Lit What's more important? continuity or story

A lot of people are saying disney should make the old republic era canon such as the kotor series and revan, they are also saying they should bring back a lot of other EU like Thawn.

Can any of the old eu be integrated into the new eu? Does that mean changing a lot of the character personalities such as changing character motivations or traits?

 

Some of the old EU is already being integrated into the newcanon. Mr "He doesn't like you - I don't like you either" from ANH, for example, is very much the EU version (Dr Evazan, Mad Scientist) rather than the "G-canon version" (Roofoo, small-time punk - ANH radio play).

 

Easy answer: Story every time.

Continuity, used skilfully, can enhance a good story further but it can't fix a bad story and continuity on its own isn't much.

As to the Great Reboot, it may not have been as great or extensive as it was sold to be!

 

I guess what im trying to ask is would the community be ok with using old eu material or adding new stuff even if it didn't make a lot of sense?

 

There's already people complaining about the little EU that the newcanon is already using. There's always somebody who's not going to be OK with some EU.

 

You need to drop by Sinrebirth 's One Canon thread, he might even show up here with a direct link to it!

 

true

 

The trick for the Story Group is putting in plenty of "EU that makes a lot of fans happy and only a few fans unhappy" - while carefully avoiding the reverse.

 

Well, the Story Group didn't do that, they aren't really even using the EU, just the elements of the universe surrounding the films, limited to a handful of characters tangentially tied to the films, everything else is completely irrelevant to the new canon. The new canon is just creating a bunch of new characters to replace EU characters, and not much else.

 

Story. Story, story, a million times story. Continuity is wonderful too, though.

 

Basically exactly what they said they would do from the start.

Maybe just provide a link to the announcement next time.

 

Oh sorry, I was addressing Iron Lord's comment.

Story, but unfortunately the new canon has completely failed at creating a good story to make up for the new continuity. I read Flamewind of Oseon yesterday evening, and just like Mindharp of Sharu, it was more entertaining than anything TFA did.

 

Continuity should always come first

 

popcorn dot gif

 

Story wins anyday

 

The stories need to flow together like a well oiled machine, and the stories need to abide by their own rules. Plus continuity holes are often eyesores and everyone notices them.

 

It's not a contest. Part of good storytelling for longer form stories or shared universes is having continuity. They go hand-in-hand.

And yes, Lucas himself said something to that effect:

"Star Wars is a completely made-up universe; it doesn't hold to any scientific rules, really. But at the same time, it is very logical in a certain kind of clock way. Once you've set up a particular kind of rule, you don't break that rule, so I was very careful to make it as realistic as possible even though it is a completely fantasy world."

 

Iron_Lord, don't stop being Iron_Lord. Even if they try to reboot you. Don't do it.

 

A good story is more important than good continuity. That is not to say that the works you are referring to are all good stories.

 

What's more important is that I get exactly what I want.

 

Continuity is story. I mean, does anyone want Han to just show up alive in Episode VIII because it will make Episode VIII a better story and we just forget about what happened in Episode VII because continuity of the story doesn't matter, only the fact that this story is pleasant in this particular moment? "I got better!" Isn't that a large part of what everyone agreed messed up the post-NJO Denningverse -- characters didn't act like themselves, events were ignored or recontextualized in a way that made no sense if you actually took the prior stories into account, nothing seemed to have lasting consequences if Denning didn't want it to? That's continuity -- making sure that there's a flow between stories, that everything feels like it's in the same universe and builds off what came before. Everything else is quibbling over the details -- how "small" a discontinuity has to be before it's okay. It's not okay if it's characterization, it's okay if it's only a subtle bit of characterization from one book, it's okay if it's a discontinuity with an obscure source but not a major one, it's okay if it's just having a gun or spaceship around before a sourcebook said it should be but not if they got the sequence of events of the Clone Wars wrong, it's okay if there's a good retcon but not if it's so glaring they can't fix it, it's not okay if it's about something I really like, whatever. It's all just arguing over where to draw the line.

I'm not really sure how the titular question relates to the questions in the post itself, though. Integrating EU isn't a question of story vs. continuity; it's a question of what you want the universe to do. Personally, I don't really see the point of reintegrating old EU for its own sake. Use something if it's interesting, but to me it seems like if you're going to blow up thirty years of storytelling and continuity, you might as well make sure you get something out of it. Explore your options and make sure you're using the best ideas you possibly can, not just using something because that's the way someone decided it twenty years ago. And just because the EU did a great job with something doesn't mean you should just copy it over. If that story has already been told well in the EU, then maybe try finding a new story to tell in this continuity. Like, I absolutely love the A.C. Crispin Han Solo books. I adore them. I think they're fantastic backstory for Han. But I really don't see the point in the new continuity using them. Tell your own story. Use this opportunity to do something you couldn't do in the old EU -- let Han be raised by Wookiees this time around if that's what you want. Use Nar Shaddaa as a setting because you think it's a cool planet, but don't feel bound to have him live there. Hell, don't feel bound to have it orbit Nal Hutta. Don't feel bound to call it Nar Shaddaa. If you like the concept of Mako Spince, then give Han an old hell-raising Imperial Academy buddy. But feel free to make him something different. Make Lando his Imperial Academy buddy if you want. You're free to do anything! Make Wedge Antilles Han's cousin if you want to. Make Dooku a member of the Jedi Council. Don't assume your way into the constraints of the box you just got rid of.

 

Story.

Story.

Spoiler

Story.