Star Wars: The Canon Unleashed

We at GEEKPR0N would like to inform you that we have some good news and some bad news.

Before we do so, however, our beloved GEEKB0T has brought us the following statement issued from a galaxy far, far away:

“In order to ensure the security and continuing stability the Star Wars galaxy will be re-organized, into a whole new canon, for a safe and secure continuity!”

This will be a work in progress.

All right. Now that the dramatic John Williams’ level music and cheering is over, allow us to tell you the bad news. Chances are, you already know what it means. It means that everything that isn’t the six current films and the cartoon series — from books, to comics, to video games, and other multimedia — is all non-canon.

This isn’t particularly surprising, unfortunately. It has been made clear throughout the years by Lucasfilm that the Expanded Universe beyond the films, The Clone Wars cartoon (and the soon-to-be Rebels) would always come second to the original source material. And then you also need to take into consideration that much of the EU has been pretty contradictory. For example I’m sure there are some fans that won’t miss the Emperor returning in clone bodies and converting Luke to the dark side in the comic series Dark Empire, the superweapon of the month club spectacles of Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy or Leia accepting an arranged marriage in The Courtship of Princess Leia, or Chewbacca being killed by a moon in Vector Prime.

And there will be fans that will totally miss this.

There will also be fans that miss the adventures of Kyle Katarn, a whole other Jedi aside from Luke, fighting to discover what he is in the Dark Forces series, or the odyssey of Revan and friends in The Knights of the Old Republic, or looking at the origins of the Jedi Order itself in the Tales of the Jedi comics series and Dawn of The Jedi. There are the X-Wing and Wraith Squadron series with wise-cracking Rebel and New Republic pilots that will also become non-canon and a truly excellent series called Republic Commando written by Karen Traviss which truly fleshes out the Grand Army of the Republic’s clone troopers as actual characters and human beings in a wartime situation and the moral ambiguity of them being essentially slave-soldiers.

Palpatine’s origins in Darth Plagueis will be shrouded in mystery and half-truths again, Darth Vader will never have a secret apprentice such as Starkiller from The Force Unleashed and even the future of the Galaxy with regards to Cade Skywalker and the Imperial Knights in the Legacy comics is now called into question. All of these stories and adventures will be given the designation Legends and, perhaps, Lucasfilm will utilize some of these Legends’ characters and elements in their own way.

I know for myself that it will be hard, in a lot of ways, to watch the next three films, the spin-offs, and read the new books without thinking about some of the old. It would have been nice if Lucasfilm had gone through its Great Holocron and found some of the characters and stories that worked. It would have been even better if they had asked their fans to vote on what they wanted included into the canon. Of course, that last idea would have been problematic at best as we, as fans, all have “a certain point of view.”

But now GEEKB0T has ordered me to tell you the good news. The good news is that with the Expanded Universe eaten by the World Devastators, these figurative superweapons that technically no longer exist will be creating new stories and content that not even the best Force Adepts among us can farsee. And as I said, perhaps we might see some of these “Legends” manifest again. Perhaps Grand Admiral Thrawn still had campaigns during the thirty years between Return of The Jedi and the new films. Or maybe a certain red-headed Imperial assassin named Mara Jade encountered the last of the Jedi and helped train the first of the new.

One can only hope. But, as I have been further instructed by GEEKB0T, if this news does not cheer you then perhaps this new video made by the Nerdist, Revenge of the Threesome, will.

And with those vintage 1980s action figures to soothe you, we at GEEKPR0N wish the Force to be with you. Always.

Oh, one last thing…

GEEKPR0N’s Star Wars themed anniversary party is tomorrow night! Tickets are on sale now and are also available at the door, however if you buy your ticket in advance you’ll be entered to win a BRAND NEW PS4!!!