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Star Wars Legends appreciation thread (spoilers for all things Star wars)

wilhelm scream

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If you've visited the Star Wars thread, you would know that I hate Disney Star Wars, and almost everybody hates me because of this. However, almost nobody talks about Star Wars Legends, the expanded universe from 1977-2014, and I want to change that. This thread is for people who like Star Wars Legends and might not be happy with how Disney have treated the franchise. Every week I will be discussing various elements of Legends, from the characters and the ships, to the planets and the stories, or something else. 

This week, I will clear-up some things about Legends that people often get wrong:

1: Legends is a complete mess of continuity errors and is impossible to follow. This is only true for the Clone Wars era, because Disney insists that CGI Clone Wars and all of it's tie-ins are canon to Legends, even though they contradict almost everything from the Clone Wars multi-media project. The only reason why this is the case, is because Disney are trying to make Legends look as bad as possible to the public to try and use it as an excuse to not continue Legends. So, when ever I talk about the Clone Wars, I will be referring to the Clone Wars multi-media project, no CGI Clone Wars.

2: Legends was never canon. This is simply not true, as George Lucas was involved with many expanded universe works, thus, making them canon. Besides, you kind of had to read Legends because it fixes the continuity errors between the prequels and the original trilogy. 

If their's any more things people often get wrong about Legends, let me know. Next week, I will be discussing Han Solo's tragic backstory.
 

theryaney

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Quick question, is the Suncrusher basically Starkiller Base? I've heard it can also destroy star systems.
 

wilhelm scream

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theryaney said:
Quick question, is the Suncrusher basically Starkiller Base? I've heard it can also destroy star systems.

Yes. One thing I've noticed about Discanon (the Disney continuity), is that they rip-off legends alot. I'll try not to point out when, since I've decided to trust the intelligence of my audience to figure it out for themselves.
 

addiesin

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wilhelm scream said:
...I hate Disney Star Wars, and almost everybody hates me because of this...

60dcdc3ae28f1a246423b4e94a6cc22d--star-wars-toys-chewbacca.jpg



Nobody hates how you feel, they hate how you act. 

https://forums.fanedit.org/showthread.php?tid=15524&pid=311444#pid311444
 

slekyr

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Loved this book growing up.  I didn't get much into the expanded universe novels before Disney bought Star Wars, I mainly just played the video games, but I read this book cover to cover multiple times as a kid.
 

theryaney

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wilhelm scream said:
However, almost nobody talks about Star Wars Legends, the expanded universe from 1977-2014, and I want to change that. 

To be honest, almost nobody also talks about the New Disney EU. (Battlefront II, Books, Rebels, etc.) Most only talk about the films.
 

wilhelm scream

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A new week, a new topic to discuss. This week, we will talk about Han Solo's tragic backstory and how (in my opinion) it's superior to the Discanon (which is what I call the Disney continuity) version of his backstory.

Han was born on Corellia in 29BBY (Before battle of Yavin) and was orphaned at a young age. He was found by Garris Shrike (who was the head of a crime gang) who took Han in on his ship (the Trader's Luck) and treated him cruelly. Han's only friend in this period was a Wookiee named Dewlanna, who took care of him and taught him how to understand Wookiee's. When he was 19, Han had enough of Shrike and escaped (though Dewlanna sacrificed herself so he could escape).

Han then headed to Ylesia (a Hutt-controlled planet that produced Spice and drugged almost everybody who worked there, turning them into slaves, with it being covered-up as a religious retreat) where he started to work as a pilot. During this time, he fell in love with one of the slaves: Bria Tharen, who was also from Corellia. Together, they escaped to Coruscant, where Han could fulfil his dream of becoming a pilot in the imperial navy. Bria left him because she feared that she was holding him back. Heartbroken, Han got a new identity and into the academy. Shortly afterwards, Han was attacked by  Garris Shrike (who recognised the new identity Han was using). However, thanks to the intervention of a bounty hunter (since their was a price on Han's head because of what happened on Ylesia (during the escape, he was inadvertently responsible for the death of the Hutt administrator there, getting a bounty on his head), Shrike was killed, and Han was able to fake the death of his old identity before shipping out to the academy. 

For the next 5 years, Han refined his piloting skills, gained new friends, and graduated at the top of his class. However, shortly afterwards, Han was kicked out of the Empire for preventing an imperial officer from killing Chewbacca. The 2 slowly became friends (and Chewie stuck by Han since he swore a life debt to him) and they became smugglers for the Hutt's (mostly Jabba and Jiliac). They got a new ship, reunited with a friend of Han's from the academy, made some new friends and Han got an adopted son (Jarik, who claims to be a distant cousin. Han figures out very quickly he's lying, but doesn't tell the kid because he enjoys having him around). 

