Speculation Why the NJO and Legacy Era are toast.

Yeah, but from what I can recall, there's a significant gap between the latest adventures of Luke & company and when Star Wars Legacy begins. At least another 50 years. Do that. Wiggle room there. I think the Yuzan Vong war could still have happened in there, and it gets about as much of a mention as the Clone Wars do in episode 4-6. Like, a single line.

 

I still don't think that will work, though, because Star Wars Legacy starts off in a bad situation. So the movies need to have good guys winning, so bad situation to good situation to bad situation again in half a century? This flip-flopping is so annoying. An oversimplified history of the galaxy: Republic goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood bad good bad good bad good bad good. Too much.

 

Add in emotional and mental stress I can't possible believe Luke can still be kicking butt at 60. He had to bring back the Jedi order by himself, had to deal with Republic and Galactic Alliance interference/incompetence, had a schism in the order in the NJO through DNT, lost many allies over the years ex. Aunt Beru, Uncle Owen, Obi-Wan, his father, Biggs, Anakin Solo, Jacen, Mara, Capiston, Callista Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar plus a lot of others. Luke was poisoned during the Vong war, was electrocuted by Palpatine, got the stuffing beat out of him by Abeloth several times, Kueller, Lumiya, Exar Kun and don't forget about how many people fell to the Dark Side and I'm pretty sure he took those hard. Kueller, Brakiss, Jacen, Gantoris, Alema plus a couple others.
I'm probably forgetting some instances for everything but at what point does your suspension of disbelief stop working? I'm at that point.

 

I'm sure it's hard for him, but if he doesn't do it, who else will? Luke is strong. He knows he has to do it because only he can (he really can't, judging from Legacy, but whatever).

 

I mean, there's no way they do this movie without Chewbacca. He's in there for sure. Probably get blown up along with Han Solo in episode 7 at some point (I think Harrison Ford is gonna get the death scene he's been asking for since Empire Strikes Back).

Luke Skywalker is easily going to be in the movie, bank that one. Leia kind of has to since we only found out that she was Luke's brother in Return of the Jedi so there's more to explore there in the films. And you need Han with Leia because they hooked up at the end of "Jedi". Now I could see them just having Luke in it. Which I'd be fine with, they need an Obi-Wan mentor so it's almost a given. And maybe a throwaway reference to a great war which happened. Nobody mentions Anakin Solo by name because it'd be incredibly complicated and make the audience sit upright and say "Anakin whothewah Solo huh?!!!" but doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Like I said, just keep an eye on the novel series leading up and post-ep. 7, those will be fun to see all of the backflips they incorporate into it.

 

Why is there no way to do a movie without Chewbacca? Why is he so important? Star Wars newbies are not going to see a movie because an ugly brown carpet is in it and hard core fans won't not see it because a likeable, ugly brown carpet is not in it.

 

That's how I'd prefer they do it- subtle nods, rather than going into any detail.

 

Just the visual image of Chewbacca, like the droids, is very Star Wars. And if they have Han, it wouldn't make that much sense to have Chewbacca, like, not there. People in the audience would kinda wonder. I'm sure there will be a new alien sidekick in the ST, or, hell, maybe just use Chewbacca again!

Quick! Everybody start making up no-prize reasons how Chewie survived getting a moon slammed on him! I say, uh, teleportation! By, uh, something. I'm sure a novel will explain quite a lot.

 

A big Chewie statue in heroic pose, Han & Leia laying flowers at the foot of it- doesn't that seem like a appropriate way of referencing his death while emphasising that he died a hero?

 

Personally I don't find Chewbacca and absolutely integral part of Star Wars at all. Or the droids, two out of millions. One character is not that important to me.

 

Solid idea, throwaway line about how Han & Leia have "lost so much" which is a carpet statement that covers Jacen & Anakin, etc. Kind of a bummer of a scene, though, can't see it happening anyway. Also it would be kinda mean to lay on the audience when they walk in "Hey! Chewie's dead! boo!" (throws stuff at screen)

 

Seriously though, if you call yourself a real Star Wars fan, you should know that Chewie is dead. You've had like a decade to do it.
This would be like me saying that I was the biggest fan ever while not knowing who Bane was. Fans should put enough effort in to at least know some general non-movie stufff. Luke having a family and Chewbacca dying are minimums.

