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George Lucas: Star Wars Creator, Unreliable Narrator & Time Travelling Revisionist... — Page 6

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There should be a giant caveat to this topic … that being … a certain point of view. Dutifully set up and reflected on by the OP, it suggests that George Lucas has a certain point of view, but not a legitimate one.

Is George Lucas in a stage of dementia? Is he a cynical liar? Or are we missing something? Most of us (including me) saw this topic and stopped here to have our prejudices reinforced by a title that said it all: George Lucas: Unreliable Narrator & Time Traveling Revisionist. That’s what I thought … until I thought of something I hadn’t before … a certain point of view.

That certain point of view is the George Lucas point of view, which isn’t mentioned in that treatise. Sure, he’s quoted, but not his point of view. It’s like OriginalTrilogy proudly bannering their 54,800+ members with 22,100+ topics, but not mentioning the 7,200+ bans, a telling statistic of … a certain point of view.

If you were to read the Lucas quotes in the context of the time made, you would realize the certain point of view of George Lucas has been consistent throughout his career. He was writing Star Wars before filming, and was writing Star Wars during filming, and was writing Star Wars after filming, and was writing Star Wars during the successive movies, and was writing Star Wars for the re-releases. They were all drafts in his certain point of view. Each idea, each draft, each rewrite he makes is his same point of view in action. The fact is, he has never “finished” writing Star Wars.

How can this be? George Lucas is not “a writer”, he has no sense of writing. He once admitted in a filmed interview, on the old Star Wars website of decades ago, “I bleed all over the page” when writing the script. He further opined that he felt Star Wars “wasn’t his film” because of all the others’ ideas and skills and talent that went into the movie it was becoming.

Likewise, George Lucas is not “a filmmaker”, he has no sense of film. His editing of Star Wars was so bad, it nearly sunk the film in production. He had to hand it over to his then-wife Marcia (a professional film editor) to re-cut the film into the blockbuster we saw in the theaters. That is why he is always wanting to take a back-seat on the “big films” and is always opining to “go back” to his “small films”. (His small films were the very, very short “tone poems” he made in his “University Of Southern California” film-school days.) His behavior even puzzled legendary producer/director Stanley Kubrick, who once wondered aloud why the director of American Graffiti would want to “run a business” instead of make films. A very telling observation, that.

It seems George Lucas is mostly good at surrounding himself with others who can re-mold his fuzzy-inspirations and transform his inept-everything-else into complete movies. That doesn’t take anything away from him. Without him being the magnet to attract and ignite others’ talent, there wouldn’t have been a THX 1138, an American Graffiti, or a Star Wars.

So no fan-boyz pile-on (a soft & loving pile-on, to be sure) and hope that we finally realize that George Lucas will never finish Star Wars, because he never had a Star Wars film, in him, to begin with. Rather, he had films that he loved growing up and put bits of them together over, and over, and over again, to make a monied success of his own.

Take a look at the world through the eyes of George Lucas:
SLATE.com: Star Wars Is a Postmodern Masterpiece: How George Lucas spliced together Westerns, jidaigeki, space adventure serials, fairy tales, dogfighting movies, and Casablanca to create Hollywood’s first world-conquering collage. By Forrest Wickman

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Jesus christ I think that is the worst anti-Lucas post I’ve ever seem in my life. You clearly know jack and shit about the man and just eat up all of the Lucas hater shit you see. Especially the whole “rough cut of the film was garbage and the editors having to fix it” bullshit despite that being so much of a lie a guy made a 2 hour video debunking it.

But go ahead and whine because Lucas made a few creative changes you didn’t like to a franchise HE created.

My Star Wars Fan-Edits

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G&G-Fan said:

despite that being so much of a lie a guy made a 2 hour video debunking it.

Reading R + L ≠ J theories

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G&G-Fan said:

Jesus christ I think that is the worst anti-Lucas post I’ve ever seem in my life. You clearly know jack and shit about the man and just eat up all of the Lucas hater shit you see. Especially the whole “rough cut of the film was garbage and the editors having to fix it” bullshit despite that being so much of a lie a guy made a 2 hour video debunking it.

But go ahead and whine because Lucas made a few creative changes you didn’t like to a franchise HE created.

If you want to bring up and go on yet again about that vitriolic 2-hour video by Nerdonymous (along with your incorrect & hyperbolic claims about the RocketJump video) then do it elsewhere - this previous thread created by you on the subject would be a far more apt place to do so - and NOT here in the ‘GL: Unreliable Narrator’ thread (as you have been previously asked not to).

As for the RocketJump video & Slate article being ‘Lucas hater shit’ - I suggest you re-read your linked thread above - and then revisit both the RJ video and Slate article with an open mind.

Content that chronicles the history of the Original Trilogy films, or illustrates how Lucas surrounded himself with many talented people - professionals and specialists in their respective fields - to help make and even enhance his ideas for the films… is not ‘Lucas hater shit’.

If you disagree with something, or want to engage in discourse with someone, then it is a good idea to lose the aggression and tone. This isn’t reddit or some Fandom Menace style youtube outlet. You’re better than this.
 

G&G-Fan said:

But go ahead and whine because Lucas made a few creative changes you didn’t like to a franchise HE created.

Edit: Seems like you are projecting or ranting here - as Wocke didn’t refer to any changes that has Lucas made to his film (and also various alterations to Kershner’s Empire and Marquand’s ROTJ films over the years) in his post.

Again, if you disagree with something, or want to engage in discourse with someone, then it is a good idea to lose the aggression and tone. This isn’t reddit or some Fandom Menace style youtube outlet.

Any questions or issues send me a PM. 👍
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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G&G-Fan said:

… I think that is the worst anti-Lucas post I’ve ever seem in my life. You clearly know jack and shit about the man and just eat up all of the Lucas hater shit you see.

Actually, I thought it was a pretty good pro-Lucas post. Sorry you missed that part of it.

Especially the whole “rough cut of the film was garbage and the editors having to fix it” …

Didn’t you know the Lucas’s were a team working on Star Wars? Real documented fact.

… despite that being so much of a lie a guy made a 2 hour video debunking it. …

Interesting. Please post the link here. It’s the perfect topic to have such documentation for examination.

But go ahead and whine because Lucas made a few creative changes you didn’t like to a franchise HE created.

Oh, and I never said I didn’t like the released film. tips-wine-glass

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wocke said:

Actually, I thought it was a pretty good pro-Lucas post. Sorry you missed that part of it.

Huh. Well, saying George Lucas has “no sense of writing or film” might’ve just given me the wrong vibes 😃

My Star Wars Fan-Edits

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wocke said:

Interesting. Please post the link here. It’s the perfect topic to have such documentation for examination.

It’s… really not worth watching. He put it on OT.com back in, like, March, and the thread’s still up if you wanna see us talking about how awful of a video it is. He keeps posting it everywhere though and keeps getting a similar response, IDK why he’s so attached to it.

I would recommend though that OOJason remove the RocketJump video from this post. Despite the Nerdonymous video “debunking” it being pretty bad, the RocketJump video has some critical errors. Plus, RocketJump’s video really does not argue that Lucas deserves less credit for making the OT, and this post including this video to try to argue that point drags the post down. One bad point is enough to ruin a whole argument.

Also worth mentioning that trying to lessen the credit for George Lucas in the creation of the OT is just not really accurate. The editors deserve a lot of credit and the auteur theory conception of Lucas as the sole visionary behind Star Wars is wrong (as it always seems to be with creatives who try to lessen the contribution of their collaborators). But Lucas still was the director, he still wrote the story, and he was still the leader of the group that made the OT, and he still deserves to be credited as the creator of Star Wars.

If this post is meant to set the record straight, point #3 should be removed. It gives the wrong impression and goes too far in the other direction.

Edit:

Similarly with number 39, it should probably also be removed, or at least very modified. I get the point that’s trying to be made: Lucas isn’t the only one who can claim authorship over ESB and RotJ, and so the “They’re his films” approach to the SEs doesn’t apply here. But it’s something that’s wishy-woshy and close enough to the realm of opinion that I don’t think it should be included. On top of the title being “Who made the Original Trilogy films…?”, that’s way too close to discrediting Lucas for me to be comfortable with.

Maybe it should be refocused to something about how Lucas once said he considered ESB and RotJ to be Kershner and Marquand’s movies, not his movies, but now he’s gone back on that.

wocke said:

He further opined that he felt Star Wars “wasn’t his film” because of all the others’ ideas and skills and talent that went into the movie it was becoming.

Also, I’d really like to see this quote if you know where it came from.

Reading R + L ≠ J theories

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^ Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.
 

Nah, the RocketJump video can stay where it is.

It is highlighted in Category #3 that there are a few factual errors made within the video (as do many of the official content / releases talking about Star Wars; let alone unofficial / unauthorised projects or fan-made content) - yet it is still a good example of the power, effect & influence that editing can have upon a film - and certainly did have for this one film in particular.

If I find another similarly effective video on the editing of Star Wars (without some of the errors that appears in the RJ video) I’ll include it in the Category.

Or if anyone already knows of such a video give me a heads-up, I’ll give it a watch, and then add it up in there. 👍

 

Re Category 39…

I’ve tidied up some of the wording for the ‘Who made the Original Trilogy films…? Whose are they to alter…?’ section. Hopefully it now reads more clearly as not only George altering other directors’ films (something which George himself states only the director of the film should do) - but also that both Kershner and Marquand’s original release of their respective vision, their work, their films… are no longer available… and have not been for some time.

