La traducción al español de esta entrevista la puedes leer aquí.
This interview was originally published on October 7, 2005.
Kerk Korpil (Galactic NewsStack): Thank you so much for accepting this virtual interview, Dan. I want to congratulate you for all your recent Insider articles and everything you wrote for Vader: The Ultimate Guide, and also for the forthcoming publication of The New Essential Chronology. So, let’s start! Can you tell us something about yourself? When and how did you became a Star Wars fan?
Daniel Wallace (DW): I’ve been a SW fan since I was a kid, like many people. I saw the original movie in the theaters and was just blown away. Not too terribly unique, I’m afraid, most people have similar stories, but that attests to the impact that the movies have on impressionable young minds!
GNS: How did you get the opportunity to write Star Wars material?
DW: The first official publication I did was the Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, and it came about from knowing a couple people with connections at Lucasfilm (through the AOL Star Wars Fan Club) and writing a fan resource, the Star Wars Planets Guide. I consider myself very lucky.
GNS: Tell us about your recent work, why is it of interest to any Star Wars fan?
DW: The New Essential Chronology is the one I’m most looking forward to seeing, since I love continuity and history. It’s also beautifully illustrated, and this time around it doesn’t have any holes (i.e. all six movies are now covered).
GNS: Was it difficult researching everything about Darth Vader? Were there any requirements or special treatment demanded for the main character of the saga?
DW: For Vader: The Ultimate Guide, I was helped a great deal by the fact that I co-wrote Anakin Skywalker: The Story of Darth Vader for Chronicle books back in 1998 (it was a book that appeared in a package with an Anakin action figure). Plus my work on both Chronologies helped quite a bit. Vader’s a pretty central character, so you don’t have to go too far afield to get all the info.
GNS: On The New Essential Chronology, what’s the difficulty of assigning a specific date to Star Wars events? Will there be an explanation of Star Wars calendars?
DW: There’s not a specific explanation of the various SW calendars since I thought it would confuse people (although you can get an overview of the calendars on my blog at SW.com). All events are placed in relation to the Battle of Yavin, i.e. Star Wars Episode IV.
GNS: Of the roleplaying game books you’ve been part of (Coruscant and the Core Worlds, Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds), what was your responsibility? Do you play the game at all? And if so, what do you think of it?
DW: I didn’t really play the SW RPG, but I’d played RPGs in the past and was familiar with their rules and conventions. I looked at Coruscant and the Core Worlds and Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds (as well as the work I did for SW Gamer with Jason Fry and Craig Carey) primarily as an opportunity to flesh out the SW universe and contribute to the overall lore.
GNS: Of all the articles/books/pieces of information you have wrote so far, which is your favorite and why?
DW: Probably the New Essential Chronology right now, since I feel the Essential Guides have gotten better and better with each printing.
GNS: Do you plan to write other kind of material, like fiction?
DW: I’ve written a couple SW short stories in the past — one for the Official Star Wars Adventure Journal (“The Great Herdship Heist”) and two for SW Gamer (“Fair Prey” and “The Monster”). I’d love to write more fiction if given the opportunity!
GNS: Tell us if you have non-Star Wars related projects?
DW: Yep! Two are in the works right now, but I’m not sure if I can talk about them yet or not. I’ve also contributed to the DC Comics Encyclopedia, which came out in 2004.
GNS: What’s your relationship with other authors like Abel Peña and Jason Fry? Is there a “community” of authors?
DW: I think there is, at least among a certain strata of fanboys (and girls) who connected in the ’90s during the early days of online SW fandom. Many of us have gone on to write professionally for SW, like Jason and Abel, and some even work directly for George, like Pablo Hidalgo. There’s a tongue-in-cheek name, the Star Wars Fanboy Association, that grew up around this fraternity, and more info available at the SWFA website.
GNS: So, what’s your opinion on Episode III?
DW: Loved it.
GNS: Have you ever been in Mexico? Or any Latinamerican country?
DW: Guatemala. I actually visited the ruins at Tikal without realizing they were the Massassi ruins from ANH. Months later I was watching ANH at home, connected the dots, and just about fell out of my chair.
GNS: The news of the virtual interview spawned a great number of questions from the news bulletin readers, here they are:
Freddy Aguilar from Guadalajara has a number of questions: In Star Wars Insider 56 you speak about “unseen planets of Episode I” and refer to the mythical planet Iego, based on the mythical and sinister syrens that Odysseus faced and which brought doom to sailors. Do you think in the end Padme was the syren that led Anakin to his fall?
