Comments on: Steampunk Star Wars

Steampunk Star Wars

jonson — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:24:12 -0800

Steampunk Star Wars. An ongoing series of drawings by Eric Poulton of Star Wars characters redone in the style of Jules Verne era sci-fi. Sadly only three have been done, so far, but hopefully more to come. Via

By: grobstein

grobstein — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:26:11 -0800

This rules. I especially liked Han and Mr. Chewbacca, and the little "Han shot first" nudge was cute.

By: Faint of Butt

Faint of Butt — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:28:44 -0800

These are awesome. I hope he does more.

By: grubi

grubi — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:28:58 -0800

OH MY GOD yes.

By: damn dirty ape

damn dirty ape — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:34:42 -0800

the little "Han shot first" nudge was cute. What do you mean? Maybe I'm missing the obvious but Im not see a reference to that.

By: splice

splice — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:37:28 -0800

Solo is also known for his quick draw with a pistol. He boasts that of all the men he's shot, not a single one was able to shoot first. It's in the blog entry along with the pic.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:37:28 -0800

Han Solo & Mr. Chewbacca Han Solo is a notorious gambler, con artist and smuggler. Mr. Chewbacca is his Wookiee partner in crime. The duo is wanted by both the Empire and a number of underworld crime lords, but they manage to stay one step ahead of their pursuers thanks to their ship, the Millennium Falcon, said to be the fastest ship in the galaxy. Solo is also known for his quick draw with a pistol. He boasts that of all the men he's shot, not a single one was able to shoot first. Emphasis mine. Yeah, that's some fine illustratin'.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 13:55:40 -0800

Lord Vader... is a master with the traditional weapon of Force champions, the Phlogisticated Aether Torch, more commonly referred to as the phlogisabre. Man, that's great.

By: pardonyou?

pardonyou? — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:05:42 -0800

The Vader picture is amazing. I wish post larger pictures to fully appreciate some of the detail -- the compass over the eye, the exposed breathing tube, the heart box, the gauge above the elbow. Fantastic!

By: brownpau

brownpau — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:10:10 -0800

"Steampunk?" What kind of lame, asshattish, wannabemo, 2.0 kind of genre label for "Victorian" is that? Next thing you know they'll be calling Passion of the Christ and Life of Brian "Jewpunk" or something. Oh, and yes, very cool drawings.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:14:13 -0800

Steampunk is hardly new. As a matter of fact, Firefox 2.0 doesn't even flag the word as a spelling error.

By: JeremyT

JeremyT — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:17:37 -0800

Steampunk was coined in the science fiction print world in the 1980s. It stems from cyberpunk. It predates "web 2.0" by at least a decade, if not two.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:23:21 -0800

Really cool. Like most steampunk stuff the little details are what make it awesome. The lightsaber description sold the Vader drawing for me. Steampunk is one of those styles where you have to be able to draw so many awesome perfect details like that. Strangely, I kind of think the current version of Doctor Who is almost a Steampunk-eque Star Wars. It's space travel and aliens with a ship and pilot that has a somewhat Victorian clockwork feel to it.

By: designbot

designbot — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:29:49 -0800

Jew punk

By: Sangermaine

Sangermaine — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:40:25 -0800

While brownpau seems to be a bit out of the sci-fi loop, I think he has a point. If you take "steampunk" to mean anything set in Victorian-Edwardian times and features fantastic "modern yet antique" technology, then this fits. But I always that as a genre steampunk was more about the attitude of the stories, ala cyberpunk. Cyberpunk isn't unique because it features implants and corporations and such, it's the infusion of "punk" outlook on society into traditional sci-fi. Steampunk, I think, is more about transporting the cyberpunk attitude (mostly bleak, anti-authority, dystopian) to the Victorian-Edwardian era. So not everything in such a setting would be steampunk, and certainly not Star Wars if you're judging by the feel of the story.

By: squidfartz

squidfartz — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:41:51 -0800

Not was I was expecting. Wonderful stuff. Nice post.

