Lit Lucasfilm Writing Group

I don't agree on Rian in the slightest. He moved into Skywalker Ranch to work alongside the Story Group on a daily basis. They specifically discussed the pros and cons of things like the Holdo Maneuver (Pablo is pro).

 

I guess, if we are drawing lines in the sand I am squarely on the opposite side. Really, though, do we have to favor one over the other? I don't think we do.

In fact, I argue that the state of being limited by previous material in-and-of-itself provides the perfect environment to demonstrate skillful creativity.

This is an excellent example of inconsistency, yes. A bummer and worthy of being called out as such, but not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.. unless you are trying to sell books to people who are looking for consistency.

Ahsoka's existence? No. The inconsistency in her novel, does, yes. No biggie, but it did jolt me out of the story a bit. I get how/why it happened, and it would be impossible to avoid this sort of misstep 100% of the time.

Yes. I will admit to falling for this. I'm really not interested in inconsequential Star Wars material. I have a desire to read a few of the recent books, but my enthusiasm is entirely dashed by the apparent lack of commitment to / enthusiasm for consistency. Had they not advertised the "future of interconnected storytelling" I likely wouldn't have read any of the new ancillary material... so.. they definitely got a few bucks out of me.

 

Plus in Johnsons case I don't think the stories they wanted to tell required any of that stuff...But that's a can of worms that will take is i na whole other direction. Like what do the Unknown Region, Brendol Hux and all that Contingency stuff really add to Last Jedi....Nothing, it's not important. It's meaningless to the story of Last Jedi. At that point you just want another story. Which is fine...Okay, but to Johnsons story it's not required.


@eko32eko7

When I said does Ashoka existence break versimiltuede ...I was talking the character not the novel.

I mean....It is KINDA hard to watch Ep 3 and get a feeling that Anakin had a Padwan and that Darth Maul was still alive. Like TCW and The Prequels don't perfectly jell together. But TCW is still a great show and is considered the tentpole of Star Wars.


@Xammer

Oh I like that idea of Canon not being important but continuity is...I think we should expand on this idea some more.

 

That makes the mess with Holdo, with Gray writing one version for L-PoA and then they decided to depart from that and play the 'it's 30 years later' card for all it's worth, even worse.

Also, was it ever identified what Johnson's contrtibution to Bloodline was? There's no trace of it in his film.

Let's not open the boxes marked Han and Luke. Those dance steps are far too well known by now.

 

I don't get this idea that continuity and consistency are at the expense of storytelling and creativity, why should we treat them as mutually exclusive? The writers do their job of telling a story and the Story Group should take care of the continuity and planning bigger projects.

 

Well Pablo did say once on Twitter that one of the reasons Coruscant hadn't appeared in anything post Jedi was because Colin Trevrrow's script was going to use it so they didn't want to step on his toes.

Then Colin got fired Coruscant didn't feature and...That's why we haven't seen it in Post Jedi stuff.

 

I don't see how that is a bad thing, it's only natural that there are changes of plans sometimes, especially regarding Episode IX's situation, as there were a lot of versions of that film both before and after JJ got involved again, it doesn't really cause a contradiction or anything, i personally would have liked to see Coruscant in the movie (heck, my personal theory on what was going to happen back in 2017 was a big final battle in that planet) but that's just preference, and we are probably going to get a lot more worldbuilding now that they finished the trilogy.

In any case, i would say that particular situation is an example of the Story Group being careful with the continuity while also letting the writers craft their stories the way they desire.

 

I wasn't saying it was a bad thing I just thought it was a interesting thing. So many people say the Storygroup doesn't really do anything but clearly they did something ;D

 

Oh, sorry, i misread you yeah, they do keep track of the continuity very well in my opinion, though my initial point is that the quote about "continuity not being important" is wrong in that it makes it seem like the consistency comes at the expense of storytelling, which it doesn't.

 

Well I feel like we aren't defining our terms here.

What determines "Consistency" that's my question.

Like if Luke has a Blue Lightsaber in one book and in the next it's red for no reason then yes that's bad consistency.

But in terms of a direction the character goes the arc they go on....a take on a character how do we define that consistency.

