
                   Frequently Asked Questions List (FAQ-L)
                           Version 2.20 - 12/07/92


Introduction =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

This is the Frequently Asked Questions List (FAQL) for the newsgroup
rec.arts.sf.starwars.  The purpose of a FAQL is to compile authoritative
answers to many commonly asked questions so that the group will not be
cluttered with repetitive requests for the same information.  This list
will be posted to rec.arts.sf.starwars on a bi-monthly basis.  Please read
it before posting to see if your question has already been answered!

The rec.arts.sf.starwars FAQL is currently being maintained by me -
Christopher Wolf.  Many others have also contributed to the information
contained in this list and I have tried to credit them in the text.  If
you have any suggestions for corrections, modifications or additions to
the list please e-mail them to me at "chris@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu".
If you have a question which you think should be added to the list it
would be greatly appreciated if you could also provide the answer (with
source references!).

Thanks and May the Force be With You... Always.

                                                         - cwolf


Table of Contents =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Question:         Topic:
   001               Why is Star Wars titled Episode IV?
   002               Were there scenes cut from SW after its release?
   003               Was RotJ originally titled _Revenge_ of the Jedi?
   004               Do scripts exist for the other trilogies? Will they
                        ever be made into films?
   005               Did Lucas "borrow" ideas from other films?
   006               What/where is the "Fall of the Republic" script?
   007               What other Star Wars novels exist?
   008               What about adaptations to other media? (comics, radio)
   009               What sources are canon in the Star Wars universe?
   010               Are the Star Wars toys/action figures valuable?
   011               What is Hardware Wars?
   012               How can I contact the LucasFilm fan club?
   013               Where is the infamous tennis shoe in RotJ?
   014               Why are there yellow boxes surrounding TIEs?
   015               What other fx-mistakes/bloopers are there?
   016               Why did Han Solo say parsecs?
   017               How did the Falcon get to Bespin?
   018               What are the clone wars?
   019               How can I participate in a Star Wars MUD?
   020               How can I get Star Wars material in electronic form?
   021               How old is Yoda?
   022               Why does Vader's TIE fighter look different from the rest?


Revision History -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

   1.00 - 04/16/92   Original release.
   1.10 - 04/30/92   Fixed major mistake in answer to the parsecs question.
                     Inserted separate question dealing with the "canon"
                     issue.  Added additional info to many other questions.
                     (novels & bloopers questions in particular)
   2.00 - 09/02/92   Sorry it took so long for an update but I was away
                     for most of the summer.  Minor additions to questions
                     005, 008, 013, 014 and 015.  Major changes to question
                     007 providing references to Erik Olson's Star Wars
                     bibliography.  Question 019 with info about the Star
                     Wars MUD has been added.  Question 020 with info
                     about obtaining copies of the Star Wars script added.
   2.10 - 11/22/92   Modified question 020 to reflect wpi ftp archive.
                     Minor changes to many other questions.
   2.20 - 12/07/92   Added questions 021-022; fixed a few spelling errors.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


Q 001:   Why does it say Episode IV in the scroll-text at the beginning
         of Star Wars, Episode V in The Empire Strikes Back and Episode
         VI in Return of the Jedi?  Did the Episode IV sub-head appear
         in the original theatrical release or was it added at a later
         date?

Answer:  The Star Wars saga as originally conceived by Lucas was much
         too large to be made into a single film or even a single
         trilogy so Lucas structured his ideas into three trilogies.
         He decided to make the middle trilogy (Episodes IV, V and VI)
         first because he believed it had the greatest chance of being
         a theatrical success.

         An interesting point is that apparently the "Chapter IV: A
         New Hope" sub-title did not appear in the original theatrical
         release of Star Wars (SW - 1976).  According to
         pockrand@cs.umn.edu (Mitch Pockrandt) (and others):

            "Episode IV: A New Hope" appeared on the opening trailer
            at the _second_ theatrical release.  (I think this was during
            1979, but I'm not sure at the moment.)  During the initial
            release, which ran from May 1977 through at least March 1978
            (in Kansas City anyway) there never was a mention of an
            episode number.

