PAUL ENS INTERVIEW

Paul Ens is the Director of LucasOnline and the driving force behind Hyperspace, the Official Star Wars Fan Club and starwars.com's exclusive, members-only section. He's also the writer of the Hyperspace exclusive online comic webstrip, "Reversal of Fortune."

Sign-up for Hyperspace now to get all the great content being offered, including "Reversal of Fortune" and 4 other online webstrips. Click this link to read more about Hyperspace, view the trailer, and take a tour.

If you're already a Hyperspace member, click HERE to be taken directly to the "Reversal of Fortune" page on starwars.com.

TUCWS: First off, thanks so much for giving us exclusive permission to reprint Reversal #36. Is this the first time a fansite has been granted permission to reprint Hyperspace content?

Paul Ens: I think it may well be the first time, now that you mention it.

TUCWS: When and with whom did the idea for Reversal of Fortune originate?

PE: I'd been wanting to do original comic-style fiction on starwars.com for a long, long time. It was Pablo Hidalgo (Internet Content Manager at Lucasfilm) who initially pitched the daily newspaper strip format for a new Hyperspace feature. That definitely won me over, as I have vivid memories of waiting for the newspaper each day as a child and cutting out the Star Wars strips and pasting them in my scrapbook.

The storyline for Reversal of Fortune began formulating in my head back in 2003 as George Lucas' script for Episode III starting coming together. The drafts had Aayla Secura, Barriss Offee and Stass Allie all together on a particular mission on a particular planet with no further explanation of what had gone before. Visually the trio worked together, but as a fan of the expanded universe this situation didn't make a lot of sense with the character's established back-stories. For some reason, that particular idea really intrigued me and I held on to it for over a year.

TUCWS: I could ask the same question regarding Pablo Hidalgo's webstrip "A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale." When and where did the decision originate to adapt this classic short story from Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina?

PE: Neither Pablo nor I had the time to act as both writer and illustrator for our respective webstrips. Where I chose to concentrate on writing, Pablo wanted to focus on drawing. He was interested in retelling some of the established short-stories to potentially a new audience and with new visual flair. He eventually settled on Greedo's Tale as a first outing.

TUCWS: How did you come across Tom Hodges' work?

PE: I first saw Tom's work on theforce.net and was very impressed. I particularly remember an Episode III Anakin he did based on the first Hyperspace webcam frame. I assume he talked about our subsequent chance meeting at Comic-Con in his interview. The partnership for ROF eventually worked itself out.

TUCWS: Tell us a little bit about what goes into the production of each Reversal strip, from concept to completion. What format does Tom use to get the strips into your hands--digital or hardcopy?

PE: As with any Lucas licensed comic, the whole project started with a story pitch to Managing Editor Sue Rostoni of Lucasfilm's licensing division. Once that's approved, the writer crafts a detailed script of each issue, which is also sent to Licensing for approval.

In the case of Reversal of Fortune, I send the approved script to Tom. He generally works on a week at a time, as the script generally segments nicely into 5 strip blocks. Tom creates a rough storyboard of each strip that he scans and emails to me. Then we discuss it back-and-forth to best block out the action. Once we've agreed on that, Tom creates the final strip, including all the shading and lettering. He sends me a scan of the strip for my OK. Once a week's worth is done, I send them off to Sue for final approval.

Once that's finally all done, Tom sends me high-resolution PhotoShop documents of each strip which is handed off to the Lucas Online production team for publishing each day.

(Editor's note: Here's a look at a finished webstrip. TUCWS is the only place you can view this particular webstrip online outside of Hyperspace.)

"Reversal of Fortune" webstrip #36 Reprinted with the permission of Lucasfilm, LTD

TUCWS: How far ahead of time are you writing the strips?

PE: I wrote the entire start-to-finish story outline back in August 2004. In terms of final script, I try to stay about three months ahead. Right now, I'm pretty much finished the entire run with the exception of waiting on a few Clone Wars cartoon and Revenge of the Sith scenes to be completely locked down, so that ROF can tightly intersect with them.

TUCWS: How much input do you have on the art, and how much input does Tom have on the story?

PE: My scripts tend to have pretty specific visual instruction of camera angle, frame make-up, etc. As I mentioned before, Tom and I definitely do some back-and-forth on best servicing the story. All that said, the vast majority of the time I get the artwork back and Tom has added a life to the frame way beyond what I had in mind. I'm always giddy waiting for the art to come in.

The events and dialog are set before Tom gets them, but he has incredible input with great ideas on how best to tell that story. He has excellent intuition on visual storytelling.

