Im putting this up chiefly as a guide for people interested in EU, and wanting some details about what there is, where to start. This can also be used to answer some fundamental EU questions...

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Q. What is EU ?
EU stands for "Expanded Universe." It is the term used to describe the contents of different media(animation, books, games, comics) which are offiicially licensed by Lucasfilm. The basic aims of EU :

i) Flesh out what happens in the movies. eg. who are all those aliens in the mos eisley cantina ? This also includes the official character, location and technical guides etc.

ii) Describe events before, between and after the 6 films.

iii) Describe anything related to concepts/characters within the Star Wars Universe. eg. the history of the jedi/sith


Q. What time period is covered in EU ?
The time period covered in EU is vast. With the "Old Republic Era" comics being set 5000 years before the events depicted in "A New Hope" In the other direction, the adventures of the original trilogy's characters have been continued, up to a period of 30 years after ANH. The majority of EU material published concerns the events around the clone wars, and after "Return of The Jedi".

there is a handy timeline at the DARK HORSE (http://www.darkhorse.com/zones/starwars/timeline.php) website, it only refers to the comics though.

Q. I'm interested in EU, where should I start ??
One often overlooked area of EU is the Official Radio Dramas. Back in the 80s, some members of the original cast were assembled to perform the radio dramas of the three films. There was significant elaboration upon the events depicted in the films, and entirely new material written by Brian Daley under George Lucas' direction. For those interested, this is available in a CD box set from most online retailers.

When it comes to books, theres a couple of considerations to make

i) movie stuff : if you want to fins out more about things you see in the films, try the short story anthologies. eg. Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina will tell you the what each of the characters in that shady cantina were up to. Its a great read :)

ii) You want to find out what happens after "Return of the Jedi" ? "Truce at Bakura" by Kathy Tyers is set immediately after ROTJ. If you want to read things in chronological order, then thats the obvious place to start. However, alot of people do recommend you start with the Thrawn Trilogy

Q. What is the Thrawn Trology ?
The "modern" era of EU began with the release of Timothy Zahns Thrawn Trilogy starting in 1990. It includes the three books:
*Heir to the Empire
*Dark Force Rising
*The Last Command

Alot of people recommend newcomers read this first as they are very much in the spirit of the films, and fill you in on what has happenned in the years after ROTJ. It is also the way many first became introduced to EU, thus the recommendation :)

Q. Who is Thrawn ?
Thrawn is an Imperial Grand Admiral. He is a master military strategist, who often devises his attack plans by studying the artistic works of a particular culture. He is easily one of the most memorable characters in all of the EU. Those who played the old "Tie Fighter" PC game may actually remember seeing Thrawn :)

Q. Who is Mara Jade ?
Mara Jade was also first introduced in the Thrawn Trilogy. She is an assassin trained by the emperor. Although she has force abilities and uses a lightsaber, she is not a sith. Mara becomes immensely important as EU goes on, with her becoming married to one of the films' main characters ! :)

Q. Do Han & Leia get together ?
yes, they get married ! They end up having 3 kids, all of which become jedi.

Q. I heard Boba Fett lives !!
Boba was indeed resurrected orginally in the Dark Empire comic series. The story of how he escaped the sarlaac was further outlined in "The Bounty Hunter Wars" series.

Q. What is the "New Jedi Order" ??
The NJO is 21 book story arc set 20-25 years after "A new Hope". For more info on this series, go to the NJO specific thread (http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=141810)

Q. What is Shadows of The Empire ?
Shadows was an unique multimedia project by Lucasfilm. Its story is based around the events occuring between "The Empire Strikes back" and "Return of The Jedi". The book was written by Steve Perry, but there was also a N64 game, a comic book and soundtrack ! As Han Solo is encased in carbomnite for the whole of the book, a "Han Solo type" character called Dash Rendar comes to help Luke and Leia. Dash is a mercenary and rides one of the coolest ships to appear in the SW universe, The Outider.

Q. Does Dash Rendar Die ??
The book indicates that he may have died...but if you defeat the N64 game, you will learn that Dash indeed survives....

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Q. There are alot of names and places in EU...Whats a good online reference ??

These are the ones I cant go without !
*The databank at the official site www.starwars.com)

*The Completely Unoffcial SW Encyclopedia (CUSWE) http://www.theforce.net/swenc/advsearch.asp)

* www.theforce.net) also has links to Time Tales, Tech Commentaries and "The Ultimate Timeline

*The Dark Horse website(see above)

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feel free to add others Qs and As as you see appropriate.

REMEMBER SPOILER TAGS !

mtfbwya

Not a Q/A, but I highly recommend reading books in order. Don't skip ahead and read the Corellian Trilogy and wonder why there are kids hanging around with Han.

Just something to add, Mara Jade is also in the Jedi Knight series of games, Mysteries of the Sith.