         Empire Strikes Back (ESB - 1980) was always sub-titled Chapter V
         and Return of the Jedi (ROTJ - 1983) was always sub-titled
         Chapter VI.

         (Note: the name of the first FILM is Star Wars - the name of the
         CHAPTER is "A New Hope"  In Empire Strikes Back and Return of
         the Jedi the film name and chapter names just happen to be
         the same.  All the films together are collectively referred to
         as the Star Wars saga.)

Q 002:   Were there scenes cut from Star Wars after its original theatrical
         release?  I seem to remember a reunion scene on Tatooine between
         Luke and his friend Biggs on leave from the academy?

Answer:  This scene never appeared in any theatrical release of Star Wars.
         The scene is described in the novelization of Star Wars and
         apparently was even filmed since images from it appear in the Star
         Wars picture-book adaptation.  Perhaps is why so many people (me
         included) swore that they remember seeing the scene at one time.
         Also there was apparently a scene in the Rebel hangar which was
         filmed but not included where Red Leader speaks to Luke about
         having met Anakin Skywalker and what a great pilot he was.
         Another scene that was originally intended for Star Wars was an
         encounter between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt at the spaceport on
         Tatooine.  The scene was partially filmed but never finished
         because Lucas was disatisfied with his options for portraying
         Jabba due to budget, FX technology and story constraints.
         Partial unfinished footage of this scene can be found on the VHS
         video titled From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga.
         Also there may have been some additional minor dialog in the
         original release of Star Wars.  When the StormTroopers are chasing
         Han & Chewie through the Death Star corridors in the original
         release they first say "Close the blast doors, close the blast
         doors!" and when they get trapped on the wrong side of the door
         they then say "Open the blast doors, open the blast doors!"  In
         the VHS version the "Close the blast door" line is not audible.

Q 003:   Wan't Return of the Jedi originally titled Revenge of the Jedi?
         Why was it changed?

Answer:  Up until shortly before it was released ROTJ was indeed titled
         Revenge of the Jedi and some promotional materials (movie posters,
         patches etc.) were printed with that title.  Materials saying
         Revenge of the Jedi are now collector's items.  There are two
         explanations commonly given for why the title was changed:
         1) Revenge isn't very Jedi-like.  2) The studio wanted to avoid
         confusion with Star Trek II which was due to be released at
         about the same time and was originally titled Vengeance of Kahn.

Q 004:   Does Lucas have scripts/stories already written for the other
         episodes in the saga?  Will he ever make them into films?

Answer:  No one knows for sure how much development Lucas had done on the
         plots/scripts for the other trilogies at the time Star Wars was
         released.  Some people believe that Lucas has scripts for ALL the
         films locked away in a vault someplace.  Most people believe
         that he has lots of story ideas and possibly preliminary
         treatments for the films but not complete scripts.

         After Return of the Jedi, Lucas stated he would not make any
         more Star Wars films - he needed a creative break and had other
         projects going he wanted to concentrate on.  Recently however
         Lucas has changed his mind and has publically stated that he will
         soon be starting work on new Star Wars films.  The next films
         to be produced will be Episodes I to III of the saga.  They
         will all be filmed simultaneously and will be released in
         consecutive years sometime before the year 2000.  No one is sure
         of the exact release dates and to the best of our knowledge
         Lucas has not started actual work on the films yet.

         Episodes I to III are expected to take place about 20 years
         before Star Wars.  The plot is expected to concern the fall of
         the Old Republic, the rise to power of the Emperor, the Clone
         Wars and the exploits of Ben Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

         No plans are currently being made to produce Episodes VII to
         IX.  Apparently these episodes as conceived by Lucas take
         place about 20 years after ROTJ and would also involve a new
         set of actors and characters (the descendants of the original
         heros?).  Lucas has stated many times that the only characters
         which would appear in all 9 episodes are the droids R2-D2 and
         C-3PO.

Q 005:   Isn't Star Wars a rip-off of a Japanese film called The Hidden
         Fortress or <insert your favorite film here>?

