The Expanded Universe Turns a New Page!

[NSA]

http://starwars.com/news/the-legendary-star-wars-expanded-universe-turns-a-new-page.html

THE LEGENDARY STAR WARS EXPANDED UNIVERSE TURNS A NEW PAGE
April 25, 2014
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For over 35 years, the Expanded Universe has enriched the Star Wars experience for fans seeking to continue the adventure beyond what is seen on the screen. When he created Star Wars, George Lucas built a universe that sparked the imagination, and inspired others to create. He opened up that universe to be a creative space for other people to tell their own tales. This became the Expanded Universe, or EU, of comics, novels, videogames, and more.

While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.

Now, with an exciting future filled with new cinematic installments of Star Wars, all aspects of Star Wars storytelling moving forward will be connected. Under Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy's direction, the company for the first time ever has formed a story group to oversee and coordinate all Star Wars creative development.

"We have an unprecedented slate of new Star Wars entertainment on the horizon," said Kennedy. "We're set to bring Star Wars back to the big screen, and continue the adventure through games, books, comics, and new formats that are just emerging. This future of interconnected storytelling will allow fans to explore this galaxy in deeper ways than ever before."

In order to give maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience, Star Wars Episodes VII-IX will not tell the same story told in the post-Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe. 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. For example, elements of the EU are included in Star Wars Rebels. The Inquisitor, the Imperial Security Bureau, and Sienar Fleet Systems are story elements in the new animated series, and all these ideas find their origins in roleplaying game material published in the 1980s.

Demand for past tales of the Expanded Universe will keep them in print, presented under the new Legends banner.

On the screen, the first new canon to appear will be Star Wars Rebels. In print, the first new books to come from this creative collaboration include novels from Del Rey Books. First to be announced, John Jackson Miller is writing a novel that precedes the events of Star Wars Rebels and offers insight into a key character's backstory, with input directly from executive producers Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, and Greg Weisman.

And this is just the beginning of a creatively aligned program of Star Wars storytelling created by the collaboration of incredibly talented people united by their love of that galaxy far, far away....

StarWars.com. All Star Wars, all the time.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUm0Lo6DL-E[/ame]

 

[NSA]

Sounds fair. Really the only thing they COULD do.

They allowed so much material to come out that was NOT-movie based, there was no way they could move forward in a different direction without stepping on someone else's toes.

I like that they are keeping the stuff published.. with the "Legends" banner.. still kind of sad to see, but as noted elsewhere, some of the EU stuff got WAYYYYYYYYYY out there.

Hopefully with this new group they will make sure to keep everyone "canon".

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

It's very smart...knowing the books will be cannon will certainly get more readers, which equals more $$$...they ain't dumb...anymore...

 

[NSA]

One of the things I hated most about Star Trek was how everything was all over the place, and nothing was established canon.. I just have a hard time getting into stuff when they are constantly rewriting the rules.

Disney isn't fucking around, they see the $$$ they can make with a well crafted, consistent message, which is fine by me.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Buy n' Large = Disney

They know what they are doing

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIq0F3sZQFw[/ame]

 

[NSA]

Adult fiction line!

Disney Publishing Worldwide and Random House Announce Relaunch of Star Wars Adult Fiction Line | StarWars.com

 

[NSA]

I am kind of excited about it, I like reading books. There were just _so_ many SW:EU books it got confusing, and over such a long period (35 years?) stuff did not mesh together as well as it could, which was bound to happen.

There was no way to make SW EP VII without ruining some aspect of the EU. Would the Thrawn books work as movies? Maybe? Who knows. But everyone would know what happens already.. it's kind of nice having some mystery back in it all.

Now we just have to hope the new movies don't suck.

 

[fogger1138]

Not surprised, and it's been a while since I really liked any of the fiction that they were putting out.

Still a disappointment, though, even if it's not unexpected.

 

[K-Tiger]

Adult fiction line!

Disney Publishing Worldwide and Random House Announce Relaunch of Star Wars Adult Fiction Line | StarWars.com

Leia panted as she put her hand on Chewbacca's enormous wookiehood.



Oh, not that kind of adult fiction? :trollface:

 

[NSA]

Not surprised, and it's been a while since I really liked any of the fiction that they were putting out.

Still a disappointment, though, even if it's not unexpected.

Yeah, I dunno. There are tons of people who invested a lot of time and effort into the old EU (myself included) but it seems like it had become beholden to itself at this point, and a fresh start could be a good thing in my eyes.

Leia panted as she put her hand on Chewbacca's enormous wookiehood.

Oh, not that kind of adult fiction? :trollface:

I'm sure that's... coming

 

[Meddatron]

Best Star Wars news in a long time.


I hope Thrawn's character is kept canon in some way, even if not in a movie. Zahn's EU books were always my favorite.

 

[starwarsgeek]

I kinda feel like it's a slap in the face to the fans, to be honest. So all those stories, all those characters, all that stuff is... non existent now? That's a bunch of bullshit. Lucasfilm authorized and OK'd ALL of those EU stories before they were written and released, so now they are just going to disown the entire thing and start over? Fuck that. Whatever new stories you want to tell you should make fit in with what's already established.

