Any Saxton-trivia in the new "Inside the Worlds..."

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2004-07-22 04:26pm

Has anything been said anywhere if dr. Saxton indeed has been involved with this book? I guess that this compromise could have been conceived by him, or the writers at least knowing about what he has written on the subject.
I haven't bought any of the Inside the Worlds of..., but this one looks as if it could be interesting (it's also rather cheap).

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-07-22 04:43pm

Um, the official site has said that he was a consultant on it for months... What rock have you been under?

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2004-07-22 04:49pm

Galvatron wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Wayne has stated that Saxton isn't really that confrontational of a person.
It's true. As far as I can recall, Curtis never once stooped to arguing in the same way that we do here.

Stooped?

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-07-22 05:32pm

YT300000 wrote:
Galvatron wrote:
Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Wayne has stated that Saxton isn't really that confrontational of a person.
It's true. As far as I can recall, Curtis never once stooped to arguing in the same way that we do here.
Stooped?

Yeah. He always maintained a civil demeanor.

YT300000 · Post by **YT300000** » 2004-07-22 05:36pm

Galvatron wrote:Yeah. He always maintained a civil demeanor.

Oh, you mean our flamewars. I thought you meant our debating in general. Which isn't that far into the gutter. Usually.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-07-22 05:58pm

YT300000 wrote:
Galvatron wrote:Yeah. He always maintained a civil demeanor.
Oh, you mean our flamewars. I thought you meant our debating in general. Which isn't that far into the gutter. Usually.

I mean even the general debates.

Curtis was downright polite. He was never condescending or sarcastic and he never had a mean word for anyone.

Geez, this sounds like a eulogy.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:It's quite interesting that a Naboo chief security officer can be elevated to the position of Imperial sector governor. Clearly fitting with Palpatine's methods of dealing with associates from his past: promote rather than silence.

I actually like this. It reinforces my long-standing belief that the Imperial government and military was comprised of a wide spectrum of people from the top down (bad and good) rather than the cadre of one-dimensional mustache-twirling villains like the EU portrays on a consistent basis.

The movies actually bear this out (for anyone who bothers to pay attention).

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2004-07-23 01:32am

Gents, a word from Curtis Saxton:

"Helping spare Endor from a fiery metal-pelting fate were the valianteffort of Rebel starships that erected deflector shields and towed
hazardous wreckage away from the green moon."

This particular sentence (above) is misleading. Unfortunately, no
publicity system is 100% immune to accidental misrepresentations. :/

Endor is not spared from cratering. Only a Luxembourg-sized area
immediately around the commando team, which incidentally includes Bright
Tree Village.

Until the battle is finished, the rebel fleet does not know about or
account for the existence of ewok allies. This is wartime. They only
plan for the temporary protection and then extraction of their commandos.
Everyone can see that each debris chunk seen in ROTJ far outweighs the
whole fleet by orders of magnitude, and the chunks' flight time to ground
is less than minutes. Any screening deflection is only a very slight
angle (like Luxembourg subtends on our globe).

Sheltering "Bright Tree" doesn't secure the inhabitants of the rest of the
hemisphere that was exposed to cratering, nor does it deal with
atmospheric fallout (dust directly condensed from the DS2 fireball, plus
indirect dust from solid impacts). Consider also the instantaneous
radiation (explosion flash), thermal radiation (fireball glow), and
possibly persistent radioactivity (inherent in re-condensed DS2 dust). As
readers, researchers and writers of the present body of SW literature, we
are left to consider the possibilities of evacuation and long-term
terraforming in the post-ROTJ world. But that is beyond the scope of the
present discussion.

My general advice to SW fans is to pay most attention to what you can
observe, measure and interpret with your own resources and wits. Don't
over-interpret publicity releases during your serious investigations of
canon. PR necessarily amplifies or downplays details for the sake of a
catchy and intriguing effect.

"Inside the Worlds" was meticulously written and proofread to avoid
suggesting anything unphysical. It makes no concession to irrationalist
deniers of Endor Holocaust. I have seen every brush stroke and every
comma appearing in the book on the day it went to the printers. To date
it is my personal favourite book from DK's "Star Wars" series; IMHO a fine
and progressive contribution to the literature, created over several years
by DK's largest assembled group of SW collaborators.

Apart from the semantic mistake about Endor being "spared", the ITW
PR statement on the Official Site is accurate.

I hope this helps put the controversy to rest,

Curtis Saxton

President Sharky · Post by **President Sharky** » 2004-07-23 02:31am

^^^
Excellent, word from the man himself.

Endor Holocaust Resurrected!

*scurries off to TF.N with this statement to silence the Holocaust naysayers*

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2004-07-23 02:31am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Um, the official site has said that he was a consultant on it for months... What rock have you been under?

Well Spanky, I'm lurking under a rock here in the darkest Swedish forest. No, seriously, I must have missed that completely.

BTW, good that dr. Saxton clarified.

