Lucasfilm has recently launched their new “trans-media” initiative called “The High Republic” via books and comics. Frankly it hasn’t been met with the success they thought it would.

As many have pointed out, books and comics are okay, but they likely won’t hold the reach that animation or film would have. For many fans they consume the stories when they are put up on a screen in chunks of time. Reading comics or books is a much larger investment and doesn’t have as large of an audience anymore. Many fans are more interested in the fact that Luke Skywalker was in “The Mandalorian” and he wasn’t an unlikeable hermit.

So what does Lucasfilm do? They create more “animated shorts” to try and boost interesting in the characters and story they are pushing with this new initiative. By “animated” I mean some still shots with a voice over. It really feels like they just threw it together to try and get something visual out there to try and grab fan attention.

Here’s a transcript:

“Centuries before the rise of the Empire, prosperity, pioneering and adventure marked the era of the High Republic. Vernestra Rwoh is the gifted  Mirialan padawan of Jedi Master Stellan Gios. Her connection to the force and her skills with a lightsaber are exemplary.  At just 15 years old Vern passed her Jedi trials and became one of the youngest Jedi Knights in the history of the Republic. Vern may be young and inexperienced, but the Jedi Council sees great promise.

While accompanying delegates to the Starlight Beacon launch ceremony, a great disaster strikes and Vern steps up to take command on her very fist mission.

This era is one of adventure and exploration for the Jedi, as they work to protect the Republic and illuminate the darkest corners of the galaxy with the light of the Force.”

I can’t tell if this sounds like colonialism or just Twitter.

All joking aside, this really looks rough and like it was just spat out to get something up that wasn’t only in print.

When I heard what the plan was for this “initiative” I knew it wasn’t going to resonate like they thought it would. This isn’t like it was decades ago when the Expanded Universe/ Legends started. People don’t read the books like they used to. Plus given the difficulty of starting an entire new era outside the established characters and story was going to be difficult all on it’s own.

It just seemed like a recipe for disaster to me.

The best way to reach a larger group of people is to put it out as a video game, show, or film but I don’t think Disney and Lucasfilm have the funds to dump into unproven concepts like they did a couple of years ago.

But this “short” isn’t going to do much. Until they actually put out more content, and have their people stop antagonizing fans like Pablo Hidalgo, or telling people not to buy the books, like Justina Ireland, they’re not going to get too far. People want good characters and good stories. They should be first on lists when building up new ideas.

But that is just my opinion as a life-long ‘Star Wars’ fan who liked and read the books.

I expect these “shorts” moving forward. Hopefully they listen and try to do a bit better.

Source: Star Wars