Disney Buying LucasFilm! WHOA

[danlb_2000]

Using this post as an example, not really directed at you specifically.

For fans of the EU (I've only read a few novels, and many years ago). Would you rather
a) Have them keep the entire EU as some version of canon, with the knowledge that this could greatly limit the story that they can tell with SW7
or
b) Write the best SW7 story that they can, even if that means completely blowing away some of the EU in massive fashion (for example, Luke never marries or has a relationship with Mara Jade, or anyone for that matter, etc)

Personally, having not read much of the EU, I would rather them tell the best story possible, even at the expense of the EU, but I realize that my opinion is skewed in the fact that I have not read and/or loved much of what would be lost.

I'm just curious as to folks opinions here on this.

I have read a bunch of the EU novels, and as much as I would like to see some of these brought to the screen I don't really have a problem with option b. You are right, but not having to stay true to the EU canon it really gives the writers a lot more freedom.

 

[G00fyDad]

Using this post as an example, not really directed at you specifically.

For fans of the EU (I've only read a few novels, and many years ago). Would you rather
a) Have them keep the entire EU as some version of canon, with the knowledge that this could greatly limit the story that they can tell with SW7
or
b) Write the best SW7 story that they can, even if that means completely blowing away some of the EU in massive fashion (for example, Luke never marries or has a relationship with Mara Jade, or anyone for that matter, etc)

Personally, having not read much of the EU, I would rather them tell the best story possible, even at the expense of the EU, but I realize that my opinion is skewed in the fact that I have not read and/or loved much of what would be lost.

I'm just curious as to folks opinions here on this.

Unlike others here, I feel that they should stick to canon with SW7. I would be pretty upset going to the theater and seeing Han and Leia aged with no kids or even different kids. That is if they even use the same characters. Hate me all you may want for it, but I'd prefer they stick to the EU. Making a new film with totally different characters outside or contradictory to the EU would seem, to me, like a horrible knock off.

 

[sshindel]

Unlike others here, I feel that they should stick to canon with SW7. I would be pretty upset going to the theater and seeing Han and Leia aged with no kids or even different kids. That is if they even use the same characters. Hate me all you may want for it, but I'd prefer they stick to the EU. Making a new film with totally different characters outside or contradictory to the EU would seem, to me, like a horrible knock off.

No hate from me. I was curious as to folks feeling about it, which is why I asked. I have no emotional connection with the EU, so my opinion is obviously skewed in one way. I have connection to the original movies, the prequils, and a few of the video games (Force Unleashed, KOTOR). If they decided to do a "remake" or "reinvention" of the original trilogy, I'd be furious. I'm sure that is how some folks feel about the EU.

 

[flynnibus]

Great question!

I'd want to see the best movie possible. I don't see the need to pick up on EU lines or characters. Take a whole new direction is an option.

I think the clone wars cartoons are a great example - don't bring an existing story to film.. Make new ones

 

[HMF]

Great question!

I'd want to see the best movie possible. I don't see the need to pick up on EU lines or characters. Take a whole new direction is an option.

I think the clone wars cartoons are a great example - don't bring an existing story to film.. Make new ones

I would love a new story. I don't want new story to contradict existing stories.

 

[doctornick]

I think they should try to incorporate elements of the EU (basically as Easter eggs for fans of the EU) but should go with original stories and not be bound by the EU. Making a better movie is more important than trying to fit in the new movies into the constraints already existing in the EU.

I think it's important to realize that the vast majority of people who would be watching the new movies will have little or no knowledge of the EU. So, they won't care if it's consistent with the EU. They will care if the movie is bad or contrived because it has to fit the "history".

 

[erasure fan1]

I think they should try to incorporate elements of the EU (basically as Easter eggs for fans of the EU) but should go with original stories and not be bound by the EU. Making a better movie is more important than trying to fit in the new movies into the constraints already existing in the EU.

I think it's important to realize that the vast majority of people who would be watching the new movies will have little or no knowledge of the EU. So, they won't care if it's consistent with the EU. They will care if the movie is bad or contrived because it has to fit the "history".

I agree. I think that in order to make the best movie possible, they need as much freedom as they can get. I think that's why Knights of the old republic was so great for me. They had guidelines to stick to but they were not worried about stepping on what had been done before. They had basically complete freedom with the story and that really made the difference in my opinion. I also believe the majority of people wont have any real clue as to what has gone on with the EU so the best thing to do is incorporate it but not be bound by it.

 

[flynnibus]

how about we move the EP VII talk to its own thread?
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/let-episode-vii-speculation-begin.855419/page-2

 

[unkadug]

To speak of Star Wars as containing canons is... a little ridiculous.

It's a work of fiction and not even all of it is by the same author...so there can be no canons.

