Poll: StarWars Expanded Universe Getting Axed and If People other than me and a select few "SW Nerds" Care

[NateA42]

So if you don't know about this already then I recommend you look it up though different sources than just one because like everything one source always has a bias.

So personally this hurts me a lot, I mean I could tell Disney was going to do something like this once the bought LucasFilms but the realization doesn't hit until they go through with a thing like this. I've read the books, comics, watched the TV shows and spin off movies and everything but now it's all just basically fan fiction. I've never been one into fan fiction because I always though it was desperate to make up for something that's gone.
Now I have always been with Wookieepedia but now as far as the canon goes I might as well read StarWarsFanon or Darthpedia.
Everybody on Wookiepedia already go over this but I was late to get the memo (I got an email from my friend with the news of this and the ending seen from "Planet of the Apes.") So I figured I'd bring it up to you guys.

Edit: I love Star Wars and mostly the Expanded Universe because of the history and how you can follow it like history. I don't have a favorite character or a favorite one person's story.
Although the coolest story has to be of Jar Jar after the first three movies, how he just becomes an Imperial lap dog and pundit/token (for lack of a better term.)

Edit2: Sorry if you find the poll crap I wasn't trying to make it so neutral people could put input into the poll, but feel free to comment if you feel that way.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Sorry mate, I bet a lot of EU guys feel like Disney pulled the rug from under your feet. But let's face it, most of that stuff was just cashing in on name recognition, freeloading off SW nostalgia & fandom.

 

[TheIceQueen]

The SW Expanded Universe has a few pretty great moments, but it's also a big, bloated mess that really does need an axe to cut it down to size. Things like Dun Moch and the Yuuzhan Vong were just terrible. Sure, this means that Kyle Katarn, the biggest badass there ever was, got the axe as well, but I'm sure that Disney will bring him, and other great ideas, back.

 

[Zhukov]

Hang on, isn't the Star Wars EU that big bloated mess of a thing devoted to describing how everyone's favouritest characters all become the best jedi ever and Bobba Fett totally survives and turns out to be the last heir to an extinct race and also gets a lightsaber and Chewbacca gets killed but only by someone smashing him between two planets?

...

Yeah, I'm calling "and nothing of value was lost" on this one.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

In the end, the EU was really no different than the likes of Doctor Who or Star Trek. Dozens of different writers each with their own idea of how the franchise should be. That comes with its ups and downs. The difference between the EU and those franchises however, was the canon issue. Trying to maintain consistency is next to impossible with a multi creator setup, unless you spend years planning ahead.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Isn't the Star Wars EU the thing where everyone's favouritest characters all become super jedi and Bobba Fett totally survives and turns out to be the last heir to an extinct race (and also gets a lightsaber) and Chewbacca gets killed by someone smashing him between two planets?

Yeah, I'm calling "and nothing of value was lost" on this one.

Ten bucks says they're bringing Boba Fett back anyway.

 

[Asita]

Technically that really didn't change much. The EU's status as canon was always very tentative at best and there was an implicit understanding that Lucas could overthrow their works at any time directly ("No wookiee jedi") or indirectly (If a new movie contradicted an EU book, the movie won the canon contest by default). They even had a tier list for it.

The announcement really only canonized what was already treated as a given.

 

[Neverhoodian]

May I suggest the wonders of fanon discontinuity? [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FanonDiscontinuity]

I stopped caring about what was "officially canon" long ago, opting instead to cherry pick the stories I liked. I found this approach to be far more enjoyable in the long run. It's all fiction anyway, so why bother agonizing over what is and isn't "official" as dictated by a distant and arbitrary party? Let's not forget that, prior to Disney's involvement, the Star Wars Holiday Special was considered part of the official canon.

Alternately, you could treat the "pre-Disney" EU as an alternate continuity [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlternateContinuity], different but no less valid than the "post-Disney" one. That way you can enjoy both without having to worry about trying to reconcile the inevitable inconsistencies between the two.

 

[TakerFoxx]

Eh, after the prequel debacle, I've pretty much lost all interest in the future Star Wars movies, and I haven't really kept up with the EU for years. Though it does kind of suck that Episodes One through Three remain canon while the Thrawn Trilogy and Shadows of the Empire aren't.

 

[Asita]

Let's not forget that, prior to Disney's involvement, the Star Wars Holiday Special was considered part of the official canon.

Actually, that's one of the few that Lucas overtly despises (Supposedly he actually said - and I quote - "If I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every copy of that show and smash it."). It was only ever aired once and was never released to video. It only really survives due to bootleg copies that were recorded by viewers the sole time it appeared on television. As far as the tiers of canon were concerned, the Holiday Special was firmly within the "do whatever the hell you want with it" tier.

 

[Eamar]

I've never been a massive Star Wars fan (it's fun enough, but I prefer other franchises and don't feel particularly invested in it), but I actually do prefer a lot of the non-movie stuff (video games, tabletop RPGs, generally wasting time browsing Wookiepedia) to the films themselves.

