ST Official Sequel Trilogy / Legends / Expanded Universe discussion thread

Aw that's just mean...

 

Not trying to be mean but the truth hurts. Plus it would amount to the same thing, fan-fiction. Only I would save you a trip to Barnes & Nobel because gas is expensive . Disney/LFL did the smart thing, wipe out the EU and use a few good ideas here and there.

 

It may be a sting to people who spent the better part of the last 2 and a half decades investing in and following the EU. Listen, I was part of that, I read a good number of Star Wars novels. I enjoyed quite a few of them and I disliked a good deal of them as well. There were positive and negative aspects to the EU just like with any of the movies and TCW.

Lucasfilm and Disney really didn't have much of a choice in the matter however. The EU as a whole was a consistency nightmare. Additionally where would any future movies have been placed? There was really no way to make an interesting, original, and compelling ST with all of the post ROTJ novels that existed.

In light of this I really feel like one point has to be driven home. There really has been no change in policy in regards to the EU. George Lucas never adhered to it and even went as far as saying that he considered it a parallel universe that was separate from his own Star Wars universe. The only change in policy that really has happened under the new Disney ownership is that now the old EU is instead called legends. It is still a parallel universe to the "canon" universe and will still be sold to be enjoyed by any fans who want to. The positive thing is that going forward everything will be one consistent canon.

Disney and Lucasfilm will of course borrow ideas from Legends to integrate into the overall canon. Characters may be pulled into canon as well. I have a strong feeling Mara Jade will make it into Rebels and possibly Episode VII. I also believe that Daisy's and Driver's characters will in some way pay homage to Jaina and Jacen. I think we have a really bright future going forward when it comes to Star Wars movies, TV shows, and publications and I'm excited to be able to experience it at the ground level.

 

There is no way I can see the entire Disney era happening without characters like Mara Jade or Thrawn popping up. It'll happen. Which medium and how close they are to the original characterizations and history is entirely up in the air. But I would vote A) animated TV B) fairly damn close.

 

Not likely.

 

Oh thee of little faith Are you inferring that besting Legends would be hard? Sorry I'll quit. This to me is the only and best move the Disney could have made. Disney can take the best of Legends re-think it, re-design and give us something new and better

 

I agree with this 100%. Even if you don't agree there was no other option for Disney. You have to see this.

 

This. 100%

Most will be close to their orginial characterizations (at introduction) and have similar backhistory. However most likely will not follow the history of their character as set forth in the EU, such as Barriss Offee not going jedi healer as she did in the Legends EU but now becoming a terrorist as she did in TCW. That said some may evolve on similar paths, such as Quinlan Vos still being a bit 'excluded' (right word?) by other jedi but still having his same unique power of being able to sense an items history in visions who doesn't behave like other typical jedi either.

excluding background cameos (which is a wild card)... this for ~90% of them will be their most visiable appearances to mass audiences, but obviously any character who makes into a animated tv show will get comic and book appearnces too. Not sure what EA's game plan is for story based games atm, so we'll have to wait and see there but I do expect a battlefront 2 type appearnce where you can play as tons on characters 'heroes' in a non-canon action/shooter game.

A few others might become supporting characters in a spinoff, let's say ~9%, but leads will more likely be new original characters that writers they hire might want to make like Ahsoka in TCW. After all even if a movie director doesn't go looking for EU characters to use might want a wookiee jedi and then be shown EU wookiee concept art and the director just says put that one in the movie, Lucas himself did this but with a Twi'lek and he never supported the EU beyond as a source of income and ideas.

A very select few might make an episode, let's say <1%, if it works in tandaum with the plot (say we need an arrogant jedi as a foil to luke but remains lightside so Kyp Durron appears, or Luke has a kid so Mara gets adapted in (either previously dead or still alive but minor role or maybe not even as a red head))

And why not, the characters have already been tested by a market of a few million Legends EU fans and they have feedback on them. They know what fans reacted badly too and what they in large loved about them, so only have to insert them and through character development tweek out the disliked traited and play up the loved ones... then Disney can make toys of them and Marvel and DelRey already know how to write them since they have years worth of non-canon stories to base canon stories about them on.

Its real simple when you get down to it, let's say Disney and LFL have no plans for Thrawn for anything they drew up for lets say the next ten year but behold a big Marvel writer was a big fan and asks for permission to do a story on him and submits a really good story plan for his comic. At this point LFL would be fools to forbid the characters introduction to canon status, they've clearly already choosen not to use the character so why not let Marvel play with him. However the character has a big fanbase and Marvel will be capitalize on this with a product with fast revenue returns, if its a hit Disney may then request a spinoff with him in it and there a plenty of story group staff who know his character well enough to come up with a way to intigrate him into a future spinoff.

 

Looks like some reminding could be in order after all.

 

I am not so sure. That actually invites too much confusion to bring the same characters in but give them different roles. It's easy to forget that not everyone follows these things as closely of the rest of us.

 

I'm sorry, but I hate it when people say this, because a) it's officially sanctioned, b) usually authors are more professional than that, and c) um, hello, would you rather non-fans write EU? The thing is, there is some EU that I would almost agree with you on that on. Like, anything written by Troy Denning except for Star by Star and Tatooine Ghost. But the vast majority of EU is not by any means any kind of "glorified fan fiction."