TUCWS: Can you give us any kind of teaser about the upcoming strips? Anything at all?

PE: Umm..... look for cameos by Anakin and Obi-Wan.

TUCWS: How likely is it that Reversal (and for that matter, A Hunter's Fate) will ever be published in a trade paperback? Since Dark Horse was not involved with Reversal, in what way(s) could that complicate the possibility of it being reprinted?

PE: It's my understanding that Dark Horse has the rights to reprint the Hyperspace webstrips if they want to and if it makes sense for their overall program. If fans would like to see that happen, they should let Dark Horse know that there's a demand for it.

(Editor's note: I'll help you guys out. Contact Dark Horse Comics through this link: http://www.darkhorse.com/help/contactus.php. And be sure to ask for some color...)

TUCWS: Chronologically, how far is Reversal going to overlap the beginning of ROTS?

PE: Reversal will soon connect with the opening of Episode III, then it starts to take place during the events of Revenge of the Sith. The end of "Reversal" is maybe 2/3 of the way into the movie.

TUCWS: Can those of us who are trying to remain spoiler-free for Revenge of the Sith rest assured that Reversal won't spoil any major plot points? Or would we be better off saving it until after we've seen the film?

PE: That all depends on what you consider spoiler-free. Reversal will drop hints... which is part of the fun. Imagine if the webstrip were happening before A New Hope. You might find out that at some point Rebels steal Death Star plans, that Princess Leia is captured and that at some point Han Solo is on the Death Star. But you definitely wouldn't find out that Obi-Wan dies or that Luke fires the final shot.

The strip runs until early June. Anything in the strip after May 19 may well be major, major spoilers... so be sure to catch the movie on opening weekend. (Duh.)

TUCWS: Have you written any in-universe Star Wars stories or comics before? Or stories outside the Star Wars universe?

PE: I co-wrote the Episode II HoloNetNews.com website with Pablo Hidalgo. That was my first in-universe foray and was a blast because we got to write dozens of stories. Even more fun has been to see HNN situations and characters break-through into the novels... like Teras Kasi Master Phow Ji who showed up in the MedStar books.

I've been writing about Star Wars daily since 1997, first on theforce.net, then starwars.com and on-and-off for Star Wars Insider.

Outside of Star Wars, my professional writing credits are mainly technical articles from my software engineering days.

TUCWS: Beyond Reversal and the other Clone Wars content on starwars.com, what has been your contribution (if any) to the Clone Wars books, comics, games, and so on?

PE: I had the good fortune to direct and edit the audio commentaries by micro-series creator Genndy Tartakovsky which appeared online and soon on the Clone Wars Volume 1 DVD. Other than that, my role is pretty much that of an enthusiastic observer.

TUCWS: At various times, Pablo has indicated there's a possibility of the web-based HoloNet News coming back before Revenge of the Sith. Can you give us any up-to-date information on that?

PE: HoloNet News will likely not return to the web, but there is a tentative plan in place to naturally close that chapter in print. Stay tuned.

TUCWS: Will the previous versions of HoloNet News ever be reprinted in book form?

PE: There are no current plans that I'm aware of. The entire run of HoloNetNews.com is actually on the Episode II DVD, so you'll always have a permanent record that way.

TUCWS: Tom Hodges tells us you both love TUCWS (his adjective, not mine!). When and how did you first hear about us? What do you think?

PE: For a while there in Star Wars fandom, it seemed like the best websites out there were all trying to do exactly the same thing... there was a definite lack of variety. It was around the release of Episode II or so when I started discovering sites out there that had a unique angle, specific taste or out-of-the-norm passion as it relates to Star Wars. TUCWS is definitely one of those that I'd put right up there in terms of uniqueness and genuine value. Well done, gentlemen!

TUCWS: What is it like to read the Episode III script a couple of years ahead of time and get continual updates? It must be great to know the story years before the public, but in what ways does it take the "magic" out of the filmmaking process? Do you think it will take away any of your enjoyment in seeing the finished movie?

PE: For both Episode II and III, I was fortunate enough to regularly attend George Lucas' meetings with the art department where week by week the story would take shape even before the first draft of the script. Those are probably the fondest memories I'll take away from my time here, because of the insight it gave me into the iterative way George Lucas creates a story.

For Episode II, it didn't affect the magic of seeing the story unveil on the big screen at all. I was still transformed into that six-year-old boy who first saw Star Wars in 1977.

