Starbabies: The Untold Story of Fallen Stars

Welcome to possibly the only fansite for the book Starbabies: The Untold Story of Fallen Stars by Wayne Smith. This is a children's book that I absolutely loved as a kid; I remember it feeling immersive and magical. I had a hard time finding this book again as an adult, only remembering that it had "star babies" in it. After at long last finding the book, I became fascinated by the unconventional story pacing and the early 2000s art style. This page is to celebrate this weird little book.

If you're interested, you can check out the book digitally.


Art Style

Starbabies was published in the year 2000, and it really shows in the illustrations. I would describe the illustrations as having a very Kid Pix energy, likely due to the clear use of technology in constructing them. The illustrations lend the story a unique atmosphere that wouldn’t be present if the same images were rendered completely by hand.

The illustrations are almost collage-like with the blending of images and hand-drawn illustrations of different styles and varying levels of realism. Take for example the following images from pages 9 and 21:

First Star sitting in a meadow with mountains in the background. First Star and various background elements are done in different art styles Lucky Star, Lone Star, and First Star are investigating a blue figure behind a popcorn tree growing out of a popcorn bucket. The stars are drawn in a 2D style, but the popcorn tree is a mix of more realistic 3D image elements for the leaves and popcorn

Page 9 shows stylized mountains with blended colors that bleed outside of their defining lines, a tree with 3D brush strokes, realistic daisies, and the hand drawn 2D cartoon of First Star. Some elements retain the same stylization throughout the book, such as the cartoon style of the Starbabies and the blurred, fuzzy grass. Other elements change in their stylization, such as the trees. Here we can see a difference from the background tree on page 9 compared to the tree on page 21, both of which are different from the muted-color style of the Starrywood trees. The popcorn tree on page 21 uses realistic pine needles and popcorn images, which contrast with the drawn 2D muffin mushrooms on the same page.

The resulting patchwork images don’t feel cohesive. Whether these choices were intentional or not, they contribute to an otherworldly, uncanny atmosphere that serves to make the space of the story feel more exploratory and whimsical.

The work uses abstraction as a tool to contribute to this atmosphere as well. It liberally uses drop shadows, especially on the Starbabies. The drop shadows often don’t make sense in 3D space. Instead they act more as tools of emphasis, and again contribute to the uncanny atmosphere. Interestingly, the effect usually makes the starbabies appear as if they were hovering just above the page, just outside of the world they’re exploring (see the example below from page 18). Some pages abstract away the background entirely, leaving the Starbabies in a void without even a horizon line (see page 32).

Lone Star and First Star playing with a ball while Lucky Star chases a butterfly. The stars and ball have drop shadows, but nothing else does. The horizon line is blurred, as is the moon who has a face Lucky Star, First Star, Hungry Star, and Lone Star stand on a blank white page. Behind them is a large cluster of storm clouds with a face, Vivica. Vivica's clouds are ringed by a dark background that blurs into the white of the rest of the page. First Star holds the purple Poolie feather

Seeing the dynamic movement of the characters, it becomes clear that Starbabies are not baby stars, they are stars that are babies. What I mean by that is that their design often draws more on human babies than it does stars. In most poses, they’re wholly unrecognizable as stars at all (see the image from page 32 – would you know those were stars with no other context?). This gives the characters more dynamic range, but also emphasizes the “baby” aspect to their characters over their “star” qualities. Like the backgrounds, their faces are also diverse in terms of art style, which highlights the diversity of the group and lets each character feel more expressive and unique.



Story

The story pacing in Starbabies: The Untold Story of Fallen Stars is unconventional. Though the book is 43 pages long, there is never more than a few pages in between set up and payoff. For example, the reader is introduced to a mysterious creature called an Epazoodle in the introductory narration and the characters meet and deal with an Epazoodle as the very first conflict of the book and the only scene with an Epazoodle. Similarly, the Poolies gift a wish feather to First Star on page 29 which he uses three pages later to banish the evil cloud, Vivica. Vivica, despite her warning, does not come back. The narrative follows a more episodic format, making the book feel more meandering and meaningless. The Starbabies directly address this by asking “why are we here?”

