Lit Explaining the EU to Normal People

Do you ever watch the films with people who know little to nothing about the EU, but who might know you're a big Star Wars fan and so ask you for explanations about things?

I find more often than not I get asked questions that fall into two categories: 1) those questions that require a detailed foray into the convolutions of the EU ("Did this Sifo-Dyas guy really exist? He's just Palpatine, right?" "What did Han do to Lando to make him betray him?"), or 2) those questions I cannot answer, since the EU does not provide an explanation. Instances of the latter include: "What happened to Watto? Why isn't he in the OT? Why does Vader work for Peter Cushing? Why does Leia remember her mother (I hate this question -- the EU's partial explanation just sucks)? Why wasn't Piett's character ever choked -- was he special? Why is C-3PO the only gold protocol droid?"

And sometimes normal people ask questions or comment on the EU directly. Case in point: I was told Dark Forces was "a game about Luke Skywalker" when I got it for Christmas many eons ago. I also know someone who was convinced "Leia befriended the Ewoks in ROTJ because she remembered them from when she was trapped on the planet as a little girl."


So how do you all explain the EU to "normal" people? Do they listen? Do you have any weird stories to share?

 

I whip out my handy dandy Atlas and start giving them history lectures, with all sorts of tangents to explain various facets of the canon. My flatmates have come to greatly enjoy/fear my dinner lectures.

 

My roommates now know all about the Old Sith Wars, the pre-Republic Galaxy, the origins of the Sith, the Vong war (though I got one of the roomies to read everything from TAB to TUF + Legacy last year), origins of the Jedi, and my opinions on Traviss and Denning's writings. I can't wait to have my own copy of Warfare to lecture from

 

Most people I know that are familiar with Star Wars is already aware of the EU. I think it's safe to say that plenty of normal folks are savvy enough to know since the EU has around for decades.

 

I've explained some things but not everything. When I want to talk about Star Wars I come here. My friends and family know Chewie is dead and Fett is still alive and a couple other things.

 

I've explained the EU to people unfamiliar with the particulars many times, including DMing for Star Wars in a tabletop context, but I've never had to explain the EU to someone completely unaware of its existence. In my experience such people are almost entirely uninterested in the whole genre, not just Star Wars - anyone who has much interest in science fiction or fantasy and spent any time in a bookstore in the past two decades has seen rows of novels with the words 'Star Wars' printed on the side.

I try to avoid talking about Star Wars to people uninterested in the topic, since it would be difficult to avoid an unwelcome lecture providing the context to my views even about the movies themselves when opening a dicussion to someone who's not versed in the topics. It is my observation that most people who are serious Star Wars fans understand what the EU, even if that is only to reject it.

 

If a friend ever asks me about the EU, I always describe it in a very self-deprecating way. "You thought the Emperor was dead? Think again, brother!" "Uh, yeah, they just announced another nine books. The Sith are back, again! Oooooh, scary!" "Luke Skywalker's great-great grandson is doing drugs and having sex with pink people. No, seriously." They're not really interested in giving it a try, so it satisfies their mild curiosity while also helping me not take this stuff too seriously.

 

I don't have friends who are particularly into Star Wars, so it's really never come up. I already explain enough here.

 

Like Force Smuggler, I've explained a few things to people. I mean, if they're willing to sit down and listen to me explain the NJO, they're probably the type to actually look into the EU themselves. Otherwise, yeah. Luke got married. Chewie is dead. Han and Leia got married. That's about as far as I'll go.

 

I've had one of my brothers ask me how Han and Leia's kids will fit into the ST.

 

My friends in high school sometimes wanted to talk about the books since I brought the books in to read but they were more interested in the movies and the games. Or they might have just been humoring me. I don't know.

 

And yet, when my husband was hounding me for an answer about how the Sand People can snipe the pod racer pilots from the sidelines when they travel so fast you need better-than-human reflexes to pilot them, and if that meant they had better-than-human reflexes, how come Obi-Wan cited precision in ANH as the reason he could tell the Sandcrawler was destroyed by Stormtroopers and not Sand People, were you any help? WERE YOU? COME TO MY HOUSE AND FIX THIS MESS.

Also my local comic shop owner recently, casually, commented, as I was buying a copy of Lost Tribe of the Sith, "How come there are so many, I thought there were only supposed to be two..." at which point I looked straight at him and said, "Do you want me to explain? Because I will." That was pretty much enough to scare him off.

 

Tusken vision is actually similar to the Tyrannosaurus in Jurassic Park. They can only hit targets moving at over 600 mph.

 

Excellent, thank you, I'll go tell him.

 

I don't know many normal people. If I'm bringing up Star Wars around someone, chances are they're at least enough of a fan to get the general context of what I'm saying. I do enjoy watching the movies with casual fans and pointing out the crazy-ass backstories of the secondary characters.

Also this.

 

I am gonna have to hold onto this one and use it in the future. Kudos!

 

What partial explanation are you referring to?

 

I think the only time I can think of I've had to explain the EU to a non-fan was giving a bit of the TOTJ story to a friend back when KOTOR came out. I think it dovetailed a bit into Dark Empire as well.

I've also done a lot of EU complaining to my girlfriend, who is kind enough to let me rant on about something she neither knows nor cares about.

 

Most basic sense: The Expanded Universe is where Games, Comics and Books about Star Wars happen.

Detailed explanation: any time my brother asks me about which Sith Lord is buried where, and why Naga Sadow is dead.

 

Yeah, I find it pretty easy to explain it to friends who don't know anything past the films - but only if they are willing.

 

I've been meaning to try out a new strategy, wherein I just hand over a paperback of The Crystal Star and walk away.

 

Most of the people I know offline live in a vacuum. I have to start off by explaining the movies, and then I move into the EU territory. I went to a book signing for Red Harvest and an older couple asked me what was going on. They knew of the movies enough that I didn't have to explain those, but they didn't know anything about the EU, so I tried explaining that in the most simplest terms that I could muster, and in with the quickest, most concise definitions I could think of without discussing it at length. Besides, I wasn't there to explain EU; I was there to get books signed.