GL says EU is a Parallel Universe

[moocat]

From a Cinescape online interview with GL:

“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. They don’t intrude on my world, which is a select period of time, [but] they do intrude in between the movies. I don’t get too involved in the parallel universe.”

This somehow cheapens all the years I've invested in the EU to me. We've been lead to believe that for years the EU Was cannon, but at the lowest level.

Now it looks as though it's an alternate universe, much like all the Trek books. It's only cannon to itself.

style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unhappy.gif

[Blizzard]

Well that sucks!

[Smeghead]

So far as I'm concerned, I consider the parts I like to be my own personal canon, while the parts I don't like (Such as Boba Fett still being alive post-ROTJ) I just ignore. It's really just a matter of what you prefer, unless Lucas puts something in the movies that directly contradicts your favorite EU stuff.

[cc4rhu]

Hmm, I don't know what to think. I find it doubtful that anything in Ep. 3 will conflict with the EU, or Ep.s 7-9 ever seeing the light of day.

Assuming this then it's GL's way of saying the books are crap. Not in a story telling point of view, but in a SW continuity point of view. Makes you wonder what GL really has planned for 7-9. Even if the films are never realeased, I hope they appear as books one day.

Cc

[Justin]

Well I for one (and I know I'm not alone here) find most of the Expanded Universe to be total crap. Some of it I do like, and some of it is interesting, but I've never considered it to be anything more than a big ole "what if." I'm glad Lucas has finally commented on this whole thing, and I like his answer.

[Vyndim]

Well the novels were never considered canon in the first place, so I fail to see where the problem is? Hes probably hinting that something in Episode III will conflict with the EU. And who cares? The EU is there to entertain us, just like the movies. If the movies and books don't coinside, big deal they are both still entirely enjoyable.

[threeP0]

Well, I don't really care what GL says, I'll continue to read certain EU books and consider them as important parts of Star Wars.

Like many other, I read some EU books and consider them the truth and others I simply discard as just plain stupid.

But like Vyndim said, they are sort of like the movies, just here to entertain, so who cares!

[nerfer]

If I remember correctly way back in the early 90's when the new books started to be published that Lucas instituted a tier policy with the Movies being top level cannon, the Novelizations and radio plays below that, then the books, then the gaming material.

The books were considered low level cannon, but could be invalidated by anything GL wanted to put in his movies . Over the years this policy seems to have changed to slowly to the parallel uni theory. The books at one point seem to have been meant to be cannon that's why everything has to fit together (like Kyle Katarn acutally being a real character even though he was created for a game), now that's changed.

I suppose if anyone can clear this up it would Mr. Timeline Nathan Butler.....

[Doctor Evil]

Since GL says there WILL NOT be any movies past ROTJ in the timeline and since the majority of the books are post ROTJ (not all, but most) this does not seem to be a big deal. In the quote GL seemed to say that he had blocked out a certain amount of time for Ep 1 - 3 that would be off limits except for the few bridge novels.

Now, could GL do something in Ep. 3 that could throw some continuity off? Sure, but he has shown little interest in including any references to any characters that anyone else has created so chances are pretty low at this point.

I think the important issue is this. When you as a reader or fan look at the whole Star Wars universe (incuding EU), do you accept it as an entire unit? If you can accept the minor inconsistencies, then it is all cannon for you.

I think it is cool that GL has allowed any of the EU to occur at all. So many takes on a wonderful universe he gave birth to, but was good enough to let others play in.

[jade51999]

Doctor Evil..i agree with you..

for me everything is cannon..i know that official cannon is Eps I, II, II, IV, V, VI

but i ttake everything as being part of this whole SW experience...

so while some may find the EU as "crap" (justin)

or entertaining (above) it think that the fact that they may be a parallel universe doesn't really matter b/c if it is parallel..

in one universe the stuff never happened..but in our own "SW Fan" universe it did..so for me..Luke did meet Mara and have a son named ben..

Han and Leia married, had twins and another son..
the Vong did come..and the rest..is well...the future..

for me at least style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

to each his own..including GL!

