Lit A/V The Force Awakens and the EU [TAGGED spoilers.]

Since Vergere was a Sith, that would be something she would say.

 

She isn't. Unless you count ideas from eastern mysticism (Buddhism, Daoism, Advaita) as philosophy.

 

Traitor is a book with multiple layers to it. It works as a straightforward character story, as an expansion of IU philosophy about the Force, and as a OOU examination of moral relativism. That's one reason why I liked it, it's not content to just be a simple adventure story or a self-discovery story like Dark Journey. It's as much a journey for the reader as it is for Jacen.

 

You do realise you will never get that time back ever again.

 

I have a fairly high tolerance for Anderson's writing style and don't mind its quirks.

 

Same here, for me it is about the same amusement I get from watching really cheaply made old Sci-Fi movies, you know they are trying and have some nice ideas, but the spark, talent and budget is just not there.

 

Same applies to the more oddball stories like The Crystal Star.

 

The scene in which Gantoris builds his lightsaber is pretty neat I guess.

 

I have like 4 copies of Path of Destruction from SDCC. They kept giving them to me a few years back.

 

One of the things that irks me the most regarding handling and erasure of EU content has been the mixture of little of communication, and poor communication from those in charge. This coupled with the idea going around that EU was never canon, and that we all should have known better and it is entirely our fault we did not.
Before the 25th of April 2014 we only seemed to get short scraps of information (recorded on Wikipedia and Wookiepeida) from blogs or interviews regarding canon, and many of this snippets contradict each other. Leland says one thing, Pablo, says another, etc. Of course we were going to get confused!
And what about those who don't go on the internet to find out about canon, especially in the days of dial up? You see Star Wars on the cover of a book or a game, are you really supposed to expect it as a Non-Canon story? It says Star Wars on it, should that not be enough? In that regard what they are doing now by having everything at the same canon level is great. Much less confusing for consumers. Should have done it years ago.

But the Crux of it though is, if they really, really, really, REALLY wanted us to know that EU was non canon, (or if some parts were and some part were not, or whatever the policy was), they would gone to the effort to let us know, somehow or other. They didn't, and I don't know why. I'm sure it would not help sales though. "Vector Prime, the Book were Chewbacca dies... but does not really die as this book is non canon", just does not seem like a good sell. Or "Ever wanted to find out about Sidious's master, Darth Palagus the wise? Well here is your chance to find out what didn't happen with him".


And Now, post April the 25th 2014, we still have the same issue. The statement on the website from Katherine Kennedy, though a nicely constructed speech, didn't tell us what was going to happen to pre-ROTJ EU. That information came from Twitter (actually Jennifer Heddle did a really good job of getting to the point and being frank). After that, again, bits and pieces from interviews and twitter as usual. And the usual confusing statement like the one about Movie novels being canon where they align with the film? Does that mean its canon were it doesn't contradict it, or only were it shows exactly what is screen?
What about some of the new material like the Imperial Handbook: A Commanders guide, that seems to contain old EU information? Should we not be told if its canon or not to make an informed choice of whether to purchases it or not?

Again, I don't know why they don't talk to us but I can't say this creates a very good relationship between many of the fans and LFL.

Am I wrong any where here?

 

I'm afraid this sums up the situation pretty well...

 

Well did they say on several occasions that the EU was canon, the best known probably being the quote from Sue Rostoni in Gamer #6. It's not a case of fans somehow having gotten the wrong idea all on their own.

As for why they've been so incompetent at explaining the new policy, it's probably because there isn't one, other than "we're not following the old continuity." The EU isn't a priority for them, no one sat down and figured out how it was all going to work, they probably just got word from on high to hit the reboot switch and said "okay." The people who make the decisions don't care enough to lay out any more details, so the people who carry out the decisions don't have a consistent statement to give us.

 

Well that quote from Sue Rostoni sounds like a perfect example. We then get a quote from Pablo which went something along the lines of "we tried to tell them, they just didn't want to listen", followed by the deletion of that quote and no further information, which nicely leaves people confused.

I think you are correct about the EU. That said, isn't that the kind of thing they should explain to us, rather than just leaving us in the dark as if we are being ignored?

 

It saddens me particularly hard because the SW fandom used to have such close and good relations with the people in charge... Now I can't help but feeling cheated.

 

The lack of clear communication has left the impression of "We're gonna have mainstream Hollywood money now, we don't need you nerds anymore!"
I've been a defender of Lucas and Lucasfilm even through the Prequel era; I really never thought I'd feel that way.

 

Pablo deleted his entire Twitter account.

 

Up until now, I'd have placed DC's New 52 as the idiot way to do a reboot, with Top Cow following.

(At least Roberts and co foud a way to bring the Dead Universe stuff Furman set up in IDW's Transformers reboot back into their story.)

But now? There's a new king of the Reboot Screw-up and it's SW! Yay!

And what irritates most? Not needed, as they could have done a partial reboot - some stuff would have been lost yes, but not the wholesale casual spacing that's been done. A scalpel in place of the chainsaw could have been deployed to get better results in a more efficient manner!

Plus, would any of the casual fans known or cared if that was done? They don't bother with the comics and books, nor are they going to come out Ep 7 and suddenly decide to. Nope, instead there is the most pointless cheesing off of a long established and very loyal fanbase. (It's often complained that no one is loyal, but often the complainer is the senior exec who's ruthless firing demonstrated exactly how much value s/he really assigns to it!) So, there could have been a smarter, have-it-all solution.

Instead a Death Star was opted for....

Too late now...

 

I also want to add to your quote that without the EU...Star Wars would be just another series of random Sci-Fi movies which happen to be better than most Sci-Fi movies.

 

Yeah, I think we sometimes underestimate how many people actually DO know who, say, Mara Jade or Thrawn are. A lot of people---especially in the most profitable demographics---have read Heir to the Empire. I have random friends who haven't kept up with Star Wars at all who know tons of EU stuff, and they assumed it's canon until it came out that it's not.

Case in point, Scott Aukerman and Paul F. Tompkins on Comedy Bang Bang doing a bit about Chewbacca dying in Vector Prime... they're adults in their 40's who didn't give a damn after TPM, but they still knew what was up and didn't even think to question its canonicity.

 

Does this make you The Sobchak?