Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

The initial campaign consisted of a novel, a junior novelization, a comic mini-series, a video game, trading cards, a soundtrack, a role-playing game, action figures and vehicles, a MicroMachines series, and more. George Lucas reportedly said in an interview that he would have made a story like this into a movie if he had had the time and effort back in the early 1980s. The entire history and analysis of the project was recorded in The Secrets of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, by Mark Cotta Vaz.

The main story is told by the novel, the comic series, and the video game. If one wishes to know the full story, they must collect all three products. Certain elements from each part of the story are unknown until reading or playing another part of the brand. For example, by reading the book reveals the ending to the story, but not all of the details are known without playing the game. This served as the underlying marketing strategy for the project and was quite successful. The success of Shadows of the Empire also served more or less as a model for the Clone Wars multimedia venture. A similar multimedia project was attempted in late 2007 to tie in with the "The Force Unleashed" video game, however, the project largely fell flat due to the many delays of the game.

While each part of the project can be enjoyed on its own, fans will need to collect several items in order to fully experience the adventure. The novel tells the overall story, focusing on the main characters. The comic book series focuses on bounty hunter Boba Fett's battle to keep possession of the frozen Han Solo. The video game allows players to control new character Dash Rendar, whose adventures in the game weave in and out of the overall storyline. All the while, a battle for the life of Luke Skywalker takes place between Darth Vader and Prince Xizor, as each tries to please Emperor Palpatine.

The novel introduces Prince Xizor, the overlord of the largest criminal organization in the galaxy, known as Black Sun. His goal is to take Darth Vader's place at Emperor Palpatine's side. Xizor is also seeking vengeance against Vader for the extermination of his people, the Falleen. Xizor makes his move against Vader upon learning of the identity of Luke Skywalker and his relationship to Vader. To exact his revenge, Xizor plots to kill Luke, thinking that will win favor with Palpatine and serve as retribution against Vader. Meanwhile, Vader is still seeking out Luke to convert him to the dark side after their encounter on Bespin. Luke finds himself the target of the two most powerful beings in the galaxy, other than Palpatine himself.

Meanwhile, Han Solo is still frozen in carbonite and is being taken to Jabba the Hutt by the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Leia Organa, along with Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca, enlists the aid of Dash Rendar, a smuggler and acquaintance of Han's. Events transpire that cross the paths of Leia and the Rebels with Xizor and Black Sun that culminate in a battle over Coruscant between Xizor, Vader, and Rogue Squadron. Also revealed are how Leia and Lando developed Han's rescue and the construction of Luke's new lightsaber. Thus, the stage is soon set for Return of the Jedi.

A prequel novel was planned to the original Shadows of the Empire story. The book was to be written by author Charles Grant. The novel was canceled apparently due to a Lucasfilm Licensing move from Bantam to Del Rey.

The junior novelization of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire was written by Christopher Golden and published by Bantam Doubleday Dell in October 1996. It is based on the story and novel by Steve Perry. The target audience of the junior novelization is kids 8-12.

Unfortunately, I (yes, me: Grump Fett) believe this to be one of the worst novels written in the Star Wars expanded universe, but it does introduce a number of elements that are important to understand going forward, such as Xizor and Black Sun.

There is much greater emphasis on the intrigue between Boba Fett and his fellow bounty hunters, primarily Bossk, Zuckuss, and 4-LOM in the comics as compared to the novel. The comic series also tells the story of Jix, Darth Vader's special agent assigned to ensuring Luke's protection from Xizor. Upon learning that Luke was on Tatooine, Xizor hired Jabba to kill him. The job was given to his swoop gang, which had been infiltrated by Jix as part of Vader's assignment. The series was written by John Wagner and illustrated by Kilian Plunkett.

Steve Perry, author of the Shadows' novel, was a consultant of the comics. While the stories in the book and comics seldom intersected, it was necessary that characters, scenes, and dialogue match when they did come together. There were also a few tie-in comics and a sequel comic, Shadows of the Empire: Evolution. The first tie-in was Battle of the Bounty Hunters, the first-ever Star Wars pop-up comic. It was simply a reprint of the battle between Boba Fett and IG-88 shown in the first issue of the primary series. The tie-in comic Shadow Stalker tells the story of how Jix earned the respect of Vader enough to receive his mission of protecting Luke, and incorporated characters from the Archie Goodwin Star Wars newspaper strip "Iceworld", reprinted by Dark Horse comics in Classic Star Wars. Additionally, The Jabba Tape continues the adventures of Big Gizz and Spiker-members of Jabba's swoop gang-after Jabba's death. Both Shadow Stalker and The Jabba Tape were originally serialized in Star Wars Galaxy. This led to a further adventure in Sand Blasted.Some comics were also released by toy companies.Kenner released a two-part special which was a reprint of some scenes from the original comic like Battle of Gall.Some of the Lewis Galoob Toys'included Galoob Micro-Machines Mini-Comic and a Shadows of the Empire AMT/ERTL Model Kit Mini-Comic was distributed in certain of ERTL's model kits.These mini-comics like Kenner version were mainly a reprint but they also included some original scenes.

