Lit Comic-Con, CE, and D23 News Thread - The Expanded Universe, the Sequel Trilogy, and other stuff!

All I can say is that it's nice to hear about DOTJ!

 

Anyone want to hear a really enthused woman say "Cradossk Memoir" out loud? I didn't know I did, but then I watched this!

My EU experience is complete.

 

She had to check her cheat sheet to tell him "Daniel Wallace". Fail.

 

Just got back from Comic-Con. WOW! They had an "exclusive" at the Dark Horse booth, Legacy #5 on sale a week before it was suppose it be! It was a great issue and can't wait to read mroe adventures of Ania. Just crossing my fingers she doesn't turn out to be a force user.

 

Just got back from SDCC. To throw it out there, I was the one who asked at the EU panel about both the timeline and the EU resolving the TCW material's loose plot threads.

Certainly was an interesting panel. The blooper reel was fantastic, and they did at least acknowledge that the current EU is attempting to make room for whatever Ep VII may involve. Hence some changes to Crucible (no specifics on those changes were really detailed, but still)

 

ALSO! I wish I clarified who I spoke too, but at the Lucasfilm booth I did speak with one of the Del Ray reps, and he confirmed that Del Ray meets with Lucasfilm regularly regarding future story plans, including a meeting they were included in on last month. He also stated that while he does not know the specifics of the contract with Dark Horse, their contract would continue for the next several years at least, and that the Disney ownership will not change that in any way.

 

That's good to hear on both fronts..sounds like we don't have too much to worry about.

 

Also... something else I wish to clarify after having actually read the thread.

The fan who asked about Episode VII and the EU specifically asked whether elements of the EU would be used in the films, or whether the films would base themselves on the EU, not so much whether or not the films would render the EU noncanon, and he got an answer that taylored to exactly that. Specifically, the guy pretty much asked if we'd see stuff like the Vong in the films. Chee discussed how the film writers do not need to use elements from EU stories in their works, referencing how the film and television writers somewhat have always done their own thing. This, however, is very different from a statement that the films will render the previous EU noncanon. Nowhere in the panel has that been said, and quite the opposite, the writers seem to be somewhat paving the way so that as much as possible can still fit in the future. They acknowledge that this is a transitional period, and yes stuff is in flux, but everywhere I went and every time I tried to discuss the issue with someone, people either do not yet know, or those who most likely 'do' know are working to keep the canon as intact as can be.

Similarly, just because Chee told me that he won't make a chronological comprehensive TCW timeline (like I did in my thread), that does NOT mean that the old stories and the new stories have no relation whatsoever and that old canon replaced new canon forever.

It is still entirely possible that new film canon will completely toss out old, maybe even more likely, but despite what people here suggest, absolutely every statement given so far has been speculation from authors who either aren't sure, or from people who loosely acknowledge a change in direction, not an outright enmasse decanonization. We probably won't know for at least a week to a year, but I suggest any C2 attending fans who wish to know directly bring up the issue of SOTJ specifically if you want something closer to a real answer on the EU's fate. Sorry I couldn't do it myself, but it simply slipped my mind to ask, and I already technically snuck in 2 questions at the mic.

 

The thing with the Clone Wars is TCW basically replaced the multimedia project. Seriously, the multimedia project outlined the major events of the war, but TCW somehow managed to do their own thing and completely change how the Clone Wars unfolded.

 

A lot depends on when the people at Lucasfilm licensing get a copy of the script, so they can begin the change in direction, after all, they'll need to communicate with the filmmakers, for the tie in material, such as toys, books, and comics, after all filming starts early next year, that's just five months from now.

That may seem like eternity for those waiting for news, but the time passes by quickly, after all this time last year, we had no idea about either the Disney sale, or the ST, and this time next year, we'll be waiting for Rebels, and Book,and movie spoilers. After all it's Star Wars, it's supposed to be fun.

Whether it's reading EU, watching the different TV series, movie marathons. I remember when all we had was WEG, Splinter of the Mind's eye, the Holiday special, the droids, and ewoks movies, cartoons, and comics.

 

I can't see Disney outright trampling all over the past 20 years of EU novels and comics. It just seems like a terrible business decision to have all of this merchandise that could be sold to new and returning fans of the franchise that "doesn't matter". I think it's more likely that Disney plans on using Ep's VII-IX to allow the post-ROTJ novel focus on the Jaina, Ben, and the rest of the next gen, instead of the big 3; hoping to have the ST serve the purpose the LOTF was supposed to, and wanting the ST to set the new direction of the EU novels instead of having to work the script around already released material occurring at the same point in the timeline. Once Ep VII is out, then we could start seeing the flood of EU novels again (hopefully of better quality).

