Originally posted to the Fidonet Star Wars Echo in Decebmer, 1994. ============================================================================ IF GUTS & DETERMINATION AREN'T ENOUGH, YOU'VE GOT TO USE A LITTLE FORCE... ============================================================================ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O U T . O F T H E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MMM . MMM . . AAAAA WW WWW . WW . . MM MM . MM MM . AA. AA . . WW WW.WW .WW . . . MM MM MM .MM . AA . AA . WW WW WW WW . . . MM . MM MM MM . A . . A . WW WW . W . WW . . MM . MM . MM AAAAAAAAAAAAA WWWW . . W .WW . . MM . MM . AA . . AA . WW . W WW . . . . MM . . . AA . AA . . W WW . MM . . AA . AA . . . . WWW . . . MM . . . . . . . WW . . . MM . . #################. . . . WW . . . M . . . . # . # . . . . . W . . . . . . . #. # . . . . . . . . . . . . . # # . . . . . . . ################# . . .. . . ========================================================================== "The thornlike form of the Sun Crusher streaked away from the cluster, leaving a trail of hot gases. A few moments later, three fully armed Imperial-class Star Destroyers charged out of the maw like banthas on fire." --- From Kevin Anderson's novel, JEDI SEARCH ========================================================================== OUT*OF*THE*MAW - THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR THE FIDONET STAR WARS ECHO ========================================================================== VOLUME I, ISSUE #2 DECEMBER 1994 EDITOR - MIKE SCHWAB ========================================================================== ECHO MODERATOR: SKIP SHAYOTOVICH ECHO CO-MODERATOR: BRENT LYNCH ECHO MEMBER/NODE LISTING: MIKE FARNHAM MAIN ECHO FAQ KEEPER: KEVIN COX RPG GAME MASTER: DAVE THOMER INFOFAQ ENGINEERS: JAMES KING AND SKIP SHAYOTOVICH RESIDENT ECHO CELEBS: KEVIN ANDERSON, TOM VEITCH, L. NEIL SMITH ========================================================================== C O N T E N T S Monthly Features for December 1994: I. Echo Announcements You may fire when ready... II. Big News For The Echo Star Wars Authors Come Aboard. III. Quote/Tagline Of The Month A fitting clip from Keith Jakubowski. IV. Echolites Of The Month Chat w/ Mike Farnham & David Sentz. V. Plug Of The Month Editor's current favorite SW item. VI. Echo Talk Common discussions during November. VII. Trivia Of The Month Trivia master Rob Dennis strikes! VIII. Echo Book Store Guest review of The Crystal Star. IX. Echo Flashback Of Echolites long gone... X. From a Certian Point of View Pro vs Fan Fiction by Cheryl De Luca. XI. Poll/Question Of The Month Interrogation from the editor. XII. Intercepted Transmissions News items by Vincent Mcconnell. XIII. Echo Stats Never TELL me the odds! :) XIV. Blast From The Past Star Wars history by Mike Farnham. XV. Echo Game Room Some fun & games from Lisa Ragmalia. XVI. Submissions/Closing Join us, and Clear Skies. ============================================================================= A N N O U N C E M E N T S Well, I know I said that the first issue was a "double," but it seems most issues will be about this long. That is, unless I get lazy, bored, or disinterested in Star Wars... :) -The Editor The node list of all BBSs carrying the Star Wars Echo is available on Jabba's Palace BBS run by Richard Plenger. The number to call is (615) 538-8916. This comprehensive list was put together by Mike Farnham, and is very up-to-date. If anyone knows of boards in their area that carry the Echo, and that are not on the nodelist, please forward it to Mike here on the Echo. Inlcude the BBS name, node number, phone number, and Sysop name if possible. ======================================================================= B I G N E W S F O R T H E E C H O Thanks to the hard work of Echolites David Sentz and Mike Farnham, we have managed to lure another Star Wars author to the Echo! A big pat on the back for these guys! A warm welcome goes out to L. Neil Smith, author of the Lando Calrissian Trilogy. Welcome aboard, Neil! Greetings from the Echo and the OUT OF THE MAW staff. He joins an elite crew here on Fido, and is in great company with Kevin Anderson, Tom Veitch, and soon, Brian Daley. I believe Chris Gossett and Shane Johnson are hanging around here somewhere too. We are certainly lucky to have all of these folks online. Post a message to Neil and make him feel welcome. I'm sure he'll be happy to answer all questions and requests. Now, this is good news, but we can do even better. :) Within the next few days, I will be posting a list of addresses on where to contact the following Star Wars authors. Take some time and drop them a note. Let them know that their expertise, opinions, and knowledge would be highly valued here! Alan Dean Foster Star Wars: A New Hope (novelization) Splinter of the Mind's Eye Donald F. Glut The Empire Strikes Back (novelization) James Kahn Return Of The Jedi novelization Timothy Zahn Heir To The Empire Dark Force Rising The Last Command Kathy Tyers