Star Wars Month - Expanded Universe

 

May is unofficially the month of Star Wars. Given that every movie released has been released in May, and given that May 4^th is the Jedi Day, it kinda makes sense. So, I'd like to take this time to talk about one of my favorite franchises of all time! Stay tuned, and learn about a sticky topic: Since there's so much Star Wars literature out there... what's going to happen to it when we make another movie?!

Three new Episodes!

The decision has been made, and it's a controversial one. Lucasfilm has decided to remove all the Expanded Universe literature from the official Star Wars Canon. The Expanded Universe is any Star Wars material that doesn't include what's in the movies or the Clone Wars cartoon (and soon the Rebels cartoon). There are three main reasons why this could be a big benefit: First, the realm of Star Wars Canon was a complicated maze of hierarchies and seemingly arbitrary rankings – put simply, it's a mess; Secondly, by eliminating all of the extra works, there is the potential to have one, cohesive universe for us to play in; Lastly, the vast majority of non-canon star wars stories are forgettable anyway, if not lamentable.

This series was quite enjoyable

For the first point, let’s talk about what canon is, and how it affects a story. Any story, or universe created has what is considered “official” material. This official material is considered to be the “true” canon of that universe. For example, the Harry Potter Series has official canon from the books, but all the interesting fan-fiction is considered non-canon, or not official. So, if you feel like killing off Ron and Harry in your own fan-fiction, go ahead, it doesn't affect the actual books. In any discussion about Star Wars Canon, it simply has to be stated how much of a mess it was previously. An arbiter of the Star Wars continuity, Leland Chee, is the person responsible for the hierarchy of canon. Several different "types" of canon are used: G-canon, T-canon, C-canon, S-canon, N-canon, and D-canon. If this is confusing to you, it’s because it’s super confusing. More detailed information is below, as taken from the all-mighty Wookieepedia:

·         G-canon is George Lucas Canon; the six Episodes and any statements by George Lucas (including unpublished production notes from him or his production department that are never seen by the public). Elements originating with Lucas in the movie novelizations, reference books, and other sources are also G-canon, though anything created by the authors of those sources is C-canon. When the matter of changes between movie versions arises, the most recently released editions are deemed superior to older ones, as they correct mistakes, improve consistency between the two trilogies, and express Lucas's current vision of the Star Wars universe most closely. The deleted scenes included on the DVDs are also considered G-canon (when they're not in conflict with the movie).
·         T-canon, or Television Canon, refers to the canon level comprising the feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the two television shows Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the Star Wars live-action TV series. It was devised recently in order to define a status above the C-Level canon, as confirmed by Chee.
·         C-canon is Continuity Canon, consisting of all recent works (and many older works) released under the name of Star Wars: books, comics, games, cartoons, non-theatrical films, and more. Games are a special case, as generally only the stories are C-canon, while things like stats and gameplay may not be; they also offer non-canonical options to the player, such as choosing female gender for a canonically male character. C-canon elements have been known to appear in the movies, thus making them G-canon; examples include the name "Coruscant," swoop bikes, Quinlan Vos, Aayla Secura, YT-2400 freighters and Action VI transports.
·         S-canon is Secondary Canon; the materials are available to be used or ignored as needed by current authors. This includes mostly older works, such as much of the Marvel Star Wars comics, that predate a consistent effort to maintain continuity; it also contains certain elements of a few otherwise N-canon stories, and other things that "may not fit just right." Many formerly S-canon elements have been elevated to C-canon through their inclusion in more recent works by continuity-minded authors, while many other older works (such as The Han Solo Adventures) were accounted for in continuity from the start despite their age, and thus were always C-canon.
·         N is Non-Canon. What-if stories (such as stories published under the Infinities label) and anything else directly and irreconcilably contradicted by higher canon ends up here. N is the only level that is not considered canon by Lucasfilm. Information cut from canon, deleted scenes, or from canceled Star Wars works falls into this category as well, unless another canonical work references it and it is declared canon.
·         D is Detours Canon, used for material hailing from Star Wars Detours.

If you’re a reasonable person, you would agree that this is needs to be redone.

