By now you may have heard that membership in the Star Wars Fan Club is the most affordable it's been in years (just $14.95 for US members, with bonus membership kit; Canadian and international pay a bit more if they want the kit mailed to them).

Effective April 1, the Hyperspace offer changed considerably, prompted by a number of factors -- not the least of which was Star Wars Insider magazine being handled by a new publisher. With the magazine moving to the capable hands of Titan Magazines, it was decided to split the offer -- a magazine subscription and a Fan Club subscription are now two separate items, with separate price points. At the magazine's current introductory price, you could sign up for both Hyperspace and Star Wars Insider without a bump in price.

So what is in a $14.95 Hyperspace offer? The offer has been detailed here and elsewhere throughout the site, but I'll list it here in this blog so you don't have to keep jumping around, as well as add whatever information I can.

Early Access and Perks at Official Star Wars Events This is really the big bullet point for 2007. At Celebration IV (May 24-28), Hyperspace members will get in an entire day early compared to the rest of the general public when they buy a 4-day pass. That means you get C4 all to yourselves for a day. At Celebration Europe, it's early admission each day. Imagine what you can do in that time and you'll probably find ways to justify a subscription cost. There's also going to be programming and activities dedicated to Fan Club members too -- like the popular Fan Club Lounge, which is a place to chill, away from the hustle and bustle of the Celebration crowd -- you can put your feet up, check out the loot you scored, or actually sit and talk with celebrity guests who visit the lounge in a more laid-back and informal setting.

We are currently working with an outside partner to bring back Star Wars Fan Club Breakfasts. These are available only to Fan Club members (with admission purchased separately) and usually surround a key event (like Comic-Con or Star Wars Weekends). We're hoping that this outside partner will be able to facilitate breakfasts of greater frequency and geographical range, so that more fans will be able to enjoy them. There's typically special VIP guests, goodie bags, raffles, and other fun things. Oh, and breakfast, too.

First Looks and Sneak Peeks This is probably the biggest fundamental shift in Hyperspace. In previous years, Hyperspace has really been content-driven, with first-look goodies forever walled away for only the paying members to see. That may have made sense in the Internet of just a few years ago, but that's not so much the case today. There will be the first opportunity to peek at new Star Wars projects in development, but what you won't see much of are things that remain exclusive in perpetuity. A sneak peek today may break wide next week, appearing elsewhere on the site for everyone to enjoy.


Six Issues of Online Supplements That said, though, there will still be some exclusive content, in the form of our Star Wars Insider Supplements, which have been very well received in the past few years. These are bonus articles that expand or supplement the articles in the print magazine. Often, they're packed with downloadable assets that you couldn't find in a magazine -- things like desktop patterns or audio clips. This stuff will remain exclusive to Fan Club members. We plan to stagger the issues compared to newsstand dates, so that if an issue hits newsstands in June, look for the Online Supplement in July. That way, you get a monthly hit of Star Wars Insider if you're actively getting the magazine.


Bantha Tracks Online Mary Franklin's our Bantha Tracks editor, and she often finds that six monthly print magazines is simply not enough room to showcase all the fantastic fan pictures and stories you send her. So, we plan to continue making Bantha Tracks Online available only to Fan Club members. Later in the year, we're looking at making each online issue downloadable -- or at least more printer-friendly -- so that you can print out each issue and keep it as a scrapbook and show it to grandma who isn't as tech savvy as she claims to be.


Collector Benefits: This one's pretty easy to understand and communicate given that so many Fan Clubs today are really Collectors Clubs. StarWarsShop is committed to providing discounts on select merchandise, early purchase rights on hot items and exclusive product opportunities for members. If you're a frequent shopper, you can easily make up your subscription price in savings.


Connect with Fellow Fan Club Members: There's a reason this bullet point says "to start, you'll be able to..." because it describes what's available in the offer right now. Right now, this connectivity ranges to Member-Only Message Board (which, by the way, is there because members demanded it!) and Blogs. We're actively looking at new online functionality that will allow members to connect in a way that readily identifies them as members.


Also, in the near future you can expect more cool functionality for ALL users -- you'll be able to do a lot more at starwars.com than you did in the past -- and we're looking at ways of giving Hyperspace members a few more bells and whistles in those categories, or at least being able to see at a glance who's a fellow member.