However, because Han started using his read identity again, the bounty on his head was reinstated and Boba Fett attempted to claim the bounty. However, Han was saved by Lando Calrissian. Han then taught Lando how to fly well enough before going off on his own adventures (which we'll cover at a later date). After a few adventures, Han and Chewbacca was destroyed and Han then won the Millennium Falcon from Lando in the Cloud City Sabacc Tournament. 

To escape one of Han's friends from trying to marry him (since he didn't want to), Han and Chewbacca flew off to the Corporate sector (territory's on the outer rim that did not belong to the empire). To make a long story short, Han and Chewbacca had quite a few adventures, travelled with 2 droids and Han got a his scar on the chin. They returned to imperial space, where Han was reunited with Bria (who was now working for the rebel alliance). 

Bria then organised a raid on Ylesia, which Han and a bunch of smugglers (including Lando) helped. Unfortunately, the raid goes horribly. Jarik is killed is killed and Bria betrays Han by stealing all of the treasure for the rebel alliance. Because of this, Lando and the rest of the smuggler's assume Han betrayed them. Things get worse, as Han loses the Spice for Jabba (which results in the Kessel Run, where it's left ambiguous if he really did do it in 12 parsecs or not), leaving him in debt.

In an attempt to pay-off Jabba, Han and Chewbacca go to Tatooine to try and get hired. He then meets Luke and Obi-Wan, leading into a New Hope.

That's quite the backstory, obviously there is loads of stuff I missed out on (mainly because I don't want too spoil too much for you guys). But I will say this, Han Solo is his actual name, and not something a random imperial officer gave him. Anyway, here's the bare minimum that you need to read in order to get Han's backstory: 

-The Han Solo trilogy (The Paradise Snare, the Hutt Gambit and Rebel Dawn).

-The Han Solo Adventures (they take place during Rebel Dawn).

 Anyway, if anyone wants more in-depth info or comparisons to Solo: A Star Wars story, let me know. Anyway, next week, we'll see what my mood is for the topic I will discuss.
 

bionicbob

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While I do not consider myself a Star Wars fan, I did read quite a few Legends novels on and off, and I have to agree, I think they are over all significantly better (at least the ones I read) than the Disney relaunch.

My personal favourite addition to the SW canon that is now lost to the dark side....

MARA JADE SKYWALKER

mara3.jpg


mara1.jpg


mara2.jpg


mara4.jpg


:D
 

Moe_Syzlak

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wilhelm scream said:
theryaney said:
Quick question, is the Suncrusher basically Starkiller Base? I've heard it can also destroy star systems.

Yes. One thing I've noticed about Discanon (the Disney continuity), is that they rip-off legends alot. I'll try not to point out when, since I've decided to trust the intelligence of my audience to figure it out for themselves.

Seriously I’m at a loss. I don’t hate you or your opinions. But what do you want!? Do you want “Discannon” to be in keeping with the “legends” stuff or do you want something new? I, personally, want new stories that won’t be spoiled by previous shit I couldn’t care less about. If you want them to make these movies based on previously written books, you’re crazy. For two reasons.  The first, there is much less profit or interest in filming a story that’s anyone can read, especially for Star Wars. Two, they can’t chart a path of continuity as they would like. Have they been successful thus far? Certainly debatable. But given that, if you love the EU, wouldn’t the references be welcomed? Is nothing short of a slavish filmic version of whatever EU media you love worthy?
 

Gaith

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^ Perhaps I might offer an answer... I enjoyed both Rogue One and Solo, but neither did a great job of fleshing out the SW universe. Instead of giving us insight into Mon Mothma, and showing us how such a soft-spoken, apparently non-military woman became leader of the Rebellion, R1 spent a major subplot on Forest Whitaker's useless and lame character from The Clone Wars, who then does a whole lot of nothing. And Solo, while zippy and entertaining, compressed the major bullet points of Han's character (Lando, the Falcon, the Kessel Run, Chewie, etc.) into a single story, whereas (as I observed in the Solo thread) a Marvel Netflix-style miniseries would have allowed a more gradual, nuanced and believable introduction to the character. Also, completely skipping his Imperial Academy experience was a major missed opportunity in exploring a regular person's feelings about the Empire... and the less said about the Maul cameo, the better. Finally, from what I've seen (and read of the rest), instead of really exploring the origins of the Rebellion, Rebels mainly just putters around with a standard-issue hero's journey of yet another Force-sensitive kid... only to have him (and the show) just up and skip the whole Galactic Civil War/OT years, so we can clear the decks for a post-RotJ presumable Rebels rehash, imaginatively titled Resistance. Yay?

