Lit A/V The Force Awakens and the EU [TAGGED spoilers.]

Unfortunately that is the price you have to pay for choosing to get involved in such a niche group of people who followed the EU so religiously. You knew at any time Lucasfilm could come in and say they are going to be making more movies after all and could render what you read non cannon. I chose not to start reading very much of the EU for that very reason because I knew it wasn't the real story (and quite frankly what I did read wasn't worth reading anyhow).

 

What I love most? The idea that arguments about canon will be a thing of the past in ten years time...

Reboot or no reboot, in ten years time, there'll be the same arguments, only it'll be about the Episode 7 Novelisation and if the Padme Solo Holiday Special invalidates it.

Edit: Oh, and of course, whether Han shot first... not even film purists will ever escape that continuity war.

 

I havn't paid much attention to it but are there plans to continue to produce reading material after 2015. Or is everything Star Wars going to be movies and television shows?

 

Explain then.

 

Did Marvel SW continuity sticklers eventually go extinct?

 

According to the Story Group, you have completely misunderstood the situation. Of course, it's much more likely that it's just covering up that they are going with the 'traditional' tie-in methodology, but one has to wonder why they are going through so much effort - surely not to appease the one or two EU fans left out there.

You have some major misconceptions that the EU will be de-canonized. Whether or not they continue to use the shared universe going forward doesn't magically decouple all the past products.

Ten years after ANH came out, not very many people were concerned with Star Wars in general. Let's see if history repeats itself.

 

Well, Marvel taking over from Dark Horse confirms there'll be comics.

Reading material, video games, television shows, spin-off movies... whatever medium the "EU" of the future takes, you'll have the same arguments between groups of fans.

Han shooting first. Revan's gender. Ahsoka Tano. Films, games or TV shows, you'll still have the exact same disagreements between Star Wars fans when something happens that spoils "their" view of what the true story should be. Throwing out the current EU back catalogue won't change that, just change what the disagreements are about.

 

Marvel comics will be doing Star Wars series, and Del Rey is working with the new Story Group, for the new Story Group canon.
Leland Chee has stated that the Story Group canon has no more levels, and this time everything will be equal. Everybody will be working together this time.

Movies, TV, Netflix, Books, Comics, and Games

What JJ Abrams wanted for Star Trek, he got for Star Wars.

 

And hopefully, with George Lucas out of the way, there won't be the biggest vandal constantly editing his own film and changing who shot who first.

 

I have been explaining this since I joined this conversation, but since you asked, let's go more in-depth:
Star Wars has always been unique in that the majority of novels, comic-books, video games, etc. associated with it have had the label of Canon applied to them, creating the initial at-first-glance impression that their contents were inviolable. However, that impression really never had the true validity that many people believed that it did because of the concept of 'multiple levels of Canon' created for and applied to the franchise, which allowed George Lucas and anyone else associated with the films and/or TCW to arbitrarily override the contents of the EU without impunity, although they consciously tried, by and large, not to do so unless it was inevitable.

With Disney's acquisition of the Star Wars brand and Lucasfilm and the creation of the Lucasfilm Story Group, the only thing that has changed is that the 'multiple levels of Canon' concept has now been done away with. In practical terms, this really means very little, and is essentially just a simplification of the franchise's previous Canon policy.

Any and all existing Star Wars tie-in material remains just as relevant and viable now as it did before, even - and especially - if future Canon introduces story elements, settings, etc. that expand the universe of the franchise in ways that are different from what was done previously in mediums other than film and television.

 

Bringing back previously dead characters in Canon is called retconning, not 'artistic F-ing around', as you put it, and is actually quite a common practice in storytelling.

