Lucas never said he didn't consider the EU part of the story, he said he didn't consider it part of his story, of the specific story he was trying to tell. I mean, he never completely ignored it, he inserted the Outrider and the speeder bike from Shadows of the Empire into the SE of ANH, he put Aayla Secura into AOTC and ROTS, he got the name Coruscant from Heir to the Empire, he also took the name Kashyyyk from the books. I don't think that he ignores it, he just isn't comfortable saying that someone elses writing is part of his story. I mean, he even wrote the story for the holiday special, and wrote the story for and executive produced the Ewok movies.

I really really like the EU. It makes it the majority of the SW story. It takes the SW universe to new and exciting places. And it is typically written by very talented authors (Timpthy Zahn, Matthew Stover) who know exactly what they're talking about. I see no reason to avoid the EU. It basically keeps continuity both with the films and within itself. There are sme good books coming up soon. We've already had Dark Lord Rise of Darty Vader. In January, Outbound Flight will be out that will tell the mysteries of the Outbound Flight Project, which was introduced in the Thrawn Books. In 2007, Steve Perry is co-writing a novel on the early days of the death star, we've got the live-action and animated series. Basically, the EU is what will keep SW alive. To me, the films are only a small piece of the overall story.