Lucasfilm Announces Break With Star Wars Expanded Universe

RogueyWon writes: "A recent blog post from Lucasarts had confirmed that the new Star Wars movies planned for release by Disney will formally break continuity with the Expanded Universe novels, comics and video games. They say, '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.' The news is unlikely to be a surprise, given George Lucas's previous pronouncements on the issue."

Comments

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[Opportunist]

We found out that by keeping the time- and storyline, we could not cram enough cuddly merchandising crap into the show. Expect a lot more fluffy aliens, cutsie droids, and if you thought that Episode 1 was an overblown trailer and ad for the podracer computer game, we have a big surprise for you in Episode 7!

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[Stormy Dragon]

Disney hasn't done this with any of the Marvel movies; why do people assume they are with the Star Wars movies?

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[93 Escort Wagon]

Episode Seven: Jedi Academy of the Ewok Homeworld.

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[Opportunist]

I have a very bad feeling about this.

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[MightyMartian]

I would think it has more to do with the fact that most of the writing and plotlines in the expanded universe are absolutely shit. I've struggled my way here and there through a few, and they're just terrible, most of it on the level of amateur fan fiction.

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[GarethIwanFairclough]

Name ANY worth shit outside of I, Jedi or the Thrawn trilogy.

You cant because there isnt. FUCK the EU with a barge pole

Knights of the old republic? Shadows of the empire? The Dark forces/Jedi Knight series? Rogue Squadron?

There's four for you right there.

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[schnell]

thank goodness that movies 7-9 won't be stuck in a little narrative box

Thank you, precisely. I say this as someone who has read 15 or so Star Wars EU books and thoroughly enjoyed many of the video games: the EU was >50% shit sandwich.

In fact, it was destined to be shit. Timothy Zahn kickstarted it with some very good (but not as good as some people believe) SF with the Thrawn trilogy. Lucas never thought he was going to go back to Star Wars, so he waved his hand "whatever" and was pleasantly surprised when the royalty checks started rolling back in. "Shadows of the Empire" was interesting (in part because it was the first time sexuality was openly introduced into the Lucas prudish universe) and a few other things. Star Wars video games were great, but who ever imagined those were canon when what you as a player did could impact them? ("History records that Darth Revan boned Bastila... wait, no he didn't. But she became his Dark Side apprentice... wait, no she didn't. It turns out Revan died in a casino on the underworld of Taris because he couldn't make any money playing Pazaak.")

But mainly it just quickly descended into "resurrected or clone Empire person or weapon of the year" bullshit and just wanked itself (and milked its readers) for years.

Then Lucas decides to make Episodes 1-3 and right there you have already invalidated 50% of the mythology of the EU. Spaarti cylinders? Whatsisface the Death Star designer? Using the Force is like some sexually transmitted disease? Jedis can't date? And, if Force ability was hereditary, WHY THE FUCK wouldn't you want Jedis to breed lots of little Jedis? Huuuuuhhhhhh? So the EU was already dead even then.

For the record: despite all its story consistency failings, Episodes 2 & 3 were NOT THAT BAD. Episode 3, in fact, was a genuinely enjoyable movie! Episode 1 was exactly the steaming shitpile that everyone makes it out to be, except for the first 15 minutes, the pod races and Darth Maul's battle with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

But of course it still carried on, and of course the results were mixed. "New Jedi Order" was an interesting idea badly implemented, and I'm sorry but the death of Anakin Solo was a terrible idea. The later series had their ups and downs... take for example the latest, "Fate of the Jedi." There were very enjoyable parts, especially the "Luke and Ben road trip" aspects of visiting all the Force users across the galaxy. But a previously unknown super-Force-user had to be invented out of nowhere, and somehow they repeated the NJO "the bad guys must control Coruscant" story line, and it just ended up being a mess. Would you really expect a new Star Wars movie with Han, Luke and Leia to be constrained by the frequently awful story lines of the last 30 years?

So long story short: the EU was kind of a hot mess and was destined to go away the second anyone tried to remake Star Wars. And even if I miss Kyle Katarn, Admiral Thrawn, the Witches of Dathomir and Mara Jade, it's a trade-off I'm willing to make for decent new movies.

Why?

[CRCulver]

I cannot claim to be much of a Star Wars fanatic and haven't read a Star Wars book in years, but I remember reading Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire along with the rest of the Thrawn Trilogy as a child and wishing that someday that would be adapted for the big screen as future episodes of the film series. Judging from its critical acclaim, I imagine many had the same wish. Strange that Disney would leave that all behind when its storywriting work was already done for it.

Perhaps not enough opportunities for tie-in marketing in existing plot material?

Good.

[Guspaz]

I grew up with the expanded universe, and it was good back then, but at this point it's super depressing. They've killed off a bunch of main characters (both from the films and the EU), and they've sketched out a future that makes it clear that there is no hopeful future in the EU, just an endless cycle of collapse and ruin.

I have a much neater solution.

[teslar]

Someone from the future travels to the past, changes something fundamental and the universe slips into an alternate reality from which it can never return and in which no event can be expected to unfold as it did in the original.

Not only will this by definition never be inconsistent with the EU, it will give the writers ways of amusingly rehashing old stories by subtly altering some key elements things, like who gets to die of radiation while saving the crew. Maybe, in Episode VII, Luke will hack off Vader's hand?

What?

Star Wars was never intended to be serious drama.

[mmell]

Just to say - it was (IMHO) a romp - a chance for a bit of more or less mindless diversion from the routine workaday world some of us inhabit. George Lucas wasn't out to make a statement (Avatar, anyone?). He wasn't out to do serious drama (too many examples to cite). He wasn't out to do science fiction (practically no scientific credibility that it could ever have been or ever be what he depicted). It was fun. Lots of Battle of Britain style dogfights in space, because George Lucas had a liking for the old fighter pilot camera footage that was obtained during WW II. Ships in space don't fly like that.

Okay, breaking continuity does make it harder to suspend disbelief. Most movie viewers can get over that within a few minutes, and I'm not really watching Star Wars for the dialog, social commentary, or even the technical predictions. I'm there to see the money shot, and hopefully a fun story to keep me from disbelieving while I wait for Luke's X-wing to fly down the trench. You know what impressed me even when I was a teenager? The fact that fast moving objects actually looked blurry, and that the Millennium Falcon was dirty. That was the first interstellar vessel I ever saw represented on film as having grease on the walls. Hell, there were even chrome (fuzzy) dice hanging from the rearview mirror, and it was the first time that I saw such incredible detail - detail which correctly got blurred when the viewpoint moved quickly. I just want the underlying story to not ruin my ability to suspend disbelief, so that I can enjoy the money shot.