Thank you for reminding me Machine Cult, I was wanting to add some game specific questions, this is a SW gaming site after all :)

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Q. Are all the Star Wars games part of the "EU"
Yes, but fall into a lower level of canonical classification. Game characters and events have definitely made an impact on other EU specifically, but not on any films of course - although ships from "Jedi Knight I" and "Shadows of the Empire" have made tiny cameos in Episdoe I and ANH-Special edition respectively.

The most well known examples of game/book crossover characters are Kyle Katarn and Mara Jade. Kyle Katarn was originally created as a character for the "Dark Forces" game. He subsequently appears in all its sequels. He was such a widely accepted part of the SW expanded universe that he eventually made small appearances in books, including the NJO series.

Mara Jade, as described above, originally appeared in the Thrawn Trilogy books, but has since appeared in 2 star wars games. She was an unlockable character in the PS1 game "Masters of Teras Kasi" and, as Machine Cult has mentioned, was the central character in the "Jedi Knight I" expansion pack - Mysteries of the sith :)

Mara and Kyle also have another unique distinction, in that they have actors that have portrayed them. Kyle Katarn was in the great cutscenes in "Jedi Knight", and Mara Jade was portrayed by Shannon Baksa for the old Star Wars Card Game by Decipher. Baksa is frequently seen as Jade - in her leather pants and purple cape taking photos with drooling fanboys at conventions around the world :)

http://www.myimgs.com/data/Astrotoy7/mara_jade.jpg)

Q. What about "Knights of the Old Republic" ?
KOTOR and its sequel "the Sith Lords" are RPG games for the PC/Xbox with an immersive storyline, set 4000 years before "A New Hope." They are not directly based on the comics of this era, but refer to characters/events and places quite alot. They are awesome games, highly recommended.

Q. I heard the movies of the games contain deleted scenes ??
This does apply for the episode I game and the episode 3 game especially. Basically, characters and events that were never shot made it into the game to give players a more complete experience of the events of the film. For example, In ROTS, there is the little cameo of Cin Drallig (ie. Nick Gillard - the stunt cordinator) - who can be seen in a holorecording of when Anakin/Vader attacked the temple. In the game you are able to duel against Drallig and other jedi in the temple. (Thank you to Darth Terros for reminding me to put this in!)

Q.What the hell is "Yoda's Stories" ?
This is possibly the weirdest and or coolest of the SW games, depending on who you ask. It is almost impossbile to track down these days... It doesnt have much EU significance though :)

I'll add more as it comes to mind !

mtfbwya

I thought I'd add some stuff about Star Wars related TV/spinoffs:

Q. Were there any other SW spin offs as far as TV and movies ??
Yes indeed ! There is the absolutely infamous Star Wars Holiday Special It was a TV special made in 1978 IIRC(before Empire's release.) It features Chewie and his family celebrating 'Life Day'! Its damn weird, both fascinating and horrifying to watch :p One saving grace of the SWHS is that it contained a short cartoon which actually introduced Boba Fett for the very first time.

There were the Droids and Ewoks series. Parts of which have been released on DVD now. The droids cartoons are actually interesting to watch, although a bit dated. Anthony Daniels did 3P0s voice and little things pop up which remind you of things you see in the movies later on... eg. a multi-armed diner chef very much resembling Dexter from AOTC :)

Finally there are the Ewok Movies: Caravan of Courage and Battle for Endor These movies of course were more aimed at kids, and can be very painful to watch if you are not an ewok fan.

mtfbwya

what is the entire origin of the Sith and dark side of the force?

and what the **** is: "mtfbwya" lol

seth

shaded, in future, feel free to use the above links :) I have already summarised this for you elsewhere, but heres some more detail for you:

SW.com Entry (http://www.starwars.com/databank/organization/thesith/)

50 Sith related Entries on CUSWE !! (http://www.theforce.net/swenc/search.asp?t=Sith&EandD=EyDn&e=&s=&c=&p=&a=&no=10)

Remember :
*As per Current EU, and GLs wishes, the sith are DEAD
*May The Force Be With You Always = mtfbwya : the sign of a pre 2000 TFNer :)

mtfbwya

sorry about that, i thought we came in and asked questions. that whole mtfbwya is pretty badass.

seth

sorry for putting it in this thread, but i didn't want to start another thread about dash rendar considering the last one was closed. if this is the wrong place just turn me around and put a boot up my ..... anyways to my question. i went to everyone's favorite wikipedia looking up dash rendar's page. and then i noticed this passage


He and Guri also set up ODT, a company that constructed Human Replica Droids on Onadax in the Minos Cluster. They had used the company to bring his brother Stanton back to life, but both had left the company by the time it was infiltrated by Jaina Solo. It was rumored that during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion that he was responsible for sabotaging Peace Brigade shipments.


uhh, when did this happen? thanks for any info

huh, so five minutes later i found the star wars wiki site that seems to explain when this occured

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Or_Die_Trying)

sorry for the post. should i delete it?

well what i know it started 4,000 years before the frist movie