Truce At Bakura Dave Wolverton The Courtship Of Princess Leia Vonda McIntyre The Crystal Star Stress to these authors that we value their works, and we would love to hear what they have to say. Give them a reason to join us. Look for the post within the week. Thanks to all, The Editor ========================================================================= Q U O T E / T A G L I N E O F T H E M O N T H This month's quote was supplied to us from Keith Jakubowski, and it is rather fitting in view of recent news: Winner: "GALOOB - Greedy Arrogant Loathsome Opportunisitc Offensive Bastards." You tell 'em, Keith. That's how a lot of us feel. Feed 'em to the Rancor. ========================================================================== E C H O L I T E S O F T H E M O N T H This month, we chat with Echolites David Sentz and Mike Farnham. OOTM: Give us a quick background on yourself - age, status, occupation, etc. Dave: I'm a 28 yr. old computer sys. operator for a local company. I've been a fan since I saw Star Wars in '77. I lost interest in the hobby right after ROTJ (I was 17 and girls & cars were much more appealing). I sort of rediscovered SW in '91 around the time of Dark Empire and Tim Zahn's first book. I missed out on all of the 10th anniv. hype but now I'm back full 'force'. Right now is a pretty good time to be a fan. Mike: Well, I'm 25 - born in upstate New York. I have a sister and have lived in Florida for 18 years. I moved to Tampa in August of this year and currently work for a cross-reference company - producing reference directories using PC's and scanners. OOTM: To what extent do you like to particpate in the Echo? Dave: I've been reading the echo for about a year now. I got on right before the first BYOE BBQ and around the time Eric Nelson was trying to covince Skip that a mouse is better for X-Wing. I was using the echo as a tool at first. Just to get the best, most accurate info. on things such as new products, old collectables, and of course, the new films. I still primarily 'read' the echo and I help out when & where I can, either with information or trades. Mike: Well, I think it would be an understatement to say that I participate on a fanatic level. I try to contribute anything I possibly can to help everyone stay informed and heading in the right direction when it comes to being informed and enlightened. I created my Nodelist to help everyone who wanted to keep track of other echolites and be able to find them easily VIA Netmail or E-mail. I maintain the list daily and upload updates to various BBS around the U.S. on a bi-weekly basis. The Echo is very important to me and I want to make every effort to do my part to make it a success. OOTM: Where do your main interests in the Star Wars Galaxy lie? Dave: I'd have to say collectables, especially the Kenner toys. I can't really say why, I'm probably just trying to recapture some of my misspent youth.(G) Also books, not just the novels but all books (and magazines) that have good source information on the Star Wars Universe. Mike: Well, it's kind of hard to narrow down my interest in the vast Star Wars universe. My biggest "dream" would be to eventually work with LucasFilm in the production of a Star Wars film. I have always dreamed of using the 'Steadicam' camera for some reason. Ever since I saw an article about it I've been fascinated. I am currently getting enrolled in some CAD computer classes and with enough experience hope to eventually gain enough knowledge to actually try to work with Lucasfilm, but that's down the road a ways yet! OOTM: Name your favorite character from any form of Star Wars literature. Dave: Probably Han Solo. I liked him when I was younger, I thought he was extremely funny. Now, I like him for different reasons but the only author who has handled him well in recent novels is Kevin Anderson. I thought Han's adventures on Kessel from Jedi Search was the best written stuff since Han Solo at Star's End. Han is underdeveloped in most other stories. Mike: Well, I'd have to agree with a lot of readers and say Admiral Thrawn was a good character. It was nice to see a villian that seemed to me, to be a cross between Tarkin and Palpatine, with a little Vader thrown in for fun! :) OOTM: You two seem to be busy locating authors for the Echo. Any other big plans you have in mind that you can let us in on? Dave: Well, no big plans. Heck, I'm still trying to get Brian Daley connected up. And that situation was just coincidence, I never knew he lived so close to me and I got lucky getting his phone number. I do have addresses for Kathy Tyers and Vonda McIntyre, so I'll probably write them and ask. I know Skip has tried to get Tyers before and got no response, but one more letter couldn't hurt. Personally, I'd like to see Zahn on the Echo but I think he 'knows we're here' and could get on-line if he wanted to. Mike: Well, my big project that I have been working on for a few months now, has been advertising the echo to some big name companies and trying to get them to interview