Pablo Hidalgo

Pablo Hidalgo (born 12 October 1974) is a Chilean creative executive, currently working for Lucasfilm on the Star Wars franchise and member of the Lucasfilm Story Group.

Pablo Hidalgo
Pablo Hidalgo at Star Wars Celebration IV
Born (1974-10-12) 12 October 1974
Santiago, Chile
OccupationAuthor, creative executive
NationalityChilean
GenreScience fiction
SubjectStar Wars
Years active1995–present

Early work

Hidalgo was born in Santiago de Chile and raised in Winnipeg, Canada.[1] In 1987 he became a fan of the role-playing game (RPG) resources published West End Games, the only official source of Star Wars content in the late 1980s and took it upon himself to become knowledgeable of the universe to create better stories for the group of friends he was playing it with. He later used both content from the RPG and ideas he developed for his gaming sessions within official Star Wars media, such as the tracking device used by the Inquisitor and the name of a ship in Star Wars Rebels.[2]

He submitted content for West End Games' Star Wars Adventure Journal in 1993. Although rejected because he was not a published author at the time, his correspondence with the company resulted in him being hired as a cartoonist for the magazine by Peter Schweighofer.[1] Since he was now a published author, he was allowed to publish material for the RPG as well as stories in the magazine.[3]

During his involvement, he collected the first large-scale database of Star Wars knowledge, parts of which he posted online in 1997 as the "Star Wars Index". He also used his extensive knowledge to assist Steve Sansweet with fact-checking the Star Wars Encyclopedia, the first such work published shortly before the release of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.[2]

Working for Lucasfilm

In January 2000 he was hired by Sansweet at Lucasfilm to build up StarWars.com, the official Star Wars website, as a resource for fans during the then-active filming and launch of the Star Wars prequel trilogy.[2][4] He then served as Internet Content Manager for Lucas Online, the division of Lucasfilm responsible for maintaining StarWars.com, where he also published multiple comics until 2011. Even though Star Wars canon was not completely error-free at this point due to a previous lack of oversight and he was not in any official capacity employed to help maintain it, Hidalgo was already being consulted to ensure continuity during this time.[2]

In 2005, he had a non-speaking cameo role in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith as a patron of the opera Chancellor Palpatine and Anakin Skywalker visit.[5]

Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm

After Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, he approached Kathleen Kennedy about making his consulting role official which led to the creation of the Lucasfilm Story Group (other members include Kiri Hart and Leland Chee), a group of Star Wars experts tasked with maintaining the canon of the franchise after its partial reboot in 2014.[6][7] Their duties range from fact-checking dialogue, e.g. whether a certain character would really say a certain line or whether it makes sense in the universe's context, to keeping track of names and locations of planets as well as naming unnamed planets, characters and other entities as well as coordinating all stories in development.[2][3]

Sometimes called the Yoda of Lucasfilm or "the Indiana Jones of Star Wars", his insider knowledge of Star Wars canon is used by multiple sources to confirm or deny rumors about certain characters, locations or events within the fictional universe.[8][9][10] J.J. Abrams admitted that during the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens he often e-mailed Hidalgo up to three times a day asking him questions about details about the franchise's universe.[11]

In December of 2020, Hidalgo was criticized by fans after he wrote on Twitter "emotions are not for sharing" in response to YouTuber Star Wars Theory's reaction to the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian; some debated as to whether or not the tweet was meant to be sincere.[12][13] Prior to this, Hidalgo had previously privated his account.[14] The following day, Hidalgo apologized and clarified that the tweet was meant to be sarcastic.[15]

Partial bibliography

Hidalgo is the author of several official reference and guide books about the Star Wars franchise as well as the G.I. Joe and Transformers franchises.[1][16]

  • Star Wars Chronicles: The Prequels (with Steve Sansweet) (2005)
  • G.I. Joe vs. Cobra: The Essential Guide, 1982-2008 (2009)
  • Transformers Vault: The Complete Transformers Universe Showcasing Rare Collectibles and Memorabilia (2011)
  • The Essential Reader's Companion (2012)
  • Star Wars: A New Hero (2014)
  • Star Wars Rebels: Head to Head (2014)
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary (2015)
  • Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy (2016)
  • Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide (2016)
  • Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View (2017)
  • Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary (2017)
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story: The Official Guide (2018)
  • Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious (2018)
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary (2019)

References
  1. "Interview with Pablo Hidalgo". Star Wars Veracruz. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  2. "Pablo Hidalgo Extended Interview". YouTube: The Star Wars Show. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  3. De Vera, Ruel S. (19 August 2016). "Keeper of the 'Star Wars' saga". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  4. Handy, Bruce (22 May 2015). "What It's Like to Be Lucasfilm's Resident Star Wars Geek". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  5. Wilson, Kevin (12 January 2016). "15 Hidden Cameos In Star Wars Movies". Screen Rant. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  6. "Pablo Hidalgo: Red Five Standing By Listen· 12:44". NPR. 9 December 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  7. McMillan, Graeme (22 May 2015). "'Star Wars': Meet the Man Responsible for Keeping the Story Straight". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  8. Mayer, Tobias (19 December 2016). "Bestätigt: Diese Figur aus "Rogue One" ist NICHT Snoke und so heißt der Lavaplanet" (in German). Filmstarts.de. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  9. Errico, Marcus (3 January 2017). "Deep Inside the World of 'Rogue One': Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo Reveals Secrets of New 'Star Wars' (Exclusive)". Yahoo! Entertainment. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  10. Breznican, Anthony (January 19, 2017). "Exploring the galaxy with Pablo Hidalgo, the Indiana Jones of Star Wars". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  11. Wakeman, Gregory. "How Star Wars Fact Checks While Making Movies". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  12. Schroeder, Audra (28 December 2020). "Lucasfilm exec locks down after tweet about 'Star Wars' fan's 'emotions'". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 29 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  13. Scribner, Herb (28 December 2020). "Why are people mad at Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo?". Deseret News. Archived from the original on 28 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  14. Baculi, Spencer (13 November 2020). "Star Wars and Lucasfilm Story Group Author Pablo Hidalgo Mocks Fans Shocked by Baby Yoda's Egg Eating From Behind Locked Twitter Account". Bounding Into Comics. Archived from the original on 24 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  15. Vary, Adam B. (29 December 2020). "How a Lucasfilm Exec's Tweet Reopened the Wounds of 'The Last Jedi'". Variety. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2020.
  16. Palmer, Jason (7 November 2016). "Win Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy". Entertainment Focus. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
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