Probably since the credits rolled and the lights in movie theaters across the country went back on in 1977 as ANH came to a close for the first time have fans wondered- what comes next? Or what about that? how did it happen? Why this? Why that? Fans have been questioning and answering the Saga for years now.
I would say that George Lucas' two trilogies of movies are the only things in the ever changing world of Star Wars that can be taken as absolutely true of which all other Star Wars creations must be compared. If they say it in a movie that's how it is. Thank the maker!
The EU has probably been full of controversy since its creation. I will not pretend to be an expert on the EU. I frankly have found it uninteresting in comparison to the movies. The EU, I would guess has near 1000 books and other creations. The order of which I think it is safe to say no one will ever know. But we must consider how authentic the EU really is.
The EU has an answer for everything. Every question in the Star Wars Saga can be answered by some book that somebody has written. You find it all over the blogs people answering hard and timeless questions about the Saga with simple EU answers. Questions that I would say should never be able to be answered. That is why we debate! EU authors can just create answers to these questions. New concepts and new ideas they create are instantly turned to the truth of Star Wars the moment they hit the shelves. These ideas are just one author's opinion about how something happened. Thus why the EU authors have come up with many explanations to the same thing. Now we all have our opinions about the Saga (many of ours are probably better than many authors) but authors (because they can write well) are changing the Saga with their opinions not ours.
This is similar to one of us being given permission that anything we write in our blog regardless of whether it is canon or fits in the saga is officially part of Star Wars fact. How dumb is that. The worst thing about that is that many of us would create more canon and better fitting ideas than the EU authors do.
When I think about many of these authors I wonder how much they really know about Star Wars. I'm sure many of you guys would beat them at Trivia Pursuit. Yet they are the ones that are changing the Saga some in good others in bad ways. They have the VIP blogs regardless of the knowledge they have.
Now don't take me wrong many very good EU novels have been written and there are many EU authors I have the utmost respect for. But some of them you have to admit, are just out there! I call those "Offsubject EU" -those are the EU books that take place so far from the real storyline of the movies that they are really just regular Sci-Fi borrowing the Star Wars world. They add new tales of new characters to the Star Wars Universe. They are the ones that bring in non-canon ideas. Like the Emperor rising again, although it can be supported by what... EU references. It undermines one of the main themes of the Saga. Anakin destroying the Sith to fulfill the prophecy. If Palpatine lived then what? Is the prophecy not true? By no means! Palpatine died end of story.
We stand on the threshold of a new beginning for the EU. Now that the Saga of movies to complete we are going to need good authors to pick up the pen and carry on Star Wars in the coming years. The EU should not try and continue the Saga it should try to build on it as a foundation and reinforce its values and goals. Good and Evil Vader vs Anakin. The Living Force. They should site what GL created and move from not creating answers for us but leading us to the answers found in the movies. They should be there to help tie the story together as well as tell one of its own. Not try and change the Saga. We need authors willing to stand behind GL instead of in front and let GL be the hero.

jedimaster13109