Lit Feelings about the EU after Retcon

I never saw the point of that either.

 

I haven't seen a point to much of anything in recent years.

 

A number of more recent EU continuity-altering decisions regarding TCW and other Lucas-based matters clearly have to do with marketing intentions and growing the audience base - and placing said concerns above the value of EU continuity. So we get things like Greedo's TCW cameo, which presumably exists in the hope that his name brought additional viewers to that episode. I don't personnally quite get the business logic behind these decisions, but presumably there is one. It seems to rest on an idea that different media have vastly different levels of exposure in a Star Wars sense, so that TV is more popular than video games is more popular than novels is more popular than comics (roughly).

 

Let's see... The trailer for that episode said something like this:

"Yes, that Greedo. We thought you might like that."

Reeks of editorial mandate.

 

My favourite is the "Savage and Maul killed Adi Gallia, see they're a threat!!!1!!!!11111!"

Just stay away, George.

 

Maul still reeks of editorial mandate.

There is a reason why editors are not writers.

 

"You all wanted him back, so here he is!"
Really George? Reviving a dead character is much worse than killing them prematurely.

 

Due to the organ systems affected by his death, Maul's resurrection simply isn't feasible. Apparently no one on the writing team stopped to think about what all happens when someone—regardless of Force affinity—is bisected and tossed down a reactor shaft. Maul has a lot more to worry about than just his legs. Let's see, where to start...

1. He was chopped in half, mid-abdomen. That would affect everything below the ribcage. Say good-bye to your entire digestive system, Maul! But, of course, in the messed-up world of TCW, digestive systems aren't vital at all.
2. No kidneys, either. Or bladder. One of Maul's primary waste scrubbers are gone. You can live with only one kidney, but last I checked... you still need a kidney. Dialysis must be so advanced now that cyberneticists can make kidney-sized dialysis machines for those poor schlubs who are bifurcated.
3. Now, we toss Maul down a shaft! What else can be damaged? How about massive blunt force trauma to the rest of his body as he plummets to his doom! Those hits to the head should explain why he came back a bit loopy.
4. With all that said and done, there is a very narrow window between injury and receiving medical attention that Maul would have to even survive long enough to be told by the medic that he's done for. I highly doubt that his rescuers were just waiting at the bottom of that shaft. Perhaps the janitor, but even his CPR training won't be able to save Maul, whose half of a torso splattered on the floor far below.
5. Let's say that somehow, somehow Maul manages to survive this with most of his digestive tract. Like it or not, the poor Zabrak will have a colostomy, if not an ileuostomy for the rest of his life. Same with an artificial bladder made from a portion of remaining small intestine and anchored to his abdominal wall. He will be going to the bathroom in bags for the rest of his miserable life.

I think that that poses more of a concern than your damn legs, Maul.

 

Apparently Maul somehow remained concious after his bisection and grabbed hold of a ventilation shaft.

 

...as his remaining organs fall from his open torso and down, down, down to the surface below. I'm not buying it for a minute.

 

A wizard did it.

 

What is this talk about a digestive system? When have you seen Maul eat or drink or use a bathroom?

 

In Darth Maul: Saboteur.
Orders water in a bar.

 

That was just coolant fluid.

 

That actual injuries Maul sufferred by being bisected are not the difficult to justify part. While those injuries are severe, cybernetic reconstruction has been used to jutify the survival and repair of considerably worse damage in cases such as Lumiya, Grievous, and arguably Darth Vader himself. Even further, characters have used 'the dark side' to survive hideous injuries without any medical justification whatsoever: the Dark Jedi Maw suffers an injury that is essentially equivalent to Maul's in Jedi Knight and continues to function as a floating half-person for months afterwards. Presumably the cybernetics replacing the lower half of Maul's torso handle all the nasty GI complications.

The real difficulty with Maul's resurrection is the specific circumstances: falling down a shaft into the depths of the reactor system where even if he somehow survived he ought to have bled out in minutes at best. We're stuck with theories of Palpatine sending hovering droids to fetch him or some such.

It boils down to a situation that was clearly intended to imply death, even if within the context of Star Wars you can summon excuses for survival, being subjectively reversed for the minor excuse of supplying Savage Oppress with an ally. The utterly arbitrary nature of the decision was not sufficently well hidden - which is also the case for several of TCW's more arbitrary decisions (Maul at least, once you accept the absurdity of his revival, has at least managed a decent turn as a side villain so far and has made something useful of Savage).

 

Sometimes the solution to a problem, isn't to answer the question, but to step away from it altogether. I think this is the case here. The knowledge that all EU can 'go up in flames' does provoke very negativ emotions in me, naturally.
But first point, I can't use those emotions one bit since no one knows yet what will happen!! It's not very constrcutive to brood for a catastrophe we have little or no proof of - least of all know the amount of. Actually, after 2012, this should be a fresh lesson.

Second, as Sinrebirth and others points out, we've been through stuff like this before - and the EU survived - again it's better to see what happens before we decide what to think. Of course it's not fun to not know - but that's nothing we can do anything about - and unfortunately, there's not really anyone to blame for it either

Third, - and this is partly beside the point, but it's an important point to ME - there's actually a terrible lot of good fanfiction. Not nearly as much as the truly terrible amount of bad fanfiction, of course - but still a lot. And indeed, fanfiction is a modern term, based on terms as licenses and copyright etc. - dig a little in the history of literature and you'll find that many master pieces could be cathegorized as 'fanfiction'. Indeed, even three of the gospels could be cathegorized thus. And as Mechalich is hinting to - if you first start to look down on things, (and this is indeed widely practized in our society, and in the finest circles) it's a slippery road. Star Wars itself can be disregarded as nothing but a blockbuster - and every piece of literature in this universe can authomatically become 'unoriginal', "poor in quality" or worse.

So, to your question - I have all kinds of contradicting emotions about what might happen int he next two years - but while I allow msyelf those emotions, I also do my best to keep my feet on the ground. I know a lot of people who've hated the EU from first moment - and STIIL love SW and remain active and positive fans. Instead of worrying on reduced values of the EU, I focus on what I like and enjoy (as they've done!) and to hold on to this, insisting in the value of this.

I don't particularly like the uncertainty - but I'm pretty sure it's good for my mental independence

 

Beating people over the head with anatomy books brings me joy.

 

I have a pretty strong feeling this time it will be different.