Taking a good thing...
Darn it! I'm a day late on my Blog Tuesday! Here's Wednesday's Tuesday Blog!
Taking a good thing...
If you’re as big of a Star Wars fan as I am, I’m sure you were all cut pretty deep by the Expanded Universe (EU) being rendered irrelevant. I, for one, was quite angered by the sudden and seemingly poorly-thought-out move. With literally thousands of books, comic books and video games circling around our favorite sci-fi franchise, it was a tough pill to swallow. Being a writer, I couldn’t imagine my hard work and creativity being cast aside so effortlessly to make room for a new canon of which I was no part. When I found out, I instantly thought about my favorite authors of Star Wars like Timothy Zahn, Troy Denning, Christie Golden and Joe Schreiber, people who have made the EU what it is today. We were introduced to some pretty amazing characters like Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade, read some pretty fantastic stories like the Yuuzhan Vong War, saw some of our favorite characters give their lives like Anakin Solo and Chewbacca. My favorite series was the Legacy series and the Second Civil War. Watching Jacen turn to the dark side much in the same way Anakin Skywalker did kept me turning pages and the tragic end of that series broke my heart when Jacen killed Mara and Jaina was forced to kill Jacen.
It saddens me to think that we’ll never get to see Allana Solo grow up to be the “Queen Mother Jedi” and see what would happen next with Abeloth or the relationship between Vestara and Ben or see what would happen with the entire planet full of Sith or how they were going to bridge the gap between Luke’s time and his great grandson’s time and the second empire. It seems hard to believe that with a wealth of stories from which to pick, that Abrams and Disney couldn’t have made a trilogy based on that. Or talked to Timothy Zahn and ask him how to fit a story between canonical installments WITHOUT breaking canon or deeming the entire EU irrelevant just to fit the story for the new movies.
The part the bothers me the most is that they didn’t just come out say, “Hey, all you die-hard Star Wars fanatics out there, we’re completely erasing everything you know about Star Wars to make our new movies relevant.” At least that would’ve been owning up to their decision. Instead they gave them the “Legends” tag, meaning that they’re fables, not stories based on their experiences. It means that maybe it happened, or maybe it didn’t. Mabye Luke Skywalker fell to the dark side and finally killed the Emperor for good, or maybe he didn’t.
Wikipedia defines a legend this way: “Legend, for its active and passive participants includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility", is defined by a highly flexible set of parameters which may include miracles that are perceived as actually having happened, within the specific tradition of indoctrination where the legend arises, and within which it may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh and vital, and realistic. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted.”
That being said, key elements of are left out. Take Babe Ruth for instance. He’s a legend, the “Big Bambino,” the “Sultan of Swat.” But his legendary status says nothing of how many times he struck out, which is far more than the common person could ever imagine. If these tales are “Legends” then the story of Luke falling to the dark side would have never been told and his victory over Palpatine would’ve been greatly exaggerated.
I just wish that they could’ve been more creative and worked something out where the canon was still canon. I mean every book that was published in the SW EU was scrutinized from front to back, top to bottom by a panel of people within Lucas Films to make sure that they all worked together. In some cases, major changes were required to maintain continuity, even if it changed plot points! If they can do that, they could have made movies within the EU canon. I mean, the actors are the right age to fit seamlessly into the existing EU canon. They could have done something completely original coming right off of end the Fate of the Jedi series. They could’ve done ANYTHING within the Yuuzhan Vong War and it would have been amazing! But, instead, they decided to rewrite history and change everything. All I know is that if this movie doesn’t have characters like Kyle Katarn, Jaden Korr and Kyp Duron in it, I’ll be very disappointed.
For all the negative things I’m saying about this drastic and disappointing decision, there are some positives to come of this. Namely, FIVE more Star Wars movies! A trilogy and two stand-alone movies will entertain us EVERY YEAR for five years starting in 2015. That’s pretty amazing and exciting for any and all Star Wars lovers out there.
I had an opportunity to talk with Christie Golden at StarFest in Denver this year and I picked her brain about how she felt regarding this big change. Needless to say, she was disappointed. It’s a huge undertaking to write for Star Wars with a rigorous editing process and major collaboration with other authors as most Star Wars books are books of a series featuring multiple authors. All that hard work, plotting, writing, editing, rewriting, holding meetings with her cowriters and making all their ideas come together to make a great narrative, down the drain with one little decision.
She was poised for another three-book contract featuring Jaina Solo that was swept out from under her feet. But she had an uncanny knack for looking on the bright side of the situation. She said to me, “How do we know this won’t be the best thing that ever happened to Star Wars?” and I had to agree—albeit begrudgingly. It could be huge, setting a catalyst for a whole new EU that could expand into yet another epic continuation with thousands of books, comics and video games. Only time will tell.
She had a good point saying that never in all the years that she watched and loved Star Wars did she ever think that she’d see Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fischer all together to reprise their famous roles on screen again. In that, she was absolutely correct. I never thought I’d see the day when they all came together for another Star Wars movie—much less another trilogy. And she also pointed out the Abrams has done a bang-up job with the Star Trek movies as well, and we all know that Disney has breathed new life into the Marvel Franchise with some pretty amazing movies.
Despite demoting the current EU, I can’t say I’m not excited for these new movies. They will be EPIC and with Han, Leia, Luke and Chewie back together, you can’t really go wrong. Tell me how all of you feel about it.
Taking a good thing...