 

I can certainly see it, seeing as we have precedent with the continuity mess that the Clone Wars TV show caused. Plus, I don't even think 1% of people who like Star Wars even read the books. And Disney is gonna be more likely to piss of us, the minority, rather than confuse the majority of people who watch the movie by having references to events that, to audiences, happened in "some crap books". It's the best business decision for Disney.

 

TCW's continuity mess was George's cause, largely, and he's minimizing his involvement. Though he did write the draft for 7-9, so who knows.

It's honestly a wait and see approach, but every hint I've seen points to either ambiguity because no one is sure yet, or setting the story far enough down the line (46+ABY or so) that the current material survives, but is loosely referenced at best thanks to a new status quo. This would honestly be perfectly fine too, as "50 years later" is not a bad starting point for a fresh take on things, while also still leaving TONS of room for Legacy later in the time-line.

Still, as always, I acknowledge that this could all come to a very quick end, very very soon. Many authors have also said it's possible, though they do not yet know. As of now, the only people who probably truly know what the future holds may be the ep VII script writers themselves, Kennedy, Abrams, and MAYBE Chee (whom is the only one of them who will appear in public any time soon and directly answer such a question).

 

Who here wishes they could ask Leland Chee a question about the future, if he knows anything.

After he gets the script, he'll be busy writing new writers guides with Pablo Hidalgo for future authors.

 

The more I think about it, the more likely I think there's a possibility that LucasFilm will try to write two timelines, perhaps producing the Sword of the Jedi trilogy alongside Episode VII tie-in material, and seeing how SOTJ sells. They try really hard to maintain consistency with the stories, so I wouldn't put it past them to try to keep the post-saga timeline alive as an alternative to the sequel trilogy.

I guess it all depends upon whether their decision making is driven by sales or by their creed of consistency, or even if those two things are mutually exclusive, which I suppose would be contingent upon whether they would view Sword of the Jedi as competing against Episode VII novels, if there are any. That said, I expect that an Episode VII novelization would far outsell Sword of the Jedi, so it may be the end regardless. But if consistency is really important to them, they might keep the alternate timeline going regardless of sales.

 

If they make an Episode VII novelization (and why wouldn't they; they always do), I hope it's paperback. Every movie novelization in recent memory has been. Into Darkness, Man of Steel, the recent Batman movie (title slips my mind), etc.

 

Dark Knight Rises?

 

Er, if that's the one with Bane, yeah.

 

Then yeah it is.

 

The big sellers remain the movie novelisations, just seems to be the way of it.

 

I would assume it is because they appeal to a wider audience than the Expanded Universe. I also assume that a lot of folks that quit the EU still buy the novelizations. TPM broke 1 million sales in hardcover, I'm not sure what the highest selling EU novel is but it likely sold around 250k in hardcover. Then again, I don't know how Heir to the Empire went, that may have sold as well as the film novelizations.

 

I think Heir does get close to the 1m mark via accumulated sales, I mean how many other EU books get a 20th anniversary edition?

 

Well, it's been in print for over twenty years. TPM made over that in one year in its hardcover edition. I have no idea how well that 20th anniversary edition did, but it must not have been that great since we didn't get DFR or TLC.

 

The question will then be, how will Disney/LFL treat the old books, and comics, will they still be sold, and reprinted, or gradually be overwritten by new material between the OT, and the ST, because the current EU was written with the idea, that it would keep going without an ST.

When the new movies come out, post ROTJ will have an end date, episode seven, so new material will have to go between the novelizations of ROTJ, and episode seven, and if we want to keep a single continuity, the current EU will have to do some major restructuring.


say Han, and Leia have only two kids, one's a smuggler, the other's a Jedi, or Luke has an older son, but they don't reveal the mothers name, or if he has a daughter, or a son, and a daughter. or luke has never married, or had a different love interest. it's already been made clear by Kasdan, that they're starting fresh, as if the time between ROTJ, and season seven is a complete blank. HTTe did as good as a movie novelization because it was marketed as the official continuation from ROTJ, till Lucasfilm changed their minds, and George Lucas declared that the EU was an AU to the movies. Will we see Sword of the Jedi, it depends if Disney/Lucasfilm wants to continue the current EU, or whether it sees it as competition to the Star Wars universe Disney wants to shape.

Let;s just enjoy the stories we have, and get ready for the new ST shaped EU.