Is the SW Encyclopedia now proscribed?

I´ve bought Stephen Sanweet's Starwars Encyclopedia, the +350 pages hardcover book that was released just after the OT SE. In that time I thought I was acquiring the ultimate SW bible and it was worth all the money I´ve spent on it.

My point is that some aspects of the history of the galaxy far, far away, seemed to have changed since the PT movies and EU so far, specialy concerning the Sith history. By reading the TPM novel, it seems to me that GL has rewritten the storyline of the Sith.

Now forgeting what you may think is a canon and what is not in the EU, do you still think the SW Encyclopedia is a valid source in a way that everything SW related was made to fit in a hypothetical storyline? Or can I throw it in the garbage?

 

The original backstory for the Sith has essentially become the backstory for Lucas' Sith backstory. See the Essential Chronology and Secrets of the Sith for more info.

As for the Encyclopedia, if you don't want it, I'll certainly take it. It's a valuable resource, even if some entries are lacking. For example, it covers a much wider verity of subjects than any of the Essential Guides, and it also covers rare stuff like the Ewoks and Droids cartoons. Keep it!

TC

 

TalonCards correct, it sure beats the hell out of That Paperback Encyclopedia composed by Slavicsek in '99.

 

That Paperback Encyclopedia composed by Slavicsek in '99.

I used to have an earlier edition of that (around '94 or '95) and I thought it was pretty good. What was interesting is that information was divided into movies/radio dramas/novelizations of the movies for one part of the entry and novels/comics/rpg stuff/everything else in a second part of the entry. I think they used the Rebel Alliance icon to denote info from the movies and the NR icon to denote info from the EU (although I don't know if it was called that back then). I guess it was sort of like the offical site in that you have one tab for the movies and one tab for the EU.

It served me well though and the book was quite dog-eared and ragged after so many readings of it.

 

Thanks for the advice, Talon! I don't care if the Encyclopedia is not updated by the latest PT movies and EU. Even when the book was released it was not updated with the latest Rebel Assault 2 and Jedi Knight games. But WILL CARE if it contains proscribed or contradicting information with other SW publications.

 

Interesting fact is that the SW: E, was written in-universe by scholars around 25 aby.

 

'Dude...
"TalonCards correct, it sure beats the hell out of That Paperback Encyclopedia composed by Slavicsek in '99."

Don't knock Bill Slaviscek's Guide to the Star Wars Universe, it did what it was supposed to do. It wasn't an encyclopedia. It was a guide to quickly summarize things about the SW universe that they may not know.

The latest one is actually the third edition of the book. Bill also did the second. However, the first was published by Ray Velasco long before the 2nd Ed in 1984. It covered things from the movies, the radio dramas, the TV shows. It is the philosophical predecessor to such guides as the Star Wars Encyclopedia and the Essential Guide series.

Slaviscek updated it with a main focus on the latest RPG information which is about the real main addition to the universe since the 1st Ed. came out. He included material from the novels as well.

It was good for what it did, and certainly had information the Encyclopedia didn't include.

 

"Interesting fact is that the SW: E, was written in-universe by scholars around 25 aby."

english, please

 

SW: E= "Star Wars: Encyclopedia"

ABY = After the Battle of Yavin.

 

It was writtin by guys in Star Wars, 25 years after the battle of Yavin.

Edit: Val beat me to it. Up late are we?

 

It's only 11:30 here. I don't go to bed until around 12:30.

 

I'd certainly like to have picked this up when it was orginally out, but it cost more than I had at the time, so I couldn't afford it. Can't find it around here now to see if I can afford it.

 

I point out a comment I heard by Rick McCallum awhile back (don't remember when or where, so sorry) but he said something to the effect of, "People have been playing with George's toys in his driveway and with these new films, George is going to be backing his truck out of the garage and down the driveway, regardless of what's in his way."
That tells me that G.L. can do whatever he wants that contradicts canon.

