I remember the smug look on his face, which was contrasted by the consternation on mine. The high school student before me had challenged me to Star Wars trivia, a challenge I confidently accepted. My confidence turned to anger, though, when he began asking me questions about the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Trivia turned even more trivial and I was stumped as he asked me questions about planets and characters of which I had never heard.
I don’t have a lot of love for the Star Wars Expanded Universe. So when it was recently announced that the current Expanded Universe was being put in a box next to the Ark of the Covenant, I wasn’t that upset.
Lucasfilm announced that its upcoming Episodes VII-IX won’t be beholden to any of the Expanded Universe content that takes place after Return of the Jedi. That content won’t disappear, it’s all being placed under the Star Wars Legends banner. But any hopes that we might see Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade or Chewie’s death in the new trilogy have been dashed.
Basically the Expanded Universe has turned into the Star Wars version of the apocrypha.
I personally love Timothy Zahn’s Grand Admiral Thrawn trilogy. Zahn created some memorable characters that I would have liked to see. But there is so much Expanded Universe content. It would have been impossible to tell a comprehensible story while navigating over 40 novels with all their characters and storylines.
I wonder if the canonization of the Bible caused as much of a stir back in the 3rd and 4th centuries. How would the Internet have responded when the official New Testament canon was released?
“Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? They tell practically the same story. #fail”
“Where’s the gospel according to Thomas? WTF?! >:|”
“Athanasius identified these 27 books in his 367 Easter Letter? More like Laughanasius. This is a joke.”
“Philemon?! My fanfic about Jesus as a runaway gladiator is way better than Philemon.”
“I liked Paul’s letters before they were canonized.”
I don’t think the newly canonized Star Wars universe will have as much of an impact on the world as the Bible has. However, it will probably make for better movies. I liked Kirk Cameron as Mike Seaver, but I’d rather watch stories from a galaxy far, far away.
Who do you feel about the Expanded Universe’s fate?
Laughanasius.
You got me there, man. LOLing at work over that one.
I’m glad.
I know next to nothing about the EU, but I thought this Wash Post article lamenting its loss was very interesting, and probably dead-on: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/04/30/disneys-biggest-star-wars-mistake/?tid=ts_carousel. The bottom line is, in the interests of commerce, Disney is likely to make Star Wars a whole lot less interesting (as Lucas already did with the prequels) – and it also points out the relative dearth of women in the new cast.
I am finding it very hard to be excited about much nerdy these days, though, so maybe I am just a gloomy old gus.
Lucasfilm has already announced that there’s another female lead to be cast, which the article you share mentions but simply glosses over in order to make its point.
Disney is interested in making money but they know the best way to do that is by telling a great story and then merchandising it ad nauseam. I trust that Disney will be good stewards of the Star Wars universe and even allow for more EU content or for people to continue writing about the Star Wars Legends universe.
And besides, if you didn’t care about the EU before, then why start now?
And whenever I’m not that excited for nerdy stuff, I usually watch my favorite episode of TNG, one of the original trilogy, or the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy.
Thanks for the reply, Scott. Sorry to have been a downer!
I need some critical perspective in my life. Sometimes I look at my nerdclinations through rose colored dilithium crystals.