ST Official Sequel Trilogy / Legends / Expanded Universe discussion thread

I certainly hope so! If this part is true, then I'll be a happy man(throw in mentions of Thrawn and I'm sold):

Oh please let this be true! I've been saying that people who casually glance over the EU won't miss details of who the rest of the Skywalker/Solo family are and they'd be crazy to discard Mara/Jacen/Jaina/Ben. They're iconic characters in their own right. I really would love to see the dynamic of Luke/Leia/Han transfer over to the children. I'll be over the moon if this is the case!

Let's hypothetically say that's true. Does that mean Jaina is going to kiss Ben?!

They're similar in the sense that they're the lurking threat that's located in the outer edges of that universe/world/general location. In the GFFA, you had all these warring factions(be it Jedi/Republic/Rebels/Separtists/Empire etc etc you get the point) vying for or maintaining control over Coruscant(the central capital which allows for control over the overarching government) and starting wars to obtain/defend that location. Similarly in Westeros, you have all the families and their factions fighting over the Iron Throne with whatever they have at their disposal.

While on the outside be it Zonama Sekot/some region beyond the wall the Yuuzhan Vong/White Walkers are assembling for an invasion.

This!

There's no reason why they can't re-imagine the Yuuzhan Vong events.

I agree. For example, it's astounding to see in the SWTOR MMO, how every Sith Warrior/Inquisitor and Republic Trooper(Three classes off the top of my head) seem to always be a derivative of Vader/Palpatine/Maul or every Stormtrooper/Clonetrooper/Rebel Soldier in terms of the costume option. I also don't need to mention the resemblance of Darth Malgus to Vader without the mask.

 

The Vong are alright, but they never really had that Star Wars feel to me. I guess that was kind of the intention, them being from another galaxy whatever, but still... I haven't finished the NJO series, it did have some decent moments and I enjoyed it as a kid but looking back on it now, it's basically like someone stuck some Space Orcs in there to spice things up. They'd feel quite at home in a universe like Warhammer 40k for example, but in Star Wars... not so much.

 

It's Zahn. He's fairly arrogant.

Me, I think pretty much everything post-ROTJ stinks, at least the stuff I read.

 

Stackpole took a similar line in I, Jedi and the Dark Tide duology.

Then you've got Traviss - who takes a similar line with the Jedi Order as a whole - not just events in a few books.

It's not unheard of for authors to do "Take Thats" at particular figures.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TakeThat

 

Imo in a franchise like Star Wars you should give authors who can't work with others the boot. The whole suffers if the hired hands become too arrogant.

 

Zahn used the events previous authors had written - he just put his own slant on them a bit.

I'm told that between TTT and Hand of Thrawn - a great many fans were dissatisfied with Bantam - and wrote Fix Fics of their own, and like Hand of Thrawn because it's an "official Fix Fic":

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/HandOfThrawn?from=Main.HandOfThrawn

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FixFic

 

I agree with you about the arrogance. I know Authors are going to be overprotective of their characters, but I felt this was a bit much. Any other author may as well not bother then in trying to establish Palpatine in a relationship with anyone else as they just aint Mara !


You've reviewed the Star Wars Gamer, what do you think about the "Many Hands of Palpatine" article?
TZ I actually haven't read the article yet, but it is my opinion he had only one Hand, and anybody that says otherwise is lying, or conniving.

And why is that?

TZ She had a unique relationship with Palpatine. She was able to hear his voice anywhere in the Empire. When I did the story "Sleight of Hand," because Lucasfilm gawked at that communication, we had to establish that was absolutely unique. It was Mara and the Emperor who had that telepathic communication. He didn't have it with anybody else, and she didn't have it with anybody else. That is a unique position, and Palpatine obviously had other agents, but he only had one Hand.

 

Sometimes I have to wonder if he wants us to think of Mara as a sex slave.

 

I think he is a bit insecure over his characters. Alliegance and Choices of One all but painted a neon sign over how awesome Mara was. Vaders jealous/Luke is stock still in awe of her mad skillz.

But leaving that aside I still don't get though why he is so dismissive of the idea of other Hands. I mean why wouldn't Palpatine have other Agents and why wouldn't he have a connection with them, and would it really ruin Mara as a character if that were the case

 

Given that numerous other authors have written Hands (some even with long-ranged telepathic communication):
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jeng_Droga

it may simply be a case of Lucasfilm Licencing right hand not knowing what left hand does (assuming that what he's saying about them "gawking at the communication" is true).