Answer:  elwin@ai.mit.edu (Lee Campbell) writes:

            It's pretty clear there *is* a connection between 'Star Wars'
            and a Japanese film called 'The Hidden Fortress' made by Akira
            (spelling?) Kurosawa.  Not that SW is a copy of THF, just that
            THF was *one* of the inspirations for SW.  [In] this Japanese
            epic, a lord has been defeated, his empire overrun, but his
            daughter the princess is still free.  Some samurai and
            retainers are trying to bring her back across a hostile land
            to another lord's domain where she will be safe.  If it is
            true that 'The Hidden Fortress' was an inspiration for 'Star
            Wars' than all Lucas borrowed was the idea of a princess,
            loyal retainers, and a hostile land.

         Also, some people who have seen both films say that there are
         also similarities in the dialog, film-making techniques, camera
         angles etc.

         To answer the more general question about parallels between
         Star Wars and other films (in this case Wizard of Oz)
         teri@sdd.hp.com (Teri) writes:

            I think it is not so much that plots were ripped off but that
            both movies express the ancient archetype of the hero who goes
            on a quest.  In this sense they are very similar.  The "plot"
            is really an old, old one that goes back to the first
            storytelling days of man.  The hero is usually aided by
            supernatural forces against perilous dangers and ultimate
            evils.  Joseph Campbell (comparative religion/mythology) has a
            lot to say about archetypes like this.  See "The Hero of a
            Thousand Faces," or some such.  This theme appears across many
            cultures and many different times.  You might argue that the
            Indiana Jones series partook of this as well.  Or "Clash of
            the Titans," a greek myth brought to the screen.

         Steve (sdt8s@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU) adds:

            I would add that one of George Lucas's original plots for Star
            Wars is even more remarkably similar to Hidden Fortress than is
            Star Wars as it was released.  For a complete synopsis of this
            original story see Dale Pollock's 1983 biography of George
            Lucas, Skywalking.  Star Wars, if made using this plot, might
            well have been open to a lawsuit by the authors of Hidden
            Fortress; the only point of divergence is that Star Wars occurs
            in outer space.

Q 006:   I've heard of a movie script that is supposedly for Episode III
         of the Star Wars saga?  Is it real?  Where can I get a copy?

Answer:  It is entitled Fall of the Republic and is not a complete script
         but more of a plot outline.  It is generallly agreed that it
         was NOT written by Lucas or anyone with inside knowledge and
         therefore should be treated purely as speculative fiction.
         See question 020 for instructions on obtaining this.

Q 007:   What novels have been created that are set in the Star Wars
         universe?  Are these official (canon) or not?

Answer:  The official novelizations of the movies are:

            Star Wars by George Lucas (with help from Alan Dean Foster)
            Empire Strikes Back by Donald F. Glut
            Return of the Jedi by James Kahn

         There are also several official picture-book adaptations of each
         of the movies.  Additionally many other authors have written
         books set in the Star Wars universe with the permission of
         LucasArts.  The most recent such works are a cycle of three
         novels by Timothy Zahn which are set after Return of the Jedi.
         These novels are considered canon but are NOT episodes VII, VIII,
         and IX of the Star Wars movies.

         Erik Olson (olsone@rpi.edu) is maintaining a fairly complete
         bibliography of Star Wars related books.  Erik writes:

            What follows is an imperfect bibliography of Star Wars books.
            It's neither exhaustive nor consistently selective, and I
            wanted primarily to create an index of story material outside
            the movies.  Thrown in for good measure are some movie
            adaptations and non-fiction.

            There are a lot of children's books, especially of the Ewok
            and pop-up persuasion, and I have included these, except for
            partial movie books.

            One title that is missing is a sister book to The Maverick
            Moon ("Renegade Robot" comes to mind but I can't be sure)--
            both are children's reading but curiosities nonetheless.
            Another notable book was The Force of Star Wars, a
            fundamentalist perspective that is perhaps even dorkier than
            Lucas' Eastern mysticism.  I have only listed what I could
            verify.  Thanks to dra.com for its Library of Congress
            facility, and UTCAT.

