Discussions Does being an EU fan help you accept the changes to SW as it grows?

Like many folks here I've been a fan for a very long time now and I remember how it was with all of the changes and additions to the franchise. I remember what it felt like when Lucas changed the theatrical release of the OT. I remember when the prequals came out. I remember, like it was yesterday, the first time I saw Kenobi and Vader fighting on Mustafar.

I remember seeing Han on the Falcon again in TFA and then Luke's last fight on Crait in TLJ.

For me it's been a wild ride so far, with many ups and downs. But because, along with the films, I've also watched all of the TV series, played the games and read widely in the EU, I think the ups and downs of being a fan have been less severe and easier to manage. When you've played KOTOR, Force Unleashed and Battlefront, and read the NJO or the original Thrawn Triology along with some of the brilliant comics made by Dark Horse - Dark Times, Knights of the Old Republic and Legacy not to mention all of the excellent new books and comics, there is so much good stuff to think about that I find I mind much less when part of one of the main films, or even a whole film, doesn't quite work for me. I can imagine these feelings being much harder if all you've got of SW are the films.

So does anyone else feel like this? Does your knowledge and enjoyment of the EU change your experience of SW as a whole? If so how? Does having books and comics and TV shows alongside the films even out the experience of the growing franchise for you? Are there particular parts of the EU which really make a difference for you and maybe even command your loyalty to Star Wars regardless of what happens with the films?

 

I will say for me the EU is more important and closer to my heart than the movies ever where. For me Jacen, Jaina and Tenel Ka are what for many the big three are: the main protagonists. When I saw the movies I liked them but really became a SW fan through the EU. And so for me at this point the movies are just additions to the greater picture that is SW in its entirety, basically the prequel to the story that means the most to me.

Even in the Disneycanon I have this a bit in that I find some of the novels pretty decent while not likeing any of the new movies, save RO.

 

I agree with you 100 percent @Anedon

 

I first became a fan when ANH was released in the UK in the 70's, but as an adult, I came back to Star Wars through the EU, so I really get where you're coming from with this. (Although I was first into comics and only later discovered the NJO - to my joy!). I've have enjoyed the new films but have experienced parts of each of them that haven't gelled for me. The films are just another set of stories in a huge galaxy of fantastic tales from my point of view. Perhaps that's why the films are of less consequence to me. It's not that they don't matter, it's just that they matter along with a lot of other great EU stuff. In fact, if I think about my favourite SW stories of all time, all of my top 5 are books and comics, ahead of the films. Just off the top of my head I guess it would be...

1. Dark Times Comic - Harrison and Wheatley
2. Darth Plagueis Book - James Luceno
3. Traitor - Matthew Stover
4. All the Quinlan Vos comic story arcs by John Ostrander
5. Heir to Empire etc. Timothy Zahn


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Well, reading multiple books and comics by different authors sure has helped with preparing myself for different directors in SW movies after the end of the Lucas era.

 

Absolutely.

Theres a lot of stuff in the EU(from books to comics to video games) that's just pure magic.

 

Reading this comment brought to my mind a funny memory from when I was a kid. My dad found out one of his co-workers was a Star Wars fan so he asked me what are some cool Star Wars facts he could share with him. Me, seeing this as a chance to flex my skills and make him look cool I told him to talk about Chewie's sacrifice on Sernpidal. My dad came back telling me that when he did his co-worker didn't believe it to be true until he looked it up for himself and told my dad to tell me that he had a true Star Wars fan in his house.

It was one of the most proudest moments for kid me.

 

I suppose you could say that. George Lucas considered almost none of the EU part of his canon. Lucasfilm did (for marketing reasons), but George sure didn't and is on the record as saying as much.
The EU has had a lot of retcons, mostly from content that came out before the prequels. Disney Lucasfilm's "One Canon" and putting things into Legends was actually pretty consistent for a while. But starting around The Last Jedi, that was thrown out somewhat. But Rian Johnson only retconned a few things. JJ Abrams retconned some things with IX, and Filoni and his team have retconned a lot. Currently, Lucasfilm seems very open to priortizing films and television canon well before literature canon.
I have to say that EU content around the timeline of the prequel trilogy helped a lot. I would not enjoy the stories of I-III as much if not for novels, graphic novels, CW microseries, and video games.
Change is natural, even if it's not always welcome.

 

Its kind of a paradoxical relationship I would say. Yes on the one hand he apparently considered most of it fanfiction. But then he took elements from it, like Coruscant and Aayla Secura for his movies. And he had at times large oversight and clearly cared enough to make his "the big three are untouchable" rule or shoot down other ideas from authors.
I think Lucas´s relationship to the EU was as fluid as his plans for an ST.

Indeed
Despite promises otherwise Disney basically does what Lucasfilm did with the old EU and have movies and tv shows overwrite books and comics.