Lucasfilm announces a new direction for the Star Wars EU

[Corran Horn]

I'd love to see some of the best and most interesting elements of the post-ROTJ Expanded Universe tweaked and used in the Sequel Trilogy, but if we never again see nor hear anything out of a lot of it I really won't care. The post-Jedi EU got progressively goofier and dumber as time passed, anyways.

I agree. Unless it's contradicted I'd imagine the post RotJ 'mop up' actions happened roughly as they did in the EU books. Why not?

 

[Turtletrekker]

Why not? Because there is money to be made by needlessly re-writing the SW history. In 20 years, the new EU will be just as cluttered and bloated as the old one, and we'll get another re-boot.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Why not? Because there is money to be made by needlessly re-writing the SW history. In 20 years, the new EU will be just as cluttered and bloated as the old one, and we'll get another re-boot.

Which I'm totally fine with.

 

[Set Harth]

The only way it could be worse will be if you walk in and the door lock, then Stormtroopers hold you down while Abrams removes his clothes and grabs a whip.

Isn't that more of a Bryan Singer kind of thing?

 

[JarodRussell]

The only way it could be worse will be if you walk in and the door lock, then Stormtroopers hold you down while Abrams removes his clothes and grabs a whip.

Isn't that more of a Bryan Singer kind of thing?

Not until he's been proven guilty.

 

[Awesome Possum]

The only way it could be worse will be if you walk in and the door lock, then Stormtroopers hold you down while Abrams removes his clothes and grabs a whip.

Isn't that more of a Bryan Singer kind of thing?

Come on, we can't blame him for X-Men: Last Stand and Wolverine Origins.

 

[Sindatur]

The Prequels sucked, but there is no way that JJ Wars will be any better. In fact, I don't doubt that, by the time JJ Wars Episode 7 comes out, the prequels will look good by comparison.

That isn't physically possible. The only way it could be worse will be if you walk in and the door lock, then Stormtroopers hold you down while Abrams removes his clothes and grabs a whip.

I watched the first Neil Degrasse Tyson Cosmos, that showed some shots of a young Carl Sagan, and I gotta say, if 25-40 year old Carl Sagan is doing it instead of Abrams, I'm likely to buy a ticket on opening day , though NDT is pretty enticing in his own right

 

[sojourner]

Well, this thread has taken an unlikely turn.

 

[Conundrum]

Here we go again. Listen, I'll give you this, you're 100% right that at the end of the day, this sucks for fans of the EU who want to see it continue, because that's clearly not the direction they are going. You have every right to be both saddened and disappointed by that decision because it's not what you were hoping for. That's completely fair.

Where you lose everyone with any sense of rationality is your personal attacks on Abrams and the current Disney regime and your absolute certainty that what they put out won't be any good. Why not at least be open to the possibility that they will create something new for you to enjoy?

They won't. They won't recreate a character like Mara Jade. Or Kal Skirata, Corran Horn, Tycho Clechu, Winter, Rogue Squadron, Wraith Squadron, Delta/Omega Commando Squads, the Null Commandoes, Jaina Solo, Ben Skywalker, Kyp Durron, Thrawn, Tenel Ka and more, many I enjoy more than Han, Luke and Leia (although I enjoy the "big three" a lot, too). They are throwing characters many fans have grown invested in over years down the toilet so that disney can churn out some corporate controlled crap. At least the people screwing Star Trek's corpse let me keep reading about Picard & co.

Also, I won't let up on Abrams. He already destroyed Star Trek, now he has Star Wars in his clutches. Sure, he's not the only factor in the destruction of either franchise (movie companies wanting to turn these great franchises into the next transformers is probably the biggest reason for their destruction) but he's a part of it, and he's a common denominator in the death of two of the greatest sci fi franchises.

At least if he wasn't around we might have gotten some halfway decent Star wars movies as consolation to them destroying the main reason I love the franchise. Instead, its just guaranteed to be Transformers-like action crap (which, when it comes to Sci Fi, is obviously all Abrams is capable of, or cares to do). Its like getting punched in the face, and then kicked in the groin just to rub it in. I don't care if he's only a director, as Nolan and Bay proved, Directors have A LOT of influence on their movies. Plus, Abrams is listed as one of the screenplay writers for episode 7, so he's going to have an even more direct hand on ruining Star Wars.

kirk55555 - why don't you put aside your preconceptions and just give it a go ? It may or may not surprise you, but you cannot possibly be certain at this point.

If it is still crap, what have you lost by checking it out ?

Its not about preconceptions. Character I like are getting thrown away because the people in charge are a bunch of a-holes. They should have kept the books as a different universe. By "checking it out", I'm just reading some idiots writing about a bunch of characters that are nothing like the ones I enjoy. Oh, if the library gets books any I might read them, but then again I also watched Star Trek: Into Darkness and The Dark Knight Rises. I have a bad habit of my nerdiness making me suffer through things I know I'll hate, just because I loved the franchises before they got destroyed.

And frankly if it hadn't happened, people like you would be jumping and down complain about how the new movies contradicted what was in the EU.

If it hadn't happened, then I wouldn't give a s&^t about the movies. If the books stayed as their own universe, then the real star wars would survive. I wouldn't have to pay any attention to how badly JJ Abrams and the idiot writers prove that even Lucas at his worst is more skilled then them. I could enjoy the possibility of reading about my favorite characters.

Instead, every fan of the EU (and there are a lot of them, as evidenced by the fact that the EU has survived for so long, no matter what the EU haters say), are being completely screwed. It wouldn't have hurt to keep the old EU around around. The vast majority of SW movie fans, like many people, probably don't read books regularly anyway. The EU has lasted a long time on fan support. The people who read the books are the big fans, the ones that movies don't need to worry about, but tie-in material like books definitely do.

