[News] New Cross-section Book

[Buzz Bumble]

Bothan Spy Exclusive
Or at least I've not seen it anywhere else yet.

Somewhere on these message boards a while back I hinted at a new Cross-section book coming from Dorling Kindersley "soon". Originally this book was scheduled for a March 2004 release, but the release date got pushed back to August 2004 to coincide with the Original Trilogy DVDs.

I originally saw the details of this book almost a year ago, but now it's semi-public knowledge and is being advertised in Dorling Kindersley's Autumn 2004 catalogue (that's northern hemisphere Autumn) which is sent out to shops so they can make their orders.

Below are two scans - one of the catalogue page and another of the draft cover. It's a bit hard to read the details at the bottom of the page, so I've re-typed them here:

Inside the Worlds of Star Wars
Illustrated by Richard Chasemore, Hans Jenssen.
Written by Jim Luceno.
265 x 350mm
48pp, full colour throughout
£14.99 hardback
ISBN: 1-4053-0539-8
NEW AUGUST​

...

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I knew I had it stored somewhere and I finally found it ... here's the text from the back of the draft cover:

Inside the Worlds of
STAR WARS
The complete guide to the incredible locations from 'Star Wars'

'Inside the Worlds of Star Wars' is the first-ever complete visual guide to the legendary locations in the Classic 'Star Wars' Trilogy ('A New Hope', 'The Empire Strikes Back', and 'Return of the Jedi'). Written by novelist James Luceno, the book features the most detailed cross-section illustrations ever produced by DK's acclaimed artists, Hans Jenssen and Richard Chasemore - including an awe-inspiring four-page fold-out of the entire rebel base on Hoth.

Archive photographs show aspects of the Trilogy's spectacular alien panoramas that fans have never seen before, including parts of Mos Eisley, Bespin, and the momentous battle on Hoth. Three-dimensional maps provide stunning aerial overviews of the films' unforgettable landscapes, with annotations to explain the progress of the action from one location to the next.

SEE
The positions of all the aliens in the Mos Eisley Cantina - the route of Luke's battle with Darth Vader from the carbon freezing chamber on Bespin - the Lars Homestead

DISCOVER
Luke and Han's route through the Death Star - the secrets of the Emperor's sinister Throne Room - the rebel base on Tavin IV and Hoth - every twist and turn of Mos Eisley's streets

EXPLORE
The Ewok's treetop village - Jabba the Hutt's palace - Yoda's house on Dagobah - the Lars Homestead - and much more!​

And the text from the draft inside front cover flap:

The Death Star, Mos Eisley cantina, Jabba's Palace, the rebel base on Hoth - the locations in the Classic 'Star Wars' Trilogy have become legendary in film history. Now, at last, fans can explore the galaxy far, far away in unparalleled detail in 'Inside the Worlds of Star Wars'.

Pore over incredible cross-section artworks, study meticulously rendered terrain maps of planet surfaces, and trace the routes of the characters. To produce this defnitive guide, the DK team was granted access to Lucasfilm Archives at Skywalker Ranch in California, where they sourced original blueprints, models, scale drawings, and pre-production sketches for the Classic Trilogy.

With the addition of never-before-seen still from the movies and detailed, wide-ranging text, 'Inside the Worlds of Star Wars' is an essential addition to DK's best-selling 'Star Wars' series.​

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I'm not sure what's happened to this book - it seems to have gone MIA again. Maybe they're waiting to see how well the Trilogy DVDs sell or maybe the sales of the previous cross-section books weren't "good enough". It's a pity if it never makes it to shop shelves because the couple of pages I saw were great additions to the Star Wars cross-sections series.

I'd actually forgotten about it until I was given the covers for some new Young Reader books (hopefully to be posted this weekend), but I'll have to see if I can find out from my friends in the book business where this one's got to.

 

[AmShak]

um... i bought this book a month or two ago at a barnes and noble.

it's certainly a welcome addition ... my only complaint would be that that it included more content. i understand that making a book for each movie probably wasn't a realistic option (although i would have bought them) but since there is so much to cover over the 3 movies, it would have been nice if they beefed it up a bit.

i can scan and post some images this weekend. is there anything specific you would like to see? also, if you don't see some pics pop up over the weekend, remind me.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Really?!?

