ST Official Sequel Trilogy / Legends / Expanded Universe discussion thread

"And who care about the original intent about a war he couldn't even write about and had no idea about due to the PT not even being finished"

The point is, when Lucas made the prequels he wasn't thinking, "Oh, I better not contradict page 76 of Heir to the Empire!" And whoever makes Episode 7 will care even less.

 

Esg, the point is this: if the PT didn't respect what little EU intruded upon its time period, what reason do you have to think the ST, set in a period with masses of EU, will respect the mountain of EU continuity in that time period?

 

The original topic wasn't questions of what will be decanonized and what won't- but what EU content might we expect to appear.

There's a few things I'd like to see- ships, aliens, characters, etc.

 

It was barely anything at all aside from a throwaway lines in a book. It hardly invalidated the entire story like you keep attempting to say.
The thing is the Eu didn't intrude on the PT to begin with. No one was allowed to write about it aside from dialogue which showed nothing

 

"The original topic wasn't questions of what will be decanonized and what won't- but what EU content might we expect to appear.

There's a few things I'd like to see- ships, aliens, characters, etc."

I think they should include some EU elements. I'd really like to see versions of Mara Jade, Corran Horn or Thrawn.

 

Yup. Chewie having "not been back to Kashyyyk in 50 years" in the Han Solo trilogy got retconned- but, as you say, that's a throwaway line.

 

Yeah, the trouble is the original topic offered no room for actual discussion beyond "I like this!", hence why it's veered into a side-discussion.

Of course the PT didn't invalidate "the entire story". But these little inconsistencies suggest a casual disregard on Lucas' part when it comes to maintaining continuity with the EU, something backed-up by quotes from Lucas himself. And this isn't a case of Lucas being unique in his treatment of tie-in media--it's how the industry works.

Again, if the PT didn't respect what little EU continuity it had to worry about, what suggests the ST is going to respect a zillion books and comics that all have a say about what happened after ROTJ?

 

Because it would be a lot harder to ignore a bigass amount of tie in media that are both recent and past then it would be to pay attention to a few throwaway lines in a single book that was released decades before the movie was released mkay

 

"Because it would be a lot harder to ignore a bigass amount of tie in media that are both recent and past then it would be to pay attention to a few throwaway lines in a single book that was released decades before the movie was released mkay"

When making the sequel trilogy, it would be incredibly easy to ignore the tie in media, and incredibly hard to include anything after 25 ABY.

 

Your still assuming they're gonna have Luke and the gang when they're actors are past their prime. Think for a second

 

I think you've got it the wrong way around. The more tie-in media that exists, the harder it is to work around that and still make a movie that satisfies the rule of good storytelling.

Take the Solo twins: a good film story starts when the character is beginning a journey that leads to the most important event in his or her life. That means minor interesting details can be in the character's backstory, but no major convoluted dramas that impinge upon the story being told. To me, this already suggests that should Jacen and Jaina appear, the movies will be written as if much of the EU never took place.

 

Indeed.

 

Yeah, because Star Wars never has characters that are past their prime?

 

I'm really glad they didn't include an aging Jedi as a major supporting character in the original Star Wars in 1977. Seeing some geriatric geezer pretending to be all wise and mystical would have totally sucked!

 

To be fair, he said "actors", not characters.

I'm not sure if Star Wars has ever had actors past their prime, at least none of significance that I can think of atm.

Were Cushing and Guinness past their prime as actors?

 

Alec Guinness' prime was in the 50s and 60s, I'd say. His most famous role is probably Bridge on the River Kwai from 1957.

 

That's what I thought, I don't remember him doing much else after Star Wars. It's just those guys were in their prime before my parents were even born.

Still, it's a small list.

Ewan, Hayden, Natalie, Sam, Ian, Park, Liam, Temuera, Smits, Hamill, Fisher, Ford, Billy Dee...none past their prime imo.

Add Lee to past his prime? He did have LOTR. I was going to say Stamp, but he's still going strong.

 

Yes, I was thinking of it more in terms of age rather than their career. I'm just saying there have been many old characters(albeit usually in supporting roles), Obi-Wan, Palpatine (kind of), Dooku, heck Yoda was 900 years old! I'm not saying Luke and Leia will be the main characters of all three, but I'd be shocked if they weren't included somehow. Why couldn't Luke perform a Qui-Gon like role?

Plus most of those people you mention are different because they were playing younger version of characters or characters that had not been portrayed before. Totally different than considering the sequel trilogy.

 

But nobody, AFAIK, is suggesting that Hamill will be occupying the same space that McGregor did in, say, Episode II. Hamill will most likely fill a supporting role with Luke playing out the "wise old man" archetype.

 

Well, some people are, but what hasn't been suggested here at this point?

I don't really have a dog in this fight.

 

True enough. This is what happens when bored fans are left to their own devices...

I do, however, think that some EU fans hoping for Episode VII to be set 100 years after the OT just aren't thinking clearly. From both a narrative and commercial perspective, it makes the most sense to at least include Hamill as Luke in a supporting role, setting it 30-40 years after ROTJ--that also jibes with everything that Lucas and Hamill have said over the last 30 years or so.

 

I said "I do, however, think that some EU fans hoping for Episode VII to be set 100 years after the OT just aren't thinking clearly." IOW, they have an opinion and I have an opinion; my opinion is that their opinion isn't based on much besides wishful thinking.

Yes, it is possible to have an opinion about other people's opinions. Fancy that!

 

Well, firstly, I thought my initial post (#257) was respectful and not intended to "bash" opinions, even if I stated my opinion plainly. Secondly, as I said earlier, it's disingenuous to claim that all guesses at this point are equally valid--some assumptions are reasonable; others are not.

I'm not going to jump on anyone who is just wildly speculating, however. But if someone claims that their speculation has evidence behind it (e.g. brandishing Coruscant to prove some point about EU canon, or making claims about aging actors), I think it's fair to call them on faulty reasoning.