What's The Story?

What's The Story? was an exclusive feature on the Star Wars fan club website, Star Wars Hyperspace. It gave Hyperspace members a chance to leave their mark on the Star Wars Expanded Universe by allowing them to provide the backstory for certain aspects of the saga; usually obscure background characters or vehicles from the films. Winning entries became official Star Wars lore: published in the Databank and added to the Holocron continuity database. This feature was launched June 24, 2005 and concluded on January 4, 2008, as first hinted by Pablo Hidalgo of Lucas Online.^[1]^[2] The feature began with the backstory for Tannon Praji, a character from the (then) recently released Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, and, somewhat appropriately, the final entry was Bane Malar, a character from Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, chronologically the (then) final Star Wars film.

In October 2008, new stories from What's The Story? authors began to be published on Hyperspace. As of December 2009, Edward M. Erdelac, Nathan O'Keefe, Adrick Tolliver, James McFadden, Gregory Walker, and John Hazlett have authored Hyperspace articles.

The processEdit

The submission form was regularly updated presenting a new subject for fans to write about, originally weekly, then in a fortnightly period and finally on the first Friday of every month. Entries were be based on the information and criteria given, and all had to be under 2000 characters in length.
Every submission received was read by a panel of judges, with the best marked as finalists. Pablo Hidalgo then selected the winning entry, or merged several entries and edited them into the final product. The Databank was updated with five or six winners at a time or, sometimes, individually.

List of entries and authorsEdit

Round (Entry)	Subject	Author(s)	Author(s) real name(s) respectively	Databank
10 (6)^[3]	Bane Malar	caledre	Edward M. Erdelac	Link
10 (5)^[3]	Pontifex Maxiron Agolerga	Sompeetalay	Tim Veekhoven	Link
10 (4)^[3]	Teckla Minnau	Shadowcultist	Evan Burger	Link
10 (3)^[3]	Slyther Bushforb	jSarek	John Hazlett	Link
10 (2)^[3]	Seib Nod	Captain Yossarian	Benjamin Christopher Norton Dawe	Link
10 (1)^[3]	Oakie Dokes	Grand Admiral Sean8	Unknown	Link
09 (9)^[3]	Theomet Danlé	winstonvalleyjedi	Unknown	Link
09 (8)^[4]	Yoxgit	caledre	Edward M. Erdelac	Link
09 (7)^[4]	Janus Greejatus	vader_of_bast	Timothy S. Maddocks	Link
09 (6)^[4]	Niai Fieso	exarxan	Sander de Lange	Link
09 (5)^[4]	Willrow Hood	Captain Yossarian	Benjamin Christopher Norton Dawe	Link
09 (4)^[4]	Tian Chyler	yoda's waiter, the fragrant wookiee (provided name)	Timothy Carlsson, Ian Tapley (provided name)	Link
09 (3)^[4]	Mini-Huvicko/Yuzabi Dowser binary hydromech droid	caledre	Edward M. Erdelac	Link
09 (2)^[4]	Pello Scrambas	Darth NTM	Aidan Hennessy	Link
09 (1)^[4]	Lushros Dofine	AdmiralD'orl001	James Lord	Link
08 (6)	Augara Jowil	nawaraven104	Chad Finke	Link
08 (5)	Eddicus-class planetary shuttle	JMMC	James McFadden	Link
08 (4)	Krayt's Honor	KenobiDX67	Paul Rock Sandrock	Link
08 (3)	Teyora Rekab	Valin Kenobi	Nathan O'Keefe	Link
08 (2)	Rolo droid	nob01	Neil Baker	Link
08 (1)	Antidar Williams	the fragrant wookiee	Ian Tapley	Link
07 (5)	Myhr Rho	Captain Yossarian	Benjamin Christopher Norton Dawe	Link
07 (4)	Y'bith	ShadowCultist	Evan Burger	Link
07 (3)	Nar Hida	NarbFlick	Gregory Walker	Link
07 (2)	Cebann Veekan	DJ Maul: Got Feet?, Bubba1227 (species name)	Tommy Mac, Bob Vitas (species name)	Link
07 (1)	Nobot	Jedi Flaherty	Shaun Flaherty	Link
06 (6)	Onara Kuat	Darth NTM	Aidan Hennessy	Link
06 (5)	Covert Ops clone trooper^[5]
06 (4)	Braha'tok-class gunship	Ello137	Unknown	Link
06 (3)	Cane Adiss	jSarek	John Hazlett	Link
06 (2)	3B6-RA-7	TalonCard86	Adrick Tolliver	Link
06 (1)	Dusty Duck	Hedec Ga	Greg Mitchell	Link
05 (6)	DC0052 Intergalactic speeder	Nathan (ChronoRadio) and The Dark Moose	Nathan Butler, Withheld	Link
05 (5)	Utapau Shadow Trooper	Maso Tirag	Sam D. Garito	Link
05 (4)	Wam "Blam" Lufba	Sompeetalay	Tim Veekhoven	Link
05 (3)	Corla Metonae	The2ndQuest	Billy Buehler	Link
05 (2)	Ottegru Grey	Nex: the T is Hott!!, magicofmyth2, Valin Kenobi (name)	Zack Bossan, unknown, Nathan O'Keefe (name)	Link
05 (1)	Silya Shessaun	Twi'LekEntertainer, with some elements by ShadowCultist, Master Starkeiller and Hedec Ga	Nathan Hathaway Adams, with Evan Burger, Withheld, and Greg Mitchell	Link
04 (6)	BesGas Three	Fisty Fiham	Tyler Fisher	Link
04 (5)	Nem Bees	Lord Hydronium	Kyle Jewhurst	Link
04 (4)	Bal'demnic	Arf Maul	Arthur Papadam	Link
04 (3)	E-3PO	The Phantom Calamari, ejmacki, Fisty Fiham (introductory text)	Unknown, Unknown, Tyler Fisher (introductory text)	Link
04 (2)	Wol Cabasshite	ejmacki	Unknown	Link
04 (1)	Olana Chion	the fragrant wookiee, Master Starkeiller, The2ndquest (finishing touches)	Ian Tapley, Withheld, Billy Buehler (finishing touches)	Link
03 (6)	Tzizvvt	Sompeetalay	Tim Veekhoven	Link
03 (5)	Barrow Oicunn	Jedi Master Daniele F, jawajames1 (provided first name only)	Daniele F., James Floyd (provided first name only)	Link
03 (4)	Diva Shaliqua	nelwyn53100, Valin Kenobi	Unknown, Nathan O'Keefe	Link
03 (3)	Acros-Krik	NarbFlick	Gregory Walker	Link
03 (2)	Melee	jarjarsmeagol, Ghent_the_Slicer, Cockroach King FS, jawajames1	Alex Dishal, Unknown, Unknown, James Floyd	Link
03 (1)	Leektar	Hecko Tenton, Arf Maul	Andrew Gilbertson, Arthur Papadam	Link
02 (6)	Narglatch XJ-2 airspeeder	Master Devwi	Unknown	Link
02 (5)	Yavid	Valin Kenobi	Nathan O'Keefe	Link
02 (4)	Pax Bonkik	javajawas	Ashley Sharpe	Link
02 (3)	Kalyn Farnmir	Captain Yossarian	Benjamin Christopher Norton Dawe	Link
02 (2)	Romeo Treblanc	Master Ki-Aaron-Mundi, Captain Yossarian (also provided name)	Aaron Sinner, Benjamin Christopher Norton Dawe (also provided name)	Link
02 (1)	Grizz Frix	Kast Morben	Paul Celer	Link
01 (6)	UT-AT	The2ndquest, The Dark Moose	Billy Buehler, Withheld	Link
01 (5)	Swilla Corey	Sompeetalay	Tim Veekhoven	Link
01 (4)	Janu Godalhi	TalonCard86, gohan316427, General Tarfful	Adrick Tolliver, Unknown, Unknown	Link
01 (3)	Magaloof	NarbFlick	Gregory Walker	Link
01 (2)	Rango Tel	Master Ki-Aaron-Mundi, Captain Daultay Dofine (provided name only)	Aaron Sinner, Unknown (provided name only)	Link
01 (1)	Tannon Praji	Nex: The T is Hott!!	Zack Bossan	Link

