Why Discarding the Star Wars Expanded Universe is Bad for Storytelling

The Star Wars universe has for nearly 40-years been held up as one of the paramount classics of science fiction, beloved by several generations of viewers and the focus of intense argument over the idea of the necessity for ‘prequels’. Those who grew up with the ‘original’ Star Wars movies will invariably dismiss the newer ones as garbage, while those younger fans who saw the prequels at the cinema will argue that all six are timeless classics and exciting movies.

There is, however, another type of Star Wars fan — who might agree or disagree with each of the above views — that doesn’t necessarily hang the whole franchise on whether George Lucas knows how to write (at all).

Enter the ‘reader’, the fan of the Expanded Universe.

A fan who has, as of Friday the 25th of April, had their favourite Star Wars stories rendered meaningless.

Discarding the Star Wars EU

On the official Star Wars website, Lucasfilm has finally put to rest speculation regarding just how the new sequels would treat the massive Expanded Universe of comics, books, games, and miscellaneous material. Despite past assumptions and assertions that the Expanded Universe was as important and integral to the overall Star Wars universe — going so far as to have it authorised by the Lucasfilm content gurus — the new word is that only the six movies, the Clone Wars movie and TV series, and the upcoming Star Wars Revels TV series are the only stories that remain as ‘canon’.

But Lucasfilm are doing their darndest to ensure that people don’t feel the Expanded Universe is being discarded. Quoted in their press release, Lucasfilm state that “while the universe that readers knew is changing, it is not being discarded” — however this statement seems only to mean that the material won’t be pulled from shelves. “Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe,” picking and choosing what they like to be integrated into future content, while “all aspects of Star Wars storytelling moving forward will be connected.”

While I’m unable to pinpoint exact quotes, I seem to remember that ‘all aspects of Star Wars storytelling’ was already supposed to be connected, vetted by Lucasfilm as being part of the canon (with a few minor early hiccups). Now though, with looming sequels to think about, decades of hard work has been thrown out the window. The material will still be available to read — and for many, that might be enough (and it will certainly be the catchcry of those dismissing the EU as important) — but the years and years of hard work by editorial and creative staff alike has, from my perspective, been dismissed as nothing more than highly-priced fan-fiction.

Discarding the Star Trek EU

A similar fate might await the Star Trek universe, if some executives and fans have their way. For decades Star Trek novels and comics were quickly-written, ham-handed, cheaply-made rubbish, created to make money and nothing more. Hundreds of novels for each of the generations of the TV show were pushed out in the hope that fans would continue to send their money towards the shows’ creators and executives, regardless of the quality.

But then, in May of 2001, everything changed. S.D. Perry — author of dozens of Star Trek novels — released ‘Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Avatar’. It was the first book of two, and began what is now known as the Deep Space Nine Season 8. Editorial control was exerted to ensure that all stories followed each other in a linear and continuous fashion, and an overarching storyline began to emerge.

In 2005 The Next Generation received its own relaunch, picking up post-Star Trek Nemesis, while Voyager also received the same treatment, beginning in either 2003 or 2009 (depending on your point of view).

Not only did these ‘relaunches’ create individual continuities, but as time went on the editorial staff began interweaving these three series to create one singular continuity, involving the crews from each of the series’, allowing them to mingle, blend, step away and form their own new crews.

Respecting the EU

For fans of both the Star Wars and Star Trek Expanded Universes, these stories have become important. Putting aside for today the argument of whether written fiction is better than filmed fiction, these stories continued the important stories that fans had fallen in love with on the big- or small-screen. For Star Wars fans, it was an opportunity to have actual story and character development take place (for all their value, the Star Wars movies are not the pinnacle of storytelling some might like them to be). For Star Trek fans, Gene Roddenberry’s vision of a better tomorrow continued, moving into even more culturally significant and diverse situations (note the Star Trek novel series Titan, which introduced several homosexual characters and a ship crewed by a multitude of alien species, rather than 95% human).

The books took away the constraint of budgets and special effects and makeup, and let the imagination run free.

To have these stories so easily dismissed from canon — from the overall storyline — and relegated to fan-fiction with no concrete place in the continuity of the original stories is going to have a hard pill to swallow for some fans.

The Star Wars ‘Thrawn’ trilogy is arguably the best Star Wars story ever told — eclipsing anything ever put to film. As for the Star Trek relaunch series, many might argue that these books fell back in line with the vision Gene Roddenberry originally had for his story before it was cooped by others (who will remain nameless today).

What was the Solution, then?

The Star Trek solution is a lot simpler, in my mind, than anything Star Wars was up against. J.J. Abrams already created a splinter universe which would allow any future TV series or movies to do whatever they wanted, allowing the original series’ and relaunch books to continue on unimpeded.

How could Lucasfilm have handled their EU? It’s a much trickier proposition, as much of the Star Wars EU is tightly packed in chronology, leaving very little room for other stories to take place — let alone have any impact. But with the general malaise felt towards the ‘New Jedi Order’ series, and what came after, one wonders why stories like the Thrawn trilogy weren’t left alone — included within the canon and allowed to impact these upcoming sequels. Dismissing any might have been tricky for some fans, but dismissing everything as if none of it ever mattered — that seems a dismissal of the fans as much as the hard work of the creative staff involved.