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Thread: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

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    Default Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    I found this interesting...
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...mpid=BBD121515

    While the arrival of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a new beginning for the storied franchise, it’s a painful reminder of something else: More than 30 years of novel, toy, game, and comic book-tie-ins collectively known as the Star Wars Expanded Universe. In April 2014, Disney—which had purchased the series in 2012, when it bought Lucasfilm—announced that all such previous efforts would have no bearing on future Star Wars projects. It was, as Obi-Wan Kenobi might have put it, “as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.” In its place would be a new Expanded Universe, one crafted to complement Disney’s multiyear plan for the world’s most beloved space opera.
    The casual viewer of a Star Wars movie may think that the only stories extant are the ones in the (now) seven films, but the Expanded Universe used George Lucas’s films as a launching pad for new narratives. As early as 1978, Kenner toy company’s action figures gave names to characters otherwise unmentioned in the movies. Who can forget Walrus Man at the Mos Eisley cantina, or Lando’s co-pilot Nien Numb—to say nothing of Sy Snoodles and the Rebo Band—in Return of the Jedi.

    The original Expanded Universe was scattershot—a tabletop role-playing game here, a comic book there—but that had changed by 1991 with Timothy Zahn’s book Heir to the Empire. Many fans viewed the text as the first installment of sequels George Lucas never made. The novel reached the New York Times Fiction Bestsellers list.
    What differentiated the Expanded Universe from such corporate-owned mythologies as Dr. Who or Battlestar Galactica was that it was not just tolerated by the creator of Star Wars but managed by him as well. “When I said [other people] could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have two universes: My universe and then this other one,” Lucas told Starlog magazine in 2005. “They try to make their universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions.”
    Lucasfilm licensed a slew of media that added to the adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han, as well those of as completely new characters. Eventually, more than 100 novels were written by dozens of authors, all with Lucas’s blessing. Clean as the Expanded Universe may have been, it still had inconsistencies, just as anything made by many different people would. That’s why fans were in fear after Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012.
    Aside from the six movies (the original trilogy and three prequels from the last decade) and an animated series called The Clone Wars that ran from 2008 to 2014, Disney shunted everything released before April 25, 2014 to the side under the “Legends” banner, removing it from the Star Wars timeline. The company’s stated goal was “to give maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers”—J.J. Abrams in particular, who had by then signed on to direct an Episode VII.

    Since then, Disney has set about creating its own expanded universe. New timeline-approved Star Wars cartoons, comic books, and video games began appearing last fall, as well as seven adult books touching on everything from the prequel films (Dark Disciple) to the gap between the trilogies (New Dawn, Tarkin, and Lords of the Sith) and the unseen moments between the first three movies (Heir to the Jedi and Battlefront: Twilight Company). Most exciting of all has been early hints as to what really happened after Return of the Jedi (Aftermath), and what will appear in the upcoming film.

    The new books have been solid so far (something that couldn’t always be said about prior Expanded Universe material), and four of the titles have cracked the New York Times Fiction Bestsellers list so far.
    That’s not to say that the original isn’t missed. “What I miss the most is that the EU truly made me feel like I was entering a galaxy far, far away that was even bigger than the one I saw in the canon films and TV series,” said James Akinaka, a site administrator for the online Star Wars encylopedia, Wookieepedia. “The world-building that occurred in the EU was incredible, and it will be a while before the current Star Wars continuity can reflect that.”
    So the Expanded Universe may have been wiped from the canon, but it has not been forgotten. As John Jackson Miller, one of the new novels’ authors, said last year: “The thing about ‘Legends’—and that’s the word on the cover of the previous material—legends can be true, in part or in whole.”
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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    I'll reserve judgement till Friday. I really wasn't a reader of the expanded universe novels but could understand hardcore fans being upset. That said I think the majority of Star Wars fans have little to no knowledge of the expanded Canon outside maybe the clone wars which is still included in canon to my reading.

    I have ticket's for the Girlfriend and me to take in the new film in one of the vip theater's and can't wait!

    May the force be with ya Dob's, thanks for the read.

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Interesting read. Thanks for that.
    @SmittysRant

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Ya, it was a cool read. Thanks for sharing

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    I'm a bit disappointed that the EU has been pushed into Legend status. I started reading the EU back in 2005 with the release of Revenge of the Sith, and started with what was then one of the earliest (chronologically) novels: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. It was pretty good and featured Maul prior to the events of The Phantom Menace. Since then I have read almost a hundred books from the EU, and have enjoyed many of them.. Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy is great, as are some of the Clone Wars pieces. The New Jedi Order featuring the menacing Yuuzhan Vong had its high moments, and I also really liked many of the X-Wing series. Some of my absolute favorites were the anthologies featuring the characters from the Mos Eisley Cantina and the infamous Bounty Hunters from The Empire Strikes Back. Not to mention the development of some great EU characters like Jacen, Anakin and Jaina Solo, Aurra Sing, K'Kruhk, Prince Xizor, Darth Bane, Asajj Ventress and Corran Horn.
    And now they mean...what?
    I feel like I have wasted my time, and probably won't indulge in these new novels for a little bit until my natural curious into all things Star Wars gets the best of me. I certainly hope this new movie impresses me enough to feed that curiosity or maybe those novels will never make it to my book shelves.
    Anyone else feel the same?

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    As some of you know (from the other thread in this section), I have been working my way through all the books over the last 33 months now. When they made this announcement I was about 100 books in. So yeah, pissed me off. But I stuck with it, and as they say - legends often come true. I think some of the key characters and plot points make their way to canon.

