Philotic Web

Star Wars Reads Day celebration at our library today.



And a video of Little Leia asking a shocking question of the Storm Troopers:

Have I mentioned lately how awesome you guys are? I love the pool noodle lightsabers.

I love your family!! I wish we lived close to each other so our families could be best friends.
I also wish I had a cool Star Wars library. That is amazing.

Thanks, guys!

And Jan, it's totally my dream to live close to you guys! We'd have SO much fun!

Incredible I love to see family unity in dressing up even outside of Halloween! Let's see how long you can keep THAT up

I've only ever been to one such event in my life... ok, not exactly like this at all... it was a Star Trek convention in Boston, where I didn't dress up but did admire all the phenomenal costumes many others wore!

You guys ROCK!

Awesome steph your costumes are really good!

Btw, whoever that Visas Marr is, give her my props... one of my favourite chars of the extended universe!

KOTOR II definitely gets way too little love for how awesome it is. Not that the entire crew aren't astounding and awesome!

I guess I should clarify that the 3 in the back are reenactors that the library brought in for the event. I don't know them at all. Their costumes were seriously sweet!

I tried to get volunteers in for my library but alas, it wasn't meant to be. I wasn't allowed to do anything more than a low-key event for Star Wars Reads Day anyway since I wasn't scheduled to work but that's fair enough since we had planned a Star Wars themed party for Oct. 8 before we knew about SWRD.

Boo for no volunteers! I'm glad you got to do SOMETHING for SWRD, though. I mean, you're you. And it's Star Wars. And libraries.

I've heard that's where Mogwai come from but I'm not sure if I've seen it. (Though, I probably have and don't remember.)

That picture's even awesomer if you get the Dragon Ball Z reference.

coolness XD

That picture's even awesomer if you get the Dragon Ball Z reference.

And here I was thinking it was a Last Airbender reference. Gremlin bending!

If Disney doesn't do the right thing and recognize EU, I'm disowning Star Wars. VII had BETTER be either Truce at Bakura, something from the X-Wing series, Courtship of Princess Leia, or Heir to the Empire. Anything else and I'm outta here. http://www.slashfilm.com/disney-buys-lu ... film-2015/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

On one hand: UGH. Leia is a Disney Princess. Disney Jar-Jar could be a thousand times worse. I don't see these movies not sucking.

On the other hand: Disney now owns the Lucasarts games, and if Monkey Island, Grim Fandango and Sam & Max get new games or Pixar movies, I would be very happy.

Heir to the Empire would be ideal, but frankly, everyone from the OT is too old to play those roles in that timeframe.

I think they could go with a condensed NJO, possibly? I stopped reading NJO after Ben was born (because that's the point I went to college and had no time to keep up with ten new books a year).

imagine the opening crawl

It has been twenty-five years since the fall of the EMPIRE. It is a period of peace and democracy and A NEW REPUBLIC has arisen to lead the Galaxy

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, has established a new Academy on the former Rebel base of Yavin IV and has rebuilt the ancient order of the Jedi.

Unknown to the Jedi, an Ancient Evil, the YUUZHAN VONG, have prepared for 4000 years to invade the GALAXY with powerful biological weapons that will enslave all the people of the Republic...

I will sign a petition now to get Joss off of Avengers 2 and put him in place to save star wars. Who else could be trusted with Star Wars than Joss? Benioff and Weiss, maybe, but off the top of my head I am very skeptical of anyone else.

Heir to the Empire would be ideal, but frankly, everyone from the OT is too old to play those roles in that timeframe.

I think they could go with a condensed NJO, possibly? I stopped reading NJO after Ben was born (because that's the point I went to college and had no time to keep up with ten new books a year).

imagine the opening crawl

It has been twenty-five years since the fall of the EMPIRE. It is a period of peace and democracy and A NEW REPUBLIC has arisen to lead the Galaxy

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, has established a new Academy on the former Rebel base of Yavin IV and has rebuilt the ancient order of the Jedi.

Unknown to the Jedi, an Ancient Evil, the YUUZHAN VONG, have prepared for 4000 years to invade the GALAXY with powerful biological weapons that will enslave all the people of the Republic...

I wouldn't even have a problem with them recasting the OT actors. On the other hand, NJO might very well be better on screen than it was as novels. 4 ABY - 19 ABY is really my home territory in the EU, and I always found that era to be better written than the NJO novels, but NJO definitely provides a plot structure that respects earlier canon and are action packed enough to make for good movies.