 

The people talking about giving up on Star Wars aren't doing it because they believe they'll hurt Disney by doing so or because they think the EU is supremely important to the saga. It has more to do with fatigue. Many have spent around 20 years following the EU. In my case it was only seven years plus a few more when I'd read the young reader novels and play the games. And already I'm exhausted and the idea of starting over doesn't sound fun. If the EU no longer exists then all of that time was kind of waisted. They were fun, but would have been better spent reading novels in their own universe; ones that would have counted no matter what. Not to say there are any regrets, but technically the time would have been better spent elsewhere. Also, the EU is bigger than what's in screen and to those who follow it, the EU has shaped their perception of the Star Wars universe. It covers more events and does so more in depth than the films ever could. After loosing that, it will feel like we no longer know the Star Wars universe. After all of this, starting over doesn't sound fun. We have to re-read/watch over a large portion what we have already spent a lot of time reading about. At this point, it will all feel like rehash since there is nothing else they could do to make it interesting. It will be the same style of conflicts with different chacharacters. In addition, we will have to relearn most of what we know about the uuniverse, which doesn't sound fun after spending so much time on the EU. Do I think my decision will affect Disney? No that's ridiculous. Do I think Star Wars will be ruined without the EU? Know there are too many fans. Could I get invested a second time? No, I'll probably see the movies and maybe pick up any direct lead in materiel (if its a Cloak of Deception style of novel), but I won't want to buy most of thr novels released or care for what actually happens in series. For the most part I will he done with Star Wars and I'll move onto something else.

 

Pablo's statement of 'Only the films, TCW, and Rebels are Canon' pretty explicitly conveys that the EU's contents HAVE in fact been 'decoupled' Canonically.

 

The EU was predicated on the resurrection of the Emperor. I guess it was ruined from day one.

 

Take for example, how Chewie and Han met. EU fans knew for 17 years that Han saved Chewie from getting whipped by Han's Superior Imperial Officer when Han was in the Imperial Navy, Chewie then gave him a life-debt and Han was thrown out of the Imperial Navy. We've known that 17 years. Now we have to have a re-do for the fans that don't like the EU so they can accept their first meeting?
How is their re-imagined first meeting going to top what we've known for a long time?
So we have to go through that and every other single little moment that made the galaxy what we knew it as again but differently? It was time and money consuming doing this the first time, now we have to do it again?

 

This statement proves that you don't understand the nature of tie-in fiction, as does this one:

Star Wars was unique in that it had a complicated 'multi-level Canon' system that gave its tie-in fiction the appearance of 'counting' even though, in all practical terms, said fiction was vulnerable to being overridden at any time without impunity.

Most other franchises treat their tie-in fiction as having no impact on the Canon of said franchises, even and especially if they actively tell stories that expand the fictional universe of said franchise as it has been depicted in the Canon of said franchises.

 

I feel like this is an OT vs PT debate, except now it is EU vs TCW. You can't generalize bad stuff from TCW without falling into the trap of generalizing bad stuff from the EU that film purists do. I've always found it ironic that this brand purism has entered EU fandom.

 

That's why I have never had any interest in tie-in fiction for any other franchise. I don't want to read fiction that does not count. I bought into the idea that the EU counted and why shouldn't I? That's what they said and for years we have been told there would be no new movies. I knew it could be decanonized on a whim, but I didn't actually expect it to happen. If I did I wouldn't have bought a of the books I did.

 

To all this fan fratricide, I only have this to say:

 

My first EU experience book-wise was the Jedi Academy trilogy where it mentioned the Clone Emperor but didn't know what it meant until much later. Never bothered me. Wanted to learn more about it. Luke and Leia fighting without help from Anakin, a Palpatine (Clone, real or whatever) who returned from the dead? Works for me. I was never intrigued by Anakin's story and the Prophecy as you might have been anakinfansince1983 so I accepted it. Besides he was dead from 1983 to 1992 or so with how many stories? None I don't think.
Maul dead in 1999, then Episode 2, a whole Clone Wars series, Episode 3, a second Clone Wars series happened and then mentioned in season 3 and brought back in season 4. It's been 12-13 years since he 'died' and how many adventures had we seen since then and he wasn't there?
Besides he is no Palpatine. Palpatine I can see coming back since its him, but Maul? Get real. Lucas only brought him back because he was popular.

 

I don't understand what RL time has to do with bringing Maul back. The EU only brought Boba Fett back because he was popular too.

 

Precisely.

And to everyone who says we should have been more cynical and less trusting?

Don't worry, you're going to get that too - as we're going to be precisely that, while spending money on other more deserving items!

So.... everyone'll be happy, right?