On the second point, by writing off all the Expanded Universe and the rest of the extraneous stories, a more cohesive and consistent universe can be built. This is probably the most exciting thing to come out of the decision. Now everything will be connected and will relate to each other in the Star Wars universe. In the same way that the Marvel Movie and TV franchises have done, Star Wars will, hopefully, be doing the same.

This is not to say that everything else is getting fully eliminated from the official Star Wars universe. All the Expanded Universe, which includes novels, comic books, video games, and cartoons, is going to be reclassified as “Legends” status. Meaning that, while they are no longer considered part of the official Canon, they still exist, and won't be completely disregarded. Actually, it’s closer to the opposite; these stories will continue to be published. Additionally, these characters and stories have elements that may be used in the official canon later on – just like they took Boba Fett from the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special (which, by the way, is not considered canon). Previously, Lucas held lordship over any material published in his universe. While he would give his blessing for those works, he never considered them as official. This allowed him to write whatever he’d like – not keeping him bound to something others had written.

One of the only characters worth keeping...

What is the benefit of having all of this separated from the official canon? Well, for starters, now there is a blank slate. This universe that’s been created now has an infinite territory for us to explore and expand into. Before, everything was a minefield and stepping in certain areas could result in massive blow-back. Currently, the plan is to proceed forward with one, cohesive vision. Lucasfilm has appointed a special group called the Lucasfilm Story Group. Their mission is to ensure that the stories from the movies will mesh with the new movies, comics, video games, and cartoons that get produced later. This is a very exciting time for Star Wars and should be viewed as a terrific opportunity.

The people in the Story Group for now

Now let’s discuss the third topic: The vast majority of Star Wars Expanded Universe is forgettable. I should mention that I have probably read about 60% of all the expanded universe literature out there. That means novels, comics, and video games. In some cases, not only are these stories forgettable, they’re just awful. There is a comic where there is literally a weeping mountain named Mount Sorrow. Yes, the mountain is a talking character that cries. Did you really want that to officially be part of the Star Wars Universe? There is a terrific list of which stories are simply terrible over at Io9 located here. Some highlights from this list: Remember the droid that blows up at the beginning of the first movie? “This one’s got a bad motivator!” cries Luke. Well it turns out that droid is actually force-sensitive and his name is Skippy. I think we can do without that one. Another highlight is the time Boba Fett fought the Sarlaac. No, not the one in Return of the Jedi, yes there’s another one. This comic was called “Jawas of Doom.” Yes, I’m okay seeing that one go. Just in case you’re not convinced, there’s another list here from the people at Topless Robot.

Admit it, you were curious

What’s great about this particular point is that it almost makes itself. Besides Shadows of the Empire and Grand Admiral Thrawn, can any of you name something that is really that important to the Star Wars Universe? How about the franchise as a whole? We can spend some time talking about the 19 book series featuring aliens from another galaxy, but I’d rather just ignore it happened because that whole series had problems from the start. Any discussion of those aliens is fun, but certainly doesn’t impact anything within the core universe. Besides, any series that kills of Chewbacca in the first book isn’t one I care to remember.  The bottom line is that the Expanded Universe has become a giant, bloated, disgusting slug. It’s a huge problem to do anything in the expanded universe, and the past 10 years have shown this. After all, nothing notable has come out recently, with the possible exception of the Legacy comic book series. In the words of Lee Hutchinson of Ars Technica:

A sci-fi universe with as long a tail as Star Wars can be death for new stories, though. Finding space among the EU to make a mark without being hamstrung by established ideas is difficult, and even keeping the EU somewhat organized is challenging. Its growth has been cancerous—like a tumor, it has no plan and no organization—it simply expands, blindly, as the collective fan engine shovels in new material.

And like a tumor, Disney is going to rip it out

The Expanded Universe is certainly a colossal mess. This is why the news of the Expanded Universe and the Canon being rewritten should be regarded as a good thing. For those fans that have spent the time to learn and read all the convoluted stories, it might feel like you’ve wasted your time, but that’s not it. Most likely, you read all that crap because you love Star Wars and you wanted more of it. By changing the status of canon, we have a better chance than ever before to get more of the Star Wars Universe that we want.