On one hand: UGH. Leia is a Disney Princess. Disney Jar-Jar could be a thousand times worse. I don't see these movies not sucking.

On the other hand: Disney now owns the Lucasarts games, and if Monkey Island, Grim Fandango and Sam & Max get new games or Pixar movies, I would be very happy.

Keep in mind that Disney is also largely responsible for both the Marvel Cinematic Universe (i.e., Avengers, Iron Man), and lots of Pixar. I have faith that they can make a good movies, I just don't want those movies overthrowing the universe I know and love.



I'm not sure who I'd pick to head the films, obviously Whedon is tied up, but I hope Leland Chee is heavily involved in the development.

I think Nolan would be an acceptable alternative to Joss.

I think Nolan would be an acceptable alternative to Joss.

I'd be happy to take Andrew Stanton or Matthew Vaughn. Not sure Disney is going to trust Stanton with anything big anytime soon, but John Carter was their screw-up and not his.

I don't see these movies not sucking.

This is the reaction I'm hearing from most of my friends.

Given the fact that they brought Joss Whedon on board not just to make Avengers 2, but to help oversee the entire Marvel property, and how they've generally treated that property since they acquired the rights, I'm a lot less worried than I would have been several years ago.

If Disney doesn't do the right thing and recognize EU, I'm disowning Star Wars. VII had BETTER be either Truce at Bakura, something from the X-Wing series, Courtship of Princess Leia, or Heir to the Empire. Anything else and I'm outta here. http://www.slashfilm.com/disney-buys-lu ... film-2015/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't know...

I'm definitely an Expanded Universe supporter. I have dozens of the novels (probably near 100, actually) including most of the Bantam books from the 90s, every book in the NJO, Legacy of the Force, Fate of the Jedi, and some of the comics, but acknowledging those stories brings soooooo much baggage for the more casual fans. The best approach might be to have Episode VII set far in the future. The "Legacy" comics take place nearly 100 years after the movies, so I'm talking at least a hundred years after that. That way, they have the freedom to do whatever they want without being bogged down by continuity, while not having to worry about contradicting it either.

I don't know how to feel about this.

Deep introspection needed.

I would love more Ewok merchandise though. =]

At least George can't screw with the originals anymore. I'll reserve judgement on how Disney handles the IP until something actually happens.

I don't know how to feel about this.

Deep introspection needed.

This. I've mostly managed to convince myself this is an elaborate joke or something.

I am not too high on the EU... but whatever they do, please, not Dark Empire... never, i don't want to ever acknowledge as canon, fanon or cannon things like Palpatine clones (which essentially negates the significance of the original trilogy and Darth Vader's redemption... plus, this Palpatine is hardly Darth Sidious, master of manipulation... he's being outplayed all the time) or the Galaxy Gun. There is a pic of the Galaxy Gun in the dictionary entry for "Stupidly Overpowered".

I guess I don't understand the insane attachment to the EU in terms of having its canonity recognized as "official" that I'm hearing from a lot of corners of the world. The insistance that the new movies be based on an existing EU story doesn't make sense to me, because, like, how does it affect you? If you really like the EU stories, well, this wouldn't really make them mysteriously not good if the new official canon said they didn't happen. Kyle Katarn would still be one of my favorite video game heroes, even if he canonically (fun word!) disappeared in a puff of smoke. It just means there are two universes. Which there kind of already are.

It works like an adaptation: if the adaptation is good, despite ignoring a lot of the source material, great! There's something to enrich material you already love, and new material to love. If the adaptation sucks, who cares? You still have the original source.

I guess I don't understand the insane attachment to the EU in terms of having its canonity recognized as "official" that I'm hearing from a lot of corners of the world. The insistance that the new movies be based on an existing EU story doesn't make sense to me, because, like, how does it affect you? If you really like the EU stories, well, this wouldn't really make them mysteriously not good if the new official canon said they didn't happen. Kyle Katarn would still be one of my favorite video game heroes, even if he canonically (fun word!) disappeared in a puff of smoke. It just means there are two universes. Which there kind of already are.

It works like an adaptation: if the adaptation is good, despite ignoring a lot of the source material, great! There's something to enrich material you already love, and new material to love. If the adaptation sucks, who cares? You still have the original source.

A lot of us have been waiting and hoping for years to see our favorite EU characters on screen. Also, for the same reason, to a lesser extent, that I have a love/hate relationship with Peter Jackson's LOTR adaptation. I love seeing middle earth on screen, but he also butchered a lot of things, and I hate the idea that there are people for whom his films are the first things that come to mind when they think of LOTR, instead of the real deal.