There's a common thread here, and that thread is to awkwardly avoid exploring the complexities and unknown sides of the story elements and characters we saw in the OT, in order to tell simple, hurried, and not terribly well crafted side stories in the margins - even if some of said stories wind up being reasonably entertaining, chiefly by virtue of the actors' and production artists' talent.

Now: do I personally want new media that faithfully follows the various old EU novels? No, not necessarily. But, like or dislike the sequel Episodes (I find both to be dull retreads of the OT), Abrams and Johnson and Co. have been honest about how they're being made one at a time with virtually no forward planning, and, what with more OT-era movies (possibly) remaining in development, along with Resistance, plus who knows what Johnson and the GoT people are planning - to say nothing of any potential streaming service shows - I just don't see any coherent vision or direction at play. Is that sort of forward momentum, as the MCU has excelled at, strictly necessary? Maybe not, but it might help alleviate the mediocre quality of a lot of the seemingly scattershot productions we are getting.

Bottom line, IMO, is the franchise sorely needs better writing, stat. And since the EU novels couldn't rely on returning actors and fancy special effects to keep readers hooked, instead having to come up with detailed and involving new tales and worlds (even if they didn't always succeed), it seems to me they could be mined for material rather more than they are, much like Feige/Marvel Studios picks and chooses the best of comics inspirations for the MCU. Myself, I think Kathleen Kennedy/Disney's #2 move, after decanonizing the EU (painful, but necessary), should have been to hire Timothy Zahn to oversee a sequel trilogy (perhaps inspired by, though obviously not faithfully adapting, his Thrawn books), and saga as a whole.

As for Mara Jade: I agree she's awesome, but, even if she and Luke were to formally marry (I see them more as a permanent but not officially wedded couple), I don't see her taking the Skywalker name. Just my $.02. :D
 

wilhelm scream

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In response to previous posts:

Mara Jade Skywalker is my favourite legends character.

All I want is for legends to be continued, and for it to ignore CGI Clone Wars. If that happened, then I would stop watching and hating on Disney Star Wars (which is what I'm going to do after episode 9, regardless what happens).  Also, introducing legends elements in canon doesn't help, as it just reminds me of how good Legends was, and how bad Discanon is.

And you have just given me an idea of what to do next week, where I will discuss one of my favourite Star Wars games, and the true origin of the rebellion; The Force Unleashed.
 

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bionicbob said:
While I do not consider myself a Star Wars fan, I did read quite a few Legends novels on and off, and I have to agree, I think they are over all significantly better (at least the ones I read) than the Disney relaunch.

My personal favourite addition to the SW canon that is now lost to the dark side....

MARA JADE SKYWALKER

mara3.jpg


mara1.jpg


mara2.jpg


mara4.jpg


:D
 Wow, I've hear Mara Jade referred to as Star Wars' Mary Jane Watson, but she looks like a dead ringer for both.
 

slekyr

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As I mentioned before I didn't read many of the extended universe novels but I played almost any Star Wars game that came out.  The first time I ever heard of Mara Jade was in the Masters Of Teras Kasi

 

wilhelm scream

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It's a shame Mara Jade never had many video appearances. The only one where she was in the story, was in Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith.
 

wilhelm scream

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Today, I'm going to talk to you about one of my favorite Star Wars video games: The Force Unleashed. Technically, it's a multi-media project. However, unlike Shadows of the Empire, the book, game and comic all tell the same story, with only a few minor differences. I've read the comic, and it explained a few things that weren't explained in-game, but is otherwise entirely skippable.

By the way, we're talking about the HD version (PS3, XBOX 360 and PC), as I never played the SD version (PS2, WII and PSP).

Anyway, the main thing I love about the game is the gameplay. It's so fast, the combat is thrilling, and it's very varied in terms of the amount of force ability's available. The game still looks great 10 years later and it sounds great. The only complaint I have about the gameplay is that the lightsaber combat is not as good as the Jedi Knight games (petty I know, but I'll explain this in more detail in another post). 

The story is really good. It tells the story of Darth Vader's secret apprentice and gives us the TRUE origin story of the rebellion (sorry Star Wars Rebels fans) and gives us great characters as well (along with some fantastic voice acting). I would say more, but I don't want to give anything away, because there are quite a few twists you won't see coming (especially the light-side ending).