So for those who find the movies and books entertaining (or just selected sections) that's their own world...
for those who hate it Star Wars ended at the battle of Endor...

For me? its still going on...and that's why its so appealing..each of us take something different out of it..so its great on many levels..

now i'm getting sappy so i'm stopping
later, back to work for me!
jade

[Nathan Butler]

And, heeding Nerfer's call . . .

First of all, we need to clean up the terminology. There's a big difference between "EU" and "Official Continuity." We also need to clean up that term "canon," since so many people use it interchangably with "Official" when they shouldn't.

Lucasfilm has always adhered to the concept that the films and their immediate book or full production form adaptations (i.e. the novelizations and radio dramatizations) are a "cut above the rest," so to speak. They're given a special sort of status all to themselves, apart from the other licensed products.

What we get is a division, where those film-based items and the other licensed items are given their own status. For now, we'll stay away from terminology and just use descriptions.

1.) Films, Novelizations of films, Radio Dramatizations
2.) Other licensed materials

Now, that is further broken down because if a contradiction appeared between the novelizations and films (such as when the ESB novelization says Yoda is blue, not green), they need to be able to show how the film takes precedence. The same went for the dialogue changes in the radio dramas compared to the films.

1.) Films
2.) Novelizations and Radio Dramas
3.) Other licensed materials

Then this gets broken down because LFL assumes the novelizations, which more closely resemble the films in dialogue and such, is more factual than the radio dramas, which have to often alter dialogue and such to make it work for an audio-only format.

1.) Films
2.) Novelizations
3.) Radio Dramas
4.) Other licensed materials

Then we get to the fact that each film, except for AOTC, now has two different versions. Original and SE in the case of the Classic Trilogy, and original and DVD in the case of TPM.

1.) Special Editions, AOTC, and TPM DVD
2.) Original versions of TPM, ANH, ESB, and ROTJ
3.) Novelizations
4.) Radio Dramas
5.) Other licensed materials

That "other licensed materials" is then broken into what LFL consideres part of the Official Continuity (like the NJO books) and what it does not consider part of the Official Continuity (like Rebel Assault.

1.) Special Editions, AOTC, and TPM DVD
2.) Original versions of TPM, ANH, ESB, and ROTJ
3.) Novelizations
4.) Radio Dramas
5.) Official Continuity
6.) Apocrypha/Infinities

That's how LFL derived this sort of 6-tiered structure (7 if you include fan-creations as the bottom of the heap, outside of even licensing considerations).

Of that final 6-tiered structure, only #1 is Lucas' personal vision, while LFL considers 1-4 especially valid above 5-6, and of 5 and 6, only 5 is considered part of the overall continuity.

It'd make sense then, to divide like LFL does, like so:

1
-----
2
3
4
----------
5
-----
6

The problem is that LFL uses this latter structure, but doesn't ever really speak in terms of consistent names. That's why you'll hear the term "canon" used to refer to #1, #1-4, or #1-5, instead of consistently as one or the other. The most accurate description, based on both LFL statements and discussions I've had with someone "in the know" myself would be to call levels 1-4 "Canon" (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Level), 5 "Official" and 6 "Apocrypha/Infinities."

The novels that seem to be discounted by Lucas' quote are what we'd call "Official." They were never "Canon" on par with the radio dramas, novelizations of the films, original films, or revamped films, but they are considered part of the overall continuity.

What Lucas is basically saying is that to him, SW is only what he has created: 1st Level Canon. To LFL, SW is Canon plus the Official Continuity. And to Lucas Licensing, who only really look at the money side of things, SW is all six levels, as they all generate revenue.

If that sounds hard to understand, I'm sure I explain it better elsewhere. There's a whole description of the Levels of Officiality on my Star Wars Timeline Gold (http://www.starwarz.com/timeline/). I then supplemented that with a way to visualize the levels in the analogy of a castle and surrounding lands. You can find that as an MP3 file on the same webpage, and there is a transcript of that file in the SWT-G appendices file.