*: on a modern digital high quality format.

 

Edit: I’ll also try and find some time to start work on Category (#24, #25 & #26 are now complete).

As ever, any ideas, info or help for any of the Categories (or suggestions for more topics to cover) are always appreciated…
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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I love this library thread, it is rare to find information like this in one collection, without it becoming toxic, an argument or a personal attack on Lucas!

But I did notice that there are 2 very similar subject categories in here about the 1997 se:

  1. ‘George’s Vision’ - The Final Cut / 1997 Special Edition - was never released on DVD or blu ray (or other digital format)…

  2. Why no 1997 Special Edition release on a modern digital format?

I thought I would mention this just in case it has been overlooked. It it not meant to be criticism.

Are there more new categories coming soon?

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Riquendes said:

I love this library thread, it is rare to find information like this in one collection, without it becoming toxic, an argument or a personal attack on Lucas!

But I did notice that there are 2 very similar subject categories in here about the 1997 se:

  1. ‘George’s Vision’ - The Final Cut / 1997 Special Edition - was never released on DVD or blu ray (or other digital format)…

  2. Why no 1997 Special Edition release on a modern digital format?

I thought I would mention this just in case it has been overlooked. It it not meant to be criticism.

Are there more new categories coming soon?

Thank you for the kind words, mate.
 

Re the two categories you mentioned… yes, they are indeed quite similar. 👍

However…

#18 is really just highlighting that 1997 Special Edition never saw a home media release on a digital format (which is a little strange given George and Lucasfilm’s hype, media campaign and the supposed significance of ‘The Final Cut’ at the time)…

George Lucas in 1997 on the Special Edition: What ends up being important in my mind is what the DVD version is going to look like, because that’s what everybody is going to remember. The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition].

#26, when finished, will be highlighting the question of… given there always have been 35mm prints of the 1997 Special Editions ready to release on various home formats over time (DVD, blu ray, 4K/UHD, Digital Downloads, and now Disney+) - and also that the latest 2019 Special Edition release (aka ‘Disney+ / Maclunkey’ version) are based on the unreleased 1997 Special Edition prints (or scans of)… why is there still no such release?

(Especially as the previous excuses given by George Lucas and Lucasfilm as to why they have not released the unaltered theatrical version of the Original Trilogy since 1995… do not apply here. The 1997 SE’s are ready for release - and always have been! With Disney+ now being a thing, they could also be released on there for very little cost.)
 

Regarding more Categories… if anyone has any ideas or suggestions of additional topics then I’m all ears and am more than happy to include them - yet I’m not actively searching for, or looking to add more Categories in here, myself.

Of course, I’ll gladly edit, update, or add any more sources of information for any of the existing Categories in here.

 
 


 
 

31 Star Wars Retcons, Changes, and Inconsistencies in Legends and Canon

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg59davcLSY - a 15 minute video at the HelloGreedo youtube channel (from 2019).
 

The blurb:-

'Here are 31 Star Wars retcons, changes, inconsistencies, and details in Star Wars legends and canon!

Star Wars and its characters have changed a lot over the years! Did you know that Boba Fett used to have a different name? Or that Obi-Wan and Owen Lars were once brothers? Or that some people hated what The Clone Wars did to Mandalorians? Or than an entire section of time was created as a retcon to explain Palpatine’s “a thousand years” dialogue?

This video contains 31 Star Wars retcons, changes, inconsistencies, and details I find interesting. There are a lot more out there! This only begins to scratch the surface.’
 

^ a fun and insightful watch from the informative and quality HelloGreedo. 👍
 

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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SparkySywer said:

|| wocke said:
|| He further opined that he felt Star Wars “wasn’t his film” because of all the others’ ideas and skills and talent that went into the movie it was becoming.

Also, I’d really like to see this quote if you know where it came from.

It’s still buried but I’m digging through my stuff (allot and slow going). However I did find another interview where GL admits to the same misgivings, with a painful chuckle. Thankfully, someone posted it on YouTube for easy access:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FRZtFPDxi4

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“I get asked all the time, ‘What happens after “Return of the Jedi”?,’ and there really is no answer for that,” he said. “The movies were the story of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, and when Luke saves the galaxy and redeems his father, that’s where that story ends.”"

~ George Lucas, Flannelled One, May 2008, “George Lucas: ‘Star Wars’ won’t go beyond Darth Vader”, interview with Los Angeles Times

www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-lucas7-2008may07-story.html

 

 

“And now there have been novels about the events after Episode VI, which isn’t at all what I would have done with it. The Star Wars story is really the tragedy of Darth Vader. That is the story. Once Vader dies, he doesn’t come back to life, the Emperor doesn’t get cloned and Luke doesn’t get married.”

~ George Lucas, Total Film Magazine Interview, 2008

^ https://ibb.co/x5q1RrQ

 

 

“There’s this notion that everything changed when everything became Legends. And I can see why people think that. But, you know, having worked with George I can tell you that it was always very clear – and he made it very clear – that the films and the TV shows were the only things that he considered Canon. That was it.”

~ Dave Filoni interview on ‘The Star Wars show’ [41.40 mark]

https://youtu.be/hcNXPNXOv2A?t=2500

 

 

”The novels and comic books are other authors’ interpretations of my creation. Sometimes, I tell them what they can and cant do, but I just don’t have the time to read them. They’re not my vision of what Star Wars is."

~ George Lucas, 2004

^ https://ibb.co/4gSjpjN

 

 

“I don’t read that stuff, I haven’t read any of the novels. I don’t know anything about that world. That’s a different world than my world. But I do try and keep it consistent. The way I do it is they have a Star Wars encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it and see if it has already been used. When I said other people could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have TWO universes: My Universe and than this other one. They try to make THEIR universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions.”

~ George Lucas, Starlog Magazine Interview, 2005

^ https://ibb.co/Km1CcNs

 

 

“There are two worlds here,” explained Lucas. “There’s my world, which is the movies, and there’s this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe – the licensing world of the books, games and comic books."

~ George Lucas, Cinescape, 2002

^ quoted at - https://medium.com/@wayofthewarriorx/george-lucas-quotes-on-the-expanded-universe-88635d1f4a44

 

 

"Q: What do you think of the expanded universe of books?

A: The books are in a different universe. I’ve not read any of them, and I told them when they started writing I wouldn’t read any of them and I blocked out certain periods."

~ George Lucas - “The Furry Conflict and the Great ‘Beard‘ of the Galaxy”

(^ report based on a Q&A session with George Lucas which occurred at USC on 11-19-03)

 

 

“What George did with the films and The Clone Wars was pretty much his universe,” Chee said. “He didn’t really have that much concern for what we were doing in the books and games. So the Expanded Universe was very much separate.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator for Lucas Licensing, SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview, Jan. 2018

^ https://ibb.co/r2SvbBP

 

 

“Lucas’ canon – and when I say ‘his canon’, I’m talking about what he was doing in the films and what he was doing in The Clone Wars – was hugely important. But what we were doing in the books really wasn’t on his radar.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Adminstrator, SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview, Jan. 2018

 

 

‘The Star Wars Universe has expanded beyond the movies. How much leeway do the game makers and novel writers have?’

"They have their own kind of world. There are three pillars of Star Wars. I’ll probably get in trouble for this, but it’s ok! There’s three pillars: the father, the son, and the holy ghost. I’m the Father, Howard Roffman [President of Lucas Licensing] is the son and the holy ghost is the fans, this kind of ethereal world of people coming up with all kinds of different ideas and histories. Now these three pillars don’t always match, but the movies and TV shows are all under my control and are consistent within themselves. Howard tries to be consistent but sometimes he does off on tangents and it’s hard to hold him back. He once said to me that there are two Star Trek Universes: the TV show and than there’s all the spin offs. He said they were completely different and didn’t have anything to do with each other. So I said “Ok, go ahead”.

~ George Lucas, TF Magazine Interview, 2008

^ https://ibb.co/RN9JKJQ

 

 

“I don’t even read the offshoot books that come out based on Star Wars.”

~ George Lucas, Flannelled One, July 1999 - Film Night interview

 

"Q: Do you supervise the development of all the off-movie stories? After all, Star Wars exists in books, comics.

A: “You know, I try not to think about that. I have my own world in movies and I follow it.”

~ George Lucas, Flannelled One, July 2002 - From a The Force.Net

 

 

“George Lucas says there has never been any war between the Jedi and the Sith in his Star Wars Canon” - An excerpt from StarWars.com‘s oral history of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace:

Everybody said, “Oh, well, there was a war between the Jedi and the Sith.” Well, that never happened. That’s just made up by fans or somebody. What really happened is, the Sith ruled the universe for a while, 2000 years ago. Each Sith has an apprentice, but the problem was, each Sith Lord got to be powerful. And the Sith Lords would try to kill each other because they all wanted to be the most powerful. So in the end they killed each other off, and there wasn’t anything left.

“But anyway, there’s a whole matrix of backstory that has never really come out. It’s really just history that I gathered up along the way. It’s all based on backstories that I’d written setting up what the Jedi were, setting up what the Sith were, setting up what the Empire was, setting up what the Republic was, and how it all fit together I never really got a chance to explain the Whills part.”

