How To Wait For ‘The Force Awakens’ When You Can’t Actually Wait For ‘The Force Awakens’

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be kicking down the door of your brain on December 17 — a depressingly long time from now, relatively speaking. The issue with all these looming nerd revival dates — new X-Files in January, new Twin Peaks next year — is that every day without a fix is a nightmare. It’s the geek equivalent of when Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting tries to quit smack and spends weeks in bed, sweating feverishly, trying to ignore the baby crawling along the ceiling. Only in this case, it’s you in the bed, and the baby is actually a BB-8 droid.

So how are you meant to stave off withdrawals? Fear not. Here is a foolproof, and J.J. Abrams-approved, list of Star Wars goodness to help get you over the line.

–

Be A Big Nerd And Build Some Star Wars Lego

If you’re looking for a very hands-on way to immerse yourself in Star Wars, I highly recommend grabbing any one of the superb new Star Wars Lego sets. LEGO is pretty much at its peak right now; gargantuan sets let you build Poe Dameron’s X-Wing, the First Order Tie-Fighter, and the new (i.e. old) Millennium Falcon. It’s incredibly gratifying, but also very emotional, assembling every strut, beam and panel of the ship that helped Luke take out the Death Star.

And because of the clever way Lego stacks reveal upon reveal, you never really know what you’re building until you’re nearly finished it. After plugging pieces into the rear of the Millennium Falcon I was building, it suddenly dawned on me that I’d just built the little area where Chewie plays holo-chess with R2D2, and C3P0 suggests that R2 “let the Wookie win”. I squealed, calmed myself, and continued building.

And if you’re looking to justify yourself to your more judgmental friends: they’re not toys. They’re “collectibles,” and you can buy them/gaze at them longingly here.

–

Shoot The Crap Out Of Everything In Star Wars Battlefront

If you prefer a more immersive Star Wars experience, you really can’t go past Battlefront. For those of you who don’t play video games, Battlefront is the reboot of a beloved Star Wars game franchise that plunges you right into the thick of “historical” Star Wars battles, typically with a buttload of people you know, and with everyone yelling about Luke Skywalker getting stomped flat, Monty Python style, by an AT-AT.

The reason Battlefront is so talked about right now is the recent beta; for those of you who aren’t gamers, a beta is like an open house inspection for a house everyone’s really excited about, but that isn’t quite finished yet. The Battlefront beta had over nine million people participate, was critically acclaimed, and let you take part in a smidgen of what is going to be one of the highest selling games of the decade.

When the full game hits, you’ll be able to dive into an array of game modes, but here are some highlights, if you’re in the mood for wish fulfilment:

• Blast stormtroopers! Those guys and/or girls are jerks!
• Blast rebels! Those hippie freaks couldn’t govern a galaxy if their lives depended on it!
• Fly around and dogfight in iconic Star Wars ships like X-Wings, TIE fighters, and the Millennium Falcon! For added accuracy, the engines should periodically cut out on the Falcon mid-battle, though I doubt they’ll implement this feature.
• Be your favourite Star Wars heroes! Luke! Vader! Others! Probably!
• Take part in epic Star Wars battles, including the Battle of Jakku, which will apparently dovetail into a crucial plot element in the upcoming The Force Awakens!

It’s on PC, but it’s also on Xbox ONE and the PS4, meaning it’ll be a perfect game to play from your couch, where you’ll doubtless soon resemble Vader during his end of Return of the Jedi “freshly peeled boiled egg” look.

–

A New Universe: The Books And Comics Of The Revamped Star Wars Canon

After the original Star Wars trilogy wrapped up, the franchise lay dormant for several years, until it was picked up and cared for by numerous authors. Comics and books spent decades mapping out in painstaking, sometimes clumsy, but always passionate detail, what happened to our heroes after Return of the Jedi, in between the films, or what happened between trilogies. Essentially, a crapload of talented people worked their butts off to turn the Star Wars franchise into a galaxy-spanning epic. Han and Leia had twins! Luke founded the Jedi academy! Chewie died!

But, much like a cake buckling under the weight of a billion gaudy decorations, the Star Wars Expanded Universe (or “EU”, which caused years of confusion between myself and my more politically active friends) began to buckle. And rather than take into account the millions of plot points and characters and wars and so forth contained within the overripe skin of the EU when making The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams made a bold call: to scrap it. Why did this upset people? Well, because it was canon. Within the Star Wars universe, stamped with George Lucas’ seal of approval, the EU was part of official lore. What Abrams did was slough the EU off into the “Legends” bin, or as I refer to it, the “this might as well all be fan fiction” bin.

But fear not! Abrams did something wonderful to make up for this scorched earth manoeuvre: he created a new EU, one that would synch up perfectly with his meticulous vision for the new trilogy. No contradictions, no malevolent trans-dimensional blobs (I hate you, The Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre, I hate you so much). The new EU contains a fantastic ongoing Star Wars comic title, which follows Luke, Han and Leia between the events of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and an ongoing Vader title; both of these actually manage to deftly answer some pressing questions, like how Vader found out Luke was his son. There’s a brilliant five-part Leia miniseries, a neon-soaked five part Lando miniseries an upcoming Chewie miniseries, and one following Kanaan, the Jedi from the Rebels TV show.

Oh, and there’s Shattered Empire, the brand new comic line which picks up after the destruction of the second Death Star, effectively bridging Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Hell, there’s even a slew of planned novels. Chuck Wendig just released Aftermath, which follows a ragtag bunch of borderline assholes trapped on a planet hemmed in by the Empire, who are on the brink of collapse after their defeat above Endor. The cast of characters is diverse, and some minor phrasing quibbles aside it’s a smashing good read.

There’s also a C3P0 comic planned which will explain how he got a new red arm (trust me, fans go nuts for this stuff), books planned to make Aftermath into a trilogy, and on and on it goes. The new EU is going to get crowded, but it’s also a far more deliberate and curated experience. It’s all canon. And right now, that means it’s an awesome time to be a Star Wars fan, and a terrible time to be a completionist on a budget.

So if you’re wondering how to get your Star Wars fix over the coming months, there you have it: a lot of stuff to do, and frankly, not enough time to do it in.

–

Paul Verhoeven is a Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop creation. He hosts Save Point, writes for TheVine, and is a presenter on Triple J, and tweets from @PaulVerhoeven

–

Disney is currently an advertiser on Junkee, but this piece was independently commissioned.