Interviews -
Face To Face With The Masters

Any citizen of the galaxy may be summoned to answer to the Jedi Council. Here you may read the transcripts of such sessions.

Cellblock 1138 - 1997-1999 - 2000 - 2002 - 2003+

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Steve Perry - Author

Steve Perry at work.

Name: Steve Perry

Alias:

That Guy who wrote Shadows of the Empire

Species: Writer

Hair Color: Unknown

Eye Color: Unknown

Height: Unknown

Homeworld: Unknown

Political Affiliation: Rebel Scum

Weapon(s) of Choice: Computer

Vehicle of Choice: Unknown

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IMPERIALS: WELCOME TO OUR INTERROGATION SESSION MR. PERRY. WE HOPE YOU FIND THE ACCOMODATIONS COMFORTABLE. NOW IF YOU ARE GOOD AND ANSWER ALL OF THE QUESTIONS TO OUR SATISFACTION, YOU MAY GET OUT OF THIS ALIVE. DO WE UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER?

STEVE: Blankety, Blank, cuss word obscenity!!!

IMPERIALS: GOOD. LET US BEGIN. YOU WERE ABLE TO INFILTRATE SKYWALKER RANCH WHILE WRITING YOUR BOOK, SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE (SOTE). PLEASE DESCRIBE IT TO US AND TELL US IF YOU SAW ANY STAR WARS ARTIFACTS THAT THE PUBLIC DOESN'T NORMALLY GET TO SEE.

STEVE: I suppose I must have seen plenty, since the public generally doesn't get to go to the Ranch in big numbers. They have a lot of the original SW's toys, really nice artwork on the walls -- posters, paintings, etc., and the Skywalker Ranch fire engine, a working vehicle used by their own fire department. Among other things...

IMPERIALS: HE KNOWS MORE THAN HE'S TELLING. HIT HIM WITH THE TORTURE DROID TO MAKE HIM TALK.

STEVE: Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!

IMPERIALS: THAT'S MORE LIKE IT. NOW, VEHICLES CALLED SWOOPS AND THE OUTRIDER APPEARED IN SOTE. WERE THESE YOUR CREATIONS? ALSO, WE KNOW THAT THEY WILL BOTH BE APPEARING IN STAR WARS SPECIAL EDITION IN FEB. 1997. HOW DOES IT FEEL KNOWING THINGS YOU'VE INTRODUCED IN WRITING WILL BE APPEARING ON THE BIG SCREEN?

STEVE: I sort of co-created the OUTRIDER -- Jon Knoles came up with the name, as I recall, and he had some pretty spiffy artwork that I used as a basis. Didn't invent the swoops, those I got from a stack of research material from Bill Smith at West End Games. It feels pretty good to think it'll show up in the new footage.(Editor's note-we later found out Brian Daley created the Swoops in his Han Solo Books)

IMPERIALS: SOTE WAS A MAJOR MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION. DID ALL OF THE TIE-INS RESTRICT YOUR STORYTELLING ABILITY IN ANY WAY?

STEVE: Not really. Since we hammered the story out at a conference and tried to keep everybody reasonably happy BEFORE I did the outline, there weren't a lot of restrictions after I turned it in. A few notes from various people as to story points, but there are always such things, and none of them were biggies. All the people I worked with or talked to were professionals and sharp. No problems.

IMPERIALS: YOU ARE THE FIRST STAR WARS AUTHOR TO BE ABLE TO WRITE ABOUT DARTH VADER (AND MAY WE ADD, HE WAS NOT PLEASED!!). WERE YOU GIVEN ENOUGH FREEDOM TO WORK WITH SUCH AN ESTABLISHED CHARACTER?

STEVE: I was given carte blanche to do Darth. I wanted to keep him true to the movies, so I tried very much to do that, but I also wanted to give him some depth. He had a ways to go to get from where he was trying to hack Luke to pieces to where he gave his life to save his son from the Emperor. Basically, I answered the questions I had about why Darth acted as he did.

IMPERIALS: WE IMPERIALS PARTICULARY LIKE THE FLAT TOP YOU GAVE THE WOOKIEE, CHEWBACCA. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO GIVE HIM SUCH A RIDICULOUS HAIRCUT?