 

[fogger1138]

I kinda feel like it's a slap in the face to the fans, to be honest. So all those stories, all those characters, all that stuff is... non existent now? That's a bunch of bullshit. Lucasfilm authorized and OK'd ALL of those EU stories before they were written and released, so now they are just going to disown the entire thing and start over? Fuck that. Whatever new stories you want to tell you should make fit in with what's already established.

Wait, I've got it.
It's "One More Day" for the Star Wars universe!

Han and Leia make a pact with Mephisto to get their franchise back!

 

[NSA]

I kinda feel like it's a slap in the face to the fans, to be honest. So all those stories, all those characters, all that stuff is... non existent now? That's a bunch of bullshit. Lucasfilm authorized and OK'd ALL of those EU stories before they were written and released, so now they are just going to disown the entire thing and start over? Fuck that. Whatever new stories you want to tell you should make fit in with what's already established.

I think thats the problem those, Lucas never intended to do a sequel trilogy so everything would jive OK, Disney comes along and thinks its a great idea, but the EU is a HUGE monkey on their back.

I mean, there is no stopping Disney, so this seems like the best alternative I guess. There is no way to make much NEW content in between all the existing EU stuff, it'd be too hard to make anything meaningful. They filled almost ALL the years afterwards with content already.

 

[Meddatron]

Yeah and some of it was utter crap. So many wasted years in the saga. Some was outstanding though too! Such a tough call but I think it makes it more interesting for the next movies.

 

[starwarsgeek]

But they could easily jump ahead to another generation, where, say, Han and Leia's grandkids are running around doing shit. I mean, it's not like they are doing a trilogy based 3 years after RotJ or anything like that. These should be talented, imaginative people, and they can't figure out a way to make it work without ruining 30+ years of story? Who is writing this, Hasbro?

 

[fogger1138]

Zahn's EU books were always my favorite.

Likewise - I met him this past weekend and got him to sign a few of mine.

 

[Meddatron]

Likewise - I met him this past weekend and got him to sign a few of mine.

Nice!!!! At that DC con?

 

[fogger1138]

Nice!!!! At that DC con?

Yup, that was one of the main reasons I went. Nice guy.

 

[NSA]

Yeah and some of it was utter crap. So many wasted years in the saga. Some was outstanding though too! Such a tough call but I think it makes it more interesting for the next movies.

But they could easily jump ahead to another generation, where, say, Han and Leia's grandkids are running around doing shit. I mean, it's not like they are doing a trilogy based 3 years after RotJ or anything like that. These should be talented, imaginative people, and they can't figure out a way to make it work without ruining 30+ years of story? Who is writing this, Hasbro?

I can just see how much a pain it'd be to try and catch everyone up on all that content though. I doubt you'd be able to encompass all the EU up to that point in a text crawl before the movie. The vast majority of SW fans do not read the EU or at least not most of us. I have a SW tattoo and I gave up on the books a while ago.

If they made the movies and didn't reference the EU then hardcore fans would be pissed, and if they did reference them, no one would get it. There were just TOO many crucial changes in the EU for either way to really work. How do you quickly explain that Han and Leia had a kid, named him Anakin, but he died, and Chewie died too, and Jacen turned dark etc etc.

I just can't envision a world where you could meld it all together coherently. And that's just the GOOD stuff.

 

[fogger1138]

I can just see how much a pain it'd be to try and catch everyone up on all that content though. I doubt you'd be able to encompass all the EU up to that point in a text crawl before the movie. The vast majority of SW fans do not read the EU or at least not most of us. I have a SW tattoo and I gave up on the books a while ago.

If they made the movies and didn't reference the EU then hardcore fans would be pissed, and if they did reference them, no one would get it. There were just TOO many crucial changes in the EU for either way to really work. How do you quickly explain that Han and Leia had a kid, named him Anakin, but he died, and Chewie died too, and Jacen turned dark etc etc.

I just can't envision a world where you could meld it all together coherently. And that's just the GOOD stuff.

Would you need to, though? There's a whole lotta EU that took place before both the OT and the PT that didn't need to be recapped before those movies. The entire rise of the Empire and fall of the Jedi was only vaguely hinted at in the OT, but we still got those movies out of it.

It could be done. Like I've said, I understand why they're not doing it, but I'm still disappointed that they're not trying.

 

[NSA]

If they were not continuing with the Han/Leia/Luke story line, then sure, I think a lot could be skipped over, but since they seem to feel the need to put those actors back to work..

 

[NSA]

Expanded Universe?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DT7bX-B1Mg[/ame]

 

[nacho]

I find it a bit disappointing, especially since there was VERY little fiction in the "30-years after ROTJ" era. They could easily have new young Jedi run around from the academy while leaving the Zahn/Thrawn, Dark Forces, and other "classic" EU literature intact. I'll admit that later on, things really got far out there and lost my interest. But the early fiction, I find much of it to be more interesting than any of the films.