If you're interested in the history of how the Levels of Officiality were generated and evolved from 1977 through what we expect of 2005 or 2006, I covered that in ChronoRadio #2 (http://www.starwarz.com/timeline/chrono.html). If you're further interested in why confusion exists as to the levels structure and why LFL doesn't just make their own internal conflict-resolution structure public knowledge, I cover that in ChronoRadio #1 (http://www.starwarz.com/timeline/).

I'm hoping that sometime in the next few months, possibly around October, if I can't get to it earlier, that I'll be able to do an entire supplemental edition of CR that will cover the structure in-depth, with reasonings, examples, and so forth, so I don't have to keep covering it over and over again in each regular CR episode. For now, though, that should be more information than you could've possibly wanted.

[Whuffa]

I think that Lucas is just annoyed, 'cause other people are getting to play in his sandbox (the GFFA), but he's too greedy not to let them because they're all paying a big entrance fee! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sly.gif

[Nathan Butler]

::GL sits at home listening to 1970s and 1980s music::

"Money money money moneeey....MOOONEEY!"

[jade51999]

heh...
*shrugs* ok ..whatever style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[Whuffa]

Do you think he has a secret swimming pool filled with coins, like Scrooge McDuck? style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif

[GaViN28x]

If He Did It Would Kick @$$....Plus i love old Scrooge McDuck.

[GaViN28x]

I know this topic has been kinda dead for a while but I was thinking about what lucas said, and it seemed to me that while you could take it as lucas bashing the EU, it could also be him protecting it sort of, like say yes it (the EU) may contradict my movies but that ok cause it is more like a "paralell universe". Does anyone see my point of veiw or disagree with it.

[Nathan Butler]

That's how I generally look at it. He's the creator, but he knows that there are people wanting more, so he lets others play in his playground, just as long as we keep in mind that it isn't coming from him.

Sounds like graciousness (and marketing) to me.

[Jedi Terri An' Junn]

This is a sore point for me. I cant help but love SW in all it's forms. Movies, books, comics etc. *I've followed the films and all books for years and have begun feeling snubbed by GL.
I understand some things like the Fett origin are a good break from EU continuityand improved the movie.
But the way GL refers to the EU stuff these days makes my blood boil......... after all it's good enough for him to make money from. The best example of this is the lightsabre colours. In the Shadows of the Empire novel it's explained that the crystals used give the sabre it's colour, later in EU novels and comics this is a fact of life and we have a wide variety of lightsabre colours. Then George stomps in with EP2 and says all good guys LS are green or blue (except Mace as Sam Jackson personally asked for a purple blade ~ his favourite colour).
Is Little George that jealous and petty about someone else having the colours idea to throw a fit and demand two colours?
Is he being an artistic filmaker?
Was it a special effects budget concern?

This small continuity problem could have been avoided. GL likes to play mine mine mine. Yes he did create SW but it's bigger than him now and as long as he gets a percentage out of the stuff with his licence on he should take some reponsibility for fitting it into his "vision".

It expands on the debate over when SW becomes public property, GL says he will probably not release the OT in it's original form on dvd, but thats what put him where he is today! Fine tinker and improve but remember your roots.

In nearly all of the EU SW novels the author's gush at how thankful they are for George letting them into his world, now he's saying No it's mine I dont want to share!

Child.

[Rogue_0009]

Originally posted by Justin@June 15 2002 - 21:35
Well I for one (and I know I'm not alone here) find most of the Expanded Universe to be total crap. Some of it I do like, and some of it is interesting, but I've never considered it to be anything more than a big ole "what if." *I'm glad Lucas has finally commented on this whole thing, and I like his answer.
Eu is not totall crap (exept the crystal star) I mean I'm tired of people flaming it, seriously. There are some excellent characters and stories on the book shelves of EU freaks everywhere. Also Justin I don't think you have ever offered any justification of your anti-EU opinion and why? Maybe it's cuz EU is great and you can't find anything wrong with it other than some minor continuity issues.

[QuigonWindu]

Yea EU isn't crap.

[James T. Skywalker]

Well, it is that person's opinion. However, if they don't like what they read, they don't have to read it. Simple as that.