What the heck are you talking about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_canon

Any 'universe' has canon and non-canon. Star Wars does an extremely great job at tying things together. Star Trek (even excluding the Abrams movies) does not. The ST universe is a disaster.

Quoting a wiki page as proof of a point in a college course would certainly earn yourself an "F".

This whole conversation is turning extremely too nerdy for me. Any thread (and Wiki page ) that compares Star Wars to biblical standards is bordering on the blasphemous and I will step away before the inevitable lighting bolt strikes the Death Star out of it's synchronous orbit of the earth.

(waits for someone to correct me about the DS not even being close to the Earth)

 

[danlb_2000]

Quoting a wiki page as proof of a point in a college course would certainly earn yourself an "F".

This whole conversation is turning extremely too nerdy for me. Any thread (and Wiki page ) that compares Star Wars to biblical standards is bordering on the blasphemous and I will step away before the inevitable lighting bolt strikes the Death Star out of it's synchronous orbit of the earth.

(waits for someone to correct me about the DS not even being close to the Earth)

But this isn't a college course, it's a discussion forum. I have heard interviews with Leland Chee who maintains the continuity database for Lucasfilm and the things he has said are consistent with the Wikipedia article (he's even quoted in the article), so there are other sources that confirm that there is an official canon for Star Wars.

 

[unkadug]

But this isn't a college course, it's a discussion forum. I have heard interviews with Leland Chee who maintains the continuity database for Lucasfilm and the things he has said are consistent with the Wikipedia article (he's even quoted in the article), so there are other sources that confirm that there is an official canon for Star Wars.

Yes it is, but the rules of logic still apply.

 

[danlb_2000]

Yes it is, but the rules of logic still apply.

Not sure where you see those rules being broken. The definition on "canon" in this context is "a set of artistic works established as genuine and complete". There is no doubt that Lucasfilm keeps track of which Star Wars creative works form an official Star Wars canon.

 

[unkadug]

Not sure where you see those rules being broken. The definition on "canon" in this context is "a set of artistic works established as genuine and complete". There is no doubt that Lucasfilm keeps track of which Star Wars creative works form an official Star Wars canon.

Using wiki sources to prove a point.

 

[flynnibus]

Using wiki sources to prove a point.

Instead of just seeing a URL and crying foul.. Try actually checking the references. This is getting stupid. You're arguing against the existence of something that has people in lucasfilm whose sole purpose is to maintain. Are the people and jobs fake too?

 

[unkadug]

Instead of just seeing a URL and crying foul.. Try actually checking the references. This is getting stupid. You're arguing against the existence of something that has people in lucasfilm whose sole purpose is to maintain. Are the people and jobs fake too?

We are arguing two separate points.

I'm just mocking your "proof" of your points.

It would seem to me that if these "canons" were so solid that there would be more existential "proof" than simply a wiki page that any 5th grader could create.

 

[sshindel]

We are arguing two separate points.

I'm just mocking your "proof" of your points.

It would seem to me that if these "canons" were so solid that there would be more existential "proof" than simply a wiki page that any 5th grader could create.

Here is a link to the official Star Wars site / blog explaining the internal database they keep to help with canon and the EU
http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2012/07/20/what-is-the-holocron/

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Why? there is so much junk in the EU

Exactly. I don't consider the EU superior to the movies in any way so why should the EU set the standard for the new movie(s)?

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Any other Europeans out there who find all this EU talk a bit bizarre?

Not quite. The term "Expanded Universe" is older than the European Union, so EU actually first meant Expanded Universe to me, the political meaning came later.

 

[flynnibus]

We are arguing two separate points.

I'm just mocking your "proof" of your points.

Because you see a wiki site and aren't actually READING what's in it - instead just going 'wiki... ha!' Credibility comes from the references and sources - not the platform.

It would seem to me that if these "canons" were so solid that there would be more existential "proof" than simply a wiki page that any 5th grader could create.

It's a decade+ old concept... the proof is everywhere. Community content didn't create the wired.com article or starwars.com blogs that are cited in the article you refuse to read. @sshindel just provided you a nice link to starwars.com as well.

By mocking a site without actually reading it or its sources.. you're not exactly helping yourself.

 

[Spike-in-Berlin]

Exactly, almost every change made in the prequels were minor enough to be easily retconned. The 40 +years after Jedi do have many fully fleshed out stories so you have to be very careful not to contradict them. Personally, I think the safest place to put the 3 new films is sometime between the New Jedi Order novels and the Dark Nest novels.

I am quite sure that the new screenplay writer couldn't care less about not contradicting the EU. Nothing in the EU, with the exception of the handful of minor names like Coruscant and very minor characters, which are only canon because they are part of the movies!, will be mandatory for the new producers, just like Lucas nearly totally ignored the EU (with the few exceptions) in the prequels.