| |
| Star Wars: The Drewton Legacy | |
|---|---|
| Attribution | |
| Writer(s) | |
| Images | |
| Publication information | |
| Started on | |
| Finished on | |
| Chronology | |
| Canon |
C |
| Era | |
Star Wars: The Drewton Legacy is a photonovel series comprising of twenty-three chapters by Andrew Barton, published from July 23, 2006, to February, 2009. A reboot titled Star Wars: Fractures: Commencement was announced on December 3, 2009.
Conception[]
The first logo for the series.
When first started by Andrew Barton in May, 2006, The Drewton Legacy, titled Legacy at the time, was intended to be a prequel series to Barton's Chronicles of a Rebellion, following the same main characters. The planned prequel was originally to be another photonovel titled Commander Bob which was started in April of the same year. This was changed when Barton decided to focus on Raymus Drewton and Tarisian Drewton, who were named Burt and Larry at the time, respectively.
A chapter list was planned what would be nearly the entire series. Much of what was planned was a retelling of the Star Wars six-film saga. While the current actual chapter list differs almost entirely from the one first planned, the first, fifth, and sixth chapters still used the script of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, though the first of which was later redone and bore no resemblance to The Phantom Menace's script.
Barton originally planned for the series to be understandable to those who had not seen any of the Star Wars films. Technology and other forces used in nearly every Star Wars work, such as the Force and lightsabers, were to be explained.
Production[]
2006: The Untold Tales/Dooku's Transition/Days of Terror[]
One of the first production images, taken in July, 2006.
The original first six chapters now deemed non-canonical and titled The Untold Tales were meant to be a prologue for the series. Three of the six chapters were retellings of Episode I: The Phantom Menace, while the other half focused on Tarisian and Raymus Drewton as castaways on Dantooine. The first three chapters were written on May 16. The script, particularly the dialogue, took much inspiration from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
On May 21, Raymus and Tarisian were, unofficially, established to not actually be clones as Rebellion could be considered to have implied. Because there were limited Hasbro action figures of Star Wars children, Lord of the Rings Hobbit figures were used instead. Raymus was planned to be portrayed by Frodo Baggins, and his brother by Samwise Gamgee.
Chapter 1: The Dealings of the Trade Federation was Andrew Barton's first photonovel chapter which used Adobe ImageReady, similar to Photoshop. The special effects proved to an improvement over those done with Corel Photo-Paint in Chronicles of a Rebellion, through relatively simple effects were still used during photography, such as using a CD for a blast door.
Shooting began in July, 2006. Unlike its predecessor stories, Legacy used several sets that involved greenscreen, some being nothing but greenscreen. Chapter 1 was a retelling of the beginning scenes of Episode I in which Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi attempted to negotiate with the Trade Federation, and was completed on July 22. It was posted on various message boards the following day.
Photography for Chapter 2, which involved only one scene and introduced the Drewtons, began immediately afterwards. A greenscreen background was used and replaced by images of Emyn Muil from Lord of the Rings. Compared to the other chapters, the chapter was perhaps the simplest to do, and was finished only a few days after the release of the first. The third chapter, however, required more effort. Styrofoam was spray-painted black, with shades of grey added as well to make it look more "textured". The chapter was completed in August and was the first chapter of Legacy to not use any greenscreen.
A set used for Theed Palace.
The next chapter, in which the Drewtons were to escape Dantooine, had gone through two completely different script drafts when written two months prior on June 22. The first was deemed too "Jude Watson style", and, though Barton was not entirely happy with the second, he could not think of anything else which he considered sufficient. What he was satisfied with, however, was the opportunity to introduce Idnum-Ki, a major character from Rebellion. A final scene in which Darth Sidious and Darth Maul discussed the Blockade of Naboo was cut.