And Nathan always is such a huge help with the continuity stuff. Go Nathan, go Nathan! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif (Of course, he and I are both huge on the Levels thing, so it helps that I'm his Research Assistant. style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif)

~JTS

[Nathan Butler]

Actually, I missed that one. If I'd caught the comment from Justin, I would've told him that EU bashing on these EU boards is frowned upon, and flaming of the EU should not take place. If someone doesn't like the EU, they needn't visit this section of the boards.

[Mara1Jade]

Has George even READ half the EU stuff? Answer: Probably not. He sees it as a parallel, so he doesn't seem to care much. If he contradicts it, that's perfectly allright with him. Nevermind the fans who see it as somewhat of a part of a whole (such as me) and NOT as crap. We get great characters like Mara Jade and Corran Horn and Anakin Solo. You'd THINK George would read what was being written for his universe, parallel or not. He might get some insight. He might find out what the fans really enjoy. Yes, he created the universe, but he'll openly admit he's NOT a writer. So why not pay attention to the things other people are writing in the SW Universe that everyone loves so?

Sorry, I'm ranting. Don't get me wrong, George is great. And not ALL EU authors are. But alot of them have alot of worthwhile stuff going on in the SW Universe. I think George should pay it more attention.

[Justin]

I'm not allowed to say anything negative about the Expanded Universe? What's up with that? Just because this is a Star Wars message board we aren't allowed to say anything negative about Star Wars?

I think I've heard other people on here say things like "Greedo firing first in the Special Edition was stupid" without being jumped on.

I guess we aren't allowed to have contrary opinions in here. Or maybe it's just that not allowed to have those opinions.I'm not allowed to have those opinions on here.

You know, you can't have very interesting discussions if everyone agrees on everything.

OK Rogue, I personally don't like a lot of the EU because a lot of the stories, situations, and portrayals of the characters seem very unlike Star Wars.

I don't remember a whole lot from the Thrawn Trilogy (I was 10 when I read it) but I do remember that it didn't FEEL like Star Wars. I did like the comic book adaptations of it, though. 'The Courtship of Princess Leia' also seemed to lack something the Star Wars films have, and the 'Jedi Academy' series was just silly.

I did, however, like 'Shadows of the Empire' (but again, the comic adaptation was better) and I've enjoyed a couple of the 'New Jedi Order' books, and I really like the 'Star Wars Tales' comic book series.

And James: how do you not read something you don't like? Don't you have to read it first to decide you don't like it?

[Mara1Jade]

I think it's not the negative opinion that's the issue. It's the way it's addressed. No one likes having stuff they like descredited in terms such as "silly" and so forth. If you are going to argue against it, you should at least present your disagreement in a diplomatic manner. When you don't it simply becomes EU flaming.

For someone who doesn't like EU, you certainly have an impressive list of EU books that you do look. You certainly implied that you thought ALL of it was bad before...

[Doctor Evil]

Hey Justin, Chill! I think what Nathan is trying to say is this forum is intended for FANS of the EU to discuss it. Fighting over details and such or even giving positive and negative opinions of books, comics and authors. However bashing of the entire EU is frowned upon because it just causes stupid threads cause by it's nature, most posters here like the EU to at least some extent.

If you want to bash the EU, then one of the more general forums would be where I'd suggest you go. For one thing, you'd proably find ALOT more people who agree with you and not jump on your case so much. Would you go into a Yankee sportsbar to bash the Yankess?

Doc :devil:

[RedMirax]

I personally think George has a *right to do and say anything he wants about his characters and what can and can't be done. HE created it. It would be like you writing in an RPG and someone writes your character totally wrong or does something to him/her that you don't want done. You created the character, you care about what happens to him/her.

I don't think George was bashing the EU. He probably doesn't have time to read them, though he DID keep Coruscant as a planet name and THAT came out of an EU book.I think he's only concered with the timeline of the movies. He's already said there won't be ep 7-9. So, anything after RotJ is up to LFL to decide. And they HAVE decided.

At Celebration II there was a panel of NJO authors, along with Sue Rostoni from licensing and Shelly Shapiro from Del Rey *there to answer questions. They sat down and basically decided the general layout for the NJO at Skywalker Ranch and went from there.

