Speculation The Official Episode VII and the EU thread

Lucas mumbles something about books and comics in the buyout video, and Pablo Hidalgo confirmed he had been writing guides for the future writers. On the other hand, Dan Wallace has been making comments about how awesome 007-style continuity is, so...

We actually don't know a thing. Come on, the announcement was 24 hours ago. For all we know, the ST is not going to "use" the EU any more than TCW has (the galaxy map, planet names, alien species, locales, etc).

 

There is always conflict at some level with EU when it comes to movies. The prequels had their affect as well, tossing out a fair bit of what was previously considered canon. there will be more of that here... the question is how much.

As I mentioned in another thread, I think there is zero chance Ford will do another Star Wars movie... and I just don't see how Fisher can fit in with out her counter partner in Han Solo... thus i think of the original cast, only Hamill has a shot for a part.

 

I'm betting the whole NJO and Legacy series get thermal detonated into oblivion, and I'm completely fine with that.

 

Merged threads.

 

Where did they say this? I'd really like to see anything you can offer to corroborate this.


I think the most likely prospect — as difficult and groundshaking as it would be — is that Lucasfilm will choose to reboot the post-Jedi EU, the same way any number of sci-fi or comic universes have been rebooted.

The way the EU was situated in relation to the periods around the films is that the films have been the "tentpoles" governing the major, history-defining events of the universe, while EU narrative fills in the gaps of all sorts of other adventures. In other words, prequel-era EU (such as Clone Wars) always works in relation and in deference to the events in the movies. The post-Jedi EU chronology has been filled in so densely with the major galactic events that to create films consistent with those timelines would be the reverse of the established Film-EU relationship, with the films being minor marginal story lines subservient to the major historical events of the EU. I just can't see that happening.

Disney didn't buy Star Wars for the EU. They bought it for three main reasons: new films ($1.5 billion box office expected each), the characters (meaning huge toy and merchandise sales and who, as we see from increasingly ridiculous spinoff activities such as Lego, Angry Birds, and Detours, can exist quite separately from any EU continuity), and new TV (for ABC and Disney XD). Allegiance to the established Post-Jedi EU chronology does absolutely nothing for their bottom line. There's a reason that franchises reboot, and it's because it offers more freedom to tell new stories (and thus sell new products) while still holding on to old, beloved characters.

 

Really? I mean I don't think they've said a time frame for Episode VII yet, it could be the 20-30 year post mark I've been thinking of and that'd mean you just take out the trash, say everything post Survivor's Quest is non-canon infinities and move on. All a new comer would need to know in the film was... this is Mara, she's Luke's wife, and is totally badass. You don't need to dig up the Emperor's hand business in the films since Mara has buried a lot of that herself.

 

I'd go so far as to argue it'd hurt their bottom line - you'd be caught either filling in a gap, or you'd have to explain that Chewbacca can't be here because he got a moon dropped on him to the six year olds. In either of these oversimplified for the purposes of snark cases, hurts the box office. Lose/lose.

 

Eh most of the really damaging stuff is in the NJO and Legacy series, but I have a hard time seeing them eject Zahn's novels.

 

Yes, exactly. Not to mention that slavishly adhering to EU chronology would remove much of the sense of peril for the main characters. Don't worry, Luke will be fine, 'cause he survives to be in all the later books.

 

Yes, I can't see them doing that. It makes no sense.

 

Hands down Thrawn. He's the perfect example of a star wars villain that is legitimate despite not being a Sith or a darkside user or having no motive at all beyond destruction.

 

...except that the ST is likely to take place after all the books.





GL - he thinks ahead
/LM

 

So does Ramza
/Ramza

 

This is going to involve some major EU vs. Lucas' vision debates, isn't it?

 

You know it.

As I've been saying around, that's the ideal case. But, in the case he decided to show old Luke and Lando Junior, he's not going to be limited by what the EU said, at least not anymore that the PT was.

 

Borsk!

 

Until some plot information begins to leak, I think there's a certain Gandalf picture meme that applies to what we're looking at that I can't actually post here because of rule violations. You know the one. "So it begins."

Edit: Oh, here, found a boardsafe variant:

 

In a single day everything we knew about Star Wars was overturned. This must be like when peanut butter was first formulated.

 

Bah, the fanboyish over-excited clueless speculation is adorable. It makes me smile, and not with sarcasm.

 

Skippy the Jedi Droid

 

I should hope so

Seriously, I don't see a big problem with them just noting that Chewie is dead, without going into the details of it.
Of course, there is always the possibility that I'm wrong. At the end of the day, I don't care either way, as long as the ST feels meaningful. I still get the impression, though, that they do care about the EU too much to just ignore it.





Lucas - he is considerate
/LM

 

Kyle Katarn is the man!

Kyle Katarn massacring stormstroopers or their equivalents as usual.

 

I'm not suggesting that he would. I'm merely saying that I don't believe that they will ignore the EU. EU elements are likely being considered and tweaked to fit the story.





Luke - he is old
/LM

 

I don't think there's going to be any more EU influence than "Coruscant instead of Had Abaddon as the name of the capital planet". I can see them calling a Jedi HQ planet "Ossus" because it's what it's called in the EU, for example, but I can't see them using Yuuzhan Vong characters.

In the end, it's a matter of money. Episode VII is going to make much more $$$ than all of New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi combined. Of course they're not going to close narrative doors because of existing novels.

 

Again, I'm not saying that they will.





Sayings - they're heard
/LM