Lit So if the EU was still going right now where do you think they would be?

Think we would a gotten some stories ny now and most likely already some years ago (ca. 2013 - 2019), in the comics and/or the novels about the birth of the Old Republic 25.000 years BBY

Which i strongly hope will still happen in canon during the next few years

 

I always wondered if George Lucsas might TCW the post ROTJ-EU in a way that both, draws from it, respects some of it yet still heavily retcons parts of it without rebooting it or rendering it obsolete in some parts only.

F.e. single Luke he could have easily post Mara-death and be fine with it. But other stuff like the NJO invasion which was major in the EU, that he might have to retcon. Kinda downplay it in hindsight by making the Vong from a satellite galaxy (as the EU did itself in retcons already!) and deathtoll aside, keep the conflict contained and of not as much importance as it once held. F.e. the same happened to old Marvels invasion arc of the Nagai and Tof which could have gotten a macro-interpretation of NJO scale, but as a lot of old Marvel was sidelined and kept as "an incident" rather than "galaxy level threat event" it was initially presented at.

Dark Nest does not concern Lucas much, but LOTF and FOTJ like NJO could get a shift in perspective that minimizes the conflicts in hindsight. Abeloth? Oh just another monster like Waru and others we had plenty already. Civil War, well merely a few skirmishes and state-terrorist attacs with most of the galaxy spared. Jacen also is not really dead but rather used a Force illusion or flowwalking trick and fled to return redeemed to his family somehow if Lucas needs both Solokids. A lot of built in copouts that then could support Lucas version of the EU and ST.

With Dark Horse exploring the past eras aplenty and DelRey handing the post ROTJ to Lucas on a retconned plate, what big changes would TV have brought? Underworld probably would habe been a TCW style mix and mash of characters ranging from BadBatch style post-TCW clone fate stories to Palpatine&Vader Sith Tales, to the rise of Boba Fett, to the early history of young Han Solo and more instead of all those as separate projects as to how Disney split Underworld ideas up and brings them back as their own spinoffs and tv shows in Bad Batch, Andor, Solo, etc.

Would Lucas TV have expanded to give us intead of Acolyte the tv show "The Tradegy of Darth Plagueis the Wise" co-written by James Luceno? Or rather a "Young Jedi Chronicles" Young Indy styled YJK tv show as leadup to Lucas ST with some episodes as shameless history flashbacks to other eras Jedi as narrated by Tionne, Old Vima or else? Or are the "Mortis Knights Quest" stories what might have been a perfect bridge for Lucas to connect to TCW in late post-ROTJ? Heck, could such story ideas be the basis for the upcoming Ahsoka show even?

Would Dark Horse rare motion comics have evolved into a new branch of Dark Horse TV Animation giving us comic-tv-show versions of their exploits?

 

If George made the Sequel Trilogy he had planning in thew ing I could totally seem doing that.

I mean maybe he pulls a Picard before Picard but that would depend on whatever the backstory would be or lack their of

 

I feel, if Legends had somehow survived, i.e. no buyout, no Lucas Trilogy AND no reboot under Filoni it would have died. The only real thing that was gathering major intrested was the Filoni shows... and if he had continued those Legends would have been decanonized sooner or later, even without a Lucas trilogy. So the only real way Legends could have lasted on was if he had somehow stopped... and then, what was left?

Dawn of the jedi and the pre KOTOR stuff could never draw in major audiences. And the Post Endor was pretty much driven against a wall... I think if SotJ would have disapointed, which I am pretty sure it would have, the Denning Trilogy might not even have been greenlit. I think Legends would have just quietly stopped publication for major stuff. Sure maybe some D List Authors would have still written the odd one off book, but I think all the big names would have moved on by now and fan intrest would be at an all time low.

 

Honestly what happened to Legends in the current timeline is honestly the best thing that could have happened to it. Sure it would have been nice to wrap up some things but honestly I think we all avoided the worst timelines.

 

I think we can agree that Legends by late 2012 was facing a lot of obstacles and potentially timeline ending problems. That simply can not be handwaved away with any sense of realism.

While I and many others are less than satisfied with how the post NJO in particular went and ended, I do think it’s good that Legends’ integrity was a coherent expanded universe and setting up as mostly intact, and that it didn’t go through any DC or Marvel esque reboots, or otherwise lose its narrative integrity.

It’s not the best outcome, but it’s a lot better than if it had been mangled by retcons or forced to render important parts of itself non canon due to various constraints(the post NJO and Legacy likely inevitably contradicting for example).