Anyway, to prove that I am not completely biased against Legends, I will be talking about one of the most disappointing video games I have ever played: The Force Unleashed 2.
 

slekyr

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wilhelm scream said:
Anyway, the main thing I love about the game is the gameplay. It's so fast, the combat is thrilling, and it's very varied in terms of the amount of force ability's available. The game still looks great 10 years later and it sounds great. The only complaint I have about the gameplay is that the lightsaber combat is not as good as the Jedi Knight games (petty I know, but I'll explain this in more detail in another post). 

The story is really good. It tells the story of Darth Vader's secret apprentice and gives us the TRUE origin story of the rebellion (sorry Star Wars Rebels fans) and gives us great characters as well (along with some fantastic voice acting). I would say more, but I don't want to give anything away, because there are quite a few twists you won't see coming (especially the light-side ending).

The Force Unleashed is one of my favorite Star Wars video games.  I agree that the story is awesome and it hooks you from the very beginning prologue as you play as Darth Vader.   I also agree that the saber combat could have been better but I don't think a game has done force powers better.  Grabbing and throwing Stormtroopers into each other, off cliffs, and out windows never got old.
 

wilhelm scream

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slekyr said:
wilhelm scream said:
Anyway, the main thing I love about the game is the gameplay. It's so fast, the combat is thrilling, and it's very varied in terms of the amount of force ability's available. The game still looks great 10 years later and it sounds great. The only complaint I have about the gameplay is that the lightsaber combat is not as good as the Jedi Knight games (petty I know, but I'll explain this in more detail in another post). 

The story is really good. It tells the story of Darth Vader's secret apprentice and gives us the TRUE origin story of the rebellion (sorry Star Wars Rebels fans) and gives us great characters as well (along with some fantastic voice acting). I would say more, but I don't want to give anything away, because there are quite a few twists you won't see coming (especially the light-side ending).

The Force Unleashed is one of my favorite Star Wars video games.  I agree that the story is awesome and it hooks you from the very beginning prologue as you play as Darth Vader.   I also agree that the saber combat could have been better but I don't think a game has done force powers better.  Grabbing and throwing Stormtroopers into each other, off cliffs, and out windows never got old.

Damn straight.
 

Masirimso17

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I really love The Force Unleashed. Still holds up really well after ten years
 

DominicCobb

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wilhelm scream said:
If you've visited the Star Wars thread, you would know that I hate Disney Star Wars, and almost everybody hates me because of this. However, almost nobody talks about Star Wars Legends, the expanded universe from 1977-2014, and I want to change that. This thread is for people who like Star Wars Legends and might not be happy with how Disney have treated the franchise. Every week I will be discussing various elements of Legends, from the characters and the ships, to the planets and the stories, or something else. 

This week, I will clear-up some things about Legends that people often get wrong:

1: Legends is a complete mess of continuity errors and is impossible to follow. This is only true for the Clone Wars era, because Disney insists that CGI Clone Wars and all of it's tie-ins are canon to Legends, even though they contradict almost everything from the Clone Wars multi-media project. The only reason why this is the case, is because Disney are trying to make Legends look as bad as possible to the public to try and use it as an excuse to not continue Legends. So, when ever I talk about the Clone Wars, I will be referring to the Clone Wars multi-media project, no CGI Clone Wars.

Disney didn't say anything about the CGI Clone Wars being in Legends continuity. All Lucasfilm said was anything besides the films and The Clone Wars, everything is Legends. So if anything, they said the opposite. Just because Wookieepedia includes TCW info on Legends pages doesn't make what you're saying true (fans run Wookieepedia). Not to mention, Disney doesn't give a shit if Legends "continuity" is confusing or not. And especially not to mention that the Legends "continuity" was a mess with or without TCW added in. I've barely read any EU stuff and I've come across issues.

For example, how many times were the Death Star plans stolen in Legends? How many times did Han and co. run into a bounty hunter on Ord Mantell? 

2: Legends was never canon. This is simply not true, as George Lucas was involved with many expanded universe works, thus, making them canon. Besides, you kind of had to read Legends because it fixes the continuity errors between the prequels and the original trilogy. 

That's factually untrue. The EU wasn't ever explicitly really canon, and George is on record as having said so. He had next to zero involvement on the vast majority of EU material, beyond sweeping rules like "don't kill Luke." In fact, the main reason the only things kept were the movies and TCW were because they were the things that were actually Lucas's, and what he considered canon (wonder why they disregarded the Clone Wars multimedia project? Because Lucas didn't care).
 
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