Maybe it's just been delayed down here then. I've already got a couple of the preview pages scanned. I'll have to find out what happened since my copy was pre-ordered the minute I was told about it.

 

[AmShak]

yes, really!

i look at mine every day ... jealous? :evil:

just messing with you .... i only look at it on the weekends.


my only other complaint/observation is that they seem to have changed some of the star wars universe.

for instance, the layout of the cantina has been altered from anything i have ever seen ... i guess that means i have to build a new one.

and the big one that i noticed is that the geography of tatooine is quite a bit different than any other map i have evr seen, including the most recent "star wars galaxies"

 

[Buzz Bumble]

You are right, I just checked Barnes & Noble's website and it does say "ship in 24 hours".

Jealous?!? Not me, I get my copies of these Dorling Kindersley books at half-price direct from the distributor ... usually before anyone else. Plus I also get to see the proof pages many months in advance.

 

[Borsk]

You are right, I just checked Barnes & Noble's website and it does say "ship in 24 hours".

Jealous?!? Not me, I get my copies of these Dorling Kindersley books at half-price direct from the distributor ... usually before anyone else. Plus I also get to see the proof pages many months in advance.

I've read the book twice today. Jealous now?

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I've also got a similar cross-section book for Thunderbirds (the original TV show, not the garbage new movie) ... now who's jealous.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

YEA!! I finally got my copy!

my only other complaint/observation is that they seem to have changed some of the star wars universe.

for instance, the layout of the cantina has been altered from anything i have ever seen ... i guess that means i have to build a new one.

and the big one that i noticed is that the geography of tatooine is quite a bit different than any other map i have evr seen, including the most recent "star wars galaxies"

There do seem to be a few, errr ... "hiccups" in this book. Another one is Yoda's house which has the bed on a small upstairs / mezzanine level accessed by a rope ladder?? I haven't actually read any of the text yet and it is supposed to be from the ESB timeframe, so maybe Yoda moved his bed downstairs by the time Luke goes back in RotJ.

There's also a peculiar blank white page at the back. Looks like this one was a little rushed.

Now I'll have to read it and then wait for the RotS cross-section book and visual dictionary. I wonder if they'll then do some EU cross-section and visual dictionary books?

 

[AmShak]

I wonder if they'll then do some EU cross-section and visual dictionary books?

i don't know how well these books do, i would have liked to have seen 3 books for the OT instead of everything lumped into one or maybe a thicker book. perhaps from a business point of view, this was the best way to go.

at any rate, i like them and i'm sure i will by any similar books in the future.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I'm not sure about the US, but here in New Zealand, Australia and the UK the shops and Dorling Kindersley themselves got badly burnt with the Episode I books ... they ended up with WAY too much unsold stock. It doesn't help that the books are a little over-priced as well.

Depending on how well the TV series does I guess we MIGHT get a Clone Wars and TV series version of the books. Versions for the EU novels would be a bit more difficult, although would give someone more artisitc scope.

 

[AmShak]

I'm not sure about the US, but here in New Zealand, Australia and the UK the shops and Dorling Kindersley themselves got badly burnt with the Episode I books ... they ended up with WAY too much unsold stock.

i think everyone got burned with anything involved with ep1. i remember buying a couple of extra copies of the ep1 version for $1

 

[britt1]

I live in TX and don't remember ever seeing this book, it sounds pretty good! I do wish the cool books wouldn't be priced so high

 

[Buzz Bumble]

I still haven't seen it in an actual bookshop here either, but any good bookshop should be able to order you a copy from the distributor if you give them the title, publisher and ISBN:

• 
  Title: Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: The Complete Guide to the Incredible Locations from Star Wars
  Publisher: Dorling Kindersley / DK Publishing
  ISBN: 0756603072

Otherwise try Amazon (US$13.59) or Barnes & Noble (US$15.99), among others.

 

[britt1]

Thanks!