            I would appreciate being filled in on any items that I might
            have overlooked, or could not verify.  I did not include the
            3rd Daley book or the Lando books on purpose.  Maybe someone
            can locate them in an online catalog somewhere-- that would be
            ideal.

         The short form of Erik's bibliography is:

            Star Wars Short Index

            1976 Star wars: from the adventures of Luke Skywalker: a novel
                 by George Lucas
            1977 Star Wars v.1 (Marvel Comics Group)
            1978 Splinter of the mind's eye: from TALS / Alan Dean Foster
            1979 The Maverick moon / illustrated by Walter Wright
            1979 The Wookiee storybook / ill. by Patricia Wynne (Wookie Holiday)
            1979 Han Solo's revenge: from TALS / Brian Daley
            1979 Han Solo at Stars' End: from TALS / Daley
            1980 The Empire strikes back storybook / Steneman, Shep
            1980 SPFX--The empire strikes back (48 min. documentary)
            1980 The Empire strikes back sketchbook
            1982 The Jedi master's quizbook / Rusty Miller
            1983 Return of the Jedi / Levy, Elizabeth
            1983 The Art of Return of the Jedi (with movie script by Kasdan/Lucas)
            1984 The Ewoks' hang-gliding adventure
            1985 The Ewoks and the lost children (The Ewok Adventure)
            1985 Ewoks v.1 (Marvel Comics Group)
            1986 Droids v.1 (Marvel Comics Group)
            1986 The ring, the witch, and the crystal (The Battle for Endor)
            1987 Star Wars--the first ten years--storybook trilogy
            1991 Heir to the empire / Timothy Zahn
            1991 Dark Empire (limited series) (Dark Horse Comics)
            1992 Dark force rising / Timothy Zahn

         For a longer listing (including complete card catalog references,
         descriptipons etc. for each work) or to make contributions to this
         list please write to Erik directly at olsone@rpi.edu.

         Thanks Erik!!!

Q008:    Has the Star Wars series been adapted to any other form of media?

Answer:  There are two comic book series.  The first series was by Marvel
         Comics and started with an adaptation of Star Wars and continued
         on past the end of ROTJ for a total of 107 issues.  Marvel also did
         official comic adaptations of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the
         Jedi as limitted series.  A new limitted series (6 issues) of Star
         Wars: Dark Empire comics was recently produced bi-monthly by Dark
         Horse Comics.  They are consistent with Zahn's novels but take
         place at a later date.  These also are NOT Episodes VII to IX of
         the Star Wars saga.  Dark Horse has announced plans to produce
         additional series set in the Star Wars Universe.

         Andy (hummel@vms.cis.pitt.edu) adds:

            In addition to the 107 issues of the Marvel comic, Marvel
           published 3 Annuals and at least two paperbacks (the paperbacks
           may have been reprints of UK Star Wars comics or from the
           newspaper strip, but they were not part of the 107 issue run).
           Of the 107 issues, numbers 1-6 adapted Star Wars, and numbers
                39-42 adapt ESB.  RotJ was a 4 issue mini-series.

            The Star Wars newspaper strip has been reprinted in a 3-volume
           hardbound set by Russ Cochran Publishing (I think).

            Later this year, Dark Horse Comics will be publishing "Star Wars
           Classics" which will reprint the newspaper strip in a slightly
           edited form with some new artwork.

         There is a Star Wars role playing game produced by West End
         Games.  They produce a lot of supplemental source books for
         the game containing tons of interesting info about the
         characters/history/technology of the Star Wars universe.
         The materials in this game have been declared canon by
         LucasArts.

         National Public Radio also did radio broadcast adaptations of
         Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back.  At least some of the
         actors from the films (Mark Hamill and a few others) also did
         the readings for the radio adaptation.  You may be able to
         purchase copies directly from NPR.

         There were a couple of made for TV specials too including
         The Star Wars Holiday Special (involving Chewie visitting
         his family on the Wookie home planet) and two shows about
         Ewoks:  The Ewok Adventure:  Caravan of Courage, and The Ewoks:
         Battle for Endor.  There was also a saturday morning Ewok &
         Droids cartoon.

