Is My Lack Of Faith Disturbing?

A long time Star Wars fan reflects on the past and wrestles with current developments. Is it a crisis of fan faith?

Editorial Opinion
By oscargungan - May 01, 2014 08:05 AM EST
Filed Under: Other


 
I've been an obsessive Star Wars fan for almost my entire life, but lately, I've been surprised at where my thoughts have led me and I've literally wrestled with a crisis of my own fandom.
I should be over the moon, a new Star Wars trilogy is underway and they did what I never thought I'd see. Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are back in their iconic roles and working with a talented cast and group of film makers. However, the decisions leading up to this event have me wrestling with a few things, which have me asking do I need to get over myself and just have fun with it or do I have a legitimate beef. Would jumping for joy cause me to lose some self respect. Am I part of the old guard, who needs to step back for the young whippersnappers to have their fun.
So what's my problem?  For years, a sequel trilogy was never going to happen. Lucas swore it was never happening. As of the release of Revenge of the Sith, it looked like the future of Star Wars would be on television and Expanded Universe products. Rumors of spin off films sounded like an intriguing idea, but not a lot of movement happened in that direction until the Disney deal
I was at peace with the idea  that the story Lucas had told with his films were completed. How many times did fans declare when Episode III came out that "The circle is now complete." It never really made any sense to me that a sequel trilogy would be necessary. Regardless, of one's opinion about their quality and their annoyance at Jar Jar Binks, the six films didn't leave dangling plot threads to be picked up later. When you place the two trilogies together their is a poetic symmetry. There is a cycle of corruption, fall and redemption. The new generation redeems the next. While there are lots of EU stories set between the movies they didn't necessarily add to or take away from how the six films were designed to work together.
So I wake up this morning and I notice my Blu-Ray set of all six films. The package reads "The Complete Saga." As of today, its clearly not complete  anymore. And, I ask myself is that package somehow retroactively dishonest. Then I notice the cover of "The Force Unleashed" graphic novel. It says on the cover "The Next Chapter in the Saga of Star Wars." And I think about the recent statements about the status of Expanded Universe materials and clearly that can't be the case anymore and if the book was reprinted now it would have a "Legends" banner on it. Even though it was sold to me as a part of the continuity.
So where I am going with this?
Well, the understanding that there would not be a sequel trilogy ever, informed the way licensees worked with Lucasfilm, it informed what products were made and how those projects were marketed and sold to fans. For three years straight at San Diego Comic Con, the Force Unleashed was touted as the next big thing. I think of stories that were labored over by writers and artists for years and fans who kept supporting the franchise whether there were movies or not coming out. When I'm told that material was never meant to be on the same level of canonicity as the films, I find the argument not entirely valid because for decases there wasn't any intention to make new films either until two years ago. Had a known would have read 19 books about the Yuuzahn Vong war over a period of five years if I had known the story would be superseded by a new trilogy. I don't believe I would have. My bet is Del Rey and Dark Horse would have produced different stories if they had known as well.
So now like many fans who felt they supported the franchise through good or bad, thick or thin we are told its too bad we got attached to the New Jedi Order, or Jaina Solo or Cade Skywalker. I feel like I've been falsely advertised to and told to sit down, shut up and enjoy the magic, that my interest in the franchise all these years has now put me at a disadvantage.
I do believe there was a way for Episode VII to exist and be respectful of fan's devotion over the years. Not all of the Expanded Universe was very good and I could understand not wanting to be beholden to all of it, but not all of it was given the same weight, I'm thinking of projects like Shadows of the Empire and some if it would not have been bought by fans if it had been marketed to them as random flights of fancy that had no bearing on the franchise. Rather than weeding the garden they burned down the field and I feel they strong armed this new trilogy into being.
So now I look at the future and I find it very exciting but I have this nagging feeling I plunked down my money and spent my time on this once before only to feel like I got marginalized and told my supprt never mattered or was appreciated. I'd feel really dumb if it happened again.
I've really wrestled with this and thought I ought to process it, write it down and put it out there. So what do you all of you think. Should I get it over it and enjoy the ride or is my problem one others feel as well.
 

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Pasto
Pasto - 5/1/2014, 8:28 AM
I think I love you.
JoeMomma29
JoeMomma29 - 5/1/2014, 8:36 AM
@ Yoss

I agree and disagree because if this will still in the hands of Lucas all we would be getting is more animated shows and non cannon books etc..... plus the prequel movies were not great at all. In fact the only movie that truly stands out is Empire Strikes back due to the director of film.

By this time Lucas was just comfortable raking in the money off of merchandising rights and his special effects company. We already should have at least another two films, a live action television show, one spinoff movie as well. I really liken Lucas to the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, both owners are over controlling and the end result was crap!

To me Lucas was lazy, now that Disney as taken over we can look forward to more movies and projects.
JoeMomma29
JoeMomma29 - 5/1/2014, 9:10 AM
@ Gusto

Alphadog
Alphadog - 5/1/2014, 9:21 AM
I like the cast and I'm excited for the new trilogy but I'm worried about J.J. directing the movies. I'm afraid that they won't bring anything new to cinema or be in any way meaningful. About the actual theme of the article, it's not very good for all these things that have been promoted as in the universe (though I've never read them) and end up being discarded but from what I understand everyone in any way involved in them though that they were. They didn't lie, it just changed. Despite that it's not a good thing for you to think that it was pointless to read all those things if they aren't canon.
JoeMomma29
JoeMomma29 - 5/1/2014, 9:22 AM
@ MexicanSuperman

LOL! I love the Cowboys but as long as Jerry Jones is in charge the Cowboys will never be good.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 5/1/2014, 9:45 AM
I agree with your apprehension about the new trilogy...but for different reasons.