LucasArts's Shadows of the Empire video game was one of the first available for Nintendo's 64-bit system, Nintendo 64. The most commercial product in the Shadows of the Empire line, was the Nintendo 64 game that was released on December 3, 1996, which was shortly after the release of the console itself (September 29, 1996). The computer version came almost a year later (September 17, 1997), featuring improved graphics and fully 3D CGI rendered cutscenes with dialogue (as opposed to the picture/text cutscenes of the N64 version). In the game, the player controls Dash Rendar in his efforts to help Luke Skywalker and rescue Princess Leia from Prince Xizor's hands.

The game is divided in four parts (or chapters). The first one takes place during the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back, with Dash assisting in the Battle of Hoth in a snowspeeder, and eventually fleeing Echo Base. In the second part, Dash confronts some of the bounty hunters found in the movies, like IG-88 on Ord Mantell and Boba Fett. In the third chapter, Boba Fett has escaped and the player's mission changes: you must now save Luke Skywalker's life by fighting a deadly gang of bikers in Mos Eisley-this is vividly depicted in the comics as well-and then recover Imperial secret plans of the second Death Star, with Skywalker's help. Finally, in the last chapter takes Dash, Luke, and Lando to Coruscant to rescue Princess Leia from Xizor's stronghold. Certain parts of the game contradict elements from the book and comic book, but the overall story remains the same.

Star Wars: X-wing Alliance, although not officially part of the project, has a campaign of seven missions that takes place during the period covered by Shadows, with the player having to recreate events mentioned in the novel and the game. This includes flying to the Vergesso Asteroids during the Second Battle of Bajic, flying a Y-wing as part of the force led by Luke and Dash to disable Suprosa, and then ensuring that the computer captured therein gets safely into Rebel hands.

Kenner was one of the companies that made the toy line for the Shadows of the Empire project. Kenner's Shadows of the Empire line contains action figures, vehicles, and "two-pack" pairings of new and classic characters.

Lewis Galoob Toys, famous for their line of "Micro Machine" miniature toys and playsets, also developed a full Shadows of the Empire toy line. It included three sets of miniatures and a boxed Action Fleet set with two swoop bikes and riders and four miniature articulated figures. Also included in the sets are the classic Star Wars characters (Luke, Vader, the Emperor) as well as the new characters (Xizor, Dash Rendar, Guri and Leebo).

Action figures

* Boba Fett vs. IG-88
* Chewbacca in Bounty Hunter (Snoova) Disguise
* Dash Rendar
* Leia in Boushh Disguise
* Luke Skywalker in Coruscant Guard Disguise
* Prince Xizor
* Prince Xizor vs. Darth Vader
* Swoop Trooper

Action figure vehicles

* Outrider
* Slave I
* Swoop

The trading card company Topps developed the Shadows of the Empire trading card line. The 100-piece Shadows of the Empire card set from Topps represents all three platforms that tells the story-the book, the comic series and the game, making it a unique storytelling medium and a highly anticipated collectible. The cards are the work of Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, the twin artists who painted the most recognizable Star Wars art of all time-the world-famous poster that is still an icon of the trilogy. The 100 card set featured double UV-coating and an extra-thick 20 pt. card stock for everlasting collectibility, all with full-bleed painted images on a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" card. The Shadows of the Empire card series is highlighted by 72 cards that virtually storyboard the events in Steve Perry's novel. Besides that, there are six cards dedicated to vehicles, other six to the comics and another six keyed to the video game. Each pack came with nine cards.

In 1996, to promote the release of the project, Lucasfilm released a trailer showing clips from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. A voiceover was provided that explained the events of the new story and how they connected with the two films. The trailer was meant to give the project the feel of an actual film and film release. The trailer, which was originally broadcast on QVC, was shown as well several times at fan conventions, including the 1996 Wondercon convention, each time by the head of Lucasfilm fan relations, Steve Sansweet. However, Lucasfilm quickly pulled the trailer, fearing that people might think the project was actually a film.