Karen Traviss vs Clone Wars Season 2
- Thread starter firehawk12
- Start date
I'm going to say that THAT relationship in the republic commandos....weird. Not for the fact that a Jedi was getting it on with a clone, but the fact that it was just done so poorly and the female [Etain [sic]] side of it was just so cliched and poorly done.
Because it would be so much less disruptive if the Thrawn Trilogy was savaged by new continuity. You could easily end up throwing away all of the post-ROTJ novels in a couple of lines establishing that the Empire shrivelled up and died immedately, and that the new governement is something other than the New Republic.
Actually I think letting them run, pretty much, unchecked over the post ROTJ has led to the post Zhan and "Heir To The Empire" watering down and trend towards "passable" EU novels.
Where it me, run Duologies or Trilogies, a lot of stand alones, and just tell the authors to worry about he movies and the shows and not what the other guy [writer] is doing.
Where it me, run Duologies or Trilogies, a lot of stand alones, and just tell the authors to worry about he movies and the shows and not what the other guy [writer] is doing.
After reading through some of that Talifan stuff, it kinda reaffirms my feeling that writers of tie-in stuff for big franchises (or writers of big franchises) should probably stay away from anonymous message boards (or keep their presence hidden). One one hand, it is cool to for them to interact with fans. But on the other, when you are critical of their work, they have the potential to not take it in a professional manner, lash out, and go "boo-hoo" about it (as Traviss seemed to have done).
I should point out that the TrekLit writers are pretty good about professionalism here, so I have never noticed a problem (although, rarely seen any negative criticism in TrekLit to begin with). But then again, it only takes one.
I should point out that the TrekLit writers are pretty good about professionalism here, so I have never noticed a problem (although, rarely seen any negative criticism in TrekLit to begin with). But then again, it only takes one.
I think she's exception rather than the rule. But I think to be in this business (writing, entertainment, whatever you want to call it) you have to have a think skin and a steel back. Yeah it's going to hurt, it's going to piss you off, but you don't take it out publicly (Anne Rice has/had the same problem).
Fortunately, it's not up to you.
That of the only two comparable tie-in series one has recently converted to the all-one-continuity method (Star Trek) and the other has historically been pretty good about continuity too (Doctor Who, within the novels or within the audios if not always between them) shows to me that Star Wars was doing it right from the beginning.Some fan's reactions went beyond merely being "critical of [the] work", though, into "mendacious" and "personal".
Fortunately, it's not up to you.
Some fan's reactions went beyond merely being "critical of [the] work", though, into "mendacious" and "personal".
Star Trek doesn't have a single continuity in the franchise. If anything it's a freaking nightmare of continuities. The only thing 'Trek writers are stuck having to stick too is the film/TV canon.
Not with Traviss.
If anything Traviss was one of the escalator in the "fight" by running around and bitching about "talifans". She just didn't have a thick enough hide to deal with fans, not in such a unfiltered situation as internet messageboards.
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Did KJA go through the same thing back when he was doing the EU? 
I never read the Republic Commando books, but I did read KT's LOTF books. I thought her prose was fine, but I did feel that she shoehorned Boba Fett, a character whose popularity mystifies me, into the storyline far too much. The momentum of the series slowed each time KT took us on a Boba Fett/Mandalorian tangent. It was totally unnecessary and took valuable face time away from the other more principal characters. So I can see why some people would be critical of her Mando fixation. At the same time, I've heard a lot of good things about her RC books so it's a shame that she's leaving SW behind, but I'm not quite sure what she's written/writing that can't be fitted within canon.
Personally I say screw it and just write the stories. I loved the SW Republic comics and they don't quite jibe with the Clone Wars cartoon now, but it doesn't diminish my love for them and I just accept both as canon, despite some minor inconsistencies. Same with the novel Labyrinth of Evil and the final segment of the cartoon Clone Wars Volume 2.
Personally I say screw it and just write the stories. I loved the SW Republic comics and they don't quite jibe with the Clone Wars cartoon now, but it doesn't diminish my love for them and I just accept both as canon, despite some minor inconsistencies. Same with the novel Labyrinth of Evil and the final segment of the cartoon Clone Wars Volume 2.
There does seem to be a "primary lit continuity" at this point. It isn't exclusive, but it encompasses many of the more recent 24th century entries, including the DS9 Relaunch, Articles of the Federation, Titan, the Destiny trilogy, the VOY relaunch, New Frontier, and the TNG relaunch. It also seems to be tied to the ENT relaunch indirectly.
The tricky part is that while all of these series are in the same continuity, they aren't all telling stories at the same point in the timeline.....
I never had a problem with Traviss' writing. I like the Republic Commando books, and while her Legacy of the Force contributions *were* needlessly Mando-heavy, she's hardly the only one with such a fixation. Better random Mando divergences than Troy Denning's need to shoehorn in ways to show scenes from the prequels to Luke & Co.
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
Well, the f*cktards over at SD.net will be pleased. Karen was about the only one in the book side of things to put a stop to the bullsh*t hyper-buffing of Wars tech in the print spinoffs (like the Crosssections books) that Warsies wanked off to in order to delude themselves that Imperial tech was ubersuperior to any other franchise...
And that was more of a happy accident than anything. It really wasn't a mandate on from Paramount to start condensing Trek lit continuity, it was just the way things are working for the moment.
And then we get into the Comics have one thing, the films/TV are/were doing another, games, The Shatnerverse.
Bullcrap.
All she did was take the buffing out of the ships and moved into the armor and her squads of gary stue Commandos and Mandolorians.
There's always one.
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
There's always one.
Look, I'll freely admit to never even having READ one of her books. I just know from the reviews and the amount of venom the Talifan spewed at her that she kicks the Rabid Warsies in the proverbial crotch and that get's her +1 googleplex points in my book!
I always wonder about this concept with show runners/writers/whatever and online fans. It seems that anytime a show person pops up on a board, the fans are always (95% of the time) super nice/respectful to them, even if they have been super critical in the past. And the show person is kind in return.
For example, Kurtzman and Orci seem to have been very fan-friendly when dealing with them online (through Trek Movie). Joseph Mazzolli seems to be pretty fan-friendly as well on his blog (though he is known to stick up for himself bluntly when some fans get too argumentative).
Tangent:
Part of me wonders how the online community would view Berman and Braga if they had an online presence. From what I can gather from convention reports, interviews, etc, they both seem to respect the fanbase (even when the fanbase doesn't like what they are doing). The general view of them, however, seems to be negative (although Braga seems to be having a bit of a turnaround over the past few years). Still, if B&B had more of an online presence, would online fan opinion of them be different?