The Future of Star Wars: Death of the Extended Universe.

By BZork

A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away… a trilogy of films marked a decisive turning point in the world of Hollywood and many other film genres as a whole, Star Wars. No one could’ve predicted the impact the films would have or the massive pop-culture domino-effect that would spread out from past to present. The original films’ success went on to spawn a trilogy of prequel films, and lo and behold, now we stand at the cusp of a further development, the Walt Disney Company has begun production of a new trilogy, “Episode VII-IX” after its acquisition of Lucasfilm. However, what stands out as the decisive turning point in the series’ long list of controversial moments isn’t the aforementioned announcement but one that carries even more ramifications in the greater scheme of everything Star Wars. The Expanded Universe (EU) has been canned. 

After thirty-five years of creating, fine-tuning, and fleshing out the enormous universe of the Star Wars mythos, Disney along with Lucasfilms have announced that future film developments will ignore whatever had already been created/established in the EU. Justly so, this has struck a nerve with many of the series’ older enthusiasts as well as avid fans of the comics, books, or video games which have given fans the opportunity to go beyond what Lucas’ films brought to the table. We let go of some of the most important plot-lines essential to the series: the Old Republic and the origins of the Jedi Order, as well as its development across hundreds of thousands of years; Grand Admiral Thrawn and his ascension to power after Emperor Palpatine’s death; Luke’s Jedi academy on Yavin IV and the Legacy era and the rise of Darth Krayt’s One Sith. 

From one standpoint, it makes sense; it’s much easier for Disney to let go of the massive monolith of plot-lines and continuities that is the EU, so it can give the writers of the new Star Wars trilogy the creative liberty they need to craft a new, equally amazing trilogy of its time. Lucasfilm has also gone on to state, that it will take elements from the EU and try and reincorporate them as “inspiration” for current plot-lines and world-crafting, but as to what it might use, we’ll have to wait and see. It has yet to be seen as to whether or not any new plot-lines will be explored within the EU, which will now be dubbed Legends, and as an ongoing series either resolve their stories in the coming months or continue to expand Legends' timeline. There are many fans who are skeptical of Disney’s approach to Star Wars, anticipating a similar response to when Episode I – The Phantom Menace aired in 1999. It is a period of fandom unrest, and as the wait for Episode VII begins we can only hope Disney makes good on its promise to bring new life to the world of Star Wars.

The Pixar Theory

By. Seito 

   I’ve been indulging in Pixar movies lately, especially Brave, which is one of my favorites. Ever since Toy Story came out, Pixar fans have noticed the Easter eggs and hidden clues in the movies that may possibly hint at a theory where every Pixar story is based within the same universe! (Note: Jon Negroni originally created this theory. Click the link to see more!)

  Sounds crazy right? I mean, how can monsters, talking cars, and super heroes be related within the same timeline? It does take a lot of thinking, and maybe a few plot holes, but it actually makes sense if you really enjoy science fiction. Plus, there are still many sequels down the pipeline, such as Finding Dory, The Incredibles 2, and Cars 3 that may help clear things up.

Let’s start off with the movie that would be the chronologically earliest, the aforementioned Brave. The main character, Merida, finds a witch hidden in the woods, who’s experimented with humans, animals and magic. The witch even turns Merida’s mother into a bear. This witch ultimately walks through a door and disappears, possibly leaving behind animals with human intelligence. That leads to Ratatouille. Remy is interested in a human activity, cooking, despite being a rat. Even though animals like Remy can’t talk, humans are intrigued enough by their intelligence that they begin creating devices to help them talk. Of course, I’m referring to Charles Muntz’s device, from the movie Up, that helped Dug and other canine companions translate their thoughts.

  

  And while animals were slowly evolving, humans and artificial intelligence evolved alongside them, leading to The Incredibles, where humans have developed super powers. Syndrome, the movie’s villain, also had a huge amount of artificial intelligence including super computers and robots. This artificial intelligence is eventually passed down to toys. Toy Story hints that abandoned toys eventually lose the ability to “live”. This might mean that human activity is what gives energy to the toys.

Also seen in Buzz’s batteries and in the movie UP.

  BnL, a company seen in several Pixar movies, took over the world using these machines, and years later polluted the planet and forcing the last remaining humans escaped on a giant a space ship. WALL-E is a robot that collects items once used by humans. It’s his collection that kept him going, reinforcing the idea that humans give energy to the machines. This also includes the cars in Cars, who constantly visit locations once populated by people. The humans in the BnL ship eventually come back to earth and plant a tree. This tree could be the same one seen in A Bug’s Life. The only surviving species, the insects, are astonishingly similar to humans.

 Finally, in Monsters Inc., we wonder how the planet got populated with monsters, be it because of mutations caused by the pollution or human-bug breeding. But these monsters discovered that their main source of energy is human interaction. They even use machinery to create wormholes inside doors, just so they can finally have some human interaction.

The little girl in the day care in Toy Story 3

  The monster Sully and the human Boo have a really friendly relationship in the movie that unfortunately comes to an end. Boo grows up and while looking for a way to find Sully again, discovers the magic inside the doors and uses it for herself. This might mean that the witch in Brave is Boo! It’s also rumored that Boo is the girl inside the daycare in Toy Story 3. While this theory might be a never-ending loop, it does prove that Pixar is a genius when it comes to story telling. 

The witch in Brave (carving the Pizza Planet truck)

The Pizza Planet truck found in various movies

Mime in the background, same villain from The Incredibles