Lit Reading NJO...Again

I mean... potentially it’s possible in the new canon. Though I think much later on. NJO was 25 ABY whilst TFA is 34 ABY. Factor in time to recover from the First Order and the building of a Jedi Order then might be something like 40 ABY or 44 ABY for any potential Yuuzhan Vong Invasion. I mean, from the Vong perspective it would be better to attack the moment after the First Order collapses caused birth it and the Republic are in disarray. But from a writer perspective you need a stable opposition and trained Jedi to help fight against the Vong.

And on the Hux warning there, we do have in the new canon the Emperors Observatories that were all looking out and Thrawn said there was a big threat coming. Not saying it’s the Vong in the new canon but saying that this has been seeded so one could potentially say it’s the Vong. But of course the war would be very different compared to the NJO saga.

 

I can see 5-6 seasons. But would there be more of a meshing of books for continuity's sake? Or is that what you're getting at @Trip & @Noash_Retrac with mutiple novels being part of a season?

While TUF deserves its own season, sharing it with bits of TFP would make sense. I like both your ideas!

 

I'd almost try and spread Vector Prime over an entire season, sort of like GoT ending its first season with Ned dying and the aftermath of that, you could have Vector Prime end the first season and the start of Hero's Trial (I know, out of order) as the aftermath. A grieving Han was more important to see next than Onslaught/Ruin. This season would set up the threat, set up the state of the Galaxy, Mara's illness, Jaina's training, etc. Introduce the audience to all the characters.

Season 2 would then be Agents of Chaos and Dark Tide meshed together ending with the start of Balance Point. Han's grieving process, the widening threat, the first few skirmishes in the Outer Rim, appeals to the Republic to take action, getting introduced to those characters (Wire-esque in a way).

Balance Point through to SbS would then be Season 3, which would see the escalation of the threat, the New Republic beginning to take notice, Jedi fights with the YV, developments of weapons to counter them. Star By Star is almost a season in and of itself but would probably be more likely to be the final arc of Season 3.

Dark Journey through to Traitor would be Season 4, this is the darker more introspective season after the highs of Star by Star.

Destiny's Way through The Final Prophecy would be Season 5, with everything gearing up for the climax.

Season 6 I'd actually start with flashbacks to Rogue Planet, intercutting the first few episodes with further background on Zonama Sekot etc. Then have everything building up through the plot of TUF.

 

In fact the whole show would be pretty grim. But would be brilliant viewing.

 

And we would get to see Admiral Traest Kre'fey, Bothan Assault Cruiser Ralroost, Gavin Darklighter's early roster of Rogue Squadron, Mon Calamari Battle Cruiser Mediator, Mon Calamari Star Defender Viscount, Ranger-class gunships, fast-freighter Jolly Man, Admiral Aril Nunb, Commodore Turk Brand, Admiral Sien Sovv, Moff Ephin Sarreti, Proficient-class light cruiser Soothfast, Strident-class Star Defenders, Rejuvenator-class Star Destroyers and all the freaking cruisers, carriers, frigates, corvettes and gunships that went without ****in' class names! You know how annoying that is to picture based on the mundine designation of 'cruiser' or 'corvette'?!!

 

One tragedy about the NJO period is that it had a lot more broader storytelling potential than the main story we read in the novels.

What about the minor battles, spy shenanigans, shamed one rebellions, intrigues in the Vong court, the Hutt Campaign, how the southern galactic quadrant(which wasn't directly affected by the war) dealt with it, what about prequel era species? Neimodians? Geonosians, etc...

You could have hundreds of novels, short stories, novellas, RPGs, and video games set in the period. What a shame.

 

they moved on from it immediately, but it still took up 5 years of publishing time

 

Why in the 2000s was Del Rey so afraid/hostile of the period? Why didn't they want to continue it in any way?

 

because it was divisive and people were as much, if not more vocal, about hating it than they are about The Last Jedi right now

and the books have less readers than the movies have viewers, so it was an overall larger fraction of people

 

I guess it was too groundbreaking, even for them. Of course, they just let Denning ignore and misinterpret it.

 

That's what I figured.

 

5-6 stories max even had the Vong in it after the series ended. I’m working on a list of battles, characters, planets and groups, not mentioned in the series or just mentioned in the guides. It’s a long list.

 

*Claps enthusiastically*

Exactly my thoughts. If ST ends in a way I don't like, it'll still be SW, but not the one SW story.