While the bulk of the story contains themes of exploration and friendship, the main conflict of the story is existential. The drive to find the meaning of life motivates all of the characters’ major actions in the plot. It is the impetus for the Starbabies to leave their newly made home to explore the land. First Star suggests traveling, because “maybe there we’ll find out why we are here, and not in the sky like all the other stars” (page 19). The question is softened from the profound implications of “why do we exist?” by framing the question in terms of “why are we in this land?” or “why are we here and not in the sky?” It should be noted though, that there is little evidence that stars exist as people or are “awake” before they fall and become Starbabies. None of the stars have names before First Star names them, and none seem to have memories of a life before. As First Star wakes up in this land for the first time, the narration comments that he’s slow to open his eyes because “he never had eyes before” (page 9). These framings superficially obscure the existential nature of the question, but the questions are functionally equivalent here.

Not only does this question “what is the purpose of life?” recur through the story and motivate the plot (pages 19, 28, 30, 36, 37, 40-2), it’s also framed as a natural first question to existing. Upon first arriving, Love Star comments “I would love to know why we are all here” (Love Star, page 36), a sentiment echoed by other newly arrived stars. She asks this question before knowing that the four stars (First Star, Lone Star, Lucky Star, and Hungry Star) just returned from their quest to answer that exact question. This stands out as the only aspect of Starbabies’ behavior that is not childlike and adds a strange gravity to the story that’s at odds with the rest of the setting and tone.

The resolution to this plot is that First Star makes a big speech about how the purpose in life is “to be together, and help one another” (First Star, page 41). This reinforces the idea that the question has always been an existential one. Despite the fact that the purpose of a Starbaby’s life is “to be a family” (First Star, page 41), the Starbabies do not come to the answer to “why are we here?” together. They are told by First Star, and “Everyone cheered as First Star gave them the answer” (page 41). There’s an odd dynamic within the group of the Starbabies. Only First Star is afforded meaningful agency in the story. First Star’s unilateral decisions on behalf of all of the Starbabies is justified in text “since after all, he was first” (page 17). This rhetoric evokes the dynamic between siblings. We must remember that the Starbabies are in fact babies. First Star is portrayed as the oldest child, who takes charge and bosses around his younger siblings.

The conclusion of the story leaves the reader with a sense of dissonance. There’s a disconnect between the gravity in the existential question “why are we here?” and the whimsical and silly setting. The answer they come to, one of “togetherness”, is not discovered by the group working together but instead decided by the oldest star. The conclusion of the book feels hollow, incomplete. This unsatisfactory resolution to the major conflict leans heavily on the promise of a sequel, which we sadly never received.



Characters and Fan Art

Here are my character redesigns! They're in order of appearance :)

Bright yellow First Star with blue eyes and a sinister expression, a golen crown, and a ribbon that says 1 Green Lucky Star with clovers all over his body, creases by his lidded eyes, and a little smile - overall a relaxed expression Orange Lone Star wearing a cowboy hat, his iconic belt with the gold 'LS' belt buckle, and a fringed cow print vest. He smiling and looking up and has faint freckles
Blue Hungry Star with a blue swirl design on his belly and over-the-ear headphones. He's smiling with his mouth open, revealing pointed shark teeth Purple Crooked Star has rounded lumps around the edges, light purple swirls and orange flecks on his body. He carries a dark purple crossbody bag White Love Star is covered in red hearts, with red heart freckles. She wears legwarmers and a sweatband for a sporty look
Orange Sad Star wearing a beret and with large blue stylized tears. She has a little smile Hot pink Movie Star with a purple feather boa, a wide brimmed sun hat that has a large white feather. She has stylized eyelashes with dots at the ends Indigo Rock Star wears cool guy sunglasses and has lightning bolts and music notes on his body. He's got a little smirk

Here are some silly doodles I did on an airplane of the stars hanging out using my character redesigns:

A glowing Love Star offers a daisy to a smiling sad star Love Star holding two little snails stacked on top of each other. She looks quietly delighted. Sad Star looking sadly out of a window Hungry star wearing Sad Star’s beret and Sad star wearing hungry star’s headphones. They’re grinning at each other Hungry star and lucky star sleepily leaning against each other. Hungry star has his eyes closed and headphones around his ‘neck’. Lucky star is looking at him. Lucky star and lone star holding brown bubbling bottles and playing cards. Lucky star looks smug and lone star is squinting at him. Labeled with the word Turbulence to explain why the drawing is shaky Crooked star is holding a magician wand and a top hat with a snail emerging from it. Lone star looks delighted at the trick First star looks annoyed as green goo oozes from his crown. Crooked star is laughing at the prank Movie Star is striking a dramatic pose as if she’s going to faint. Rock Star is jamming on a cool angular guitar.

