The
Star Wars “Britannica”
An essential guide for any Star
Wars fan
Reviewed By D. Maxwell
Any keen enthusiast
of Star Wars books, comics and games will have no doubt
noticed how difficult it’s become to keep up to date
with all the happenings within the Star Wars universe. For
example: once upon a time it was relatively easy to learn the
names of the aliens in the Mos Eisley cantina as only a
couple of them had identities – Hammerhead, Snaggletooth
and Walrus Man. Thanks to the novels and CCG cards, however,
EVERYONE in the cantina now has not only a name, but a race,
a home planet and a even back story explaining why they were
at the cantina at that memorable moment when Luke and Ben
first made their appearance. If this is not mind bending
enough, even the Cantina band members now have names as do
their individual instruments.
With the growth of
the Expanded Universe, remembering all the varying tidbits of
information is now a real challenge for any die-hard fan.
Novels, coffee table books, comics, card and computer games
are now being released at an alarming rate testing fans
memory banks to the limit – even the prequel films themselves
are now delving into greater detail with regards to character
names.
So how is anyone
meant to keep abreast of all this ever increasing
information? Easy, just put it all in one place…
Enter the most
resourceful and most important reference that any Star Wars
fan needs, the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopaedia
(commonly known as CUSWE).
Although the highly
regarded Official Encyclopaedia and the comprehensive Star
Wars Fact Files available in book stores are both excellent
references, the CUSWE has two specific benefits:
1. It
is updated every few months
2. It
is free
How can it be free?
Well the CUSWE is accessible from the Internet as either a
file download or as an online database for anyone’s
perusal.
The CUSWE is the
brain child of Bob Vitas who started compiling his “peedy”
way back in 1994 when Bill Slavicsek’s Guide to the Star
Wars Universe (2nd Edition) was released.
Initially Bob started with a few basic text files that he
wrote himself, however with the increase in Expanded Universe
material (which takes up well over 90% of all the entries),
and the rise in interest with the Special Editions and then
The Phantom Menace, pretty soon the CUSWE was receiving
contributions from a large number of sources.
With the burgeoning
growth of the Internet, the CUSWE was launched online in Word
Perfect format (upgraded from the original Text files) so it
could be accessed from anywhere. After initially jumping
around from one Internet host to another due to the constant
dilemma of fans exceeding the host’s site download
limits, the CUSWE now has a permanent home at www.theforce.net.
Make no mistake,
after 10 years worth of updates the CUSWE is a BEAST. The
source title listing alone goes for half a dozen pages and
you don’t even get to the letter “A” until
page 35. The current edition (v6) of the Word 97 version is
guaranteed to give your printer a coronary with over 4,270
pages (approx 2,400,000 words) of Star Wars information to
process - and that’s with no pictures! So I definitely
recommend you don’t try and print this sucker out.
For someone like
myself who loves discovering all the unique and varied things
within the Star Wars universe, I find nothing more enjoyable
than scrolling to a page, completely at random, and just
reading what’s there. As a Star Wars reference, the
CUSWE is simply second to none. If you’re writing fan
fiction, making a fan film, or if you simply want to check on
some Star Wars facts, the CUSWE is the place to learn about
characters, planets, historical events, ships (and how to
spell them) along with any other piece of information
that has made its way into the Star Wars universe. So if you
are writing your own material, at least you can ensure that
it will fit snugly into the Star Wars continuum.
Also included in
the CUSWE is a section based on Arcana which details
references and information that is a part of Star Wars lore
– as known from earlier script drafts and the like - but
is not within the existing Star Wars universe (eg: the
Starkillerfamily, the Jedi Bendu, and Jabba The Hutt being a
human in ANH).
So if you’re
going to have a peruse through the CUSWE, what wondrous
things can you discover? Well here is a taste:
·
There are 3 different references to The Maker
·
There are 34 variations of the Imperial Walker
·
There are 48 spoken languages
·
There are around 85 different diseases and medical conditions
·
There are 198 known alcoholic drinks (as opposed to a measly
64 non alcoholic ones)
·
There are around 1037 known alien races
And one that makes
mince meat of the Fact Files Star Wars Galaxy map…
·
There are 3012 planets in the Star Wars universe!
The CUSWE is
available in a number of formats – a fully downloadable
Word 97 (my preference), MS Access, Text, ASP and HTML files
or it can be accessed directly from the web site by the
online data engine where entries can be shown in specific
categories.
With the continuing
release of Expanded Universe material (not to mention Episode
III and the Clone Wars cartoon series), the CUSWE is just
going to keep getting bigger and bigger. And while the CUSWE
may not have official status, beautiful pictures and
illustrations or be available in bound copy, its enormity
alone will further cement its place as an invaluable source
for all Star Wars universe information.
Let’s hope
that one day in the distant future when all Star Wars product
lines have ceased their run, when the CUSWE is finally 100%
complete at many thousands of pages long, that a leather
bound hard cover version will become available – imagine
how good that would look sitting next to the
Britannica!
Be sure to pay the
CUSWE a visit, you’ll be glad you did: http://www1.theforce.net/CUSWE
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