Author Topic: Disney to Purge Select EU  (Read 41499 times)

Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« Reply #90 on: May 7, 2014, 07:52 AM »
Once the new movies come out, we and others will likely attempt to rationalize everything so that, somehow, all of those pieces actually fit. And then another Disney entry ignoring fan-favorite EU, and again we try to bend THAT into EU. Eventually, it won't work anymore - and we "old timers" that cling to the old ways will gradually be banned from forums populated by Star Wars fans who subscibe to Disney's way of things.

See you in hell, Walt Disney and George Lucas!

Offline Qui-Gon Jim

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Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« Reply #91 on: May 7, 2014, 08:46 AM »

I wasn't calling you out... just several of the things I've seen posted elsewhere.  But to me, it sounds like the author is saying they are getting rid of EU for something crappier, which isn't fair.  Now, come Episode VII and it isn't great, then I think it's a legitimate gripe; but to complain about something before it happens, that's where I mean it sounds like the bitter fanboy rant.  So basically she is pre-judging the new trilogy because the EU was declared "Legacy" and not canon by Disney.

But, again, Nick, just because Disney says it isn't so, doesn't mean that you can't think it's so in your SW world.  Trust me, there are things tinkered with in the Original Trilogy Special Editions that aren't canon to me (Greedo shoots first, etc).  I remember complaining about that and having people counter it by saying, "It's Lucas' movies, he can do what he wants."  I guess Disney now has those rights to make those changes, but it doesn't mean they own the memory of the Star Wars I love... I hope that's the way you feel about it as well.

Sometimes this EU debate is worse than some of the political ones in the Sarlacc Pit.  ;D

This pretty much sums up how I feel.  To me it is much like Marvel.  The movies don't jive with 100% of everything that has come before, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy stories, even if they contradict something in a movie series I love.  I still love the Zahn books.  The fact that they aren't part of the official chronology doesn't really matter at all to me.  At some point, the amount of time these characters spend in peril is unrealistic anyway.

Offline GrandMoffNick

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Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« Reply #92 on: May 7, 2014, 08:51 AM »
See you in hell, Walt Disney and George Lucas!

Amen
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« Reply #93 on: May 7, 2014, 09:22 AM »
I think the Marvel analogy is appropriate.  When Marvel studios launched they deliberately found someone who would effectively map out the MCU in Kevin Feige.  And truth be told, I think he's been a pretty good steward for the material.  The Star Wars Story Group seems to have been started so that there would be an authority that could devote their attention to all of this continuity in a similar fashion.

The movies really do need to be the end-all, be-all of the Star Wars universe.  And I see the trade-off for these new movies very much being the change in status of previously existing EU material as "Star Wars Legends".  The "Legends" status at least keeps the existing material on the market for fans of that material to continue to enjoy.  I'm left wondering if at some point the SW Story Group will relent and let some "Legends" storylines continue, but I think that's probably not going to be the case.

But it's really not without precedent that some EU material is going to get trodden upon.  Witness the CLONE WARS series trodding all over some of the stories that had been established in some EU novels.  It led EU author Karen Traviss to quit working on Star Wars novels since George Lucas effectively disregarded her work with his own story decisions for the CLONE WARS animated series.  At a point like that one, you get down to some fairly ruthless thinking:  which medium is going to reach the larger audience?  Or who's vision regarding Star Wars is more important/relevant?  In the case of the CLONE WARS/Karen Traviss controversy you knew how this was going to turn out:  George Lucas was going to get his way, and his vision was deemed more important for the overall direction of Star Wars.

I get the sense that the new EU is going to try to expand more on stories that have been established during this new Disney era.  And the vision of the filmmakers will be given the utmost consideration over other material.  THIS is the price of getting a Sequel Trilogy.
« Last Edit: May 7, 2014, 09:22 AM by Nicklab »
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Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« Reply #94 on: May 7, 2014, 11:20 PM »
Quote
I get the sense that the new EU is going to try to expand more on stories that have been established during this new Disney era.  And the vision of the filmmakers will be given the utmost consideration over other material.  THIS is the price of getting a Sequel Trilogy.

I'll gamble the old days of picking up a random EU book and finding yourself at a random point on the timeline are completely over -- especially with DarkHorse gone. And that is a real damned shame.
« Last Edit: May 7, 2014, 11:20 PM by Angry Ewok »

Offline Nicklab

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Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« Reply #95 on: May 8, 2014, 12:06 AM »
I don't know that it was really so random.  Over the past several years the output of Dark Horse and Del Rey publishing had been focused on certain projects, and deliberate cross-promotion was absolutely going on.  Comics and books were tying in to where film and television projects left off.  Video games were spun off into comic series and novels.  And post ROTJ EU had been somewhat scattershot at first.  But then it got more focused with novel series like the NJO.

I think that what's going to be coming up in print and video games will probably have a similar kind of focus that builds from tv and film projects.  I think that Disney is probably going to be more ruthlessly focused on cross-promotion.  But I don't think we should kid ourselves that it wasn't going on before.
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Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: Disney to Purge Select EU
« Reply #96 on: May 8, 2014, 07:06 AM »
I mean random for the consumer.