Star Wars Fanworks
http://www.starwarsfanworks.com
By Ken Newquist
The official Star Wars Expanded Universe is huge, but it’s dwarfed by what the fans have done. Star Wars Fanworks is a stellar example of this phenomenon, gathering together nearly a decades' worth of fan-created audio content for George Lucas’ space fantasy into one overarching Web site.  The Fanworks homepage serves as a focal point for news relating to this particular subgenre, including releases of new video-game mods (such as the the "Invasion Begins" mod for X-Wing Alliance, which incorporates fan-voiced audio into an expansion module for the game), announcements about new Star Wars-themed podcasts and much more.
Their site hosts 30-odd audio dramas, including the first-ever fan-spawned audio drama, Star Wars: Second Strike. The audio dramas spans all the eras of the Star Wars saga, including stories set during the Knights of the Old Republic, Clone Wars, Rebellion and New Jedi Order time periods. There’s also dozens of talk radio shows, including a dozen ongoing shows and archived editions of fan favorites like Chronoradio and Jedi Talk. Rounding out the site’s audio offerings is a smattering of parodies like Tatooine TV and Stormtrooper Bob. Uniting this content is the site's master podcast feed, which features new shows as well as a steady stream of classic content. The site’s hosts intend to release nearly a half gig of audio content a month, which should keep even the most die-hard fan busy for a long time to come.
Supplementing the Web site is an active forum hosted by GalacticSenate.com and the Star Wars Timeline Gold, which is a huge, exhaustive, fan-produced timeline of the Star Wars universe, including all the movies, books, video games and card games. |