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

Lit In hindsight, has the EU been barnburning for the imminent arrival of the sequel trilogy? (spoilers)

Discussion in 'Literature' started by IG_2000, Oct 31, 2012.

  1. IG_2000

    IG_2000 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 5, 2008
    The news of this happening has been floating around within Lucasfilm since at least 2010, when Ain't It Cool news initially broke the story. Now, of course, we don't know anything about the story yet, but the timeframe of the time between the release of Episode VI in 1983 and the proposed release date of Episode VII (32 years, plus the three years between ANH and ESB) almost matches up with the actual amount of time that has passed in the EU at large, and the actors as they are now can most certainly play the role of the 40 ABY + versions of their characters.

    Now, I admit I haven't read any EU literature that takes place after the peace treaty that ended the Galactic Civil War. However, lately, hasn't there been a relatively large amount of deaths of MAJOR EU created characters? So far, we have:

    Mara
    Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus
    Admiral Pellaeon
    Lumiya

    And so on. Most assumed that the EU was going to restructure itself to retire the major characters we've grown to love over the past twenty years, but now, with the announcement of the sequel trilogy, and assuming they aren't just going to retcon the post ROTJ EU entirely, are they actually just cutting out all the fat to allow for a generally stable continuity within those films' timeframe? We still have an entire century to work with between Fate of the Jedi and Legacy of the Force.
     
  2. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    Interesting thought...

    While I find it highly unlikely that that will turn out to be the case, you still have certainly pointed out a trend...

    It actually makes me wonder if putting an Imperial back in charge of the galaxy (Daala) has served a similar purpose of returning us to the chaotic early Imperial Civil War days when Coruscant was going back and forth between this warlord, then that. The Jedi are off Coruscant again. The government is a train wreck. New Chiefs of State come and go.

    Not that dissimilar to right after Palpatine got hurled down that reactor shaft.

    Toss in a handful of, albeit large, retcons... and the Galactic Civil War need never have ended, just been on hold... waiting for the true Emperor's second [third] coming.
     
    Summer Dreamer likes this.
  3. CeiranHarmony

    CeiranHarmony Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 10, 2004
    well I doubt the EU planned for this... still a nice case of it fitting sadly.

    though, even if they place the Sequels after the current EU... they'd still have Legacy comics AFTER the sequel trilogy.. and the One Sith and Tribe and all around if Sword of the Jedi does not settle this finally.

    and what point is there to make Sequels and still keep Legacy comics around? none..

    cause they never will adapt EU stuff to movies, not as Sequel trilogy anyway. maybe just some elements the EU took from unfinished sequel notes anyway. but no full EU story adapted.
     
  4. CeiranHarmony

    CeiranHarmony Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 10, 2004
    PS: honestly.. if they do a death toll to reduce the EU that survived till the late set Sequel trilogy date.. then I'd actually not be opposed to it, if that means the EU stays intact and gets a proper end/turnover. but that would have them to care about it and indeed respect it. and to boot they'd have to give characters a proper fitting end, even if it is premature and they die younger than fans want them to with another happily ever after destroyed! and the myth and meaning of the six-movie saga we had so far reinterpreted/retconned to allow for sequels to connect to them.so in short, more trouble than they will handle anyway sadly.

    thus, they can't resolve the whole Abeloth plot, Legacy comic issues and the entire leadup to Legacy comics that we are still needing quickly to squeeze in a Sequel trilogy. not without compressing the 40-50 years post-ROTJ EU in 20 years... if TCW is any hint at their modus operandi :(
     
  5. The Loyal Imperial

    The Loyal Imperial Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 19, 2007
    "And Luke woke up with a start after a 40-year dream..."
     
  6. CeiranHarmony

    CeiranHarmony Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 10, 2004

    worse: Episode 7 starts with Luke leaving the cave of Dagobah... and ROTJ itself was no more :p

    either that or they do put the Big Three in carbonite and send them to 1000 ABY
     
  7. Mechalich

    Mechalich Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 2, 2010
    Certainly there's at least some amount of lucky happenstance regarding a potential Post Crucible Scenario. The two recent major novel series added no new major characters except Vestara Khai (who can easily join the one Sith and dissapear), while eliminating several including a Solo offspring and Mara. Mara, critically, was almost inseparable from Luke, so it would have been difficult for him to appear in a new major movie role without her around.