Skip and report on the echo and it's impact on Star Wars fandom. I have contacted NBC's "Dateline", "Entertainment Weekly" magazine, and several other radio stations, television stations and such. So I guess I have become the P.R. man for the echo, so-to-speak! OOTM: How do you think this area (and others) will change as the new movies get closer? Dave: Oh man, I don't want to think about that. I'm sure the number of users will increase as word gets out that this is the best place for SW information and chat. It's all I can do now, to keep up with the number of posts that I read. My only fear is that some real plot twist from the new tril. will get out on the Echo before I get to see the movie. That would be dissappointing. Mike: Change is the obvious part. What type of change is not so easy. As for the Echo, we can only get better (and bigger). I have added approx. 7-9 new Echo connections *EVERY* day for the past month and the list just keeps growing. As for Sci-fi fandom in general, hopefully Star Wars' rebirth will help to validate science fiction as a serious medium and not something that "geeks" enjoy and, though it's not fair to mention, hopefully rid Star Wars fans of the Star Trek label that all sci-fi fans get labeled with. We all seem to get grouped together, but with the emergence of the new films, hopefully we can be taken more seriously and as an individual group. People will be surprised to see how together we are and how "on top" of information we really are. We are not geeks and should not be classified as such. ============================================================================== P L U G O F T H E M O N T H DARK EMPIRE AUDIO VERSION, by Time Warner Audio Books ----------------------------------------------------- If you're like me, you are anxiously awaiting the release of Dark Empire II by Darkhorse. What better way to gear up for it than to enjoy the original! But this time, try listening to it instead. You might think its a shame to miss Dave Dorman's cover art, or Cam Kennedy's wonderful sketches. However, the audio version of this bestseller comic is beautifully done. The cast picked for the tapes, although relatively unknown (at least by me!) does a phenomenal job at portraying our favorite heros. As a whole, these tapes handle the characters more accurately than any of the other audio versions available. The dialogue is exceptional, and the actors are very believable. At some points, you'll find yourself checking the credits to make sure the original cast didn't participate. But don't be fooled by Lando - his part is actually played by the one & only Billy Dee Williams. Fantastic. Not to mention that the audio version contains a much richer and more in-depth story than the one presented in the comics. The details are substantially expanded, with the total running time of the entire saga clocking in at about two and a half hours. Now, throw in original Star Wars music and sound effects, and you've got a gratifying and enjoyable listen. It brings a whole new light to one of the best alternative Star Wars stories out there. The Dark Empire audio version is widely available, and can be found at most book stores. Released a few months back, it runs about $17.00 for two tapes - a steal for what you get. The only complaint that I have about this version is that I haven't found it on compact disc yet. Very highly recommended, especially for your car's tape deck on long road trips. :) ========================================================================== E C H O T A L K - N O V E M B E R One of the most fascinating threads this month dealt with a Lucasfilm project being filmed close to Skywalker Ranch in Mill Valley, California. It should begin sometime in January 1995. Seems they're filming under the moniker of "The Kerner Company." Prequel cover-up? We'll have to wait 'til more details come in. Another big item this month concerned Star Wars authors coming online with us. I'm happy to say that L. Neil Smith has officially joined us, and Brian Daley seems to be next in line. For more on this, see this month's "Big New For The Echo" segment. Well, a lot of people seem to be interested in T-shirts for The Echo, and several mottos were created. With all apologies to the moderator, I have to say that "Skip on over to the Echo" has to be one of my least favorites. :) Somewhat quietly, I think the most often discussed topic dealt with Star Wars on home video, with topics ranging from home THX systems to laser discs to Super VHS technology. Also, the wide screen versions were brought up, probably cued by the fact that the Sci-Fi channel aired all three movies in that format around Thanksgiving time. Super Return of the Jedi was released this month for Super Nintendo, and the initial reviews seem to be favorable. For more on this, contact Jeff Godemann - our resident Nintendo expert. On a related note, LucasArt's Dark Forces was apparently delayed til January 1995. Whoa, big surprise. Unfortunatley, the infamous Star Wars vs. Star Trek