paced around their temporary quarters. “I would like you two to be part of
code back on the Third Horizon before “What the hell was that? We were doing that task force.”
they’d taken it out, she’d seen that all them a favor fighting in that battle! Joss snorted, incredulous.
its thrusters were computer controlled, We’re not soldiers. We were just trying “We’re contractors,” he said.
linked together to ensure smooth to help—from the Legacy Run disaster “Spanner monkeys. What are you
maneuvering. But it was possible, all the way to Kur, all we’ve done is talking about?”
with a few elegant shortcuts, to unlink try to help. And now they treat us “You’re innovative and brilliant.
them, so each thruster could operate like criminals!” You two improvised strategies to save
independently, under manual control. lives during the Legacy Run disaster,
Pikka entered the commands, and “It’s all right,” Pikka said. “It doesn’t and then you figured out a way, on the
suddenly the ship’s handling felt… matter. It’s over, and it doesn’t seem like fly, to survive completely new enemy
looser. More open. they’re going to do anything to us for tactics during the Battle of Kur. If you’re
slicing the Longbeam.” willing, I could use you both. You seem

94 / STAR WARS INSIDER

EXCLUSIVE FICTION

to be the sort of people who like to NEXT ISSUE:
help, and that’s what I’m offering. The
Republic needs you. Are you up for it?” FIRST DUTY

Pikka answered, without hesitation. Exclusive to
“No,” she said. Star Wars Insider :
Both Joss and the admiral looked at Part One of an all-new
her, surprised. The High Republic story
“My husband and I had a vacation
planned for when we finished our work by Cavan Scott!
building this station, and then we got
caught up in all of this Nihil business,
and it’s been non-stop ever since. We
deserve a break.”
She folded her arms.
“So, we want our two weeks on
Amfar. Sun, sand, and no fighting.
But after that, I think we can do
what you’re asking.”
“We can?” Joss said.
“Don’t you think?” Pikka said,
looking at him.
Joss considered.
“Yeah,” he said. “I guess I do.”
Admiral Kronara nodded, and
stepped to the door.
“See you in two weeks,” he said.
“There’s a lot to do.”
The door closed behind the
admiral, and Joss turned to Pikka.
“What do you think that
means?” he said, seeming a little
taken aback. “What did you sign
us up for?”
She stepped up to
him, reached her arms
around him. Her hands
barely met in the
small of his back.
“I don’t know,
Joss,” Pikka said,
looking up at him.
“But wherever we
go,” she smiled,“we’ll
go together.”

STAR WARS INSIDER / 95

From the Death
Star trench to dogfights
with swarms of deadly TIE
fighters, Rebel Alliance and
Resistance starfighters embody
the heroism of their pilots.
Activate your targeting
computer and prove your

Star Wars knowledge.

Compiled by Jay Stobie

“STAY ON TARGET!”

Feel like you can take on the whole pire yourself? Then you’ll need to ace this starfighter trivia test!

EXCEPTIONAL X-WINGS WONDEROUS Y-WINGS 8: What planet did Zorii UTILITARIAN U-WINGS
Bliss make an escape from
1: What was the call sign for 6: Where did the Ghost crew in a Y-wing? 11: Why did Cassian Andor take
Luke Skywalker’s X-wing at the procure a supply of Y-wings for a U-wing to Jedha?
Battle of Yavin? the Rebellion? A/ Kijimi ) <W ÅVL \PM /]IZLQIV[
A/ Red A/ Reklam Station of the Whills
Leader B/ Black Spire Outpost B/ Pasaana B/ To rescue Bor Gullet
B/ Red Five C/ Faos Station C/ To obtain kyber crystals
C/ Red Seven D/ Niima Outpost C/ Kef Bir D/ To meet with Saw Gerrera
D/ Red Twelve 7: Which type of Imperial vessel
did Y-wings bombers disable D/ Tatooine 12: Who rescued Jyn Erso and
2: Who led Blue Squadron in over Scarif? her cohorts in a U-wing after the
support of the rebel ground A/ /WbIV\Q-class cruiser Death Star fired on Jedha City?
troops at the Battle of Scarif? B/ Death Star A/ Bodhi Rook
A/ Wedge Antilles C/ Arquitens-class light cruiser B/ Jyn Erso
B/ Garven Dreis D/ Star Destroyer C/ K-2SO
C/ Antoc Merrick D/ Chirrut Îmwe
D/ Dutch Vand
13: What did Bistan help destroy
erent X-wing while operating a U-wing’s door
ters did we see Poe Dameron gun at Scarif?
use in the sequel trilogy? A/ Communications dish
A/ One B/ AT-ACT
B/ Two C/ Citadel Tower
C/ Three D/ Ahsoka Tano
D/ Four
9: Which squadron’s Y-wings 14: Where did Cassian Andor’s
4: In the movies, which location participated in the Death Star U-wing encounter its demise?
did Luke Skywalker’s X-wing trench run? A/ Eadu
fighter never fly to? A/ Rogue Squadron B/ Lah’mu
A/ Ahch-To B/ Green Squadron C/ Yavin 4
B/ Savareen C/ Gold Squadron D/ Wobani
C/ Dagobah D/ Gray Squadron
D/ Ajan Kloss 15: U-wings primarily
10: Who accompanied Zorii Bliss served what role in the
5: Besides Poe Dameron, who in her Y-wing during the Battle Rebel Alliance’s fleet?
piloted an X-wing fighter at both of Exegol? A/ Bomber
the Battle of Starkiller Base and A/ D-O B/ Troop transport
the Battle of Exegol? B/ Babu Frik + ;\IZÅOP\MZ
A/ Nien Nunb C/ BB-8 D/ Comm vessel
B/ Stomeroni Starck , 5Ib 3IVI\I
C/ Ello Asty
D/ Snap Wexley

96 / STAR WARS INSIDER

“NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!”

Solve these math problems where ach droid’s value is based on the sum of the numbers in its name:

“THAT’S
NOT HOW
THE FORCE
WORKS!”

What is the link between
these five scenes from
the Skywalker saga?

WERE YOU ABLE TO NAVIGATE YOUR WAY TO THE
CORRECT ANSWERS?

0-9: You couldn’t shake’em! Maybe a Starspeeder 3000 is more your level.
10-19: Don’t get cocky. You need to log a few more flight hours back in the simulator.
20-24: Great shot, kid! Your talent is truly one in a million.

STAR WARS INSIDER / 97
QUIZ 1. B, 2. C, 3. C, 4. B, 5. D, 6. A, 7. D, 8. A, 9. C, 10.B, 11. D, 12. C, 13. B, 14.A, 15. B.
“NEVERTELL METHE ODDS!”1.11, 2. 26, 3. 3, 4.81, 5. 10.
“THAT’S NOT HOWTHE FORCE WORKS!”1.The Skywalker lightsaber: Lost in Cloud City, found
by some porgs on Achc-To, used by Finn on Takodana, taken by Obi-Wan Kenobi on
Mustafar, and borrowed by Han Solo on Hoth.