Star Wars Expanded Universe - Continuity and Canonicity - Lucas's Use of The Expanded Universe

Lucas's Use of The Expanded Universe

C-canon elements from licensed creators have been known to appear in Lucas' films. Most of these are brief, cameo appearances, almost taking the form of Easter eggs (which may have been added by animators or others under Lucas, rather than specifically dictated), but others are more substantial:

• Boba Fett, originally introduced as a villain in The Star Wars Holiday Special, was created for The Empire Strikes Back, and quickly became one of the most popular Star Wars characters. He went on to appear in Return of the Jedi and Attack of the Clones, ultimately we witness the first on screen camera time of the adult Boba Fett in Star Wars: A New Hope, Special Edition in the scene where Jabba the Hutt and Han Solo interact in Dock Bay 94 on Tatooine.
• The name "Coruscant" was originally used by Timothy Zahn in the Thrawn trilogy of novels. Lucas was going to include the capital world of Had Abbadon in Return of the Jedi, but adopted Zahn's name for Imperial Center when presenting the planet in the Special Edition and prequel movies.
• Swoop bikes, originally introduced in the Brian Daley novel Han Solo's Revenge and seen in Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, were featured in a scene added to the Special Edition of A New Hope. In the sequence introducing Mos Eisley, a swoop bike scares a ronto. Anakin Skywalker also pilots one of these type swoops during his search for his mother in Attack of the Clones.
• Quinlan Vos. Vos briefly appeared as a background extra on Tatooine, in The Phantom Menace at a Mos Espa café. His character and story was later elaborated upon in the EU. A cameo appearance of this character was witnessed in Revenge of the Sith when you see a tank open fire on him and his "supposed" demise. His name (as "Master Vos") was also mentioned in the film, however, by Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Jedi briefing room in the Jedi Temple.
• Aayla Secura. Appeared as a significant, albeit minor, character in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. She is the second victim of Order 66, as seen in Revenge of the Sith
• The Outrider and with it, the YT-2400 freighters in general. It has a minor cameo, seen from a distance, lifting off from Mos Eisley, in the special scenes added to A New Hope for the special edition.
• Action VI Transports, initially appeared as the Wild Karrde in Heir to the Empire, they also arrive at the Theed Spaceport in Attack of the Clones.
• Prince Xizor. Cameo appearance in The Phantom Menace on a Coruscant landing pad.Also, a Micro Machines model of the Shadows of the Empire villain was used to populate the spectator stands at the Mos Espa Arena in The Phantom Menace.
• The Force Speed ability, first created for the West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game. Used in The Phantom Menace by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi to evade droidekas.
• The planet Tund, first mentioned in the Adventures of Lando Calrissian series of books, was identified as the planet Ben Quadinaros was from in The Phantom Menace.
• The planet Rishi, introduced in Dark Force Rising, was given a mention via the Rishi Maze in Attack of the Clones.
• Nee Alavar, a background character in Revenge of the Sith, was identified as a Lorrdian. The Lorrdian people first appeared in the novel Han Solo's Revenge.
• The double bladed lightsaber (which Darth Maul uses in The Phantom Menace) was first used by Sith Lord Exar Kun in the Tales of the Jedi comic book series.
• The name of the Wookiee home planet Kashyyyk first appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special, although Lucas himself invented the species and the planet.
• Though originally developed for the Special Edition of A New Hope, the Sentinel-class landing craft (also known as the "Imperial landing craft") made its first appearance in Shadows of the Empire. This is the craft seen lifting off in A New Hope when the stormtroopers are roaming Tatooine on the Dewbacks.
• In the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye (released in 1978), C-3PO mentions that Darth Vader knows "all the proper code words and commands" to shut him down. This would make sense, given the revelation in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (released in 1999) that Vader himself built 3PO when he was a little boy. Whether Lucas was aware of this when making The Phantom Menace is unknown.

Lucas has often worked very closely with EU creators:

• Lucas wrote the story for The Star Wars Holiday Special.
• Lucas wrote the stories for, executive produced, and directed pick-ups and re-shoots for, both of the Ewok films from the mid-eighties: Caravan of Courage and The Battle for Endor.
• Lucas is planning to write, direct, and produce part of the upcoming Star Wars live-action TV series.
• James Luceno' book Labyrinth of Evil is based on background information, provided by Lucas, of what happened right before Revenge of the Sith.
• Lucas also gave Genndy Tartakovsky information on specific events during the Clone Wars, which Genndy then used in part of the series.
• In writing the novelization of The Phantom Menace, Lucas informed Terry Brooks of the extensive history of the Sith and Jedi before that time period, so he could include it in his book. For example, the character of Darth Bane is an original creation of Lucas', and although he did not include information on the character in his films, he informed Terry Brooks of the character to incorporate into the novelization of The Phantom Menace. Lucas also gave Brooks other extensive bits of info of what went on during The Phantom Menace.
• Lucas wrote the prologue for Matthew Stover's novel Shatterpoint.
• During the production of the Shadows of the Empire multimedia project, Lucas instructed those involved to base the Prince Xizor character on the Dashade species from The Star Wars Holiday Special.

On the other hand, Lucas has been known to ignore C-canon material when creating his films, even when this material is well-established and central to the EU continuity. This has led some to believe that the C-canon material is not, in fact, closely aligned with Lucas' vision. Examples of these inconsistencies include:

• While in the EU the Republic has been extant for roughly 25,000 years, based on statements made by Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope, in Attack of the Clones, Palpatine says that the Republic has stood for a thousand years. Taken at face value, this would not only delete the majority of the EU's history, but contradict another piece of G-canon as well. Authors invented the Ruusan Reformation, in which the Republic is reorganized following the defeat of the Sith, occurring a thousand years before the movies, in order to explain, or "retcon," this statement.
• The deaths of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker in the original trilogy made it appear that dead Jedi typically disappeared and reappeared as Force ghosts. Revenge of the Sith revealed that this is in fact a very rare ability only a few Jedi have ever mastered. It is unknown how many Jedi have actually mastered it, but Qui-Gonn appears to have been the first of the most recently known Jedi to do so, and Revenge of the Sith seems to hint that he in turn trained Yoda and Obi-Wan in the way to perform it. No explanation is given for how Anakin managed to learn it due to the utter lack of contact with Obi-Wan for at least eighteen years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, when Obi-Wan confronted Vader on the Death Star, and had no contact with Yoda after he went into self-imposed exile on Dagobah.
• Boba Fett's origins originally named him as one "Jaster Mereel", a Journeyman Protector exiled from Concord Dawn. It was later revealed that Jaster Mereel was merely an alias Fett was using when he was exiled. The real Jaster, whose name Boba used as an alias, was retconned into a separate character.
• The Clone Wars as described in Zahn's Thrawn trilogy were, at least in part, a struggle between the Old Republic and an army of insane clones grown and controlled by a number of "clonemasters." Attack of the Clones on the other hand, revealed that the Clone Wars were fought between the Old Republic, using clones, and a Separatist movement, using droids. When writing the prequel trilogy, Lucas changed the dates he had originally given Zahn for the Clone Wars, so Zahn's estimate was at least a decade off. This inconsistency was easily retconed however, since it is the Noghri who give the former date, and this species was using their own unique dating system.