thread somehow creeped back onto the Echo. Remember, this is forbidden talk on Fido, and is a sore spot with our moderator. Live long and prosper elsewhere, if you please. :) Big product releases are close-at-hand - Galoob's new and ridiculously packaged micromachines should hit stores soon, as well as the forthcoming widescreen trading cards. The list of promos for this series is even more complex and hard to keep up with than Star Wars Galaxy II. Dark Empire II, whose author Tom Veitch is always nearby, should be released sometime in December. Opinions on the latest Star Wars book, The Crystal Star, started appearing near the end of the month. Do yourself a favor and read the book - others opinions might not necessarily reflect yours. In other words, initial reviews are not so hot, but of course, use your own judgement. It appears that a scheudled Star Wars author has abandoned her plans to write a new book. Margaret Weiss didn't enjoy the Energizer bunny commercial as much as some of us did, and she thought that Uncle George was selling out, or "compromising the integrity" of Star Wars. Well, I guess we won't see her name around here much in the near future. C'ya. The InfoFAQ development is coming along slowly, but surely. Several InfoFAQ authors posted their creations this month, and right on schedule. More should arrive this month, completing the first two month cycle. Speaking of the InfoFAQs, where the hell is James King? Also... Boba Fett - male or female? The Death Star's gravitational pull ANH/TESB Metal Cards/Promos/Stands Something about a newsletter... Dark Lords Of The Sith #2 SW/Animaniacs Crossover The (brief) return of Sandra Childress SW Tagline files ========================================================================= T R I V I A O F T H E M O N T H Congratulations to Rob Dennis, who was the only Echolite to come up with the correct answer to last month's trivia question. Q: From Brian Daley's Han Solo series, name the ship that allegedly contained the treasures of Xim the Despot. To which Rob responded with: A: The book's title was "Han Solo and the Lost Legacy" The ship was "THE QUEEN of RANROON," rumoured to have been long lost. Xim was to have used the QUEEN to transport "valuable treasure" to his treasure vaults. Appropiatley so, Rob has come up with this month's question. See if you can handle this one. Be the first to post me the answer, and get a mention in next month's trivia section. In addition, if you want to supply the trivia for the following issue, you are perfectly welcome to do so. December Trivia: Q: What is the ONE type of person Han absolutely HATES with a passion? (and he has a REAL good reason to). =========================================================================== E C H O B O O K S T O R E THE CRYSTAL STAR, by Vonda McIntyre ------------------------------------------------- A guest review by Chris Kuist, live from London It's such a great feeling. There it is, in your hands, the latest chapter in a story which has fascinated and enraptured so many of us for such a long time. There is always this sensation of being reunited with old, familiar friends when embarking on a new Star Wars story, and I couldn't wait to be at it again. So there I was, book in hand, ready to get up to date on the lives and adventures of Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Artoo, Threepio, and company. OK, so Luke looks rather like an aging Macalley Culkin on the cover. No big deal, I'm sure that on the inside these pages is the same old Luke (and in some ways, these pages contain TOO MUCH of the same old Luke, but more on that later). So I open the book. Chapter 1. Oh, so THAT'S where they got the teaser part from. Fine, I'd better read it again. That's when the trouble started. "Her wyrwulf loped behind her...". Wyrwulf? OK, it's cheesy, but that can be over looked. Still, I've got a bad feeling about this... I didn't hate this book. Really. It's just that it suffers from two rather infuriating problems that provide a huge distraction from what is otherwise a well written and interesting story. One, the characters seem disturbingly shallow. It's as though she was handed a character bio, and based on that she tells the story. She has the basic attributes of everyone down, but she fails to communicate their soul. I do have to give her credit for her treatment of the kids, they seem genuine and they have a sense of depth that is lacking for the adults in the book. But I never felt as though it was Leia or Luke or Han I was reading about, something was always missing. One of the things that makes the Star Wars Universe so amazing is the sense of familiarity and "realness" of the characters in it. It is this "realness" that makes Kevin Anderson's books, for example, feel like such a genuine and consistent part of the Star Wars Universe. While the subject of elements of style, it seems appropriate to mention another stylistic component of the Star Wars Universe missing from this book, the visuality of the story. With Tim