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

Good-bye EU as we knew it. You have been "Star Trekked"

Discussion in 'Denver, CO' started by DieWompRatDie, Apr 25, 2014.

  1. DieWompRatDie

    DieWompRatDie Former RSA star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Dec 2, 2008
    So it sounds like Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU) books/comics/video games up to this point are being politely, but reverently, set aside and called "Legends" in order to make way for new canon.
    Wow.

    StarWars.com Press release and video: http://starwars.com/news/the-legendary-star-wars-expanded-universe-turns-a-new-page.html.

    The video was basically a eulogy for the EU.

    I knew something would have to happen with all the EU and I'm sure this will anger many EU fans, but as a long-time reader who has read pretty much everything in the EU, this will take some time to digest. It doesn't diminish my love for Star Wars EU, but now I will always have this schism in my brain.

    I'm sad to see the EU be "put on the shelf" and hopefully it won't be disregarded by future fans, but I suspect that's what will happen. The stories were still great reads and a fun part of my childhood and I still pick up every comic and novel that comes out. Does them not being a part of canon diminish the stories, characters and events? Not in any way. I say bring on new SW movies and I will enjoy all aspects of the galaxy far, far away.
     
  2. DieWompRatDie

    DieWompRatDie Former RSA star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Dec 2, 2008
    More announcements for Star Wars books today! It's totally a mixed bag for us EU lovers today. They have created and amazing sandwich of good-bad-good today: A eulogy video featuring many SW authors and Lucasfilm personalities, told us that EU books are now no longer canon, but "Legends" and now finished off with four tasty morsels of new novels on the horizon.

    Star Wars: Rebels: A New Dawn - September 2014

    Star Wars: Tarkin - November 2014

    Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi - January 2015

    Star Wars: Lords of the Sith - March 2015

    The covers look awesome and we're firmly in the era of the OT with these books.

    http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2014/04/tarkin-heir-to-jedi-and-lords-of-sith.html
     
  3. DieWompRatDie

    DieWompRatDie Former RSA star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Dec 2, 2008
    I'm cautiously optimistic, but excited at the same time.
     
  4. SITH__CHICK

    SITH__CHICK Former RMFF CR star 7

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    Mar 25, 2002
    Not sure why you said Star Trekked still? I really don't like them being mashed up or compared to each other. Two complete different animals in my world.
     
  5. TIEPilot051999

    TIEPilot051999 Jedi Master star 7

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    Mar 27, 2002
    It's because this announcement does to Star Wars what the JJ films did to Star Trek: break away from the established continuity in order to tell a new version of the story. Only unlike that break, which managed to keep the previous stories as canon, this throws away the established work for no good reason whatsoever.
     
  6. DieWompRatDie

    DieWompRatDie Former RSA star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Dec 2, 2008

    True on my comparison, TIEpilot. It was a rebooting of the universe. Although I guess it isn't completely accurate since JJ's reboot pretty much did away with what came before and this "reboot" isn't throwing it all away since they say in the press release that they will keep and borrow elements from EU v1 (or whatever it ends up being called).

    Their not throwing it away so much as putting it out to pasture to graze and not expecting that "canon" to hold up anymore. That horse had its day, but they have a new stallion now...how's that for a new metaphor?!?
     
  7. QueenHighMistress

    QueenHighMistress Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 8, 2005
    That's a terrible metaphor. :p

    It's just another alternate reality. If you've read comics from DC or Marvel for any decent length if time, this is not a new concept.
     
  8. Cushing's Admirer

    Cushing's Admirer Chosen One star 7

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    Jun 8, 2006
    It may not be a new concept or unexpected but it is a slap in the face to many people.
     
  9. QueenHighMistress

    QueenHighMistress Jedi Master star 4

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    May 8, 2005
    Didn't say it wasn't; I've read a good deal of EU myself and am not all that thrilled about losing the Zahn books, especially. Just offering a different analogy than DWRD's bad horse (you see what I did there?) metaphor.
     
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  10. Cushing's Admirer

    Cushing's Admirer Chosen One star 7

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    Jun 8, 2006
    Just a difference of view. It happens.
     
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  11. DieWompRatDie

    DieWompRatDie Former RSA star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Dec 2, 2008
    Once the announced Ep. 7, it was strongly thought that they would deviate in some way from the EU. This conflict of canon was inevitable.

    Yeah, I've been reading Marvel ever since I was a wee lad and am familiar with all their timeline, reboot shenanigans...which isn't as horrific as the multi-verse-isastor that is DC overall. A big reason I don't set foot in that "continuity." I just didn't quite expect if from my Star Wars EU. I think they made the right decision and there could have been much worse decisions they could have made. They could have chucked it all out with total disregard and angered many fans, but they intimated that it's still valuable and, by that insinuation, still worth reading.

    It's a popular opinion to bag on many of the EU novels, but there are real gems out there besides the Thrawn trilogy. To me, those are some of the same fans who say that the SW movies have been all downhill since ANH... Like Cushing says, a difference of view.
     
  12. Cushing's Admirer

    Cushing's Admirer Chosen One star 7

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    Jun 8, 2006
    I pretty much expected this as well but it doesn't mean I like it. Ah, well. It's happened now.
     
  13. TIEPilot051999

    TIEPilot051999 Jedi Master star 7

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    Mar 27, 2002
    No, it didn't. They had dialogue in the film that says that the two can continue to exist.

    I'd rather say that the more accurate metaphor is that the old but somewhat still reliable horse is getting shot in the back of the head because the owners bought a new horse for no reason other than because they had the money and said "why not?"
     
  14. QueenHighMistress

    QueenHighMistress Jedi Master star 4

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    May 8, 2005
    There were some other gems, true, but I stopped reading EU novels when Chewie died; I basically lost interest at that point and had a lot of non-SW reading I wanted to get to. I liked Children of the Jedi a lot, even though the PT basically shredded that one as far as continuity.

    DC's continuity problems get worse every time they get "fixed." But I like the way Marvel handles its multiverse. Here's hoping SW can do as well.
     
  15. nnaydolem

    nnaydolem Jedi Master star 6

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    Nov 8, 2002
  16. TIEPilot051999

    TIEPilot051999 Jedi Master star 7

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    Mar 27, 2002
  17. DieWompRatDie

    DieWompRatDie Former RSA star 4 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Dec 2, 2008

    Always in motion, the force is...sorry to hear that tie. The three upcoming novels that they announced set during the OT don't excite you? It is difficult, yes, for what they did to the existing EU, but what's coming up should be exciting in and of itself...
     
  18. TIEPilot051999

    TIEPilot051999 Jedi Master star 7

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    Mar 27, 2002
    To be honest, this is the way I've been feeling for a long time now. LOTF and FOTJ left a bad taste in my mouth, and even though I came to love Clone Wars (or could more easily ignore how much it trampled canon), I never really forgave it for the aforementioned trampling. And no, the new novels don't excite me. The last good novels I read were Crucible and Mercy Kill. (Haven't gotten Lockdown, Razor's Edge or Honor Among Thieves yet, and doubt I will now. Incidentally, am I the only one amused by the fact that, thanks to this new edict, there's now a trilogy out there that's only considered one-third canon?)