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| Republic Commando / Imperial Commando; Series Cancelled & No Boba Fett Novel! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 6 2009, 04:39 AM (1,146 Views) | |
| Darth_Rictor | Dec 6 2009, 04:39 AM Post #1 |
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Midichlorian
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One of my favorite series is over (for now), and dead. Karen Traviss did an amazing job of bringing several things to life, mainly the entire Mandalorian Culture. I'm at a loss for words. From Hard Contact to the 501st! I have been a rabbit fan, just seething to find out what will happen next in the series. With a cast of characters that became iconic to me just as Luke Skywalker is to Star Wars. Bloodlines, Sacrifice, & Revelations have changed the way we perceive Boba Fett, not just the ultimate bad ass, but a real life person with thoughts, feeling, and concerns. And not in a bad way, he was still bad ass. K.W. Jeter's trilogy was decent, but I didn't get the same connection from him that I got from Travis's Boba Fett. She gave him more then just a ship, helmet, and gun that seem to be the typical stereotype. She brought him to life, and for the first time for me. Besides not having the Boba Fett novel, we have lost the Commando series, especially as it was meant to be. Two squads, a dozen advanced troopers, one old Mandalorian, and a couple of others brought this story to life. A story about a bunch of troopers that where basically all identical, yet each character was so well defined and individualistic. From the way they interacted with each other and the world(s) around them, to the tiny details of their own past experiences and individual likes and dislikes. And Karen Traviss did it better then any cartoon, comic book, or movie could or did! No matter who they find to continue the series(if they do at all), I don't think it will compare or live up to the standard that has been set. "Rest In Piece Republic Commando" He is how I discovered this sad news from TheForce.net Well, if you've read Imperial Commando: 501st and were excited for one last Star Wars novel from Karen Traviss in the form of a follow up then you're not gonna be happy with this post. Traviss announced today on her blog that Imperial Commando #2 has been cancelled: "But today I'm reacting, because somebody blurted out something on a forum, and the rumours started. Yes, for once a rumour is actually true; I've withdrawn from the sequel to Imperial Commando 501st, which was going to be my final Star Wars novel. I had issues over contractual matters and working practices that still showed no signs of being resolvable after a couple of years, so I told the publisher that I would not be doing the book." Karen goes on to talk about what the term "contractual" means for writers before getting back to the Star Wars material and she continues with a bit of a recap that focuses on some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the whole situation. See below from her blog but BEWARE OF THE CLONE WARS AND IMPERIAL COMMANDO SPOILERS: BEWARE OF THE CLONE WARS AND IMPERIAL COMMANDO SPOILERS: BEWARE OF THE CLONE WARS AND IMPERIAL COMMANDO SPOILERS: BEWARE OF THE CLONE WARS AND IMPERIAL COMMANDO SPOILERS: "1. Yes, the Boba Fett novel was cancelled by the publisher because of potential canon clashes with the upcoming TV series, as you have already heard from other sources. No, I really don't have a clue what those clashes might be. Sorry. 2. No, I wasn't ever going to be able to deal with Sev's fate, because he was off limits. I've been saying that for four years, and there's even an FAQ on my web site explaining the situation. 3. No, I can't reconsider. It's sweet of you to keep asking, but I had to make my decision nearly a year ago. When I was finishing 501st in January this year, I was told about a significant continuity change coming up in the Clone Wars cartoon. (As was mentioned and shown in a couple of books that came out in the summer - this is not confidential information of any kind now.) I was told that the Mandalorians were being revamped as long-standing pacifists who'd given up fighting centuries ago and that Mandalore was now a post-apocalyptic wasteland devastated by war. I was told not to refer to (recent) Mandalorian history because of that, as it was obviously at odds with the old continuity in my novels. That's fairly common procedure for any franchise - but unfortunately it wasn't that simple in practice. The two Commando series - and quite a few older books and comics, come to that -were based entirely on that original history, and basic logic meant that the fundamental plot of the series could never have existed if this had been a pacifist society. Neither could any of the characters or their motives have existed, because they were wholly based on a global warrior culture living on a non-nuked Mandalore. I had some discussion in January with the editor about possible ways around the problem, but after that, I heard nothing to indicate that the position would change, so the plan went ahead to wind up my existing storyline in the two books that were already in the pipeline. It was too late for me to rewrite 501st even if the changes hadn't made that pretty well impossible. 4. No, it doesn't make any difference if that canon changes again in the future. To answer the what-if question put by many of you, if that new canon is ever modified (and no, I've been given no indication whatsoever that it would be, so please don't get excited... ) then it was already too late for me ten or eleven months ago. That was when I had to make my decision. No writer can put the rest of their work on hold to see what might happen at an unspecified date in the future on the off-chance of being given an occasional paperback to write. That's the reality of work-for-hire, and writing in general; you have to cast your net wide, and across all media. As much as I've enjoyed writing for all you Star Wars fans, and you've been terrific to me, it wasn't my whole career and neither could it have been, even if I'd wanted it to be. As a freelance studio director from my TV days used to say: "I can't sit around waiting for the next series of Sooty*." The canon changes were the key deciding issue in a single series that I was hanging around to finish, but the contractual/ working practice side of things was the main influence on my longer-term decision. Some of you have already asked what's going to happen to the book, but I just don't know - and I actually don't know any more than I did in January. All I can tell you is what I would have written had I gone ahead with IC#2, and - summarizing loosely - the main characters would have escaped the Empire in the ba'slan shev'la you already know about from Legacy of the Force. (But you knew all that from Revelation anyway.) I would have left the story in a state where the powers