Back in the beginning of the year, when I was only doing an AgriCorps Jedi impression, I started thinking about what it might look like to do a living history ‘display’ in the GFFA. For actual historic periods, displays at events often take the form of a collection of soldier’s gear laid out for the public:
In my mind’s eye, I thought it might be interesting, starting out, to simply have a collection of in-universe ‘artifacts’ for the public to examine, which could function as potential ‘engagement hooks’ for interpretation. Continue reading “Building the Outer Persona: an authentic Gaderffii”
Month: October 2017
Building the Jedi Persona: 4.1 – Canteens
As promised earlier, I’ll begin with a quick writeup on the mysterious canteen which DK has put to triple use as a GFFA prop-base.
Dimensions: approximately 6 x 8 x 2 inches.
Capacity: approximately 1250 milliliters, which is about 250 more than most of my other canteens (my WW2 Russians, US, and UK are all just a hair over or under a liter), which is pretty nice. However, getting this maximum capacity involves getting any air out of the top section next to the spout. I wonder if–based on the similar shape of my vintage icepack–this canteen was meant for cold weather use?, as the top section might allow for extra expansion during freezing?
My canteens are both clearly marked ‘US’ in a recessed area (on the other side of the props), and ‘1 US 1993 H.T.P.’ on the bottom. Continue reading “Building the Jedi Persona: 4.1 – Canteens”
Artifact ID: a humble Power Cell
This isn’t a proper ‘artifact ID’ post, in that I’m not identifying a real-world object that was used to create an on-screen artifact; this one is more concerned with identifying a briefly-glimpsed on-screen artifact using secondary resources. (Although I’m totally open to suggestions from someone more knowledgeable. The knob on top looks like it’s from a potentiometer I used to have, except cast in clear plastic.)
About the time I was reading about supposed Rebels wielding gaffi sticks, I came upon a now-obsolete gallery of GFFA gear, supplied by Wizards of the Coast for one of their RPGs. One of the items, here labeled as ‘Energy cell’, caught my eye…there was something familiar about it.
Unlike other tertiary sources in RPG materials, the photo is clearly copyrighted LFL (LucasFilm Limited), as are a number of images that date to this same period (such as that of the credit chip), so I was pretty confident this wasn’t something that was whipped up by DK to pad out a Visual Dictionary…this had to be an actual prop from a film.
That’s when I remembered! Ah-ha! I’d seen just such an item many times before, while playing the Episode I Podracer game for countless hours! Continue reading “Artifact ID: a humble Power Cell”
Artifact ID: a ‘triple threat’
Visual Dictionary Disclaimer: it’s unknown what percentage of props in these books actually appeared on-screen, or were made from scratch to pad out the book. It’s entirely possible that someone with eagle eyes and a Blu-Ray might spot these items slung over the shoulder of some anonymous background extra on Coruscant, and I would normally say to take them with a grain of salt. However, I am inclined to view them as legitimate sources purely for their supreme usefulness in helping flesh out the in-universe material culture of the GFFA.
With that out of the way…
While leafing through my copy of DK’s Episode II Visual Dictionary, I noticed something vaguely similar about a few of the props.
Can you see it? All three feature an encircling strap, and two of the three have the exact same shape. Hypothesis: these props are built on the same base item! Continue reading “Artifact ID: a ‘triple threat’”
Artifact ID: Sidi Gourd
One of the things that made the Mos Espa scenes in Episodes I and II feel so real (aside from, y’know, shooting on location with real sets and minimal ‘digital backlot’) was its use of background detail—things like market stalls selling produce. These are really only featured in secondary materials, but they’re still fascinating. I always thought it would be very cool—if I lived somewhere with an appropriate environment and had an appropriate venue—to do an interpretive display of Tatooine foodstuffs. Something like this:
Continue reading “Artifact ID: Sidi Gourd”
Living History in the Star Wars Galaxy 
