Questions about the Star Wars "Expanded Universe".

[Glare Seethe]

I was reading Ugly's thread, and when writing about Emperor Palpatine, he said:

Originally posted by Ugly:
You were smart enough to not let being thrown down that shaft in the throne room destroy you. Your essence was transported to a fresh new clone body on Byss. You were back and ready to take over the galaxy. You even got Luke Skywalker on the Dark Side. But you screwed up again, instead of taking the subtle route that worked before, you built an army of World Devistators that were subsequently punked out by the Allliance, once again. And your final clone body was destroyed by Leia's unborn child.

I'm just wondering... how 'official' are the events described in all the SW books? I know there are a lot of characters and storylines in the books that aren't mentioned at all in the movies, and there are expansions on the ones that are, but considering the fact that this isn't Lucas who is writing these novels, when you look at the overall timeline of history of the SW Universe, are these events officially considered part of the history?

Also, how much input does Lucas have with the expanded universe? Are these characters and storylines his own creations and he just has other, better writers turn them into proper books? And if they aren't his own creations, does he authorize all of them? And would that make them official?

[Human Replica Droid]

The best I can answer it is to say, that really all the Expanded Universe is - is glorified fanfiction. And while taken seriously for many years, Lucas totally buttraped the Expanded Universe when he wrote the Jango Fett storyline into Episode II.

So I guess that means it ain't that official.

More importantly: Who cares?

[dishpan]

i wouldnt count anything thats not in the 5 films. not even timothy zahns books.

dan

[Ugly]

Lucas ok'ed Chewie buying it to kick of the NJO series. His only input on "Shadows of the Empire" was "base it in reality" and the first SW standalone novel "Spinter of the Mind's Eye" was based on an old concept from an early draft of Star Wars - the Kabiur crystal. That, to my knowledge, is all the input he's had on Star Wars spin off topics. The rest are handled by Lucasfilm muck-a-mucks.

As for the more or less "officialness" of the stores, you can view them all as irrelevant but that's not very fullfilling. Usually, if Lucas does something in the movies that counteracts something in the comic books or novels, it takes about a year or so until someone sets it all straight in another comic book or novel. A Jango Fett comic series recently slid in some references to the "Mandilorian Warriors" to make that stuff still fit. The Sith concpet of "A Master and an Apprentice" counteracts the old republic ideas of the Great Sith War, but then they say it was because of the Great Sith War they took up the Master and Apprentice idea. They really try thier damndest to make it all fit over there, continuity-wise. Probably moreso than Lucas himself does.

personally, its been years since I bought a Star Wars comic or novel. I tried picking one up about 2 summers ago but couldn't get into it. Though, for my money, the only Star Wars spinoff stuff ever worth a spit were the early 90s DARK EMPIRE comic series and Zhan's "Heir to the Empire" trilogy.

[Nimrod's Son]

Would you consider the 1977 Christmas special as canon to the SW Universe? If so, Bea Arthur also exists in the Star Wars realm.

[Ugly]

Originally posted by Nimrod's Son
Would you consider the 1977 Christmas special as canon to the SW Universe? If so, Bea Arthur also exists in the Star Wars realm.

Oh fuck ya. And the life tree at the end which is clearly a Christmas Tree and Carrie Fisher singing the Star Wars theme song.

I downloaded that, watched it once, and my eyeballs almost burned out. The whole thing gave me a wierd, Lucas as Michael Jackson trying to entice children vibe. Very creepy.

[Glare Seethe]

Originally posted by Ugly
His only input on "Shadows of the Empire" was "base it in reality"

Heh.

Thank you all for the info.

[strange_one]

I have always generally stayed away from the Star Wars expanded universe books and comics, just because they can never have the same feel, although I will admit that I am buying one SW comic title at the moment called Empire, and it isn't too bad, but I'd never go collecting the entire back catalogue

[Human Replica Droid]

I got really into the Expanded Universe in middle school and read a fricken' myriad of those books. But I hated the comics. I still dig the EU, even though, at times, they did things that were too big a stretch for even a 12 y/o to buy.

[Ugly]

Originally posted by strange_one
I have always generally stayed away from the Star Wars expanded universe books and comics, just because they can never have the same feel, although I will admit that I am buying one SW comic title at the moment called Empire, and it isn't too bad, but I'd never go collecting the entire back catalogue

Go grab a DARK EMPIRE TB - don't bother with Dark Empire II or Empire's End, those suck. But the original DARK EMPIRE series is freakin gold.If I could compare it to any of the movies, I’d say it’s a combination of “Return of the Jedi” without the Ewoks, and a twisted version of The Empire Strikes Back in which The Emperor plays the part of Yoda. (and, throw in a bit of cloning plot-twistiness of Attack of the Clones – freaky considering how this was written almost a good decade before that movie came out). Its really one of the licenced comics that doesn’t feel like it, because it was Dark Horses’ first Star Wars comic, they really went all out with it.

[dishpan]

dark empire isnt bad, but i just feel like its lame to have the emperor be the bad guy again after return of the jedi. dont you?

[Ugly]

Originally posted by dishpan
dark empire isnt bad, but i just feel like its lame to have the emperor be the bad guy again after return of the jedi. dont you?

Its fits fairly well in the Star Wars universe with cloning and dark powers and stuff. One thing that pissed me off about the Star Wars spinoffs was the constant flood of "Dark Jedi" and that popped up out of nowhere. It totally kills the menace that Vader and the Emperor have if there's fifty of them kicking around. The good thing about "Dark Empire" is that they took an established baddie, one of the meanest you can get, and made it fit. And it gave him a new clone body to boot. But my favorite part is twisting Anakin's fall to the dark side with Luke, its like the flipside of Return of the Jedi, its great.

Also, I love the watercolour art in it, it just gives each page a very distinctive vibe.

Anyway, so far in the EU the only villians I've enjoyed have been The Emperor, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and the Yuzzang Vong (or however you spell it. The baddies in the NJO series. I only read two books of it, but I really dug thier evilness)