As for the novels before NJO, I don't know. But they DID have to get the ok from licensing before they did anything drastic.

I think it's cool that George allows any books at all written, he didn't have to. SW is his creation and he has the rights to it all!!! style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif

[Doctor Evil]

Originally posted by Jedi Terri An' Junn@July 22 2002 - 12:52
Is Little George that jealous and petty about someone else having the colours idea to throw a fit and demand two colours?

This is also an Example of getting worked up over nothing.

You are letting a bit of info that you know that George Lucas said, get in the way of what has never actually been stated in the films. Nowhere that I know of has it ever been stated in the films that the colors are limited. Granted we don't see that many, but that could be happenstance or just a tradtion of the time if we wanted to rationalize the continuity difference.

Nathan can speak to "Cannon" better than anyone, but it seems to me things that are NOT in the Movies can hold just as much water as stuff that is in them. If Lucas says something, like the lightsaber color thing, but never actually confirmed it in a film, is it fact or not? In fact, after making the statement, he seemed awfully quick to let Mace have a different color, leading me to believe that it was not all that important to him anyway.

Just my opinions.

Doc *style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif

[Jedi Terri An' Junn]

Fair point Doctor Evil, I'd not really thought of it that way before. GL does have a habit of changing his mind or of altering things in hindsight.

OK so maybe we might see other lightsaber colours maybe we wont I can let it lie.

Bur one larger issue that has confused me as a fan of the films and the EU. How come the Jedi Order of the old republic seems so different from the NJO of the EU. In the EU theres romance (good) but also less of an Jedi "feel" to the characters. They just seem people with powers instead of the enigmatic Jedi mythos I love and only Luke retains.

Okay so records were destroyed so they start from scratch but I find that the differences in these two types of Jedi are widening the gap between the films and the EU.

[Mara1Jade]

Well NJO is supposed to be the "New Jedi Order." I think it's SUPPOSED to have a different feel. After all, the Jedi Order of old eventually did get destroyed one way or another. So who wants to go and copy their set up? That's just my opinion anyway...

[jade51999]

What Mara says make sense..

I think the Jedi of NJO and post ROTJ are supposed to be a different 'breed' . and i think b/c every bit of knowledge disappeared the ideas, and theory behind the force evolved differently as well....

therefore...uhh back to the GL parallel universe thing..i don't mind, and i don't think he's bashing..i think a lot of what h said makes sense...Its really not what he saw would happen after ROTJ but its an idea that coalsed and made people interested..so he can't ignore it...

soo he's not...he's just saying its different..:0

Justin--in reference to bashing Star Wars on a Star Wars board..i think you can bash aspects, b/c that's what explains what the movies mean to you...and what you like etc. but the logic stands that if yo HATE star wars..why be on a star wars board...et. al. if you dislike EU why post on the EU board....

it looks like from your last statement that you don't hate EU totally, you just don't think it feels like "star wars" ..which is an opinion...

ack ok i'm sick and i lost my train of thought..so if i get it back i'll say more but right now..i'm having brain drain style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif
later
P

[Justin]

I never said I hated ALL of the Expanded Universe, I said that I hated MOST of the Expanded Universe.

[Rogue_0009]

Well Justin, do you really have to call it crap isn't that a little excessive, I mean you could say "I don't like most EU" It's like when someone finds out you're a star wars freak and they say "i hate Star Wars, it sucks" even though they've probably only seen 20 minutes of ANH, and could you at least give reasons that support your opinion.

[Nathan Butler]

I think a few others explained the difference between EU bashing and negative opinions on the EU (two vastly differen things). However, this should be noted:

I never said I hated ALL of the Expanded Universe, I said that I hated MOST of the Expanded Universe.


::ahem::

Well I for one (and I know I'm not alone here) find most of the Expanded Universe to be total crap

Which the first quote is quite true of the second, it still constitutes overally EU bashing. "The Zahn books are crap" would not be. "The comics are crap" would not be." "Most of the EU is crap" is.

