Caring what the fans think? How revolting!
Rogue One (2016) [SW Anthology Series)
- Thread starter Mach5
- Start date
I'd say possibly the only fanbase more obsessed with minutiae than Trekkies, are Star Wars fans! 
So I'm reading Lords of the Sith, the latest novel, and there was an interesting page at the beginning. Titled "The Story of Star Wars," it was similar to the old EU's timeline of novels you could find at the front of most books. It lists what seems to be the new "official" storyline in chronological order:
- Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- The Clone Wars
- "Dark Disciple"
- Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
- "Lords of the Sith"
- "Tarkin"
- "A New Dawn"
- Rebels
- Episode IV: A New Hope
- "Heir to the Jedi"
- "Battlefront"
- Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
- Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
- "Aftermath"
- Episode VII: The Force Awakens
Close. Lucasfilm Story Group. They're not just behind the novels, they coordinate with every Star Wars project to make sure that everything remains as consistent as possible. That includes the movies (which, for obvious reasons, are the #1 priority and everything else will follow their lead), TV shows, books, comics, and (presumably) video games.
Every novel released since April 2014, starting with A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller. That includes Tarkin by James Luceno, Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne, and Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp. And, going forward, every novel from this point forward will be canon until Disney/Lucasfilm say otherwise.
^Word is that the Battlefront game won't have much if anything in the way of a SP narrative, so it's probably the tie-in novel. After all, those games are mostly just about playing in the world than experiencing a story like in the KotOR or Dark Forces/Jedi Knight games.
Considering the fact that it looks like Disney has hired at most 10 paid staffers, even if they are EACH paid 200,000 a year they would have to work a 1,000 years just to make what Episode 7 will most likely gross at the box office. I don't think there is any danger that Disney is over spending here.
Of course, another way to look at this too is what if at some point a big name wished to write a Star Wars novel? By big name I mean either an established and respected sci-fi author or even someone significant within Star Wars? What if say Mark Hamill wanted to write a novel. Would Disney really step in and hack to pieces a novel written by the man who is arguably The Star of Star Wars just to make sure it's consistent with other novels or comics?
Of course, it is interesting to note, the EU did feature some heavyweight sci-fi novelists who don't seem to be contributing under the Disney LSG regime.
Of course, it is interesting to note, the EU did feature some heavyweight sci-fi novelists who don't seem to be contributing under the Disney LSG regime.
Yes.
Shame they ditched Shadows of the Empire. As far as I can recall there was nothing contradictory about it and Lucas had a major hand in shaping it. It would make a great animated feature.
Well, chances are the writer would know about the LSG going in, and would work with them to make sure the novel fits the nwo canon. I know from what I've heard from the Trek novelists over in the Trek Lit forum, these kinds of things tend to have a lot of back and forth from both parties. So it's not like they're going to just go in there and just start changing things on a whim without Hamil or any other theoretical authors playing a part. If the writer doesn't like that, then they won't write a Star Wars book. That's how all the other tie-in lines work, and I don't see why SW would be different.
Considering the fact that it looks like Disney has hired at most 10 paid staffers, even if they are EACH paid 200,000 a year they would have to work a 1,000 years just to make what Episode 7 will most likely gross at the box office. I don't think there is any danger that Disney is over spending here.
If it turns a profit, they'll be fine. And, I have no doubt that Ep. 7 will turn a profit.
But, the point is that valid that Disney can only spend so much money on all the small portions of the audience before they are squandering those profits.
So, I'm not troubled by it, but I would be more cautious to avoid the "nickel and dime" effect if I were Disney.
But, then, I'm not so what do I know?
I look at it as an opening were, if they feel it is needed, they'll either put stuff back in, or reference stuff from older novels and other products, making it canon or at least semi-canon (as in something happened that was related to something that was written about in a Legends novel).
It also lets them retell the story in whatever media they decide to try. They could try to make it a 3D cartoon, or one of the anthology movies (though they would have to recast Leia, Luke, and Lando for sure.)
Well, with Star Trek, I know when William Shatner was writing Trek novels he didn't adhere to Pocket's novel continuity. So there is precedent out there for special authors to essentially have their way when contributing novels established franchises.
So am I to understand that this whole Disney LSG thing would prevent this sort of thing in Star Wars. If so, it's a damn shame.
Yes, and the hypothetical author would know that fact going into the creative process.
"Hack to pieces" is a rather troublesome term, as it implies that LSG has a more nefarious purpose other than to assure that the details match. They are not some super nerd priests who want to control everything.
By the way - Shatner's novels were great, well at least the parts he didn't write were great, but they really started to go off the rails towards the end and became a ridiculous vanity project.
Well, with Trek the books aren't required to be consistent with each other, so that's not quite the same as SW, where they are.
Well, in the end Disney is going to sack this LSG and not care about consistency among the various media the moment tie-in continuity becomes inconvenient, so I guess I'll just have to take comfort in that.
Exactly.
Right now, Disney has too much money at stake to not have a consistent universe and story telling, allowing all the different pieces to work together.
Once they are comfortable with the profit that SW is generating for them, the reins will likely loosen.
Once it does happen, whenever, there will be the same uproar in fandom of "how dare they lie to us and say the novels/comics were canon then say they aren't" that followed the announcement last year the EU was no longer canon. Which gets back to my original point that it is reckless and irresponsible of Disney to call them canon at the moment, when they have history as a guide to tell them what happens down that road. And really, I don't expect these declarations of canon and this LSG busting their humps to make sure everything is consistent is going to result in significantly higher sales than the EU had anyway. Or the tie-ins of any other franchise.