George Lucas’ vision of the galaxy’s ancient times is clearly different from the Expanded Universe. Many wars between Jedi and Sith in the Old Republic era were told in games, books and comics. The current Lucasfilm’s canon didn’t explore this era yet.’

^ https://naboonews.wordpress.com/2019/05/25/george-lucas-says-there-has-never-been-any-war-between-the-jedi-and-the-sith-in-his-canon

 

 

“The movies are Gospel, and everything else is Gossip.”

~ George Lucas

 

 

“I Didn’t want to limit myself in the stories I wanted to tell. This is Star Wars, and I don’t make a distinction between The Clone Wars series and the films.”

~ George Lucas, SciFiNow, about ‘The Clone Wars’ series [2008 series], 2011

^ https://ibb.co/XYvZBPg

 

 

Pablo Hidalgo on Lucas and the EU being separate Universes.

“He [Lucas] only considers his movies and TV projects as his universe, and told the Clone Wars writers to only worry about those.”

^ https://i.redd.it/3fpbkocr43q01.png

 

 

“What George Saw as Canon”

“In the old days, George Lucas saw his universe as separate from publishing [EU]. He wasn’t at all interested in connecting.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo [Lucasfilm Story Group] 2016

^ http://i.imgur.com/6ZOkAau.png

 

 

"From Star Wars Insider [The Official Star Wars Magazine] - Issue 77 , Using Dark Empire & The Thrawn Trilogy As Examples.

"So do episodes beyond Return of the Jedi exist? Nothing beyond possible story points and ideas, certainly not fleshed out story treatments or scripts. Fans often wonder if Dark Empire or the Thrawn Trilogy were based off those notes or are meant to be Episodes VII, VIII, IX. - That’s not the case.

Those works are the creation of their respective authors with the guidance of editors at Lucas Licensing. They are not, nor ever were, meant to be George Lucas’ definitive vision of what happens next"*

~ Pablo Hidalgo, 2004

^ https://ibb.co/K9PMgH3

 

 

“I did not have direct contact with George about Star Wars continuity. Dave Filoni, who worked on Clone Wars, definitely did. So for me, the spirit of George’s work is what’s in the films, and it doesn’t go too far beyond that.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator, SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview, Jan. 2018

“I didn’t have any direct contact with George about Star Wars. - I would see some notes based on the interviews or the meetings. But I did not have direct contact with George about Star Wars continuity.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator, SYFY WIRE Fandom Files #13 Interview, January, 2018

‘And what goes in the blank timeline spaces of the Film Only universe - can we never know the history or background of that Star Wars universe like we can in the EU Star Wars universe?’

“Nothing. That’s why it’s film only.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator for Lucas Licensing, StarWars.com, Jan. 2nd 2007

^ https://ibb.co/84z7rwM

 

 

“I think people over emphasize the importance of the canon level. The intent of the canon levels was, as the main intent was 'if someones looking for the ships from a film, they can than use those fields to check for them only in the films, and thus separate that from what was in the EU. So we can look at it case by case. I think there is an over emphasis of what those fields mean and what they represent”.

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator for Lucas Licensing

“That ‘level of canon’ thus helps in terms of bookkeeping. Those ‘canon levels’ are for the holocron.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo

^ ForceCast #273: The Galaxy Is Reading - Interview with Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo, 2013 Approximately the 1 hour mark so 1:00 - 1:02 mark

http://www.forcecast.net/story/home/ForceCast_273_The_Galaxy_Is_Reading_154431.asp

 

 

“Those of us writing the EU were always told, all along, from the very beginning (have I stressed that strongly enough?), “Only the Movies are Canon.” Sure, it was disappointing.”

~ Kathy Tyers, EU author [Truce at Bakura, Balance Point] Interview, 2018

http://starwarsinterviews.com/various/authors/kathy-tyers-author

 

 

Podcast Interview with Steve Perry, Author of Shadows of the Empire from the Expanded Universe:-

Interviewer - 'So what are your thoughts about your book and all the ones that came other than this last year are no longer part of the Official Star Wars Canon ever since Disney took over?

Steve Perry - “Ohh they never were! Nothing was ever canon other than the movies.”

^ The Ritual Misery Podcast with hosts Amos and Kent, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2569&v=opbMcVJolSA&feature=emb_logo

“They’re there to be enjoyed as unofficial Legends. But, as Zahn also points out, the Expanded Universe wasn’t really ever official regardless of what the fans thought.”

~ Timothy Zahn, The Daily Dot Interview, 2016

 

 

Entertainment Weekly reached the author in his Oregon lair to find out what he knew about Lucas’ plans for the post-Jedi chronology, and what he hopes those films might take from his still-beloved books.

That means Zahn’s books won’t be directly adapted, but the author says that was always the case: “The books were always just the books.”

“It could be an entirely new storyline, but if he picks and chooses bits and pieces from the expanded universe, we’d all be thrilled to death.”

~ Timothy Zahn, Entertainment Weekly Interview, 2012

https://ew.com/article/2012/11/02/star-wars-sequels-timothy-zahn/

“As far as I know, George Lucas himself is not involved. He has a liaison group that deals with the book people, the game people, etc. They do the day-to-day work. Occasionally, he will be asked a question and will give an answer.”

“I did meet Lucas once for a few minutes.”

~ Timothy Zahn, ‘The Book Report’ Interview, 1997

 

 

Once I heard that George Lucas was asked to comment on the many interpretations of Star Wars in book, comic, record, radio and TV spin-offs that grew from his original creation. ‘The films are gospel,’ he said, ‘all the rest are gossip.’ I like that."

Sounds like a typical George quote."

~ Andy Mangels, EU Author, Dec. 1995

^ https://ibb.co/3NHLTyB

 

 

"It’s not something we can really worry about, so we don’t. Lots of people have been working on lots of SW extrapolations for the last twenty years, in good faith. There were never any promises from George Lucas or Lucasfilm regarding the acceptance of their work into some wider canon."

~ Peet Janes, Dark Horse Comics Editor, 1998

^ https://ibb.co/QDBBdgR

 

 

‘Lucas mentioned having three trilogies planned. What do you think the last one could possibly be about that hasn’t been covered in the novels? Do you think the characters from Young Jedi Knights will show up in them?’

“If Lucas ever gets around to making a third trilogy (and this seems to be a rather BIG “if”), he has absolutely no obligation to use the characters or stories created by the authors, nor any intention to do so, from what I’ve heard. This would probably be at least ten years down the road, so it’s hard to speculate. I don’t expect to see any of our characters appearing, but we’d be flattered if they did.”

~ Rebecca Moesta Anderson [Wife and Co-Author to in certain literary works, to Kevin J. Anderson, EU Author], fellow EU Author, TFN Interview, 1997

^ https://ibb.co/ggZhhSb

 

 

“In the canon debate, it is important to notice that LucasFilm and Lucas are different entities. The only canon source of Star Wars are the radio plays, the movie novels and the movies themselves - in Lucas’ mind, nothing else exists, and no authorized LucasFilm novel will restrict his creativity in any way.”

~ Steven Sansweet, Lucasfilm Author - Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm Ltd., Star Wars Convention, Australia, 1998

SW Prequel Trilogy Mailing List, 1998 - FAQ

^ https://ibb.co/n762d7K

 


 

“Steven Sansweet was asked specifically if any of the characters like Admiral Thrawn and so on would make appearances in AoTC or the movie thereafter, and he responded quite clearly that *all the EU material is ”taking place in a separate universe”… there were quite a few nasty mumbles from the audience when he (Sansweet) said what he said.”

~ Steven Sansweet, EU Author - Director of Content Management and Head of Fan Relations at Lucasfilm, Comic-Con, 2001

“When it comes to absolute canon, the real story of Star Wars, you must turn to the films themselves - and only the films.* Even novelizations are interpretations of the film, and while they are largely true to George Lucas’ vision (he works quite closely with the novel authors), the method in which they are written does allow for some minor differences. The novelizations are written concurrently with the film’s production, so variations in detail do creep in from time to time. Nonetheless, they should be regarded as very accurate depictions of the fictional Star Wars movies.”

~ Steve Sansweet (and Chris Cerasi of LucasBooks), August 2001

“It is unfortunate that Karen Traviss is[EU author] moving on because of her opinion that canon is being changed. I guess the big problem is the assumption that her work is canon in the first place.* After working with George on The Clone Wars series I know there are *elements of her work that are not in line with his vision of Star Wars…”

~ Henry Gilroy, TCW series Head Writer [S1] / EU Author [Comics] Podcast Interview [Forcecast], Aug. 2008

“The Yasalamari creatures are not something that we brought into the show [with Thrawn who was canonized for the first time] in the Rebels series], so he wont have those Force Bubble creatures. When I asked, actually, I had a talk at one point a long time ago at one point during the Clone Wars production with George and we were discussing those creatures and we both thought they were kind of an implausibility because they were a part of life, they were alive, and things that are alive aren’t negated out of the Force so as we understood it, so I decided to not carry that forward[into the show]… it didn’t seem logical with what we had in the films.”

[Pablo Hidalgo had said something similar once in that It didn’t make sense, The Yasalmari Force bubble, with the way George Lucas described the Force in canon.]

