INSPIRATION
This was the second Star Wars AFT story I did, after a mammoth Clone Wars story. The main inspiration for doing this was the release of the Luke/Lumiya comic two pack. As an avid reader of the Marvel comics in the 80s, I loved the character of Lumiya and the ultimate revelation of her identity (which I won't spoil here). Anyone familiar with my stories (both AFT and professionally!) will know that I love strong female characters and as the first female villain in the Star Wars universe, Lumiya was a particular inspiration.
CAST
See below for the full cast list. New character Joran Klospa is a Force Unleashed Juno Eclipse with the head of Irina Spalko (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
The Vastooinians are Chap Mei Space Quest alien figures. I had two of them and changed the colour of their heads in photoshop to make them look different.
Klospa's hologram machine is made from bits of the vintage droid factory and the immobiliser unit from the vintage Imperial Troop Transporter.
SHOOTING
The planet was always intended to be some kind of lava world and I even called it Mustafar in the script. I considered using that planet but without any Mustafarian figures, it wasn't really possible. Far better to create a new world with these non-Star Wars figures than a place steeped in continuity.
The set is simple - a number of rocks made from foam filler and a few sheets of black crepe paper.
For the scenes in the lava cave, a light is shone through orange paper on a glass table.
The Vastooine scenes were done first, followed by the Imperial facility interiors - which use printed sets based on the look of the Death Star and Star Destroyers. You might spot the Yavin 4 screen from Kenner's Death Star playset.
The Imperial hanger was last to be shot on 25th July 2010, sometime after the main shoot. This set is also a paper print-out and based on sets from the game Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith.
The arrival of Lumiya was intended to mirror Vader and the Emperor's arrivals in Return of the Jedi. As such, it features a lot of Imperial figures, vintage and (for the time) modern.
EDITING
Editing was a slow, ongoing process even though it didn't need many effects beyond lightsabre glows, laser bolts and Force push effects. It was completed on 7th October 2010.
CONTINUITY
This story takes a lot of influences from the Marvel comics, the Heir To The Empire trilogy and the Dark Forces video games - all of which were erased when the Sequel trilogy began but which are slowly trickling back into existence through Disney's various ongoing TV series.
At the time it was made (2010), I'd decided to set the story 10 years after the battle of Yavin.
MARA JADE is one of my favourite Expanded Universe characters and debuted in Heir To The Empire, the first of a trilogy of novels by Timothy Zahn, when the ongoing Post-Jedi series began in the 1990s. During the time of the Empire, Mara worked for the Emperor as a covert operative: "The Emperor's Hand". By the end of the Zahn trilogy she's in a working with the Alliance and goes on to marry Luke (but that's another story).
LADY LUMIYA as mentioned above, hails from the original run of Marvel comics in the 80s after Return of the Jedi. She did start to appear in the New Jedi Order novels. She's an operative created by Darth Vader to be a new apprentice. When she first appeared she was hailed as a Dark Lady of the Sith.
TRANSMISSION
Episode One was originally published on 23 October 2010 "without fanfair" according to my own notes. Episode Two then appeared on 23rd November. Both episodes appeared alongside The Gift of the Benevolence, the second story in a run debuting Character's Fourth Doctor figure.
It has been reposted now in honour of this year's Star Wars day May The 4th.
Now, that hefty cast list:
Chief Bast
(Death Star Briefing), Officer Cass (Death Star Briefing), Lumiya (Marvel
comic pack), Admiral Motti (Death Star Briefing), General Tagge (Death Star
Briefing), Colonel Wulf Yularen (Death Star Briefing), Sand Trooper (Cantina
diorama), Sand Trooper (Dewback Patrol), Vintage Imperial Commander x3, Vintage
Death Squad Commander x3, Vintage Stormtrooper x4, Vintage TIE Fighter Pilot x3,
Vintage Snow Trooper x3, Vintage AT AT Commander x2, Vintage AT AT Driver x3, Vintage
AT ST Driver, Vintage Imperial Gunner, Death Star Droid (Power of the Force), Kir Kanos
(Crimson Empire comic pack), Carnor Jax (Crimson Empire comic pack), Joran Klospa
(custom), Luke Skywalker (Marvel comic 2 pack), Space Trooper (Legacy
Collection), R1-G4, Chap Mei Space Quest aliens x2, Darth Vader (Evolutions
set), Mara Jade (Heir to the Empire comic pack)
UNUSED SHOTS FROM THE STORY