By: brownpau

brownpau — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:44:49 -0800

I was kidding. I've heard of steampunk. I just hate the word. So much. MUST. SMASH.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:52:41 -0800

I can see your point Sangermaine, but I think you're facing an uphill battle if you want people to start labeling their non-punk Victorian stuff "Victorian". Its appropriate, but like getting people to stop using the word "hacker" as a synonym for "computer criminal" [1] I just don't see it happening. As for this in particular, for some reason it just doesn't get me going. Most Steam Age stuff utterly thrills me, but for some reason this one left me a bit flat. Vader, especially, bugged me. He's supposed to be a dark lord of the Sith, he should be able to stand upright damnit. [1] One of my own pet peeves.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 14:57:10 -0800

Also, where did Han Solo's space captain pants go? You know, the pants with the vertial stripe of darker and shiney fabric running down each leg? I'm convinced that Malcom Reynolds wears that style of pants as an homage; Reynolds is a better roguish captain than Solo ever was, but still props to the original. Much as the art doesn't do much for me, I do like his descriptions. The one for Jabba the Hut was especially nice. "Sarlaac Silk", heh.

By: niles

niles — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:11:27 -0800

sotonohito: You mean his Corellian blood stripe? And yes, this is great. more, please!

By: hincandenza

hincandenza — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:18:48 -0800

Unrelated to anything, the author links to this Wired blurb about the "steampunk lightsaber" as his inspiration for these drawings. That Wired blurb uses the unusual word "metempsychosis", and I was shocked- SHOCKED!- to find the Wiki entry on memetpsychosis does not list Infinite Jest as one of its cultural references. WTF, Wiki?!?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:25:27 -0800

Its appropriate, but like getting people to stop using the word "hacker" as a synonym for "computer criminal" [1] I just don't see it happening. Calling hackers hackers is a completely reasonable thing to do. Also steam punk doesn't mean "Victorian" I mean, Victorian refers to an actual historical time period, whereas steampunk refers to a hyper-attenuated vision of Victorian mores, styles, with technological capabilities at least as advanced as modern electronics. I mean you wouldn't call Sense and sensibility or Pride and prejudice Steampunk novels. compare and contrast.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:35:38 -0800

I'm with sangermaine. It's not just the tech that makes steampunk steampunk. I don't know what common usage entails, but IMO Jules Verne, for instance, doesn't count.

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:36:01 -0800

Sense and Sensibility was totally steampunk! "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds. Or bends with the remover to remove. Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken. Willoughby. Willoughby. Willoughby... Bring me my absinthe, bitch!"

By: quin

quin — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:49:38 -0800

delmoi : Victorian refers to an actual historical time period, whereas steampunk refers to a hyper-attenuated vision of Victorian mores, styles, with technological capabilities at least as advanced as modern electronics. Very well said. I didn't actually see the steampunk in the first picture of Jabba, but as soon as I saw Chewbacca's weapon, I knew it was an accurate description.

By: geos

geos — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:50:14 -0800

I hate to say it but: phlogiston is a 17th century idea best described perhaps as a 'theory of heat' but encompasses ideas the modern reader wouldn't consider too scientific and long dsicredited by the 19th century, the high-point of the luminiferous aether. So the Phlogisticated Aether Torch is a bit of a malapropism both from the perspective of the history of science, and science since it was never a "heat-light saber"... there I said it.

By: Sticherbeast

Sticherbeast — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:17:50 -0800

I love Mr. Chewbacca. He looks like a Dog Playing Poker.

By: wendell

wendell — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:19:58 -0800

Also from this blogger: Help! I'm stuck in a giant hot dog! And wouldn't the original "Wild Wild West" TV show (Robert Conrad & Ross Martin) be considered early-Steampunk or proto-Steampunk ?

By: bardic

bardic — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:22:47 -0800

I like. But he needs to draw a robot or a space ship, since those are just as much "characters" in the Star Wars universe. What would a 19th century Millenium Falcon look like?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:39:46 -0800

My lad/lady R3b3cca and I twould enjoy coal fired steamed punk late afternoons 'pon the m00rs, what? Darth's still the sire then?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:40:50 -0800

(Billy Dee Williams' be a tough translation to steampunk. He's just too damned smooth)

By: winna

winna — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:46:46 -0800

You think Billy Dee would be tough? Give Edward VII some brass and wood and leather gear. There you go.

