Praxium

The Tom Veitch Files

Yale’s Beinecke Library 1016 photographs

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Tom Veitch archive photograph IMG_4332
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Transcription

Automatic transcription · may contain errors

Early Sith questions & Freedon Nadd

[upper-left cropped slip: Could other ch[illegible]] [margin: 4] >>Cyborg Jedi as "junction between the Force and all possible computer activity"<< See my responses, posted today, to Robert Quillen and Skip Shayotovich. Some of the points you raise are addressed there. I'd appreciate any comments you have on the ideas I expressed to Robert and Skip. You bring the discussion full circle to the Droids and whether a Droid could ever feel the Force. As you point out the RPG allows this, to an extent. Notably, in the films, the Droids R2-D2 and C-3PO are given feelings, emotions, & near-human personalities. C-3PO even has a religious side to him. ["Thank the Maker." and: "I'm not allowed to impersonate a Deity."] C-3PO, in describing the plot of the first two films to the Ewoks, may well have had something to say about the Force, although there is no indication of this in the script. But...Droids are technology. Just wires and chips and metal plating and servo-mechanisms and gears and hydraulics... And yet...the Tin Man [in the Wizard of Oz] got his heart in the end, didn't he? And C-3PO is certainly a reincarnation of the Tin Man. Maybe the grand finale of Threepio's story would be similar to the Tin Man's. And maybe he'd be the first Droid to sense the Force. But for the life of me, I can't figure out how that would happen, unless they implanted some organic or biological circuitry in him! [handwriting beneath attached sheet: * Vaults beneath a mountain. * [underlined: FAST] * "Anger, fear, [uncertain: aggression?]... once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."]

Read alongside the photograph, especially for handwritten passages. Bracketed notes may mark uncertain or illegible text.

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The Tom Veitch Files

On August 18, 2026, Praxis visited Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and photographed 1016 pages from the Tom Veitch papers. This collection brings those early drafts, unused stories, correspondence, and handwritten notes together for everyone to explore.

YCAL MSS 1368 · Boxes 3, 5, 42, 76, and 77

Box 3
Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi correspondence, proposals, and annotated drafts.
Box 5
Lucasfilm approvals, contracts, Kevin J. Anderson correspondence, and audio adaptation material.
Box 42
Tales of the Jedi and Dark Lords of the Sith proposals, scripts, artwork, and proofs.
Box 76
Handwritten Star Wars drafts and the Log X notebook.
Box 77
Dark Empire, Dark Lords of the Sith, and Tales of the Jedi notebooks and plots.

The descriptions above follow Yale’s finding aid. These photographs are a selection from those boxes; individual images have not yet been assigned to exact boxes and folders. Image numbers follow photography order, with occasional gaps.

These are working papers: some ideas were approved, some changed, and some never reached publication. Most transcriptions are automatic; checked passages use the corrected text.

There’s plenty to explore. Have fun looking!

Yale’s finding aid ↗Download all photographs ↗