Friday, March 13, 2015

New Books Announced to Fill the Gaps Between Episode VI and Episode VII

Sorry, I do not have a link to an article at the moment but it has been announced that there will be twenty new books to be released, I believe starting in August, that will fill the gaps in the new canon and explain to all of us what has happened between ROTJ and now.  From a marketing standpoint, clearly this move is brilliant.  I would be willing to bet that there are some Star Wars fans out there who were never all that interested in the EU but will be reading some of these books to prepare themselves for the new movie and find out what has been happening. 

I think under different circumstances, I would be excited about this.  To be honest, with the way I'm worrying about what they are doing with this movie now, I'm actually kind of dreading it.  And I probably won't be reading any of them before the movie comes out, although that would've been true whether I was feeling cynical about it or not.  I still want the movie itself to be sort of a surprise.  Which reminds me to remind all of you, please do not discuss spoilers in any of the comments.  You are free to link to anything as long as you warn us and don't mention any specifics, but for those of us who don't want to know, don't just blurt anything out.  Although from what I understand, while rumors are flying left and right, nothing at this point can be confirmed anyway, so you may believe something you read, but it may be completely false. 

I don't know why, recently I've been a lot more concerned with what they are going to do with these movies.  I feel as though they are going to almost go out of their way to make it incredibly different from the EU as it was before.  I guess that gives them more room to "play" but at the same time, so much of what happened in the original EU (what are we calling it now?) took the character arcs from the movies and brought them to their natural progressions.  Han and Leia got married and had kids.  Luke started a Jedi academy and trained the next generation of Jedi.  Leia became a real leader, Han maintained a strong presence with the New Republic.  The Empire didn't completely disappear but they also were no longer in power.  If you change those things, you basically are telling me that the end of ROTJ was a complete lie.  Just kidding!  They're smiling now, but really the Empire is still very much a big deal and Han hasn't changed at all and will go back to his old life and Luke is going to disappear and Leia is just going to continue to be a miserable, alone woman serving for the greater good.  Fooled you!  It'd be like if the prequels had come out first, and then when ANH came out the Empire totally hadn't gotten anywhere and Vader wasn't that big of a deal as a villain. 

Sigh.  Please don't ruin my favorite movies for me for the rest of my life.  I could let the prequels go and pretend they don't exist because they were all different people and a whole different thing and we already knew how that turned out anyway.  These are my favorite movie characters and I'm just really concerned that they are going to completely tarnish them.  I'm not feeling particularly optimistic. 

As a final note, Episode VIII has a release date of May 26th, 2017.  And the first spinoff movie will be titled Rogue One, and I believe will center on the beginnings of Rogue Squadron.  I am completely indifferent right now to the announcement of Episode VIII's release date, because if Episode VII destroys my love of Star Wars, I really won't care.  A Rogue Squadron movie could be cool I guess, and has a lot less potential to have elements that send me into nerd rage.  Although I have to admit, the fact that we're apparently going to be getting a new Star Wars movie like, every 6 months, seems a little... excessive almost.  Can they make them all worth watching?  Is it going to feel more like when we get into the late seasons of TV shows and they are running out of ideas and the quality really suffers?  So many questions.  I'm curious to hear all of your thoughts on this.

20 comments:

  1. I'm not sure if the first attempt went through
    The news story was in the new Entertainment Weekly that I got today.
    I didn't find it on the magazine's website. Here's a summary:
    There will be 20 books aimed at children, young adults and adults
    Luke, Leia and Han will each get one novel and another one will be called Lost Stars
    Marvel will do 2 comics Journey to the Force Awakens and another told from C-3PO's perspective.
    There will be a new vehicle guide Ships of the Galaxy
    A set of novels will retell the story of the original trilogy from the point of view of supporting characters.
    In general the books will give foreshadowing of the new movie about new ships, planets and characters and updating what the characters have been doing for the last 30 years

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  2. Now for the editorial comment
    I don't follow the Marvel superheroes movies and TV shows, but my understanding of them is that it seems complicated to follow them
    because all are interrelated and there are so many of them and Disney/Marvel is assuming that viewers are watching all of them. I'm thinking of reading about the Agents of Shield show adding a character or characters and storyline from whichever Marvel movie came out last March or April. Following the show must have been harder if you hadn't immediately seen that movie. Netflix is adding 5 new Marvel shows in the next year.
    I hope Star Wars isn't going to get that complicated!

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  3. Got to admit, this "new" EU scares the crap out of me. It's a blank slate, they could do ANYTHING. And I agree, Zyra, part of me thinks they will just do something that is so different to the old EU just because they CAN. It could be good, or it could be vey very bad. I just hope and pray we never get to the point where we wish COPL was still canon because Han and Leia get an even worse deal in the new books.

    Not sure I'm going to bother with any of this until I've seen the movie and see what we're dealing with.

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  4. I'm thinking that the 20 stories won't reveal too many major bombshells, since the powers-that-be have kept a tight lid on anything regarding Episode VII.

    IMO, I think it would be incredibly unrealistic to NOT have H and L married with kids. Seriously, after having risked their lives for one another, declared their mutual love, and beating the odds and surviving war, I don't think Han would be happy to return to smuggling and Leia be content to be married to her work.