         Several Star Wars computer games also exist.  There were
         several coin-op arcade games and ports of these games to
         various computers and consoles.  Most recently, a new
         computer game called X-Wing is in the works.  It uses realistic
         3d-graphics to allow the player to simulate flying X-Wing, Y-Wing
         and A-Wing fighters in missions against the Empire.  The IBM
         version is expected to be released in December 1992 and there are
         rumors of an Amiga port to be released at a later date.

Q 009:   What sources are considered "canon" (official) in the Star
         Wars universe?

Answer:  Of course the movies produced by LucasFilm and the novelizations
         of the movies are "canon".

         There is a great debate over which other sources are considered
         cannon.  For instance, Scavenger (kogutt@ucsu.Colorado.EDU)
         writes:

            According to LucasFilm:  The Zahn Novels, Dark Empire, and
            the RPG are all official canon.  Also the upcoming young a
            adult series and any other comics that Dark Horse puts out.

         However, LucasArts has also stated that future Star-Wars films
         may invalidate material contained in the Zahn novels and
         other sources.

         My advice is to ignore the entire debate over what is "canon"
         and what is not - form your own interpration of the Star Wars
         universe based on the source material YOU enjoy and don't worry
         about what is "official" and what is not.

Q 010:   Are the action figures/toys worth anything as collectors items?

Answer:  Most of the action figures/toys are not all that rare and not
         worth anything.  I have heard some stories that certain rare
         figures and toys (which were produced only in certain countries
         or only for a limitted time or only in limitted quantites) are
         extremely valuable and sought after by collectors.  Unopened
         action figures and figures from special limited edition 3-packs
         may be worth something.  Die cast miniature tie-bomber toys are
         also supposed to be valuable.  There is a Boba Fett figure which
         has a jet pack which launches a spring loaded missile which is
         extremely rare and valuable.  Yak face figures are also supposed to
         be rare.  Another rare figure is the original release of Luke
         which came with a lightsaber made from two interlocking sliding
         pieces.

Q 011:   What is Hardware Wars?

Answer:  Hardware Wars is a very short, very funny, very low budget
         parody of Star Wars.

Q 012:   How can I contact the LucasFilm fan club?

Answer:  Write to:
            The Lucasfilm Fan Club
            P.O. Box 111000
            Aurora,  CO     80011
            USA

Q 013:   Is it true that a tennis shoe appears in one of the space battle
         scenes in ROTJ?  If so where?

Answer:  Despite the claims of several people to have found the infamous
         tennis shoe in several different frames examination of these
         frames on high-end video equipment has always resulted in the
         conclusion that no shoe was actually in those frames.  The rumor
         of a tennis shoe in Return of the Jedi still persists but
         apparently noone has managed to locate it yet.

Q 014:   Why do the TIE fighters in the VHS versions of ROTJ have very
         faint hazy yellow boxes surrounding them?

Answer:  Its an artifact of the special effects process used to matte the
         space-ships.  This happens to be more visible on home VHS-TV
         set-ups than it is in the movie theatre.  Josh Rochester,
         joshua@lclark.edu, offers the following explanation for this:

            In your FAQ list, you mention that the Matte Lines are highly
            visible on VHS.  This is not so much a feature/limitation of
            VHS, but rather that most people have their TV sets adjusted
            poorly.  Playing with the brightness and contrast knobs
            (different names on some TVs) can eliminate the visible matte
            lines (with the side-effects that outer space starts looking
            black--really black, not splotchy dark-gray, and that other
            colors show up more vividly.) The only problem is that you need
            to watch in a darkened room.

Q 015:   What other editting/special-fx bloopers appear in the films?