WHOA! Blinding flash of the obvious for all of you available at no extra charge:

George Lucas can do what he wants.

WAIT! Here comes another:

George Lucas didn't create every microcosmic bit of Star Wars lore and story.

People that think he masterminds or actually bothers to thoroughly review every manuscript that comes his way for books or comics amuse me.

Quite simply, all bets are off on existing EU until Episode III is released.

Frankly, I enjoy seeing numerous aspects of the EU being bashed to tiny bits by the new films and I chortle at the frantic scurrying of the rats that try to do timeline damage control after each new movie release.

Do you think George Lucas gives a crap about comic book storylines that were prepared during the height of Episode I production such as the Tales of the Jedi issues? Other than caring if it's making money, I doubt he'd care if the authors/artists would have had Luke time travel back to the Golden Age of the Sith and die trying to lay the smack down.

It's about time that the licensing department make a few concessions and just start labelling non-movie or actual GEORGE LUCAS approved stories across the board as alternate realities (not authorized rep. of George Lucas either, but George Lucas himself). Such a move would be far better than fumbling around and trying to rearrange a plethora of things every few years to try to make it all fit. Star Wars story chronologies and encyclopedias are on the verge of becoming Star Trek caliber (which is not good IMHO), all it will take is a bit of time travel to get all the way there.
Guess what? George doesn't have the time and probably is quickly losing the inclination as well to personally oversee every nuance of this gigantic beast he has unleashed called Star Wars. He does care though...about the movies. Anything else, he could care less as long as a very few rules aren't broken and the venture is profitable.

I have no evidence for such comments. Such evidence would probably be impossible to generate. The comments are mostly just my opinion. I'm sure many here won't like them.
That's fine.
All I'm saying is no one physically has the time to personally guide and tweak every aspect of a universe as large as Star Wars has become. By my count, we're well over a few hundred people doing actual story and art work for the last 25 years and the person that thinks G.L. approved every word or outline or drawing or conceptual sketch...is a fool.

 

Dear sir, most of your post was irrelevant at least is the case in this forum, because of LFL policy and this forums policy:


Sue Rostoni (Gamer #6 - Oct/Nov. 2001):
Canon refers to an authoritative list of books that the Lucas Licensing editors consider an authentic part of the official Star Wars history. Our goal is to present a continuous and unified history of the Star Wars galaxy, insofar as that history does not conflict with, or undermine the meaning of Mr. Lucas's Star Wars saga of films and screenplays. Things that Lucas Licensing does not consider official parts of the continuous Star Wars history show an Infinities logo or are contained in Star Wars Tales. Everything else is considered canon.

Gandolf the Grey:
That's a question that a lot of people will give you what they consider to be definite answers to. Unfortunately, those definitive answers are often directly contradictory. Within the Literature forum, we treat the whole of the Expanded Universe as canon. This point is not up for debate. Outside the Literature forum, views differ. It's generally not a good idea to mention the Expanded Universe at all in any of the Prequel Spoilers Allowed forums.

As well for your information Lucas hasn't done anything in TPM, or AOTC, that has messed up or thrown out any other source, just reinterpreted what we already knew. So the sources still exist in canon, but with a new interpretation that useally strengthens what we already knew.

 

And,...uhm....McCallum actually convinced GL to use the name Coruscant so that it would fit with the established continuity according to an issue of StarLog.

Darth Angelus,the EU history of the Sith and TPM history..are well..both EU... and both histories come directly from GL.

ee,there was a reader that was disatisfied with the way the Sith and the Dark Jedi were being portrayed in the EU. He apparently didn't like the idea that the Sith were originally a species conquered by a group of fallenJedi. Here's wat the editor of the series says:

"Sorry you don't like the framework of the Sith and the Dark Jedi, but that background came directly to us from George Lucas. We're following his guidelines and building a story within the parameters he himself laid down."