Also an acceptable answer

If there’s something you disagree with, or a comment you’d like to make, please post it below, or send it to me via Facebook.

-Jack

PS I’ve compiled a  couple of links that are certainly worth checking out related to this post.

-         This guy writes a blog specifically about the EU. It’s definitely worth looking at.

-         There are some ladies over at The Mary Sue that wrote a pretty good article about this topic, it’s worth reading for sure.

Together at Last! Disney and Star Wars

Signing over Lucasfilm for more money than you can imagine

Announced just yesterday, Disney has acquired Lucasfilm. This is pretty big news in the nerd universe… but there are a few questions that come to mind. First of all, what does this mean for Star Wars? To begin with, this means that we’re having more Star Wars films. That’s right, it has already been announced that there will be a Star Wars Episode VII to be released (hopefully) sometime in 2015. Traditionally, Star Wars films are released in May, so we can expect a release around that time. Other than this, however, what does it really mean? I think the most important question to answer is: Is this good for Star Wars?

What’s interesting to me about this entire acquisition is that George Lucas has allowed it to happen at all. Historically speaking, GL has been reluctant to release any kind of control over his intellectual Property. Why else would he have been involved in everything released by Lucasfilm from the very beginning? I can’t say as I blame the man, considering his history with film making. However, when I looked further into it, I didn’t expect to see a pretty candid video interview with George and current Co-Chair of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy. In this interview, George makes the comment that he wants to retire from film making (I think with the assumption that he wants to do other things). What this seems to tell me is that the man is tired of running a pretty big corporation, tired of making films… maybe the man is tired of all the scrutiny he gets put under? With a franchise as beloved as Star Wars, it’s no wonder he might be fed up with the idea of a million voices crying out in anger every time he does what he feels is right. I mean, it’s his baby after all. This is illustrated very clearly when George talks about why he wants Disney to own his company… he wants the big brother Disney to protect his baby, Lucasfilm. I think it’s rather telling how precious this company, this I.P., these characters, and this universe are to him. He’s willing to do the one thing he never thought he’d do, let someone else take care of it. From watching this interview (which I thoroughly recommend) it seems pretty clear to me that George isn’t completely comfortable with the idea. Take a look at the man’s body language… in a private interview, he’s playing with his hands, he’s fidgeting in his seat, and he’s reluctant to make much eye contact. It looks like the man is uncomfortable. My inference is that it’s about this decision, a huge one for his company. I believe the man wants to see this thing he created continue long after him. The best way he knows to do this is to give it to a company that’s “too big to fail.”

The second question that I will try to discuss… is this good for Star Wars. Ultimately, I think that it is absolutely good for Star Wars. In my world, more Star Wars is always better. Yes, I think that the prequel trilogy falls under this category (this coming from a guy with 3 signed Star Wars novels on his bookshelf, a Star Wars lunch box, and (the coup de grace) Star Wars bed sheets… I’m 28, why do you ask?). To really tackle this question, there are a few different things that I really think I have to address: what kind of films can we expect to come from this; how will this interact with the hundreds of novels that have been written; and what kind of involvement will Disney have?

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Pres. of Lucasfilm

To address the first point, yes we are going to expect more films. With Lucasfilm, any film they produce seems to be gold. Considering that the worst of these films has returned over $50 million (with a $9 million budget), I’d say that’s proof enough. There’s an article here (via Cinema Blend) where the author, Eric Eisenberg, comments that the franchise may be beyond redeeming. This statement is just wrong. In fact, it’s so wrong, that I’m certain it was said just to raise a ruckus. Is this writer somehow shielded from the internet so much that he’s never seen the hordes of people whose fandom is so keen that they cosplay at public events? Or is he so ignorant that he doesn’t know that there’s a thriving TV show out there currently? The statement is so blatantly ignorant, I’m thinking it was said to be deliberately inflammatory, but I digress. The question of what kind of films can we expect… is a really dicey one. I’m not certain that anyone knows the material this next episode will cover. It’s being said in very unreliable sources that it will have to be about the continuation of Luke’s story. Personally, I’m not certain this is the best idea. Originally, the story of Star Wars was about Darth Vader and his growth and change into (and then out of) a Lord of the Sith. However, there is talk already of writers having being hired to work on a new story and script (from the mouth of Kathleen Kennedy herself!). What this means is that George Lucas isn’t writing the story himself, nor is he directing these films. From some of the other places I’ve read, he still retains creative input. This is the best of all possible situations. Where the prequel trilogies were particularly weak was with the minor plots and the dialogue. The hope is that these things issues will be much better in a story written by professional writers. Since George Lucas can focus on storytelling, where he seems to really shine, that means a new movie could be on par with the original trilogy. It’s something to think about.