    However we really don't have any idea what Del Rey, Dark Horse and other major liscense holders were told regarding the build up to this deal, or how much warning (months? years?) they had to work with.
     
  8. CeiranHarmony

    CeiranHarmony Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    May 10, 2004
    dark horse statement was depressing... they fear for their license after this contract. well.. Marvel returns to SW as fans are already speculating... but I want more DarkHorse... not Marvel SW.

    as for others? no idea.. heard Disney say they will add new companies and licenses for products.

    also I worry for superb SW-Lego partnership... doubt Disney will want Legolands integrated into their parks.
     
  9. IG_2000

    IG_2000 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 5, 2008
    Well, whatever. We need a paradigm shift once in a while. We would have never gotten the Dark Horse contract without Marvel losing theirs, etc. You never know what the future holds and have to embrace change.

    The only thing I'm skeptical about with Dark Horse is the upcoming "Star Wars" series
     
  10. Runjedirun

    Runjedirun Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2012
    They make Pixar Legos for Cars and Toy Story. They cannot take away my Legos.
     
    TrakNar, SiouxFan and Bardan_Jusik like this.
  11. Chewbacca89

    Chewbacca89 Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2012

    Will anyone drop sw comics if Marvel gets their hands on them? I personally love what Dark Horse has done, and will be leery of Marvel's take on it.
     
  12. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    It'd be easy enough for them to even write Jaina out of the story: just have her disappear with Jag to the Remnant, and that's that. Han and Leia on their own again.
     
  13. TalonCard

    TalonCard •Author: Slave Pits of Lorrd •TFN EU Staff star 5 VIP

    Registered:
    Jan 31, 2001
    And for Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Lone Ranger next year, and the Marvel characters for heaven's sake--worrying about the future of the LEGO partnership is a little silly. The most that might happen is that the Star Wars miniland in LEGOLAND California goes away; but even that doesn't seem likely.

    TC
     
  14. Parnesius

    Parnesius Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2012
    I won't swear to it, but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing Goofy in...Duplo, maybe.
     
  15. Nobody145

    Nobody145 Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Feb 9, 2007
    Hm, interesting idea, although I don't agree with it at all. I hate the idea that they got rid of major EU characters as s way of clearing house before Episode VII, but also I seriously doubt the novels are planned that far ahead. LotF was sort of planned with just killing off Jacen, then for FotJ they decided to make it so that Jacen was right, and even as far as Omen, book 2 out of 9, they were thinking about adding in stuff like Mortis (which kind of ends up being a major plot point by the end, well, its not really important for the final battle, so it was kind of obviously just thrown in there, but then there wasn't much of an ending anyway). At least I think I read somewhere that they were already at Omen before Mortis was brought up due to similarities (ancient Force horrors), forget where I read that by now though.

    True, the situation is pretty chaotic on Coruscant during LotF and FotJ, but that's probably due more to the novels ripping off a lot of stuff from the prequels than any deeper planning. It'd be nice to know there was a plan but... it sure doesn't seem evident based on all the "revelations" the convoluted plot has gone through in the last decade. Vergere taught Jacen a new way! No, Vergere's a Sith! Jacen's gone off the deep end and died a Sith! Wait, he had a vision and did it all for Allana! I'm still waiting to see what the next big novel project will change that to next. :rolleyes:

    Dark Horse probably had an inkling though, and it possibly makes sense of some of their behavior over the last few years. Not just how they ended Legacy so quickly and abruptly (KotOR ended mostly fine, but then KotOR's main plot peak and concluded before the 40th issue even so it was in a better place for a conclusion), but also how its mainly just been miniseries and such for the last few years. Well, probably market conditions too, but if Lucasfilm wasn't all that friendly for Dark Horse to continue holding the license... well that last bit is just speculation.

    Agent of the Empire can come and go whenever (we could see Cross defect eventually or just continue on mostly the same like Jame Bond), Knight Errant doesn't have any news (and JJM is busy with a new pre-OT book too, so that project should be safe), and even Dawn of the Jedi has barely gotten started so not that much momentum, relatively.