    PS - I'm now about 165 books in with about 50 to go. Just about at the Thrawn trilogy
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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Man, that's intense Daryl... never knew u were such a Star Wars geek. How long are each of these books?

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Quote Originally Posted by Dobber View Post
    As some of you know (from the other thread in this section), I have been working my way through all the books over the last 33 months now. When they made this announcement I was about 100 books in. So yeah, pissed me off. But I stuck with it, and as they say - legends often come true. I think some of the key characters and plot points make their way to canon.

    PS - I'm now about 165 books in with about 50 to go. Just about at the Thrawn trilogy


    The Thrawn trilogy is a must read. Things are hit and miss after that.

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Quote Originally Posted by blayze View Post
    Man, that's intense Daryl... never knew u were such a Star Wars geek. How long are each of these books?
    Typical SW adult novel is between 270-350 pages. A solid read too for the most part as the writers all seem to have SF writing backgrounds. My faves are Timothy Zahn, Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. The a Darth Bane series is well written too. It is by Drew Karpyshyn.

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    D: Bouchard, McAvoy, Morrissey, Heiskanen
    G: Vasilevskiy



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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Quote Originally Posted by The Bottlenecker View Post
    Typical SW adult novel is between 270-350 pages. A solid read too for the most part as the writers all seem to have SF writing backgrounds. My faves are Timothy Zahn, Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. The a Darth Bane series is well written too. It is by Drew Karpyshyn.
    Wow... at 165 books, that's over 50,000 pages read. You have way too much time on your hands Dobber :P

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Quote Originally Posted by blayze View Post
    Man, that's intense Daryl... never knew u were such a Star Wars geek. How long are each of these books?
    I'd say half are "young adult" two hour reads, maybe 120 pages. Other half are more serious, takes a couple of weeks

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    Quote Originally Posted by The Bottlenecker View Post
    Typical SW adult novel is between 270-350 pages. A solid read too for the most part as the writers all seem to have SF writing backgrounds. My faves are Timothy Zahn, Aaron Allston and Troy Denning. The a Darth Bane series is well written too. It is by Drew Karpyshyn.
    Bane books were awesome. Darth Plagueis too. Zahn and Karpyshyn are the best authors.

    Some of the other books really do have merit though, tell good stories, like the Commando series or X-Wing. Can't wait to dig into Thrawn. Loved the other books he was in that I've read so far, but this trilogy from what I hear is what it's all about
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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    That's a huge mf project.
    My next project is post-NHL-playoffs when I'm going to watch all seasons of The Wire.
    That's probably not going to happen as the Wiggles and Masha & the Bear have been dominating our main TV for the past year.
    Sigh.

    btw. a general husband-who-also-has-two-kids question:
    What does the wife do while you are reading? (mine plays Candy Crush on her phone, does Pinterest, checks Facebooks, with intermittent text messaging... all while I watch the hockey)

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Quote Originally Posted by Pengwin7 View Post
    That's a huge mf project.
    My next project is post-NHL-playoffs when I'm going to watch all seasons of The Wire.
    That's probably not going to happen as the Wiggles and Masha & the Bear have been dominating our main TV for the past year.
    Sigh.

    btw. a general husband-who-also-has-two-kids question:
    What does the wife do while you are reading? (mine plays Candy Crush on her phone, does Pinterest, checks Facebooks, with intermittent text messaging... all while I watch the hockey)
    I'll go to bed at 1am and read for about 40 minutes. So she's sleeping. I also read over lunch, so she's not here. And of course, the special reading area known as 'the bathroom'. If I go in the hot tub I'll read there, but I don't get a chance to use the hot tub as much as before. Maybe weekly. A big one is vacation. Yes, I only went once last year plus a few days at a cottage, but man I probably read for hours and hours and go through a ton of books. Really it's just chipping away when you can, I hear ya about lack of time with the family around. LOL sometimes when I cook dinner for the kids I have my Kindle open and I sneak a few pages that way
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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    I curious about what you think about Joe Schreiber; I started this series, and just can't get over how TERRIBLE "Red Harvest" is...A Star Wars book that is 95% walking zombies? Really? And going on Amazon, and reading reviews of his other novels in this series, they sound equally stupid.

    After reading the first 11 books in order (started in January), my feelings are a bit mixed. The quality of authors goes from very high to very low. There is absolutely no continuity in story lines between authors. And many of the books end on a cliff hanger - with no follow up book.

    I'm curious if it's like this all the way through the 200 books, or whatever it is?

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    Default Re: Why Disney Blew Up More Than 30 Years of Star Wars Canon

    Quote Originally Posted by als_revenge View Post
    I curious about what you think about Joe Schreiber; I started this series, and just can't get over how TERRIBLE "Red Harvest" is...A Star Wars book that is 95% walking zombies? Really? And going on Amazon, and reading reviews of his other novels in this series, they sound equally stupid.

    After reading the first 11 books in order (started in January), my feelings are a bit mixed. The quality of authors goes from very high to very low. There is absolutely no continuity in story lines between authors. And many of the books end on a cliff hanger - with no follow up book.

    I'm curious if it's like this all the way through the 200 books, or whatever it is?
    Red Harvest was terrible.

    If you want just my brief evaluation on each book, I give my quick thoughts at darryldobbs.com. I'm about 170 books in now. Not overly informative, but at least it would tell you which books you can skip
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    G - Kahkonen, Vejmelka, L. Thompson, Levi, Comrie
    D - Hronek, Morrissey, Lundkvist, Girard, Brannstrom, Rathbone, Hanifin, Severson, Durzi

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