My first thought when I heard about this was "at least George can't mess with them any more". He'll still be kept on as "creative consultant", but he won't be directing any more movies, which in my book is definitely a good thing. I am a little curious how they're going to handle the EU - honestly, I'd rather see them do an original story that acknowledges EU than try to rehash one of the existing books/series. It'd be tricky with the amount of material that's already been written, though.

A lot of us have been waiting and hoping for years to see our favorite EU characters on screen. Also, for the same reason, to a lesser extent, that I have a love/hate relationship with Peter Jackson's LOTR adaptation. I love seeing middle earth on screen, but he also butchered a lot of things, and I hate the idea that there are people for whom his films are the first things that come to mind when they think of LOTR, instead of the real deal.

So I get that it's exciting at the prospect of seeing EU character on-screen, and I realize the irony of talking about this in a forum that has a very large section devoted to the adaptation of a certain favorite book, but I still don't see the importance of it. Like, Lucas, as much as I disagree with a lot of things he's done, clearly had no specific reason to be tied to the EU when he was writing. It was all stuff other people had created, elevated fanfiction. And while I can see the disappointment that future movies might ignore the EU canon, just purely because it's fun to see adaptations, your response at the prospect that books and comics that explicitly are not created by the "real" creator, which was Lucas and is now Disney, aren't followed by an adaptation seems just a little strong.

Also, not going to lie, I read LOTR much before I even knew the movies were going to be coming out, and I still have trouble not thinking of the movie's interpretations, even in the parts I disagree with. Because, while it missed some stuff, it's hard to call it butchering when it was done as skillfully.

But Wizz's point is mostly what sticking with me: there's so much. So much EU stuff. It would just be easier to ignore it all and write a new story. A huge section of fans will feel insulted no matter what, what with their favorite EU stories not being adapted, so might as well try to win them all over with something original instead of trying to please a minority of them and possibly still failing with a poor adaptation.

Personally, I think I'd prefer if Disney left the time period of the movies and the post-movies EU alone and explored other areas of Star Wars lore like the original discovery of the Force and the Light/Dark schism or the Great Hyperspace War. Or they could also break entirely new ground in an as yet unknown part of the timeline like Bioware did with it's KOTOR/SWTOR games.

So I get that it's exciting at the prospect of seeing EU character on-screen, and I realize the irony of talking about this in a forum that has a very large section devoted to the adaptation of a certain favorite book, but I still don't see the importance of it. Like, Lucas, as much as I disagree with a lot of things he's done, clearly had no specific reason to be tied to the EU when he was writing. It was all stuff other people had created, elevated fanfiction. And while I can see the disappointment that future movies might ignore the EU canon, just purely because it's fun to see adaptations, your response at the prospect that books and comics that explicitly are not created by the "real" creator, which was Lucas and is now Disney, aren't followed by an adaptation seems just a little strong.

Maybe it's silly. I'm still not really interested in a Star Wars sequel that discards the universe we EU fans live in and the characters we care about, any more than I'd be particularly interested in a new Devlin/Emmerich Stargate trilogy. Star Wars is one of the few major sci-fi franchises that has gone to extraordinary lengths to maintain continuity without resorting to alternate timelines and nonsense like that, and maintains an official continuity database which is scoured before new Star Wars media is authorized. Even the notoriously continuity minded Star Trek franchise has now screwed the pooch on that count with the J.J. Abrams Star Trek. The real fans want an ongoing story, not a reboot.

I think Nolan would be an acceptable alternative to Joss.

I'd be happy to take Andrew Stanton or Matthew Vaughn. Not sure Disney is going to trust Stanton with anything big anytime soon, but John Carter was their screw-up and not his.

Also, Bryan Singer.

Personally, I think I'd prefer if Disney left the time period of the movies and the post-movies EU alone and explored other areas of Star Wars lore like the original discovery of the Force and the Light/Dark schism or the Great Hyperspace War. Or they could also break entirely new ground in an as yet unknown part of the timeline like Bioware did with it's KOTOR/SWTOR games.

Calling it Episode VII makes me think that is unlikely...

I know nothing about Star Wars, never seen the original trilogy, was forced to watch episode one. Anyhow. Last night, we were shopping, looking at toys, and Donny showed Atty a big light saber. Oh. My. Gosh. He LIT UP. I've never seen him that excited over a toy. Obviously, he's too young for it, but I have a feeling my Star Wars ignorance days are numbered.