In my second point, I asked the question of how this will affect the Star Wars Expanded Universe. This is a very sticky situation to really discuss because it is based on several assumptions. For starters, we need to know if the films will be based on any of the novels that are out there, or if it will be all new material. On the one hand, being based on the novels isn’t necessarily a bad idea. In particular, there are the stories written by Timothy Zahn that shine above all others. His trilogy is really what made Star Wars novels a thing. However, the ages of the original actors and those characters in these novels won’t mesh, meaning that we’d have to tolerate new actors. It seems to me that people aren’t really that keen on the thought. However, there is a novel series wherein the actors are much closer to the ages of the characters. The series, called Legacy of the Force, takes place in a time when Leia, Luke, and Han have suffered and experienced so much in their lives that we probably wouldn’t recognize them anymore. What’s more, anyone who hasn’t read any of the novels would have virtually no clue what these people are talking about. I mean… do any of you know who Jacen is and why it’s bad that he’s a new Sith Lord? For the vast majority of you, this doesn’t mean anything. However, this raised the other question: should these movies be made off of new source material? Speaking from a historical standpoint, the new movies have not been based on any of the significant amount of material that was already in existence. Instead, George Lucas has gone and written his own stories completely independent of what’s written in the “Expanded Universe.” This makes any discussion of Star Wars cannon very dicey. In addition, by taking an action such as this, he wipes out tons of work by many people, making it obsolete. While I understand that it’s his universe and he can do with it whatever he damn well pleases, it can make for some frustrating times for those of us that love the universe so much we memorize names of Star Destroyers (those big triangle-ships from the Empire). Seriously, something called the Executor is really quite awesome… I digress. Ultimately, I think it’s a safe assumption that these new movies will be entirely new material. Already we have a historical basis for this happening. Not just that, some of the book material would be difficult to really film. My suspicion is that the original actors will fill in for minor roles, but the movies will be about other people. This could be very interesting. My hope is that they will do something similar to Tron, and make it a legacy story about passing the torch. How exciting!

The coolest Disney castle?

 The final point I made was in raising the question of what kind of involvement Disney will have. I remember years ago when Disney acquired another property pretty highly regarded. Some of you may have heard of it, it’s called Marvel. When this happened, there was a lot of speculation about various cross-overs… and it was all great fun. However, Disney ultimately gave us Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Avengers. I’d say that they pretty well established that they’re not messing around with the IP. It’s almost like Disney saw an opportunity in these franchises and gave them plenty of space to ensure magic happened… huh. Additionally, Disney happens to own Pixar, another company you may have heard of. All I really need to say is that, if Disney owns a company like Pixar, where their worst feature is probably Cars, I’m pretty sure we have nothing to worry about. So why are there still questions being asked, and comments like “I’d just as soon [Disney] let Star Wars die off…” by very intelligent people? I think people are a little heartbroken over the prequel movies and the various changes that Lucas has made to the originals. It’s true that some of those changes are a little silly (eye lids… really? That’s something we should sink $800K into), but the vision that Lucas had isn’t the Star Wars people remember… I think people will always remember the impact these movies had in their originally released forms, and how powerful that was. Basically… get over it, you’re getting more, and it will be better.

To conclude, I would just like to say that I think this is the best possible situation for the Star Wars name and franchise. In a situation where George Lucas is a creative consultant (maybe even creative lead), not writing the dialogue (where he is probably a little weak), and not in charge of direction, there are only good things that can come from this. When I think about it, it seems to me that this Kathleen Kennedy person is very smart, and knows her trade. She’s smart enough that George has given her his full support. In the end, I’m very excited for what this means. I can assure all of you that I will be paying attention to the coming developments.

-Jack