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Xizor was an anime - Let's Play Shadows Of The Empire
The Official Guri Fan Club - Shadows Of The Empire LP
Who's Dash Rendar? - What's An LP?
Let's Play Shadows Of The Empire
Welcome to the Shadows Of The Empire Let's Play thread!
: : : D E S C R I P T I O N : : :
This will be a hybrid LP of the Nintendo 64 release of Shadows Of The Empire.
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Two styles, really. If all you want to do is watch someone play a video game, feel free to just follow the VLPs. Otherwise, Nine-Gear Crow and I want to take a hybrid approach and look at the entire Shadows Of The Empire project as a whole.
Hold on, what is Shadows Of The Empire?
This was an experiment done by Lucasfilm Ltd. in 1996. The challenge was to create a Star Wars property that explored all the commercial possibilities available short of making a brand new film. The story itself, Shadows Of The Empire, was set in the period of time between The Empire Strikes Back (TESB) and The Return Of The Jedi (TROJ)--at this point in time, an area no Expanded Universe property had explored.
Ultimately, the project was very successful. George Lucas was such a fan of it that he reportedly commented that he would have made the story into an actual Star Wars film if he had the time and effort to do so in the early 80s.
Okay, so it's Star Wars. What exactly was the project?
The actual Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire (SOTE) project consisted of a novel, a comic book, a video game, a sound track, a toy line, and a card game.
The novel was written by Steve Perry, an American sci-fi author who has worked in a number of intellectual properties, including Predator, Alien, and Conan. His novel picks up immediately after TESB and runs right up where TROJ would begin. It introduces a number of characters who would become quite popular in Star Wars fandom, including Avaro, Benedict Vidkun, and Koth Melan Prince Xizor, Guri, and Dash Rendar.
The comics were published by Dark Horse and written by John Wagner. Aside from retelling the overarching plot of SOTE, they also add two distinct point-of-views in the story, with Boba Fett and the a new character named Jix.
The game was one of the earliest N64 titles (came out four months after the console's release) and was later released for the PC.
It. Was. Awesome.
The N64 version, which we will be playing, and the PC version had a few differences. The PC version looks nicer and plays better, and also has fully voiced 3D cutscenes. The N64 looks all kinds of janky, has "motion comic"-style cutscenes with subtitles, and is awkward to control at times thanks to its awkward at times controller--and yet I love it.
The soundtrack was composed by Joel McNeely, at the suggestion of John Williams, and was performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It's a pretty brilliant soundtrack considering McNeely scored it for an Expanded Universe book.
Also, a number of companies made toys for the series. The Kenner line is perhaps the most prominent. Topps also developed a 100-card set for SOTE.
To promote the whole thing, a trailer using clips from TESB and TROJ was released.
And lastly, the 1997 special edition re-release of A New Hope featured all kinds of elements from SOTE. This included swoop bikes, ASP labour droids, Sentinel-class Imperial landing craft, and Rendar's ship, the Outrider.
Oh, wow, okay. That's, uh, a lot of nerd stuff...
I know! Right?
So, what's the plan here, then--LP the N64 game?
Yes, but we're going to more than that. Compared to the other aspects of the SOTE project, the game presents a number of inconsistencies. It remains similar in a broad stroke sense, but there are specific events that are portrayed differently. We're going to journey through the entire SOTE multimedia project in order to reconcile these differences. So, more than a Let's Play, it will also be part Let's Watch, Let's Read, and Let's Listen. In doing so, we will come to reveal the ultimate truth behind Dash Rendar's journey in the Shadows Of The Empire game.
Uh, and what truth is that?
That the SOTE game is full of lies and falsehoods. For every nugget of truth, there is another aspect stretched to the breaking point. Ignoring the whole official "G-canon, C-canon" nonsense, we're going to consider canonocity within the SOTE project. Put simply, some aspects of the project will have a greater precedence than others.
Basically, the breakdown of importance will be as follows:
Highest Priority
The Original Film Trilogy
Shadows Of The Empire [Novel]
Shadows Of The Empire [Comic, Game, Soundtrack]
Other Related EU Material [Novels, Cards, Toys]
Lowest Priority
Given its importance and how every other project was basically borne of it, the Steve Perry novel will take priority with the other major projects following. After that will be the "minor" aspects of the project which will include other related Extended Universe material, such as Shadow Games.
Why am I giving them this importance? The films should be self-evident. With regards to the SOTE project, the book is really the crux it all; everything else is secondary. Thus, the narrative takes precedence on it. In the novel, we are given four point-of-views to tell us the story: Darth Vader, Prince Xizor, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia. These are the main characters--three of which are main characters from the films. This is their story. Everyone else is a background aspect. The comic gets a bump up because though the narrative jumps around a bit, introducing POVs such as Jix and Boba Fett, it still takes place primarily from Luke, Xizor, Leia, and Vader's perspectives. The game is entirely from Dash Rendar's perspective.
Why is that a problem?
Well, it's not really. But for the sake of this LP, it is. Dash Rendar is a known braggart and mercenary. He works for the highest bidder, destroying property or smuggling contraband. He is not to be trusted. Certainly not in a story told from his point-of-view. He's liable to "embellish" certain aspects of the story. As several points between the three main SOTE projects do not nicely line up, in doing an LP where we consider all of them, we're going to try and find a way to reconcile these differences. The simplest and most obvious answer for most of these is that Dash Rendar has over-exaggerated his importance in events. Sure, he plays an important role, but he conveniently finds himself against incredible odds and always comes out on top. Tell me, if some guy came up to you and told you he shot down Boba Fett's Slave 1 while on foot with a blaster pistol, would you believe him?
Anyways, that's how the LP is going to play out.
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We're going to work our hardest to ensure there is at least a video being posted once every 1-2 week(s).
: : : F E E D B A C K & P A R T I C I P A T I O N : : :
Feedback is great! For Nine-Gear Crow and I, this is our first VLP. Anything that will help us improve would be hot. As for participation, I know goons love Star Wars, so feel free to chime in with stuff so long as it doesn't interfere with the spoiler policy.
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Don't want'em. We're going to go through Shadows together. Crow and I have some things planned, so if you have an idea please check with us first.
Also, I don't want the thread to become bogged down in EU silliness. If it comes up organically that Han Solo punched a giant space otter, sure, but otherwise let's keep it to a minimum. There is an exception: if the EU material you want to talk about specifically relates to SOTE, it is probably fine. Crow and I are going to try and address that sort of thing, though, so please check if you're not sure.
Lastly:
No prequel talk!
I call that rule Order 66.
: : : W H E R E C A N I P L A Y I T ? : : :
Shadows Of The Empire has, unfortunately, not been re-released on any digital platforms, such as GoG.com, Steam, or the Wii Virtual Store. If you want to play along you'll need to snag an old PC disc or N64 cartridge from a pawn shop or Amazon.
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