[Mann]

Some EU is good. I liked Shadows of the Empire, It explains how everything at the beginning of RotJ is. It also explain how Luke becomes more developed in the arts of the Jedi. Now, when they go after the RotJ into the real EU, then authors have gone created whole new world, characters and elements that weren't in Lucas' vision. they also destroyed the concept of an episode VII and so on. Zahn's book was what started it, but it was essentially an analysis into the minds of three knew characters: Mara, C'baoth, and Thrawn. He could have made his own story without using any of the star Wars characters IMO. But, the difference between this triology and the other authors is that Zahn had only the films to work off of, leading others to add on to his story, and then into the entire EU. I dislike alot of the NJO books, because they defeat the points of the first Star Wars films. How many good main characters died? Besides Obi-Wan and Yoda, and eventually Anakin none! Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, all survive. It's the bad guys that need to die. Zahn killed off Thrawn and C'baoth but kept all Mara becasue she was a good guy. Now there's a whole new enemy. Lucas wants only the Empire v. the Rebellion/Republic. This is where the conflict is. The books should end with the Empire and Republic having one big final battle.
KJA killed off good guys, but kept moron villians like Daala alive for more stories. someone tried to make her turn good and get rid of her character, but then he brought her back. Now the point was to get rid of characters that aren't needed, but come on! KJA should know not to beat a Dead horse. That is why i don't like KJA book, minus the images he created in his stories (the maw cluster, a death star skeleton, a star destoryer falling into Yavin).
I like Star Wars, don't get me wrong, but I think what counts are the films. they don't need words to show you what is in lucas' head. With the technology now, Lucas can detail his features so much and make them look gorgeous. The films are the best part of Star Wars.

[catwmnjedi]

If GL didn't want any of the EU to happen at all after ROTJ, he could have easily prevented it. The fact is the characters in the OT, the planets, species, history he's created for the SW Universe is HIS intellectual property. If he didn't want any authors to write about his universe and expand on it, he could have turned down their requests to print books about it. But he didn't. So I don't think you can say he didn't WANT them. I think he's just saying if there's contradiction between his films and the EU, the films win.

[Doctor Evil]

Hey Mann,

If you don't want the stories in the Star Wars Galaxy to advance then you really ought not to be reading EU stuff. If the 6 movies are going to be enough for you, than enjoy that. You don't have to read the EU stuff and you don't even have to acknowledge it. I like all the characters as much as anyone, but I like the IDEA of Star Wars more. There are only so many ways to battle the evil empire and they have about been exausted IMO.

In fact, after the NJO, the only way I see to energize the EU may be to leave some, if not all the original characters behind in the next story arc. Either that or maybe jump ahead in the timeline a sizable amount and start from scratch with new characters.

BTW Mann, get ready, cause a LOT of death is coming in Ep.3.

Doc *style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif

[GaViN28x]

Ok so a lot of people don't like seeing some of the main charaters in the NJO series get killed off, they think it is not a good turn to take,that no main charaters should die.
* * * * *I would like to bring a diffenert opion to that dissucsion. Ahem, if only nonmain charaters were killed of the story would get boring, yes it would be a happier more perky story but there would be no depth, it would become one sided story that would not give the reader a depth of emotion that that reader craves and makes that reader want to read more.
* * * * *If you always have the good guys win, then the book, film, play and everything, that goes into a series gets boring, you always know what going to happen you always know that a main charater will get out of the fight.
* * * * * * With the death of Anakins and all the others, it brings a new level to the books. It brings the depth that is needed. It shows that these people, as fictional as, they are human (or alien in some cases). That they might not always make it.
* * * * * * Come on people you don't think Han and Leia and Luke are going to live forever. I admit that they should not have many main charater or actors get killed off in a short running series of books or moives, but in this long of a series it gets boring and stupid not to have some tragedy. The books needed the deaths and the loss and the grief, and as tragic and heart breaking as it is for some charater (even thought they may be fictional) to be killed, it gives us as readers a more indepth and better picture of those charaters and the charaters around them.
* * * * Well it is late i said my peice and i am going to bed



P.S. I know that was off topic and I am sorry about that I just wanted to address some of the complates that people were making in this thred.