Right. What the EU explains is basiclyy wher te term Sith originated from. According to Lucas,they were originally a race that practiced Dark Side "Magicks"(magick to them,they were a rather primitive species) They were later conquered by fallen Jedi. The original Sith Order was wiped out. The teaching of the fallen Jedi lived on though,and were studied by others. The fallen Jedi mentioned in TPM novel is one such other. He created the Sith Order that Vader and Palpatine belong to. Thanks to TotJ series,you know why he decided to call his order Sith.

"WHOA! Blinding flash of the obvious for all of you available at no extra charge: "

Whoa,blinding flash of the obvious...sometimes you're just wong. Sure,GL doesn't go over every little detail in the EU...bu in the case of the Sith history in TotJ he apparently did.

Life's a bitch,eh?

 

I´ve just checked my SW:E and it states that IT´S RUMORED that Boba Fett was born Jester Mareel, when it seems that recent comix established that Jester Mareel was in fact the guardian of his father Jango. You can see that even when the new EU contradicts the Encyclopedia, it´s about unconfirmed information.

 

It was written inuniverse, remember fett has many legends and stories made about him that people in universe believe. So yes in-universe it was rumored that boba fett was jaster mareel, as people don't know better from their point of view. Even the NEGTC which was written 27 aby, when they were able to research more of the lost information, they were finally able to find the information about jango and real Jaster Mareel. Yet in fett's past as usual it said that one of fett's rumors was that he was originally jaster mareel, but that as their research finally unlocked the information that palpatine hid about AOTC, they then knew better, and could write a more complete history of fett's past based on the unlocked archives.

On a side note Gamer #9, If I recall the issue number correctly implied that Boba Fett may have used the alias Jaster Mareel (which he took from his father's mentor), and used it at one time of his life. People who only know about his time as jaster mareel tend to think that was who he was, as they don't know about the real jaster mareel. So in fact it created a secondary origination stories that protected boba fett's real past as a clone from being common knowledge to the populace at large. If people knew he was a clone he would have most likely been ostracized by the galaxy at large because of the events of the clone wars, so it's helpful for him that his real past is hidden. Which it was at least until his past was unlocked for every eye to see in the NEGTC which was written at 27 aby.

As the fact remains in the story in tales of the bounty hunters, when fett was using the alias, he hoped he could become a stormtrooper at the imperial academy, and soon after he gave up his name, he went onto becoming a stormtrooper according to the story, and then went onto becoming a bounty hunter. As you know Stormtroopers don't exist until the empire is created. The imperial academy didn't exist until the empire was created as well, before that it was known as the republic academy, see Corporate Sector Sourcebook. Not all stormtroopers were clones as some were recruits, that trained at the imperial academy at carrida, as several sources discuss. The official star wars technical journal allows for stormtroopers to be both clones, and recruits as both theories are discussed. His becoming a stormtrooper during part of his life was a refrence to the backhistory mentioned in Dark Empire.

One new theory is that boba fett may have been on one of his early bounty hunts when he took on the alias and disquise of jaster mareel, and he had to take out the officer to get payed. He may also have been on a hunt to take out another officer while he was a stormtrooper as well. It is not the only time that fett has used aliases while he was on a hunt, as he uses one in Hutt Gambit, as well as another one in Twin Engines of destruction. So fett can be seen as an inter-galactic man of mystery with many tricks up his sleeves.

 

Up!

 

One question: Since JEDI KNIGHT allows 2 alternate endings, how will the next update of the SW:E deal with this?

 

As far as EU canon and LucasArts goes, the best ending (or "good" ending) is what ends up being part of continuity, which in this case is Kyle Katarn defeating Jerec without turning to the dark side.

 

Boba Fett: Inter-Galactic Man of Mystery

...well, he certainly is. Just as long as he don't start blabbing in a retarded british accent and gets obssesed with "shagging".

 

Is it true that the changes made in ANH SE were to give the impression that Greedo shooting first was an accident? I´ve read it somewhere in the forums, now I´ve checked that Encyclopedia and it states that he 'barely squeezed the trigger'. Is this now a canon?

 

Up!