If you’re as big of a Star Wars fan as I am, I’m sure you were all cut pretty deep by the Expanded Universe (EU) being rendered irrelevant. I, for one, was quite angered by the sudden and seemingly poorly-thought-out move. With literally thousands of books, comic books and video games circling around our favorite sci-fi franchise, it was a tough pill to swallow. Being a writer, I couldn’t imagine my hard work and creativity being cast aside so effortlessly to make room for a new canon of which I was no part. When I found out, I instantly thought about my favorite authors of Star Wars like Timothy Zahn, Troy Denning, Christie Golden and Joe Schreiber, people who have made the EU what it is today. We were introduced to some pretty amazing characters like Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade, read some pretty fantastic stories like the Yuuzhan Vong War, saw some of our favorite characters give their lives like Anakin Solo and Chewbacca. My favorite series was the Legacy series and the Second Civil War. Watching Jacen turn to the dark side much in the same way Anakin Skywalker did kept me turning pages and the tragic end of that series broke my heart when Jacen killed Mara and Jaina was forced to kill Jacen.
It saddens me to think that we’ll never get to see Allana Solo grow up to be the “Queen Mother Jedi” and see what would happen next with Abeloth or the relationship between Vestara and Ben or see what would happen with the entire planet full of Sith or how they were going to bridge the gap between Luke’s time and his great grandson’s time and the second empire. It seems hard to believe that with a wealth of stories from which to pick, that Abrams and Disney couldn’t have made a trilogy based on that. Or talked to Timothy Zahn and ask him how to fit a story between canonical installments WITHOUT breaking canon or deeming the entire EU irrelevant just to fit the story for the new movies.
The part the bothers me the most is that they didn’t just come out say, “Hey, all you die-hard Star Wars fanatics out there, we’re completely erasing everything you know about Star Wars to make our new movies relevant.” At least that would’ve been owning up to their decision. Instead they gave them the “Legends” tag, meaning that they’re fables, not stories based on their experiences. It means that maybe it happened, or maybe it didn’t. Mabye Luke Skywalker fell to the dark side and finally killed the Emperor for good, or maybe he didn’t.
Wikipedia defines a legend this way: “Legend, for its active and passive participants includes no happenings that are outside the realm of "possibility", is defined by a highly flexible set of parameters which may include miracles that are perceived as actually having happened, within the specific tradition of indoctrination where the legend arises, and within which it may be transformed over time, in order to keep it fresh and vital, and realistic. Many legends operate within the realm of uncertainty, never being entirely believed by the participants, but also never being resolutely doubted.”
That being said, key elements of are left out. Take Babe Ruth for instance. He’s a legend, the “Big Bambino,” the “Sultan of Swat.” But his legendary status says nothing of how many times he struck out, which is far more than the common person could ever imagine. If these tales are “Legends” then the story of Luke falling to the dark side would have never been told and his victory over Palpatine would’ve been greatly exaggerated.
I just wish that they could’ve been more creative and worked something out where the canon was still canon. I mean every book that was published in the SW EU was scrutinized from front to back, top to bottom by a panel of people within Lucas Films to make sure that they all worked together. In some cases, major changes were required to maintain continuity, even if it changed plot points! If they can do that, they could have made movies within the EU canon. I mean, the actors are the right age to fit seamlessly into the existing EU canon. They could have done something completely original coming right off of end the Fate of the Jedi series. They could’ve done ANYTHING within the Yuuzhan Vong War and it would have been amazing! But, instead, they decided to rewrite history and change everything. All I know is that if this movie doesn’t have characters like Kyle Katarn, Jaden Korr and Kyp Duron in it, I’ll be very disappointed.
For all the negative things I’m saying about this drastic and disappointing decision, there are some positives to come of this. Namely, FIVE more Star Wars movies! A trilogy and two stand-alone movies will entertain us EVERY YEAR for five years starting in 2015. That’s pretty amazing and exciting for any and all Star Wars lovers out there.
I had an opportunity to talk with Christie Golden at StarFest in Denver this year and I picked her brain about how she felt regarding this big change. Needless to say, she was disappointed. It’s a huge undertaking to write for Star Wars with a rigorous editing process and major collaboration with other authors as most Star Wars books are books of a series featuring multiple authors. All that hard work, plotting, writing, editing, rewriting, holding meetings with her cowriters and making all their ideas come together to make a great narrative, down the drain with one little decision.
She was poised for another three-book contract featuring Jaina Solo that was swept out from under her feet. But she had an uncanny knack for looking on the bright side of the situation. She said to me, “How do we know this won’t be the best thing that ever happened to Star Wars?” and I had to agree—albeit begrudgingly. It could be huge, setting a catalyst for a whole new EU that could expand into yet another epic continuation with thousands of books, comics and video games. Only time will tell.
She had a good point saying that never in all the years that she watched and loved Star Wars did she ever think that she’d see Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fischer all together to reprise their famous roles on screen again. In that, she was absolutely correct. I never thought I’d see the day when they all came together for another Star Wars movie—much less another trilogy. And she also pointed out the Abrams has done a bang-up job with the Star Trek movies as well, and we all know that Disney has breathed new life into the Marvel Franchise with some pretty amazing movies.
Despite demoting the current EU, I can’t say I’m not excited for these new movies. They will be EPIC and with Han, Leia, Luke and Chewie back together, you can’t really go wrong. Tell me how all of you feel about it.
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