On The Expanded Universe, Continuity, and Clone Wars

[lazypadawan]

Everything happens whenever I go on vacation and I'm not online very much if at all. People die, flame wars and beefs break out, and bombs get dropped. One such bomb, at least for those who care about the Expanded Universe, was author Karen Traviss's decision over the weekend to leave the SW stable once she'd completed the second Imperial Commando novel. What triggered her departure was an alleged continuity conflict between her depiction of Mandalore and the way it is going to be shown in the second season of TCW. The second season Visual Guide is supposedly out (though I've not seen it in stores yet) and some fans have forwarded info from the book to Traviss. Specifically, the planet's capitol is going to be a big ol' cube in the show while Traviss's version of the Mandalorian capital is way, way different.

Yeah, that was supposedly it. Rather than spend a lot of time reconciling what's in the show with what's in the books, Traviss decided to just not bother with it anymore.

Now I can empathize with someone who works real hard on a story only to find she's been "Jossed" and she realizes the world she's created isn't what the boss is going with anymore. I can understand why one would decide it's just easier to crank out your own material than to navigate an ever-shifting sandbox. That's assuming continuity was the sole issue, not other issues we don't know about. Maybe it would make things easier for these authors if they were kept in the loop about potential continuity problems. Today, Leland Chee, Lucasfilm's Continuity Czar, issued a couple of statements on the issue, which you can read here: http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Leland_Chee_Speaks_On_Continuity_Concerns_125604.asp.

But as far as I'm concerned, the only canon in SW are ANH, TESB, ROTJ, TPM, AOTC, ROTS, and TCW. Everything else is officially-sanctioned fan fiction and even the real canon is not exempt from a little fine-tuning. I'm no more upset over Mandalore being different on TCW than I am over the events of ROTS being different from some of the speculative stories I wrote prior to the film's release. (Though I do give myself credit for writing a story where Anakin had nightmares about Padmé's death and he wakes up determined to make sure it doesn't happen. Go, me.) It doesn't bother me that most of the Marvel comics I read in the 1970s and 1980s no longer make any sense with what the SW universe is now, especially since there's plenty of material from the post-1990 books and the Dark Horse run of comics that directly contradict them. I'm not in the least upset that Owen wasn't Obi-Wan's brother after all. I care first and foremost what happens in the movies and t.v. shows. For all we know, there could be a total reboot of Expanded Universe continuity five or ten years for now and the apple cart will be upset once more.

That's just how it is with Star Wars. I used to be one of those fans who wanted strict continuity, but the way things have evolved, it isn't practical anymore. Why? There's just too much stuff. Lucas couldn't have done TCW; his hands would've been completely tied. We also have to bear in mind that fans' needs, demands, and tastes change over the years. What works for today's readers might not work somewhere down the line. Lucasfilm might decide it wants things to go in another direction.

I liked Karen Traviss's books, even if the Jedi-bashing got a little old after a while. She had an appreciation for all of the SW movies and I liked how she wrote Anakin and her band of clones. I'll miss her work. But contrary to those who want to blame that ol' meanie Lucas for driving Traviss out of SW, the fact is it was her decision to quit to focus on her original work instead. No one SW author has written ad infinitum, although Timothy Zahn does one every now and then. It would be nice if Mike Stackpole was still writing SW, but he hasn't in a long time. People come and go.

Comments

[pronker]

I would have liked to see Traviss take on the Palpatine character. With his seeming ordinariness masking his true self, that would have been a writing challenge for her. I think of the Dar, Etain, Kal characters as being quite straightforward. Sure enjoyed her action writing!

[krpalmer.livejournal.com]

It must say something about how careful I am with "Star Wars discussion" or whatever that I only learned about this departure when you mentioned it... my first thought (worry) was that, somehow, "the characters of the Mandalorians will be 'wrong' in Clone Wars" (although, not reading the Star Wars books, I may have formed the one hundred percent wrong opinion that Karen Traviss writes them in such a way as to make even "the adulation of Boba Fett" pale)... and then I saw the explanation of the differing "visual realities," and thought "that's it?"

Of course, I haven't spent lots of time working out details of an invented culture, so I should remind myself I can't really decide for Traviss. Maybe there could have been a way to compromise... Still, I've seen what happens when people become obsessed with "continuity" over everything else, and so I want to avoid that happening to me.

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

I've always thought keeping the films and the written-out-of-order EU as one fixed official "continuity" was a mistake, especially once the PT started production and introduced a whole new slew of continuity to take into account. They needed to just slap an Infinities label on the whole thing, or go the route of Trek/Buffy EU and have the books exist as a largely self-contained parallel reality. As far as the fanboy bitching - as self-contradictory as the EU already is, it's IMO ridiculous to expect the creator himself to tie his hands trying to comply with every little nit of the EU.

