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

Let's be honest here: the top of any spin-off list is Boba Fett. I am absolutely convinced that that will be the first non-saga movie they do.

 

That'd also work, IMHO. What are the chances IYO that they'll bring him back in the ST?

 

Boba's a bit... awkward, really.

I can see a film audience thinking "Huh? Isn't that the dude who died in ROTJ?"

A spin-off after the ST set between the PT and OT with Vader in it as well definitely sounds possible though, yeah.

To be fair, how many film viewers paid much attention to that?

It's like Michael Miyers. People don't care that much about how he came back to life between each Halloween movie.

Throw in some evil magick voodoo with Talzin-type witches chanting around a cauldron, invoking the spirit of the Evil Emperor a la those hags in Prince Caspean tying to revive the White Witch, [insert evil cataclysm that unleashes the Dark Side again], Anakin's ghost appears to Luke, says the Prophecy was wrong, that Luke must become the new Chosen One, must defeat new villains.

And there you go. Not like most audiences think about things the way we do. They'd just be screaming for Luke [or insert new hero] to go save the day!!!

 

Very short RotJ flashback - heroes' skimmer moves out of shot, explosion under the sand, Boba jets out of hole! Lucas nearly put something like that in the SE, so I understand.

 

Oh I don't know Zorr, it'd be kind of fun watching both the movie and ep 7 forums erupt simultaneously! People really seem to care about that prophecy!

Probably be a blow-up here too!

Internet flood basalt chain eruption!

 

People posting on a forum for Star Wars geeks care.

Rest of world = looking at all of us and just shaking their heads.

 

ST dumps on OT and makes it un-canon? Guess some of us would like that!

 

Oh, I definitely think you're underestimating the popularity of Boba Fett; it's odd, really, especially considering how lame his "death" in ROTJ is. Hell, I saw The Book of Mormon recently, and that dropped a reference to Fett, and most of the audience laughed.

You know you've got a cashcow when you can get killed by a blind man and still be seen as an epitome of badass by the public.

 

True, I suppose they wouldn't even need to say who it was in the ST, as he never takes his helmet off in the OT, so for the ST's purpose it could even be more effective to keep him mysterious, with no explanation of how he survived, whether it's even the same guy, just this enigmatic legend in the armour kicking ass.

They can leave the contrived explanations for the books and leave the movie character this mysterious badass.

 

you still think there will be books expanding movies if they churn out a new one every 2-3 years? after 30 years of expanding the OT we got not even every character in the background named... the PT had less than 10 years... and with 2 years between movies... the EU will NEVER expand them properly beyond a few things until the next movie comes. usually it will even slow down more like with TCW to "sit it out and wait for when it is over to get to work".. which is NEVER sadly given more series and movies coming.

am I the only one who'd prefer a true final happily ever after Sequel END to the universe over endless movies and continuation? Heck I planned to survive Star Wars and see it all, completists curse! At least Tolkien can't write any more. And George R.R. Martin is still busy but hardly will have others continue his work, except the end he spoiled to HBO in case he dies before he can finish it.

 

An EU or not, by "books" I'm talking the obligatory Art of Episode 7, Making of Episode 7, etc, tie ins that will inevitably still be hocked with every spin off until the end of time. That's where I see "How Boba survived?" or "Where did Grievous come from?" stuff being answered.

 

how many of those are still canon without any retcons to them?

 

sure those might come, but I doubt that they will come for all movies. for the Sequel Trilogy, sure. but not for every other spinoff. well not in the thick book type we are used to, but rather a thinner one like most movies get for casual fans. the highprice exclusive superthick detailed goodies will get rare.. or too highpriced like BLUEPRINTS, a book that is overprized by 10000000000000000000000%... even Chronicles 1 and 2 should be worth triple of what Blueprints is.

 

Y'know, in retrospect, they went about this all wrong. They should have released loads of pre-TPM material between TPM-AotC, loads of pre-AotC material between AotC-RotS and then only start exploring the Clone Wars after RotS had been released and everyone knew exactly what they were building towards.