~ Dave Filoni, Star Wars Celebration Europe, 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBVhBsN1H7Q

“That difficulty stems mostly from a misunderstanding on what those old tales were ever meant to be. The terminology of “Expanded Universe” was a careful one; it expanded on the world created in the core stories, but was never officially meant to be Star Wars canon, according to the Maker himself, George Lucas.”

~ Dave Filoni Comicbook.com interview, Sept. 5th, 2017

Star Wars: Dave Filoni Explains George Lucas and Lucasfilm’s Relationship with Legends [EU]

^ https://ibb.co/ZLK4hYc

"There is no more clear illustration of the difference between the Expanded Universe and the Star Wars created by George Lucas. The EU is a well of ideas, and there’s what’s on screen. They don’t live in the same universe. Everyone wants to think so, I know, and there is a lot of effort to make it all work, but it’s pretty clear when you start really looking at it that when you take ideas from the printed realm and bring it to screen, it’s not the same. They relate. There are similarities. I still enjoy a lot of those stories. I think there are a lot of great ideas. They influence you. They inspire you, which I think is the whole point of having an EU. We try to honor things when we can, to give nods to things, but at the end of the day there is a difference between what you see in the Star Wars films and TV series and what you see in those books.
[…]

We just need to think of it all as a creative collection of fun ideas separate from what George Lucas has made."

~ Dave Filoni, Star Wars Insider # 134, July, 2012

^ https://ibb.co/BL1y11V

‘You had mentioned in the press conference that when you were doing The Clone Wars you could take stuff from Legends [Expanded Universe than], like you made Darth Bane canon, thank you for that by the way!, and at one point you were gonna get Darth Revan in there [that never happened tho, it was cut from the Episode during the Mortis Arc at George Lucas’s order], but you guys were the only game in town at that time [canon],so you were able to pulls things from it [EU] and make them canon [In The Clone Wars series][…] Now when you pull things from the new canon, it’s history. So is that overwhelming now?’

“Honestly, it’s not very different from how I worked before. You know my main concentration is of course the stories I’m telling and the films. I think what we are more careful about now, as you know, before, we were the only thing really happening in canon when we did Clone Wars.[2008 iteration] - Now, you do have to say ‘is anyone doing anything with that?’ ‘No, okay, can we put some flags around that so we have that so when we’re ready we can get that…’ and everyone is pretty good at doing that.”

~ Dave Filoni Interview with ‘Jedi Council.net’, 2015

Video link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd-xeroG_is

“In all honesty, when I worked with George, George’s only concerns were the films and the TV series that we were making at the time. That was the continuity we stood by. I think that’s why, as we’ve gone forward with Lucasfilm, we’ve had this attitude of: we have the films, we have The Clone Wars — those are all the canon elements. And as we move forward with all the films and with TV series like Rebels, we’ll make sure they’re all in continuity.”

~ Dave Filoni, Cult Spark Interview, 2014

^ https://ibb.co/zVFbr7X

“The nice thing I can say is, it’s all more connected than it’s ever been at Lucasfilm. Before, we would change something in Clone Wars and people would be like, “Why are you changing canon?” We’re like, “Actually, we’re not. This is the way George wants it.” Now, that is a unified approach where I’m talking to several different people on different projects, and we’re all aware of what each other’s doing. We all get great ideas from each other and share ideas, so it’s a much more unified effort.”

~ Dave Filoni, IGN Interview, 2014

^ https://ibb.co/xFKpcwZ

“Kyber crystals are clear. They’re not like, oh, here’s a blue one. I know that’s been in some games, but as George described it, that’s not how it works. Because then anyone could have found them easily and they’re very difficult to find. That’s why Ilum is an ice cave–you can’t tell the ice from the crystals if you’re an average person. So there’s the Force kind of protecting itself as nature tends to from time to time.”

~ Dave Filoni, “Ahsoka’s Untold Tales” panel, SWCE 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS4sclln5J4

Dave Filoni - “In the EU there was a lot of stories about Grievous, that he was an incredible general that got shot down by Dooku in a shuttle and than re-engineered by Dooku to fight as a General. And we [Henry Gilroy] talk about that stuff, and it was in a Visionaries Comic book that WASN"T CANON, just one of possibilities.”

“So we called George [Lucas] up and he came over and we said what do you think about Grevious, what’s his back story?, because this is what we heard. George had a lot of ideas about where he thought Grievous came from and what he thought Grievous was about.”

One of the things George had mentioned was that Grievous wanted to be a Jedi but wasn’t Force Sensitive."

Henry Gilroy - “He wasn’t Force sensitive, he wasn’t able to use the Force, he knew he could never be a Sith Lord.”

Dave Filoni - “And his rejection of Jedi Status drove him to have modifications done to his body.”

Star Wars The Clone Wars Season One: Lair Of Grievous Featurette, 2009

https://youtu.be/lVfqDYTURWQ?t=16

The Lair of Grevious Episode, Season 1, Episode 10, of The Clone Wars series by George Lucas aired on Dec 12th, 2008.

 

 

““For me and my training here at Lucasfilm, working with George, he and I always thought the Expanded Universe was just that. It was an expanded universe. Basically it’s stories that are really fun and really exciting, but they’re a view on Star Wars, not necessarily canon to him. That was the way it was from the day I walked into Lucasfilm with him all through Clone Wars, everything we worked on, he felt the Clone Wars series and his movies were what was actually the reality of it all, the canon,” Filoni said, “then there was everything else. So it wasn’t a big dynamic shift for me mentally when there was this big announcement saying the EU is now Legends. I’m like, ‘Okay, well, it’s kind of the same thing to me because that the way I work.’ What George and I always used to do though is look at what was out there, and you would see characters like Ventress and go, ‘My gosh, what a great character.’ People love this character. He saw Aayla Secura; He puts her in the film. So there was this great collaborative way where you could take these ideas, but you have to always kind of apply the Star Wars Cinematic Universe of what the canon is to those characters when you translate them.”

~ Dave Filoni, ComicBook.com Interview, Sept 5th, 2017

^ https://ibb.co/fppPqv4

 

https://comicbook.com/starwars/news/star-wars-lucasfilm-legends-expanded-universe-george-lucas/

“In the same interview, *Dave Filoni said that George Lucas told him, that the movies and The Clone Wars television series, were the only thing Lucas considered canon.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_expanded_to_other_media

Do you consider The Clone Wars canon or part of the Expanded Universe? Is the old Cartoon Network show canon? How do the two relate and where do the two series fit in the Star Wars Universe?

“That’s one of the biggest debates in Star Wars, what counts? The idea of what is canon? When I talk to George I know that he considers his movies, this series and his live-action series canon.”

But there’s never an implicit connection between the micro-series that Cartoon Network did previously and the series that we’re doing now.

~ Dave Filoni, SW:TCW, CBR Interview, 2008

Dave Filoni, SW:TCW Supervising Director, Oct. 2008, ComicBookResources.com interview with Dave Filoni (by Jami Philbrick)

^ https://ibb.co/Pjj9MG5

“The importance of The Clone Wars that cannot be understated is that it was the last huge expansion of the Star Wars universe that came directly from George Lucas.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo

“This series [Star Wars: The Clone Wars - 2008] at least to George is NOT EU, it is a part of Star Wars as he sees it. I think if anything there was a period where Henry [Gilroy] and I had to learn exactly what it took to be a part of George Lucas’ Star Wars, and tell the Star Wars story his way. We had to learn how to look at the Galaxy from his point of view and let go of some of what we considered canon after we found out the ideas were only EU. Really we had to “unlearn what we had learned” and go back to the movies as the defining source material.”

~ Dave Filoni with Henry Gilroy, TFN Interview, 2008

^ https://ibb.co/RjTF8r7

 

 

Dark Empire Introduction - Kevin J. Anderson

https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/2tg9rk/excerpt_from_kevin_jandersons_intro_to_the_dark/

“When you read Dark Empire, or any of the other novels [EU] remember that although Lucasfilm has approved them, these are our sequels, not George Lucas’s.”

“If Lucasfilm ever makes films that take place after Return of the Jedi, they will be George Lucas’s own creations, probably with no connect to anything we have written.”

But in the meantime, enjoy these graphic stories, read the novels of Timothy Zahn, Kathy Tyers, Kenneth Flynt, Dave Wolverton, and myself. [Kevin J. Anderson]"

“That said, I think George has always felt that the comics were an “alternate Star Wars universe” from the films. I don’t think he ever saw the comics as canon — although he did use them as a resource for ideas and images.”

~ Tom Veitch Interview, EU Author, Dark Empire Trilogy 2016

^ https://ibb.co/CKXHGby

 

 

"Just like James said [James Arnold Taylor - Obi-Wan Kenobi VA], “In the beginning [When they first started working in The Clone Wars series as voice actors] we were encouraged not to be influenced by the books and this was when they were The Expanded Universe.”

~ Ashley Eckstein, voice actress of Ahsoka Tano in TCWs, Collider Jedi Council Interview, 2016

https://youtu.be/zq6RhH0X3w8?t=4290

“The fans love the show if for no other reason than it’s “Star Wars” and they know George Lucas has been in every single story meeting. As we get better at telling stories so does the drama. If they have a problem with the direction of the show they should call George. LOL.”

Tell me something about the show that would surprise even the biggest fans?

Taylor: Dumbledore is gay! Sorry let me think. I might get thrown in jail. Lucas jail.

