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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit How do you feel/what are going to do when 'the new canon/EU' hits the shelves?

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Darth_Calgmoth, Feb 25, 2014.

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  1. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    Read what I said very carefully.

    Let's say that, post Ep VII, a new novel comes out set in the Rebellion Era. Will LFL

    (a) say that the "pre-ROTJ EU is strictly canon and you must adhere to it"
    (b) say "Make sure you don't contradict the OT, otherwise do what you want"

    I assure you it'll be much, much of the latter than the former.

    Also, the character prequels aren't rumors, only which characters and in what order. I can guarantee that they'll be doing pre-ROTJ material in there.
     
  2. jacktherack

    jacktherack Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 2008
    Considering a ton of Eu novels have contradicted each other due to the massive amounts of Eu out there. i don't think i'll have much to worry about. Also where is your source that says they will be doing Post Rotj movies?
     
  3. BigAl6ft6

    BigAl6ft6 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Nov 12, 2012
    Ep 7's influence on the post ROTJ EU would be carnage, bloodbath and chaos to canon and continuity. Dogs and cats, living together. Mass hysteria. The EU for OT-PT-pre-TPM bloodbath by Rebels/spin off movies would be relatively minimal in comparison. You have to dig fairly deep and detailed into the pre-ROTJ timeline to render things like "The Approaching Storm" or the first "Knights of the Old Republic" game non-canon.
     
  4. Duguay

    Duguay Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2002
    I don't feel anxiety over the possibility of a new version of the EU. I'm not throwing out my old books, as I read them and therefore experienced them; so in a sense they will still have happened. And now will be followed by whatever new EU will have happened. It will be like looking at different versions of the Arthur and Camelot story; I can't begin to try and fit the Merlin miniseries together with The Sword in the Stone cartoon and see how they match up with the Clive Owen movie. If Star Wars is our own modern day Camelot legend, able to be renewed and retold, that can't be a bad thing.

    Also, in a sense a "New" EU is being released right now, in the form of an older source material: the comic adaptation of Star War's rough draft, The Star Wars. The Star Wars is it's own continuity, and can leave us imagining all the possibilities of a different universe beyond the pages we are shown. And that's just the rough draft. Each subsequent draft has its own promise of a vastly different EU, and even the shooting script and finished first movie still leads to at least one vastly different version of The Empire Strikes Back...and so on.

    I'm sympathetic. I've been down this road with Doctor Who, seen novels I've read contradicted by new material. I've written out my own version of how I thought The Clone Wars, Obi-Wan and Anakin's story were going to unfold as a reaction to the Prequels, and at last have come to terms with the Prequels, made peace with them, and am now happily reading and enjoying novels that draw strongly from the Prequel's depiction of Star War's backstory (though there is no rest when it comes to keeping the OT above the special editions, in my heart). I wish everyone the best in their journey for happiness while this cherish franchise goes through the changes that are coming.
     
  5. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    See, I can't help but see this as mangling the terms to the EU's detriment! X-Wing et al is surely best classed as "further adventures" and that's that. Spin-offs, again tends to have a more defined meaning than stories set centuries or millennia earlier.

    That's got to be the most nebulous definition of "tie-in" I've ever seen!
     
  6. Jango_Fett21

    Jango_Fett21 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 9, 2002

    Then you clearly didn't bother reading the Wikipedia article I linked to.

    Therefore, I'm going to bring some relevant parts of it to you.

     
  7. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Funny you omitted this part, as that's what I'd suggest the popular understanding of the term is!


    But all of this is by the by, the only objection I have to the term is people using it to downgrade or dismiss what has been a highly unique undertaking for the last 20 years!
     
  8. Darth_Calgmoth

    Darth_Calgmoth Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Jul 7, 2006
    I'd describe every post-Endor-EU publication as a 'tie-out' publication...

    But anyway, it's a valid point that a Star Wars novel keeps the brand alive in the eyes of the customers, but most EU novels and comics never were intimately connected to the core of the Star Wars brand (which would be the two trilogies, and nothing else), and a valid point can be made that the Star Wars EU became a brand in itself over the last decades, especially since it got it's own 'tie-in stuff' with source books, history books, and guides to its various contents.

    The market for these products may be much smaller, but it is (or was) there.

    A to the continuity problems in general:

    TCW proved how easy it is to disregard established canon and lore. Many inconsistencies within the EU are mostly due to bad writing, sloppy research, and bad editing on the side of the authors/editors. But TCW has written a large 'I/We don't care about the established Clone Wars continuity' over it, just as CW before it (although it seems that Genndy was not told all that much about LOE and the Republic comics).
    We can reasonably assume that this will be the attitude the creators of any new SW material - be that the ST, Rebels, midquels, movies about 'core characters', or any 'new EU stuff' - will have towards the old stuff.

    It may be occasionally interesting to see a new idea deleting old canon that was not particularly liked by (many) people. For instance, I like the whole 'neutrality angle' TCW brought to the major corporations. I also don't miss Traviss' take on the Mandalarions. And I'm sure no one would weep if LOTF would disappear into thin air.

    But we won't be able to pretend that the old stuff fits (or is supposed to fit) with the new stuff. Just as it's not possible to pretend that the Marvel comics are generic part of the later Bantam/Dark Horse EU. Parts of it are referenced, and parts of it don't openly contradict newer stuff, but it's very difficult to imagine that all that really happened. Mostly because many characters the Marvel series created never appeared outside the series (and the one who rose to prominence later on, Lumiya, was actually very much killed in the last Marvel issue).
     