Zahn's or Kevin Anderson's stories, I could almost see the action unfolding in my mind's eye (I mean my imagination, not to the other famous Force influencing crystal in the Star Wars Universe =)!). It's like, well, watching a movie. This sense of the visual is missing in "The Crystal Star," and for these two reasons I found myself wondering whether or not she has actually seen the Trilogy and read the rest of the books (it does seem as though she's read Dave Wolverton's book. Sorry, I couldn't resist =)!). I'm sure she has, but she did miss out on these two important components of the Star Wars Universe. The other huge distraction is the checklist factor. It's as though when writing this Ms. McIntyre had a checklist in front of her of things she must include in the story (she's not the only SW author to fall prey to this, BTW). Mysterious former Imperial official returning from hiding with plans to become the new Emperor? Check! Weird Force influencing phenomena that screws up Luke's Jedi abilities so he either gets his butt kicked or almost dies AGAIN? Check! (note: for once, just for once, I'd like to see Luke be able to hold his own against somebody without being pummeled into bits first. There is no way the Jedi lasted a thousand generations if each of them always had to go through what Luke does every time he goes into battle). Leia and Han's kids being kidnapped, threatened with kidnapping or otherwise in danger from the remnants of the Empire? Check! If this trend continues somebody's going to have to write a book called "Therapy of the Jedi: Childhood Trauma and the New Republic". "Truce at Bakura" demonstrated that it is possible to have a good Star Wars story that avoids most of the checklist factor. Sadly, "The Crystal Star" does not. The other thing that bugged me was the acid-tripping ending with Waru. Like the Wyrwulf thing at the beginning, it was a bit too cheesy for my taste, as was naming Threepio "Purple-Three". The whole assumed name thing with Leia and Chewie posing as bounty hunters, while not in and of itself a bad idea, really, was done in such a way that the word "lame" came to mind when reading it, rather then it flowing naturally as an interesting sub-plot of the story. I really didn't hate this book as much as it sounds like I did. In many ways, it's a testament to how GOOD the vast majority of the post-Jedi books are that a book like "The Crystal Star" could pale so when set against them. And there are strong points. The kids are much better defined characters than the adults, perhaps this is because this is the first time they're presented as central, active characters, whereas Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, and the Droids seem more like old friends to those of us who frequent the Star Wars Universe, and we know their characters quite well. All in all, "The Crystal Star", while not a shinning gem in the Star Wars crown, is worth reading. I'm not exactly worried that I'm going to wear out my copy of it with readings and re-readings of it, but it is worth having (or at least borrowing). Chris Kuist Guest columnist from the U.K. ========================================================================== E C H O F L A S H B A C K A man by the name of Mark Hills was one of the most frequent posters here about a year to a year and a half ago. He was very popular here on the Echo, and he even made our buddy Mike Farnham look like a casual fan. :) Mark seemed to be heavily into the RPG's (if I remember correctly), and I believe he had a connection to West End Games, or something related to that. Mark's departure from the Echo was rather unexplained - he seemed to drop off the face of the earth all at once. He returned for a short duration within the last year or so, but since has not been heard from again. Anyone know what happened to him? ========================================================================= F R O M A C E R T A I N P O I N T V I E W Pro Fiction versus Fan Fiction ------------------------------ By Cheryl De Luca In the past few years several profiction SW novels have entered the market and have been snapped up almost instantlyby a failtful drove of SW fans. Nove;s such as the "Zahn" and "Anderson" series, and stand alone books like "The Truce at Bakura", "The Courtship of Leia", and "The Crystal Star" have awaken the SW junkie in some of us and in others has perpetuated an ongoing romance with the saga, that has lasted almost 20 years. Before these new novels and the flood of marketing that has folloedm SW fans in the late eighties went through a withdrawal of sorts after Lucasfilm failed to produce new and varying SW products. At this point all but a few of the more strident fans packed away their keepsakes and moved on to more active hobbies. One group of fans that didn't move on in the absence of ongoing new releases , worked at keepin fandom alive by creating their own additions to the SW galaxy. These are the zine editors, and those who read and submitted to them. Right now in fandom, there