Instead, we get Disney giving the middle finger to the Sci Fi fans who enjoy the Star Wars EU, and they know they can get away with it. I wish they'd just stop making books, its better than punching EU fans and then throwing poo at them and expecting them to buy it.

Is it wrong that reactions like this are the primary reason I LOVE this announcement?

 

[Beagleman]

^^^
Nope, I feel the same way.

 

[Set Harth]

It can't be wrong if it feels so right!

 

[Corran Horn]

Why not? Because there is money to be made by needlessly re-writing the SW history. In 20 years, the new EU will be just as cluttered and bloated as the old one, and we'll get another re-boot.

Such is life. I imagine I'll enjoy their efforts.

 

[Conundrum]

By the way kirk55555 - hate leads to the dark side.

Does it in the new "REAL" Star Wars ?

 

[Jedi_Master]

Agreed. And people seem to forget that this new trilogy still comes from Lucas's original story that he dreamt up decades ago.

If Abrams was creating a new story completely from scratch (as with the Trek movies), I'd probably be worried as well, but that's not what is happening here. At the most, he and Kasdan have probably just changed some of the details of Lucas's story here and there, and improved the action and characters.

Also, critics and haters tend to forget one important element:

Lawrence Kasdan.

The man who helped craft both Empire and Jedi and make both movies as good or even epic as they are. Kasdan knows what he's doing and he's a 35-year veteran of the Lucas universe. The participation of a man who played a critical role in making two of the three films in the Original Trilogy will be nothing but a good thing for the story of Episode VII.

Amen. Let's remember folks that Disney knows how much is riding on getting SW right, and making it a huge hit. There will be no shortage of quality people working on these films, and tied in media.

kirk55555 - it would help you "I hate JJ" argument if you actually WATCHED the stuff he made, before condemning it or making broad statements about his work.

For instance Lost was one of the most beautifully character driven shows on television, and so was Fringe. So if you claim that JJ can't write character driven stories, or produce them, or direct them, you are wrong.

 

[EnsignRicky]

Disney may be throwing away the EU but the EU threw away Chewbacca.

The EU started this.

 

[kirk55555]

Amen. Let's remember folks that Disney knows how much is riding on getting SW right, and making it a huge hit. There will be no shortage of quality people working on these films, and tied in media.

kirk55555 - it would help you "I hate JJ" argument if you actually WATCHED the stuff he made, before condemning it or making broad statements about his work.

For instance Lost was one of the most beautifully character driven shows on television, and so was Fringe. So if you claim that JJ can't write character driven stories, or produce them, or direct them, you are wrong.

That's your opinion. I've seen two of his movies, and one season of Lost. I'll grant that a few of the characters on Lost were interesting, but the main man and woman were fairly boring and generic. JJ Trek did have Scotty and McCoy, but they were barely used. Even if he was able to make a good character on TV (which I really doubt), we're talking about his movies. His movies have generally horrible characters, SW will be no exception. Do I think we'll get a character as unlikeable as JJ Trek Uhura or as much of a crybaby as JJ Trek Spock? Probably not, but I'm betting we get some characters that will make people wish Anakin was back.

 

[beamMe]

but I'm betting we get some characters that will make people wish Anakin was back.

No.

 

[Admiral2]

Well, good for Disney. They can do whatever they want, that doesn't mean I have to support or accept it. All I can do is hope for the new EU to completely bomb and lose Disney a bunch of money. It won't happen, because as the prequels showed SW fans will throw their money at even the worst junk with the SW name attached to it, but a guy can dream.

That adage would explain three-quarters of the old EU too...

You're being generous.

kirk55555 - why don't you put aside your preconceptions and just give it a go ? It may or may not surprise you, but you cannot possibly be certain at this point.

If it is still crap, what have you lost by checking it out ?

Whatever time and money was expended checking it out...

 

[Jedi_Master]

Amen. Let's remember folks that Disney knows how much is riding on getting SW right, and making it a huge hit. There will be no shortage of quality people working on these films, and tied in media.

kirk55555 - it would help you "I hate JJ" argument if you actually WATCHED the stuff he made, before condemning it or making broad statements about his work.

For instance Lost was one of the most beautifully character driven shows on television, and so was Fringe. So if you claim that JJ can't write character driven stories, or produce them, or direct them, you are wrong.

That's your opinion. I've seen two of his movies, and one season of Lost. I'll grant that a few of the characters on Lost were interesting, but the main man and woman were fairly boring and generic. JJ Trek did have Scotty and McCoy, but they were barely used. Even if he was able to make a good character on TV (which I really doubt), we're talking about his movies. His movies have generally horrible characters, SW will be no exception. Do I think we'll get a character as unlikeable as JJ Trek Uhura or as much of a crybaby as JJ Trek Spock? Probably not, but I'm betting we get some characters that will make people wish Anakin was back.

Way to move the goalposts....

When you start using weasel words like "generally" then your argument starts to weaken.

Seeing as every example that disproves your point you "have not seen" or "won't see", you keep changing the parameters of the argument, and you are equating your opinion with fact, then your argument boils down to:

"I watched SOME things that JJ Abrams produced, directed or was creatively involved in, I did not like it, therefore EVERYTHING remotely connected to him is now garbage, and I refuse to even consider watching it."

"Oh, and Disney saying that the EU is no longer canon makes me angry in my angry place"

 

[Yoda]

If it is still crap, what have you lost by checking it out ?

Whatever time and money was expended checking it out...

Well, there's always piracy or borrowing a Blu-ray for the latter and for the former, well if you've read more than one Kevin J Anderson book then clearly you don't value your time all that much in the first place!