The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: February 8, 2025
Death Star HR but make it the Saturday Evening Post
Hello there
So, better late than never, right? This week was a week full of Mondays and as such, the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter didn’t get to the printers on Thursday night like usual. But there’s still something this week, even if it’s a shorter than usual newsletter. This week we’ve got a a side trip to the Death Star Office of General Counsel as a lawsuit was filed against Lucasfilm dating back to the very first days of Star Wars. And an update on the shuttered Galactic Cruiser Hotel with a little bit of free advice for Disney.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
A good reminder that Star Wars, especially in the Filoniverse, is all about family.
I’m not going to argue that Palpy was a good father or grandfather, but he clearly was interesting in reuniting with Rey so he gets at least a little credit for that.
Koo (Is) Stark Raving Mad at Lucasfilm
That, my friends is some high quality word-play. With wit like that, perhaps I should quit being a lawyer and focus on being a full time word-typer guy. Koo Stark probably isn’t a household names to Star Wars fans other than the true Sickos. Remember in A New Hope (simply called Star Wars at the time) when Luke whines that he’s got some power converters to pick up in Tosche Station? Well, the was a scene filmed for Tosche Station, it just ended up being left on the cutting room floor as Lucas felt it wasn’t really necessary for the story.
In the novelization of The Last Jedi, the prologue starts with Luke having a dream of what would have happened if he never left Tatooine. The Empire was never defeated and Luke was still a moisture farmer, stuck on Tatooine and married to Camie Marstrap. In his dream, he recalls the day he saw the Star Destroyers over Tatooine. Only the droids were recovered, the princess was executed, and the Empire just kept going.
Camie was played by American actress Koo Stark, she’s the on in the scene who tosses Luke his binoculars back after they go look for the space battle. Also in the scene is Camie’s boyfriend, Laze “Fixer” Loneozer, and Biggs Darklighter. Biggs would go on to be a larger part of A New Hope when the scene of him and Luke reuniting on Yavin IV was added back into the Special Edition. Poor Camie and Fixer though, never got added back in. There were mentions here and there, the scene was in the novelization of A New Hope and the Marvel comics. The characters would get mentioned here and there, but never in a meaningful way.
Fun fact. The novelization of A New Hope was published under the name Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker and was released 6 months before the movie. The 70’s were a strange time.
But then, Camie and Fixer became canon. Most notably in in the 2nd episode of The Book of Boba Fett, where they’re at the bar and getting harassed by a Nikto swoop gang, only for Boba Fett to come in and save the day.
Once Camie became canon again, it was time to get paid. Koo Stark, along with Anthony Forrest have sued Lucasfilm for 190 million pounds, or 235ish million US dollars. I can’t find an online pounds to Republic creditors converter. Forrest played Fixer and the Stormtrooper who says “look sir, droids.” The crux of the lawsuit is their argument that the continued use of the characters along with the deleted scenes showing back up entitles them to compensation:
The scenes in question have resurfaced online in recent times and the character has appeared in various spin-offs over the years, so litigation filed in an LA court claims that the production company has profited off her likeness.
The legal action was brought by actor Anthony Forrest – who also starred in the film as Fixer in scenes that were eventually cut – and it is claimed that their “intellectual property rights were exploited” when the scenes became available online and on DVD.
This is not even close to the area of law that I’m in and even then, I’m not going to really opine without seeing the complaint and or seeing the original contracts that Stark and Forrest signed back the 70’s. But the Death Star General Counsel is only a couple doors down from the Death Star Human Resources Department, so we’ll keep an eye on the case.
Also of note, Stark dated Prince Andrew for 18 months in the early 80’s.
The Office That’s the Farthest From the Center of the Universe
I honestly do think there will be a day when the Galactic Starcruiser Hotel is looked back and viewed as an idea that was ahead of it’s time. If you don’t remember, the Galactic Starcruiser was an immersive Star Wars experience, to do my best at some corporate-speak. You and a friend paid a lot of money to stay in what was basically a dorm room for three days while either aiding the Resistance or trying to sell out Resistance spies to the First Order. It also only lasted from March 2022 to September 2023. As I wrote back in the October 13, 2023 Death Star HR, for as many Star Wars lovers as there are out there across the world, the number that would pay $4,800.00 plus travel expenses to essentially LARP for three days is a much smaller number. Especially when the hotel allegedly cost $1 billion Republic Credits. While there had been some hope among Star Wars and Disney fans that the building might get turned into a new attraction, it turns out that’s not going to be the case. As The Wrap reports:
According to several sources, including an individual close to the company, the building that formerly housed the immersive adventure (located near Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World) is being converted into offices for Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive arm of the company responsible for theme park attractions, retail locations and cruise ships.
