Collaborative Continuity: The Fan’s Place

Posted on April 10, 2015by

gffawide

Star Wars is a vast universe. Look at the galactic map– all that area labeled as Wild Space and the Unknown Regions, all of the new planets… But I digress. The most significant part of that vast universe is just how many people it takes to bring it to life and keep it going. Over the years, Star Wars has steadily absorbed more people. Many thought they might leave after one major event a year ago, many more have been drawn in, and the process of creation has not slowed. It’s not just about authors and artists- all of us as fans have a role in the Star Wars universe, and we can’t just dismiss ourselves as strictly the consumers. Even if I’ll never grow up to be a Jedi, I still feel like I’m a part of Star Wars fandom in a way that’s more than just being a consumer.

One year ago, something happened that shook the foundations of Star Wars. I’m still not always sure how I feel about it, and there are plenty of fans who are having a hard time dealing with it. Suddenly there’s something of a vacuum in the GFFA, and filling it is going to take a good long while. And yet it seems to have been for the better to reshape the Expanded Universe into Legends. The funny thing is, even with the ground-shaking that was the Legends decanonization announcement, it was not without precedent. There are other things within the GFFA that are not canon, even if they are still compelling stories. Entire universes being rebooted is far from unknown, especially in the comics world, and it’s possible to have several versions of the same story. Instead of debating old and new and whether something should be canon, what if we were to embrace the multiverse concept? Or what if canon doesn’t have to matter because fandom exists?

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Vader’s Vilest Villainy: The Best of the Dark Lord

Posted on April 8, 2015by

interrodroid

There is no point to underselling just how important Darth Vader has been and is to the Star Wars franchise. He gave fans someone to boo (or cheer for), an iconic villain who is instantly recognizable, formidable, effective and intimidating. Anakin Skywalker’s past gives him backstory and depth, but it is Vader, with his raspy automated breathing, melodramatic deeper-than-deep voice, and grotesque-like helmeted visage that is the face of a franchise and one of the most venerated film characters of a generation. He is the third greatest cinema villain of all time according to the American Film Institute, behind only Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates. It is small wonder that rumors about a film or project revolving around Vader have been swirling ever since Disney purchased Lucasfilm. When you have a character with that sort of impact, reputation and familiarity, not using them in some way would be far crazier than leaving them be.

While the prospect of a Vader-centric spin-off film is neither here nor there, using him in novels and comics is far from forbidden now and was hardly restricted before (unless you wanted to bring him back to life). Before the prequel trilogy, Vader was an indomitable force who could not be corrupted, turned aside or defeated in battle, the Empire’s foremost military commander. After his past as Skywalker came into better light, searching through his inner space and figuring out his thoughts and feelings became more of the norm, while still leaving him a formidable and deadly martial threat. But which of his appearances were the best (outside of those on film, of course)? Read More

Continuity, or Why Kanan #1 is a Big Deal

Posted on April 6, 2015by Scotch Tape and Popsicle Sticks

kanancoverI have a secret to share with you. Are you ready? Maybe you should sit down. Here it comes: I love continuity.

Crazy, right? We’re all about the new canon here at Eleven-ThirtyEight, so naturally we couldn’t be happier to have ditched all that old Expanded Universe nonsense—that was the point of David’s piece last Friday, wasn’t it? Continuity gets in the way of storytelling? Well, no, it wasn’t actually—but hell, let’s say it was. When David singled out the Legacy of the Force series as something that put off non-diehard Star Wars fans, he wasn’t talking about worldbuilding continuity like the details of the Corellian system or of Mandalorian society, he was talking about backstory—who is Lumiya exactly? Why is Han’s cousin running Corellia? What’s a Vergere?

We’ve previously discussed the post-reboot status quo in terms of worldbuilding (mostly the same) versus plot (mostly different). But now that we’ve settled nicely into that framing, I want to talk about it a little differently: story continuity versus character continuity. Let me note up front that while I’m responding somewhat to David’s piece, this isn’t really a rebuttal or an agreement, it’s just a different angle. That’s important: there’s always a spectrum of angles from which to view an issue, and being able to appreciate at least a range of them will make you, in my opinion, both a better fan and a more contented person. Read More

Continuity, or Why You Are a Bad Person and Should Feel Bad

Posted on April 3, 2015by Six on the Wild Die
This picture will make sense soon, I promise.
This picture will make sense soon, I promise.

Here I am, writing a column telling you to stop buying Star Wars novels if you don’t like them. “Why would you waste your time saying something this elementary? Do you think we are stupid?”, I hear some of you grumbling (especially you, the dork in the Robotech shirt: I can see you). No, I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you are smart enough to still read books in the era of the iTwitterbook, and you are obviously intelligent enough to choose this website as your place to go for Star Wars discussion (we are on your bookmarks, right? Right?). I know you are a smart person. I’m assuming you also have disposable income and that you regularly spend a chunk of it, no matter how large or small, on material that will make Lucasfilm’s coffers fill up. That’s good! What I’m trying to tell you is that if you are buying part of that material just because of a completist need, then you are part of the problem, this problem being that a lot of crap is getting released.

“But I like collecting figures!”, you say. Yeah, sorry, I should have explained myself: I’m talking about fiction, not about collectibles. If you collect fiction, you are making it worse for the rest of us. What a bold claim! How do I dare? Well, I dare because I have a keyboard, that should be obvious, but also because I love Star Wars and I’ve seen our relationship (mine and Star Wars’) become an abusive one for years, all because of that terrible c-word, the one that rhymes with “Mitch Buchanan”. It’s such an awful word (and so often misused!) that for this piece I will use the “continuity” euphemism in its place. But let me explain what I mean, and I’ll do it using my favorite conversation topic: myself. Hi, I’m David, and I used to be a completist.

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The Astromech Version: Chopper’s Star Wars Rebels Episode Guide

Posted on April 1, 2015by Feature Articles

chopper-space

Hey losers, C1-10P here. If that’s too complicated for your spongy flesh brain, don’t strain yourself on my account—just call me “Chopper”. I’m told that today is the day Earth humans celebrate their own cluelessness (just one day a year? Pretty charitable if you ask me), and because there’s nothing I love more than clueless humans, the fine people at Eleven-ThirtyEight asked me to share my reflections on the first season of Chopper and Friends—huh? What Wars? Who the **** said—okay, I’m being told that’s not what the show is called. Let’s just move on.

I guess I should start at the beginning—no, not when the kid showed up, the real beginning. I’m doing a deep-cover op on Nar Shaddaa, right? Deep cover’s my specialty, because us astromechs are reeeaal patient, and no one pays much attention to us. So I spend three months as a server in this crappy dive just shy of dirtside, waiting for a runaway moff to amble his way in, when word comes from the big guy that he’s got a new job for me. Says there’s a wayward Jedi padawan hooked up with an equally-wayward rebel agent. The reb’s a real piece of work—intel said her father was some anti-Republic big shot on Ryloth back in the Clone Wars—but she’s not my job, the paddie is. Read More