History

The Company

According to this publically available tax information, Wayne Smith founded his own toy company called Uncle Wayne’s Toy Company, Inc. in 1998. The company dissolved in 2003, filing for tax forfeiture (which from what I understand, means the company was forced to disband because they couldn’t pay their taxes). The book Starbabies: The Untold Story of Fallen Stars came out in the year 2000 and had toy tie-ins, possibly planned to accompany the book before it’s publishing (although this is just speculation).


The Website and Merch

The back cover of the book (pictured below) contains a link to a Starbabies website. Unfortunately, the website is no longer running and the snapshots didn’t completely document everything. You can see what is available on the Wayback Machine. There are four pages: the home page, the store page, “Starrywood,” and a mysterious video page. The home page gives you the option to visit the store or Starrywood. Starrywood appears to be very minimal or (more likely) incompletely recorded. There’s a button that leads to some sort of movie (according to the url), but that was also not saved. We may never know what the video contained.

Gold text on a red background that reads: Uncle Wayne's Toy Company Inc. Visit Starbabies at www.starbabies.net

The store page lists the book for sale, as well as seven of the nine stars as plushes. Crooked Star and Sad Star are the only Starbabies that didn't get plushes. The item descriptions include details such as Lone Star having a removable cowboy hat and Hungry Star holding a hot dog and ice cream cone. Delightfully, Lucky Star is 10" compared to the others that are 12" because he's the smallest star. I am devastated that the images weren’t saved for the plushes. I would love (pun intended) to see what Love Star looked like. I’ve found a couple of plushes for sale online: one for Movie Star on Ebay, and one for Rock Star on Poshmark (and also one on Ebay but I can’t find the listing anymore). As of time of writing, there are no active listing I can find for any of the plushes.

Pink plush star with a fluffy boa, blonde hair and a printed-on diamond necklace. Her eyes are hard plastic The same Movie Star plush from the side as she lays on her back. Her star-shaped tag is on display with the original Movie Star art from the book on it A panel of three images of the Rock Star plush: top is from the front, middle is a closeup on his face, and the third is from the back. He has a sprig of rooted hair, hard plastic eyes, an open mouth with a felt tongue, shiny pants, and a red guitar

UPDATE: I found a listing on ebay for the Lucky Star plush!! He's pretty book accurate, star butt and all. Here he is:

A green star plush with emrboidered four leaf clovers, hard plastic eyes, and an open mouth with a felt tongue. He also has a star shaped tag The Lucky Star plush from the back. He has a little rouched butt

He's now mine!! So excited to have a plush of my second favorite star!! I love him.



The Author

The Starbabies book and the incomplete snapshots of the website provide us little information about the author, Wayne Smith. His company was registered in Waxahachie, Texas as a domestic business, so we could guess that he lived in Texas. While it’s little more than speculation, there is a tenuous link between Wayne Smith, author of Starbabies and a local drag queen in Dallas, Texas of the same name. An article in the Dallas Voice quotes the drag queen Wayne Smith as saying that he “had a hit children’s book” and “sold 67,000 toys at Neiman Marcus.” I wasn’t able to verify the Neiman Marcus claim, but these could be in reference to the Starbabies book and associated toys. Additionally, a commenter on that article said, “they forgot to mention that you were a featured author at am appreciation event for your Starbabies book and toy collection in Waxahachie. I still have my Marilyn Star!” This comment directly links this Wayne Smith with the Starbabies author on multiple accounts (referencing the book name, the toys, and the connection to Waxahachie). Wayne Smith specializes in Cher impersonations, and seems to still be performing at a Dallas bar called the Liquid Zoo. I’ll update this section if I get the chance to visit and ask about Starbabies!