mcdowalj sent this in:

Just thought you might be interested that the Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode One is out. My copy arrived from Amazon.com today and it is amazingly detailed and well worth the price, covering absolutely everything from the movie: from Otaoh Gunga to the Galactic Senate to the Grass Plains battle. There are several curious entries among the pages that seem to point to things that will be mentioned in Episode 2. Something worth considering.

So we asked him to elaborate a little. What is new? What might be a clue to Episode II? He continues:

New Galaxy map:

It's all speculation of course but there are several planet names included in the beginning galaxy map of the book that I can't find in the Essential Chronology map, such as: Toong'l, Troiken, Ord Radama, Sneeve, Ploo II & IV, Er'Kit, Hok, Lanik, Vulpter, Moonus Mandel, Sump, Phu, Xagobah (interesting name), etc. There are many more strange names included on the galaxy map that I can put down if you like. Of note is the inclusion of Malastare, Nemoidia, and Toydaria (which is close to Nal Hutta space). Comparing this new map to the Essential one, it looks like Malastare is really close to Bakura and Ssi-Ruuk space. Neimoidia looks like it's close to where Kuat would be, roughly between Corellia and Alderaan. There's also a planet called Gall between Naboo and Tatooine now. They really did an excellent job of matching up this new map with the Essential one.

Here's some interesting notes found on the Coruscant pages:

Apparently the reason that Courscant became so prominent and eventually the center of the galaxy was it's early distiction as a developer and producer of hyperdrive mechanics. Looks like it's inhabitants were the ones who created early hyperdrive and as a result Coruscant space is regarded as coordinates zero-zero-zero. The book says predictably: "whoever rules Coruscant is truly master of the galaxy."

(side note: the official population for Coruscant is set at 1 trillion people now)

of note is an entry stating why the central spire of the Jedi temple is so sacred - it houses the original manuscripts of the founding Jedi! Awesome! The statues before the Senate structure also receive attention. It looks like that the reason they are humanoid-looking is that most, if not all, of the core-worlds (argueably the richest and most influential of the galaxy worlds and the founding planets of the Old Republic) are populated by humanoids - hence Palpatine's pro-human policies.

(side note: Galactic City officially has 12 billion people in it and most of them appear to be pencil-pushers.) :)

"Most of them aspire to work for...the galactic government. Yet for many, life on Coruscant is...a data-input job in a government sub-office." Palpatine's address is "500 Republica," a building in the older districts only for the wealthy (and a few with fame).

If rumors of characters running through seedy underground levels is true then our heroes might have a few run-ins with "mutant species and fearsome scavengers."

Palpatine's apartments are an "expansive suite of rooms...thoughfully decorated in Palpatine's preferred colors..." This entry is accompanied by a photo of Palpatine and Amidala in that very VERY red room.

One of the reason that Palpatine and Maul could walk around a balcony in plain view without fear of scrutiny is that the balcony in question is one of millions "hidden in the shadows and winding corridors of megastructures..."

There is a "convulted network of private turbolifts and secret inner sanctums" in the Senate building which the book says invites misuse and helps along underhanded dealmaking and neglect of public accountability.

(side note: the chancellor's offices are located directly beneath the Senate rotunda.)In the cross-section of a slice of the Senate building is a humanoid statue and this entry: "Humanoid statues reflect increasing anti-alien sentiment in the Senate" And among the walls are weird tunnels and this caption "Highly illegal droid spy balls chew their way through walls to bug other offices" Yikes! It looks like Neimoidian grub drones (yes, it says grubs) are cannabalistic. Yuck. They're shown in large office chambers behind the Neimoidian platform with this caption: "To enforce competiveness, Neimoidians assign identical work to two teams of worker drones, with the incentive that the successful team eats the other." Hmm. We should do that with our politicians. :)

If you look closely you can see Republic Guards everywhere. 4-5 per senator, at least, hinting at over 5,000 guards in the Senate building alone. There's also a race called the Dorin. I haven't heard of them before. They come from a planet with the same name (a planet that looks like it's close to Bilbringi). They are a deep-water species with weird mollusk-recorders in their chambers like the Mon Calamari have.

More on the Senate building: There is an entry that says: "Interconnecting vertical and horizontal turbolifts let senators reach the offices of any other senator for secret negotiations and dealmaking." If I were an assassin, I'd sneak into the chambers of an irrelevant senator and shoot my target from there. Just a thought that comes to mind when crossed with the Select image of the sharpshooter.Jedi Temple: The antennae on the spires are not just for show. They are powerful communication, scrammbler, and broadcast antennae used to keep in contact with all the Jedi in the galaxy, and also, get this, "tap into the cosmic energy fields of the galaxy itself." Facinating. Related to this is the large galaxy Holomap in the tower (that glowing white ball you've all seen on the revealed cover of this book) that "pinpoints galaxy-wide hotspots, including disturbances in the Force and areas of unusual Force concentration." I'm guessing that most of the data visualized on this Holomap is actually put in by the Jedi and not exclusively from the 'cosmic energy fields.' The Holomap rooms (guess there's more than one) are "central to the organization of Jedi activies..." The map also shows "disturbances in the Force and areas of unusual Force concentration."

