StarDestroyer.Net BBS

There's a new feature on the Official Site, the Episode IV Visual Guide, which includes annotated stills from ANH which includes behind the scenes trivia and movie lore. Three scenes were released today, the first two were meh (the FOX logo and opening crawl) while the third was pretty interesting and included some insight in the layout of the Tantive IV and a blurb which indicates that the ISD has a Star Trek-style reactor core ejection system.

This looks like it could be the start of an awesome (and free!) all-in-one multi-purpose resource.

Wow, the two moons of Tatooine get identified! And a reactor ejection system! Also like how the 501st have DV in their designations.

Man, what will happen when they get to ROTJ? Maybe even the Tector gets some trivia, or the faraway Imperial fleet gets individual identifications?

Yes, I'm only hoping this will be updated often and not forgotten about.

This is going to be a fantastic resource if maintained well.

VT-16 wrote:Wow, the two moons of Tatooine get identified!

I was about to say that the moons must have been identified in Galaxy Guide #7, but you're right! I just checked and they're not.

Should be cool, though I wish they weren't so eager to give names to otherwise nameless extras who die in a matter of moments.

Huh. So stormtrooper armor has it's power cells in the legs, and a heat sink on the belt? Well that seems odd places to put them, but I guess in the GFFA, you can put your power cells where you please. Stormtrooper armor isn't significantly powered either, so I guess that if you loose your legs, you've got bigger things to worry about than where you power cells are located.

Argh, my SoD is bruised..

For example, "Dog-eared set dressing" on Image 17..

I just closed my eyes, covered my ears and kept chanting "Loose access panel left ajar" over and over again

Vehrec wrote:Stormtrooper armor isn't significantly powered either, so I guess that if you loose your legs, you've got bigger things to worry about than where you power cells are located.

Pretty cool, though why they wasted two slots covering the Fox logo and the opening scrawl, rather then just adding them together, is beyond me. I do hope they maintain this and eventually get around to doing the other movies.

wwhere exactly are the powercells/heatsinks coming from on that source? Or the reactor ejection system?

Balrog wrote:Pretty cool, though why they wasted two slots covering the Fox logo and the opening scrawl, rather then just adding them together, is beyond me.

Because they're technically two separate elements.

I'm surprised that even thirty years later, and given with how much stuff has been released and revealed, that there is still information that seems brand-new.

For instance, I never knew that the title of the film was initially part of the opening crawl, let alone what the logo actually looked like at that point, until last night.

Man, this thing has me totally stoked...

Info on mystery ships in ESB, more info on the Imperial and Rebel fleets at Endor..... 8)

TIE boarding craft is affixed to opposite end of portside airlock

Why would it be necessary to use a TIE boarding craft to board the Tantive IV? Isn't the ship already in the Star Destroyer's ventral bay, meaning the Imperials can just mate a boarding tube (term?) from the Star Destroyer to the airlock? If they're worried the rebels might escape aboard the Star Destroyer, they can just magnetically lock the doors to prevent anyone from going out the opposite end of the boarding tube.

As for Stormtrooper armor power cells... ergonomically, they should be on the lower torso (lower back, hips, beltline, etc.). Maybe the power cells above the right knee are replacement cells in a storage unit, to be removed from the storage unit and plugged in somewhere on the torso when needed?

WOW! I'm so psyched that this isn't "Hyperspace only."

Sidewinder wrote:

TIE boarding craft is affixed to opposite end of portside airlock

Why would it be necessary to use a TIE boarding craft to board the Tantive IV? Isn't the ship already in the Star Destroyer's ventral bay, meaning the Imperials can just mate a boarding tube (term?) from the Star Destroyer to the airlock?

In case there's a booby-trap, you'd rather have it hit a boarding craft than the main ship.

And...erm...I don't think we'll be advertising that the Imperial Navy is propelled by pantyhose containers.

Cykeisme wrote:Argh, my SoD is bruised..

For example, "Dog-eared set dressing" on Image 17..

I just closed my eyes, covered my ears and kept chanting "Loose access panel left ajar" over and over again

Don't know if you realized this or not, but it's something for everyone in general - white text is in-universe information, green text is out-of-universe.

Hence why there's also the corresponding script excerpts, background notes, and images for the primary page entries.

Vympel wrote:Should be cool, though I wish they weren't so eager to give names to otherwise nameless extras who die in a matter of moments.

Are they coming up with these as new parts of the feature, or just reiterating old Decipher/WEG material?

The Original Nex wrote:

Vympel wrote:Should be cool, though I wish they weren't so eager to give names to otherwise nameless extras who die in a matter of moments.

Are they coming up with these as new parts of the feature, or just reiterating old Decipher/WEG material?

Some of the names seem decidedly new as I certainly can't recall even Decipher naming several of those who get identification in this series.

Pello Scrambas, Chad Hilse, Stormtrooper DV-523, were all originally identified in the Decipher and WotC card games.

Cariso Smadis seems to be identified in this feature for the first time.

I don't know, the reference to the TIE Boarding Craft does have a use. If someone says the EU isn't valid we can just say, 'Fine, the Stormtroopers blew open the door with their blasters, rather than a TIE Boarding Craft blowing it open, now scale that up to the size of a turbolaser.'

Am I blind or something? I'm totally not seeing all this cool information at all. Just some basic behind-the-scenes stuff...

You need to click on the view images section to get it to pop up.

VT-16 wrote:You need to click on the view images section to get it to pop up.

All I get are nine images (in the Chapter 3 page) that tell me nothing of interest. Do I have to go sign up and log in or something?

EDIT: So I signed up, logged on, and...nothing.

This is either going to be one of those "How the fuck did I miss THAT?" moments, or something is screwy with my browser.

Nine? There's supposed to be 37!

And I find the part about reactor core ejection interesting. And being able to tell one moon from the other.

No no not those nine pictures at the bottom. Scroll up where excerpt from the script begins. On the right you'll see a thumbnail with the writing:
"Visual Guide
Chapter 3: Imperial attack
click here to view images"
Click it and the popup will appear.