Star Wars EU Discussion Thread

[DuncTK421]

Welcome to the Star Wars EU Discussion Thread! This first post contains helpful information and will be updated as necessary.

Upcoming Releases Schedule


June 2010
16 Omnibus: Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 1
16 Knights of the Old Republic, Volume 9: Demon
30 Invasion #7: Rescues; Part 2
30 Legacy #49: Extremes; Part 2

July 2010
6 The Clone Wars: Gambit Book II: Siege
20 The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance
21 Legacy, Volume 9: Monster
Legacy #50: Extremes; Part 3

October 2010
5 The Force Unleashed II

November 2010
Lost Tribe of the Sith #5

December 2010
7 Fate of the Jedi VI: Vortex
28 The Old Republic: Deceived

January 2011
25 Red Harvest

February 2011
22 Knight Errant

April 2011
19 Fate of the Jedi VII: Conviction
26 Holostar

May 2011
24 Untitled Nomi Sunrider novel

June 2011
28 Crosscurrent II

July 2011
26 Fate of the Jedi VIII

August 2011
30 Choices

December 2011
Fate of the Jedi IX


Links
Del Rey
Dark Horse Comics
Wookieepedia

[DuncTK421]

First post is still a work-in-progress.

The release schedule I threw together from some info I had. I can add more detail if people would want that. Like what format the books are being published in, authors, and the like.

To start the thread off, what was the first EU book you read? First for me was Heir to the Empire. It has such a classic trilogy feel. Really helped to shape the EU into what it is now.

[Everlovin]

Ok, so I'm somewhat clueless. As many of you know. What is/are EU?

[DuncTK421]

EU is Expanded Universe. It's pretty much a catchall category for any officially licensed Star Wars stories outside of the movies. Books, comics, video games, the cartoons, and such.

[Replicator Todd]

Is it wrong to say I don't like the EU too much because George Lucas decided to make it canon and then decided to have his material stomp all over established events in the EU?

[DuncTK421]

Is it wrong to say I don't like the EU too much because George Lucas decided to make it canon and then decided to have his material stomp all over established events in the EU?

Nope. It's his MO. He'll take bits and pieces that he likes (the name Coruscant, Aayla Secura, Quinlan Vos) but will disregard other things for the sake of his own creations.

[Replicator Todd]

Nope. It's his MO. He'll take bits and pieces that he likes (the name Coruscant, Aayla Secura, Quinlan Vos) but will disregard other things for the sake of his own creations.

See, I like the EU but I don't like the fact he decided to make it canon while still having the ability to make some bits un-canon.

[DuncTK421]

Quite a contradiction, isn't it?

I'm still hoping the new Clone Wars cartoon will be spun off as it's own canon.

[Replicator Todd]

Quite a contradiction, isn't it?

I'm still hoping the new Clone Wars cartoon will be spun off as it's own canon.

So you agree that the Clone Wars cartoon is messing with the already established canon? If so, thats good as I thought I was the only one!

[DuncTK421]

So you agree that the Clone Wars cartoon is messing with the already established canon? If so, thats good as I thought I was the only one!

I agree 100% with you. I had some problems last season. But most of those have been smoothed over.

This season I can't find a workaround. The big thing, obviously, is Mandalore. The planet Mandalore we saw in the cartoon is nothing like how it's been established in the EU for years. Mostly still untamed, the cities are few and far between. Biggest city is Keldabe. I've pictured Keldabe as being analagous to Mos Eisley or Mos Espa.

There's Ahsoka too. But that is a whole other issue.

[DigiFluid]

To back up a few posts:

To start the thread off, what was the first EU book you read? First for me was Heir to the Empire. It has such a classic trilogy feel. Really helped to shape the EU into what it is now.

The Thrawn trilogy were the first EU books I read as well. I was pretty young, but I remember just loving how cool it was to find more Star Wars that wasn't Star Wars

Of course, now the EU is just impossibly large and it's taking me forever to go through stuff. At the moment I'm slowly working on the young Obi-Wan stories (Jedi Apprentice? Something like that) but I stalled out a little due to a few games.

[asdf1239]

its a darn shame that the chiss havent appeared since the awful dark nest thing

[Everlovin]

Ok, I'm continuing to show off my ignorance here, but. . .
I've read the Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy. LOVED THEM!! But the discussion suggests that there are other books "considered canon." Which are those? Are they all still available?

I can always use more reading material.

[DuncTK421]

Any books that are published under the Star Wars license are considered canon. But they are 'less canon' than the films.

In other words, the books need to fit in with the movie universe. If they do, everything's cool. If there is a contradiction, movies trump books.

[DigiFluid]

Ok, I'm continuing to show off my ignorance here, but. . .
I've read the Timothy Zahn Thrawn trilogy. LOVED THEM!! But the discussion suggests that there are other books "considered canon." Which are those? Are they all still available?

I can always use more reading material.

Essentially, it's a hierarchy of what's considered canon.

At the top of the pyramid is G-Canon, which basically consists of anything George Lucas is responsible for. This, almost exclusively, consists of the two trilogies. This trumps everything beneath it. If there's any contradictions, the movie is what's considered correct.

Next level down is T-Canon, a relatively new development, which has to do with The Clone Wars TV series as well as the in-development live-action TV series. As with G-Canon, things in the television series trump everything below them. BUT, if they do anything to contradict the movies, the show is what's considered incorrect.

Third tier is C-Canon, or continuity canon. This encompasses things like books, comics, and games. These items are all counted as canon too, but as with the two levels above, if something happens in G- or T-Canon, they trump anything created at this level. There's one notable exception here: the general plots of Lucasarts-produced games tend to be considered C-Canon (though obviously things like gameplay stats and whatnot are not counted under that).