Lit The theoretical upside to a *new* EU

Mechalich the big problem I see with them just marking a cut-off point somewhere before TUF is Anakin Solo.

If the story isn't set after NJO, and he's not in it, then you lose 99% of what came before as well, so it's really all or nothing. They could perhaps say his full name was John Anakin Solo, but I'd be sceptical if they'd even bother keeping three kids if they go the reboot way.

 

Ok, I see what u mean. Yeah well thats inevitable in any franchise that gets large enough isn't it?
There's only so many themes and plotlines you can make before repeating yourself

 

Zorrixor

Ah, but the thing is, anyone and anything, up to and including whole planets, can simply be destroyed in the period between whatever cut-off point is chosen and the ST.

None of the Solo children were important characters (save in their status of MacGuffins to be stolen from their parents) prior to the NJO (this is discounting the young reader materials but...yeah). They can mysteriously die and therefore not be in the Sequel trilogy and their parents and friends can be over it by then and all problems dissapear.

Luke, Han, and Leia (and Lando, Chewie, Wedge and any other popular holdovers) are almost guaranteed to not play any truly major roles in the ST. In small supporting roles and/or cameo appearances their backstories can be left unexplored.

 

And the different stories thing - Star Wars is a whole universe. You've got thousands of planets and years. Not all good stories happen within 50 years of the movies. We can leave Luke, we can leave the Jedi even, and still have interesting stories.

 

I think it's an all-or-nothing proposition. I can't see them having things piecemeal, when so many works reference other works, and rely on setups and whatnot. Sure they have pretty thoroughly covered many aspects of life and war in the GFFA, but at the same time, what if we could return to those first days, with a cohesiveness to the entire universe? What if they could really dig into the Qui-Gon-mentoring-Yoda and maybe Luke as well thing? I LOVE my EU. But I'm yearning for a return to the storytelling that could happen of a young Luke Skywalker without having to conform to 21+ years of books and comics.

 

I wonder about the Old Republic era...

 

I am practically a Bantam purist, besides the NJO, the Clone Wars multimedia project, and several novels set around the films. I am constantly getting a "been there, done that" vibe from TCW in relation to the Clone Wars multimedia project, when the multimedia project already showed a lot of what happened in between AotC and RotS only to be reduced to a footnote.

 

My thoughts. Bantam fell into a rut with captrue the Solo kids, another world killing imperial device, another Moff or Admiral villian. Some broke the mold. I, Jedi, Rogue Squadron, and Thrawn. (Thrawn being the ultimate Moff/Admiral villian) Del Rey was fresh with NJO. Now they are in a rut when it comes to the galactice linear story telling of LotF and FotJ. I think they may have figured it out for Crucible and SotJ, because of novels like Crosscurrent, Riptide, and Scourge. Small scale problem, small scale cast, keep focus on characters, get inside relationships of characters.

While I am NOT for rebooting the EU...
I'm ALL for redirecting it from Galactic conflict to Jedi running missions. Valin Horn saves Corellia from Hutts with Syal Antilles and a Selonian, gets Blood Stripes. Izal Waz has dedicated his life to fighting the Spice Drug Ring. Sothais Saar wants to shut down slavery. Ben and a few young Jedi go on a vaction to a planet. Get in a whole mess.

I'd love to see the authors challenge themselves. No one speak to a wookiee or a droid, I don't know how to write their dialouge. Let's just make a throw away character and give him no back story, phyisical description, or motivation. Let's bounce around unfocused across the galaxy.

No how about:
I want my dramatis personae to not feature a Solo or Skywalker, and have less than 12 characters on it.
I want to keep the entire plot confined within one Star System, Nar Shada/Nal Hutta?
I want to develop a romance between two characters that aren't Skywalker or Solos.
I want to include a Wookiee in my cast.
I want to create a new character and give the reader a reason to love them.

Thrawn trilogy wasn't amazing because of Luke Han or Leia. It was amazing because of Thrawn, Mara Jade, Talon Karde, and Noghri. New characters we were given reason to love. Not every series can be a Thrawn series. But if you get away from the Big 3, every series has room to breathe. No reason to avoid the Post ROtJ EU at all. Just avoid Skywalkers and Solos...

 

A new EU is inevitable, and it will produce some "EU schizophrenia" in the SW fan world. With the release of new movies, 7-9 and possibly more, there will at least be books written for the periods in between the movies. "What happens with _____, the cool new character in VII, in between VII and VIII?" Those novels will spawn more books and games and other stuff. Then almost certainly more books will be written after Ep. IX.

There will be two "EU's", no more, no less. (hehe)

 

Or Ben and Jaina are just absent from the movies then they turn around and rejoin the cool characters from the ST

 

I love the EU, and in some ways I would hate to see a reboot. It is the emphasis on one single continuity which differentiated Star Wars from Star Trek. But at the same time, there are certain benefits to a reboot. It would be nice to see a more consistent continuity with the PT, and a reboot might get some new readers who aren't able to get into the Post ROTJ EU due to how overwhelming the amount of material is.

Personally, I would love to see another Thrawn trilogy, once again see Luke rebuild the Jedi order, etc. I loved the stories the first time around, and would enjoy them a second time, especially utilizing the post-OT developments. I didn't just enjoy the films once, but still watch them frequently. A novelized story can be enjoyed repeatedly in the same way. And again, this might bring new readers into the stories; it isn't just about us, those fans who have actually taken the time to read 100+ novels.

It would certainly be a welcome change to erase everything post NJO. I grew to care about the second generation almost as much as Luke, Han & Leia, but for whatever reason the EU ruined and/or killed all of those characters: Anakin, Jacen, Tahiri, etc. If wiping out LOTF and FOTJ means a total reboot, that might be best.

