Skip to main content

star wars - How aware were the makers of The Force Awakens of Legends/EU Canon?


When Disney took over Lucasfilm, and announced the creation of new movies, current Extended Universe works were deemed to be non-canon.


Interestingly though, there seem to be a number of plot points within The Force Awakens that seem very similar to events that took place in the EU (renamed "Legends" by Disney).





  1. The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa trains as a Jedi with Luke but turns to the dark side. (Jacen Solo in EU).







  2. The name 'Ben' is used for a descendent of Anakin Skywalker (in EU this was actually Luke's son, not Han/Leia's).






  3. Luke's Lightsaber that he inherited from Anakin turns up again despite seemingly being lost at Bespin (in EU Luke encounters a clone of himself, cloned the hand he lost fighting Vader and wielding his lightsaber. Luke later gifts this to Mara Jade).







  4. A stormtrooper becomes disillusioned and runs away after being ordered to kill civilians (In the EU novel Allegiance four stormtroopers run away and become vigilantes for the same reason).





There are quite possibly other examples.


Additionally there is evidence that George Lucas was fully aware of at least one of these plot points.



George Lucas actually got directly involved the Jacen Solo storyline: 'it had been the creative team's intent to kill Jacen Solo in Anakin's place and have Anakin become the major hero. This was abandoned when Star Wars creator George Lucas vetoed the idea of Anakin Solo becoming the dominant figure, and the brothers' dramatic roles were swapped. Jacen Solo became the central figure of the arc; according to editor Sue Rostoni, "in many ways, the NJO is really his series."' - http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Caedus




Is there any evidence that the writers were paying homage to the EU here? They certainly were happy to pay homage a LOT to A New Hope! Or is this all just coincedental. The EU is so massive that pretty much anything that could reasonably happen has happened. However, some of the plot points are pretty well known, so can we reasonably assume that somebody being paid a lot of money to work in the Star Wars universe may have been aware of these things.



Answer





  1. It is obvious that they were aware, since the "creators" included Leland Chee (Keeper of the Holocron database of canon facts), Pablo Hidalgo, Kathleen Kennedy and the rest of Lucasfilm's Story Group (Disney name for it) and higher-up brass who were also previously responsible for the canon during Lucas era.




  2. Moreover, during Disney Canon Wars, they explicitly said in the speech anouncing the creation of Disney Empire:



    Creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe.




    This was further confirmed by Jennifer Heddle (LucasFilm's senior editor) on Twitter:



    @Hoopserwan It's all non-canon, but it all exists as a resource that could be used down the line. 2:17 PM - 25 Apr 2014





enter image description here


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir
Post a Comment
Read more

the lord of the rings - Why is Gimli allowed to travel to Valinor?

Gimli was allowed to go to Valinor despite not being a ring bearer. Is this explained in detail or just with the one line "for his love for Galadriel"? Answer There's not much detail about this aside from what's said in Appendix A to Return of the King: We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter. And Appendix B: Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf . And when that sh
Post a Comment
Read more

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l
1 comment
Read more

What is the etymology of Doctor Who?

I recently decided to watch Doctor Who, and started viewing the 2005 version. I have the first two episodes from the first season, and I can't help but wonder what is the etymology of the name "Doctor Who"? And why does the protagonist call himself "the Doctor" (or is it "the doctor")? Answer In the very first episode of Doctor Who (way back in 1963), the Doctor has a granddaughter going by the name "Susan Foreman", and the junkyard where the TARDIS is has the sign "I.M. Foreman". Barbara, who becomes one of the Doctor's companions, calls him "Doctor Foreman" (probably assuming that is his name given his relationship to Susan), and Ian (another early companion) does the same in the second episode, to which the Doctor says: Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about? "Foreman" is most likely selected as a convenient surname for Susan to use because it happened to be on display near where the TARDIS landed.
Post a Comment
Read more