 

It's determined if the stories make sense with each other, mostly, i mean, a lightsaber color is a minor thing, a real contradiction is more in the lines of, for example, the "who can swim" debate from the early EU, if you're familiar with it. Characterization also has to be consistent, you can't have Quinlan Vos' personality suddenly change completely, especially if you are featuring him in the midst of his original arc, but that sort of contradictions is more rare, the ones that are more common are timeline and events discrepancy.

 

Hmm yeah.

See I think what we are getting at is what i considering "Important" consistency, Characterization and arcs compared to "Minor Details"

Like: Ashoka's lightsabers from the book to the Siege of Mandalore, does it fit or consistent ....No not really, but I consider those minor things, things I can easily just get out of my head. Granted to many minor detail inconsistencies and that's just as bad but small one time things like that are easily forgivable or at least I think should be.

Important consistency as you ay would be if Vos's arc suddenly changed mid story, yes that is important consistency that is what matters.

 

Yeah, it is a minor thing, a couple details don't fit, but even if it's not a big deal, the Story Group is surely going to come up with a retcon to fix it, or they are going to state that the TCW depiction trumps the novel (which is probably going to be the case) i mean, it is not fair to go about hating on stories due to minor inconsistencies, but they also have to be adressed sooner or later, it's the reason the Story Group exists.

 

Is it a mess? Or is it fans making a meal out of nothing? Why would adult Holdo act like her teenage self? Does anyone? And the elements are still there in her appearance and dress sense.

And yes, Rian's contributions were the Populist/Centrist concept and the idea of the Napkin Bombing. No, it's not part of the film, but I feel like it shows he was interested in helping develop the universe beyond just the limits of his film, and good on him for it.

And I never mentioned Han and Luke. Feel free to open or close whatever boxes you like.

 

Note to self - add emoticons to posts - don't try any lighter or attempts at humourous sentences without them.

 

That and I always felt that the story of Last Jedi never required any of the Populist/Centrist stuff to be quite frank. The Geo-Poltical story (Which should have been developed in TFA but that's another story) is not the real meet of Last Jedi, it's Luke's story, his legacy on the galaxy etc etc. It's why it's (Almost) everyone favorite part of that film.

Or they can just reprint the book with a few changes.

 

In hindsight, it's obvious it was just a marketing line. But now it's pretty much impossible for me to convey how positively I was viewing SW overall pre-TLJ, thus the idea that one of the directors was taking an interest in a novel, why wouldn't I attach great value to that? It's a rare occurrence.

 

I don't know why that matters unless your entire comment was meant to be humourous. The Holdo and Bloodline parts didn't seem to be, and I just responded to the Han and Luke comment in kind.

 

I see. I can understand this point. I don't think anyone is looking for perfection, however. I'm not saying it wouldn't be cool, its just an unreasonable expectation. All I'm looking for is enthusiasm to try to make things as consistent as possible.

After mourning the loss of the original 'Clone Wars' series and I got into the new 'The Clone Wars' series, it was hard to see how it all could possibly fit together, but I could sense there was a genuine desire to make the best possible Star Wars stories and I was able to trust it would all turn out for the best. I just don't have the same trust in modern LFL outside of projects with Filoni attached. Looking back now, I would say TCW and the rest of Lucas-era Star Wars jell pretty well...

I agree. I'm interested in how this discussion would develop, for sure.

 

That seems unnecesary, it's not like we had a reprint of every story that got minor retcons (looking at you, SW: Republic comics that still have the original "X months after The Battle of Geneosis" dates even on reprints).

 

Jokes don't really work when they're explained but the idea was to make light of the fact that those other two topics have been extensively discussed, who is on which side of which line is probably known so best to just leave them be. Hence the "don't open" bit.

Are they examples of disregard? Depends on which side you come on, for me they are, for you maybe not, but are we going to get much new out of rehashing it all? I'm sceptical we would.

 

Precisely. I read SW books and wonder how singular lines slipped through which rankle in the face of continuity, when they have no impact on the book I'm reading. What I mean by this, why can't the Story Group (who I assume proof-read books before release) make gentle corrections that don't impact the story but meld with the established continuity? It does no harm.

 

Again, you brought it up, and you seem to be blocking any attempts to discuss the points you raised.

 

It's not their job to check books for continuity?

Uh ok. Seems a bit strange.