I'm hoping to see a Trilogy featuring the NJO whether it's Rey at the head or one of her descendants. I'm just extremely vexed that I'm probably gonna have to wait till I'm 30 or so.....

Granted, the Legends EU was so expansive back then I thought it'd be safer to stick to the movies. Even now all the content makes my head spin and I'm having to start off with smaller summaries before I get down to the more detailed content, even then, it's kinda overwhelming, like a smaller DC/Marvel Universe.

Which is why it occurred to me that they could've simply went the HP/LotR/Hobbit route. It'd encourage more people to seek out the books.


They haven't started a Legends boycott have they? And if not, there's no danger of them doing that, right? That's one thing I'd especially hate.

 

And yet, rather than change course, end it early, cut their losses, DR went all the way to end, with TUF winning large numbers of people over and then decided to go for the crippling total loss of confidence in the ideas they had backed to the hilt, no matter what, for five years earlier! That still makes no sense to me even now.

As to the idea of NJO as TV series, I remain quite certain B5's 5-year arc success - and that had more than a few modifications along the way - influenced the structure of NJO, but I don't think they picked up on the medium difference of 5 books a year versus 22-odd episodes of 40mins. The latter is a much more flexible format and allows more to be done.

 

worst of both worlds haha

 

Could political or cultural concerns influenced their decision to shy away as much as possible from the NJO?

Such as the Vong's religion(and it being the post 9/11 era) so as to avoid controversy? I mean the NJO came out in 1999 so prior to that era but they want to be dragged down in the controversy of the era?

Was this a possibility?

 

no because it continued for two years afterward

it's literally because a lot of people complained about it

and I think the only reason they finished it was because they had a 19 book contract or something along those lines

 

No. At least not going by the sheer level of nerve they had demonstrated by publishing SbS in unaltered in the immediate aftermath of 09/11, which included the Vong bombarding Coriscant shields with ships full of refugee infidels.

Who were often in the minority - at least in Lit. The idea of pro-NJO fans being this plucky underdog resistance? Nope. (Hell, the Vector Prime Wars have much in common with the ongoing TLJ fracas.) What really fractured the pro-NJO fanbase was SbS.

Thing is, I can't emphasise enough what a game-changer TUF was. For those who loved the series, it was a brilliant conclusion; for those who had serious and major problems with the series, it delivered an unexpectedly great conclusion of such excellence that had the rest of the series been like it it would have been far more popular.

But, NJO desperately needed a form of follow-up as to how the Vong made their way, as a species, towards redemption for the sins of their ancestors. The Legacy comics did this brilliantly but they should not have been the only story to do it. (X-Wing Mercy Kill was too little, too late.) Had DR followed through on the consequences of NJO they could have won more people to the story instead of an unsatisfying, 5-year time jump come instant fix.

 

It's a shame that the Invasion comic didn't continue. And that Lucasarts didn't try to do any tie-in with it - an X-Wing: New Jedi Order game would've been awesome. (well, for them to have followed through with any of their games at that time would've been awesome).

 

Yeah I would have loved Star Wars Battlefront Yuuzhan Vong War edition

 

meh, the only good thing about Invasion was the art (and even that was a bit disappointing-- I would've loved for Wilson to reimagine the Vong design from scratch rather than going with the noghri-headed orc design other artists had previously settled on). Otherwise it's the clone warsification of the NJO, only worse, because it didn't have the excuse of Lucasian meddling and the Galfridians are a thousand times more obnoxious than Ahsoka ever was.

Totally agree on video games, though.

 

I really thought the next series of books was going to deal with the repercussions of such a disastrous war...I agree with Jedi Ben, the 5-year time jump was unsatisfying, near-sighted, and weak. I will forever stick by my belief that the people who hated NJO did so because the forever-asking-questions liberal (Jacen) ended up being to person to end the war.

I'm not sold on a TV show about the Vong war...I'm afraid I'd be let down like I was with Rebels. Fantastic idea, poor execution.

 

fans wanted Anakin and got Jacen

kind of like Luke in TLJ

 

Jacen actually did things though-such as killing the Voxyn Queen, having the best Star Wars book of all time devoted to him, saved Danni Quee in the very first book, aided the NR in campaign, and killed the supreme overlord in an awesome utterly epic metaphysical way.

 

yeah it seems people didn't like that stuff