Answer:  Lots.  In Star Wars, when Uncle Owen is purchasing the droids after
         the red R2 unit blows its motivator they decide to purchase R2D2.
         When the camera pans back to R2D2 you can still see the red unit
         standing behind R2D2 although this shouldn't be since the red unit
         is supposed to be next to Luke.  Later, on Tatooine during dinner
         with his aunt and uncle Luke picks up a glass in one hand.  A few
         frames later it has magically switched to his other hand.  Later,
         when Vader and Tarkin are having a discussion in the conference
         room Vader's voice and hand-gestures are obviously out of synch.
         (He talks and THEN the gestures follow about 2 seconds later.)
         Also, when the Stormtroopers are raiding the communications post
         overlooking the landing bay where Artoo and Threepio are hiding the
         trooper on the right hits his head on the door as he enters.  During
         saber duel between Vader and Kenobi, in some frames they forgot to
         colorize Kenobi's saber (use single frame advance to see this clearly).

         In Empire Strikes Back on Hoth when the speeders are out looking for
         Han and Luke you can see through the ships in several scenes.
         Anytime they are shown from above skimming along the ground at low
         altitudes, the terrain below can be seen with the image of the
         speeder imposed over it.  [Thanks to djb1@kepler.unh.edu, David
         Blezard for this contribution.] And davest@sequent.com, David
         Stewart, writes:  One thing I notice is that Darth Vader's noisy
         breathing is often out of synch with his speaking.  ie, he sounds
         like he is breathing in and out in the middle of continuous
         speaches without a break.  An example which comes to mind is in
         ESB when Han is being tortured in the cloud city by imperials,
         Vader's dialog with Lando is totally out of synch with his
         breathing.

         In Return of the Jedi during the scene in Jabba's palace, the
         dancer with the twin head-tails falls out of her costume for
         several frames right before Jabba opens the trap door dropping her
         into the pit.  (You probably need a single frame VCR to see this.)
         During the space battle at the end when all those TIE fighters
         swoop past the Falcon two can actually be seen to fly through(!)
         the Falcon and can still be seen as translucent images even after
         they should have been obscured by the Falcon.  Also, the star-field
         imagery visible behind the Emperor in the throne room is not
         logically consistent from shot to shot - the stars get reset back
         to their original positions at the start of every shot it seems.
         In the throne room scenes there is a dark-blotch that looks like
         bad touch-up work consistently visible on the left of the Emperor's
         face near the shadows of his hood.

Q 016:   Why does Han Solo say that the Millenium Falcon made the Kessel
         Run in under 12 parsecs when parsecs are a unit of distance
         instead of time?

Answer:  There are several possible explanations: 1) Lucas didn't know what
         he was talking about and thought parsecs are a unit of time.
         2) Lucas knew that parsecs are a unit of distance but wrote the
         line that way intentionally to show that Han was just blowing smoke
         to try and impress Ben & Luke.  3) During the oddities of
         hyperspace travel time and distance are interchangeable.  4) Han
         was boasting that he had discovered a new physically shorter route
         to make the Kessel Run.

Q 017:   In ESB, after their escape from the Star Destroyer Fleet the
         Falcon's hyperdrive is still not working.  How do they make it
         to Bespin and how long does it take?

Answer:  There are two possible answers: 1) According to the Star Wars
         role-playing game most ships have a back-up hyperdrive which
         can be used in emergencies.  It is slower than normal hyperdrives,
         has a shorter range, is more easily tracked and is only good for
         a few uses.  It takes a while to switch to back-up which is why
         Han couldn't use it escape the Star Destroyers.  2) The time
         interval between the Falcon's escape from the Imperial fleet and
         its arrival at Bespin is a lot longer than it originally appears
         to be.  (1 & 2 are not necessarily mutually exclusive)  This also
         allows sufficient time for Luke's training on Dagobah to occur.

         According to someone who's name I accidentally deleted:

            I figure it takes at least one year for Luke's training and
            for the Falcon to get to Bespin.  In Star Wars, Han says that
            the Millennium Falcon can "make it to point five past
            lightspeed".  I take this to mean that the Falcon has a top
            speed of 1.5c without using hyperdrive.  Interstellar
            distances are usually between 2 and 5 lightyears (Alpha
            Centauri is 4.3 lyrs away from the sun).  That could mean it
            would take anywhere from one to three years assuming a
            galactic star density similar to ours.

Q 018:   What are the Clone Wars?

