Star Wars EU

[Enterprise is Great]

Is she still COS?

Spoiler: chief of state by the end of FotJ is

Wynn Dorvan, Daala's former chief of staff

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yeah that is right. Luke Skywalker's letter at the end of the Second Galactic Civil War section mentions this in The Essential Guide to Warfare.

 

[Yevetha]

We got a bunch of new comics coming out.

 

[RandyS]

Let's not forget they made Daala COS, worst idea ever. Its like Kahn or Gowron being the Federation president.

I never understood this decision. And even worse...

Spoiler: FATE OF THE JEDI #9: APOCALYPSE

... that she didn't die in the final FotJ novel.

But thankfully, they've stated that post-FotJ, the stories will be more varied and told in more single novels / duologies / trilogies. No more lengthy book series for a while, which I'm glad.

They have? This is the first time I'm hearing this, but if it's true, great.

 

[Yevetha]

The new Fett comic looks good, pretty good setup.

 

[Gotham Central]

Back to the basic topic about the EU....one of the problems that I have with it is that the totality of the EU, from comics, to games and books, have made the Star Wars universe look and feel stagnant. One of the big problems that I have with The Old Republic is that even though it takes place 1000 years before the TPM, it looks and feels just like the Civil War era. I have the same problem with Legacy...it to feels like a rehash of the Civil War era. It bothers me that thousands of years can pass but the technology and culture of Republican space never seems to change. The droids never seem to get more primitive or more advanced (or disappear entirely).

The EU spans 25,000 years...each of these eras should look and feel distinct. Unfortunately they all sort of blend together.

 

[Skywalker]

The Old Republic is actually set about 3,600 years before TPM.

The Tales of the Jedi comics were set 4,000 years before the OT, and they at least made an effort to make the era look a bit more primitive. The problem really started with Knights of the Old Republic, which was set about 40 years after TOTJ but had more in common (visually) with the movies than it did the comics.

 

[Gotham Central]

The Old Republic is actually set about 3,600 years before TPM.

The Tales of the Jedi comics were set 4,000 years before the OT, and they at least made an effort to make the era look a bit more primitive. The problem really started with Knights of the Old Republic, which was set about 40 years after TOTJ but had more in common (visually) with the movies than it did the comics.

Knowing that about The Old Republic makes it even worse. Visually it makes the universe feel stagnant. I seem to remember that Tales of the Jedi did try to depict a genuinely more primitive past. At this point, we're talking about THOUSANDS of years where literally nothing has changed.

 

[Yevetha]

Back to the basic topic about the EU....one of the problems that I have with it is that the totality of the EU, from comics, to games and books, have made the Star Wars universe look and feel stagnant. One of the big problems that I have with The Old Republic is that even though it takes place 1000 years before the TPM, it looks and feels just like the Civil War era. I have the same problem with Legacy...it to feels like a rehash of the Civil War era. It bothers me that thousands of years can pass but the technology and culture of Republican space never seems to change. The droids never seem to get more primitive or more advanced (or disappear entirely).

The EU spans 25,000 years...each of these eras should look and feel distinct. Unfortunately they all sort of blend together.

TOR looks that way because it helped the marketing department.

 

[PsychoPere]

Post-FOTJ novel news will be unveiled at SDCC.

 

[Skywalker]

"So coming up we've got an exciting nine-book saga..."

*the entire audience groans*

 

[PsychoPere]

As mentioned back in post #21, it's already been confirmed by Del Rey and LucasBooks that the next series won't be a long, nine-book one.

 

[scnj]

Hasn't there been a change in leadership since then though?

 

[JD]

Former Star Trek books editor Jennifer Heddle took over Lucas Books last year, but I'm not sure where it was exactly in relation to the announcement about future series being shorter.

 

[Skywalker]

As mentioned back in post #21, it's already been confirmed by Del Rey and LucasBooks that the next series won't be a long, nine-book one.

Yes, yes, I know.

 

[Set Harth]

Former Star Trek books editor Jennifer Heddle took over Lucas Books last year

Meet the new boss.

Same as the old boss.

 

[RandyS]

As mentioned back in post #21, it's already been confirmed by Del Rey and LucasBooks that the next series won't be a long, nine-book one.

Ugh.....

On the other hand, if it's nine books of the Jedi traveling the galaxy killing to stupid Vong indiscriminately, it might be worth it.

Worst villains since the Xindi.