Here would be a good time to lean into the Human Resources bit and note that turning something into offices might be the highest and best use of a building. It has been thought that it might be possible to repurpose part of the hotel for a dinner theater, but that appears to be a no-go as well. And the reason it can’t be turned into something for Disney visitors? It’s as boring as logistics.
This likely has to do with how cumbersome it would be to shuttle guests to the Starcruiser building, which is in a backstage area of the park. When the hotel was open, themed shuttles would transport guests to and from Disney’s Hollywood Studios on the experience’s “away day” – where guests would have exclusive interactions in Disney’s “Star Wars”-themed land Galaxy’s Edge. Those shuttles could only carry a few guests at a time, which isn’t ideal if you’re trying to repurpose the space for a more inclusive dining experience.
I am going to offer a little free advice to Disney on how to bring back an immersive Star Wars hotel. Move it out of the Sequel Trilogy era and set it back during the Original Trilogy. Imagine the setting being Cloud City right before Han, Leia, Chewie, and Luke show up. Or maybe right after the first three arrive but before Luke does. You can either help the Rebellion or you can help the Empire. Your three days in “Cloud City” end with Han getting frozen in carbonite and seeing Vader and Luke duel. I just thought of this and I’m already checking for flights to Orlando.
This Day in Star Wars History
There’s one pretty important birthday in the Star Wars universe on February 8th. That might be underselling it.
On this day in 1932, John Williams was born in New York City. You’ve probably heard of him. There’s really nothing I can say here that hasn’t already been said. If you haven’t had a chance to watch the documentary about him on Disney+, I highly recommend it.
Nine years later, Nick Nolte was born in 1941. Nolte was up for the part of Han Solo but didn’t get it. As a consultation prize, he voiced Kuiil in The Mandalorian.
Voice actress April Stewart was born 1968. Best known for voicing Wendy Testaburger on South Park, Stewart’s Wookieepedia page states she provided “other voices” in Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: The Old Republic, but didn’t give any additional details. IMDB to the rescue. They weren’t kidding about “other voices.”
If I ever got listed as a Sith Student, I could die happy. Source. Brendan Wayne was born in 1972. The grandson of John Wayne, this Wayne was the main body double for Mando in all three seasons of The Mandalorian. He also played a New Republic X-Wing pilot in two episodes of Ahsoka.
The son of the most evil man in the world. No, not some random Palpatine offspring. But Scott Evil aka Seth Green was born in 1974. Green has provided voices for characters in Clones Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch, along with creating the never released Star Wars Detours. And of course, was one of the creators of Robot Chicken.
Since it’s not a true Death Star HR Newsletter unless I talk about KOTOR as much as possible, we’ll end with this one. On this date in 2004, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords was released for Windows.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
As I was clicking the Wookieepedia randomizer, it landed on Time for Flatcakes. As we all know, Star Wars food is my favorite category. No such luck this time. Time for Flatcakes was a racing fathier who was kept at the Canto Bight racetrack. It does not appear he was one of the fathiers who crashed through the casino in The Last Jedi. Instead, he was in the short story The Ride by John Jackson Miller where like a figure form a Greek tragedy, or maybe an Alanis Morissette song, he won his race but dropped dead.
News From the HoloNet
‘The Bad Batch’ Returns For a New Star Wars Adventure — With a Twist
The twist is it’s a book and not a TV show.
The Star Wars Reboot Just Introduced Stormtroopers That Don't Miss Their Targets
Stormtroopers that don’t miss? Disney has gone too far this time!
Star Wars fatigue is something I am going to writing more about soon. I’ve got some thoughts.
Finally, Star Wars Admits It: Kylo Ren Really Is a Bit of a Crybaby
Remember the Emo Kylo Ren Twitter account? Back from when Twitter was fun and not the complete dumpster fire it is today.
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
An extra bit of Koo Stark fandom history? She was responsible for Judge Dredd’s current popularity, too. (She scandalized England by showing up to a formal event at Buckingham Palace wearing a Judge Dredd T-shirt, shortly after the original “2000AD” comic started.)
Well since it's his birthday and all: https://youtu.be/NJ-YpADa-KQ?si=7ElOxsZk44l8g5Wj