The ziggurat-look of the Jedi temple is "derived from very early Jedi architectural styles and is (this part is cool) intended to symbolize the Padawan's path to enlightenment in the Force." Also each tower houses a council with specific responsibilities: Jedi High Council, Council of First Knowledge (apparently keepers of the ancient wisdom of past Jedi), Council of Reconciliation (no mystery there), and the Reassignment Council. The center spire is the "Jedi's most sacred place of contemplation." The Jedi also keep others from tracing the various locations of their Knights in the galaxy by scrambling the signals with something called Eradicators. In addition to functions like Healer, Pilot, Teacher, Warrior, and Mediator to the Jedi list. I guess you can now add Map Monitor.

(side note: this Jedi spire scene is supposed to take place while Qui-Gon and Obi-wan are talking and Anakin is being tested. There are no others to be seen in the entire upper part of the spire, save one: a funny-looking creature with a white, bulging head. He looks a bit like a Twilek but I can't be sure. He's looking at the large Holomap.)

On Neimoidians: An entry on the Invasion of Naboo page reads: "...the Neimoidians rarely leave their ships, relying on droids to meet customers." The jerks are also petty thieves. They really only visit the palace in the movie because they've been told its staterooms are full of priceless treasures.

Also an interesting note and speculation: "Having captured the Viceroy and his attache', the Naboo have no thoughts of revenge, trusting only in the powers of the Senate to force them to explain their actions...despite their own monarch's experience of senatorial feebleness." It looks like the Neimoidians might not be finished afterall. The bastards.

On Naboo: The swampy edges, where the 'sacred place' is, "will play host to regular Freedom of Naboo celebrations in years to come." Unrelated to anything that might be in Episode Two is a facinating timetable breakdown of the Grass Plains battle. It reminds me of the maps used in the Osprey Campaign Series of books for battles like Gettysburg or Normandy. An entry on the battle states that "Foot soldiers are organized into command units, each led by a general." This entry is then connected a a relatively small group of soldiers. Curious. Could Jar Jar's promotion to General now appear less than remarkable? That he is one of dozens of Generals? One could only hope.In reference to the Theed power generator is this note: "The power generator's opening ceremonies were presided over by Senator Palpatine, who's interest in the deep-pit design was much noted." This implies that Palpatine also followed it's design and construction. Everyone notice how 'Death Star-like" the generator room was? :)

Ah ha! Just saw a possible clue to why Naboo was invaded. Two entries: the first is below the galaxy map where statistics are given for Naboo, Tatooine, and Coruscant. "It is generally thought, however, that the plasma (a naturally occuring form of intense energy unique to Naboo) is the key to many of the planet's [geological] secrets." The second entry states "...some of the excess [harnessed plasma energy] is now sold in off-planet trade deals. The Naboo choose not to send their own trading agents to other worlds, but sell directly through the Trade Federation."

A thought comes to mind of the merchant guilds of the middle ages. They were given special treatment by kingdoms, free from taxes and tolls, because they were invaluable in bringing goods and services to their populations and delivering their own wares to other countries. Up until Episode One, the Trade Federation had special status among all worlds. The senate's decision to tax the Federation (probably secretly encouraged by Palpatine himself) can now be seen a disasterous move on their part. With government regulations being placed on the Federation, what was to stop other worlds from demanding other types of taxes or tolls. I'm sure their stock was falling like crazy. The Federation was fighting for its future and they turned to Sidious for help - who told them to block all trade with Naboo, a defenseless planet with an exotic energy source. Unfortunately I can't find any historical or mythical parallels to draw from to explain the invasion itself. At least we now know a little of why Naboo was important enough to gain attention in the Senate (it, and the tax, was being endlessly debated in the Senate afterall). Why else would they be shocked that one world in millions was being cut off from everyone else?

(note: obviously the power generator was created while Palpatine was a senator - and it was the generator that created enough excess energy to export to other worlds through the Trade Federation, so Palpatine would have known how rare this energy was going to be.)

(side note: even the glowing bulbs on the Queen's throne-room gown were created with this plasma!)

(another note: the power generator, before the invasion, was a tourist attraction.)

There's a gorgeous panoramic drawing of Theed at the end of the book. I tried to find a region that resembled the recently shot footage in Spain but found none. Drat. Maybe someone else can find it.

If this doesn't convince you the book is worth picking up, I don't know what will! Check it out!