DW: Good catch! That was one of the things I was kind of trying to play off, when he asked her if she was an angel. Following up on that SW Insider article, I wrote about the planet Iego in great detail in Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds. I actually got really wacky with the entry, perhaps pushing the boundaries of what does and doesn’t fit in SW, in my attempts to make Iego a surreal combination of “Lost” and the afterlife. (Written before “Lost”, of course, but you know what I mean.)
GNS: What do you think is the reason for the success of the Expanded Universe?
DW: Imagination first and foremost, but I put great stock in the fact that everything has been maintained very consistently, giving fans a sense that these stories all could actually fit together in a real timeline.
GNS: Do you know if short stories like those presented in Star Wars Tales will continue to exist as to fill the small gaps in the universe?
DW: I hope so! Tales is gone, but I’m a big fan of short stories, both in comics form and in books like Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina.
GNS: In the comic “Heart of Darkness” shown in Star Wars Tales #16, we see a Jedi of the same species as Yoda. I checked in the Yoda’s Star Wars.com Databank entry and they mention this fact. But in the comic the Jedi is called Minch. Is that another name for Yoda?
DW: Well, “Minch” was one of the suggested names for Yoda back when ESB was in the script-writing stage. As to why the “Yoda-like” guy in that story was named Minch, I’m actually not sure. Perhaps it was intended to be Yoda and LFL didn’t like the way he was portrayed…?
GNS: Following this question, in Heir to the Empire Leia mentions the Bpfassh Dark Jedi insurrection, which took place 35 years before the battle of Yavin. But the “Heart of Darkness” comic shows these events as taking place 700 years before the battle of Yavin. Is this an error or was it another insurrection?
DW: I sidestepped “Heart of Darkness” in the New Essential Chronology, because it has so many odd elements (Minch/Yoda, the timeline oddity you mention above), that I thought it safe to consider it one of the Infinities tales.
GNS: When you create a new character’s profile, can you invent everything as you want or is there any Lucasfilm guideline? And if inspiration is all yours, where does it come from? Everyday people? Politicians, historic figures?
DW: LFL is actually pretty open to creating new info, but they need to approve it all before it becomes official. In a book like the New Essential Guide to Characters, at least 90% of the entry focuses on existing events from other novels and comics, and if I created something new it was probably just continuity glue to explain an apparent discrepancy in somebody’s bio.
GNS: Alfredo Lomelí from San Luis Potosí shares a recurrent question with Freddy Aguilar: Why do discrepancies exist between the events shown in the Clone Wars cartoons, the Republic comics and the events described in the Labyrinth of Evil novel? Some issues are the summoning of Anakin and Obi-Wan to Coruscant, the book describes them being in Tythe, while the cartoon shows them in Nelvaan. Another example would be the introduction of the new Jedi Starfighters in the cartoon’s chapter 21, while in the comics they are developed much later. And the comics never mention the cartoon duels between Anakin and Assajj or between Obi-Wan and Durge.
DW: I don’t know the reason why, exactly, but I understand where you’re coming from. I think Labyrinth and Republic mesh together pretty well. The cartoon causes some problems in its depiction of Grievous’ rescue vs. Labyrinth, but I’m a huge fan of the cartoon and have a hard time faulting it for this. Fortunately I was able to sidestep most of this in the New Essential Chronology, but the jury’s still out on how to make an official day-by-day breakout of those events.
GNS: Eduardo López from Mexico City asks: Where in time will the new Star Wars television series be located? Which known characters do you think will be featured?
DW: All I know is that it will be set between Episode III and IV. And I don’t know which characters will be featured. I’d be shocked if it didn’t feature Vader, and maybe Boba Fett in some capacity. Other characters who could probably pop up from time to time would be Tarkin, Jabba, Palpatine, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, or the droids.
GNS: He also asks where was first mentioned the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel in the lava?
DW: The first place I read about it was in the Return of the Jedi novelization by James Kahn in 1983. Great to see it finally on film!
GNS: Alberto Luna from Hermosillo wonders why Leia took Organa as her last name, but Luke kept Skywalker as his? And myself, I would add, then why didn’t Leia took the Skywalker last name after knowing her true identity?
DW: I can’t come up with a good reason for this…by all accounts, Luke should at least have changed his name to Lars. Leia probably kept the name Organa out of loyalty to her adoptive father, and because she always had mixed feelings at best toward Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader.
Best,
Dan
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