I have to agree with charlie2094, I'm not sure you should be getting so bent out of shape just because they announced the Expanded Universe isn't going to be considered canon. Honestly, what else were they going to do? They want to have complete freedom to take the new trilogy wherever they want to take it, and having to stop each step of the way and make sure nothing contradicts the Expanded Universe would be just plain silly. Besides, I don't see how the fact that it isn't canon anymore should affect your enjoyment of it. Like whatever you want to like, don't let some announcement from Disney affect you.

But if you want to talk to me about feeling nervous that JJ Abrams is the director and in complete control of this? Or how worrying it is that the old crew from the original trilogy is going to play such a big part? Or how this trilogy could easily be as bad or not much better than the prequels, but it won't matter one bit because it's the closest thing to being a surefire box office hit? Or how over-saturated the market will be in a few years, with spin-off films and the like? I'm all ears, those are the things that trouble me.

There's lots of things to be worried about with this...but I'm not sure the Expanded Universe should be one of them.
Wallymelon
Wallymelon - 5/1/2014, 11:52 AM
I can't stand that fan fiction crappie the expanded universe gave us. Cool if you liked it but I'm happy they aren't following it at all. Getting Kasdan on board is really what we needed. That and the one director that recreates the films we all grew up with and follow. JJ is basically a baby Lucas and Speilberg.
oscargungan
oscargungan - 5/1/2014, 12:15 PM
I've been thinking about what I wrote and the responses and thought I'd add a couple more points. As much as the EU has had bad stories, Mary Sue characters and what not, I think it is disingenuous to call it fan fiction in that it absolves some people from responsibility and creates a double standard. Fan Fiction entails that something is the work of an amateur meaning, they don't get paid, they have no oversight, they can write whatever they want and they don't have ownership of the property. All Expanded Universe, good or not was created by people hired by Lucasfilm and their business partners, to tell a particular story, they had oversight and were given parameters and Lucasfilm received profits from the sale of the products. Whether you loved or hated it, it wasn't fan fiction they were officially sanctioned products. So, could Lucasfilm have been more clear about the products and media it was selling and what it exactly was people were buying? I think it could have been. I'm not so much bothered by whether I can enjoy a story more or less because it is or isn't canon. I think I was bothered more that those timelines are essentially sealed at this point. Dark Horse has been on a creative high with their Star Wars comics. I absolutely loved Dawn of the Jedi and the new Legacy series. I think there were several more years of really good stories left in those titles. The thing is those titles don't help market Episode VII or Rebels. Boom they are gone. If we were truly expected to look at the EU as an alternative universe why couldn't it have been presented like Marvel's Ultimate universe, it could exist concurrently. Fans could still get their Sword of the Jedi trilogy. So I do worry that the Star Wars brand will be homogenized and standardized and there will be a lack of variety as to what's available. I don't believe Episode VII should have beholden to every minute detail established by an convoluted and messy continuity but I do think it was possible to find a happy medium.
Humby
Humby - 5/1/2014, 6:50 PM
Keep in mind, you can pretty much bet your ass that Abrams and the rest of those involved are at least aware of the uneasiness through which many people view the prequel trilogy. Everyone involved is going to work their hardest to make sure that this new trilogy is nowhere near as polarizing as those movies. And as I say 'everyone,' I am reminded that this is very much a painstakingly collaborative and creative process, and not the creation of any one man with full creative control, as the prequels were.

This movie will not be "another Episode I."

Whether or not this trilogy deserves to be called a part of the saga weighs wholly on the plot, so we can't really make that judgement just yet. Personally, I don't really care.

Now here comes my view on the EU. ***Canon is what you make it.*** These movies were never going to align with post ROTJ EU. I guarantee that the idea of beholding to those stories never was never even brought to the table, and if it was, it was immediately dismissed. Which means they pick and choose, or dump it all. Why bother sorting through millions of materials determining what needs rebranding and what doesn't, especially when the die hard fans will find ways to accept the material they love, even if it's considered not canon. For example, in my eyes, Shadows of the Empire happened. It is part of my Star Wars canon. And unless something happens in Episode VII to discount that story, it will remain in my canon.

Essentially, anything EU that took place before ROTJ, you can still consider canon. Who cares if it is rebranded as "Legends"? It fits, so count it. The EU material that takes place post ROTJ, some of it will be discounted by the events of Episode VII, some of it will still fit. So if it still fits, then simply choose to believe it as canon. It really is that simple.

Will they begin to introduce new EU stories into that 30 year gap, of course. So the biggest issue about this rebranding of canon, is that some stories will no longer fit because of the films, and some stories may be contradicted by newer EU that gets released (which is already an issue anyways). So the end result, is that you'll simply have to choose your own canon. Even if it means a few self contrived explanations as to why some character is missing, or why some character is still alive, etc.

In the end, were getting the original three back on screen, which must mean this movie is in good hands. Because getting Harrison Ford to return was certainly not an easy feat.

case
case - 5/2/2014, 11:59 PM
There was always always going to be an episode 7, 8 and 9.
The "expanded universe" is just that - an expansion on the movies. It was and always will be beholden to the true Star Wars that is the films.

Star Wars is film.
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