Shocking Discovery!

[krpalmer]

Just a few days ago, I was posting about starting to reread the early drafts of Star Wars that are available online, and tossed in a favourite comment of mine about the mysterious phrase about "Mace Windu" and "Usby C. J. Thape". Then, just today, I noticed that Random House has a page set up with a gadget where you can preview some of the pages of "The Making of Star Wars." Most of the text is too small to read, but there's a picture of a hand-written "Journal of the Whills" draft that includes the line at last... only not quite as I'd always heard it. Instead of being "the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi-bendu of Ophuchi who was related to Usby C. J. Thape, a padawaan leader to the famed Jedi," it's "the story of Mace Windy, a revered Jedi-bendu of Ophuci, as related to us by C. J. Thorpe, padawaan learner to the famed Jedi." "Usby" never existed! I suppose I can see how whoever first transcribed the page for "Skywalking" might have seen "related" without thinking of its meaning of "told," but "us" and "by" are on two separate lines.

No doubt, of course, none of this quite justifies getting worked up enough to post about it. Still, after thinking that "Usby Thape" was a good Star Wars name, I'm perhaps a trifle chastened by thoughts about the jokes about making Star Wars names by formula and the like. It's also increased my interest in being able to see "The Making of Star Wars..."