I just saw the commercial (Target i think is in it). Tt showed Ultron pushing a cart towards a card and only Hulk, Thor, Capt. America, and Hawkeye can save the day... wait a minute.. isn't there a 5th avenger? oh yeah, no Black Widow..

See, I thought you meant this one:

**Thank you** for clarifying!

That's not The Avengers I know.

That's not The Avengers I know.

Ah, Mrs. Peel... Did we ever find out who her husband really was?

He did return from being lost but was only seen from a distance. Its said he was played by Patrick's stunt double.

Not to slander the impeccable Steed and Peel, I've always preferred Danger Man to the Avengers for my 60 Brit Spy shows. And of course the follow-up series had the most awesome Spy Show opening ever:

Mrs. Peel ... we're needed.

Creating Star Wars feel is harder than it looks, we'll see with these new movies. I love Jedi and can hardly wait for Force and Destiny. But EoE is a great game I enjoy playing. Way more than the WOtC iteration.

That's not The Avengers I know.

Ah, Mrs. Peel... Did we ever find out who her husband really was?

That's not The Avengers I know.

Ah, Mrs. Peel... Did we ever find out who her husband really was?

Luther Tyrell

Not to slander the impeccable Steed and Peel, I've always preferred Danger Man to the Avengers for my 60 Brit Spy shows. And of course the follow-up series had the most awesome Spy Show opening ever:

I love The Prisoner - "I AM NOT A NUMBER! I AM A FREE MAN!"

Have any of you guys been to Portmeirion, where it was filmed? Very strange, but very cool, place to visit. It's about an hour and a half from where I grew up.

I love The Prisoner - "I AM NOT A NUMBER! I AM A FREE MAN!"

Have any of you guys been to Portmeirion, where it was filmed? Very strange, but very cool, place to visit. It's about an hour and a half from where I grew up.

Such a great show. I would love to stay at the resort where it was filmed, but no I never have. I do wish the remake would have answered a few of the questions about the very ...um... creative last episode of the original.

Have any of you guys been to Portmeirion, where it was filmed? Very strange, but very cool, place to visit. It's about an hour and a half from where I grew up.

I've only ever been to the UK once, and I never got out of London for the week I was there. I've always wanted to go to Wales - and Portmeirion is high on the list (right after "Torchwood Plaza" in Cardiff ). Perhaps now that I've got a good job again, I might head over someday soon.

On a completely unrelated note:

(Subtltle: a stormtrooper, a Sandperson and a Kubaz cuddling with bunnies, guinea pigs, dogs, and cats found at the Ottawa Humane Society shelter)

( a Kubaz cuddling with guinea pig,)

"Hi, may name is Gary, and this is my pet guinea pig, Snack."

"A Tusken Raider, a Kubaz, and a Stormtrooper walk into a bar, carrying a cat, a guinea pig and a dog under one arm, respectively. The bartender says, 'I guess you guys won't be needing a drink'. The three of them say-

OHHH SHIIII-!!!!"

I started watching Start Wars when I was young, by the time I had my first RPG that was Star Wars related I had seen two or three of the movies. There were no books, comics and computers around at the time. Buy the end of the third movie Darth Vader, Obi Wan, Yoda and the Emporer are all dead and Luke is the only Jedi in existance, Darth Vader sensed Leia and one is left to assume she is force sensitive, but she is not at that time a Jedi. At about the same time I saw my first Star Wars RPG, and it allowed players to actually play Jedi, this didn't mesh with my expecation or experience with the universe.

I shelved the game and never once thought about it again. I am sure thousands of gamers experienced and played tis game, and thousands enjoyed themselves greatly. But this game was not the game I was looking for.

Years on I stumbled upon an FFG Star Wars "Starter Box" and the game was fantastic as a game. It has great narrative and roleplaying elements and it is Star Wars and best yet it only had Jedi and the use of Force as a rather small addendum to the main rules. This was exactly the game I was looking for it speaks to that youthful joy I had in the movie theaters years ago watching Luke and Darth Vader battle it out with the entire universe at stake.

I appreciate that as a yonger fan you have read hundreds of book, comics and played hundreds of hours of video games. I appreciate your view point as yours and give you mine, I don't feel that either is right or wrong, my opinion, my likes and otherwise are mine and I'll be happy to live with them.

With that in mind, my honest feedback with respect to the Lack of Jedi: The game is just fine without them, they are not needed.

