Lit How should Disney handle the Old Republic Era?

What? It seems like from what was written in Propaganda that much of the history itself is NOT KNOWN - even in-universe- prior to the Sith Takeover 1000 years prior.

If we're going to find out about the history, learning it in the context of a story, or even as individuals are learning from it is far better than having some article or sidebar say something just because Wookieepedia addicts need to know something.

Let's tell the story of 1000 years ago, and find out first what THEY think about the past, from their perspective, in light of their current conflicts. Then maybe we can revisit those events, and find out how much they really did know. That makes for better drama and storytelling opportunities.

 

Hey! I love the Wook but I'm not an addict!

 

The point is, information is created for stories, not for Wook datapoints. Likewise, stories should drive the lore, not the other way around. Sometimes fans want lore for lore sake to answer questions, and get frustrated because they have to wait for a story in which that answer actually has a purpose or meaning to it being given.

Story should drive it all. And that's what Story Group is trying to do. Why throw out a backstory concept as a definition when it could be better served by a series of stories?

 

Well I brought up TFA because I always figured that if someday they decided to make more Star Wars movies, the ideal way would be to have the story set in a time period far removed from the original trilogy and avoid messing with the established continuity. Well it's now 2017, the new Star Wars movies are here, and it turns out they did want to mess with the established continuity.

Actually come to think of it, is there a reason why the Old Republic era stuff was decanonized? Do they actually have any plans to do anything with the era, or was it just "we have no idea what any of this is about, better toss it out just to be safe"?

 

TOR did have issues with replicating the OT and PT era images. We even had a republic military with white armor. KoToR did it Better when it came to differences.

 

I agree. TOR Republic troopers look WAY TOO similar to Phase 2 Clone Troopers.

 

I think I'm on board with the gradualist approach. The canon should definitely expand to earlier and later eras, but why jump back 10,000 years and commit yourself to plot points that then bind authors for as long as the current canon regime lasts? (I don't rule out future resets.) I agree that storytelling should drive lore, rather than the other way around, and expanding the story out at the margins gives writers more freedom to tell the stories they want to without having to lead to/from anything.

That said, I do think there are elements of Legends that have a place in a place in the new canon. Maybe it's an indication of when I started reading the EU, but I'm glad Thrawn's back. I'd like to see Mara in some capacity, and if we need an ancient Sith Lord character, I don't see why they shouldn't be named Exar Kun or Naga Sadow. On a more specific level, Luceno did a good job of making the plot of The Phantom Menace make sense with Plagueis and Cloak of Deception, and that must have been difficult. Why put someone else through that task?

 

Here is my dream scenario for the next trilogy.

No episode 10,11,12.

The new trilogy after the ST is set in the last Jedi/Republic war against the Sith before TPM. In the trilogy we are introduced to various characters including Darth Bane. A tale about conflict within the Sith and understanding why they fell. People of the Jedi Order and the Republic resisting the Sith and its allies. So its not just focused on force users on opposite sides, but the common man. Normal people becoming part of the Republic Military (not dressed in white) to fight the forces that threaten their government. We could also see the perspective of non-force users working for the Sith.

In a way it would become the reverse PT. A period in which the Republic doesn't fall (though it should get damaged), but with the Jedi's help defeats the Sith, wins the war. Final film seeing most of the Sith wiped out. We could even have some literature dealing with the aftermath of the war. Jedi searching for sith stragglers, Bane and his apprentice in hiding, rebuilding from the great war.

As Disneys first attempt into the ToR era it could become a stepping stone into a greater world if it becomes successful. There could be a reference to the hundred year darkness, past conflict between Jedi and mandos (especially if the Sith have mandos working for them), and the fact the Sith were stronger in the past.

And with the most up to date CGI, alien worlds could look fantastic.

Some might say, what about the post-RotJ world, and post-ST.

Disney could still continue that era with books/comics/TV series. Even an anthology film. If Disney makes a new trilogy, perhaps we will see more spin offs. Could give us content from various eras.

Some of the criticisms of TFA was that it was to similar to the OT era, particularly ANH.

However an Old Republic Trilogy could really allow new world building and differences in appearances to shine. Something very fresh for star wars film wise.

Sure there will be no Skywalker. But I don't think that is a necessity for success.

 

You know the strange thing is I've always had this gut feeling it's a 50/50 chance of either 10, 11 12 or Old Republic (Or set around that time) Trilogy.

 

I think in canon the Old Republic should not look exactly like the prequel trilogy, like it did in the EU. Technology should be significantly more primitive.

 

Idk I'd stick with the SWOTOR aesthetic, let people know it's the same universe but maybe age it up and make things look prototype like

 

No thought bombs please, it was ridiculous. Bane himself is fine though, Zannah as well.

Old Sith's destruction could be related to ancient Sith weapon in Malachor or something entirely different. Or there could be a Sith Wars, similar to Maul's Shadow Collective and Dooku's CIS factions, and there they've killed each other then Jedi used this opportunity to defeat the Sith when they were weakened enough.

 

I do want a canon Darth Bane to do some backstabbing. After all its a very sith thing to do, and we could see he isn't the only sith doing it. There could also be the theme that the backstabbing within the Sith world has gotten worse.