 

But it was George's vision to do it this way?

 

They did release a bit of pre-TPM material not too long after TPM- the Jedi Apprentice books, and some comics (I think the Ki-Adi-Mundi ones, for example). And adult novels: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. Cloak of Deception.

 

yeah earliest Jedi Apprentice books had to be retconned due to AOTC still... they showed Jedi in love, and it was not forbidden back then before AOTC. Then there was the Jedi with his own harem, Ki Adi Mundi..

 

Another possibility: after a few movies have come out and there's a clear idea of which bits and bobs from the EU have made the transition into D-canon, they hire Dan or Jason to write the Essential Guide to the Expanded Universe.

Which is to say, the new Expanded Universe.

Mmm...retcons...

 

Except the PT was a planned 3 movies, not a new movie every 2-3 years.

 

while I love Jason and Dan's work... I hope this will not happen. if they reboot kinda, a new EU would be better than ripping the old apart in its death. I mean.. salvaging is nice, sure, but there is a point where salvaging becomes not "few sources gone only or retconned" but merely a ripping apart with sources kept, and those not even intact but heavily retconned. a new clean EU would serve better than that.

besides, they'd never do such an Essential Guide (they being the editors and officials who authorize such stuff!)... when have they ever officially declared something NOT canon, or unretconnable? they remain silent in hope we find a solution or forget about it. they do not admit their errors, they do not talk to the fans honestly about the entire mess and how to solve it. they wait and see. that is what they do. there will be no "this is canon" statement. vague explanations, sure, but nothing like a hard fact guide to how it is then. the TCW timeline they give us in the blogposts by Leeland is great but even that one is just episodes.. and already contradicting lots of formerly official and canon webcomics as well as other material. thus.. what did they really give us that a fanversion did not do better already when it comes to these problems?

 

TCW is a special case, since there was already a whole swath of material already in place and there's no sense in starting up the retcon factory until the dust settles. And it's really only Del Rey that has put it on hold: Dark Horse is turning out several CW comics a year, not to mention kids/YA and "nonfiction" references like Jason's guides.

Other than that the EU has never been shy about expanding around current/upcoming products, sometimes to its eventual detriment.

Sure, in retrospect, yeah. Randy Stradley said at CVI that that was the plan but he persuaded LFL that it was better to move forward (at least as far as the comics go). I still think it was the right idea for the time. DH and DR had access to the script and development materials from ROTS from pretty early on so they had a good idea what to set up and what to avoid. And with minor hiccups it worked out just fine until TCW.

We had a bunch of AOTC lead-ins between 1999 and 2002--did anyone really want another three years of material leading up to the worst movie of the six when we had a chance to see the Clone Wars which fans had been looking forward to for 25 years?

It was even marketed as the first time the EU had moved ahead of upcoming movies (while not strictly true, it's close enough in the sense that nothing was ever that closely orchestrated to lead directly into the next film). It's not like you would just leave that merchandising/marketing potential on the table in hopes to use it sometime after 2005. Don't forget, it was not a foregone conclusion that the saga wasn't going to drop off the face of the earth in a couple years like it did in the mid-eighties.

 

given their track record of working together I doubt that.. also, if they change that dichotomy, what else will they change?

I want a movie/tv free break of a couple of years for the EU to expand the PT properly.
I want 1-3 years in which NOT A SINGLE sw product will be released so fans can catch up with older stuff they could not afford or get yet and like in the early days, reread stuff a lot for indepth analysis.
I want a Sequel Trilogy that ENDS Sw properly and does not open it to a movietrain of endless moneymaking.
I want EU and Movies respecting and using each other properly, not mockingly.
I want companies that are honest to fans and admit errors and problems, working on them rather than sitting them out in silence.
I want West End Games back.
I want Dark Horse to stay.
I want to get hired by them.
I want something to drink now... cheers.