are approximately 20 SW zines on the market, each of them varying in size and price, and all of them areunique and different. For anyone who is unaware of just exactly a zine is, just picture an 8 1/2 x 12, non proffessional looking magazine, chock full of short stories, poems, filks, art, and crazy cartoons. The material thay handle is mostly speculative, always interesting, and ocassionally a little naughty. And one thing is for certain, they are much more creative and on target character wise than the proffessioanl novels. Ideas such as 3PO as a biker dude in an alternate universe, Han Solo in his younger days, Luke's marriages and love interests (yes he does have a sex life in fandom), and Leia's not so regal past, have all been represented in fanzines. Most zines cost anywhere between, $7 (the smallest at around 50 pgs) ans $38 (the largest at 300), with the average running $15-$20. Now with prices like these, one would probably expect a small readership, after all who would pay close to the price of a novel, for something that isn't even proffessional? Well the fact is there are a lot of people who would, and the list is growing by leaps and bounds almost daily. The surprising thing is that unlike pro fiction novels, it is very rare that an editor hears a complaint about any of their material. To listen to the convesations burning up the net just after a new novel has been released, one knows this isn't true of pro fiction. There is always some one saying that they didn't like "so and so's" characterization, and hated "blanks" story line. Many of the tried and true zine readers will also tell you that "SW is alive and well and living in zinedom ONLY". They say they prefer fan fiction to pro fiction hands down, and when asked why, they reply that fanfic writers have a better grasp of the characters we all know and love. And why shouldn't they? the most seasoned writers who've been doing this for years, crank out anywhere from 2-20 stories annually. With numbers like these, it's no wonder they can write a character dead on. Since for them writing Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie is just like putting on a pair of well worn, and comfortable shoes. The professional writers for all their degrees, cannot match this experience in any way, hence we end up getting a mediocre look at the SW galaxy. Proof of this is the fact that their own characters, the ones they have created themselves always seem to stand out, next to the generic plastiform characters we know as Luke Leia, and Han. Another factor to consider is the reason behind the author's writing. For profic writers - though many have said that they are BIG SW fans - MONEY is a BIG push. For a fanzine write it is a passion, no one is paid, and occassionally they even have to buy the zine their story is in. So they MUSt love whay they do, otherwise why torture themselves? (and YES when you hit a solid wall of writer's block, it is torture!) Fanfic writers put their heart and soul into a story and are usually unbending when it comes to doing a story the way they want to. Since Lucasfilm decides what can be printed and pays the author's salary (in a filtered sort of way) these writer's can be easily stifled. And it's usually hard to be passionate under these conditions. Let's face it, if you were a preffessional writer, and Lucas said no to most of what you had come up with, told you what he wanted you to write, and then dangled a HUG payoff under your nose you'd probably do what HE wanted you to as well. After all this is your job, right? It's what you've been hired to do! Well that's not so with fanfic writers -- it's what they enjoy doing, and not a task, but a labour of love. No wonder fans can see the difference and enjoy the stories so much more!! Cheryl Deluca alias OH's crazy Ed. ========================================================================== Q U E S T I O N / P O L L O F T H E M O N T H You find yourself in a small metallic room. You have been shoved here by a squad of stormtroopers after your recon ship was captured off of third moon of Dantooine. The sweat rolls quickly down your brow, as you hear thundering footsteps approach A large masked being, dressed entirely in black enters the room. He is both man and machine, and although you can't see his eyes, his stare burns into your soul. You want to scream, since you know what is about to happen, but you can do nothing. He raises his hand in your direction and says: Q: Not including Wedge, who is your favorite background or secondary character in the Star Wars Galaxy? You have no choice. You know you must answer. And when you do, post your response to the editor of OUT OF THE MAW, Mike Schwab, on the Fidonet Star Wars Echo. This is the only way out, the only way to save your suddenly meaningless life. It is the only way to sustain the Rebellion. *In other words, NO ONE answered last month's question! So get me *those responses. Your life may depend on it. :) ========================================================================= I