Lucasfilm Makes It Official: Star Wars: Expanded Universe Is Dead
- Thread starter MovieBob
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I have to question the wisdom of this decision. Why would they purposefully risk alienating the fan base that have kept Star Wars alive?
Lucas himself has said that Force Unleashed is part of the official canon.Ukomba said:
Well, the realities split after Luke Skywalker Prime traveled back in time, you see...
Let's face it. The "prequel trilogy" did a pretty mediocre job of linking itself to the "original trilogy" anyway. If you've continued to believe in a guiding hand that bound the Star Wars universe and all its related works into a completely coherent over-arcing vision in the face of that, I applaud you for managing to hold on to a child-like sense of wonder and suspension of disbelief.
I've seen some things in the EU that were kind of neat, and I've seen some that had me rolling my eyes for their one-upsmanship and/or failure to grasp what seemed to me to be fairly essential themes of the universe. (Grey Jedi?!) Overall, the official blessing or dismissal of the current owners of the franchise seems a rather abstract point to get contentious about right now.
Let's face it. The "prequel trilogy" did a pretty mediocre job of linking itself to the "original trilogy" anyway. If you've continued to believe in a guiding hand that bound the Star Wars universe and all its related works into a completely coherent over-arcing vision in the face of that, I applaud you for managing to hold on to a child-like sense of wonder and suspension of disbelief.
I've seen some things in the EU that were kind of neat, and I've seen some that had me rolling my eyes for their one-upsmanship and/or failure to grasp what seemed to me to be fairly essential themes of the universe. (Grey Jedi?!) Overall, the official blessing or dismissal of the current owners of the franchise seems a rather abstract point to get contentious about right now.
Good-bye Jacen, Jaina, Anakin, Zekk, Tenel Ka, Raynar, Mara Jade, Kyle, Kyp, Wraith Squadron, Rogue Squadron, Allana, Ben, Tahiri, Vestara (before Ben had a chance to end you), and so many other characters that I grew up with.
I don't care if this was the logical thing. I don't care if everyone saw it coming. I don't care if it was impossible to get the EU to work with the new movies. And I don't care that some of these character will probably be reworked into the new universe. This still makes me sad and a little upset.
I don't care if this was the logical thing. I don't care if everyone saw it coming. I don't care if it was impossible to get the EU to work with the new movies. And I don't care that some of these character will probably be reworked into the new universe. This still makes me sad and a little upset.
Y'know, usually I go along with the reasoning that what the officially sanctioned writers say is the official canon no matter how much the more unreasonable fans ***** and moan about it. Case in point: Episodes 1-3. Like it or not, those are canon no matter how much the fans with their rose-coloured goggles whinge about it.*
But on the other hand, this effectively means there is no Kyle Katarn... unless they keep him in the new canon.
I'll still (somewhat begrudgingly) accept that these changes will now become official canon, but I really hope they keep Kyle Katarn.
Mind you, I figure that the past Extended Universe is now an alternate reality while its former place in canon is going to be taken up by whatever the Lucasfilm guys come up with. After all, fans will still have access to the EU materials, books, games, etc that have already been made.
But on the other hand, this effectively means there is no Kyle Katarn... unless they keep him in the new canon.
I'll still (somewhat begrudgingly) accept that these changes will now become official canon, but I really hope they keep Kyle Katarn.
Mind you, I figure that the past Extended Universe is now an alternate reality while its former place in canon is going to be taken up by whatever the Lucasfilm guys come up with. After all, fans will still have access to the EU materials, books, games, etc that have already been made.
What I mean is: even though I accept it as canon (as I rightly should), I may or may not dislike it. I remember one person on here saying that he rejects "Moffat's silly reasoning" regarding the War Doctor, but here's the thing: whatever the creator and his writers say, goes. It's canon. Deal with it. You can still choose to hate it, that's your right, but you don't get the option of choosing whether or not it's canon. That's not how it works.
Soooooo, who cares? SW has been raped so hard it's a miracle some old fans still believe it can actually be good. Let small children have fun with their lego sets and move on please.
I like the EU novels. You've got a mix of good and bad stuff, but I'm a geek and I like Star Wars. What i'm not too keen on from this story is the bit about future works being linked to the official canon they're creating with the next trilogy. Call me crazy, but I'd rather not have my Star Wars books linked to what present-day Hollywood is capable of creating.
well, there's going to be a backlash of epic proportions with this. The Star Wars EU is GIGANTIC and has been going on for DECADES. I can't imagine how many people are going to lose their minds over this.
I feel for you man. I really do. I've been there. I think just about every nerd who grows up cherishing some licensed property goes through this at some point or other in their lives. When the rights holders decide to hit the reset button, or change the series in some fundamental way, or the property just dies. And it's never easy to let go of something that was such a big part of your identity growing up. At least you still have the memories.Sniper Team 4 said:
That's why I said "Thank God I don't care" I've been through that before, wouldn't want to do it again.
Outside of a few video games I don't really have anything invested in the EU so I really don't care. Besides I figured this was what was going to happen anyway.
Well, that announcement is really vague, but they don't say they'll be making more stuff for the EU. Just that "Demand for past tales of the Expanded Universe will keep them in print, presented under the new Legends banner." and "While the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded. Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe." i.e. the old canon is dead, but stuff from it that the people on the committee like and that doesn't conflict with the new movies could be brought into the new canon. And they're going to reprint old, now non-canon EU stuff under a gaiden label.Ldude893 said:
Here the thing, when Abram rebooted Star Trek there was the admission that his entire series existed in a parallel reality, and that the rest of Star Trek was still canon.Ldude893 said:
This announcement didn't destroy the EU, the prequels did that, this was just salting the earth so no fandom would arise again.
The EU was a large part of childhood, more so than the films, I've since broken with the fandom and I'm not going back.
Abrams makes decent action films, fan worthy material is beyond his abilities.
I'm of two minds on this. There is some genuinely good material (Thrawn trilogy and X-Wing series come to mind) that happened between RotJ and the time period that Episode VII is taking place in. It'll be a shame if we end up losing all of it. On the other hand, I really dislike where things went later on (especially in the books after the Vong invasion), so it'll be nice getting the reset in for that.
Hopefully they'll at least do what Lucas did and cherry pick from the good stuff (Timothy Zahn was the one who named Coruscant in his books), and bring forward some of the more popular characters at least for cameo roles. It'd be a shame to lose the likes of Corran Horn and Kyle Katarn completely.
Hopefully they'll at least do what Lucas did and cherry pick from the good stuff (Timothy Zahn was the one who named Coruscant in his books), and bring forward some of the more popular characters at least for cameo roles. It'd be a shame to lose the likes of Corran Horn and Kyle Katarn completely.
As a massive Star Wars fan all I can say is, "Thank God." Seriously, the vast majority of material in the EU (especially after the original trilogy) is so terrible, it hurt me sometimes to read about this stuff. Sure, we will miss some stuff, like Kyle Katarn, but that is the price I am willing to pay to make the Yuuzhon Vong never happen.