If they retcon TFU...

[Stinghen]

I am making an argument, and its an important one. I'm pointing out that your not actually providing any reasons for why "hijacking" is bad, you just using a flashy metaphor to make it look that way. I'm not convinced. Case in point:

 

Change "Leeching the creativity of others" to "drawing on the creativity of others." Same meaning, totally different feel, because of the different wording. That's all your doing here, describing something in a negative way.

 

"Drawing on the creativity of others" is setting your own story in the Star Wars universe. This can be done non-intrusively, which is what many EU sources do (like Tales of the Jedi and much of TOR), or it can be done through lore hijackings, like TFU does, or like those sources that set Boba Fett's survival in the Sarlacc Pit, or the matter with the Rule of Two. You did understand what I meant by lore-hijacking, I simply don't know how you can't understand why someone would not like that sort of thing. Good storytelling is not intrusive like this. A good story doesn't depend on an OP character with so many deeds it becomes ridiculous.

 

But there is nothing negative about engaging in the symbiotic universe where all authors do and are expected to build on the works of others, that's how Star Wars works, it evolves. New ideas are attached to old ones making the old ideas better and giving the new ideas a spring board to propel their story and integrate with the universe as a whole. Really all your saying here is that you don't like the story of the Force Unleashed, plain and simple, don't try and use as grounds for calling authors "insidious" - not only is that unhealthy, but its also unfair on the writers themselves. They are not "bad people." You don't like the story, we get it, its not however an epidemic killing Star Wars mythos.

 

If I were the creator of the Rebel Alliance, I would be pissed off at the disrespect. Because it is disrespect. So suddenly, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, while the idealists that conceived the Alliance, did not have the wit, or the gut, or the will to organise it by themselves without some Jedi figure. TFU takes away from the origins of the Rebel Alliance, and makes it cheesy and clichè. Refer to the novelisation of Return of the Sith, when of the Declaration of a New Order.

 

 

So this is how liberty dies, she was saying to herself. With cheering and applause.

 

"We can't let this happen!" Bail lurched to his feet. "I have to get to my pod - we can still enter a motion-"

 

"No." Her hand seized his arm with astonishing strength, and for the first time since he'd arrived, she looked straight into his eyes. No, Bail, you can't enter a motion. Fang Zar has already been arrested, and Tundra Dowmeia, and it won't be long until the entire Delegation of the Two Thousand are declared enemies of the state. You stayed off that list for good reason; don't add your name by what you do today."

 

"But I can't just stand by and watch-"

 

"You're right. You can't just watch. You have to vote for him."

 

"What?"

 

"Bail, it's the only way. It's the only hope you have of remaining in a position to do anyone any good. Vote for Palpatine. Vote for the Empire. Make Mon Mothma vote for him too. Be good little Senators. Mind your manners and keep your heads down. And keep doing... all those things we can't talk about. All those things I can't know. Promise me, Bail."

 

 

That there is the best origin for the Rebel Alliance you could have. It's all the origin it needs, and it doesn't resort to clichès or forced events. No room for Galen Marek in there.

 

I'm also noticing that your taking the liberty to highlight that this is just "your opinion" - but I'm getting mixed messages. Because apparently its not your opinion, its fact: "is not creativity, it's quite the opposite" to quote.

 

Basically, "lore hijacking" is your way of saying "I don't like this" while trying to portray it as some kind of literary pitfall clearly observable by anyone who understands the rules of creativity. My response is lol no. Maybe if we replaced it with "my-interpretation-on-how-the-Star-Wars-universe-should-be-portrayed hijacking" it might make more sense.

 

To me, lore hijacking is as bad as deus ex machina. I don't care if its some kind of literary pitfall, what matters to me is that it's cheesy and, to me, is quite obvious and noticeable. It is intrusive storytelling, and doesn't add depth or interesting turns to events that are already described.

 

But "my opinion" is probably a little less verbose.

 

Where I come from, that's called fundamenting an opinion, and explaining the reasons which have led me to form my opinion. It's not just "blech, TFU sucks" and be done with it, it's explaining the reason why I think it sucks.