By: aladfar

aladfar — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:01:45 -0800

Splendid! Vader's WWI era spiked helmet is perfect. I can't wait to see how this develops.

By: bardic

bardic — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:18:25 -0800

Vader kind of looks like the mechanical bad-guy from Hell Boy. Forget his name.

By: tickingclock

tickingclock — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:32:58 -0800

Damn, that's great stuff.

By: sponge

sponge — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:14:57 -0800

OH MY GOD no

By: Balisong

Balisong — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:19:19 -0800

No way Chewie would wear a bow tie.

By: SPrintF

SPrintF — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:19:46 -0800

This is, in a word, awesome.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:21:29 -0800

delmoi As far as "Victorian" goes, I supposed I should have said "Victorian styled", though as I also said I'm sure that there's no point in fighting the trend. Steampunk is the generally accepted term for modern Victorian styled stuff. As far as "Calling hackers hackers is a completely reasonable thing to do" goes, I suspect that you're being snarky, but I'll bite. I mentioned that I have largely given up, but the origin of the word had squat to do with crime, and it remains used in a non-criminal sense among many computer geeks. The term, in its modern usage, originated at the tech model railroad club at MIT back in the late 1950's and had absolutely no meaning of "criminal". It remains in use in its original sense among many computer geeks today, and it is only among non-geeks that the word has mutated to mean "computer criminal". A hacker can be a computer criminal, but not all hackers are; neither are all computer criminals are hackers. Like I said, I've mostly given up trying to fight it though, common usage almost always wins over correct usage. On topic, I'll agree with the people saying that they'd like to see how he sees the ships and robots. Mostly the ships since I didn't like how he drew Vadar.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 18:25:28 -0800

Gaah. Forgot to cut a sentence, so I got repetative there, sorry.

By: psmith

psmith — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 19:23:53 -0800

derail, sorry. Like I said, I've mostly given up trying to fight it though, common usage almost always wins over correct usage. I am absolutely with you on the history of the word and its current bifurcated meanings, but when "common usage" is so massively predominant as it is for "hacker" now, doesn't it de facto become a correct usage?

By: breezeway

breezeway — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:15:06 -0800

And here I thought a hacker was a rotten duffer.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 21:43:31 -0800

Billy Dee....hmmm.... Nah. Lobot maybe. Although I'd like to see a steampunk explaination of National Bohemian malt liquours in the preferred 1.3 litres.

By: sotonohito

sotonohito — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 03:41:39 -0800

psmith I'd argue that it becomes an acceptable alternate usage, but it still bugs me. I mean, why not just say "criminal"? But yeah, much as I dislike it the term as a synonym for criminal is used often enough to be acceptable in that sense. Which is why I gave up fighting it.

By: empath

empath — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 05:37:11 -0800

The key to Steampunk is anachronism, IMO. If you tell a science fiction story in the victorian era, using only victorian era technology and ideas, then you are doing victorian science fiction. It becomes steampunk when you retrofit modern ideas into the victorian time period, using victorian (or victorian-esque) technology. For example, if you tell a story about travelling to the moon on a shell fired from an artillery cannon, that's not steampunk. If you tell a story about a space-elevator, or satellites, or biological warfare, and especially anything involving computers, then it becomes steampunk.

By: dr_dank

dr_dank — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 06:41:51 -0800

I love it, even if Chewbacca looks like Scooby Doo.

By: Kwine

Kwine — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 08:11:04 -0800

Nice post, thanks!

By: quite unimportant

quite unimportant — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 17:35:33 -0800

What would a 19th century Millenium Falcon look like? I'd imagine something like what's flying around in this short. Another fine jonson steampunk [NOT VICTORIAN, GO BUY 'THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE' FOR GOD'S SAKE] post.