Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Many Star Wars fans are upset that the expanded universe of novels and comics will be ignored in Disney’s new films. What those fans forget is that Lucasfilm, which Disney bought, never acknowledged any of it, either. All except Shadows of the Empire, a multimedia presentation that included a novel, video game, comic miniseries, audiobook, and even a soundtrack. Set between Episodes 5 & 6, the story focuses on Luke continuing his Jedi training while he and his friends prepare to rescue Han from Boba Fett (who has bounty hunters on his tail hoping to gather Jabba’s reward). They’re distracted, however, due to a power struggle within the Empire in the form of a group known as Black Sun, that is a current threat to the Rebel Alliance. It’s a great story, and while I haven’t played the video game or read the first issue, I love the novel and the soundtrack, while not done by John Williams, is still pretty good and in keeping with the series.
One thing they missed out on was a movie. Now that makes some sense since, produced in 1996, the actor were too old to play their part. (Although Harrison Ford wouldn’t be doing much as Han Solo, obviously.) I still maintain that an animated production could reunite the actors as voice actors since they’re all still alive except for Sir Alec Guinness, who probably wouldn’t have returned anyway. We will probably never get this.
As a consolation prize, and here’s where the Kickstarter link comes in, a group of fans want to make a fan-film based on the Steven Perry novel. Based on what’s on their page and the video below it could be darn good. Give it a look and if you agree support it however you can, either by donating or getting the word out.
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