  9. blackmyron

    blackmyron Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2005
    I've heard a rumor that they're planning something called (tentatively) Episode VII, to be set "Post Rotj". But I admit that's mere speculation.

    More importantly, where are you getting this "pre-ROTJ EU won't be touched" nonsense? Because we've had a direct quote from a Story Group member about how stuff that isn't on the screen isn't canon. Or did you forget what sparked all of this?
     
  10. Jango_Fett21

    Jango_Fett21 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 9, 2002
    Even by that definition, the EU still qualifies as 'tie-in' material, so your attempt to debunk my statement of fact fails.


    Calling the EU 'tie-in' material isn't 'downgrading' or 'dismissing' anything; it's making a statement of fact.

    Canonical or otherwise, the EU has always been 'tie-in' material.
     
  11. Ackbar's Fishsticks

    Ackbar's Fishsticks Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2013
    Sadly, this. Like I said: it wouldn't be hard to leave at least a good chunk of the EU intact (everything between ROTJ and the NJO, for sure, there's no reason to throw out). I just really doubt that the people in charge will give enough of a kark to set these guidelines (which from their POV isn't unreasonable considering that Lucas stopped caring in recent years too). If I turn out to be wrong, well, please feel free to say I-told-you-so, and I'll be thrilled to have been wrong.
     
  12. Boba Frett

    Boba Frett Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 21, 1999
    How I fundamentally understand the movies, characters and universe as a whole is very tied to the EU, and has been since I first read Heir to the Empire all the way back in 1991. It's hard to change your concept after so many years of programming and incremental investments.
     
  13. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    This. ^:)^=D=
     
  14. DarthBarrister

    DarthBarrister Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 16, 2014
    Yep. It's why I will continue to buy and read the current EU, and why I am hoping that it doesn't go out of print. And also why I haven't exactly gotten into the newer Star Trek stuff. And why when they announced JJ Abrams would be involved I clenched up quite a bit.
     
  15. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    There is.... no..... new Trek stuff. Really, New Trek = the 2 films, that's it. The Star Trek books remain old Trek!
     
  16. DarthBarrister

    DarthBarrister Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 16, 2014
    Maybe, but I still miss the old school numerical novels.
     
  17. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Well, if you're going that far back, the last of those was 2001/2!

    The more important point is there's a whole load of really good Trek books and they've now got JJM writing for them!
     
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  18. DarthBarrister

    DarthBarrister Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 16, 2014
    True. Maybe I'll pick them up one day, but I'm still on Star Wars reading binge. :D
     
  19. Volderon

    Volderon Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 23, 2007
    I haven't bought a Star Wars book since Apocalypse. I have no desire to read any more. I burned out heavily on the novels but I still read the odd Dark Horse comic series. So no, I won't be getting any new novels unless there is something that is an absolute must read and gets amazing reviews. Plus I really don't feel like getting invested in a new continuity. I'm gonna love the movies but thats about it for me. Plenty of other literature out there!
     
  20. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    As you're still on the comics:

    Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void
    Knight Errant
    Lost Tribe of the Sith Omnibus
    Kenobi

    And, in the wake of recent news:

    X-Wing: Mercy Kill

    These all deserve a look and are a galaxy away from the likes of Apocalypse!
     
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  21. Volderon

    Volderon Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 23, 2007
    Ah yes I've tried DOTJ first two arcs but never got into it. It's very...different and I heard the third arc is not very good...massive time jump etc. No desire to read the book though, the time period doesn't interest me, I thought it would after the first two arcs but nothing really stuck with me. Knight Errant was good for a little bit but again, never got into it enough. I tried reading the book but I never finished it as well but it was written well. I loved the crap out of Legacy volume 1 and have all 50 issues plus War. Getting the second volume as well.

    I've read LTOTS and it was pretty good and I do want to read Kenobi.
     
  22. Jedi Ben

    Jedi Ben Chosen One star 9

    Registered:
    Jul 19, 1999
    Fair enough. If you're after something different in EU terms though, I'd still suggest giving the DOTJ book a whirl - it's pretty much independent of the comics too.

    Oh, by the by, have no plans to read either LOTF (only read Betrayal then bailed) or FOTJ but got on just fine with X-Wing Mercy Kill.
     
  23. AdmiralWesJanson

    AdmiralWesJanson Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 23, 2005
    I plan to see what they do with Mara Jade and a few other favorite characters, then just see if it results in good stories and art. Thanks to being a Warhammer 40K fan, and the poor quality of much of the mainline EU post NJO, I'm pretty much reacting to a NuEU, reboot, parallel EU, or whatever with a shrug. Unless they make a Mara-clone for Ep 7 and give her another name. That would piss me off.
     
  24. Zeta1127

    Zeta1127 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    There can be no "new" EU to me, because I am more invested in people as simple as Kinnin Vo-Shay, Fenig Nabon, and Ghitsa Dogder than anything they could come up with to "replace" it.
     
  25. Revanfan1

    Revanfan1 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 3, 2013
    I'll continue to buy it. I am an unconditional Star Wars fan–my fandom does not rely on them continuing to use a base storyline or set of characters? Would I love for them to continue the current EU (and improve it; though without Allston that would basically require Luceno and Stover to come in and renovate things massively)? Sure. But I have known they wouldn't practically since the announcement of the ST, and I've come to terms with it. If it stinks, then fine. But I'll at least be giving it a chance first because I'm a fan of this franchise as a whole and I want to support it to the best of my ability.
     
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