that be could either put it on ice forever, or resurrect it with another writer and a new direction. I don't write scorched-earth roadblock endings that make it impossible for other authors to continue stories, because that's pointless and unprofessional, and the only person who suffers is the reader." Well there you have it. Love her writing or not, Traviss had developed quite a devoted following for her Star Wars novels. We're sorry to disapoint her fans with the news but can't help but look towards the future with optimism. Darth Bane 3, Crosscurrent, FOTJ: Backlash, Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance; there's plenty of good EU stuff on the horizon. May the Force be with you Karen. Big thanks to William of EUCantina.net for the heads up! UPDATE: Sue Rostoni comments on the cancellation on the SW.com boards: "Karen's blog was the first time I had heard that she was not going to write the second Imperial Commando book. I don't know if we will hire another author to finish the series. It's rather up in the air at the moment." Source: @clubjade UPDATE #2: Karen Traviss continues to discuss the whole situation on her blog with a follow-up entry that you can check out right here. |
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| Darth_Rictor | Dec 6 2009, 04:44 AM Post #2 |
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Midichlorian
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Here is Karen Traviss's reply to all her fans. And I do understand her reasons. From KarenTraviss.com Journalism, sort of Folks, you are absolute sweethearts. You always have been, right from the first book; no writer could wish for better, kinder readers. But I think you give me too much credit for something. I don't like to be seen as something I'm not. Like Cromwell*, I prefer to be painted "warts and all." It's clear from the mail I'm getting after yesterday's entry that many of you think this is some noble act of creative martyrdom. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it just isn't. I tried to walk you through a complicated industry stage by stage, but I've failed with many of you, I think. If you read yesterday's blog slowly and carefully, I do spell it out. It's nothing to do with what I think of actual storylines - it's part technical, part business. It's nothing to do with liking or not liking changes. It's about whether I can make something work or not. Business side - you don't need to know the details. But I'm a business, just like your local baker, plumber, supermarket, or car dealership. It's a job like any other. I make the same kinds of decisions for the same kinds of reasons. (By the way, I don't work for LFL - novelists almost always work for publishers, not directly for franchises. I know it's complicated, but then reality generally is. ) Technical side - it's about nuts and bolts of making a story. I tried to think of a really clear example, and the best I can come up with is World War II. Imagine that World War II is just fiction, totally made up, and a small part of a bigger storyline. (I don't want you getting bogged down in arguments about real history - please.) You're making a TV series called SAVING PRIVATE SMITH, about a bunch of soldiers against the background of a war started by some guy in a country called Germany. You're quite a long way through the series when someone else on the team says, "We've had to change a few things. That Hitler guy - he never happened. Someone shoots him on the Reichstag steps just before he takes office." So you raise your hand and say, "Er... yeah, but what happens to the war, then, if Hitler isn't around? If the war doesn't happen... what are the troops doing there? How can they ever be fighting in France or Germany if the war never started?" And then everyone's got to decide if any of that war stuff works anymore. It doesn't. A story has to stand in its own right, and suddenly removing the Third Reich and Hitler - however good a storyline that is or isn't - makes the rest of the story make no sense to the viewer if it stays the same. Remember the Ballard short story about the time traveller and the butterfly he steps on? It's like that. The present day is altered. And that's story causality. That's all it is. It's sequential logic. And franchises deal with that every day, because if they stop changing, they fossilize, and they lose customers. Sometimes changes work painlessly, and sometimes they don't. So you go with the information you have on the day, and make a choice. Back to SW. Because you as readers love it, you automatically think in terms of the writer loving it, and being invested in the things that you're invested in. You think that what upsets you also upsets writers. But I'm not you, although I know pretty well what my customers will like and not like. I can't speak for any other writer, because we're all different, but I'm not invested emotionally in stories or characters - not even in my own Wess'har series. It's very temporary for me. I'm engaged emotionally as the character for the time that I'm writing in their point-of-view, but then I step out of it, and switch characters for the next scene, and even the next franchise. When the book is done, I go back to being me. I couldn't handle the job otherwise - it's the way I learned to focus on the story as a journalist and not get too involved to do the job rationally and disapassionately. And I do it to earn a living. That's all there is to it. I don't mind or even care what choices franchises make in creative terms, as long as they're not into offensive stereotypes, because we all know when we go in the door that it's their call. But if I can't make a jigsaw puzzle fit, or Hitler was shot before he could start the war, then I don't have the nuts and bolts to carry on with what I was doing. It's not a matter of like or not like . It's a matter of can or can't. During my time in SW, in all the books, I picked the backwaters of the franchise as far as I was able, and characters that nobody else seemed to be interesting in writing about. I kept well clear of other folks' territory and characters wherever possible, because that's the safest thing to do when you're the new kid and you don't want to upset anyone or risk continuity clashes. Usually, sticking to a small pond is enough to avoid inevitable continuity issues. In this case, it happened that it wasn't, and that's just tough luck. So you just dust yourself off. And if there are wider issues beyond the technical ones, then you evaluate your business's future and make a decision. So please don't ascribe nobler motives to me than I actually have. I told you my reasons in as detailed a way as I was able. And it's mostly stuff I've already told you before. I'm a pragmatist - data-rational, not emotional. But I still appreciate and value your kindness. I just prefer you to have no illusions about me. |
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