Answer:  No one knows for sure.  All that is known is that they were fought
         around the time of the fall of the Old Republic and that Ben
         Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker fought in them.  It is generally
         believed that these wars had something to do with the Emperor's
         ascendancy to power and extermination of the Jedi.  A common (but
         unsubstantiated) claim is that the war was between the Jedi and
         genetically cloned soldiers created by the Emperor - who later
         became known as Stormtroopers.

Q 019:   How can I participate in a Star Wars MUD?

Answer:  First for those of you who don't know what a MUD is it stands
         for Multi User Dungeon and is a multi-player online interactive
         role-playing game.  The Star Wars MUD described below allows
         you to role-play a character in the Star Wars universe.

         Thanks to Steven Parks (nudnik@camelot.bradley.edu) for the
         following info:

            This MUD is in the Netherlands.  For a good proportion of
            the world, this is long-distance.  Be nice to the world,
            the phone companies, and yourselves and don't abuse our
            MUD-ding priviledges.

            This is a MUD.  You will have to telnet to the location
            and connect to a specific port ("telnet <location> <port>").
            The location and port is <duteca4.et.tudelft.nl 8888>,
            or, as i understand for a better connection or something,
            use the IP numbers:  <130.161.144.22 8888>.  Once connection is
            complete, you will be asked for a name, which you can choose to
            be an alias.  Then you will enter a password, to be repeated
            for verification.  (On my first time, a lot of information
            passed the screen, and I wasn't ready to pause to read it all.
            this shouldn't happen to _you_ now...  =)

            As I previously stated, this is a MUD; but not just any MUD,
            such as a social MUD.  This is an LP-MUD, which means you start
            at the beginning and continue until you win...  ...or die
            trying, I guess.  The object is to become a jedi, running around
            and using the force.  You _can_ save your position, therefore
            allowing you to return at a later time.

Q 020:   How can I obtain Star Wars material in electronic form?

Answer:  There is an anonymous FTP site archive at wpi.wpi.edu for all
         sorts of Star Wars material in electronic form.  The site contains
         the complete scripts to Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return
         of the Jedi as well as the fake Fall of the Republic script.  The
         site also has lots of other fan fiction, text files containing
         factual information and interviews, image files in a variety of
         formats and other miscellaneous Star Wars related files.  I want
         to say a big THANK YOU to the maintainers of this archive!

         If you need help with FTP or with decompressing or viewing the
         files on the archive ask your local guru or system adminstrator.
         Please do NOT send e-mail to me or post to the rec.arts.sf.starwars
         group asking for help with FTP or unpacking files on the archive
         - thanks!

Q 021:   How old is Yoda?  As I recall, he stated he was 800 in Empire
         Strikes Back but 900 in Return of the Jedi.

Answer:  In Empire, his actual words are "For 800 years have I trained Jedi."
         The only thing this tells us about his age is that he is over 800
         years old.  In Jedi he has a line that says "When 900 years old you
         reach, look as good you will not."

         Some trading cards released after Empire list Yoda's age as 973.
         While this is not an official source, note that it is not
         inconsistent with what is said in the movie, since he never comes
         right out and says he is EXACTLY 900 years old.

Q 022:   Why does Darth Vader's TIE fighter look different from the others?
         What are those other TIE fighters that look like his in Empire and
         Jedi?

Answer:  While this is never discussed in the films, various other sources,
         such as the MPC model kits and the rolepaying game sourcebooks, tell
         us that Darth Vader's TIE fighter was a prototype model, the bent-
         wing design providing better solar collection capabilities than the
         regular straight-wing design.  Two other types of TIE fighters
         appear in the last two movies using the bent-wing design.  In the
         asteriod sequence in Empire, there are vessels called TIE bombers,
         which look very similar to Vader's TIE except that they have two
         pods between the solar panels.  In the final space battle in Jedi,
         vessels known as TIE interceptors appear.  These have the bent wings
         and a single pod, but the wings have large cut-outs down the front
         to provide greater visibility.

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Christopher A. Wolf   mail: chris@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu   IRC: cwolf (#amiga)
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