On a completely unrelated note:

(Subtltle: a stormtrooper, a Sandperson and a Kubaz cuddling with bunnies, guinea pigs, dogs, and cats found at the Ottawa Humane Society shelter)

I only see a back alley rodent fighting league run by a corrupt Imperial Stormtrooper.

Not to slander the impeccable Steed and Peel, I've always preferred Danger Man to the Avengers for my 60 Brit Spy shows. And of course the follow-up series had the most awesome Spy Show opening ever:

I love The Prisoner - "I AM NOT A NUMBER! I AM A FREE MAN!"

Have any of you guys been to Portmeirion, where it was filmed? Very strange, but very cool, place to visit. It's about an hour and a half from where I grew up.

Actually, yes, I've been to Portmeirion, back in 94. I have pictures of myself sailing the stone boat I loved this show, even though the last episode was... well, weird. Patrick McGoohan was just awesome.

Have any of you guys been to Portmeirion, where it was filmed? Very strange, but very cool, place to visit. It's about an hour and a half from where I grew up.

I've only ever been to the UK once, and I never got out of London for the week I was there. I've always wanted to go to Wales - and Portmeirion is high on the list (right after "Torchwood Plaza" in Cardiff ). Perhaps now that I've got a good job again, I might head over someday soon.

I made it a point to NOT stay in London In fact, I was there maybe 1 or 2 days only, then headed out to Dover and ferried across to France to visit Paris, again only for 1 or 2 days. The rest of the time, I road tripped it around England and Wales. I saw lots of very cool castles, walked the battlefields of Hastings and Bosworth Field, explored a number of cathedrals, went to Oxford, and visited Blenheim Palace (also saw Winston Churchill's grave site). I went as far north as Yorkshire, but never got to Hadrian's Wall, unfortunately.

So, the OP said some really terrible things about Karen Traviss, and I really want to clear some things up.

1. She doesn't "hate Jedi" as he so wonderfully pointed out. What she dislikes is the opinion by some that Jedi were morally excused from the consequences of their actions - that they "could do no wrong." In her own words (specifically where you'll find the OP's Nazi correlation):

"My real problem, then, is not with fictional Jedi, but with the people who refuse to believe they can do no wrong. And by that I mean the people who believe it, not the harmless majority who just enjoy Jedi-centric stories as entertainment. I know just how deeply held that conviction is by some folks, and when those people try to argue a certain specific point with me, I can see that their line between fiction and reality is way too blurred. I can see their real views on life surfacing. I know where my real views impinge on the unreal, so I can see it in others.

So, the OP said some really terrible things about Karen Traviss, and I really want to clear some things up.

1. She doesn't "hate Jedi" as he so wonderfully pointed out. What she dislikes is the opinion by some that Jedi were morally excused from the consequences of their actions - that they "could do no wrong." In her own words (specifically where you'll find the OP's Nazi correlation):

"My real problem, then, is not with fictional Jedi, but with the people who refuse to believe they can do no wrong. And by that I mean the people who believe it, not the harmless majority who just enjoy Jedi-centric stories as entertainment. I know just how deeply held that conviction is by some folks, and when those people try to argue a certain specific point with me, I can see that their line between fiction and reality is way too blurred. I can see their real views on life surfacing. I know where my real views impinge on the unreal, so I can see it in others.

The fiction you regularly choose, and the passion with which you defend it, tells me an awful lot about what goes on in your head. Very few people deliberately choose to read material - fiction or otherwise - that doesn't reinforce their real-life worldview. Most people don't set out to be alienated or offended by their reading material. They tend to settle with what they like - what fits their comfort zone. So if you get pretty het up about anyone suggesting the Jedi might have made a few immoral decisions - or anything else, come to that - chances are it relates to something you actually believe in for real. It wouldn't upset you otherwise. Would it?

I start to back away from Jedi-worshippers at that point. I'm troubled by deferential forelock-tugging to supposed genetic superiors at the best of times, which is why I personally find the genetic Jedi concept sinister, but there's an especially disturbing kind of arse-kissing that makes me recoil. It's the kind that says the Jedi are always justified when they do seriously bad ****, because - well, they're the good guys, and what good guys do is never bad, right?

Well, I worry that it's even less naively benign than that in adult readers. Like the big guy in black said: look into your heart. You know it to be true. Okay, you've been told they're the good guys. If you're a child, I'll cut you some slack. But if you're not - and the majority of Jedi-nutters are old enough to have the vote - I have to ask if you believe everything you're told as obediently and unquestioningly as that in real life. Because if you do, you scare me.

