Kathleen Kennedy says there's no source material for Star Wars

[Yukaphile]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvUC41Xjw2g

And you guys wonder why I object so much to their poor language? This encourages the Legends haters and fanboy elitists.

[Darth Wedgius]

Quothe Kennedy:

There’s no source material. We don’t have comic books. We don’t have 800-page novels. We don’t have anything other than passionate storytellers who get together and talk about what the next iteration might be.

I think her comments were either poorly worded or just dumb, and I'm going to go for poorly worded. Charitably, maybe she meant the comic books (many of which were or are from Marvel) or novels weren't useful for the kind of story they wanted to do, but, even then elements could have been taken from them. Like a clone of Palpatine, maybe.

I'm not going to take her literally because I don't think it reasonably likely that she could be unaware of Star Wars novels and comic books or think that a novel had to be 800 pages long to be useful, especially with the noise surrounding the EU going non-canon. I don't think she's stupid.

[Yukaphile]

I mean, when you get such severe blowback from the Legends fans, and you know it because of how one of your writers has complained about it (Chuck Wendig, who is gone), and you say shit like this, it only increases tensions. As I've said over and over, yes, the hate on them is nonstop. But they do nothing to help themselves. At all. Seems more like being political. Saying what is "good PR" and if this in front of any sort of panel related to the new movies, then of course, she'd dismiss Legends. Does she really expect to win us over then if she makes the teased "Old Republic" project? That's Legends. If this is in front of a movie crowd, then it's clear as day EU fans were shoved aside in favor of movie patrons. And as a fandom, unlike voters, we have long memories.

[Mecha82]

Why does it matter. That Legends material is still there for you to enjoy. It can't be that it's not canon because you keep saying that canon doesn't matter so clearly you don't care about. No one is telling you that you can't enjoy something that you like so complaining about it time after time just makes you seem obsessed and petty.

[Yukaphile]

True. I know the inevitable second reboot is coming. And I don't even hate new canon/EU. Even so, when they say stuff like this, they hurt Legends fans, and how clearspira says they invalidated the OT? Well, that's how Legends fans feel about this. My criticism is on their incompetence and poor language, as I've said over and over. The larger movie fans who love or hate the new movies will do as they please. As will making a more niche TV show. Even with that, my biggest concern is how they just don't choose their words with care. At all. I emphasize with other Legends fans who see this, and feel the dismissal. There is high demand at this point for more Legends stories, and given their studio structure, it would not be hard to push each movie back to three years, and in the meantime, work on other side projects. That would include Legends material, especially since most of it is already told. But also new EU material as well as The Mandalorian and give them time to refine each movie. But they are very myopic, and can't wait that long into the future. It's the business of maximizing profits as much as you can as quick as you can. And I dislike that Legends fans have been hurt by this, and I'm sure clearspira would tell you the same about Last Jedi. It did the same to many others. You can't just ignore that because "most of it is online." I don't buy they hate Star Wars like some fringes of the fandom claims. They're just idiots.

[ChrisTheLovableJerk]

I wonder what Kennedy's got on Bob Iger or what she sold her soul to to remain in charge. Seriously, anyone else would have been fired by now.

And is she really this stupid? Or is Disney making her say and do stupid things so that when they show her the door, people won't get mad? Seriously, she's like a real life, female, Hollywood version of Captain Peachfuzz from Rocky and Bullwinkle.

I honestly felt kinda bad for her, as this is the first time in a decades long career where she's in the spotlight and not simply 'that lady who produces movies and projects Spielberg is attached to' and she's proven herself to be almost comically out of her element.

Also, she was a producer on the legendarily awful 'The Last Airbender', and most of the episodes that thing adapted were directed by Dave Filoni, so I gotta wonder how he feels about that movie.

[hammerofglass]

Pretty sure all she meant is that they aren't directly adapting a pre-existing work.

[ProfessorDetective]

Pretty sure all she meant is that they aren't directly adapting a pre-existing work.

Honestly, that's my take away. There isn't a 'source material' when these films started AS film-original tales, not adaptations of anything from another medium. Unless you count the previous films, that statement makes perfect sense. Also, yeah, they clearly aren't doing full films of the novels, which some will be sad/mad about. But, let's be real, how much of the general public actually READ the novels or comics, especially in the last twenty years...? If the answer is, 'not many'...

[AlucardNoir]

There is no such thing as fan elitism. Fans are just more important then your average movie goer and they know it. Someone who owns the original trilogy on every format it has ever been released on, own the prequel trilogy on at least one format, owns several hundred dollars worth of Legends material and other paraphernalia is more important then someone who went to see every movie in the theater once. They know they are worth more then a dozen to a hundred movie goers.

Also to the point ProfessorDetective brought up, have you seen the comic book sales numbers as of late? how many people do you think knew what the infinity gems were before the movies? especially outside the US. More people knew Iron Man from the old 90's cartoon then they did from comic books when the movie came out.

[Yukaphile]

Oh I agree the hate on her gets so bad sometimes, even I feel bad for her, and am all, "Okay, seriously, dude, that was crossing the line!" Like how people still bash on George. That being said, that's still incredibly dismissive to Legends fans. And again, you wonder why I get upset so much? Seems less like a master of the fandom and more like what happened to George in the later years of the original trilogy. He had become a businessman, and so that means acting more like a salesman. And salesmen lie and shade the truth to get you to buy your product.