Rayzur's Edge Audio Update
(source: starwarsfanworks.com, 03-18-06)

With summer on the way and various projects in their latter states, we thought we'd take a moment to update fans of Rayzur's Edge Audio on REA's current and future plans.

In terms of radio shows, the three current ongoing REA series will continue at least into 2007. ChronoRadio has ten episodes still to go (seven regular, one film commentary, one covering ConCarolinas 2006, and its speical series finale) before its ending in May 2007. Listeners should expect the regular episodes to continue airing in even-numbered months, with the ConCarolinas episode coming in July and the film commentary for Revenge of the Sith sometime this summer. The final episode would then air in May 2007. (At present, the April episode is ready to go, but production has not begun on any of the others, outside of some vague notes for the finale and ROTS commentary.)

Fan Audio Made Easy has a total of 20 more episodes still to come (April 1, 2006 through January 15, 2007). Of those remaining twenty, all but four have been completed. Fans should expect to hear more tutorials from series creator Nathan P. Butler, along with guest tutorials from Joe Harrison, the Loewen brothers, Star Wars en Direct's duo of Pepin and Mineau, Michael Smith, Jeff Roney, and (likely, but not finished, so still up in the air somewhat) Steve Fluharty, Michael Sheridan, and Christopher Walker.

A 2007 follow-up to Fan Audio Made Easy (FAME) is being considered, a standalone project that would show many of the FAME lessons in action, currently being tossed about under an acronym: RAGE. More on this as it develops.

The Butlerniverse is slated to continue with its oddball topics and infrequent release schedule, but we're likely to see a small change in its intentions. The "Primers" that began with Battlestar Galactica may be stricken from the show's purpose, as they require a great deal of research for an episode that becomes obsolete rather quickly. Instead, the show's focus will likely remain on editorials, the fan audio genre, and interviews. Among the episodes currently planned are a sort of Introduction to Star Wars Fan Audio (a companion to the fan audio history released already), yearly updates to the History of Star Wars Fan Audio episode, and, possibly, an introduction to Rayzur's Edge Audio or a behind the scenes look at the creative process behind Echoes.

Speaking of Echoes, REA's first full-length audiobook, the original story Echoes, will launch on April 1 with a four-chapter release, followed by weekly releases of two chapters per week until reaching the twentieth (final) chapter. Feedback from a select group of preview listeners has been so positive that a sequel is being considered, possibly for release in late 2006 or early 2007. The possible sequel concept is presently entitled Echoes: Unity.

Finally, an early abaondoned audio drama concept from REA is likely to re-enter production this summer. The project, a seven-episode audio drama entitled Context, would be more in line with the concept of Dawson's Creek or other real-world "teen/twenty-something" dramas than Star Wars, but would center around individuals who, like many fans, had much of their world view shaped by Star Wars in their youth. Five of the seven scripts for Context are complete, and the other two are slated to be written sometime between now and the end of June, so that production can begin this summer, if the project does indeed go into full production.