Hello everyone. I really hope all had a great holiday season. My family and I had a wonderful time. We started our season before Thanksgiving by going to Disney World in Orlando and had a blast. My wife and I have two little girls, actually three since my wife is pregnant again with another girl. My oldest is seven and the youngest to date is three, both are Star Wars fans! That’s good for dad!
We spent two days at the Magic Kingdom, two days at Epcot and a whole day at Hollywood Studios. Of course the girls and I rode the Star Tours ride a bunch of times that day. That was the first time I had been on the ride since it was improved and all I can say is it was astounding! We really had fun with it. My girls were also chosen to be junior directors in the Indiana Jones stunt show and got to take to the stage and begin the show in front of a live audience… like I said we had a blast!!
Aside from the Lucasfilm attractions my wife and I love Epcot, especially the different countries. Love the British Isles where I had a few ‘pints’ of fantastic beer and we listened to a great band playing some great songs from the Beetles to Duran Duran and from the Sex Pistols to the Rolling Stones. We also pigged out at an outdoor bakery in France where we sampled Crème Brule, all sorts of tarts and chocolate delights.
So I’ve been working on a few images over the holidays and I think these will be liked by all. As a matter of fact they will probably be some of the most popular that I’ve done because they deal with a subject matter that is most repeated with Star Wars fans. I had some troubles conveying what I wanted here at first but I kept plugging away and just when I thought I was done with one and would move on to another I would start the finished one over. I was really trying to get them perfect for you guys. There is a lot of detail in them and when I post them they tend to be smaller. If you wish to see them better either right click them and ‘view image’ or just copy them to your computer and view them as a jpeg in their biggest form… heck set em’ as wallpapers if you want I don’t care.
Okay we left off on Naboo with a full cast of characters. Now it’s time to shake them up a little and introduce THE VILLIANS. For me the bad guys were very obvious. We waited between the OT and the PT so many years. We poured over Mr. Lucas’s side notes and prescripts, learning the evolution of the characters we knew from the OT. We looked over concept art and notes from Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnson and again to me it was laid out for all to see. The obvious trouble makers were the Mandalorians.
The war like planet of Mandalore…
They had stayed silent for millennia. A great war had silenced them long ago, but recently (in our tale) a new leader had been elected by the people of Mandalore with promises of restoring the worlds “glory days”. In a mere five years’ time the new ruler had re-expanded the Mandalorian Territory to nearly its original boundaries. All that remained lie over the boarder of the Mid-Rim territories where many systems like Rodia and Naboo resided. These Mid-Rim systems where under the protection of the Galactic Republic and had prospered in the democratic society. The ruler of Mandalore knew that if he were to cross the boundaries of the Galactic Republic it would mean a direct act of war.
It was rumored that the new ruler of Mandalore was a Sith Lord but none knew for sure. The Aristocrat turned ruler was not well known by anyone in the Republic. What was known was the retaking of Mandalorian space was quiet and swift alluding to the fact that there was probably a massive military involved. The Republic was very sensitive to this and had sent a group of Jedi (Obi-Wan) to hold conference with Queen Amidala and assess the situation. With the Republic in the midst of electing a Chancellor the Mandalorian threat had faded into the background of a political circus.
Knowing that the small world of Naboo would never submit to her Mandalorian overlords the order went out for a secret strategic invasion of the planet. Mandalore’s ruler knew the best time to strike was during the Boonta Eve festivities when the entire populace would be distracted. If an invasion army was launched from the other side of the planet to lay siege to military sites while a strategic force of Mandalorian Super Commandos captured the Queen of Naboo and all her secrets would again belong to Mandalore.
Much of the Galaxies Cloning technology came from the Mandalorian Sector. Planets like Mandalore, Kamino and Utapau had been refining the process for eons. Mandalore’s military force was comprised of Clones created from some of her greatest warriors. One of those warriors was Jango Fett. Jango was still alive and at 142 years old was still young enough by Mandalorian terms to command his squad of commandos. The clones in these squads were looked upon by the original template as sons rather than copies. Jango’s squad was chosen to capture the Queen of Naboo and kill her if she refused to submit to Mandalorian rule.
The Fett’s were able to infiltrate the planetary defenses in their Firespray 31 Interceptor and land near the capitol city of Theed. With this, the Royal court was theirs for the taking. These Mandalorian Super Commandos were the most feared among their enemies. Jango Fett knew that he and his boys would make short work of Queen Amidala’s Royal Guard. Jango led the group and was the most experienced and fierce, Indio and Reza were the oldest of the ‘sons’ and are tactical and merciless, Tuco is a little older than Boba he is brutal, Boba is stealthy and quick.
At this point let me just say I think inventing the Zabrak species for Darth Maul was a complete waste of time. To me what called for more energy was creating the look for the Mandalorian species. Now before some of you get mad about that statement I’d like to state that in seeing Darth Maul in TPM I thought, ‘wow, he would make a great Mandalorian. So here are the Fetts (Tuco, Jango and Boba) sans the helmets…
I know, the horns. I thought the same thing at first, can’t fit. But be sure, the original five Fett image is done in layers. I proportionately placed the heads on the bodies first as in the above image. I then placed the helmets over the heads in the first image and they fit with room. So the first image actually has these heads under the buckets.
The Master Mind of this raid is the leader of Mandalore himself Count Dooku. He has been behind the rapid growth of the space sector. Dooku was elected by the people of Mandalore on a platform of change and prosperity. His charisma was so powerful his win was a landslide vote. After one year in office his political opponents had all but disappeared and the Count was able to begin his conquest.
Unknown to the Republic or Jedi alike, Count Dooku is actually the master of a group of Sith Lords that have begun to rise to power under his guidance. Dooku goes by the name of Darth Plaguies when he commands his evil agents to do his bidding. Darth Plaguies has one secret apprentice who is specially trained with techniques known only to Plaguies himself. Darth Maul is his assassin. To coordinate with the invasion of Naboo, Darth Plaguies has instructed Darth Maul to travel to the capitol of the Republic… Coruscant. Here Maul will assassinate the group of candidates running for Chancellor and the Chancellor himself who are all in attendance in the Senate as return votes are read. The only candidate unavailable to attend is Senator Palpatine of Naboo who is present in Holographic form for the vote tally.
That’s it for now. I really hope you guys like this batch so let me know what you think.
Charles