"I think people don’t realize how involved George Lucas really is. Also how amazing [“Clone Wars supervising director] Dave Filoni is. I call him the James Cameron of animation. What the artists are doing on the show has been never done before. Period. The show is really ground breaking and an honor to write for. Rarely in my career have I handed over a script and later thought ‘They really made that cool.’ Dave and his team really do that.”

~ ‘The Force is strong with ‘Clone Wars’ writer’, Christian Taylor, C-Net Interview, 2011

https://www.cnet.com/news/the-force-is-strong-with-clone-wars-writer/

‘Is the Expanded Universe an influence on your work?’

I never really accessed the Star Wars Expanded Universe, and that keeps me focused on The Clone Wars. I think some writers can feel bogged down by the EU. A lot of it isn’t vital to telling stories in the Clone Wars. The films are very important to me, but I try to approach the show from a character and story perspective. I work with great people who know all about the Expanded Universe, so it can be referenced if need be. One of the great things about The Clone Wars is that if George Lucas says it’s true, then it’s true. That’s not to diminish the storytellers of the Expanded Universe, but we get the privilege to sit with George and hear him explain in detail what the rules of the Force are, and what the rules of the Jedi Order are."

‘What sort of things did he go into?’

"We were talking about the Mortis Arc. George spoke for about 20 minutes. It was really specific, carefully thought out, spiritually aligned philosophy. Everybody in the room was hushed.

Afterwards Dave said, “George hasn’t really talked about the Force a lot in the context of the show, so it’s really exciting that he’s getting to do this.”

~ “The Write Stuff”, Christian Taylor Interview, Head Writer - The Clone Wars - The Mortis Arc
Star Wars Insider 126

‘Is Lucasfilm more willing to give people a greater degree of creative freedom with the Star Wars Characters now than in the past?’

“I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. We’ve been given a lot more creative freedom in that sense that we’re letting people go into time periods and spin off stories that we didn’t do before. It’s really hard to say why we didn’t do that before but we’re doing it now. We’re trying to be true to the characters and true to the situations and not do anything that would interfere with future stories that George himself wants to tell. Within the spin-offf universe that we’re creating, we are going to great lengths for there to be consistency and continuity.”

~ Howard Roffman Interview, President of Lucas Licensing, in charge of the EU,
Star wars Insider 22 [Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine], 1994

Full page source - https://ibb.co/jDN8LTh

‘An often asked question we receive is whether the Timothy Zahn books are supposed to be the official story for the last three films in the Star Wars Saga since George is not sure whether he will ever get to those?’

"No, they are not. The whole book series is independent from the films. The one thing we will not do in any book series is pre-empt any of the sequels. There are a number of trilogies coming out in book form, like the one from Kevin Anderson, which are not the stories of episodes seven, eight and nine. It was never intended to be that way.

~ Howard Roffman Interview, President of Lucas Licensing, in charge of the EU,
Star wars Insider 22 [Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine], 1994

Full page source - https://ibb.co/ZKwhfDZ

“As a longtime supporter of Lucasfilm, I was glad to find out [in Issue 14] that the recent Star Wars novel, Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, is not in fact the Official continuation of the Star Wars saga. I have read the new book and enjoyed it. As I read it, I was distraught by the fact that George Lucas did not have an active role in developing the story…”

“I just read Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, and want to say what a great book it is. It truly captures the essence of the characters and situations while at the same time giving us new adventures and new villains. It’s great to have at long last the further adventures of Luke Skywalker. If the remaining six films are done, will the third trilogy be based on Zahn’s books? In any event, thanks and may the Force be with you.”

“Dear Franco: Thank you for your letter and comments. Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars books are fictionalized accounts of Luke Skywalker’s adventures and will not be the stories George Lucas will use in the sequels to Star Wars.”

~ Star Wars Insider 15 [The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine] 15, 1992

Full Page Source - https://ibb.co/JpbfZRJ

“If you’ve visited your bookstore lately, you have no doubt seen the new hard cover Star Wars novel, ‘Heir the the Empire’ by Timothy Zahn and wondered if it is, in fact, the official continuation of the Star Wars saga. No, it’s not. Although the book is licensed and approved by Lucasfilm, it is not George Lucas’ story of the continuing saga, but, rather, a story of the author’s own imagination.”

~ Timothy Zahn Interview/Editorial, The Lucasfilm Fan Club Magazine [Renamed Star Wars Insider] 14, 1991

Full Page Source - https://ibb.co/zxsw6y4

"But Lucas allows for an Expanded Universe that exists parallel to the one he directly oversees. […] Though these [Expanded Universe] stories may get his stamp of approval, they don’t enter his canon unless they are depicted cinematically in one of his projects.”

~ Pablo Hidalgo, Star Wars: The Essential Reader’s Companion, 2012

“The true canon will always be the movies, as George has done them.” [Steve Sansweet does say sometimes he will answer some yes or no questions or for permission if needed related to the EU and that he does work with the writers of the movie novelizations - and only the writers of the movie novelizations. Canon was only used in reference to the movies.]

 

USED

Q) There’s a lot of continuity errors in the EU, and AOTC didn’t help in reducing them. We know George authorizes a lot of storylines for books, comics, etc, but does he take into account what has been done by Star Wars authors when he writes?

“Ahhh… No. Nope. :::laughs:::He does his own thing. And than its up to us Gnomes in the background to sort of try and figure out continuity patches”

~ Steve Sansweet Interview, Director of Content Management, April 7th, 2003

http://download.theforce.net/sansweet_interview.mp3

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Steve_Sansweets_SW_Live_Interview_62934.asp

 

 

Genndy Tartakovsky Speaks Out About His Star Wars: Clone Wars Animated Series:-

Prior to the premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the traditionally animated Clone Wars was deemed “non-canon” by Lucasfilm. Tartakovsky recently addressed that in a new interview with Digital Spy.

Clone Wars aired on Cartoon Network beginning in 2003 before it was cancelled in 2005 and later declared non-canonical by George Lucas

“It’s frustrating that they tried to erase it from being canon,” explained Tartakovsky. “At first, it was canon. And then once George [Lucas] started doing the CG version, he wanted to clean the slate. And so they de-canonised ours.”

“The whole Star Wars thing — I’ve moved on. I don’t lose sleep over it,” related Tartakovsky. “It’s fun to have people still love it, and for new people to still discover it.”

~ Genndy Tartakovsky Interview with Digital Spy, 2020

https://www.superherohype.com/tv/475912-genndy-tartakovsky-speaks-out-about-his-star-wars-clone-wars-animated-series

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a30629880/star-wars-clone-wars-force-awakens-director-similarities/

‘And more generally speaking, did you pay attention to what have been done regarding the Clone Wars (books, comics) in order to create the stories for this series?’

“I always tried to pay respect to the book and comics that chronicled the war, but George didn’t want us to be limited in any way. Still, using characters that came from the comics, like Asajj Ventress were a blast to work with and we had a lot of fun developing them further on screen.”

~ Henry Gilroy, Head Writer for ‘The Clone Wars’ [2008], EU author [comics], ‘The Clone Wars: Interviews Exclusives’, Aug 2008

 

 

Pablo Hidalgo and Dave Filoni are two very authoritative sources when it comes to Star Wars continuity, specifically that of The Clone Wars. With that in mind, their Friday panel, “The Dark Side Clouds Everything,” drew major crowds. Here’s what went down on the Behind-the-Scenes Stage.

Pablo began the panel by discussing its premise: the evolution of TCW as a series meant that discussions about canon – including how Filoni and his team interpreted and presented George Lucas’s message – were widespread. It was an important subject, and one that Dave and Pablo would explore for the next hour.

"Pablo Hidalgo talked about the discrepancies that can arise when George Lucas takes something from the EU and modifies it to fully match his vision. He said that George may borrow concepts from the EU if it suits his creative direction, but that he will often change it around. Dave discussed the fact that a lot of concepts known for their appearances in TCW actually had their roots in older materials and circumstances. Jedi Master Terra Sinube of Lightsaber Lost fame was based on concept work for a Senator. Dave stressed the fact that George keeps all manner of concept ideas around for later use. Mace Windu was originally a droid trader named Mace Windi, as many Star Wars fans know. But Pablo pointed out that you can’t tell Sam Jackson that he isn’t playing Mace Windu simply the character was actually a droid trader. Lucasfilm is trying to adapt and make old concepts modern and use groundwork laid years before in a fresh new way. And as Dave pointed out, everyone has his or her own visions of the EU because they take in this material through the printed word, without full visualizations to solidify the look of a ship, character, or planet. The hardest part of being the director of TCW, Dave said, is taking subjective content from print materials and putting it into a visual form that everyone sees in the same way.

Dave also touched on George’s vision and how that affected The Clone Wars, particularly for Season Two. He said that George described concepts for Mandalorian episodes (Duchess Satine, the planet Mandalore, and the Death Watch) very specifically. Dave joked that he would call Pablo and continuity guru Leland Chee to warn them of George’s intentions. He’d tell them that George was working on Mandalorians in a new way and that “there’s a couple of differences” from the EU in Pablo’s guides. Ultimately, Dave said, his job is to bring George’s vision to the show."