That said, I give precisely zero fucks about the EU getting axed, and I totally understand why they did it. For starters, all the material's still out there , it's not like George Lucas came down on his fiery chariot and physically obliterated the stuff. Second, I've never really understood why people get so obsessed about what someone else says is "canon". I've always gone by my headcanon for pretty much every franchise, and it sure as hell doesn't always match up with the official version. Hell, a lot of the stuff I enjoy thinking about or "believing" about my favourite universes/characters only exists inside my own head. I've always felt free to disregard shitty "canon" stuff (Star Trek V, anyone?) too, so I don't see why the Star Wars fans can't just do that if they disagree with the direction the new movies take.

Then there's the whole reason why they did it: the EU is a bloated, convoluted mess and it would have been a nightmare to sift through it all and decide what was worth keeping and what wasn't. Working within the constraints of the EU would have been incredibly limiting for the new writers too - it would have ended up being less a new, dynamic story and more a paint-by-numbers checklist of what hardcore fans wanted to see (and they still would have bitched about it, most likely) or what "had" to happen to maintain the EU timeline and set up future events. Plus it would have been totally impenetrable to new audiences, especially kids who are too young to be familiar with old Star Wars (and let's not kid ourselves, that's who the main target audience is).

Mostly though, while most of my favourite Star Wars stuff is now non-canon, the vast majority of the EU is just glorified fan fiction, and bad fan fiction at that. Everyone's favourite characters become badass Jedi, they all have a bunch of kids with each other who also turn out to be badass Jedi, Boba Fett is a huge thing for some reason... I mean come on, be reasonable. Were the filmmakers seriously supposed to take that seriously?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Sorry but the only expanded universe that I slightly cared was Raven but thanks to that book on his whereabout after the game and KOTOR I don't really care too much for Disney to erase the expanded universe and start over.
Beside even then you can still not accept the new universe created by them to be canon right? I mean that what some fanfic writer or reader do when their stories does not matched up the the official show or book.

 

[Lilani]

I don't quite understand what has happened here. Is it that Disney actually cancelled all creation of expanded universe material, or that they simply stated that all EU material isn't canon except for the films isn't canon?

If the first, I can understand that. Disney owns the copyright, so it's perfectly within their rights to control who is and isn't making materials holding the name of their franchise. I imagine they did it to make sure somebody doesn't try to cause trouble for them by making a story about how Luke Skywalker became a space Neo-Nazi and raped Lea or something like that. I can't say if it's good or bad for the franchise because I've never read any of it, but if such novels turn out to be cash cows I'm sure eventually Disney will give the rights to do such things. There's a book series called "The Kingdom Keepers" which they allowed to be published which involves children saving the Magic Kingdom or something like that.

If the second, then was anybody really under the impression that ALL the expanded universe material was canon? Ever since I first heard about it years ago I knew it was just a bunch of derivative material, written for the same universe but not necessarily in any particular order, or following any centralized canon. I don't see how such an announcement changes anything. If you like the EU material, then just tell yourself it's canon and voila.

 

[verdant monkai]

I care! mostly because this means my mate whos's a big StarWars fan is going to be lamenting this to me for months.

But it does suck Disney is so fucking Vile. I'd say the expanded universe still exists in a separate cannon.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Isn't the Star Wars EU the thing where everyone's favouritest characters all become super jedi and Bobba Fett totally survives and turns out to be the last heir to an extinct race (and also gets a lightsaber) and Chewbacca gets killed by someone smashing him between two planets?

Yeah, I'm calling "and nothing of value was lost" on this one.

Sad for the couple of gems that get axed, but the vast majority of it basically came down to this, yeah. I will admit that I indulged in some of it in my teens, but even at the time I knew it was pandering trash.

I think I'm pretty okay with a fresh start in that respect.

 

[DefunctTheory]

I understand why this is painful for some, but it had to happen. The EU of Star Wars was a colossal mess, a massive cluster fuck of books that's goal was to suck up as much cash as possible, with a complete disregard to the Universe as a whole.

Of course, the goal of any Expanded Universe is to make money, but you don't see Star Gate or Star Trek EUs turning in on themselves like Star Wars did. They maintained a certain rigid state that didn't make nearly as much money as Star Wars, but still kept the Universe intact. The only other sci-fi series with a book collection as expansive as Star Wars that I know of, W40K, was specifically designed for this sort of thing, an advantage Star Wars never had.

In short, The EU as a whole was absolute crap, with the occasional gem. And the only thing more offensive to the SW EU fanbase then cutting the whole thing would be to tell them what was a gem and what wasn't.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Well it still exists - the books etc are still there and more can be written. An from what i gather they wernt cannon anyway so whats it matter what Disney says?

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

While it's a shame the good stuff that added some real depth and interest to the universe is now non-canon, the Expanded Universe as a whole was a bloated joke. Things from the films taken out of context, like snowspeeder grappling lines being an AT-AT's one weakness, rather than a last ditch attempt by the rebels to save their arses that happened to work pretty well, or main beats from the films being rehashed innumerable times, everyone's a fucking force user, there will always be a self-interested smuggler with a heart of gold and a fast ship. He'll probably be a force user too.