- Today we're discussing "The Mighty Chewbacca
in the Forest of Fear" by Tom Angleberger,
with illustrations by Andie Tong.
And watch until the end, when the author
himself will join me to answer some of your questions
about the book.
The "Star Wars Show Book Club" is a series
where we gather friends and fans to read Star Wars books,
examining how they relate to all of the Star
Wars films, live action shows, animated series, comics,
and games.
Through these stories, we enrich our understanding
of the galaxy far, far away.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hello.
Kristin Baver here, ready to translate some Shyriiwook
with a few new friends.
Our story begins some time after Chewbacca
is rescued from Nimban, meets Han Solo,
and climbs into the co-pilot seat of the Millennium Falcon
in "Solo, A Star Wars Story," but before the rebel alliance
makes its daring heist on Scarif in "Rogue
One, A Star Wars Story."
This time Chewbacca is on his own, pet sitting some tooka
cats, when he gets thrown into a new mission with Mayv
the bounty hunter slash librarian,
and K-2SO in cunning disguise as simple cargo Droid K-2SB.
On a mysterious planet plagued by the dark side of the force,
Chewy, K2, and Mayv will have to confront their own fears,
avoid getting eaten by some hungry, snarling creatures,
and snag a relic from deep inside a dark side temple.
Can they do it?
Let's meet our book club crew to find out together.
Joining us today, we have Twitter's queen of the dad joke
and starwars.com's mafter craft maker Kelly Knox.
- Hello.
- We also starwars.com contributing
writer and editor in chief of Fantha Tracks, Mark Newbold.
- Hey.
Hi.
- And actor and renowned chewbacca expert
Joonas Suotamo.
- Hi, everyone.
- Now, to get us started, I'd like
to go around and hear about everyone's favorite character
from the book.
And I'm going to start with Joonas, because I would bet
the Millennium Falcon that I know exactly what
you're going to say to this.
- My favorite character was--
well, of course, the main character, Chewbacca.
Coming from the movies, you know, it's--
you go from scene to scene, filming these stories,
and you never really get to externally observe what's
going on in Chewbacca's head.
And this book, you know, opened my eyes to some--
some things that I've never really had thought about,
you know?
- I love Chewbacca, of course, but I
have to say that just like in "Rogue One,"
K2 stole every scene that he was in.
K-2SO is so good in this book, and I was so happy to see him.
Obviously
- She, Chewie's awesome.
He's always awesome.
It was cool to see a Han Solo cameo, and I love Cassian.
He's probably favorite character from "Rogue One,"
so Cassian turning up in it, and K2's so much fun.
For me, it was Mayv.
I thought she was awesome.
I really enjoyed--
I liked her story.
And I know Chewie identified with it, as well.
They've got similar backgrounds. - And you know what?
Just to round us out, I'm going to say
Goldie, because I love cats.
And I was so excited by all the tookas in this,
but also, Goldie with her cute little crown, and her little
bejeweled collar, and she just kept hanging on Chewbacca's
shoulder like a parrot.
So Tom Angleberger, our author here,
has such a fun writing style.
I could really hear all of the action
in all of his onomatopoeia, both from,
you know, the way that Chewbacca was banging on the controls,
to oftentimes the way Chewbacca was responding to things.
But it's also kind of a bold choice
to have one of your main characters in a story
be a wookie who doesn't have a translator, who doesn't have,
you know, a helpful pal who's always there.
How did having Chewbacca in the story, with all of his,
you know, grunts and moans, but without necessarily always
having that translation, how did that
influence the way you read the story,
versus where you can understand all of the dialogue
in a different story?
- Well, I think he said it himself at one point,
where he said, you don't really have to speak
Shyriiwook to understand it.
And I thought that was a really good observation,
because you always get that feeling
from Chewie in the films, too.
Like, you understand where he's coming from, even if you don't
quite know what he's saying.
- Right, yeah.
That's the best part about playing
Chewie and reading stories about Chewie, is that you sort of--
you get to fill in the gap, the blanks.
And that's-- and when he--
and as he often does, click with something
that you value, yourself.
- There's a scene in "Solo," obviously, when Chewy and Han
are on the AT hauler on Vandor.
Han can speak Shyriiwook, so he knows
exactly what Chewie's saying.
But we know what Chewie's saying almost as well as he does,
because he emotes, in a way.
His body language, you know?
Just everything that he does.
And that you did, Joonas.
You know, just brought that character to life.
And so when you get into the book,
and Angleberger makes the observation that, yeah, you
don't have to speak Shyriiwook to kind of understand it--
it's the nuances you don't quite get.
All the technical details, and such.
- I thought the illustrations in this book
also really added to the story for me.
My favorite was probably the tookas
attacking Chewbacca with love.
Where they're just all, like, swarming on him.
Were there any that stuck out for you,
or did the illustrations add anything for you as readers?
- I know I flipped the book over quite a few times
to see the monster on the back, to get just the right picture
of what they were facing.