[dazednconfuzed]

And what do you think would happen if say, Revan was rendered N-Canon? Do you think they'd get over it? Wait, wait, I mean what do you think would happen if the entire KOTOR series was wiped from the slate of Star Wars mythos? Smiles all round? No. I certainly wouldn't accept it, and would continue to regard it as canon, linear Star Wars universe - gone. Now expand that to the entire Old Republic era, and you can imagine the uproar it would cause.

 

The retcon that I never understood was that of Ryloth. Originally, it was a rocky desert planet that was in a geosynchronous orbit around its star. As a result, one side was always facing the sun and was always red hot, and the other was always dark.

 

A lovely little touch that helped give the planet a sense of reality (as in, it's not just another rock in space, this one's a bit different). Until someone made a mistake and Lucas said 'don't worry, we'll just retcon it out'. In my personal canon, Ryloth is still in geosynchronous orbit, and that isn't going to change.

Edited December 9, 2013 by dazednconfuzed

[Beniboybling]

The retcon that I never understood was that of Ryloth. Originally, it was a rocky desert planet that was in a geosynchronous orbit around its star. As a result, one side was always facing the sun and was always red hot, and the other was always dark.

 

A lovely little touch that helped give the planet a sense of reality (as in, it's not just another rock in space, this one's a bit different). Until someone made a mistake and Lucas said 'don't worry, we'll just retcon it out'. In my personal canon, Ryloth is still in geosynchronous orbit, and that isn't going to change.

When was that retconned? I remember one Ryloth episode and while their is no evidence its geosyncrhonous it still is rocky and hot. Could be that we just never saw the other side... Or did I miss something?

[dazednconfuzed]

When was that retconned? I remember one Ryloth episode and while their is no evidence its geosyncrhonous it still is rocky and hot. Could be that we just never saw the other side... Or did I miss something?

 

Being completely honest, I'm not entirely sure. A friend of mine informed me of it after it was in TCW, apparently now a normal world with very little of interest about it.

[Beniboybling]

Where I come from, that's called fundamenting an opinion, and explaining the reasons which have led me to form my opinion. It's not just "blech, TFU sucks" and be done with it, it's explaining the reason why I think it sucks.

We're straying from the point here, this is your perspective, and can't expect everyone else to agree with it. Because the very nature of Star Wars is appealing to multiple perspectives. There is nothing inherently wrong with what you refer to as "lore hijacking" - you just perceive it in this instance as a bad thing. That's not necessarily an incorrect opinion and its not one I agree with, but I realise now I shouldn't have brought that up because its not relevant to my point.

 

My point is that as much as you might hate TFU, someone else loves it. And if you condone or encourage or whatever its removal, while it might make your perspective of the Star Wars universe more appealing, it will sully someone else's. And in the long run everyone will end up with a sour taste in their mouths when the one singular universe of different but symbiotic perspectives (that everyone shares) gets divided into competing ones, with folks flaming, arguing and all the rest over whose superior, whose is 'right' and no one really caring about the continuity we once had.

 

Now you can just hold your hands up and say "its just my opinion" - but I think we need to be more responsible than that. In the end its though not in our hands, but you might want to forestall the celebrations if TFU becomes N-Canon.

[Bellatoro]

I am afraid that there will be many retcons, now that Disney is in charge. I hope they will spare TFU und The Old Republic. The EU post episode VI won´t be so lucky.

[Beniboybling]

Being completely honest, I'm not entirely sure. A friend of mine informed me of it after it was in TCW, apparently now a normal world with very little of interest about it.

Well I don't really know what Ryloth "used" to be like. All I know is that according to TCW its a rocky desert planet with mountainous terrain and a hot climate. They don't mention its geosynchronous orbit, but they don't debunk it either.

[Foxtrotmikelima]

I am afraid that there will be many retcons, now that Disney is in charge. I hope they will spare TFU und The Old Republic. The EU post episode VI won´t be so lucky.

 

Good. They can finally give Luke a break. Got quite tired of following Luke into his old age. Im also fed up with the Skywalker lineage.

 

There are other stories out there in the universe and they dont all have to revolve around characters before Yavin.

[Bellatoro]

Disney doesnt care about the existing EU, but they have no Intention of doing something entirely new. The "new" ideas for the coming films are probably nothing more than a prolonged tale of Caedus (Anakin 2.0).