Roqoo Depot

Conspiracy Report: Star Destroyer Owners’ Workshop Manual

Star Wars artist Chris Trevas recently revealed on Facebook that he and fellow Star Wars artist Chris Reiff have begun work on two new Star Wars projects. Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff working on two new, mysterious projects…it’s time to fire up the conspiracy wheels.

First, let us begin with the hard evidence.

“Chris Reiff and I are starting work on our next TWO Star Wars book collaborations! The books haven’t been announced yet so we can’t discuss them, but they will be fully illustrated by just the two of us…We won’t wrap up these books until 2013…One book is part of a series we’ve been doing, the other is completely new.” –Chris Trevas

Now the project of interest here is the one that’s part of a series. Chris Trevas and Chris Reiff have worked on a few projects together: Star Wars Blueprints, The Essential Atlas, Darth Vader: A 3-D Reconstruction Log, The Secret Life of Droids, Mysteries of the Jedi, Jedi Path, Millennium Falcon 3-D Owner’s Guide, and the Millennium Falcon Owners’ Workshop Manual. Of those, Chris Trevas specifically stated that it was not another blueprints project. The most likely candidate for the new project is another Haynes Owners’ Workshop Manual, something the creators speculated about back when the book was released.

In an interview with Roqoo Depot, Ryder Windham, Chris Trevas, and Chris Reiff all weighed in on what they’d like to see next from the Haynes Workshop Manual series.

Do you have any interest in doing additional Haynes manuals for other starships and starfighters?

RW: I’m especially interested in working on Imperial vehicles. Everyone should know their way around the Death Star, and how to maintain and repair an AT-AT.

CT: Definitely! There are so many possibilities to make the Star Wars Haynes manuals into a series. The whole classic alphabet of Rebel starfighters would be fun (A, b, X and Y). The classic ROTJ-style speeder bike seems to have avoided dissection in any books thus far and I’d like to tackle that in some way.

CR: Absotivelutely! The team at Haynes are really great and these books are a load of fun for us. It’s a format I’ve always wanted to work on and the tie in with Star Wars is perfect with all the cool hardware and vehicles. The entire compliment of equipment from the Empire could keep us busy for years not to mention all the manuals for rebel fighters… Droids…. I have to stop now… getting too excited.

In an interview with Suvudu, Ryder Windham mentioned some more…

Let’s say hypothetically I was going to write ad copy for trailers promoting additional Haynes Star Wars ship manuals. Which vessels do you think would make great sequel material?

RW: That’s a tough one because I like all the vehicles too much. Wouldn’t the X-wing look great on the cover of a Haynes Manual? And a TIE fighter? And a landspeeder, and an AT-AT, and a skyhopper? Yeah, they’re all great. The Executor and the Death Star would be incredible opportunities too, what with all the interior levels on those vessels. Even if you never manage to own a Death Star, you should read the Owner’s Workshop Manual so you’ll know your way around inside, just in case.

Death Stars, AT-ATs, A-wings, X-wings, Y-wings, landspeeders, skyhoppers, Super Star Destroyers, and droids…that’s quite a list of possibilities. However, a look at another sci-fi franchise could certainly hold the answer. Recently Gallery Books released the Klingon Bird-of-Prey Owners’ Workshop Manual. This is in addition to their previously released U.S.S. Enterprise Owners’ Workshop Manual. Star Wars already has the Millennium Falcon Owners’ Workshop Manual which nicely mimics the Enterprise. Both are the most iconic ships of their respective franchises, and both are named ships. Yet the Klingon Bird-of-Prey represents a departure from that as it is not a specific named ship, though it is definitely iconic. If Star Wars follows suit, I think it can safely be assumed that we’ll get an Imperial Star Destroyer Owner’s Workshop Manual.

First off, a Star Destroyer Manual would tie in perfectly with the Klingon Bird-of-Prey manual. Both represent iconic ships that encompass several famous named vessels. Furthermore it would continue a pattern of doing one good guy vessel, and one bad guy vessel, thus providing even representation. And there’s certainly no limit on the amount of information they could put into said book. Star Destroyers are massive ships and the deck plans and components of the vessel could easily fill the whole book. Add to that sections on the crew, their responsibilities, ship tactics, and variant models, and you’ve quickly got more that what can be squeezed into a 128 to 160 page format. The Star Destroyer is recognizable by all Star Wars fans, and thus appeals to a massive audience. While a TIE fighter or X-wing book would have equally large appeal, they would fit in better as follow ups. Whether or not the Star Destroyer manual will be announced, we’ll just have to wait and see, but the evidence is looking pretty good for this conspiracy theory.

Posted By: Skuldren for Roqoo Depot.