Now, if you like Jedi because Luke is basically an ordinary guy who finds the hero in himself, great. If you like lightsabers and impossible martial arts moves, bully for you. If it's just fun for you, and you don't feel mortally wounded when someone suggests that the Jedi might not actually be completely perfect, fine. You pass the harmless test.

But once you're past the age of puberty and you start arguing passionately with me that the Jedi were right to accept a slave army of cloned human beings and use them in war, and cloned humans aren't proper humans like us, and it was too bad the clones died, and the Jedi had no choice - well, sweetheart, I want to run a mile from you. Not the Jedi, who - just to remind you - are a figment of various writers' imaginations, just like the clones. You. If I see that you really mean it, and you're making excuses in your own mind for the Jedi just following orders on that delicate point, then you scare the living crap out of me. For real.

Because it's clear to me that you believe deep down in real life that some human lives are worth less than others, and so it's okay to end them. Whether you realise that or not. Because if you don't believe it at that fundamental level, then why do you get so damned angry with me when I rock the boat of your fictional beliefs? It's just a kids' fantasy story. You could shrug and move on. But the fact that you rage about it means it's hit a real nerve in you, in the core of your real beliefs.

So, either you're nuts, and you genuinely believe that an evil wizard who shoots lightning out of his fingers is threatening your well-being, or you might just have some ugly supremacist attitudes to your fellow man that you can't acknowledge even to yourself.

Am I making you feel uncomfortable? I hope so.

I'm sure you think you're a nice decent person who's kind to animals, recycles faithfully, and fills in tax returns honestly. Maybe you believe in God, too. But to me, you're someone who harbours a vile and degrading belief in the concept of Untermensch - the idea that some humans aren't human at all, and we can do as we like with them, for whatever arbitrary value we put on the words "real human." You're looking for ways to sift your kind of human from the humans who don't matter, and who can be consigned to the fate of animals. In fact, if you use the phrase "real humans" at all, my case is proven.

That belief in a league table of humans - and the casual acceptance of it by nice people who were kind to animals and filled in their tax forms on time - led to the enslavement and murder of millions.

It's slave-owner-think: it's Nazi-think. And yes, I bloody well hate it, and all those who think it.

It's not about Jedi - who don't even exist. It's about you."

2. Karen Traviss was NOT threatened with being fired for her Jedi hatred. Karen Traviss quit writing for Star Wars because it was a fraction of her business, and she is story centric. That is not to say that Star Wars is not, however she had written herself into a corner with her stories thanks to the fact that Clone Wars was irrevocably changing cannon in a way that prevented her from continuing to tell the Republic Commando series. Again, in her own words,

"Anyway, let me get to the point of this blog. I've been receiving mail from Star Wars fans who have bought the new visual guide to the second season of the Clone Wars TV cartoon, and have been perplexed by detail in it. They've noticed changes in canon. They're mailing me to ask what's going on because it appears to affect areas that my novels deal with. I admit I didn't know there was a guide coming out this early, let alone what would be revealed in it. But now that it has, and you're asking me what's happened, it would be naive to stall you when you have the book in front in you, and pretty rude to ignore you.

I can't discuss the canon issues because of the standard non-disclosure agreement that all writers sign. I'm not even going to discuss the ones that are public now, and I know little of the full detail anyway. So please don't ask me. All I can say is that I was given enough of the detail in January to realise that changes in continuity were such that I wouldn't be able to carry on as originally planned with the storylines you were expecting to see continued in my books. It would have required a lot more than routine retcon.

The only solution I could think of that could accommodate the changes was a complete reboot, and I seriously considered doing that. But starting over, when I had so many other books on my plate? The knock-on effect on my other work was a problem, because most of my income doesn't come from Star Wars. And then there was the risk of alienating readers. Pulling the rug from under them after so many books - that wouldn't go down well, and "I was only following orders" doesn't appease anybody these days.

The canon is beyond my control, because that's the very nature of tie-in work. But that still left me with some personal choices I had to make. I could try to make the massive retcons. Or I could switch to different SW books that weren't affected by these changes. Or I could decide to call it a day - I had a great run, but I had an increasing amount of non-SW work to get on with that was more important to my business.

In the end, the only rational decision I could take was to make Imperial Commando #2 my last book for Star Wars. I'm sorry I had to do that, and it wasn't a decision I took lightly or even quickly, so bear with me while I explain.

Obviously, in business, there are always multiple reasons behind any decision. Some of my influencing factors were business ones about contractual matters, but that's dull and of no interest to the customer. Let's stick to what concerns you, which is the story.