 

Well, if you say so.

 

I am one who actually enjoyed the PT, despite all of its flaws.

 

If they reboot... things I'd like to see. Thrawn Trilogy... Keep YJK if using Solo kids, or make the same thing for the new character, Jedi Academy, the Jedi Outcast videogames would have to stay the same... I'd love to see the Vong hit the galaxy over the course of a trilogy, but handled in a better manner. I'd love for the Jedi Order to be smaller. Only ST characters plus fan favorites...

 

Just because Disney now own Star Wars doesn't mean there gonna start changing things left, right and centre and say '' Oh to hell with what's already in the continuity we'll just pretend that part NEVER HAPPENED ''. Lucasfilm have always made it their primary cause to make epic stories and maintain continuity whether it be the films or the EU. And even though Disney now own Star Wars '' yes they can bring in new writers or even make a few suggestions here and there'' they don't have the final say in what happens in the stories, the hard working minds at lucasfilm do.

 

Do we even know where the new movies plan to start in the timeline? I would prefer if they started after the NJO. For all its flaws, the NJO was at least different from the Jedi vs Sith all the time.

 

As long as Corran Horn, Thrawn, and Mara Jade are in a rebooted EU, I'll be happy.



oh... and Dorsk 81

 

and Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors

 

Anyone thinking that SotJ is a convenient device to get the contraversial, baggage-hauling, EU characters (Jaina, Ben, Allana and Tahiri) out of the way of the ST, so that (maybe) there doesn't need to be a reboot? We don't know what, if anything, Troy Denning may have been instructed to put in Apocalypse, or what Crucible is all about; but (sorry to bang on about it yet again) wrapping up Luke's (and perhaps Leia's) story with installation on Mortis in Ep IX would be a nice, ethereal, Force-balancing and full-Prophecy fulfilling wrap-up to the trilogy of trilogies. IMHO, anyway.

PS, please don't bite my head off!

 

Oh, if they do a reboot... you just know the fan favorites will return (Horn, Jade, Wedge, Tycho, Jaina, Jacen, and so forth). We'll demand them. But imagine this scenario...

1. Chewie shows up in VII therefore taking out all of the NJO, LoTF, FoTJ, and so forth as they're something of a continuous block.
2. New previously unknown (and younger) children of the Solos or Skywalkers appear in the continuity (say 20 is a good age for a protagonist, not 30).
3. There is no mention of the GFFA, Vong, One Sith, Aboleth, or Lost Tribe.

Do any of those things mean Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo do not exist? Nope. Do any of those things mean that Ben Skywalker isn't around? Nope. Do any of those things mean Mara Jade, Jacen Solo, and Anakin Solo are still dead? Nope. Do any of those things mean previously established relationships don't exist? Nope.

HELLO WORLD! THIS COULD BE GLORIOUS! Everyone gets a second chance!

In that environment I give Timothy Zahn... two, maybe three years to produce a new EU Mara / Luke adventure. Stackpole will write up some awesome bridging material for Corran Horn and maybe another X-wing. Aaron Allston releases a new book focusing on the suddenly very much alive Solo kids and new Jedi Order. Maybe they'll get some fresh blood and so forth. There are tons of stories we've not been told about... You know Mara Jade and Kyle Katarn's reciprocal apprenticeship from Mysteries of the Sith? How did that start? All sorts of things for us to be entertained by.

Of course there could be fan upset if Lucas specifically says certain things are a no-no... I mean, Lucas could make Luke a 60 year old celibate Jedi Master (*Mara Jade Skywalker fans cringe*), Han and Leia divorced (*Everyone Cringes*), attachments are denied all Jedi (*all New Jedi Order fans cringe*), or something worse... At this point everything remains up in the air.

 

I doubt it... it's possible that Lucas gave some pointers to the Del Rey people as to where he was going to go... but considering the reaction of most writers (Timothy Zahn describes himself as being in a fog of shock still from the Episode VII announcement) there has been no communication between Lucas and the post-RoTJ EU writers. I think Apocalypse and Crucible are designed to tie up Del Rey's run, much like the Hand of Thrawn duology did for Bantam. This does not mean they'll be a good jump-off point for Episode VII. In fact, I really doubt it.

 

Not if they do it in the way I suggested (maybe find him alive in Crucible). The presumed-(but not actually)-dead returning are a staple of fiction - aren't they (remember Sherlock Holmes)? A main, and much loved, character in Mercy Kill? Heck, Agatha Christie even used it (and for the ending's final Big Reveal, at that) in Secret of Chimneys! Others as well.

And do you think anyone will howl at Chewie's return (no matter how badly it's written or how contrived it seems)? I really don't think so -- not after the author that was tasked with 'killing' him off was sent Death Threats! Probably a weight off his conscience too!

If it's going to Mortis for the ending, then there are ten (un-named) Jedi, of unknown ages, out there searching for it already -- they would make very good protagonists for the ST, don't you think? Blank slate, no baggage, protagonists.

[....]

The beauty of the above scenario is that absolutely nothing ot the above has to be seen (or mentioned) on-screen, therefore the ST doesn't conflict with the EU, and contrariwise.

 

That's not how it works now. Lower tier continuiity conforms to higher tier continuity. Not saying it's the ideal, but it's what happens. See, for example, the Greedo in TCW being the same as the Greedo in ANH because Lucas said so, even if there's no on-screen references to it.

 

Games have to be given some leeway, though. If the games only showed the Battle of Hoth as shown in the movies, Hoth levels of games would be pretty short. Just fly out, take a shot at an AT-AT, realize you need to use tow cables, use said tow cable, get shot down...

 

No less exciting than the rest of the Battle of Hoth.