JOONAS SUOTAMO: Yeah, I thought the illustrations
were fantastic.
Tooka cats, to see them-- how they behaved
on the Falcon brought to my mind the porgs,
but the tooka cats were even more capable of destroying.
- That shot of Chewie being sort of launched upon by the tookas
took me way back to the early '80s, when Chewy
had a similar situation with the Hoojibs in the old Marvel run.
So it kind of took me back to that, had that vibe about it,
as well.
So yeah, that--
I would imagine any little creature
is going to be attracted to Chewie in that way.
Like the Ewoks were.
You know, he's the big brother, isn't he?
- He looks just so, like, soft and cuddly,
and I just want a Wookiee hug.
You know?
- And they officially like hugs, the book said.
- I know!
I was so excited about that!
And also, the bit where--
I think it was Goldie-- was kind of curled up in Chewbacca's
lap, and it reminded me of that scene in "Solo"
where Rio is talking about, you know,
you'll never sleep better than when you're
curled up in a Wookiee's lap.
And I definitely want to talk about Mayv's face paint
in particular, because I thought there was a real richness
to the symbols and their meaning,
and you know, not only the connection to her heritage,
which I thought was really poignant and, you know,
the thing that she's out there to save--
but also, you really got a good sense
of what she was feeling, what she was thinking,
and what she needed in the moment.
Because you know, she needed to feel courage,
so she painted the symbol for courage.
And so I thought that was a really cool way of expressing
those things, but also tying her so directly to her heritage,
and her people, and this thing that, you know,
she was also feeling like was kind of lost, or almost lost.
- It's an interesting point of time
in the galaxy, though, isn't it?
Where these books are set around the time of "Solo," as part
of that run of stories, in that the galaxy
is kind of losing its identity.
So all the individual cultures are being sort of warped over.
It's happened to Chewie's people on Kashyyyk,
it's happening all over the galaxy,
and the Empire wants to create this, like,
monoculture where everything's the same,
and they all learn the same stuff.
The propaganda is galaxy-wide.
They just want to get everybody on the same page.
- No, I agree.
I really appreciated the description
of how the Empire used propaganda in closing
libraries, they closed museums, and the Emperor chose
that method for her planet instead
of, you know-- it wasn't just, like, a big bombardment.
It was a lot more subtle.
And that part really stuck with me, too.
- Up until I read this book, I never really
thought much about Chewbacca missing Kashyyyk,
and Chewbacca, you know, feeling fearful,
because he just always seems like such a tough Wookiee.
We see moments in the films where he's sad,
or he's mournful, especially when
he's about to lose a friend, or get separated
from someone he loves.
But I guess I never really put together that, of course,
Chewbacca would feel fear, and it would be more
alarming both to him, and it was more alarming,
I think, to me, because it happens so infrequently.
So when it happened, it was a really big deal.
- I thought chewbacca was really, you know,
human and relatable in this.
And when I read the part about Chewbacca remembering his son,
I was like, whoa!
He's got somewhere to be.
But-- but I hope--
I think he's all adult now, and he's,
you know, running his own smuggling business somewhere,
and he's doing fine.
But all these asides to Chewie, it was really revealing to,
and interesting to read about.
- It became a very spooky story once they landed on the planet.
And you know, the dark side is kind of just
emanating from this mist.
And I was picturing the green mist
that we see in the "Clone Wars," but they're in the trees,
and they feel this peaceful calm just from touching--
I guess it would be bark, but it's kind of gross and spongy,
because it's also fungus.
And Chewie says something that translates to trees, or life.
What does that mean to you?
What does that mean to you in the context of the book,
or just in Star Wars in general?
- I think Chewy being from Kashyyyk,
living in those wroshyr trees, and you know,
all the stuff they have to deal with on that planet,
those trees are life.
They live in the trees, they live off the trees.
They give them cover and shelter.
It's protection, it's everything that you could need comes
from the tree on Kashyyyk.
And so you can translate that even
to a planet with, basically, giant mushrooms, you know?
On this world, it's--
no, it's a thing that would make sense
to Chewbacca as a character.
- It's also the fact that Chewbacca and his--
the Wookiees are very--
have stayed humble, you know, throughout--
whether it's because they've been imprisoned by the Empire,
but it's really telling of that humbleness,
and looking at nature--
the thing that gives you everything, basically.
Looking at that, and respecting that.
- The scene there with Mayv and her description
of what she felt really brought to mind Yoda's scene in "Empire
Strikes Back," when he was describing the way the force
binds everything together, and the way for trees,
I think in particular, the roots are bound together,
and the branches kind of make it,
she said, I think, feel like a network of life,
and that everything was connected.
So that-- I get big Yoda vibes from that part.
- Trees in Star Wars--
you know, the dark tree on Dagobah, the tree on Ach-To--
you know, trees do seem to be quite central to a lot
of elements in Star Wars, so there's probably
a little link there, as well.