    Wonder if this will affect the RPG license. The current RPG was just getting started, so its still mostly at the OT-era, but then a new movie by 2015 would really give them a lot of new material to work with.
     
  16. TheRedBlade

    TheRedBlade Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 17, 2007
    Was in Disney this summer. There is a large Lego store in the Disney shopping mall thing, with a pretty robust Star Wars presence. I think we're good.

    Also, at this point, might Marvel/Disney just BUY Dark Horse?
     
  17. TheRedBlade

    TheRedBlade Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 17, 2007
    Was in Disney this summer. There is a large Lego store in the Disney shopping mall thing, with a pretty robust Star Wars presence. I think we're good.

    Also, at this point, might Marvel/Disney just BUY Dark Horse?
     
  18. Zeta1127

    Zeta1127 Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    If they base the ST on the post-NJO, count me out of it, because Del Rey screwed up that era so completely, I can't even accept it as having happened.
     
    darklordoftech likes this.
  19. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Yes. Clearly, for the last seven years or so, the EU has been trying to kill as many of its major characters as it can because there was an outside chance that years down the road the company might get sold or more films might get made and they might possibly ignore the EU, so let's just destroy as much of it as we can to be on the safe side. PELLAEON MUST DIE FOR EPISODE VII TO LIVE.
     
    Zeta1127 likes this.
  20. Grey1

    Grey1 Host: 181st Imperial Discussion Group star 4 VIP

    Registered:
    Nov 21, 2000
    Pellaeon? ITHOR had to die for the new episodes!

    Seriously, it wouldn't just be that they removed as many elements as possible, they would have needed to know which elements to keep. Otherwise, it would still have been for nothing.

    And besides, nobody really wonderer where Lumiya was, so no need to kill her if it meant you had to dig her up again in the first place. And people like Pellaeon could have gone off-screen. The only truly important deaths all were planned before 2008, which apparently was Lucas' start date when he went from "Anakin's saga is complete, no more movies" to "well, I could write treatments for a sequel trilogy". Mara was gone in 2007, Jacen's death must have been planned by then already. Anakin Solo - the one character Lucas probably wouldn't want around to not make it too complicated for audiences - was long gone, and Chewie - as I mentioned elsewhere, one of the five characters I can easily see coming back - while an important movie character, could have disappeared offscreen as well by the time ep7 rolls along.

    No, there was no planning for potential movies involved in anything DR did. QUALITY HAD TO DIE FOR EPISODE VII TO LIVE!!!
     
    Zeta1127 and RC-1991 like this.
  21. Fleab88

    Fleab88 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2012
    I wondered this myself, but authors across the board had no idea this was happening until it was announced by Disney. Timothy Zahn was actually pretty shocked about it. However, there was at least some inkling something was going on. Mark Hamill admitted that Lucas had lunch with him and Carrie Fisher over the summer to tell them he wanted to make away for another three films to be made. It is possible Del Rey had a vague idea that one day maybe movies might happen, but nothing concrete to justify the blood bath. it was more of foolish authors making foolish decisions.
     
  22. Valin__Kenobi

    Valin__Kenobi Author: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji star 4 VIP

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2004
    Keep in mind that there's several different levels of compartmentalization in this whole hierarchy. Del Rey is its own company and separate from LucasBooks, and LucasBooks itself is a department of Lucas Licensing. Not entirely sure where guys like Pablo and Leland fit in, but they work directly with Lucas so it's pretty far up the food chain.

    Even IF Del Rey did know, they're not going to say anything to the authors not directly affected, e.g. Denning, Allston, Kemp, etc. Zahn's Scoundrels is firmly in the OT, JJM's Kenobi is even before that, and so on. And even then, it would presumably be in vaguer traffic-directing forms such as, for example, "No marrying Ben in this book" or "Let's kill off Jaina in this one," not outright "ZOMG U GUYS SEQUEL TRILOGY SO JAINA MUST GO."
     
  23. DarthJenari

    DarthJenari Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 17, 2011
    I think it's just a very big coincidence. I really don't think that Mara was killed because of this or that killing those characters makes the movies "stable".