Book of Imperial Shuttle Plans: Cygnus Spaceworks

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The subject of this article concerns a fan topic in Star Wars culture.

Events, opinions, and individuals described in this article may not be present in an authorized source, or may not have canonically occurred in the Star Wars universe.

The Book of Imperial Shuttle Plans: Cygnus Spaceworks is fan art produced under the Lawrence Miller Design label, apparently in 1984. Consisting of blueprints for what later official works would identify as the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, it has sometimes been mistaken for a Lucasfilm-authorized product. Certain elements described in the Star Wars Legends continuity, as well as the canonical Cygnus Spaceworks, derive from these blueprints. The blueprints also contain a list of star systems, many of which share names with real stars visible from Earth or locations from other science fiction franchises, such as Star Trek and Doctor Who.

Contents

The "book" consists of an envelope with three blueprint sheets for an "Imperial Shuttle" that is essentially the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle from Return of the Jedi. It apparently uses the name of Cygnus Spaceworks almost a decade before any official source,[2][3][4][5][6][7] and it has been discussed alongside official publications by at least one influential fan site, the Star Wars Technical Commentaries.[8] It is not clear how the name of Cygnus Spaceworks could have found its way into official material from here, but it appears that Lora Johnson, one of the first official authors to reference Cygnus Spaceworks, worked with Miller on at least one project (a Star Trek fan production entitled the U.S.S. Enterprise Officer's Manual - Revised).[9]

Beyond the actual shuttle plan (which closely resembles the published set plan in 1983's The Art of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi), the only element which bears any direct connection with canon is the name "General A.F. Motti". While no such character is in official sources, a character in A New Hope is Admiral Conan Antonio Motti.

The shuttle is said to be used in the Cygnus Star Empire, rather than the Galactic Empire. Similarly, the shuttle is described as meeting construction codes in a list of star systems which includes real stars visible from Earth and fictional locations from other science fiction series such as Doctor Who and the original Star Trek series. If taken literally, this list implies that the shuttle satisfies the safety standards of the Daleks, the Romulans, and a society based on Chicago gangsters of the 1920s.

Appearances

By type
Characters Organisms Droid models Events Locations
Organizations and titles Sentient species Vehicles and vessels Weapons and technology Miscellanea

Locations

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Book of Imperial Shuttle Plans: Cygnus Spaceworks
  2. ↑ The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 157 ("Cygnus Spaceworks")
  3. ↑ WizardsoftheCoast Message to Spacers 7 on Wizards.com (backup link) (original site is defunct)
  4. ↑ Databank title Imperial Theta-class shuttle in the Databank (original site is defunct)
  5. ↑ Rebellion Era Campaign Guide
  6. ↑ HyperspaceIcon The Written Word on Hyperspace (article) (content obsolete and backup link not available)
  7. ↑ StarWarsDotComBlogsLogoStacked Endnotes for The Written Word on jSarek's Infonet — John Hazlett's StarWars.com Blog (original site is defunct) confirms the connection between the canonical Cygnus Spaceworks and this fan publication.
  8. ↑ Premium-Era-real Star Wars Technical Commentaries: Lambda-class shuttles on TheForce.net (backup link archived on January 31, 2022)
  9. ↑ Premium-Era-real U.S.S. Enterprise Officer's Manual - Revised listing at The Star Trek LCARS Blueprints Database on www.cygnus-x1.net (backup link archived on March 25, 2022)

External links