Star Wars: The Revenge of Rumplestiltskin?

Jodo Kast wandering the purgatorial wastelands of non-canonicity.

Recently I had the pleasure of watching Shrek Forever After with my children on TV. This modern spin on traditional fairy tales deals with an ogre, Shrek, who becomes disenchanted with his settled, domesticated life and longs for the days before he met Princess Fiona and when the villagers were afraid of him. Into this pops that traditional fairy tale rogue, