Customer Reviews

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross-Sections

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I think few people really "care" whether the Millenium Flacon can go zero to sixty in 3.1 seconds or 3.2 seconds but there is a distinct group of fans out there who are absolutely intriuged by the Star Wars universe in a way that makes us want to quantify it. I say "us" because I am such a fan. I've done things most people would consider quite abnormal (does anyone here know how much energy it takes to vaporize an asteroid as in Empire Strikes Back?)

Dr. Saxton has long been a highly regarded member of the Star Wars technical enthusiast community, as I call it. His site is one of the most referenced authorities on just about anything Star Wars and this book is in many ways an extension of his site (hosted on TheForce.net if you care). What Dr. Saxton has done is take all the available material that LucasFilm would give him and given us the most comprehensive review of the vehicles and vessels that liter the worlds of Attack of the Clones and give each place its own personality. He also does two small things which I am appreciative of and I hope many others are equally appreciative of.

Firstly it goes into great depth as to the "purpose" (in the SW world) of thousands of tiny bits and pieces of the starships and vehicles. It is the kind of detail that can make a world seem more real, it gives depth much as telling us the number of cylinders in an engine gives depth to a car. The little blurbs surrounding the excellent illustrations give you a feel for the nity gritty and also serve as a nice way to just skim through the book. They are each litle windows into a piece of the SW world (whether through telling us what hot-rod engines are doing on a speeder or informing us of how big troop formations are).

Secondly it gives you real world figuires for acceleration, shielding, and firepower. These are the things that some fans have been asking for a long time (not many but some). How much damage a turbolaser does might not matter to some, probably most, fans out there but again for the technical comunity I feel it is a boon that gives us one more way of connecting with the SW universe in our own wierd way.

For those who are less inclined to the "nitty gritty" then please note that this book is also an excellent coffee table piece. The illustrations are first rate and many younger kids will absolutely glory in the intricate deck levels and engine compartments because they seem so real. I give credit to the artists but in the end I give greatest praise to Dr. Saxton.

"Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones--Incrdeible Cross-Sections" is an absolute must for any Star Wars fanatic. Besides giving the specs on the most popular hardware in the movie, this book gives brief histories and explanations of how the vehicles came to be.

Not to mention some of the trivia is interesting. Wonder what type of ship Slave 1 (Jango Fett's ship) is? Why don't you see more in the universe? Who built it and how did Jango get it? What modifications did Boba make later? All these questions are answered for Slave 1 and the other prominent vehicles in the movie.

I've spent hours pouring over the details. The details present in the "schematic" of the enormous Republic Assault Ship can be mesmerizing. The cross section of the Trade Federation Core ship is simply fun. Try figuring out how Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan got around the thing in Episode One. The artists usually placed a figure in the drawing to give you some idea of the scale of the vehicle. You don't appreciate how big some of these ships are until you see a batallion of clone troopers dwarfed in comparison.

I'd recommend this for any Star Wars enthusiast, anyone that appreciates detailed Science Fiction, or fans of creative art.

I would like to simply say that this is a great book and by far superior to any of the other tech books previous released, especially those by WiG. The decision by Lucasfilm to use the wealth of Curtis Saxton is giving the impression that they would like to correct some of the grevious and sloppy mistakes made by other authors. Dr. Saxton did an excellent job with this book, which is not suprising since he never does anything half-way. Be sure to visit his site: Star Wars Technical Commentaries.

Great job Dr. Saxton, and thank you Lucasfilm.

I just recently received this book and all I can say is that it's the bomb! The pages are full of intricate details about both the vehicles and story of Episode II. The foldout of the Republic Dropship is definitely a highlight of the series. If you like Star Wars and want to know more than you can possibly imagine about Star Wars engineering, pick this book up right away.

This book has it all and more! With over 10 ships drawn in amazing detail. Each ship (or vehicle) has cut away views that show power sources, shields, gravity technology, cargo space and more! The vehicles all have a Data File that tell you the manufactuar, the make, dimensions, speed, power, armament , crew, and all the data is thourgh and organized. This book is must have for any fan who want to know more than what is shown in the movie.

This book would get zero stars from me, if not for the as always gorgeous illustrations. But Dr. Saxton's numbers are nothing short of a stroke-fest for his die-hard followers, and those Star Wars fans who are involved in the online versus Star Trek versus Star Wars and other similar debates, which this book as written to satisfy. Many known Wars versus debaters, such as Wayne Poe, Brian Young, and most especially Michael Wong are listed in the acknowledgements. It is their influence on Saxton and this book that ruins the whole thing knowing full well that that numbers listed have been penciled in to help them win a geek war is disgusting as well as dishonest.

A full accounting of this is given on the SW-v-SW.net website by G2k, including some outed emails between the participants who wrote such things as "It is possible that we undercalculated this for the ICS"? while admonishing participants to make sure "things make it a better comparison to Trek".

But worst of all, Saxton's numbers bear little to no resemblence to anything seen in any of the movies, much less the vast majority of the Expanded Universe works. Saxton gives ships like Slave-I and various starfighters 1 kiloton weaponary, yet in the movie we see nothing like that when Jango Fett's ship chases down Obi-Wan's Jedi starfighter. When several asteroids are hit by Slave-I's blasters, only small portions of them shatter, not vaporise. When Bobba Fett fires Slave-I's guns at Obi-Wan while he and Jango are dueling on a Kamino landing platform, the explosions are decidedly at best low megajoule range, and the novelization states that that effort expended all of the power packs.

I could go on indefinitely with examples, such as how the description of the Acclamtor class ship has no turbolasers where the ICS claims they are, and that there has never, ever been anything like 200 gigaton shots from any weapon outside of the Death Stars' superlasers, but that would take up more time than this book deserves, and other people have debunked this elsewhere already.

This book is the bomb! The art is amazing and facinates the imagination, the quality of the book is perfect, The cross-sections are the best and are getting bigger... and better than the last book and I can expect the next one to be the best of them all. Excellent job, Curtis J. Saxton. I am most pleased. Star Wars rules and may the force be with you!

P.S. This book is DEFINITLY WORTH The money! Bye!

This Star Wars Cross-sections book is a must-have for Star Wars fans. The detailed renderings of all the main vehicles in AOTC is as impressive as the companion for The Phantom Menace. The writer, Curtis Saxon, has obviously done a great deal of investigation for everything, with so many detailed drawings and fascinating notes. For curios of the inner workings of all the speeders and starships, this is indespensible. Great stuff.

This book is a collection of descriptions of the vehicles used during the Clone Wars.The Republic Assault Ship is the biggest Republic ship to battle the Separatists in the war. The Separatists were stunned not only by the decisiveness of the previously stagnant Republic,but moreover it`s use of a trained and well-equipped clone army.Another vessel used by the Republic for land warfare was the AT-TE(A-All T-terrain T-Tactical E-Enforcer).This assault vehicle offered support to the clone army with it`s six legs,massive fire power and ability to transport two squads of troops.

These are two examples of the detail the writer uses which is a lot of fun to read.
All of these vehicles are steps in the downfall of the Republic as military usage grew.

This review is written by,
Joshua Duran

Oddly, the book was found in the library for ages 5 to 10 and my 7 yr. old great-grandson kept checking it out for his "read-to-me" book. He was completely taken with the designs and has learned to read many words in his passion to learn more about Star Wars material.