The next two chapters used The Phantom Menace's script almost completely and focused on the Battle of Naboo, the only difference being Idnum-Ki returning Tarisian and Raymus to Naboo in Chapter 6. Production on the chapters occurred simultaneously, starting in August and ending in October. They were the first chapters to be use Barton's newly acquired Nikon digital camera, as well as widescreen format. Chapter 7, Dooku's Transition, was an adaptation of the Jedi Master Dooku's fall to the dark side of the Force, using details from Labyrinth of Evil and Jango Fett: Open Seasons.
In the same month, Legacy was retitled The Drewton Legacy. With Terrorist Force, Barton considered the series to have become more of a story on its own, no longer being supported by the films and other Expanded Universe works. Characters which would later become part of the main "cast", such as Bodotor Thuvat, Dem Nozah, and Kyle Krenis, were introduced. Due to a battle in the snow being planned, the main photography was delayed a month so that enough actual snow could be used. The chapter was the first to take more than a month to complete, and was the final one of the series in 2006.
2007: Days of Terror/Days of Chaos[]
Production for Chapter 9: Coruscant Underlevel Search did not start until January of 2007, and used a miniature of Helm's Deep from Lord of the Rings. Barton, the author, claimed to be "out of ideas" when doing the script, and was not completely satisfied with the results.
Chapter 10, the beginning of Days of Chaos was, once again, a retelling of one of the Star Wars films, this time Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Though he now regrets doing it, Barton, at the time felt that the clone troopers' appearance on Geonosis would have felt random without showing their discovery. However, the inclusion of Bodotor Thuvat managed to bring some relation to the rest of the story to it. Chancellor Palpatine's Office, a diorama which had taken months to build, was used.
A scene in Chancellor Palpatine's office. Palpatine's head would be replaced, and General Veer's head would be replaced with that of a George Lucas figure.
In early June, Andrew Barton decided to change Bodotor Thuvat's character so that, unlike being simply a terrorist leader, he was trying to bring the Nockudumey Terrorists "back to what they were intended to be". Barton also planned terrorists rising up against him and overthrowing him, led by Mecupa, who would be revealed to be the one to have assassinated Tarisian and Raymus's parents. Up until then, he had not decided who the assassin first spoken of Chapter 2 would be, specifically, although a Nockudumey terrorist having done the deed was preferred. In addition, Thuvat had been planned to be the Drewton's main enemy in the series; with the planned revelation of him not actually having terrorist intentions, this would change.
Meanwhile, he next chapter in the series focused on the Battle of Geonosis from the same Lucasfilm episode, but instead of using the film's script, it followed the roles of Tarisian, Raymus, Idnum-Ki, and Kyle Krenis in the battle. Motion blurs added to Jedi's arms and lightsabers was another advancement in Drewton Legacy's special effects. The scenes in the catacombs of Geonosis were shot on Barton's driveway, and Republic Commando RC-1262, also known as Scorch, was given a cameo. It was finished in June.
Dular, now a major character in the series, was introduced in Chapter 12. In the beginning introduction, an image Barton had taken in August of Florida was used as a background, as well as an explosion in Iraq in another. Palpatine's Office was once again used, and a character named Karan Nyles, a spy in the Republic portrayed by a figure of George Lucas, made his first appearance. During a holographic transmission, Darth Sidious, his hologram lit by a flashlight, told Nyles that he would be "directing more than planned". The line was intended to be a reference to Lucas's directorial status.
The author had recently played the BioWare game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for the first time, and attempted to make the dialogue similar to it, particularly that of the "aliens". One example of what he considered to have done such in was a conversation with the Duros Drebu Labro, in which Labro referred to the clone troopers simply as "Humans".
Clone troopers on Kamino.
Most of the filming for Defense of Kamino was done in August, but it would not be until September 28 when the chapter was completed. Like Chapter 10, it used a canon battle, but showed the main characters' involvement in it. As Barton had attempted to put connection to KotOR in Chapter 12 through the dialogue, in Chapter 13 he attempted to make another connection to the games by adding a Mandalorian character named Daklif Ordo, supposedly a descendant of Canderous Ordo. The battles in the chapter were also meant to be read as if the ARC trooper theme from the Clone Wars cartoon was being used.