TUCWS: We know from a recent Hyperspace update that your fellow starwars.com admin Pablo Hidalgo has a cameo in ROTS as a Coruscant dignitary extra named Janu Godalhi from the planet Teth. (Hard-core fans take note: Janu is the father of Rebel Lieutenant Palob Godalhi from A.C. Crispin's 1998 novel Rebel Dawn.) Did you get a cameo too?

PE: Unfortunately I didn't get the same opportunity. I'm still holding out hope... but it's fading. Then again, did you see the outfit he had to wear?

TUCWS: Information from Revenge of the Sith is being revealed left and right, not just on starwars.com and the Insider, but also cleverly placed references in the Clone Wars books and comics. Regarding starwars.com, who decides what information is posted and when?

PE: That's one of the many, many tasks facing Steve Sansweet, Director of Content Management at Lucasfilm, in coordination with the input and needs of Lucasfilm marketing, publicity, fan relations, licensing and online groups.

TUCWS: How did you get involved with Lucasfilm? Tell us a little about your job as starwars.com webmaster and director of Lucas Online.

PE: I was among the initial members of theforce.net back in 1997. Through that, I got to know Marc Hedlund at starwars.com well enough to get an invitation to visit to Skywalker Ranch when I was in the Bay Area on business in the summer of 1999. That turned in to a lunch with some of the marketing staff, including Vice President of Marketing, Jim Ward. I expressed some pretty strong thoughts about what I would do if I were running starwars.com, and that conversation turned into a job. Crazy!

TUCWS: So far, what is the coolest part of being a professional Star Wars webgeek? The rest of us do it for free, but you get paid!

PE: Don't throw away your amateur status too quickly... I'm not eligible for any of the cool Episode III promotions this summer! :)

There's no one thing. This is definitely among the coolest jobs in the world. What I enjoy best are the moments when I can look at some aspect of the grand Star Wars universe where I had some influence on one tiny detail or another, or can fondly remember being a spectator to that piece of Star Wars history.

TUCWS: What did you make of some of the shortsighted, immature, and frankly silly criticism when Hyperspace was announced? Was it about what you expected?

PE: When it comes to fans and Star Wars, I've come to expect nothing except passion. The web was a different place the two-plus years ago when we introduced Hyperspace. Paid content was still very rare. I wasn't surprised by the reaction at all, but I knew then kind of cool stuff we had planned. For those who joined, I think they've found Hyperspace to be worth every penny.

TUCWS: What kind of StarWars.com/Hyperspace booth will there be at Celebration III?

PE: As you may know, members of Hyperspace: The Official Star Wars Fan Club get all kinds of perks at Celebration III... not least of which is the chance to get in an hour early each day. As such, we plan to set up our Fan Club booth right beside the registration line, just in case anyone needs to renew and wants to get in early. StarWarsShop.com will be at the show too. We're working on some fun attractions, but it's a bit too early to announce yet.

TUCWS: Can you tell us anything about the plans for Hyperspace and StarWars.com after 2005?

PE: All I can say at this point is that Star Wars does not end with Episode III, and nor will starwars.com or Hyperspace. Naturally, we'll be following Star Wars in all its new mediums... but hopefully we'll be creating some of that excitement as well. Please look for a Hyperspace reader survey on starwars.com around Feb 17. We're anxious to get everyone's feedback on the next phase as well.

(Editor's note: Click HERE for said reader survey.)

Special thanks to Paul Ens and Lucasfilm for giving TUCWS permission to reprint Webstrip #36 from "Reversal of Fortune." The single webstrip we posted here, while very cool, is only the tip of the iceberg. To read the full story of "Reversal of Fortune," you'll need to join the Official Star Wars Fan Club, Hyperspace. If you are not a member of Hyperspace yet, sign up by clicking here. Paul and his team update starwars.com with exclusive Hyperspace content daily. What are you waiting for? Sign-up today!

Conducted by Nathan O'Keefe, Febrary 2005

Related Items
Tom Hodges Interview, December 2004

Site Information: Contact Us | Frequently Asked Questions | History | Staff | Acknowledgements

Disclaimer: This is a completely unofficial, fan-made site. It is not sponsored, licensed, or approved by Lucasfilm Ltd. All "Star Wars" titles, unoriginal images, slogans, etc. are trademark/copyright their respective publishers and/or creators. "Star Wars" is a registered trademark of Lucasilm Ltd. If you're looking for the Official "Star Wars" Website, head over to http://www.starwars.com. Layouts, designs, and related content are © 2003 - present The Unofficial Clone Wars Site.