~ Celebration V - Dark Side Clouds Everything Panel, 2010

http://www.theforce.net/celebration/story/CV_Dark_Side_Clouds_Everything_Panel_133237.asp

"Ohh… the Mandolorians… they changed the Mandolorians [The Clone Wars series]. For people who say that, quote me on this, dig this:

Karen Traviss, she didn’t get everything right. Sorry, but she just didn’t. If you read her Republic Commando books, Order 66 is an order on the books in the Republic Military Handbook. It’s like ‘Well, If this happens we institute Order 66 if the Jedi go bad’ than the Clones have to go and kill all the Jedi.

If you watch the movie [ROTS], that’s not the case. It is very clear if you watch ROTS that it(Order 66) is not an order on the books. And its simple from this one detail, that Karen Traviss ignored, but the detail is when Sidious shows up as a hologram and says execute order 66 the clones say it will be done my lord. Not yes sir, not yes chancellor…It will be done my lord"

"Commander Cody has never seen a Sith Lord. He doesn’t know what a Sith Lord is. He’s never seen Darth Sidious.

They hear ‘Order 66’, The brain washing kicks in the moment they hear the words “Order 66” and they look at that hologram and they see god. They see the man responsible for their creation, Darth Sidious, and thats what it is."

“And BTW I have it on authority from George Lucas and Dave Filoni that that’s exactly what it is.
What Karen Traviss did with Order 66, was great, but that’s not what happened in the movie… If you are going to take Lucas and Filoni to task for changing the Mandalorians you have to take Karen Traviss to task for changing one of the most key plot points of the entire saga” - And that’s not the only thing she changed. She went in her own direction on a lot of things. So there ya go."

~ Sam Witwer Interview, voice actor for Starkiller [Force Unleashed] and Darth Maul and the Son from the Clone Wars series [2008], ‘The Voice of the Republic Podcast Episode 17’, 2013

In years past, the storylines that would appear in print and on screen were developed separately, resulting in an “Expanded Universe” that differed in ways large and small from the filmmaker’s “canon.” These rich stories provide a treasure trove of characters to fall in love with – and deep worlds to explore and will live on in both physical and digital editions, newly-branded as Star Wars Legends.

~ Scott Shannon, SVP, publisher, Del Rey Books 2014, StarWars.com

^ https://ibb.co/B4MSLpC

https://www.starwars.com/news/disney-publishing-worldwide-and-random-house-announce-relaunch-of-star-wars-adult-fiction-line

“We’re extremely proud of the hundreds of amazing Star Wars books we’ve published at Del Rey,” said Scott Shannon, SVP, publisher, Del Rey and Digital Content, “And now we’re excited to finally be able to call our upcoming novels true canon – a single, cohesive Star Wars storyline – all while keeping the amazing backlist of Star Wars Legends content in print.”

~ Scott Shannon, SVP, publisher, Del Rey Books 2014, StarWars.com

https://ibb.co/XbdY1Ck

With that said, there is a discrepancy between Return of the Jedi novelization and the one, true, absolutely and ONLY canonical Star Wars source: the Movies."

Star Wars Insider 57

^ https://ibb.co/WpSNXDZ

“George had bigger fish to fry. He was trying to change filmmaking with digital technology. He wasn’t going to get involved in the minutiae of the Expanded Universe. He, quite literally, had better things to do.”

~ J.W. Rinzler, Author and Editor for Lucas Licensing / LucasBooks,
interviewed for SWNN’s “The Resistance Broadcast”

https://www.starwars.com/news/introducing-jonathan-rinzler

“Well in George, George couldn’t stand Mara Jade, well he just couldn’t stand, couldn’t deal and they went out and got some sort of person who looked like she’d stepped out of a Cosmopolitan to be the model Mara and he just thought the whole thing was so not Star Wars and not his vision of Star Wars and once, I forget, I think Sue Rostoni between the novels told me or anyway told me they were killing off Mara Jade and I said ‘Do I get to tell George?'”

~ J.W.Rinzler, Author and Editor for Lucas Licensing / Lucasbooks
Interview for SWNN’s “The Resistance Broadcast”

http://starwarshub.net/2019/02/01/according-to-author-j-w-rinzler-george-lucas-couldnt-stand-the-character-of-mara-jade/

‘So why did George Lucas allow the Expanded Universe to continue on, if he never accepted it as canonical?’

“Licensing started after Episode I, just became this juggernaut that was making just truck loads and truck loads of money. So, you don’t bother licensing.”

~ J.W.Rinzler, Author and Editor for Lucas Licensing / Lucasbooks, 2019 -
Interview for SWNN’s “The Resistance Broadcast”
-

^ https://ibb.co/25vCnWh

https://www.starwars.com/news/introducing-jonathan-rinzler

 

 

“That was one of my mandates, when I began the spin off publishing program it was a sacrosanct rule that everything had to relate to each other, be consistent with each other and be consistent with the ‘movies which were canon.’ We were pretty religious about doing that, our biggest problem was a guy named George Lucas, because he didn’t buy into the spin off fiction and the game program and all the ‘alternate universe’ we were creating.”

“We wanted it to be one universe, we felt strongly that that’s what it needed to be, but George as the filmmaker didn’t want to be beholden to somebody else’s creative vision.”

So we would have very interesting skirmishes because we had a bunch of stuff that became to the fans pretty much canon about what happened after Return of the Jedi, what different places in the galaxy were called, lots of different things and if he was proposing to do something in the prequels that contradicted that we would have long debates which usually ended at least after the first session with “I don’t care this is what I’m doing”, but after the 4th or 5th session sometimes “Alright ‘maybe’ we can change it this way”

Now that everything is controlled by one central committee [Lucasfilm Story Group] we can have canon that applies to everything.

~ Messing with a Classic—Howard Roffman, Lucasfilm, 2017 interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMKHgwH-gY4

 

 

“You have to understand how George Lucas works, and I’ve been working with him for 30 years. He is driven by his own personal vision. He believes in the integrity of that, and he doesn’t believe in letting outside forces like studios, research, or fans for that matter, etc. interfere with the story he wants to tell.”

~ Howard Roffman, President of Lucas Licensing, Fanboy Rebellion Interview, 2010.

^ https://ibb.co/rym6qc0

 

 

In this November 2012 interview with Peter Mayhew [Actor who played Chewbacca] he talks about when he got the news from a Lucasfilm Employee that they were killing off Chewbacca in Vector Prime, that the Lucasfilm Employee consoled him by stating

“Fortunately it doesn’t effect the movies what the books say”.

https://roqoodepot.com/2012/11/page/5/

https://youtu.be/o7WBx2naKLk?t=440

“Mara Jade is an outstanding character, and we here at Insider thank Timothy Zahn everyday for creating her. However, stories from the Expanded Universe books are not part of the canon of the films and therefore it is doubtful she’ll make an appearance. Having said that, we’d love to see Ms. Jade inserted in Return of the Jedi.”

~ Star Wars Insider 79, Page 7.

^ https://ibb.co/ZWBXWbN

“I know that GL doesn’t create the stories and concepts for the SW novels, but does anyone know if he approves overall story ideas?”

“In general, George doesn’t see the overall story ideas or concepts. If there is a sensitive area, or if we are developing backstory for a character he’s created or mentioned in an interview, we can query him to get more information, his approval, or whatever. And yes, we always query him if we’re doing something drastic to a film character. I believe he does read the concepts for the games though.”

~ Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing (LLP Managing Editor), Jun 2004, StarWars.com

^ https://ibb.co/m6CFDrh

“George knows more about Star Wars than we do. He doesn’t see the Expanded Universe as ”his” Star Wars, but as ”ours.” I think this has been mentioned previously, maybe in other places, but it’s not new info, as far as I remember.”

~ Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing (LLP Managing Editor), Jun 2004, StarWars.com

^ https://ibb.co/m6CFDrh

"The books have to follow the same continuity the films do, as they are an integral part of the overall story of Star Wars that Lucasfilm LTD. recognizes as a legitimate continuation of the films, right?

Yes, the books follow the continuity of the films as best we can taking into account that George follows his own continuity, and rightly so. He’s the filmmaker.

As far as ”legitimate continuation of the films” – If George had continued making SW films past Return of the Jedi, I don’t think they would have reflected what the SW authors have written. The books, comics, etc., are a ”legitimate continuation” of the Star Wars saga as we [Lucas Licensing] define it."

~ Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing (LLP Managing Editor), Jan 2005 - StarWars.com forum posts [Q&A]

^ https://ibb.co/FqFSTrJ

"Does the main storyline for books and comics go through Lucas to make sure it isn’t going to conflict with future movies?

No. George doesn’t give us much information about his future movies until he’s making them. In general, George does not take the EU into account when he’s making his movies.[…]
It’s our job to manipulate the EU into fitting George’s future movies, which often contradict stuff we’ve done. Not our ONLY job, of course."

~ Sue Rostoni, LucasBooks Managing Editor, July 17, 2003 - StarWars.com forum post

^ https://ibb.co/DpS6yHg

“Within the issue of Starlog magazine with the War of the Worlds cover is an interview article with George Lucas. He stated something which he had said before, which is that he doesn’t follow the SW EU, he doesn’t read the books or comics. He also said that when they started doing all this (which is allowing other storytellers to tell their own SW tales), he had decreed that the Star Wars Universe would be split into two just like Star Trek, one would be his own universe (the six episode movie saga), the other would be a whole other universe (the Expanded Universe). He continued to say that the EU tries as much as possible to tie in to his own universe, but sometimes they move into a whole other line of their own.”