[darthleith]

Has nobody here heard of "Death of the Author". You can make your OWN Star Wars canon, and have your OWN Star Wars story. It's up to you what bits you want to put together no matter what anyone here, or even GL thinks!

Anyway, after he's completed Ep 3 the EU books can tweak their continuity if all the EU fans insist nothing contradicts anything else.

As far as I'm concerened the films are what leads the way - the books/comics etc. just have to rearrange themse;ves around them!

[Jedi Luke]

It's curious what GL has said regarding this.

What makes it even more confusing, is that for the first time ever, he has included an EU character in a movie. Namely Aayla Secura. How then can it be a parallel universe?

[catwmnjedi]

Very interesting observation, Jedi Luke. It would seem the parallel universes have intersected, even by GL's canon.

[Nathan Butler]

JediLuke: That wasn't the first time ever. He included quite a bit of the LucasArts created EU items from the Shadows of the Empire storyline in ANH:SE, plus now has gone back and at least once said that he did in part base Maul's lightsaber on the idea first presented in the Vietch/KJA comic book series Dark Lords of the Sith.

As for how is it still a parallel universe . . . what makes it unclear? Having similar things in several universes is what makes parallel universes, well, parallel universes. But just because the Nathan in a parallel universe has broken his arm, that doesn't mean I have as well, so just because we saw Aayla in 1st Level Canon, that doesn't mean anything ELSE about her is Canon, just what we saw in that film.

The rest of her is simply Official.

It's the same way they deal with things like Keyan Farlander. They can't make the entire X-wing video game Official, or it blatantly contradicts Canon in a lot of places. Instead, they say that it's Apocryphal (or "Infinities," were it a comic), but work in an alternate "parallel reality" version of Keyan into the Official Continuity for his fans.

[Darth Darthy]

Why not enjoy the Extended Universe for what it is: Stories based in the Star Wars universe? Why does it matter if it's official cannon? The books are good enough to be published and are written by creative people who understand narrative, charaters (well mostly) and timming.
George can do what he likes, he makes the movies; a completely different aspect of Star Wars in respect to the games,books and comics is appreciated as far as I'm concerned.
I need my Star Wars fix.

[Jedi Luke]

Nathan, not meaning to sound picky, but I did say the first character from EU to appear in the movies. Not the first influences from EU to appear in the movies. There is a slight difference.

But regarding your reply, I do understand where you are coming from, in that a character can appear in two parallel universes. This is possible. But I still think that GL is contradicting himself a bit. Unfortunately the guy is falable. At the end of the day he used somebody elses (EU) character in his 1st level canon movie.

I think it's a contradiction to say that they are still parallel universes. Why can't he just say they are different peoples interpretation of the Star Wars universe. Rather than two different universes?

[Doctor Evil]

Originally posted by Jedi Luke@July 25 2002 - 03:39
Why can't he just say they are different peoples interpretation of the Star Wars universe. Rather than two different universes?
Now you are being nit-picky. Come on! It is exactly the same thing. If you can see that, then why does it matter if the phrase is turned exactly the way you would pefer it to be?

If you want to accept the EU as part of the overall SW continuum. Than do that. Since there are some differences (Some glaring, some trivial) some people just cannot. They do not have to.

This whole thing is in the reader's head. If they can set some stuff aside and enjoy some great story telling, they will have an enjoyable experience. If they want to be anal-retentive super-geeks (Which they have EVERY right to be if they choose), then they can discount all the EU if they choose to.

My opinion is it is silly to get caught up in semantics and word for word deconstruction of a quote. Either people can deal, or they cannot. If you'd rather say it is a "different interpretation," nobody is stopping you.

I respect GL as much as the next SW fan, but why does his opinion of the EU even matter? He let it happen and he knows it's there. He does not fret over trivial differences. We might do well to follow that example.

Doc *style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/devil.gif

[jade51999]

OHHHGHA BOOGA!

ok sorry it seemed like we needed a light moment in here..

just a quick note..
since we were all arguing with Justin about his phrasing..i wanted to note something...


Mann-description of why he didnt like EU and KJA that is what i would consider a proper disagreement..he backed it up......

and i understand why he wouldn't like KJA

okie dokie
later