But I don't want him to play a big role in the downfall of the Sith of many, like he did in the old EU. I think more credit should go to the Republic/Jedi. This trilogy would be their moment to shine and bring peace to the galaxy.

 

I don't think that's possible at this point, Bane already said this to Yoda in the new canon ;

''The Sith killed each other, victims of their own greed. But from the ashes of destruction, I was the last survivor. I chose to pass my knowledge onto only one.''

It implies that Sith killed each other, not the Jedi destroyed them. Which makes sense since Jedi can't destroy Sith by brute force, there should be a balance on dark and light side powers.

 

I think the direction they go after the ST depends a great deal on how willing Ridley, Boyega, and Isaacs are to come back and do another trilogy. If they are willing to sign up for several more movies I think Episodes 10-12 is definitely the direction they will go. If they aren't wanting to come back and do more Star Wars movies right away I could see them looking at something like an Old Republic series.

 

To get good stories put in the Star Wars universe? I mean obviously there's nothing I personally gain from that, but that's what I'd like to see since I enjoy the KOTOR era stuff so much.

 

I'd quite honestly like them to leave it alone. If they want to make some OR tales, write new stories. Don't just strip mine old stories to make inevitably weaker ones; leave your own mark. The Old Republic era was always the biggest, most wide open sandbox in the entire universe. Take advantage of it, don't just be lazy and go to the parts people have already had fun in to step over their sandcastles and build your imitation.

Of all the characters in the Old Republic era most likely to be reintegrated into new stories, I'd say it would be Revan and Darth Bane. As I'm still a fool clinging on to the idea of a mostly cohesive universe, I'd still prefer Revan to be male or gender ambiguous, and keep the every bit as awesome Jedi Exile as female. As for Darth Bane, well, Jedi vs Sith is awesome, but writing over Drew Karpyshyn's novels wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

 

I really liked Drew's Bane novels. Well, I still haven't read Rule of Two, but I greatly enjoyed the other 2.

And ya I could see them making the Exile as canon as well, she is the 2nd-most popular character of the era.

Plus they've already made the Malachor system (where she fought Darth Sion and Darth Traya) canon so it's not like they'd have to introduce a whole lot.

 

I think technological progression has been poorly handled too...

There were several ways they could have done it:

-Make the development of faster-than-light travel way more recent and the Galactic Republic way younger.
-Have galactic-level catastrophes periodically sweep the Galaxy, sending their technology and science backwards a few centuries, so it doesn't advance too much during all those centuries.
-Acknowledge that all species have already reached the limit of their mental capacity, and can't create anything new, only make small refinements and improvements.
-Have Humanity to be not the founder of the Republic, but the last species to reach supremacy. Before humans, other species controlled the Galaxy, but they entered decadency, and were replaced by younger, more aggresive evolving species who took over, only to be replaced too later, in turn.
-Have the Celestials periodically cull the most advanced species of the Galaxy to protect their own supremacy; that way not only prevent any species to advance too much, the other species who witness the genocide slow their own technological advancement down, for fear to the Celestials, until they forget about them.
-Have all the tech until 1,000 years ago to be Force-based, like that of the Rakata, but its use provoked the rise of the Dark Side and the collapse of civilization, so all species had to discard it and start from the scratch.

However, they made tech from 4,000-3,000 years ago near identical to the modern one. Just before the Clone Wars, they were still producing ships that were very similar to old Mandalorian Dreadnaughts from Revan's time, and their battle robots were crap compared with the old HK series assassin droids... Later, Imperial Star Destroyers were based on the old Harrower-class dreadnought. As for their blaster, they are better than old slugthrowers, but not so much.

And on the othe hand, the sourcebooks explain that there are technological advancements, and that the corporations are producing innovations during the last decades...

And they don't give any explanation of the issue. It's annoying.

 

While I'm sure Disney will not take the risk, it would be my preference for 3rd Anthology to be in ToR era. Anthologies are a way to give us a Star Wars film with a different style then the saga. A ToR stand alone film could be Disneys way In introducing this ancient era to casual fans, and test the waters to see if more films in the ancient past is a viable route. But probably it's going to be another dark times era film......

 

There's a good reason for that, they brought in a different team.

 

This is what I always wished they would do instead of an ST. Leave the EU and the original movie Era and start new movies in a completely unexplored era thousands of years away. Alas.

I always thought the Sith did so much damage to each other that the Jedi only had to mop up.

 

The TPM novelization seems to support this.

"In the end, the Sith destroyed themselves. They destroyed their leader first, then each other. What few survived the initial bloodbath were quickly dispatched by watchful Jedi. In a matter of only weeks, all of them died.

All but one."

 

That's probably where I picked it up.

 

Lore should exist for lore's sake. That's the whole point of worldbuilding and the amount of love devoted to fictional franchises. Lore shouldn't be there just to be backstory nor should it be there as a plot engine. Genuine worldbuilding is developing lore because you love the lore.

What the story group is doing is trashing/minimizing the lore because it either doesn't want to be bothered/doesn't respect/or just doesn't care about worldbuilding.

For a lot of us who were EU fans the lore became just as important if not more important than the story.