Later EU appearances and referencesEdit

A list of What's The Story? aspects that have since appeared in new Expanded Universe material.

Minor elements introducedEdit

Other elements introduced (or first identified) into continuity through What's The Story? include:

What's The Story legacyEdit

Beginning in October 2008, new articles and stories authored by What's The Story? writers have been published on Hyperspace.

Fists of Ion (October 2008) by Edward M. Erdelac
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji (February 2009) by Nathan O'Keefe
Death in the Slave Pits of Lorrd (June 2009) by Adrick Tolliver
The Forgotten War: The Nagai and the Tofs (November 2009) by James McFadden
Dining at Dex's (December 2009) by Gregory Walker
The Written Word (March 2010) by John Hazlett

Notes and referencesEdit

↑ "What is (and isn't) Hyperspace? - LucasOnline Star Wars Blog
↑ Webstrip Chatter at Celebration IV
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 These entries were published along with a retrospective after the competition had finished.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 ^4.5 ^4.6 ^4.7 Round 9 databank entries were released individually, rather than a group as were previous rounds.
↑ Was not published. To quote Pablo Hidalgo: "A winning entry was selected, but it became apparent that projects in the works tread too closely to the lore being established in the CO troopers, that the call was made to pull it. Better that than introduce an instant-continuity error." It is unknown if the entry will ever be published in the future.Whats the Story? Discussion and Analysis thread on StarWars.com The winning entry was not entered into the Holocron continuity database in any form, and Lucasfilm Ltd. has not revealed who was the writer of the entry.Holocron continuity database questions thread on StarWars.com
↑ Insider 89: "Underworld: A Galaxy of Scum and Villiany" by Abel, Ryan, and Joe on the Jedi Council Forums (Literature board; posted by Halagad_Ventor on August 29, 2006, 2:05pm)