I understand fogger's point that there is a lot of money to be made by Disney cranking out new canon... but honestly, I'm not sure how interested I am in SW fiction set in a universe where some of that classic material is contradicted. Zahn's been real canon for a damn long time, and it'll be my "head canon" for as long as I can imagine... no matter how many press releases Disney issues.

 

[NSA]

Just reading the first part of this: Luke Skywalker - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki

There is already too much! Haha.

The Star Wars Expanded Universe Timeline

I mean, it would be hard to fit anything meaningful into those stories.. without ruining further stories down the line. I can't imagine the movies are going to be "minor" stories.. so why wouldn't they be referenced in the (already) published books?

According to that site it looks like the last book was around 42 ABY (After Battle of Yavin? SW EP IV?). So that would be ROUGHLY where we are now compared to the original SW trilogy.

Last book: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse - Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki

I didn't finish the "Fate of the Jedi" books, only got the first couple and meandered off into more Halo fiction I guess. Reading the synopsis above though.. something about an Abeloth?

Spoiler

As the three battles against Abeloth commence—in the Jedi Temple, on her own world, and beyond shadows—Abeloth is steadily weakened and killed in each conflict. Beyond shadows, Luke and the mysterious Sith manage to drain Abeloth of her power, and she dies off there. Meanwhile, Saba is able to lure Abeloth out of her computer core avatar and then she kills her by chopping her head off with her fangs. And Ben and Vestara kill off her Korelei avatar after Ben uses the Sith's own shikkar against her, similar to what Vestara did to Ruku Myal, and then Abeloth-Korelei is finished off when she is then crushed by the fight's resultant debris.

Seriously ^^^ that reads like a foreign language and I generally speak fluent SW. Apparently it has a basis in a Clone Wars episode? I dunno.

Regardless, after that there is a 60-some year gap before the next published EU stuff (which gets, really weird). This is where the movies would need to take place, but (for me anyway) it doesn't really leave off anywhere special.

I don't see any other real spot to "insert" the movies in the existing EU that would make sense, they jam packed those 42 +/- years pretty good. It'd be easier to "pick and choose" what stays canon but that's a whole other can of worms.

 

[nacho]

I understand a lot of that stuff going away. I agree that the paragraph you pasted read like Klingon. WTF.

But on the other hand, if they try to tell me that Thrawn, Kyle Katarn, & Mara Jade never existed and that Han and Leia never married and had kids, then it's not legit in my mind.

They might as well label this Crisis on Infinite EUs, because I will cling to my pre-crisis version of SW no matter what the fuck the mouse house puts out. Disney can tweak what they want and weed out the nonsense, but if they contradict the stories that have been the tent poles of the EU for the last 30 years, then it's just fan-fic as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Falcone]

Good riddance.

 

[Giga Bread]

It's also a business decision. With all of the numerous characters and storylines created in the books, can you imagine the clusterfuck of writing credits?

 

[fogger1138]

It's also a business decision. With all of the numerous characters and storylines created in the books, can you imagine the clusterfuck of writing credits?

No different than how Marvel has handled that.

 

[The Ewokhunter]

As long as they do not use Yuuzong Vong. Gawd I hated that story with a passion.

 

[The Ewokhunter]

Although I did like using them in the SW miniatures game

 

[NSA]

I understand a lot of that stuff going away. I agree that the paragraph you pasted read like Klingon. WTF.

But on the other hand, if they try to tell me that Thrawn, Kyle Katarn, & Mara Jade never existed and that Han and Leia never married and had kids, then it's not legit in my mind.

They might as well label this Crisis on Infinite EUs, because I will cling to my pre-crisis version of SW no matter what the fuck the mouse house puts out. Disney can tweak what they want and weed out the nonsense, but if they contradict the stories that have been the tent poles of the EU for the last 30 years, then it's just fan-fic as far as I'm concerned.

That's the issue though, when people say they're upset, they are missing the GOOD stuff. Which is valid. The problem is there was so much NON GOOD STUFF out there that you can't really take the good with the bad. Even the GOOD stuff relied on stories and outcomes from the bad stories.

I mean, I can't even count how many "SUPER OMG WEAPONS!" were used as the plot device in the books, especially early on. Sun Destroyer, World Eater, whatever giant killer thingymabob. I get it, the Death Star was awesome, but hey.. be a little original! They seemed to get better when it switched from Bantam to Del Ray, but still.. those early (shitty) books wasted a ton of 'usable time' directly after the movies.

I probably own 90% of the books released, and was in the garage today and found a bunch "Tales from Jabbas Palace!" and it made me a little sad, but then I looked at the end where they kept track of all the stories and when they took place and was like.. damn, there is no room for more quality content in this universe.

As long as they do not use Yuuzong Vong. Gawd I hated that story with a passion.

I really really liked it, it felt like the most "Star Wars" of all the books, outside the X-Wing series, and Thrawn of course. I liked the emphasis on another strong super power type thing, instead of some super weapon or crazy sith.