 

[DigificWriter]

For me, the EU can be broken down in to two categories: 'Essentials' (stories that are central to the overall SW universe's narrative scope) and 'Non-essentials' (stories that flesh out certain aspects of the SW universe and certain characters, but have no truly lasting consequences narratively or in terms of the SWU's narrative scope), with the 'Essentials' list being as follows (in chronological order):
Darth Plagueis
Cloak of Deception
Rogue Planet
The Approaching Storm
Labyrinth of Evil
Splinter of the Mind's Eye
Shadows of the Empire
The Truce at Bakura
The Courtship of Princess Leia
The Heir to the Empire trilogy
The Jedi Academy trilogy
The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy
The Correlian trilogy
The Hand of Thrawn duology
The Junior Jedi Knights series
The Young Jedi Knights series
The New Jedi Order series
The Dark Nest trilogy
The Legacy of the Force series
Millenium Falcon
The Fate of the Jedi series

This is my own personal opinion, though, so YMMV.

 

[scnj]

That seems fair, but I think you'd miss out on some of the best stuff. Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, the Medstar duology, Coruscant Nights, Shatterpoint, Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, the Brian Daley Han Solo novels, Allston's Wraith Squadron series etc. All strictly non-essential, but some of my favourite stuff is in there.

 

[DigificWriter]

With the 'Essentials' list, I was looking strictly at things that were eitiher direct lead-ins or follow-ups to the six episodes in the Saga, or which represented major 'turning points' in the overall narrative structure and scope of the SWU, but, now that I think more about it, I probably should've added the following novels to the list based on the criteria I was using:
Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
The Clone Wars series (Wild Space, No Prisoners, Gambit: Stealth, and Gambit: Siege)
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Death Star
The Han Solo trilogy
The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy
The Force Unleashed
The Force Unleashed II

Edit: I sat down and created a much deeper 'Essentials' SW reading list, and am posting it now:

DigificWriter's 'The Essential Star Wars Reading List'​

Darth Plagueis
Cloak of Deception
Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
The Phantom Menace (novelization)
Rogue Planet
Outbound Flight
The Approaching Storm
Attack of the Clones (novelization)
The Clone Wars (novelization)
The Clone Wars: Wild Space
The Clone Wars: No Prisoners
Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth
Clone Wars Gambit: Siege
Labyrinth of Evil
Revenge of the Sith (novelization)
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
The Han Solo trilogy (The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn)
The Force Unleashed (novelization)
The Force Unleashed II (novelization)Death Star
[FONT=Calibri]A New Hope (novelization)
Splinter of the Mind’s Eye
[The Empire Strikes Back (novelization)
Shadows of the Empire (novelization
Return of the Jedi (novelization)
The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy (The Mandalorian Armor, Slave Ship, and Hard Merchandise)
The Truce at Bakura
The Courtship of Princess Leia
The Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command)
The Jedi Academy trilogy (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, and Champions of the Force)
The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy (Before the Storm, Shield of Lies, and Tyrant’s Test)
The Corellian trilogy (Ambush at Corellia, Assault at Selonia, and Showdown at Centerpoint)
The Hand of Thrawn dulogy (Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future)
The Junior Jedi Knights series (The Golden Globe, Lyric’s World, Promises, Anakin’s Quest, Vader’s Fortress, and Kenobi’s Blade)
The Young Jedi Knights series (Heirs of the Force, Shadow Academy, The Lost Ones, Lightsabers, Darkest Knight, Jedi Under Siege, Shards of Alderaan, Diversity Alliance, Delusions of Grandeur, Jedi Bounty, The Emperor’s Plague, Return to Ord Mantell, Trouble on Cloud City, and Crisis at Crystal Reef)
The New Jedi Order series (Vector Prime, Dark Tide I: Onslaught, Dark Tide II: Ruin, Agents of Chaos I: Hero’s Trial, Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse, Balance Point, Edge of Victory I: Conquest, Edge of Victory II: Rebirth, Star By Star, Dark Journey, Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream, Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand, Traitor, Destiny’s Way, Force Heretic I: Remnant, Force Heretic II: Refugee, Force Heretic III: Reunion, The Final Prophecy, and The Unifying Force)
The Dark Nest trilogy (The Joiner King, The Unseen Queen, and The Swarm War)
The Legacy of the Force series (Betrayal, Bloodlines, Tempest, Exile, Sacrifice, Inferno, Fury, Revelation, and Invincible)
Millenium Falcon
The Fate of the Jedi series (Outcast, Omen, Abyss, Backlash, Allies, Vortex, Conviction, Ascension, and Apocalypse)