- Thank you so much for joining us.
And now I'm realizing when I introduced all of you,
I should have made you do your best wookiee roar.
- Oh, I was hoping you would not do that.
[LAUGHTER]
Let's do it all on the count of three together.
- Yes! - That works.
- OK. All right.
No one's embarrassed.
OK.
- 1, 2, 3.
[WOOKIEE ROARING]
- Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Tom.
We really appreciate it.
Super excited to talk "The Mighty Chewbacca in the Forest
of Fear" with you.
- I'm excited to talk about it, too.
- You infused some of your patented Tom Angleberger humor
into the story, so I want to talk a little bit about this.
When you're writing in the Star Wars galaxy,
do you shift your approach to the writing or the jokes
at all?
- I'm one of those people, I love in-universe Star Wars
humor, if that makes sense.
For instance, K-2SO is hilarious.
I think he's one of the funniest Star
Wars characters of all time, and his humor is in-universe.
It's not like he's making jokes most of the time.
Sometimes you have to wonder if he's
sort of joking with people.
But he is so much fun to write.
I really loved writing him, and he is--
he's just plain funny.
KRISTIN BAVER: The Bobby Linn writes,
"This story was wonderful.
The inclusion of Janus Greejatus and dark side artifacts
was a wonderful surprise.
What was the inspiration for choosing
Greejatus as an antagonist?
Now, he just gets, like, a little bit of a mention,
and I think Sim Aloo and Sim Aloo's daughter
play a little bit more of a role,
but they're both-- they're all kind of that crony type family
there.
- If Sim Aloo and Greejatus are both, like--
they're both jockeying to be the Emperor's number one toady,
you know?
They both want to get there.
And so they're both trying to get
a hold of anything that's going to get favor from the Emperor.
And so I wanted there to be a failed
attempt at get this book.
And so it's Greejatus that sent out some Trandoshans.
They were not tough enough to survive the forest of fear,
it turns out.
I love the way that Star Wars--
I mean, since "Return of the Jedi" came out,
and we knew a finite amount--
now we seem to know an almost infinite amount.
And so, you know, those were just these little people
in the shadows of "Return of the Jedi,"
and now there's so much information about them
that I'm able to go and find out more about them,
and then even embroider on that a little bit.
- How much did you and Andie collaborate on the images?
Because I found they really helped me
to kind of envision what the creatures looked like,
and some of the characters.
Especially Mayv, because you know,
this was my first introduction to her.
So having that visual representation
of what she looked like really helped
kind of solidify it in my head as I was
going through the rest of the story,
and watching the action unfold.
- You know, the artwork by Andie Tong in this book
is absolutely incredible.
KRISTIN BAVER: Yes.
- I love-- on the front, we see all of our heroes running.
And it's like, what are they running from?
And then you flip to the back, and you see these Corellian
hounds down there.
And only-- you may think this is a tree, or something,
and then later when you actually read it,
you're going to realize that's not a tree.
KRISTIN BAVER: Sara writes, "Oh, my gosh!
This book is so much fun.
What was it like getting into the mind of Chewie, all
the while incorporating K-2SO?
It's such a fun merging of the different eras of Star Wars."
- Oh, man, getting into Chewbacca's head was fun.
And I didn't have all that much connection to Chewbacca
before I wrote this book.
And then after this book, I'm like, Chewbacca's my guy.
I feel like I have this connection with Chewbacca now.
But then K-2SO, it was all based on that great moment
in "Rogue One" where he says, you're welcome.
- Congratulations.
You are being rescued.
Please do not resist.
- I wanted him to have that attitude
the whole way through this.
He's not-- he's not there to help them.
He's not helping them, and yet he has
this attitude the whole time.
- There's a lot of great onomatopoeia in this book, both
when Chewbacca is, you know, banging
at the controls of that cruddy ship,
and just every time Chewbacca speaks.
So I would love to hear your best wookiee roar.
- When you're reading through it, and it's all in--
it's all in big letters here.
And he's-- so he's going to go, like--
[WOOKIEE ROAR] I can't do it.
I don't have enough--
- No, that was good.
That was great.
- [WOOKIEE ROAR]
- Tom, do you want to hear who's on the panel for this episode?
- No.
I mean, yes, I do.
- We have special guest Joonas Suotamo reading this book.
- What?
You mean Chewbacca?
- Chewbacca read your book.
- That's crazy!
That's-- you're kidding me?
- Well, thank you so much for joining us, Tom.
- All right.
Thanks, everybody.
- And thanks to all of you who joined us from home,
sent in your questions, and watched along today.
Come back next time when the "Star Wars Show
Book Club" returns to match wits with "Thrawn," by Timothy Zahn.
And don't forget to tweet your questions
using hashtag #SWSBCTHRAWN, and we'll
ask some on the next show.
Until then, may the force be with you.
[MUSIC PLAYING]