Sue Rostoni: “Yeah, this is pretty much what I’ve heard, except that people have said he reads the comics.”

Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing (LLP Managing Editor), Sept. 2005 - StarWars.com forum post

~ Confirmed by Sue Rostoni, Lucas Licensing Publishing (LLP Managing Editor), StarWars.com, 2005

^ https://ibb.co/Cw58jbf

 

 

'Q: ‘Hi Mr Chee! I’ve got a question about continuity – are all the various different media of Star Wars (the films, TCW, the video games, the EU) intended to form a single universe, or is the EU intended as a parallel, alternate universe? I realise that fans tend to each have their own personal preferences, but I was wondering what the official Lucasfilm company policy regarding this was? Many thanks!’.

“The dual universe question comes up often. I know George Lucas has mentioned it being two universes, but that’s not how I see it. His vision is definitely not beholden to ours, but ours is definitely beholden to his.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator, Facebook chat, August 2012

^ https://ibb.co/7JX07GC

 

 

TFN: So what is the deal with General Grievous’ origin? There’s the first version with the shuttle crash where Dooku upgraded him and there’s the new one with him choosing to upgrade himself. Why the different versions?

Henry Gilroy: George envisioned something different than what was created for the EU and Dave and I jumped at the chance to explore that.

~ Henry Gilroy, Head Writer TCWs / EU Author TCW TFN Interview 2008

^ https://ibb.co/x85NdHj

 

TFN: It’s well know by now that authors and writers of other Star Wars projects are often given creative ‘boundaries.’ Assuming this is the case for the new Clone Wars series, were there any surprises to you in terms of what wasn’t off-limits?

Henry: George gave Dave and I a lot of freedom and he didn’t want us to be limited by what the EU had established.

~ Henry Gilroy, Head Writer TCWs/ EU Author TCW TFN Interview 2008

^ https://ibb.co/7JkjNQ3

"George is the Alpha and the Omega, and is involved in the story from beginning to end. On The Clone Wars, that means from the initial story idea until the final sound mix. I knew from the moment I got the job that The Clone Wars was going to be George’s show. My job was to execute his vision and I have always tried my best to do that.

As time went on George became more involved and wrote more stories and just about every story now comes from ‘The Maker Himself’".

~ Henry Gilroy, Head Writer TCW, EU Author [comics] Star Wars Insider 103

^ https://ibb.co/6ZNbFDs

 

 

'Sorry Tasty [Leland Chee], a rather long and boring question about continuity, canon and the Holocron…

Much earlier this year, I participated in a debate in the Can We Get “The Canon Argument” Out of the Way Now… thread on this board and had a long discussion with another poster on the canonicity of the EU.

The poster had argued that based on George Lucas’s quotes in Cinescape in July 2002 and in Starlog in August 2005, where he mentions the films and the EU and films being “two separate worlds” and the EU being a “parallel universe”, that there are officially two different Star Wars universes or continuities:

  • George Lucas’ Star Wars universe, which is the ‘real’ Star Wars universe, consisting of the 6 Star Wars movies and only those films; the stories set out in the EU do not happen, nor are a part of that universe or story.

  • The Expanded Universe’s Star Wars universe, which is not the same as the ‘real’ Star Wars universe, but is it’s own spin-off universe based on it; it does not reflect George Lucas’ vision of the story of what ‘really happens’ in Star Wars.

^ https://ibb.co/jZbDXnM

 

When I mentioned your statements about the different canonicity levels in Star Wars, he argued that they were only applicable to the EU Star Wars universe, and didn’t apply to George Lucas’ Star Wars universe. Further more he posited that since Lucas Licensing and LucasFilm Ltd are separate entities, that the statements of Lucas Licensing employees do not and cannot override George Lucas’ quotes, or the quotes of LucasFilm Ltd employees, since Lucas Licensing cannot know or comment accurately about the policies of LFL.

I on the other hand argued that there was only one official Star Wars universe or continuity, which is made up of both the Star Wars films and the EU and contains materials of different levels of canonicity as described in your blog. I contended that the quotes of Lucas where he mentions “two worlds” were not supposed to be taken literally; he was describing how his work on the films was ‘his world’ and he didn’t get involved in the EU which was ‘a separate world’.

Additionally, I argued that LucasFilm Ltd and Lucas Licensing, being divisions of the same company, worked together closely and thus each division was aware of and could comment with accuracy on the policies of the other.

I was wondering which of our arguments were correct? Or are we both off the mark in some way? Many thanks!’
 

a rather long and boring question about continuity, canon and the Holocron…

“The only relevant official continuities are the current versions of the films alone, and the combined current version of the films along with whatever else we’ve got in the Holocron. You’re never going to know what George’s view of the universe beyond the films at any given time because it is constantly evolving. It remains elastic until it gets committed to film or another official source. Even then, we know there’s always room for change. Though the Holocron is maintained by Licensing, it is utilized by folks throughout all the Lucas companies.”

~ Leland Chee, Continuity Database Administrator, StarWars.com, Dec.6th 2006

^ https://ibb.co/VmPN1fr

'Thanks for answering my question, Tasty! Looks like I was wrong about there only being one Star Wars continuity.

A follow up question - of the two official continuities (the films alone continuity and the films + EU continuity), is one more ‘official’ than the other; which is the ‘true’ Star Wars universe? Also, do they share the same history, or are the events of one supposed to be different to the events of the other? For example, the age old question of did Boba Fett die in the Sarlacc pit - in the films + EU continuity he survives, but in the films alone continuity we don’t know if he does or not. Does this mean that it’s possible that he died in one Star Wars universe (the films alone), but survived in the other (the films + EU)? Many thanks!’
 

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I’d never seen George’s quote about there never being a war between Jedi and Sith before. That’s really interesting to see. The Sith having ruled the Galaxy makes sense with what Palpatine says in RotS, but this version of events doesn’t explain why the Sith want revenge against the Jedi, or rather what they want revenge for. People would naturally assume from that that the Jedi and Sith must have fought in the past. Also, having the Sith rule “about 2000 years ago” still contradicts Obi-Wan’s talk about “over a thousand generations.”

George said he fleshed out this larger history of the Jedi and Sith, and that he didn’t get the chance to show it, but a prequel trilogy seems like a pretty opportune time to do exposition on that. The whole trilogy is about the Sith plotting revenge against the Jedi to regain control of the Galaxy, so a little bit of history and context would make sense there. We needed that more than we needed an explanation of midi-chlorians.

The old EU’s greatest strength came from the fact that was it was optional and not really canon. It meant that George had a more hands-off approach with the different authors and their stories, and that those authors had the creative freedom to shape the world and storylines in creative, experimental directions. And if an attempted story direction didn’t work out, well then, authors could course correct from that in future stories, and it’s not like the stories were hard Canon, anyway, so they wouldn’t negatively affect George’s mainline Star Wars.

As much as I enjoy much of the old EU, George made the right call to compartmentalize it as an “alternate universe” and let there be different “tiers” of Canon. It was a mistake of Lucasfilm to throw out the tier system and try to make every new material Canon. That was never going to work out.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.

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So it’s fine for George to not consider the EU canon, but Disney saying the same this is a travesty. As for the new books and comics being considered canon, I don’t see anything wrong with trying to have as much continuity going forward as they can, even if it isn’t perfect.

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Rodney-2187 said:

So it’s fine for George to not consider the EU canon, but Disney saying the same this is a travesty. As for the new books and comics being considered canon, I don’t see anything wrong with trying to have as much continuity going forward as they can, even if it isn’t perfect.

No one is saying that. It’s to be expected that Disney would reset the EU. It made sense to do that. That’s not the problem here. The problem is that they had a chance to learn lessons from the old EU and use those lessons to create a more polished, high quality canon moving forward.

And they didn’t do that. The new canon is a mess that’s repeated many of the old EU’s mistakes in a fraction of the time. And the stubborn insistence on having every new book or comic be hard Canon, regardless of it’s quality, with no way to filter out or compartmentalize subpar stories, has been a huge mistake.

They should have anticipated that contradictions would emerge between stories, and that some new stories would end up being duds. And since the whole concept of soft canon and differing levels of Canon had been useful for dealing with that in the past, they shouldn’t have abandoned that. It was awfully presumptuous of the Story Group to assume that they could keep the new canon straight with everything on an equal level of canonicity. Even if they had tried their best, that was bound to fail. So we end up having mistakes, contradictions, and bad stories being etched into “hard Canon” status forever, with no clear way to remove them.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.

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Servii said:

No one is saying that.

I’ve seen it stated many times, though I wasn’t accusing anyone specifically.

Servii said:

That’s not the problem here. The problem is that they had a chance to learn lessons from the old EU and use those lessons to create a more polished, high quality canon moving forward. And they didn’t do that.

In my opinion, they did. It isn’t perfect, but the continuity is miles better than the old EU. The EU has some great stories, but in my opinion it was a bigger mess.

Servii said:

So we end up having mistakes, contradictions, and bad stories being etched into “hard Canon” status forever, with no clear way to remove them.

I’m just saying, if the old EU already wasn’t considered canon by George and many others, so I don’t get the outrage some had over Disney moving it all to “Legends” status.

