Opinions on the "Far Out EU"?

I call it the "Far Out EU". The stuff that doesn't really have anything to do with the 6 movies of the saga. I'm talking about like the Rakata, or Darth Krayt's Empire.

What's your opinion on this EU? Interesting or dumb? Important or just another random thing someone created?

Discuss!

 

Like, far out, man...

 

Interesting

 

That just made my day. Thank you

 

Rakata, interesting. Darth Krayt's Empire...dumb.

Of course, YMMV.

 

I really like the Darth Bane trilogy. I've also been enjoying "Dawn of the Jedi." So far all of the post-ROTJ EU doesn't sound like I'd enjoy it, at all, so I keep away from that.

 

THE POWER OF WARU COMPELS YOU.

Yeah, the great Church of Waru has no equals.

 

Darth Krayt's Empire is awesome. I think it's the best EU depiction of a Sith society. A lot of the young Jedi knight novels I could have done without, but NJO, DNT, LOTF and Legacy are all great works in my opinion.

 

I've not read anything beyond Survivor's Quest. I have no interest in the Yuzzah Vong or anything after it. I think the EU as a whole jumped the shark with Vector Prime.

 

Moving to Lit. Saga is for discussion of just that-the six (now nine) films and interconnecting themes between them. The EU, not so much.

 

I've come to greatly prefer EU works that fall under this "far out" category, if we are going to use that phrase. Slavish adherence to the themes, setting, lines, and motifs of the films is positively boring, and kind of defeats the point of an EU. That's part of why I adore the NJO- while it utilized the characters from the films, it told its own story that stood on its own, utilized its own themes, and attempted to actually do something new and great with the Star Wars universe, rather than the umpteenth "superweapons, kidnapping and Empires, oh my!" plot. It's an "Expanded" Universe, not a "worship the movies with every drop of ink" universe.

 

Like with everything there are good points (Rakata, Great Sith War, Vergere, etc.) and bad points (Abeloth, The Ones, Waru, etc.) For the most part I enjoy the "Far Out EU", and there are some novels with concepts that i'd rather read about instead of watching the movies. The movies at the end of the day are always limited in scope. They can only tell and show so much. A novel however doesn't have that problem. As long as the writer explains their concepts well enough anyways.

 

This is the best endorsement of the NJO series. I read every essentially every Bantam book from the time HTE came out, and by the end I was worn out by the abovementioned flaws of most of those novels. At this point I only hold onto a handful of EU novels. By the time Vector Prime came out, I was spent, but lately I've been thinking of going back and giving the Del Rey books a try. This endorsement helps.

 

The Katarn raise its Kyle to your Waru.

 

I raise with the Creator of All, Lord Daiman. He's a new guy but he has potential.

 

I tend to find it's where the best EU product is now located:

Legacy
Knight Errant
Dawn of the Jedi
Lost Tribe of the Sith
KOTOR

If you're after something different and often daring yet still SW this is the place to go.

 

By and large, it's pretty awesome

 

I vastly prefer over stuff tied too much into the movies.

 

Im a huge fan of the "far out EU" for many reasons, some of which are listed above. DarthJenari said it best. The movies can only go so far to show you something, where as the novels can describe much more than can be shown. I actually prefer to read my stories rather than watch them, altho I wont complain if I am watching them.

 

Legacy is in Danger.

But Kotor, Dawn of the Jedi and the like are perfectly fine.

 

Presumably 'Far Out' referss to EU material located at points in the timeline sufficently distant from the films to completely avoid any direct references whatsoever.

Inherently such works have a greater degree of narrative freedom, and character freedom as well, than the more obviously derivative works bracketed around the films themselves. This has a number of advantages and has resulted in some very good stories.

I do, however, think that medium matters in this regard. A huge part of the Star Wars appeal is the iconic visuals. Video games and comics have had considerable success transfering the same sort of visual inspiration to new eras, creating awesome new designs and sequences that still have fabulous Star Wars feel. The novels...not so much. Star Wars novels are generally written in a fast-paced style with relatively low descriptive content and have trouble hitting the visual high notes in a way that compares to the films. The tend to do better when they can borrow designs (of spacecraft, of aliens, even of planets) from the films (or perhaps from other visual media such as TCW) to let the reader reference what they are trying to say. Of course, so far only a handful of novels, at least, truly exist outside the temporal arc fo the films - the Darth Bane books and a few Old Republic novels mostly. So not a tremendous amount of exposure.

 

How is Legacy in danger?

 

Sequel Trilogy.

Legacy, unfortunately, is the EU most at risk.

Let's just hope a descendant of Luke Skywalker exists/survives, the Imperial Remnants survives, Jag and Jaina exist and are married, and nothing completely chaotic happens like blowing up Coruscant.

 

I like energy shields and vibro blades ect so the KOTOR era appeals to me. But, the Far Out EU likes trying to 1 up the Movie content and can create overpowered abominations at times which can become annoying.

 

To be fair-the can always just stretch the timeline after the sequels if stuff like that happens. Jag and Jaina? Born after. Imperial remnant? Rebuilt during a period of weakness, or is more like the CIS-created by the Sith, but Roan surprises them and isn't their patsy.