Disney buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion! More Star Wars movies coming!

[sabrinathecat]

That makes no sense whatsoever given the many, many things in the Thrawn trilogy that are impossible given newer revelations that have come up in the prequels and the Clone Wars.

That is why the only intelligent thing to do is to completely ignore the prequels like they were a bad dream.

But can we have a "for Instance" on that?
The only thing that might be suspect is the idea of Mara Jade as a side apprentice, but then, maybe the emperor was already planning Vader's replacement?

 

[Desdichado]

As for Pixar. Pixar was revitalized by a guy who got fired from Disney for expressing an idea. That was his crime: he suggested an idea. In front of witnesses. At DisneyCorp, an idea can get you FIRED, if it is at all outside the static corporate structure. Yup. Go from that. So he went to Pixar, and turned it into a massive success. So Disney weedled and cajolled until they could buy the company--guess they don't like competition or not having total control over the movies they distribute.

If that's a reference to John Lasseter, that's not really a very accurate retelling of what happened. Nor is it fair to condemn an entire corporation for the actions of one middle manager, some thirty odd years ago.

 

[jonesy]

That makes no sense whatsoever given the many, many things in the Thrawn trilogy that are impossible given newer revelations that have come up in the prequels and the Clone Wars.

This. People who are afraid that Disney will somehow ruin or disrespect the continuity don't seem to realize just how badly it was already full of holes. Five different levels of official continuity that don't even mesh on a single-continuity level.

 

[sabrinathecat]

If that's a reference to John Lasseter, that's not really a very accurate retelling of what happened. Nor is it fair to condemn an entire corporation for the actions of one middle manager, some thirty odd years ago.

Yeah, I'm horrible with names.
And sure it is fair, when it is indicative of the corporate mindset. Did Disney try to hire him back? Did they allow an appeal? Not that I am aware of. As I understand it, it was no warning, fired, goodbye, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

[Desdichado]

That is why the only intelligent thing to do is to completely ignore the prequels like they were a bad dream.

But can we have a "for Instance" on that?
The only thing that might be suspect is the idea of Mara Jade as a side apprentice, but then, maybe the emperor was already planning Vader's replacement?

I'm actually talking more about the Clone Wars than the prequels. Sure, the prequels are easy to pan, but the Clone Wars is head and shoulders (in general) than the EU by a long shot. For instance, the EU gives us such inane ideas as "Greedo was a bounty hunter, therefore his entire species has a culture based on hunting and collecting bounties!" or "Jabba had twi'lek slave dancers, therefore the twi'leks have a history of being enslaved and forced to work as entertainers and dancers!"

The EU, with few exceptions (especially the BioWare stuff) brings the setting down and makes it sillier, and frequently misses the whole tone of Star Wars anyway. The Clone Wars, on the other hand, is tightly integrated with the prequel stories, yet manages to go a long way towards rehabilitating them.

 

[rkwoodard]

I can't guess on the movies

Hello,

I will not hazard a guess on the movies. But I certainly see a Jedi Academy show on Disney XD ala the Tron cartoon they now have.

RK

 

[wingsandsword]

That makes no sense whatsoever given the many, many things in the Thrawn trilogy that are impossible given newer revelations that have come up in the prequels and the Clone Wars.

Like what? Name a single discrepancy from the Thrawn novels that hasn't been fit into the larger continuity with the prequels?

Spaarti Cylinders instead of Kaminoan technology?
An older, more dangerous cloning technology that was hauled out by the Republic when Kamino's cloning facilities were finally shut down/destroyed.

Pellaeon talking about fighting clones while in the Republic Navy?
Established that the Kaminoans had tried to create their own clones to rebel against Republic control, after the Republic had put a garrison on the planet during the war to protect it against the Separatists, but Kamino wanted to remain independent.

The timeline established for when Honoghr was poisoned?
This has been retconned that the years given in terms of how long ago were Honoghr-local years, not galactic standard years, so the poisoning could have happened 40+ local years ago, but only happened 27 years ago by normal reckoning, heck the poisoning of Honoghr was actually shown somewhere in the various Clone Wars media.

Those were the big three that I knew of, and authors in the EU went far out of their way to retcon things in. Every little discrepancy that the prequels introduced came along with fixes to blend it all together. Authors intentionally were vague about the clone wars era because they knew Lucas would one day come along and write stuff there, so they didn't put a lot there, and left lots of wiggle room where they did.

 

[Zaukrie]

No wonder he wanted the money.....I could care less about continuity. I want to he entertained. Sure. The next few movies should be consistent with each other, bit do they have to be consistent with every movie, tv show, and book? Not for me, and I would guess, not for most people.

 

[Desdichado]

Yeah, I'm horrible with names.
And sure it is fair, when it is indicative of the corporate mindset. Did Disney try to hire him back? Did they allow an appeal? Not that I am aware of. As I understand it, it was no warning, fired, goodbye, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Which it isn't.

Plus, Lasseter basically tried to do an end run around his immediate management and get something green-lit by their bosses, which is never a good idea.

Plus, this was many years before the dot com corporate culture started influencing corporate culture overall towards more casualness.

If you're judging Disney based on that one incident, you're making a big mistake, IMO. By all measurable metrics, Disney is one of the best large corporations to work for in the world. And I'll also point out that in spite of that history, Lasseter doesn't seem to have any problem working for Disney again now.

 

[Desdichado]

Like what? Name a single discrepancy from the Thrawn novels that hasn't been fit into the larger continuity with the prequels?

Dude, I haven't read those books in at least ten years. I don't remember the details that are specific to the Thrawn trilogy. I did remember giving a little cheer mentally when they showed the Rodian, Mandalorian and Twi'lek homeworlds and culture and that they're nothing like what was established in the EU, though.

And frankly, even those examples you gave are more like fitting round pegs into square holes. Sure, Star Wars has done it before ("Well it is true... from a certain point of view") but it's a bad fit and it's an obviously patched over retcon rather than a smooth consistency.

Like I've said repeatedly, though... that doesn't really bother me much. If I can accept the retcon that Darth Vader is actually Anakin Skywalker instead of his murderer, then I can accept plenty of other changes to EU continuity. In fact, I mostly welcome them, since for the most part, the EU hasn't particularly impressed me.

And if the Yuuzhan Vong ever make an appearance in a Star Wars movie, I'll know for sure that Star Wars movies have jumped the shark. Jumped a second shark after the one that they already jumped somewhere between Empire and Jedi. Whatever.