Is that a New Hope?
Says who? I’m not a Star Wars nerd, and I’m not married to the Extended Universe either, but fans for a long time have taken the canon quite seriously. If you read on Wookiepedia, they take pains to point out the canonicity of each bit of information, whether it be from the movies, novels, cartoon TV shows, or video games.
Personally, if they make a great movie that ignores the EU, then fine! I will see it; I will enjoy it. But I think some respect should be shown to the fans who are invested in several decades worth of canon.
Also, my feeling that movie is going to suck is separate from my pointing out that it throws out the EU. My point is that, if they are going to throw out the EU, then they damn well better make an awesome movie, since many fans are invested in the EU.
I don’t understand – what has been done that is disrespectful to EU fans? I liked some of the EU, and I don’t feel disrespected in any way. As far as I understand, they didn’t say “the EU sucks”, they just wanted to tell a different story.
This.
I’ll also add that, reading through this thread, I’m reminded why people generally don’t take nitpick-y fanboys/-girls all that seriously.
Okay, the x-wings flying over the water looked cool.
I think how disrespectful it will seem will depend on how good the movie is. If it is an absolutely brilliant take on the timeline of the original trilogy, then I don’t think people will be inclined to complain.
If it lays a huge turd, then people will say, “There was all this great story to be told already in the EU. Why did you turn Star Wars into your own mediocre vanity project?”
There is indeed a lot of story in the EU that people like. I have already seen one online article complaining that a cool character like Grand Admiral Thrawn will now never come to the big screen.
So, this alternate take needs to be good.
Alright – if all you’re saying is “it better be good”, then I have no problem. I hope it’s good too. Though if it’s not, that doesn’t mean the EU would have been better – if JJ Abrams can’t do a good original Star Wars story, I don’t see why we’d trust that he could do a good adaptation of an EU Star Wars story.
Right, they are two separate points:
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I think it’s going to suck based on what I know of the story so far and based on the fact that Abrams is directing. Kasdan’s participation, however, is a point in its favor.
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The EU has interesting stories that now, it would seem, will never be told on the big screen. If Abrams does do a shitty job, then fans will be pissed that their EU hopes were cockblocked by him and Disney. If Abrams does a good job, then most of them will embrace the new direction.
I’m more optimistic on point 1. On point 2, I don’t see how a shitty EU movie would be any better. If Abrams makes a great movie, he’ll get tons of praise and very few will care that it’s a new story. If he makes a shitty one, he’ll get tons of shit for it. How would this be any different if he did a great or shitty EU movie? If he made a shitty EU movie, much of the criticism would be “why did you handcuff yourself to those dumb novels?”.
lol
I predict the movie will be awesome and will wipe away the stank that is the awful prequels.
I expect a pat on the back and a few “you were right, sparky!” in 12 months. Mkay?
Heh. My knowledge of the EU is from reading on Wookiepedia (it’s a little like tvtropes, you know). I’ve never actually read an EU novel or played a SW video game…
My complaint is…
Not fucking Tatoonie again! There is literally a whole galaxy of exciting and exotic places you can have fun with, more places than could be explored in a million lifetimes. That’s the best part of this kind of huge-scoped Sci-fi, why do we constantly get dragged to that piece of shit backwater nothing of a planet?
It’s like telling the story of the Earth, but having half of every story set in an Indiana bowling alley restroom.
I basically agree with you, but here’s how the reactions would break down in the EU/non-EU scenarios:
Abrams directs EU movie and it’s good.
Everyone is happy. EU fans get extra jollies seeing EU come to life on big screen.
Abrams directs EU movie and it sucks.
Some people, as you say, blame Abrams for sticking with the “shitty EU.” EU fans are disappointed to see the EU trashed but do not blame the EU content for that. There is still hope for following movies to get on the right track with the EU.
Abrams directs non-EU movie and it’s good.
Everyone is happy. EU fans suck it up.
Abrams directs non-EU movie and it sucks.
People in general are pissed, and EU fans are really pissed.
In both of the “sucky” scenarios, people are pissed, but in non-EU scenario there is no hope of using the EU content aside from a future reboot. So I think a non-EU movie is the riskier move.
Okay. I understand and disagree (at least possibly). It may be that they looked at the EU and rejected it for some movie-making reason – maybe they felt that it wouldn’t meet the needs of the screen, or they just thought they had a better idea.
But we’ll see. Even considering your analysis, I think it’s too early to be critical (as much fun as it is 
). We’ll all go see it, and we’ll all be able to tell if they made the right move or not.
Ah, but I have seen the 1978 Christmas special! 
Yeah, sometimes producers will decide, “this is a fan favorite, we must give them more” and I’m thinking, “no.” I don’t care if I see Chewbacca or Jar-Jar or R2D2 or Tatooine or Jabba ever again. Gimme new stuff!
It’s too early to conclude the movie will be bad. It’s not too early to point out things that weigh against its likelihood of being good. We already know a lot of things about the movie, actually. Another thing that is going to be tough to integrate in a cool way is old Luke, Leia, and Han. I get the nostalgia factor, but I don’t see it working in the story.
Let me put it another way. Let’s say they just went with the EU story about the Emperor cloning himself and Luke fighting him and succumbing to the dark side. That story has its pluses and minuses, but I would say that it is likely to be a good watch and could even be a masterpiece if executed well. I would still doubt the execution would be good, however, based on Abrams’ past performance.
I can’t say that about the new story based on what I know. At this point, I doubt both the story and the execution.