 

Hey man, my favorite comic book was Dark Empire, that one alone will always have a special place in my childhood. I read the whole YJK series too, played all the games. I enjoyed more than my fair share of the old EU, I'm not trying to bash because I'm a fan too but more than delighted it's gone. Disney/LFL will take the best of Legends and create something way better.

 

Ironic, because DE is one of the few EU items I don't like all that much.

Well, I understand why you could be happy, I guess, even if I don't agree, it's just that people saying the EU is glorified fan-fiction has always rubbed me the wrong way.

 

Those who don't follow Star Wars that closely wouldn't be confused though because their first and likely only experiences with the characters is going to be in the new material (animated, live action TV or films).

Likewise, many film adaptations differ significantly from the novels they're based on and people aren't confused by those being two different things. Plus, we're living in a era where half of anything that shows up in Hollywood feels like its a remake of some previous film... yet people aren't confused by the fact that one might take a different tact than the other.

I just don't think it will be nearly as confusing to those who aren't heavily invested as you seem to think it will be.

 

My hope for the future out weighs the loss of the past. We still read them/played them, we got what we paid for so who really cares what is "canon" in a fictional universe other than what you prefer in your own mind? Disney/LFL will give us the best of the best, I'm sure everyone will be happy.
Anyway I'm out to enjoy Saturday night, have a good night Revanfan1.

 

To go back to the original EU decanonizing announcement, they still mentioned how Legends stuff is basically a giant well of ideas to yank IP they already own from. I doubt that everything ever done before that will never be referenced, used, or adapted ever again, ever. It's all there. Heck, even Marvel comics stuff was tossed into the non-canon void for decades and then brought back. Lucas even yanked character designs from the EU before, I can't see that suddenly stopping.

 

It's not the past stories I mourn... I've still got them lining my bookshelves and always will. It's the future stories to be told.
If they retool the characters/settings for new audiences and mediums, but give us new stories told in the same universe I know and love (even to the extent that the Marvel Cinematic Universe resembles the comic canon), I'll be happy as a clam. That's always what I expected if/when an ST was made.
If they wipe away the EU for an entirely new universe, with only references to the films that started both remaining intact; I'll never get to see Luke & Mara grow old together, never follow a character down the streets of foggy Coronet City again, Jaina will never fulfill her destiny as Sword of the Jedi, Ben will never mature into a Jedi Master, and they'll never have children of their own for my children to fall in love with all over again. Whatever (good or bad) might replace that world (and however flawed it was), I've no desire to just forget it and move on so easily. I'd hope that would be understandable to any member of geek culture, not to mention someone on these forums.
I still don't want to believe they'd take the nuclear option, but I'm finding it harder and harder to convince myself as hints leak out.

Also: If you're basing your opinion of the EU on Dark Empire and YJK... then your earlier appraisal makes a lot more sense. I have plenty of nostalgic affection for them, but they'd be among the things I'd have been utterly cool with decanonizing completely (replacing YJK with an animated young adult's show on the same basic premise). There are many works of hugely better quality that defined the EU in my mind.

 

Not true. There are no doubt many people who used to read the EU and know who people like Mara Jade and Thrawn are, but just haven't been following the details and Disney announcements all that closely.

Like I said, people on this forum too easily lose track of the fact that not everyone is following all this as closely as we are.

It won't be anywhere near as easy as you think. Having a brand new female character gives you a blank slate. Having a brand new female character and calling her "Mara Jade" invites a nightmare of confusion and fanboy complaining. It is a lose-lose-lose situation.

We will see places and groups we are familiar with. It will be very much like the prequels. Lucas took Coruscant from the EU, but he sure didn't take any characters or storylines from the EU. There was no Jaster Mareel in the prequels.

 

I dont see the NU or the st holding a candle to the best of the eu. Only good thing is that we lose the bad stuff. But the baby gets thrown out with it

 

I'm just worried that the new stuff won't be as engaging as the old stuff. The stuff we learned about Coruscant, Kessel as a misshapen rock with little or no atmosphere, Ryloth the way it was, the little details like how Han and Chewie met, the in-depth details on alien species etc gave the EU galaxy character.

 

The same concepts that were explored in the EU may very well be incorporated into canon and reshapen to fit better with the overall consistency of the Saga. We really have no idea what Disney's plans are going forward but we do know that the EU is a library of ideas they own and will be sure to use content from.

 

It's hard to say what the quality of the ST before anyone has seen a frame of footage. You have to kind of watch it first before forming an opinion. Lack of bias helps too.

 

Agreed. Even though I care little about the EU losing its "canon" status, I have to admit that for a while the EU defined Star Wars for me more so than any of the films. And if I had to name the best Star Wars writing I've ever encountered, it would come from one of the novels rather than one of the film scripts.

 

So is it just me or does this thread just keep coming back to the same lamentations every few pages?

 

True. What has been a seam for a long time could turn into an actual split, or a reunification, depending on how the ST goes. I also hope that the ST will mend those rifts.

"Jeez, I'm out of it for a little while, everyone gets delusions of grandeur!" -Han