Mr. Lucas, Stop Tearing Down That Empire!


I’ve already confessed to being a major science fiction nut, so I don’t think I need to reiterate that fact. I profess and honestly commit to loving the Star Wars saga & universe as much as I love that of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, and Firefly/Serenity. These shows and films have kept me going when my life seemed unbearable, and they’ve given me much to shoot for in my own life and writing.

So, I’m feeling more than a little angry right now that I’ve discovered that the next book in Star Wars: Republic Commando series has not only been canceled, but the author, Karen Traviss, has been burned, and official Star Wars canon is being rewritten in favor of the Star Wars: Clone Wars PC, kid oriented stories.

Where to start? Where to start?

When Boba Fett was introduced in the Empire Strikes Back, everyone became awed by the Mandalorians, and their history was quickly written into the lore of the Star Wars universe. They were a war like people that had been long at odds with the Jedi, going all the way back to the to the great wars between the Sith and Jedi. So, needless to say, they were a major power. According to the the previously established storyline, at some point the Sith betrayed the Mandalorians and pretty much broke them as a power player in the galaxy. They didn’t, however, become pacifists as the current Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon has declared. Instead, they became mercenaries and assassins; the Mandalorians became some of the most feared and respected warriors in the galaxy. So much so that Palpatine, as Darth Sidious, used one of the best of them, Jango Fett, as the template for the army that he would use to first divide then control the galaxy.

That is how those of us that really know Star Wars have known it; not just from the films, but also from comic books, novels, histories and backstories given on toys, and even the Star Wars web site among other sources. Personally, I’ve read more than 30 Star Wars novels since Timothy Zahn practically single-handedly resurrected the world with Star Wars: Heir to the Empire twenty years ago. Even now, I’m eagerly awaiting the next book in the Fate of the Jedi series, and it was my search to find the next book in that series that reminded me that I hadn’t seen or heard of the next book in the Republic Commando series that I was also reading. The last book, under the new series name Imperial Commando, was 501st chronicling some of the missions of Vader’s elite troops, and furthering the escape plans of some of the major characters from the prior books. I had purchased that book about a year ago, but I’ve been too busy with school to do a lot of reading over the last year, so I thought the next books in the series had just slipped past me. Until my search last night, that is…

When I discovered that the next Fate of the Jedi book, Conviction, wouldn’t be out for some months, I did a search for “Karen Traviss” and “Republic Commando” which lead me to this Wookieepedia article which states that the next book had been canceled. Reading through that article, I found a link at the bottom to Karen Traviss’ blog, and her post on the canceled book. While it is just one side of the story, it’s my gut feeling that it’s probably accurate. Even if I only had one reason, the revision to A New Hope making Greedo shoot first is evidence enough that George Lucas and LucasFilm aren’t shy about making a revisionist history of the Star Wars universe. I can tolerate the less roguish Han Solo. I love Ewoks. (Yes, I said it.) And despite the vast numbers of people that hate him, I’m cool with Jar Jar. But I really don’t know what in the hell they’re thinking by completely nullifying decades worth story telling within the universe, and undermining the work of the numerous authors that have told these stories on behalf of George Lucas and his companies.

Beyond Ms. Traviss and Mr. Zahn, star authors R. A. Salvatore, Troy Denning, James Luceno, and Aaron Allston have all written pivotal and significant portions of the Star Wars universe for Lucas. I know that Star Wars is Mr. Lucas’ child and puts a significant amount of money in his pocket every year, but why undermine the work of these fantastic authors, and alienate the millions of diehard fans like myself that spend fortunes on these books with a new canon history that completely contradicts everything we’ve been told for all these years…

This pisses me off almost as much as the Sci Fi channel becoming Siffie. Almost. I’m not going to go around shouting “‘F’ you Lucas!”, though I really wouldn’t blame all of these Star Authors if they chose to break their contracts with the publishers and Lucas over this kind of revisionist bullshit.