 

That sure as hell is way more Star Wars than the friggin Space Orc invasion of bloodlust forthing at the mouth in aforementioned bloodlust to drop moons on wookies and deform people because they're, like, all mutant space orc monsters. Because that's totally something you see in Star Wars. Not adventure stories. Right. Space Orcs. Got it. Very true to the spirit of the series. Because they're Space Orcs.

 

I thought they where space dark elves

 

OMG... OK, I can now point out the very main reason I cannot stand the character. *Bluuuurg*

 

Whatever they are, they ain't Star Wars and I'm totally okay with the entire Vong/NJO concept/era being tossed into the continuity woodchipper and I won't even bat an eyelash.

 

I really like the recent rumors and as an avid EU Fan, who has stopped reading EU due lack of time somewhere in the middle of fate of the jedi, I would really appreciate it if JJ Abrams would stick with Mara Jade, Ben, Jaina and Jacen.
It´s ok to retcon the whole EU, but keep the character names. In regard to Abram´s cruel work on Star Trek there´s the huge possibility that he will throw all EU out of the window. But we will see.

 

Not trying to be a downer, but EU fans getting excited over this should be aware that if we get characters with names like Jacen, Jaina and Mara, they won't really be the same characters from the EU. The only thing they will have in common will more than likely be their names. Transformers fans have christened the phenomenon “Nameslap”.

 

If you could re imagine them? how would you change Mara, Jacen, Jaina, and Ben?

 

It's still a shout-out, I think that's a great idea. It acknowledges "Yes, these characters are/were an influence on the universe" but doesn't make the filmmakers beholden to the metric ton of backstory that's been invested into them for decades. Also, if you'd get Mara Jade, you'd assume they'd take the big beats: red hair, Luke love interest, Imp/former imp superspy, down with the Force, etc.

Ben Skywalker, on the other hand, has had way much development throughout his hero journey to pick up the character from the EU with his complete backstory intact but, hey, name Luke's kid Ben. Works well for the name of Luke's kid, references where the character came from, lets you create the character's on-screen life, etc.

 

Why do people think "Space Orcs" are not Star Wars-y? It's a fantasy story that already has space nazis, space dragons, space wizards, space swords, space goblins, space magic, space samurai, space knights, space teddy bears, space NASCAR, space demons, and much more.

I agree the Vong's design could be better, but I don't know why anyone thinks comparing them to a space version of a common fantasy creature is an argument for them not fitting in with Star Wars - just the opposite, in fact.

 

It's not even that the design in uninspired it's the fact that it's so lazily just "Hey! Space Orcs!" and then they have the generic "Grr! We hate everything alive ever! Grrrr!" and biotech and mutating planets and blah blah blah. It's literally just about some other tropes mashed up and not in an elegant way that A New Hope did it. It's just "Yeah, y'know, slap all these cliches together and put a Star Wars label it and it'll work."

 

The fact that they're including these characters that have only existed on the pages of novels that are 20 odd years old makes us giddy. It's like seeing your favorite comic book superhero on the big-screen for the first time. You can finally share the love you alone have for those characters with a larger audience who'll likely walk away just as satisfied as you were at the same time as you. Once upon a time I was the only Captain America fan out of my geeky/nerdy social circle, then he started getting into movies everybody liked and now I can walk down the street in my Captain America T-Shirt and now it doesn't look so silly now.

I mean if TPTB wanted to, they could have burned it all to the ground but these guys are showing gestures of good-will to fans of those characters and saying "Yes we know you exist and are willing to fan-service you". I say more power to that.

 

And The Empire as portrayed in the original trilogy is the generic "Grr! We hate freedom! Grrr!" Which is perfectly fine with me.

Perfectly reasonable to hold the opinion that the Vong aren't good villains and wouldn't make for a good film appearance, but "they're too much like a space version of this fantasy thing" and "they're too generically evil" are silly rationales, considering those rationales describe the entire original films.

 

The way ANH incorporates the different genres and influences is done in a much more cohesive manner that fits into the universe. The Vong are "Hey, we're going to have a fantasy genre invade the universe" without any thought given to how they fit into the universe, which they do no, so they stand out like a sore thumb. The Imperials have a whole bunch of historical WWII influences into it. The Vong are just Space Orcs. Who fly through space and then turn the Star Wars brand into Space Orc killfest. And generically bloodthirsty ones at that. That lasted almost 2 dozen books and ate up the universe for most of the early 2000 era.