Category: Opinion

The Expanded Universe Explains, Vol. VIII – Han and Lando

Posted on July 2, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

Now that we’re officially living in a post-reboot Galaxy Far, Far Away, one could be forgiven for thinking my EU Explains series isn’t really relevant anymore. I, however, think no such thing. I love the Expanded Universe largely because of the context and depth it gives to the many ambiguous bits in the movies—the spice mines of Kessel? Bothans?—and even if it can no longer be entirely relied upon to bear out in future content (which, let’s admit it, was always the case), even the most oft-contradicted sources present a fascinating superposition of possibilities for those bits, and will almost certainly be sprinkled into the new canon here and there; likely even the Sequel Trilogy itself.

Understanding the possibilities, I think, is just as valuable as knowing things for certain. To that end, for the time being I’m going to capitalize on this lack of certainty and begin exploring topics that even the EU was never quite sure about—the bounty hunter(s) on Ord Mantell, for example, or how the Rebels got a hold of the shuttle Tydirium. I may even untangle the myriad tales of the Death Star plans. But first… Read More

Clone Wars Character Autopsy: Asajj Ventress

Posted on June 30, 2014by Feature Articles, Sidelong Glance

Last time, we looked at one of the leaders of the Separatist Alliance’s military arm. While General Grievous was urged to use the unorthodox in his fight against the Jedi, he was in the end a blunt instrument in Count Dooku’s hands, a hammer used to smash the opponents of the CIS. Of course, Dooku also had need of a scalpel during the Clone Wars, a more selective agent who would not mindlessly charge into battle, and in whom he could implant his own ideas and training, giving him a tool with which to possibly unseat his master one day.

Enter Asajj Ventress.

Ventress was created as a part of the Clone Wars multimedia project to give the Republic a mid-tier antagonist before Grievous was revealed, first appearing in the comics but making her mark in the Genndy cartoon series as well. It was in The Clone Wars, though, where she made her biggest impact, giving audiences a major female villain for the first time in Star Wars screen history barring the antagonist of the Ewok movie (because who remembers that?). But her gender was far from her only reason for her popularity. She was menacing, she was magnetic, she was intelligent and even funny at times thanks to her talent for sarcasm. She gave the heroes a run for their money, but was far from a one-dimensional villain, as we’ll see. Read More

Yes, There Are Gays in Space: Queer Star Wars Fandom

Posted on June 27, 2014by The Holocron

It’s June, traditionally Pride month. It’s time to talk about queer fandom and mention the very fact that it exists and matters. Especially in Star Wars- a fandom whose diversity issues have recently come to light with a bang- queer fandom has a place, and deserves to be discussed.

With all the talk of diversity and representation in fandom, we’re finally hearing from those who feel marginalized by mainstream culture. Let’s face it, the Star Wars fandom has been traditionally very unfriendly to those who aren’t straight white men. For years on end, the rest of us were shunted off to the sides and seen as anomalies, but that isn’t so any longer. Internet fandom has changed recently, and now Tumblr is quite the space for fandom. It’s a space with many voices that aren’t those of the ‘mainstream,’ a space where we discuss the need for representation in fandom, the possibility of queer characters, and the problems of mainstream media’s relationship to queer fandom. Slash fanfic has been for a while one of the few major representations of queer fandom- writers, often female, and sometimes queer, explore the possibilities that the mainstream media wouldn’t give us. It’s become somewhat stigmatized in some circles; what does that say about mainstream fandom’s attitudes towards anything that isn’t straight? When fan culture starts hearing the voices of those who aren’t what people may think of when they hear ‘fans,’ suddenly diversity matters all the more.

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Star Wars and Genre: Science Fiction

Posted on June 25, 2014by Cry Havac
Science fiction — you’ll know it by the flying cars

Science fiction is a broad term for a big, big genre. At its core, it is a genre of stories in which science or technology beyond the bounds of what is currently known plays an important role, and tends by default to incorporate any fiction set in the future. This creates a vast continuum embracing space opera, steampunk, tech-oriented hard science fiction, alien-invasion thrillers, and dystopian studies of human society — to name just a few types of science fiction.

Star Wars primarily falls under the label of space opera — pulpy adventure stories set in outer space, a subgenre heavily influenced by fantasy. These stories have the trappings of advanced science and technology — spaceships, laser guns — but aren’t interested in examining the science of the setting, or using it to explore mankind’s relationship with technology or illustrate ideas about society in the way most idea-oriented traditional science fiction does.

In addressing how Star Wars interacts with the science fiction genre, I thus want to focus in on how the space fantasy saga engages with the “harder” elements of traditional science fiction.

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Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss: Imagining A Truly New Republic

Posted on June 23, 2014by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

About a week ago, Making Star Wars broke a story that alleged a few things about the premise of Episode VII that many found hard to believe. The assertion that’s attracted the most attention is that the villains will be so-called “Jedi Hunters” (along the lines of the Inquisitor in Star Wars Rebels) who have largely kept Luke Skywalker’s burgeoning Jedi Order on the run in the decades since Return of the Jedi. Plenty has been written about them already, and I’m not about to believe or disbelieve the overall report with anything approaching real confidence, but the larger premise of the rumor did kickstart a pretty interesting discussion that caused me to rethink a lot of my own assumptions about what the galactic status quo “should” be in the Sequel Trilogy.

Last year, in Part II of his A Case For Starting Over series, Alexander Gaultier delved deeply into the Expanded Universe’s handling of the founding of the New Republic, what it did right, what opportunities were missed or mishandled, and so on. But one thing that both fans and detractors of the EU have never really given serious thought to is the notion that thirty years after Palpatine’s death, the Republic wouldn’t really be back just yet. Read More