During pre-production of Chapter 14: Deceit, Andrew Barton's plans for the series changed completely, and instead of having Idnum-Ki remain what he considered kind and naive as he had been in previous chapters as well as Chronicles of a Rebellion, he decided to make his character manipulative and dark, inspired by Kreia from Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.
Up to that point, most of the Clone Wars chapters had been only "battle chapters", and Barton planned Deceit to be what he called a "dialogue chapter". Mecupa, planned to be the assassin of the Drewtons' parents, was included, and it was Bodotor Thuvat's first appearance since Barton's ideas for him had changed. Unlike any previous chpaters, 14 was written entirely by hand.
"N.A.R.F." was implied to have been Daklif Ordo in later chapters, and the word "Narf" itself came from the TV series Pinky and the Brain. The characters of Tarisian and Raymus also became more defined and unlike each other. Raymus's trust in the Jedi was shown, as displayed when he told the Jedi Council of a Sith holocron that had been found, while Tarisian in contrast showed his loyalty to the Chancellor.
2008: Days of Chaos/Revelations/Commencement/Turnabout[]
Much of Chapter 15: Delta Station, the first chapter of 2008, was shot over Christmas of 2007. Special effects once again made several advancements. A CG model was created for Delta Station, based on concept art for a Rebel Alliance base, and a shot of Dular destroying Separatist ships was inspired by concept art from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. In a scene in which Idnum-Ki and Dular dueled Count Dooku, the same black spray-painted styrofome which had been used in Chapter 3: Shadows Among Fog was used. After the duel, Idnum-Ki's new darker personality was further shown, temporarily stripping Dooku of the Force and allowing him to escape. The chapter was published on January 2.
Production image of Drazil Drewton and Chancellor Valorum on the Legacy.
The next chapter in production was Clone Campaigns, a retelling of the Clone Wars cartoon with some new content. Greenscreen was used for most shots. The only major event which involved a Drewton Legacy character was Raymus Drewton's promotion to the rank of Captain.
In March, Barton, who had long despised the first four chapters of the photonovel and thought of them as "not Star Wars enough", planned to redo them. The assassination of Senator Drazil Drewton and a Kaleesh attack on Khoonda were the main plot points that were to be used, with nothing remaining from the original version. A month after the first drafts were written, shooting began on April 18 for Attack on the Legacy, and for the first time, screenshots were printed out as backgrounds. The Endar Spire from Knights of the Old Republic was used for the Legacy, the starship of Drazil Drewton. A flashback of Mecupa on the Legacy was planned to be shown in the upcoming Revelations story arc, and the shot was taken during production of Attack on the Legacy, immediately after what was the last shot of Drazil Drewton in the finished version.
Shooting was finished on April 21, and post-production was completed three days later. The previous opening crawl for the original version had been a copy of the one in Episode I: The Phantom Menace; for the new version, a completely new opening crawl was done concerning Republic negotiations with the Kaleesh. In addition, an effect was added so that the text would appear to be "crawling" as in the Star Wars films.
Meant to tie in with Chapter 1, Revelations and Nockudumey Uprising were started immediately after, in which Mecupa would announce to Tarisian Drewton that he had killed his father. Also revealed in the story would be Thuvat's intentions in the Nockudumey, which had been planned Since June, 2007. Simply cardboard backgrounds were using for shooting, with a Nockudumey logo added onto them. The fight that broke out between the Nockudumey supporting Thuvat and those supporting Mecupa resulted almost exactly as it had been planned nearly a year before, and Barton was satisfied with the results. The two chapters not only gave the answer to a mystery that had been started in 2006, but also were the first, in order of production, to start Tarisian Drewton's desire for revenge, which Barton has said will be his "driving motivation" in the series. Both chapters were finished on May 14 and May 19, respectively.
Not long after, Andrew Barton started work on the redo of the second chapter, Kaleesh Siege, which he claimed was the "special effects show" of the story arc.