Part of me suspects there is more to Traviss' departure than just having her continuity "Jossed." After all, she's written a number of SW books that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Mandos, yet she's withdrawing from all future SW endeavors? Then again, I've never had an entire "reality" of mine Jossed to the extent she has. While she may have done other projects, I guess the Mandalorians were kind of her baby, and seeing your baby get slapped like that may have been the final straw.

I regret the EU losing another author with appreciation for the saga as a whole, and listening to Traviss chat informally with fans at C4 definitely raised my hopes about the EU being in more capable hands, but thankfully I'm still not invested enough in it to get too distressed over her departure.

[trevelyanl85a2.livejournal.com]

I never knew the EU lost other authors besides her.

Even though some of the areas and characters they create *are* theirs in terms of who created them, ultimately once LucasFilm/LucasBooks/Del Rey and such get them, it's theirs and part of the Star Wars community.

Part of writing in any universe involves being flexible IMO, not pidgeonholing oneself into one area and insisting that's how things roll....

[may-child.livejournal.com]

It annoys me when I see EU fans bash Lucas for "disrespecting the EU continuity," saying he "should be more considerate of the EU authors and what they've created."

Actually, I think that far more often the EU authors should respect what Lucas has created, as nearly all of them seem more obsessed with pushing their Mary Sues and Gary Stus and rewriting the saga to suit their fantasies, beliefs and philosophies. After all, it was Lucas who let them come into his playground, not the other way around.

In any case -- if the EU authors are the type to get pissy about Lucas contradicting what they laid down in their books, then they shouldn't have started writing for the SW EU in the first place. Lucas owns SW, and not just in the legal sense. He can take what he wants from the "parallel universe" (his words) of the EU, and ignore what he wants. He is in no way, shape or form obligated to follow what EU authors have laid down.

And quite honestly, I am damn glad he did NOT follow what the EU authors laid down for prequel-era events when he decided to start making Eps. 1-3. I'm particularly glad he destroyed the idiotic backstory the EU had for Boba Fett, as well as for the origin of the Death Star. It's been pretty amusing to see the attempts to make the EU "fit perfectly" with the PT continuity -- the EU is an even bigger mess than before, and so plastered over with continuity spackle that it is collapsing in on itself.

[sabreman64.livejournal.com]

I agree with you completely, may child. By the way, could someone please explain this term "Jossed" which people have mentioned a few times? I don't get the reference.

[may-child.livejournal.com]

I didn't get it either, although I figured it had something to do with Joss Whedon. So I Googled it...and actually got a link to the online "Urban Dictionary":

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jossed

It apparently has multiple meanings.

[trevelyanl85a2.livejournal.com]

Not able to access the link :(

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

The short of it is new continuity coming along and completely contradicting/pulling out the rug from under an idea/concept. Which happened a lot in Joss Whedon shows. ;)

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

It's a fan fiction term meaning your whole fan fic track got turned upside down because of a change in the canon. I'm guessing it originated from Buffy fandom because it's a reference to Joss Whedon.

[may-child.livejournal.com]

Sorry about that.

1. Jossed

Named for Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Generally used by fanfiction writers when the shows chose to go in a direction that contradicted the story the fanfiction writer was currently working on. Jossing can mean that the show's writers contradicted earlier episodes, but more often just means that they filled in backstory differently than some fans did.
"I just wrote a story about Spike's past as a pickpocket, but it turns out he was a wimpy poet when he was human! I've been Jossed!"

2. Jossed

A term initially from Buffy The Vampire Slayer Fanfiction, the term 'Jossed' is now used in many fandoms as a description of when a fanfiction writer's explanation of a certain event or exploration of a characters' motivations which previously is ambiguous, is then explained by the actual fandom, and contradicts the fanfiction writers story.

The term is derived from the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon. The term is most prevalent in the science fiction genre.

It is used most commonly when authors are led to believe that a certain event may happen later in a Television series or book and write a story with that event in it, then the official author goes in a different direction, making their story 'AU', Alternate Universe.
This story about Buffy living in Los Angeles got Jossed when Buffy returned to Sunnydale. Now it's AU.

3. Jossed

What happens when a passive-aggressive writer feels compelled to recreate his childhood bullying. Starts out by giving his audience lots of love, encourages them to believe things will turn out well, then backhands them at the end--and they inexplicably come crawling back for more.
If you watched Act III of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, you probably got Jossed.

4. Jossed

To be stoned from smoking Marijuana. Derived from Joss Stone.
Hey man, are you Jossed right now?

Wow, I am really Jossed right now.

5. Jossed

to have accepted canon in a show or book or real life changed to siut facts that are currently convienient to the author.

Name comes from Buffy/Angel fanficiton due to the fact that the shows' creator Joss Whedon constantly did this, causing considerable irritation to fans and fanficcers worldwide.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, S2, Spike clearly names Angel as his Sire, with the words "you were my Yoda,man!"

Come season 3 or 4 this is changed to Drusilla being his sire.

[trevelyanl85a2.livejournal.com]

As do I, but I think to an extent any material that's be made should be reconciled within continuity, at least for consistency's sake more or less, you know?