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| Smug Bothans... |
Throughout this whole rereading/blogging experience, I've found myself logging on and looking Star Wars stuff up on
Wookiepedia. Something I obviously didn't do as a kid (oh the joys and powers of imagination *cue Willy Wonka's Pure Imagination*). It's actually been extremely helpful as far as visualizing non-movie characters, places and objects. The wiki is helping to fill in gaps that my still limber, but not pure, imagination (go away Willy Wonka!) is struggling to concoct. I looked up the Bothans to see what they look like because, while mentioned in Return of the Jedi, we never actually
see any Bothans. And they feature prominently in the Thrawn trilogy.
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| Sexy Squibs? |
Not only does the wiki for Star Wars have drawings, pictures, and other visual aids for both movie and non-movie people, places, and things, they have details and histories that are super fascinating and add so much more depth to the books Es and I are currently reading. For example, in Tatooine's Ghost (which we're currently reading) there are aliens called Squibs (yeah, the Harry Potter Star Wars crossover is not lost on us...). They're described as small, furry, hyperactive, and very sketchy as far as loyalties lie. But what do they look like? The sketch here shows them as sort of ElfQuest (bonus points to people who know what I'm talking about!) catlike aliens. Funny story, I totally pictured them looking like one of our cats. Anyway, I was able to go to Wookiepedia and do a search to find out what they look like. And so, this is my non-rhyming, not-even-written-like-a-poem Ode to Wookiepedia. I look forward to looking up many more interesting creatures, aliens, tech, and planets on the nerdiest of wikis!
Whaaaaat?? THAT'S a Squib?? I was imagining obnoxious little Jawa-esque creatures with long claws. Actually, now I think about it, I was probably imagining a Grindylow (hello, Harry Potter crossovers - again).
ReplyDeleteLoved your ode, not only because it was fun but also because it made me think. We sure didn't have Wookieepedia - or, indeed, the Internet as we know and use it now - when we first fell in love with Star Wars. On the one hand, it IS fantastic to be able to look up anything I can't remember or want to know at the touch of a button. On the other hand, was I a better reader when I had to go research my answers properly? Maybe it's cuz I just spent the last two years having to find answers by really hunting for them - I appreciate the challenge and the process.
But I DO love Wookieepedia. Help! Help! Paradox!
Here's the question though: When we were kids, where would we have looked for that information? All of the now-popular Star Wars guides and encyclopedias didn't exist then either. LucasFilms had reams upon reams of notes and sketches and information, but they were only showing authors who participated in writing Star Wars books. In the annotated edition of Heir to the Empire, Zahn talks about the information he received while writing that first volume. I got so jealous reading his notes and knowing he got to see a bit of the back stage of Star Wars! Wookieepedia is a way for the rest of us regular people to catch a glimpse of that world.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point, although there were some basic encyclopedias of characters even then (I owned one). It was so basic by comparison though. For one thing, our friendship and fanship predate even the special edition movie release, never mind the prequels, which added volumes to the EU (every time I write EU I think of the European Union :)). For another, we were reading the books for the interactions of characters and situations so I'm not sure if this extra stuff was even on our radar (I'm sure it wasn't on mine). I go back and forth on this one....
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point, although there were some basic encyclopedias of characters even then (I owned one). It was so basic by comparison though. For one thing, our friendship and fanship predate even the special edition movie release, never mind the prequels, which added volumes to the EU (every time I write EU I think of the European Union :)). For another, we were reading the books for the interactions of characters and situations so I'm not sure if this extra stuff was even on our radar (I'm sure it wasn't on mine). I go back and forth on this one....
ReplyDeleteI do too. I agree that as children, we were much more focused on the characters and stories, and less on the details and other, less important bits. I never once wondered what something looked like because I always made it up in my head. And even if it didn't jive completely with the description in the book, or what I had seen in the movie, it didn't matter. This is one thing I mourn a bit, how my imagination has evolved as I've grown up. It's still very much there, just different, and much more literal.
ReplyDeleteI often struggle with the advent of the internet and technology such as we know it today for this reason. I know that in my case, it can inhibit my creativity in some ways and enhance it in others. The ability to sit down and type out 3000 words at a sitting in Microsoft Word means that I can get a lot of writing done in a day. But the fact that it's so easy often makes me complacent. I love being about to communicate with you and my family and other friends at home in a variety of different and instantaneous ways but I'm also sloppier about that communication sometimes - I take it for granted because it's always there.
ReplyDeleteTo tie all that back to Star Wars, I think having all this info available is awesome for the most part (and keeps the fan base alive and kicking) but I also think there's just too much out there in a galaxy far far away. I don't have to work at being a fan anymore because everything I used to do for myself is just there, available for me to absorb. I don't have to work for it anymore.
I'm not sure if that makes sense or not ....