    I know there are a lot of cynics in the world, but I think the overwhelming majority of SW fans would be disillusioned if H and L relationship crashed and burned....

    don't let them get you down; no matter what (if any) misery they have planned for our fav couple, it is fiction, so you can create your own happily ever after for them....

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  5. I haven't decided if I'd read the books or not. It depends upon: a) if I'm in the mood; b) if there's a paucity of decent summer fic or c) it's available on Kindle.

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  6. Again I apologize for not having an article to link you to on this, my source was a physical copy of Entertainment Weekly. I don't know why I'm feeling particularly cynical about this. On the potential plus side, we might actually get an entirely different (and presumably better, as long as it happens at all) version of Han and Leia getting married. And we do know for a fact Chewie survives the entire ordeal, so at least there's that.

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  7. I don't know how I feel about this and it unnerves me, too. On the one hand, even if they reveal some things, that doesn't mean it will take away from the movie. And I don't think all 20 books will come out between the summer and winter of 2015.
    Also, I've offered up my opinion here before, and like JeanMarie, it wouldn't make sense for H & L to not end up together. If you watch those 3 movies, their storyline is all about their blossoming relationship. If they didn't end up together, then what was the whole point, only to find out it didn't matter anyway? It just doesn't make sense.
    Maybe the first books just kind of introduce some of the characters and say what's happening in the SW universe. Maybe not an up-close look from the Big 3's point of view.
    But I don't know.
    I just keep going back to those 3 movies (and books) and it would just be a whole disappointing waste of their storyline - the whole 'I love you/I know' would lose all meaning and those 3 movies would lose so much context - what would be the point to bring those 2 together if they didn't end up together? Jeez, even the 'love' story of Padme and Anakin went somewhere (sorry, it was very unbelievable and unromantic to me.)
    As for me, I think when the books come out, I will probably look for plot summaries on line before I were to purchase any.


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  8. Me again. Did a little googling. Found a little info about the books and release dates on clubjade.net.

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  9. here you go ladies:

    http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/09/star-wars-release-20-books-journey-force-awakens

    jz

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  10. my thoughts are as follows in no particular order:

    1. I've been pretending half the EU didn't happen for years. suddenly no one's telling me to suck it up, it's canon. this is very freeing.
    2. damn it, just when Mara Jade had kinda grown on me
    3. if this means I don't have to worry about Vong, force witches, or green bunnies turning up in the new movie, how bad can it be?
    4. damn it Jar Jar is still canon, isn't he?
    5. and midichlorians,
    6. wasn't it JJ who kept alleging for months that Khan was absolutely not in the new Star Trek movie and we know how that turned out. this is all just misdirection, jj loves star wars, he won't ruin it.
    7. deep breath, deep breath. different doesn't have to be bad
    8. what's worse, if JJ ruins the movies or the new books are horrible?
    9. if they're horrible just don't read them
    10. but I want to read them, I can't help myself
    11. COPL
    12. but, Thrawn!
    13. but, Crystal Star.
    14. Tim signed your copy of Heir to the Empire. No one can take it away from you.
    15. Benedict Cumberbatch was born to play Thrawn. JJ can't resist.
    16. not thinking about it any more. 9 months away.
    17. holy crap, new Star Wars movie is 9 months away.

    jz

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    1. This is an excellent breakdown of feelings, jz. I know, I never cared about Mara Jade until they took her away. This actually includes her death. Although perhaps it was more just because I felt bad for poor Luke losing his wife.

      I saw the Star Trek movies and enjoyed them but having no prior Star Trek knowledge I paid zero attention to anything leading up to it. But very interesting what you're saying. I've also wondered if there were elaborate plans in place to misdirect the nerds into thinking something totally different was going to happen and then being shocked when it doesn't. I'd still prefer to find all of this out when actually seeing the movie itself, not reading about it on the internet. 9 months from today!

      I'm probably going to read them, too. Some of the books are great to "lose" as canon, but others I kind of liked. It's definitely worse if the movies are terrible. On the plus side, regardless of what they do with them, I've heard that some people have said that Harrison effortlessly and amazingly reprises his role as Han Solo. I mean, beyond that maybe I won't care as much what actually happens. Except yes I will.

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  11. And here's some specifics on the first "canon" book coming in September
    http://www.starwars.com/news/what-happened-after-endor-find-out-in-star-wars-aftermath

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  12. Anything that makes COPL go away is good news to me. I've been reading the new comics (all 3 series), and they are quite good. Great Han-Leia banter and interaction. So... cautiously optimistic.

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  13. I have been reading the Han & Leia rumors all over the place. I won't post them because of what your blog says, but I'm not happy about this. I think that if they're true, they're disrespectful to the fans who were alive to seen in the original trilogy when it came out. I love your blog! iluvkoals

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  14. Anyone going to Celebration? I'll be there friday, and possibly saturday. Can't wait! :D

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    1. Sadly I am not, but I know that several other regulars here (or at least former regulars) will be attending. I'm jealous and expect full reports from all of you!

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