“William Shakespeare’s The Clone Army Attacketh” Cover Revealed

William Shakespeare has strucketh back once again…or rather, author Ian Doescher has, with his book parodies of the Star Wars prequels written in Shakespearean style.

This morning, CNET posted the “William Shakespeare’s The Clone Army Attacketh” cover reveal as an exclusive. The cover features the infamous Jango Fett featured in the center, an appropriate placement as he is the prototype for the entire clone army, with clone troopers flanking his right and Padme & Anakin in a romantic tete-a-tete on his left. Have a look at the ensemble at CNET’s website.

Image from thesun.co.uk

After having successfully adapted the original Star Wars trilogy into a trilogy of Shakespearean-style books (published by Quirk Books), Ian Doescher has moved on to tackle the prequels, beginning with the release of  “Phantom of Menace” on April 7th, 2015. The next two adaptations of the saga will follow with “The Clone Army Attacketh” on July 7th and “Tragedy of the Sith’s Revenge” on September 8th.

Doescher’s prequel parodies are releasing just in time for the premiere of the new Star Wars film trilogy, which begins with The Force Awakens on December 18th. Hopefully we will see Doescher give the same delightful treatment to the new episodes as he has given the previous six.

I have only purchased the first of Doescher’s Star Wars-to-Shakespeare adaptations, simply entitled “William Shakespeare’s Star Wars” (at the bottom of the cover, below the title, is the affirmation “Verily, A New Hope”). I haven’t read all of it, but what I have read has been pretty hilarious. The dialogue has been altered to contain many thy’s and thou’s, as well as asides and chorus lines (the chorus being a character who comments on the story as it goes along). It’s a lot of fun to see how lines that Star Wars fans know by heart have become something almost totally new with only a few, but nevertheless a crucial few changes in style and diction. Take this conversation between C-3PO and R2-D2, for example, which takes place when 3PO sees that R2 is trying to enter an escape pod on the Tantive IV.

C-3PO: Hold! Thou art not permitted to go in. / Deactivated thou shalt surely be.

R2-D2: Beep, beep, beep, meep!

C-3PO: – Thou shalt not label me / A mindless, brute philosopher! Nay, nay, / Thou overladen glob of grease, thou imp, / Thou rubbish bucket fit for scrap, thou blue / And silver pile of bantha dung! Now, come, / And get thee hence away lest someone sees.

Blue and silver pile of bantha dung? Ouch, 3PO.

Don’t forget to check out “William Shakespeare’s Phantom of Menace” on April 7th and “The Clone Army Attacketh” on July 7th. You can buy all three of the original trilogy Shakespearean Star Wars books now on Amazon.