It has been six months since the last update on this website (rather than on my YouTube channel) on the status of A Saga on Home Video, 2nd Edition. While I won’t go into as much detail as the last update here, let’s take a look at where things stand.
What is 100% complete for sure?
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- Dedication page
- Interior cover pages
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What is definitely almost ready (so much so that we’re talking about only maybe one more day of work or less)?
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- Legal copyright page (waiting on ISBN)
- Table of contents for each volume (waiting on final page numbers)
- Acknowledgements (need to check all episodes of From the Star Wars Home Video Library on YouTube to make sure I have thanked everyone who needs to be thanked)
- Patreon Credits/Thanks (need to do a final check of names after Oct. 31, 2021, deadline and payments process for the month)
- Prefaces to all three volumes (waiting on final data to put at the end, along with determining whether to include descriptions of all sidebars in each volume’s preface or just the ones that show up in that volume; preface for Vol. 1 also needs a final picture count for the book)
- Introduction (also needs a final picture count for the book)
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What is very close to done and just awaiting a final check?
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- Ch. 1: Glimmers of Hope
- Ch. 3: The Original… One Last Time
- Ch. 4: See It Again… For the First Time
- Ch. 10: Teddy Bears, Towanis, and Trouble Again (needs a run-through to position pictures to limit dead space)
- Ch. 11: Genndy Goes Micro (needs a run-through to position pictures to limit dead space)
- Ch. 13: Joining the Rebellion
- Ch. 14: A Home Video Kaztastrophe
- Ch. 16: Brick by Brick
- Ch. 19: This is the Way
- Maybe Ch. 7: Enter: Disney, Ch. 9: All Together Now, Ch. 17: Behind the Curtain, Ch. 18: A Cantina Full of Oddballs
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What is close to a final check but definitely has some minor things still to address first?
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- Ch. 2: The Great Format War (check on some audio notes)
- Ch. 5: Rise of DVD, Demise of VHS (check on some audio notes)
- Ch. 6: The Lucas Films in HD (one more picture probably)
- Ch. 8: Rise of 4K, Demise of 3D (two more pictures probably)
- Ch. 12: Rewriting the Clone Wars (one more picture probably)
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What will have to be the last chapters addressed before final locking of text?
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- Ch. 15: Empire of Streams (to make sure Disney+ coverage is up-to-date)
- Afterword (to make sure looking ahead is still accurate)
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What’s next?
I’m waiting on an HD-DVD copy of Superman: The Movie to arrive in the mail, so that I can use a side-by-side shot of that with the same film on Blu-ray (from the John Williams AFI boxed set) to illustrate the second “format war” in which Star Wars did not participate until the victor was already known. That will allow for a picture in either Ch. 6 or 12 or both. That item is currently in “USPS is in possession of the item” limbo somewhere in Connecticut.
I need to snap a couple of pictures of the interior of the South Korean Blu-ray and 2D/3D Blu-ray packages for Solo, as I mention what is on the interior art so I figure I might as well show it too.
I need to look over some early chapters to address any audio changes for the saga (such as when you started to have four-channel stereo available, prior to 5.1).
In general, I need to go through chapters, as noted above, to pin down final wording and such, along with final layouts so that there’s not a lot of dead space due to pictures.
Once the final text is done, I’ll have a final page count, which will let me work on cover images, which, since they are wraparound image files, requires me to know the exact spine width before I can create them. Pictures are taken, and the design concept is firmly in place. I just need to make them once the text is locked.
So are we still looking at 2021?
I hope so, but we will see how things go. If not, it will be in early 2021, as writing and picture taking/insertion is pretty much done. We’re nearing the more technical side of the process very soon.
To keep up with the project, keep an eye on my YouTube channel, where project update videos are posted monthly. I will, of course, post further updates here too as publication nears.