ST Bridging the gap between trilogies?

(Mods, if you feel this does not deserve its own thread, or know of it already being discussed extensively somewhere then please lock this thread. I currently did not see it being posted anywhere yet, and thought I would share.)

So yesterday Starwars.com posted this announcement. http://starwars.com/news/announcing-an-exciting-new-array-of-star-wars-childrens-books.html. There are some interesting tidbits. The wording seems to imply that the first work in this new series "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight" will be used to help bridge the gap between the OT and Episode VII. Is that how the rest of you read this? How do you feel abut this news?

 

I wonder the same thing too Darth Punk, but a closer reading would seem to imply otherwise. For starter it mentions the series will start with "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight", and that "other works include" A new Hope, Empire Strikes back, and Return of the Jedi. This is also an interesting line to consider, "bridging the multi-arc storyline in anticipation of the reals of Star Wars: Episode VII." Very possible I am just reading into it to much though.

I am also pretty pumped by the art from Ralph McQuarrie though.

 

Would be awesome if we started to get some Lucasfilm-approved EU before Episode VII to help bridge the gap, but I think we're going to end up just being plopped into the galaxy 30 years after ROTJ and the rest will be up to Abrams.

 

I'd say the Rebels will fit in that description quite well.

 

When the PT came out, it changed how we looked at the OT. Lines from the OT took on new meaning. I wonder if the ST will do the same thing to both the PT and OT? I wonder how it will change things again.

 

That's one thing I would like to see. Not a story completely separated and independent, that introduces new villains and new heroes, but the conclusion of a unified saga, which follows a logical line from the start to the end.

For example we should see why the prophecy was fulfilled in such a strange and unexpected way and who wrote it, and/or maybe what exactly did Yoda mean with "no, there's another". Maybe he wasn't really referring to Leia?

Btw, to remain in-topic, I would love a new story-group approved and canonical EU this soon, but I think we'll have to wait a lot more.

 

this.

 

But Rebels is set between ROTS and ANH, so doesn't really bridge the gap that we need bridged, right?

 

I read it more as bridging a real-world gap. In the video, the Lucasfilm literary boss - I can't remember her name - talked about how there's an entire generation of Star Wars fans who are most familiar with the prequels and The Clone Wars. There was also the one author who said that modern younger viewers don't get into the OT as much because they don't like the effects. So because the sequels will, just by narrative necessity and flow, be far more of a sequel to the OT than the PT, I think Lucasfilm and Disney are really going to market the OT era to those younger audiences and get them invested in it. With the exception of maybe Obi-Wan Kenobi and Palpatine, if those rumors are true, young fans who aren't as familiar with the OT won't have much connection to its characters. Because the prequel characters, by and large, will not be in it.

Smart move, IMO. Lucasfilm and Disney won't want kids feeling like this Star Wars isn't for them, because it doesn't have their favorite characters in it. The OT needs to be hyped up to that crowd. That's one of the benefits of Rebels too, since it will get kids into that era of the saga when they might have otherwise preferred the prequel/Clone Wars era.

So that's the gap that I think they're talking about bridging.

 

That is absolutely true.
I have no idea why I wrote that.

 

You would think they would also do a animation of Luke/Leia kids and young jedi from the New Jedi order series to introduce them to young Star War fans.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that happened sometime in the next few years. It won't serve as an introduction, but a show set between Jedi and Episode VII would be a great way to tell the story of what happened in those 30 years. The Big 3 could even be voice actors for their characters.

 

I doubt they'll do something like that.
Every single thing, no matter how small it could be, would give a hint to Ep 7. Even a mention of a Republic, the Jedi or state of the galaxy whatever it is would quite ruin that element of surprise we'd experience in December 2015.
My scenario would be; no new EU things until after Ep 7.

Yes, but they shoud be careful with that. There's changing perspective with the PT to the OT, and there's that ever threatening retcon thing.

 

Has there been any word or rumor of a re-re-re-rerelease of the OT in the theaters in order to help introduce those characters to younger fans?

 

I agree seeing the Ralph McQuarrie work will be fantastic - though I can't imagine there is anything we haven't already seen.

But to answer your question, yes I think you're overthinking it. These are childrens' books. They are calling Luke a "Jedi Knight" as sort of an all-encompassing term. I highly doubt they are doing so as a way of highlighting the difference between the Luke Skywalker of E4 versus E5 versus E6 versus the post-E6 GFFA.

 

You may be right, but the director isn't the only one who has a say in how a 150- or 200-million-dollar blockbuster is marketed. Abrams is an employee, and I think his bosses are going to want to prepare the ground somehow with the non-hardcore contingent. Not everyone is even aware of the Clone Wars or Rebels. We here on this board may be paying more attention to this movie production than we would pay to our country being at war, but to many people, the last Star Wars-related thing that happened was in 2005.

I wouldn't expect something like the Clone Wars microseries that ties directly into the opening scene of Episode VII, but I also don't think Disney is going to want to just go trailer, poster, cover of the soundtrack album, movie. There's going to be some kind of campaign targeting the kind of people who don't search for Star Wars on Google, and that campaign is going to have some content about the film. I would expect stories and information to trickle out slowly but steadily, with the intention of keeping Episode VII on the front of as many websites as possible, as much as possible.

 

Darth Plagueis is the only bridge between trilogies that we need

 

Sorry if this is off-topic, but I'm legitimately curious about this since I see it all over the JC Boards.

What's the deal with the "Darth Plagueis in Episode VII" movement? Why do people want to see that?

 

There is like 600 pages of arguments of pros and cons for that in the "Who's the baddie" thread

 

That's so true, what is funny is that the arguements repeat every 30-50 pages because no one wants to read up all that. It would be way simpler to put all the pro's-cons into a new thread and make it a sticky and rename the Baddie thread to "Who's the Baddie (except Darth Plagueis)...

 

Moreover, I recall back before the Episode VII board split into the 7SA and 7NSA, that there was once a "Darth Plagueis in the ST" thread that the mods eventually decided to merge with the Baddie thread due to overlap. Before that I recall Plagueis-centric discussions only being focused on in the associated thread, but now the Baddie thread is the be-all end-all place for all of these discussions, and as the most recent "Who's the Baddie?" poll proved, a good portion of the community here (around 40%) like Plagueis to be the main villain.

With the story of his actual "death" now a part of "Legends" (ironic, since the "Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise" was referred to as a legend by Palpatine), I imagine support for Plagueis as the villain would be as strong as ever.

 

Indeed. Plagueis is so powerful that he's even managed to take over a thread about OT-themed children's books.

 

Disney put the last rerelease cycle on hold when they acquired Lucasfilm, so I doubt it.

It's probably because there's really no other major villain that has a chance of becoming the uber-villain in the ST.

I think Abrams will opt to develop a new super-villain, but if that's true, there's not really much to discuss at this point. Hence Plagueis getting a big thread.