Canon isn’t some holy designation. I don’t think anyone is expected to treat the new novels and comics like they’re the sacred Jedi texts. It’s just a way to more easily move forward with new stories. I don’t think they’re writing them in stone forever and always.

Just because it isn’t perfect, doesn’t mean it isn’t worth doing. In the future, any of these new stories could also be moved over to Legends. I glad they made room for new stories to be told, and it’s not like they erased the old ones from history. They’ve even reissued many of them.

I didn’t mean to derail the thread. I just thought it was worth nothing their handling of the EU is one of the complaints I see leveled often against Disney, and it’s interesting to see so many quotes from George on how he always considered it less than canon anyway.

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Yeah , the Legends/canon debate never really bothered me as I remember when the original Marvel comics were kind of dismissed in the 90s and not considered worthy of " Canon " status , and then a decade or so later , they were incorporated into the EU novels and comics etc . Plus , you have the fact that though George didn’t see the EU material as part of his universe , he still often cherry picked from it , from the prequels to the clone wars and even to his sequel trilogy treatments . Which is what the current iteration of Lucasfilm under Disney has been doing a lot of as well .So I see that as relevant to this threads title . I have been making the point ,often ,as well , that the legends material is still in print and yes , a lot of it is even being re issued with newly commissioned cover art .A lot of people act like those stories were wiped from existence when that is clearly not the case .The way I see it ,with everything out there , anyone is free to follow one or the other or even mix and match to suit their tastes where it fits . There’s something for everyone and I will never complain about it . I just read/watch what I like and ignore the rest . I remember the dark times , from about 1986 to 1991 when there was hardly any Star Wars material available .

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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screams in the void said:

Yeah , the Legends/canon debate never really bothered me as I remember when the original Marvel comics were kind of dismissed in the 90s and not considered worthy of " Canon " status , and then a decade or so later , they were incorporated into the EU novels and comics etc . Plus , you have the fact that though George didn’t see the EU material as part of his universe , he still often cherry picked from it , from the prequels to the clone wars and even to his sequel trilogy treatments . Which is what the current iteration of Lucasfilm under Disney has been doing a lot of as well .So I see that as relevant to this threads title . I have been making the point ,often ,as well , that the legends material is still in print and yes , a lot of it is even being re issued with newly commissioned cover art .A lot of people act like those stories were wiped from existence when that is clearly not the case .The way I see it ,with everything out there , anyone is free to follow one or the other or even mix and match to suit their tastes where it fits . There’s something for everyone and I will never complain about it . I just read/watch what I like and ignore the rest . I remember the dark times , from about 1986 to 1991 when there was hardly any Star Wars material available .

That’s a good way of approaching it. Star Wars is like a buffet. You enjoy what you like and leave the rest for others. It’s not really worth it to get caught up in which stories are canon or not, since they’re all works of fiction, anyway. The old EU’s “softer” approach to canon, with the different tiers and all that, was more supportive of that “buffet” mindset, since you could take or leave individual stories based on what you preferred. Disney canon is more monolithic by comparison, though that may be starting to change now with stuff like Visions and the KOTOR remake.

But we can’t turn back. Fear is their greatest defense. I doubt if the actual security there is any greater than it was on Aquilae or Sullust. And what there is is most likely directed towards a large-scale assault.

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Servii said:

screams in the void said:

Yeah , the Legends/canon debate never really bothered me as I remember when the original Marvel comics were kind of dismissed in the 90s and not considered worthy of " Canon " status , and then a decade or so later , they were incorporated into the EU novels and comics etc . Plus , you have the fact that though George didn’t see the EU material as part of his universe , he still often cherry picked from it , from the prequels to the clone wars and even to his sequel trilogy treatments . Which is what the current iteration of Lucasfilm under Disney has been doing a lot of as well .So I see that as relevant to this threads title . I have been making the point ,often ,as well , that the legends material is still in print and yes , a lot of it is even being re issued with newly commissioned cover art .A lot of people act like those stories were wiped from existence when that is clearly not the case .The way I see it ,with everything out there , anyone is free to follow one or the other or even mix and match to suit their tastes where it fits . There’s something for everyone and I will never complain about it . I just read/watch what I like and ignore the rest . I remember the dark times , from about 1986 to 1991 when there was hardly any Star Wars material available .

That’s a good way of approaching it. Star Wars is like a buffet. You enjoy what you like and leave the rest for others. It’s not really worth it to get caught up in which stories are canon or not, since they’re all works of fiction, anyway. The old EU’s “softer” approach to canon, with the different tiers and all that, was more supportive of that “buffet” mindset, since you could take or leave individual stories based on what you preferred. Disney canon is more monolithic by comparison, though that may be starting to change now with stuff like Visions and the KOTOR remake.

yup , it is like a buffet , and with the current canon , I also take or leave individual stories based on what I prefer ,as I do with the old EU .

https://screamsinthevoid.deviantart.com/

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From several comments I’ve read about what George intended if he made a sequel trilogy, was it really Disney who pushed the EU to Legends, or was that from George? It happened after the purchase, but so did the real development of the sequel trilogy. The way I’m reading the events is that this was an internal Lucasfilm dictate because the films trump the books and related materials.

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yotsuya said:

From several comments I’ve read about what George intended if he made a sequel trilogy, was it really Disney who pushed the EU to Legends, or was that from George? It happened after the purchase, but so did the real development of the sequel trilogy. The way I’m reading the events is that this was an internal Lucasfilm dictate because the films trump the books and related materials.

The 2008 Clone Wars set a major precedent when it basically disregarded the entire continuity of the 2002-2005 clone wars multimedia project.

So yeah, I think it’s fair to say that even if George had been more directly involved with Episode VII he still wouldn’t have felt beholden to the existing EU in any way.

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Fang Zei said:

yotsuya said:

From several comments I’ve read about what George intended if he made a sequel trilogy, was it really Disney who pushed the EU to Legends, or was that from George? It happened after the purchase, but so did the real development of the sequel trilogy. The way I’m reading the events is that this was an internal Lucasfilm dictate because the films trump the books and related materials.

The 2008 Clone Wars set a major precedent when it basically disregarded the entire continuity of the 2002-2005 clone wars multimedia project.

So yeah, I think it’s fair to say that even if George had been more directly involved with Episode VII he still wouldn’t have felt beholden to the existing EU in any way.

You know, I’ve watched both and I don’t see it as that different. From the start until the shot where the light in the tower goes out, the 2003 series is set before anything in the 2008 series. Only that last portion, which takes place on the eve of Ep III, isn’t completely in line, and even then, it isn’t far off. It isn’t nearly as far off as the Legends origin story of Han Solo by A.C. Crispin vs. the origin story in Solo. To me it doesn’t feel like they threw it out as much as they had spent several years developing these characters and had a slightly different take on things. And even then, I think most of the 2003 series still works. But Clone Wars 2008 seasons 1-6 take place between those two sections of Clone Wars 2003. It is only season 7 that overlaps with the last section of Clone Wars 2003.

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Servii said:

I’d never seen George’s quote about there never being a war between Jedi and Sith before. That’s really interesting to see. The Sith having ruled the Galaxy makes sense with what Palpatine says in RotS, but this version of events doesn’t explain why the Sith want revenge against the Jedi, or rather what they want revenge for. People would naturally assume from that that the Jedi and Sith must have fought in the past. Also, having the Sith rule “about 2000 years ago” still contradicts Obi-Wan’s talk about “over a thousand generations.”

I think what Lucas means is that rather than armies of Jedi and Sith fighting each other, the Sith split into rival warlords and then the Jedi took down each Sith warlord separately. Keep in mind that I think Lucas meant for the Sith to have followed the Rule of Two for most of their history (hence Yoda knowing about it) and the EU misunderstood the TPM novelization as implying that Darth Bane lived 1000 years before the movies rather than being part of the group of rogue Jedi who founded the Sith.

I don’t think Obi-Wan meant that the Republic had never been conquered for “over a thousand generations”, but rather he meant that the Jedi had always saved the day. I’ve never heard anyone say that KOTOR contradicts Obi-Wan’s line by taking place less than 1000 generations before the movies.

Servii said:

George said he fleshed out this larger history of the Jedi and Sith, and that he didn’t get the chance to show it, but a prequel trilogy seems like a pretty opportune time to do exposition on that. The whole trilogy is about the Sith plotting revenge against the Jedi to regain control of the Galaxy, so a little bit of history and context would make sense there. We needed that more than we needed an explanation of midi-chlorians.

This 1000x. When Anakin asked Qui-Gon what midichlorians are, he should have also asked what a Sith is.

Servii said:

The old EU’s greatest strength came from the fact that was it was optional and not really canon. It meant that George had a more hands-off approach with the different authors and their stories, and that those authors had the creative freedom to shape the world and storylines in creative, experimental directions. And if an attempted story direction didn’t work out, well then, authors could course correct from that in future stories, and it’s not like the stories were hard Canon, anyway, so they wouldn’t negatively affect George’s mainline Star Wars.

As much as I enjoy much of the old EU, George made the right call to compartmentalize it as an “alternate universe” and let there be different “tiers” of Canon. It was a mistake of Lucasfilm to throw out the tier system and try to make every new material Canon. That was never going to work out.

Agreed. So many fans think that anything that’s published must be hard canon and that for anything that’s ever been published to not be hard canon would be “confusing”, but I think having to track down everything that’s ever been published is far more confusing than just having to watch some movies.