EDIT: While his comments resurrects the Endor Holocaust theory, one must not forget the possibility that the highly advanced technology in the Star Wars galaxy could provide a solution. From the EU (the Zahn trilogy) we have the "cleaning driods" (I forgot what they're called). With a community on a galactic scale, where disasters must be somewhat frequent, even the Alliance would surely have some technology to deal with disasters such as this.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-07-23 03:28am

It's quite interesting that a Naboo chief security officer can be elevated to the position of Imperial sector governor

I´m eagerly awaiting Ric Olie´s promotion to Stardestroyer Captain:

RO: - Look, the Death Star is blowing up! And look over there, that chunk of debris is heading right for us.

Assistant: - We´re gonna DIE!

RO: - You catch on pretty quick.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-07-23 01:29pm

Lord Poe wrote:*snip*

That's really good to know, and is quite relieving. I guess the official site blurb did dress it up for the sake of brevity and to punch it up, and perhaps because Hidalgo wanted it that way...

I hope that it doesn't breach Saxton's confidentiality, though.

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2004-07-23 01:42pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:I hope that it doesn't breach Saxton's confidentiality, though.

Nope, Curtis asked for this to be posted here.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2004-07-23 05:32pm

How much meaning does this really have, as long as there is no SW-Imprint on it?

Not that i deny the sense of it, it is just, that the opponents of an Endor-holocaust will call it fanfiction.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-07-23 05:54pm

I thought Saxton´s post made it clear it is in the book, and therefore is canon, not fan fiction.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-07-23 06:17pm

Considering that the ICS and ITW books are completely authorised by both Lucasfilm and DK, and have the "Lucas Books" stamp on them, there is no weasling room for ney-sayers to move. The books' status is quite set in stone.

EDIT: By the way, what's the "SW-Imprint"?

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2004-07-23 06:23pm

My apologies, but as far as i understand it, what is in the book is "Helping spare Endor ..." and nothing more.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-07-23 06:30pm

Hmmm, I´m getting confused here. Does Saxton´s post say it´s in the book, or that it´s ambigious enough to allow for the Endor Holocaust-theory to survive?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-07-23 06:33pm

FTeik wrote:My apologies, but as far as i understand it, what is in the book is "Helping spare Endor ..." and nothing more.

Did you actually read what Wayne posted from Saxton?

Saxton said that the blurb from the official site doesn't truly reflect what is stated in the book (which he can't flat out reveal because of business protocol and contract commitment), but the gist of what he says is that little other than a small portion of Endor (which was what the Rebels shielded) makes it out unscathed. In the general run, Endor is still pretty much devestated by the destruction of Death Star II.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2004-07-23 06:48pm

The fact, that according to CS "no concession" was made, doesn´t mean, that what is written confirms a holocaust.

In the worst case the issue was left open and then we are back at the beginning - not that i would prefer this outcome.

On the other side to have a confirmation on the holocaust would be great, but even better would be, that TOS-people like a certain Pablo opened their mouth and are proven wrong (god, how i hope for that).

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-07-23 06:48pm

Thanks for the clarification, Spanky!

that TOS-people like a certain Pablo opened their mouth and are proven wrong (god, how i hope for that).

Whenever that happens, the people pointing out the flaws are either banned or ridiculed, if I heard correctly.

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2004-07-23 07:03pm

It doesn´t need to be pointed out.

Whoever read their quote and has the book will know, that they spilled BS.

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2004-07-23 07:24pm

FTeik wrote:The fact, that according to CS "no concession" was made, doesn´t mean, that what is written confirms a holocaust.

Wouldn't you consider all life on Endor other than that small Ewok village being wiped out a holocaust?

FTeik · Post by **FTeik** » 2004-07-23 07:44pm

That is the problem: So far nowhere is clearly stated, that all life was wiped out expect a single village.

Call me a pessimist, but as long as this isn´t confirmed in a way, that not even the most persistent nay-sayer can find a loophole out i keep my doubts.

Or won´t put it beyond the "Endor is fine"-fraction (at LFL) that they try to turn things back their way.

Robert Treder · Post by **Robert Treder** » 2004-07-24 06:27am

FTeik wrote:That is the problem: So far nowhere is clearly stated, that all life was wiped out expect a single village.

Call me a pessimist, but as long as this isn´t confirmed in a way, that not even the most persistent nay-sayer can find a loophole out i keep my doubts.

Or won´t put it beyond the "Endor is fine"-fraction (at LFL) that they try to turn things back their way.

Well, when the book comes out, it'll say what Saxton said in Wayne's post: Endor got beat the fuck up, but the rebs were able to save the area around their commandos.

Who cares if there will still be people claiming that the Endor Holocaust never happened? All the intelligent people will understand that it did. I mean, there are still people out there who cling to the idea that no laser can get past a Star Trek navigational deflector. Christ, there are people who think that the real holocaust never happened!

This book is a victory for the Endor Holocaust the way ICS2 was a victory for Saxtonian tech calcs, whether or not those on the losing side realize it.

Master of Ossus · Post by **Master of Ossus** » 2004-07-24 03:23pm

Huzzah! Saxton makes it all make sense.

Saxton: 9,999,999,999,999
Pablo: 0