Test Drive new starwars.com Features This is one of those maddeningly vague bullet points that we put in there because we're really excited to tell you about stuff in the works, but can't quite tell you yet because it ain't ready. Sorry.


Access to an Exclusive Membership Kit: When the new Hyperspace offer was being put together, I gotta be honest, there was quite a bit of debate whether or not to do a kit this year. There were good reasons put forth both pro and con. Tradition reigned, and there is a kit available this year, to be mailed at sometime during your subscription period (these kits are mailed in bulk at several times a year, so there's always a bit of a waiting game to get them). Inside you'll get a welcome letter from George Lucas, an exclusive poster and additional paper and flat goods.


I came down on the side against the kit, not because I don't like it (the stuff in there is pretty neat) but because I'm more of an online purist, and find the business of mailing out physical goods so last century But, we struck an interesting compromise with the next bullet point...


Instant Access to an Online Membership Kit Because it's hard to tell where you may be within the membership kit mailing windows, we wanted there to be an instant gratification component to paying for membership -- some sort of cache of goodies that you can start playing with right away. So, we've come up with an online membership kit of downloadables that will be added to throughout the year. Right now, it's got desktop patterns and buddy icons -- a lot of the stuff you'd expect -- but in the future, we're looking to have some more printables, badges and widgets that you can decorate your other online spaces with and exclusive media. For the April launch, I recorded a unique two-hour Episode IV commentary, and will add to the mix with other commentaries for the other films, with anecdotes and trivia aimed directly at a fan audience, and not the general audience that commentaries are usually geared towards.

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So, that's the offer. That is what a year's worth of Hyperspace contains. But what's missing from this picture? What about all the other things that users have enjoyed in the previous years? Do they just vanish?


In some cases, yes -- the offer has changed and certain features have been discontinued. A lot of the content offering from years previous is not being added to (Episode III Set Diaries are a good example), but they're still in the archive. We're not calling them out as bullet points because, frankly, they're old. We're looking at porting some of this older content to the regular, free side of the site in the coming years, just for history's sake, where it makes sense.


Webstrips: Webstrips are currently on hiatus, hence its absence from the bullet point list. There are at least two original webstrips slated for later this year, but they are likely to be made available for everyone and not just Hyperspace members. The archive is currently available only to Hyperspace members, though later in the year, they may be made free.


What's the Story: This will continue through 2007, now taking on a monthly publishing schedule for a single entry each month. It is not likely to continue in 2008, so we kept it off the bullet point list.


Variety Headlines: Actually, this service is still continuing, and likely will continue. It was just left off the bullet point list for space.


Clone Wars, Exclusive Videos & Visits to Rancho Obi-Wan These still exist in the archive of course, but they won't remain exclusive in perpetuity. The sixth Rancho Obi-Wan aired yesterday. We do plan to shoot more of this series after Celebration IV, but they'll likely be available to everyone going forward.


AudioCast: This archive of exclusive audio content is no longer being added to. Should we continue with starwars.com Podcasts, some of this material will likely surface in there, like it did in our first Podcast Special which featured vintage Star Wars radio ads.


All Episode III Lead-In Stuff: The Set Diaries, Post Notes, Before the Helmet, Art of Revenge and KnollVisions have obviously been discontinued (since 2005, in most cases). They're still in the archive and may some day be gradually migrated to the regular Episode III section.


Kessel Mines This series of articles has been discontinued. Articles of this type in the future will make their way to the free sections of the site. This archive will likely gravitate that way sometime in the future.


Hyperspace Webcam and Webcam Movies: The webcam has been retired. Fun Fact: in a time capsule at our Presidio headquarters, the very first Hyperspace webcam is buried. As the only person I know with a fierce disdain for this camera, I was probably the happiest to see it go.


Secrets of Star Wars 07 This series was discontinued in 2006. Much of this material will be make its way to the free side of things as The Force Unleashed nears completion.


Ads: Ad suppression was a feature first introduced in the 2003 offer. It was not included in the 2007 list. Read more about it here. If this link is not active, check again later tonight.



Galactic Gallery, Photoreceptor These image series have been discontinued. No plans as to their future.



email addresses, Cargo Bay Search, Profile Pages, Avatars These services aren't called out anymore, because in some cases, they're being retired or turned into something new. Cargo Bay, for instance, is being retooled and relaunched in the future..