STEVE: Simple. You give somebody a weird 'do, that's what people notice, and not the face. I could hardly disguise Chewy enough so nobody would know he was a Wookiee, but I could make him look like a DIFFERENT Wookiee.

IMPERIALS: DAVE WOLVERTON TOLD US THAT IN THE COURTSHIP OF PRINCESS LEIA, LUCASFILM ASKED HIM NOT TO HAVE CHEWBACCA CRACK A COUPLE OF JOKES IN THE STORY (WHICH SEEMS ODD TO US IN LIGHT OF THE FLAT TOP AND "LAUGH IT UP, FUZZBALL"). WAS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU WERE ASKED TO CHANGE OR LEAVE OUT?

STEVE: I wanted to have Luke and Lando stop at the SW's equivalent of a gas station to use the phone, but nobody thought that was funny except me. At first, everybody was leery of having droids fly the FALCON, didn't want to do it, but I begged them to let me try and toss it if they didn't like it. They decided they liked it.

IMPERIALS: SOME SW FANS ARE FANATICAL ABOUT CONTINUITY (WE CALL THEM CONTINUITY STORMTROOPERS). HAVE THEY BEEN A PROBLEM TO DEAL WITH SINCE YOUR BOOK WAS SUCH A VITAL LINK BETWEEN THE TWO FILMS?

STEVE: No major ones anybody has pointed out to me. A couple of minor things have been thrown at me, but I mostly can give good reasons why I did what I did.

IMPERIALS: LUCASFILM HAS ALWAYS BEEN FINDING BIGGER AND BETTER WAYS TO IMPRESS ITS AUDIENCES (WITH GRAND STORIES, ILM, THX, ETC.) NOW THAT IT SEEMS WE HAVE SEEN EVERYTHING POSSIBLY IMAGINABLE ON THE BIG SCREEN, WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO IMPRESS YOU AND AUDIENCES WITH THE NEW TRILOGY?

STEVE: Oh, I'm expecting to be impressed. The new movies will be state-of-the-art. --ILM IS state-of-the-art and they got stuff you wouldn't believe.

IMPERIALS: EVERYBODY HAS BEEN SPECULATING ABOUT WHAT WILL BE IN THE FIRST TRILOGY COMING UP IN A FEW YEARS. WE WOULD LIKE TO FLASH FORWARD AND SPECULATE ABOUT THE LAST OF THE THREE TRILOGIES LUCAS SPOKE OF DOING (AFTER RETURN OF THE JEDI). IN YOUR OPINION, AS A WRITER, WHAT COULD THEY POSSIBLY BE ABOUT WHICH HASN'T BEEN COVERED IN THE RECENT BOOKS?

STEVE: Well. I wouldn't want to speculate TOO specifically because I might be writing one of those, who knows? Still, I can think of ten or twelve thousand things right off the bat. Here's one: Jump a hundred years ahead and have the great-grandchildren running things, peaceful, serene. Then have the Star Wars galaxy invaded by beings from an alternate universe, and all of the invaders are Dark Jedi. Maybe they all even look like Vader. Interesting image, hey?

IMPERIALS: WHAT NON-STAR WARS STORIES BY YOU OR OTHER AUTHORS WOULD YOU RECOMMEND TO FANS OF STAR WARS?

STEVE: I should push my own stuff here. If you like Star Wars, you might like my Matador Universe. Got a lot more sex and violence in it, but the books move right along. My most recent novel, THE TRINITY VECTOR is just out from Ace. Got a lot of action, sex and violence in it, too..

IMPERIALS: WHO WOULD WIN IN AN ARM WRESTLING MATCH BETWEEN YOU AND GRAND MOFF TARKIN? (WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE ANSWERING!)

STEVE: Given that Tarkin is pretty much dead, unless I'm missing something, I'd have to say me. (Even when he was alive, he was pretty much a pencil neck anyhow. I can benchpress my word processor, at the very least...)

IMPERIALS: WHAT?!! TARKIN DEAD?!?!! YOU REBEL SCUM! WE FIND YOUR LACK OF FAITH DISTURBING!!! TEACH HIM A LESSON!!!

STEVE: AAAAAAArrrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!

Following this interview, Steve Perry was frozen in carbonite and handed over to the Bounty Hunters. We wish him all the luck in his future ventures. Long live Tarkin!!