Hello and sorry it’s been way too long since I’ve been here. I’ve had so much on my plate since February that a “normal” life right now has been very hard. But not to get into that at the moment, this site is about Star Wars and not my problems.

So, yes I’ve watched the first three episodes of TCW and I’ve enjoyed them. I am standing by my initial assessment when we were talking about this on the podcast that these are not “MY” Star Wars. These are for my kids but they are done on a level that the old folks like me can still enjoy them with the new generation. These shows are still Star Wars and fun.

One thing I have noticed so far that will be interesting to follow, the attitude of the clones. I’ve watched them so far with Yoda and Plo Coon make derogatory comments about themselves like “No one cares about us” and “where just clones.” In both cases Yoda and Plo come back with, you not just clones, you are men. Even Yoda mentions that each clone has their own personal presence in the Force.  

Now, the reason I bring this up is I just finished my review of Order 66. It will be interesting to see when attitudes change and why. This series, and the RC series of books, shows that some Jedi are concerned with the fate of the clones. Yes, we know Master Vos and Rhomn Kota aren’t particularly nice to the clones. And, we also know that the clones that had a major part in the downfall of the Jedi was the new batch created by Palpatine. This new batch didn’t hang around the Jedi like the first batch.

I might be spouting here off here on a tangent and I’m sorry for it. It has been awhile since I have blogged and I would love to get back to it more in the future.  But I see a road that we, as viewers of this series, will have fun following. What I would love to know is, will we see Delta and Omega squads? Etain, Jusik, Skirata, and Vau with his pet? This would make it very fun series indeed.

This is your Uncle Kal signing off - Good Night

Hummm, is it just me or does the cover look like it should be silk screened on a t-shirt? Or how about on a coffee mug or something like that?

Okay, I can hear you all now; ‘Uncle Kal, what gives you the right to comment on the cover of a book. Dude, what’s your background??”

Well, since I left college all those many years ago when you had to walk up hill both ways in the snow … oh, here’s the short of it. I’ve spent 11 years in the animation industry followed by a brief stint (thankfully) at a web start-up.  Then 8 years working in the world of publishing under a really big corporate symbol. As you can see, I’ve seen my share of art and yes I do not have Art Degree, it happens to be in RTFV. I believe that I have seen and was privalaged to hang around with some of the best artist in the world for all those years - hands down. Well, except for the web start-up, that place was ……. you don’t want to know.

Now to my comments about the cover:

It looks like something you’d see on the paperback, not a novel. There is nothing about it that sticks out or makes it look like a classic. Look at the previous three novels or any Star Wars novel that has come before. You can tell that there was a “feel” to all of them that carried throughout the book. Even the preview cover for Order 66, that I was hoping to be the real cover, kept that same feel and look to it. This one looks like someone grabbed a Style Guide (think of a style guide as a book with a lot of off the shelf pre-made art for a property and font styles that someone can grab off the shelf) and just composited this cover in Photoshop. The “painting” feel like the previous covers had is not there. The ominous “look” from the previous Republic Commando covers is missing, esp. if you look at what should have been the cover for this book.

Yes that first cover may have just been a “place holder” but it had a foreboding look to it that made that cover stick in some one’s mind. It stuck out from the rest but still had that Republic Commando feel to it.

To me. this new one looks like someone had not read the previous books and had their own idea of what was inside and ran with it. This cover looks flat, without soul and missed the point of the book. It looks like someone saw a t-shirt with a design that looked similar to this and thought “Hey, that would make a great cover for a Star Wars book, yeah, let’s do that.”

Sorry for being harsh but it’s my opinion. Comments are always welcomed good or bad - I can take it.

This is your Uncle Kal signing off - Good Night

Hello All,

Just saw the new Unleashed trailer and all I have to say is, OMG!! Was that who I thought I saw with the apprentice???? Does Bail Organa look just like Jimmy Smiths and Leia look just like Carrie Fisher??? And does who I thought I saw (this is a spoiler folks so I’m not giving it away) look exactly like who I thought I saw all scary and stuff, maybe even more so :-).  This game had better live up to the hype or there will be a lot of disappointed Star Wars fans out there who may want their money back.

I’ll came back later and comment more on this - gotta go walk the dog. (Ruff Ruff)

This is your Uncle Kal signing off for now.