N T E R C E P T E D T R A N S M I S S I O N S By Vincent McConnell * _ * * _ * **(_)** News on the Horizon **(_)** * * * * FRESNO, CA (AP): Galoob, Inc., manufacturers of the popular "Micro Machines," have thrown both toy and sci-fi afficionados into an uproar with their latest decision to manufacture a "Best of 1995" Micro Machines Gift Pak. The pack will include 10 unique motorized Micro Machine toys from the popular Star Wars trilogy of movies, and 45 older toys which have already been printed in three-packs. According to Galoob representative Travis Sawyer, collectors will not mind the $105.95 price tag. "We plan a targeted marketing campaign. I mean, even though you _are_ getting a few old toys, the new ones included are well worth it! What child or fan can resist this deal for _under_ $106?" MILWAUKEE, WI (AP): Kenner Toys (KT) has officially announced their intentions to do a complete line of "Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back", "Return of the Jedi", and "The Ewok Adventure" action figures. In a bold new decision by the new CEO, Greg Scalu, the figures will be 8" and made from non- flexible plastic. Star Wars fans are not to fret, though, says Scalu. "Due to the overwhelming success of JusToys' Bendems line, we have decided to make the new Kenner figures flexible. Their torsos and heads will be made of hard vinyl-plastic, but the limbs will be vulcanized "Bendie" rubber. We expect them to sell tremendously." Spaceships for this new line will be scaled to hold approximately 20 figures comfortably in the larger ones, and 10 in the smaller ones. The largest of the entire series, the "Super Star Destroyer Executor" will be able to hold 30-35 of the figures. The Statler Midgets will be modeling for the famous movie characters on the fronts of the boxes. SAN RAFAEL, CA (AP): In a computer-conducted interview on the commercial service "America On-Line", George Lucas, famed movie director, gave some information about his up-and-coming movies. Topping the list of most-asked-about was his newly titled CLONE WARS: THE BATTLE FOR ENDOR. Lucas: CLONE WARS: THE BATTLE FOR ENDOR will focus on the Empire's struggle to rid the galaxy of the Endorian W.O. Killing Squad of Jedi, and their cloning of Shocktroopers to accomplish this. Rep: So, the whole movie takes place on Endor? Lucas: Well, sort of. I haven't decided whether to locate it on Endor, or it's third moon. Rep: Tell us more about these Jedi. Lucas: They're Ewoks. Rep: ... Lucas: I scrapped the idea to render all backgrounds in CGI. I'm going to animate the backgrounds, ala Toontown in _Who Framed Roger Rabbit_. Rep: ...could you tell us about some of your other hot new movies? Lucas: I'm filming Howard the Duck II and III back to back now, and TVLand Slayings will be next on the agenda. SWI has been moved back a bit. Rep: To when, exactly? Lucas: Around 2002, or whenever TVLand Slayings is finished. Rep: Any other movie news? Lucas: I'm doing some work in the area of muppet and clay pornography. Expect _Ride My Rancor_ to be out in 1999, and _Tauntauns of the Night_ to follow. Rep: Thank you for your time. ========================================================================== E C H O S T A T S The following was derived from the records at the Exec-PC BBS in Milwaukee, WI. All posts are counted, including duplicates and errors. Top posters in the Fidonet Star Wars Echo for November ============================================================ Total Messages - 2032 Average messages per day: 67.73 1. Mike Farnham 271 2. Skip Shayotovich 105 3. Connie Crisp 94 4. Jason Leblanc 88 5. Matt Schulz 79 6. Brent Lynch 55 7. Mike Schwab 54 8. Eric Nelson 47 9. Mark Halverson 39 10. Benoit Verreault 38 Kevin Cox 38 Percent of total messages from top 10: 45% Average messages per day from top 10: 2.75 11. Josh Forschen 37 Rob Huston 37 12. Brian Newman 35 David Sentz 35 13. Gord Cavanaugh 34 14. Jennie Jivan 28 15. Mike Freeman 25 16. Cheryl De Luca 23 Neil Singh 23 Jeremy Gaggins 23 17. Rich Mason 21 18. Paul G. Sabol 20 19. Brandon Wolgast 18 20. Larry Baum 16 Percent of total messages from 11-20: 18% Average messages per day for 11-20: 0.89 Percent of total messages from top 20: 63% Average messages per day for top 20: 1.72 ========================================================================= B L A S T F R O M T H E P A S T Filming in Yuma, Arizona. ------------------------- By Mike Farnham (paraphrasing an article) ...it took 5 months to build the set (of Jabba's barge and the Sarlacc pit), and it took approx. 5000 "man" hours in local hotel rooms. Their first shipment of lumber cost over $100,000 - consisting of sheets of plywood, 10'X10'X30 beams, and over 14,000 pounds of nails. A big problem was not only the size of the set, but how easily accessable the area was to dune buggies. Over Thanksgiving they had erected a fence to keep people out of the area, but there were approx. 