 

If Legends had continued the Vong were at this point dark side worshipping aliens from the unkown regions...

 

Reboots aren't always a bad thing, it's just how you use them.

Granted not every franchise is Star Wars, Star Trek, and I do think that applying logic for one franchise over another is also a bad thing as well.

Each franchise has it's own rules.

But that doesn't dismiss using certain tools if need be.

Like I do often wonder what would have happened if they had just decided "You know what TCW is now the start of a brand new canon" with Lucas taking back reins again. Since TCW and 2008 was sorta a soft reboot but the official hard one.

 

Also we've been talking about some of the retcons going on, no one mentioned Force Unleashed kinda retconning the formation of the Rebellion.

 

The point about how even if it hadn't been bought by Disney, Star Wars would've inevitably been caught up in the nostalgic revivals wave of the late '10s-early '20s anyway is a great one and one I'd somehow never thought of before. That wouldn't have mandated a reboot necessarily but I'd imagine they'd be sorely tempted to do it for simplification's sake if nothing else.

Heck, according to Leland Chee, that actually is basically what happened in the scenario we did get. The decision to reboot was not made all at once and was debated by the Story Group beforehand, and one of the reasons that the pro-reboot side won was that having to say things like "Here, read this 400-page 15-year-old novel that leads into two dozen more just like it if you want to know where Chewie went" would sound like complete gobbledegook to the 90% of fans that are only familiar with the movies.

And it's a fair argument IMO.

 

Well that and by this point i feel like the Star Wars fandom overall was becoming smaller and smaller more insular ...more niche.

Force Awakens and The Mandalorian have given it a massive explosion since then.

 

I’d have had no issue if Lucasfilm had decided to focus on appealing to a niche audience though. Imagine if all of Star Wars was devoted to pleasing EU fans. That would have been amazing.

 

Ugh no thank you

anytime any studio or company wants to please fans count me out


Besides Star Wars being niche seems wrong culturally

Granted I’m someone who fundemtally thinks the EU misunderstood what Star Wars was and created a lot of bad reads and takes on the material in the first place

 

I feel that was what the Denningverse tried to do...

 

It’s also that period where I feel the EU got a bit over wrapped in itself a bit to much focusing on lore then good storytelling

and also started forgetting the core of Star Wars

 

An obsession with lore over a good story was certainly Lucenos problem.

 

I hadn’t read most of the later EU stuff when Darth Plagueis first came out, so I didn’t get the full scope of his continuity mastery until later, but at the time I considered it the best Star Wars novel by a country mile. I still do, and that’s entirely off how interesting and compelling he made Palpatine’s story in that novel.

 

You know one thing I've always come to notice when taking to more casual book people is i feel the "Expanded Universe" or when people bring up "Expanded Universe" what they are really talking about is anything that is not the movie but mostly anything after Episode 6.

Like Old Republic in their minds is sorta it's owns thing

and books comics and video games that are tied in with the movies are sorta it's own thing.

While Expanded Universe means "Post Endor"

 

Mmm hard disagree.

Maybe when people bring up the EU their first thought goes to Thrawn, Dark Empire and the Vong, but Shadows of the Empire, Tales of the Jedi and KOTOR are right there with them.

 

Well you talk with some folks and i talk with others.

That's my own personal experience

 

Your experience isn’t a universal one then. I’ve seen plenty of casual fans refer to Darth Bane or Darth Revan when talking about the EU.

 

Well what experience is a universal one ...That's the beauty of life ;p


But the more I see it really does seem 2008 was the point of no return for the EU and by the end of the day it seems like the reboot was a mercy kill.

 

Being the Outback is hot, being in the Antarctic is cold, weightlessness in space ;p

 

You know one hasn't considered the following?

What is Star Wars just sorta stoped?

Like IDK about you but my feeling was 2008-2012 pre buyout was the winding down period of Star Wars.

I mean franchises go on hiatus from time to time...Doctor Who did, Godzilla did.

If you don't count movies then Star Wars did in the 90's.

Difference is we have a book continuity already way in place?

But IDK...Do they dial down on books as well after a while?

Bring out more wild game like Force Unleashed 3 and Kennic Star Wars. SWOTOR goes on in it's weird bizarre directions.

 

I will say for me it answers far too much about Palpatine, I would have prefered that particular part to remain a mystery. I would have rather had the novel focus on Plagueis before he meets Palpatine. Maybe have that meeting be the end of the novel.