Rather than switch to vastly altered storylines in which most of the characters whose lives you've been following for the last five years would never have existed, or move across to other SW areas, I decided this was a natural point at which to make the break. I've never given up on anything easily, and I knew it would disappoint my readers, so you can rest assured that I spent a lot of time trying to find ways to make the canon work in the longer term. But it's a circle I can't square. Maybe someone else can, but I can't. My specialty - what companies hire me for - is to create substantial military/political series with long character arcs in an increasingly detailed world. That kind of product doesn't lend itself to quick fixes or radical changes mid-stream.

My business needs to be planned several years ahead, and I allow for a degree of unexpected change. When I'm offered a project, I have to ask myself not only if it excites and inspires me, and if the team is solid, but also whether it makes economic sense, and what impact it'll have on the rest of my work portfolio. It has to tick all the boxes. I work for a number of publishers on different franchises, as well as on my creator-owned fiction, so there's a limit to how much uncertainty and change my schedule can accommodate before other projects start to suffer from the knock-on effect.

So I'm now concentrating my focus on my work for other franchises and my own new military series. Many of you already realise that I'm heavily committed to Gears of War (why yes, I am the Chainsaw Queen, thank you for noticing...) and I'm also working on other games tie-ins. And then I have at least two original series that have slipped behind in my schedule and need attention pretty fast. And then there's....well, you get the idea. You'll guess that I'm not planning any vacations for the next few years.

Some changes we choose. But some happen to us and have to be faced head-on. Tie-in work is, by its very nature, subject to a lot more unexpected change than other writing - it's someone else's copyright, and the writer has to live with that. It goes with the territory. That's why professional tie-in writers don't get emotionally attached to what they're working on. It's not that I take the task casually; but it's not my property, and the stewardship of it is always temporary. A pro has to be able to shrug, move on, and say: "Okay, nobody died, and the cheque didn't bounce - result! Next?"

But as a writer, I have a moral deal with you, the reader - if I hook you with a story, my part of the deal is to follow through and give you a satisfying outcome. If changes beyond my control mean I can't give you that, then I won't do a half a job. You deserve better than that. And in five, ten, twenty years time, nobody picking up the books will know that the stories suddenly changed direction because the canon changed in the middle of it. They'll just see books that went off-course for no visible reason and didn't deliver what they promised at the start.

You've been generous and loyal readers, and made my books best sellers, and I'm truly grateful for your support. The wonderful mail you send me is always appreciated, frequently funny, and often very moving, sometimes painfully so. That kindness and candour has meant a great deal to me. Many of you have become my good personal friends, too. Obviously you'll still see plenty of me in bookstores (and other fine retail establishments...) in the months and years ahead, but it'll be other Traviss tales.

So stick with me on my continuing journey in other universes, both tie-in and creator-owned, and I can guarantee you an action-packed ride with plenty of characters to get absorbed in."

If you've stuck with this long, you have an AMAZING ability to suffer walls of text ... you are so totally going to get along with me. If you haven't well ... yeah ... I guess that resolves itself.

To the OP, you may have insider knowledge I don't, and you're entitled to your inside view of the situation, but I don't, and I'd never be comfortable putting into anyone's mouth (or compy screen) words they didn't say (or type). From everything that I've seen from both Star Wars and Karen, what you attributed to her at best is libelous and worst is hateful.

^^ This..

@Kyla: Fantastic quote. For those times where a like is just not qood enough.

Palpatine did a masterful job of walking the Jedi off the path of righteousness with out them noticing. They took several stops off it on their own though. To be fair.

And while I prefer playing jedi characters. I enjoy the challenge and swinging lightsabers. I cringe at what they sometimes do.

The problem that I had with Travis - and mind you, she's far from the worst writer in the sandbox (*coughKJAcough*) - is her Boba Fett Must Be a Badass At The Expense of All Others attitude. I read through the gawdaful trainwreck that was Legacy of the Force and every third book Fett swooped in like a Deus Ex Machina, kicked ass and then rolled out of town regardless of how her work fit into the overall larger story. It felt like she just didnt want to write with the others.

Mind you, her books were just one portion of the overall mess of the series. Bad writing, bad characterization, bad plot, bad everything. But her selfish egocentric approach to the range was close to the top of the problem pile. And I'm not a Jedi apologist - I've said many times around here that the Jedi order was clearly broken in E1-3 and that the prophecy is not a 1-1 Sith/Jedi ratio, but that it meant that the order itself was out of balance and needed to be reconstructed from the ground up.

No, I just think she's a terrible writer.