35,000 people watching while they were putting up the fence! - from Howard Kazanjian ...the production crew had to hide the fact thay were shooting Revenge (Return) of the Jedi, so they called themselves "Blue Harvest", and put out a "rumor" that they were making a horror movie. They felt secure with their 24-hour security and chain link fence that had been installed...but this was to no avail...Someone cut the chains at night , got in a stole some photos. Pictures of Star Wars models surfaced soon after and the crew had to maintain the cover of BLUE HARVEST and avoid any exposure of what was actually going on. "This is BLUE HARVEST" they would tell people.."It's about horror beyond imagination" (as all the crew shirts/caps read.) They managed to convice the majority of onlookers except for a few 60 die-hard Star Wars fans...they wouldn't leave till they got pictures..so the crew obliged... - from Howard Kazanjian ======================================================================== E C H O G A M E R O O M Star Wars Word Search By Lisa Ragmalia Greetings! Here is this months puzzle. The topic for this month is DROIDS. I could not use numbers, so the numbers are spelled phoenetically, for the most part, like See-threepio. These are droid's names, and types. Remember, no CHEATING! DROIDS U Q F V U N V C M W D F S H J W G B L O U G W G Q Z H S R U O F E D E V I F R A V R B U L L U X N E W X E T I Q E G M G D I O R D E B O R P D P A K Y K W R H Z J I V U F F I R A A N P O U G O H M D Y F O H G X L A V L W E Q C R X Y W M U W N C E H M Z O D I O R D R O T A I D A L G F Q E T U E U J Y E T A E E R H T E E G E E B L R L R O E O M L X V E E L Y N B H J I C X D A U L D D Y R V A O B D C Z D L T D O I R D R O T A G O R R E T N I R R E P E O C H I P R N A E G T L A O V N O R N T T G R A E O Y G O B I D A H A C O I T O Y E I O Q S P D E F T O I R J X V R R H S D B I E P K B D Q A C N H O R E E D D Y T C O Y J S T O L D O U S K V I U T U A X Y T I J Q C K T L U A I R R E E J W N J H A R B K A H O N O F F D C O C S P L E A A Y D U E E Z O A J G R E E C D E E A A R S T L R T L P N N R E C E E I D P A E X K D T E D H I D E Z E E F O G E Z S E E K C E E T R A L A R L R N N W T E A E E A E Q D R L N N J O N L Y E I O I F D E D F S E H B R B T F A E A I T I E E T I N W F E R V A A S T E B T R T T O D T K X P V D E H M T T J O E E H P A N X O K A T E R T I I I E X E Y E K E X I S R G L J I R B W R E E O N O B M S A E O N R R L D X T Z Z A N S O T E O B R E R S K L X I M T A M Y G F G M E V E N I N E D E N I N E J E H G Y D M S K U N D M M U D V R T S G N B T W H H E Q H M R O M B J Z G H Q Z E U G I M L O Q N S T S B Y T R O W K M B W A C C L N L A T E C O L E B V Z P J E D I A U M I L M H E C I A Q Y U G O H S V E Y I I E X D E H X N P R R G C N M A M M O T O B O R P K X N H AGRIOBOT ASSASSINDROID ASTROMECH ATEDEATE BEEGEETHREEATE BINARYLOADLIFTER BIX BEELSEVENTEEN BLUEMAX BULLUX SEERATT SEETHREEPIO SEEBEENINETYNINE CHIP CHOCO DETAINMENTDROID DEEJAYEIGHTYEIGHT EVENINEDENINE FREIGHTDROID FRIJA FXSEVEN GLADIATORDROID THEGREATHEAP HSEEONEHUNDRED HUMANREPLICADROID HUNTERKILLERPROBOT PHLUTDROID INTERROGATORDRIOD KAYTEETEN KAYTEEEIGHTEEN MARKTWOREACTORDRONE MARKTENEXECUTIONER MEDICALDROID NINEDENINE POWERDROID PROBEDROID PROBOT ARTOODETOO ARFIVEDEFOUR SENTIENTTANK TALKDROID TOOONEBEE TREADWELLROBOT VUFFIRAA WARDROID ZEEZEEFOURZEE ---------------------------------------------------------- Editor's suggestion - the best way to do this is to simply save it, print it out, and circle the answers. Then, in two weeks, I will post the finished puzzle with all the answers. Thanks to Lisa for this puzzle - looks like it took a lot of time to put together. Happy searching! ======================================================================== S U B M I S S I O N S / C L O S I N G Join the friendly and talented staff of OUT OF THE MAW, and achieve instant fame, glory, and fortune! Cheryl De Luca Rob Dennis Mike Farnham Keith Jakubowski James King Chris Kuist Vincent McConnell Eric Nelson Lisa Ragmalia David Sentz Or, apply for a Echolite Of The Month Inteview, and join these proud and prestigious folks... Skip Shayotovich Brent Lynch Mike Farnham David Sentz OR, simply read OUT OF THE MAW, and enjoy yourself to no end. For anyone interested in submitting articles for future issues, please E-mail me at schwbnhs@earth.execpc.com, or post a message to the Echo. My apologies for a lack of attention to previous requests on submitting articles. I will try to get in touch with ya, but if you are still interested, let me know, as I may have lost your message. This would include (at least) the following people: Matt Schulz Benoit Verreault Gord Cavanaugh Oliver J. Hanau Jeff Godemann Jennie Jivan Jason Leblanc Rob Kenny I hope you enjoyed this edition of OUT OF THE MAW. As always, mail me with any suggestions, ideas, modifications, enhancements, revelations, or, just to talk. :) May The Force Be With You, and... Clear Skies The Editor ===================================================================== THE WARS BEGIN 1998 =====================================================================