 

I like the speculation, but it shouldn't be based on or around any story elements from the EU, at least IMO.

 

Seriously though, from a storytelling perspective, piling on the backstory with throw away lines like that is just... bad. We do not need the angst ridden dark future that Del Rey gave us, I mean sure we had darkness in the Bantam books but nothing on the order of a Galactic Invasion that turned Coruscant into a jungle, caused what... 1/2 to 1/3rd of the Galaxy to become refugees, the death of Chewbacca, the fall of Jacen Solo, the death of Mara Jade Skywalker, and the death of Anakin Solo.

To put it in perspective, the Vong War was more destructive then the Galactic Civil War and the Clone Wars COMBINED. How can they keep it in the universe when it overshadows everything we've seen on the screen in terms of loss of life, destruction, and everything else. It's like the first thing the Del Rey editors thought when they got the Star Wars universe was... lets blow it up!

 

If they're going to do a memorial for Chewie, they should do it right.

 

Agree with most of what you said, but I think the Clone Wars alone were the worst. Not that many died, maybe, but the end result was the destruction of the
REPUBLIC

 

I don't think referencing the Yuzan Vong War & Jacen Solo turning into Darth Caedus would pile on too much backstory. Like I said, the Clone Wars get a single shout-out in the OT. "Remember all that stuff that happened after we blew up the 2nd Death Star? That was a lot of stuff." bango. Done.

 

All of this speculation is, indeed fun to think about. I think the true challenge is to include the EU stuff without alienating the "movie purists." As we all know, when it comes to our Star Wars, we are a very divided fan base. There seems to be a distinct group the believes anything with the Star Wars moniker on it is part of the story, EU, video games, movies, tv shows, comics, etc. How do you do three more movies using the Han, Luke, Leia combo without alienating them? I mean, everything was done with the idea that there would be no more movies, right? Crazy. I'm of the same opinion of some of the folks earlier in this. They can keep everything as a passing line, a la the "Clone Wars" in the OT and pick up 40 years after ROTJ. Anything else can be retconned. As Star Wars fans, we're used to that anyways, right?

 

Vong War caused the New Republic to be defeated/reformed to become the Galactic Alliance. Also, not counting Vong, i believe around 365 trillion people of the GFFA died. The vong are far worse and more dangerous to the galaxy then the Separatists ever were. Also the war was larger in scale, remember it was an invasion, not just simply 2 factions fighting each other like the Clone Wars. Basically not just the New Republic, but about every Faction of the GFFA (minus the Peace Brigade, who worked with the Vong) were the Vong's enemies.

 

No-one seems to get this concept: the EU fans do not need to be catered to, nor should they be. The EU is a secondary consideration. The filmmakers will do what they want without worrying about whether or not their plans contradict the EU material.

 

I know this, but frankly, the New Republic was unstable, weak, ineffective and kind of a fail. And no other governmetn after the New Republic has worked out, either. The Republic as the only government that managed to be powerful, long-lasting, and liked for a significant amount of time.

 

Why not? What makes "EU fans" any less deserving of "being catered to" than prequel fans, OT fans, TCW fans, etc?

 

Simple, you're a minority and not the prime money maker of the movie going audience... most of us are almost fanatical and would go see the movie two or three times even if it was terrible.

EDIT: This doesn't mean they won't use parts of the EU... I'm sure they will, but they're going to cherry pick them much like what happens when a comic book superhero gets a movie. Some things will transfer and be included, the vast majority will not.

 

Even if all the fanatics only saw it once, all the casual people will still mean more $ than books.

 

Agreed, since the EU includes all books, tv series (therefore TCW), comics, video games, that means most of the star wars material existing is EU. And though there are various types of EU fans (some prefer books over TCW, or maybe just a fan of the video games or just TCW, etc), the fact is that the EU has added many fans to the star wars franchise, especially between the years of ROTJ and TPM, and kept adding more during the PT years and even after the PT.

Heck if the EU did not exist, one could argue star wars would not be as popular as it is today (imagine the years between ROTJ and TPM without any new star wars material).