Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Two different opinion pieces (or, as we call them in girl fandom, meta) regarding the Jedi Order popped up on the internet today.
The first, by Nanci at Tosche Station, argues for a restored Jedi Order – but a very different one than we saw in the prequels or the Legends novels.
In the second, Chris Taylor at Mashable considers the ramifications of the balance of the Force, and what that means for Luke Skywalker and the Jedi.
One of the latest writers to come into the Star Wars fold, Chuck Wendig, has a blog entry on canon this morning. (Warning: Lumpy.)
Here’s my favorite bit, which speaks to why a lot of us Expanded Universe fans aren’t up in arms over the Legends thing or calling for more.
The more strict and detailed the canon becomes, the more reverence we devote to it. And the more it restricts the future of that narrative. The more it chokes off what can be told. Doors close. Windows slam shut and are boarded over. Options are lost. The more we care about what’s “true” — in a universe that has never been true and whose power lies in its fiction — we start denigrating those things that aren’t. We view alternate timelines as somehow inconsequential. We dismiss fan-fiction as just some wish fulfillment machine instead of what it often is: a way to tell cool new stories in a pre-existing pop culture framework that aren’t beholden to the canonical straitjacket.
As someone with a lot of history in the fan fiction realm – remember, this site actually served mainly as an archive for Club Jade’s first several years – that is the perfect description of it: Another way to tell cool stories.
No, I don’t view Legends as fan fiction – it’s still professionally published and licensed, by professional authors, which most fanfic isn’t. (At all.) And the Legends authors never had the freedom your standard fic author does, to ignore or use whatever. Even in the beginning, there were guidelines and restrictions, which is why there wasn’t a crazy Obi-wan clone in the Thrawn trilogy.
But clinging to the concept of canon has, over time, done just as much harm as good, and it’s just plain unrealistic in many ways – which is Wendig’s point, really. The world doesn’t work like that.
May is the month of Star Wars birthdays, of course, and Wednesday was the 35th anniversary of the release of The Empire Strikes Back. Entertainment Weekly’s Darren Franich took the opportunity to write the lesson nobody learned from Empire Strikes Back – that the small and personal is what makes the film succeed, not the dark and twisty.
Cameos enrich Rebels’ character development, argues Ben Wahrman at Eleven-ThirtyEight, by giving the new characters “a known personality to bounce off of.”
#WheresHera? (and sometimes Sabine.) Guess who’s still missing from lots of Rebels merchandise? I guess folks really love us harping on this stuff, huh?
What’s up with the Jedi Temple? Mike Cooper at Eleven-ThirtyEight takes a look at how the Jedi Temple has been portrayed in the new canon – and what it might mean for the old canon.
Why Episode VII needs Skywalkers. Nanci at Tosche Station on why the new trilogy needs at least one of the leads to be a child (or children) of Luke or Leia.
News. Dark Horse revealed a new miniseries by Mind MGMT’s Matt Kindt, Rebel Heist, on Comic Book Resources last week. The four-issue series starts with a Han Solo issue in April and will feature art by Marco Castiello (Purge.)
Excerpt. There’s a bunch of Maul: Lockdown available at Random House’s catalog.
Interviews. John Ostrander and artist Jan Duursema are also on Comic Book Resources, talking Dawn of the Jedi, while Ostrander talks to Eleven-ThirtyEight.
Notes. John Jackson Miller has added production notes for Kenobi to his site.
The blogside. Abel G. Peña and Daniel Wallace continue their look at the Imperial Warlords at the official blog, while Mike Cooper at Eleven-ThirtyEight asks fandom to stop trying to quantify everything.
Upcoming. Del Rey has revealed the back cover of Honor Among Thieves and posted another mini-excerpt for Maul: Lockdown.
The blogside. For the detail oriented, StarWars.com has Imperial warlords from Abel G. Peña and Daniel Wallace and Xim the Despot by Jason Fry with Paul Urquhart. From the fan side, Eleven-ThirtyEight has Alexander Gaultier looking at the lost books of the EU and Ben Crofts defends implausible victories, or, welcome to the wonderful world of Space Opera.
Interview. Roqoo Depot talks to artist Chris Trevas about the Death Star Owner’s Technical Manual.
On the Tumblr. Mirax Terrik art from Tony Foti for the RPG.
Upcoming. J.W. Rinzler revealed the cover for his Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy on Twitter earlier today. The book is due out May 13.
And on that note, Joe Schreiber’s Darth Maul: Lockdown has been pushed back a week, from January 21st to the 28th, Del Rey tweeted. The trade off: The first mini-excerpt from the book.
The blogside. Over at the official blog, Pablo played with fire by looking into the lengths of Super Star Destroyers, Jennifer Heddle sung the praises of the galaxy’s non-force sensitives and Jason Fry and Paul Urquhart looked into ancient Coruscant.
Reviews. James’ thoughts on Star Wars #10 and Ewoks: Shadows of Endor.