Huh.

[anghraine]

Normally, I tend to ride on the fan rage bandwagon, but this news seems ... maybe not terrible to me? I don't know, maybe it helps that I dislike the prequels and a lot of the EU, but I'm feeling pretty cheerful about it. It could be awful, of course, but it might be good!

Also - it's OT era! (Ish, anyway.) And new people will be involved, so it should at least be different. And even if it is terrible, it'll probably fire up the fandom. and we can fight over exactly how terrible it is, and mentally wrangle it into compliance with the rest of canon (whatever that means for you). And it's coming out three years from now, more or less, with two more movies planned (and frankly, it sounds like they're planning something indefinite - Disney sounds really invested in making this ultra-successful, which is something, anyway). So there'll be years of rumours and gradually doled-out information and leaked footage and the whole deal. And Lucas is still onboard as a creative consultant, which I think is probably how he works best, anyway, but isn't likely to be targeted for any rage that results. 

So yeah, I'm wondering if they'll cast new actors for Han and Luke and Leia (BLASPHEMY though probably inevitable) and if we'll finally get proper Force-ghosts and ooh, who's going to direct and the impact on canon and if Disney Princess Leia will be agonizingly watered down, but ... I'm cautiously optimistic. We'll see.

Comments

[beatrice_otter]

I know. I'm all, "but they will tamper with my beloved Star Wars!" and then I'm all, "but GL will not be in charge writing!"

I think it comes down to the fact that I love the Zahn Trilogy and enjoy the X-Wing books, and I'm scared they'll pull a Star Trek and make the books not canon. If they could possibly do a good Mara Jade, I would be thrilled and forgive them many, many sins for that alone. (OTOH, if they were to jettison the NJO stuff and The Courtship of Princess Leia, I would also forgive them many, many sins.)

[lotesse]

I'm just so pathologically twitchy and distrustful of Disney - there was that time a coupla years ago where they tried to trademark their characters, which would mean that academics writing critiques would have to pay royalties, and they've been a major factor in the contemporary borking of copyright law, and also they changed the ending of The Little Mermaid and I still haven't forgiven them. George Lucas might be an asshole, but he's our asshole, you know? And he's been pretty quiet of late. Now the Mouse is all up in my fandom?

[anghraine]

Oh, Disney's awful about a lot of things - who knows, maybe the OTW will finally get their legal showdown? But I think they're generally okay as a parent company and leave a lot of control to the subsidiaries; it sounds like they're keeping the structure intact and nobody's going to lose work or whatnot.

It is weird, though. As someone who's largely regarded the EU as a sort of quasi-consistent well-beta'd AU fanfic archive, I was so sure there'd never be any canon after ROTJ, ever, so it was a pretty safe space to tinker around in, and now that's all going to change. And it could be terrible. But it's pretty sure they won't half-ass it, anyway, and George is going to just be idea man again, and all else failing, it'll be something new to criticize, which I like doing anyway.

[anghraine]

Aha, I think the initial WHATWHATISITAPRL'SFOOLSOMFG reactions are basically converging on that - though some are even more cheerful about it than me.

Ah. Yes, part of my EU-hating soul would probably cackle in glee if it all became non-canon, but at the same time, if they salvage it for spare parts and turn out something awesome, I'd be happy with that too. If they do keep some EU things, and Episode VII is relatively soon after ROTJ and there's a recast Han and Luke and Luke and everything (okay, I am a bit concerned about that), I wonder if they'd ever make a Shadows of the Empire movie? I would totally be onboard with that. Also, I really hope John Williams is willing to keep writing the music, since I think he may be the one part that isn't owned by Disney now.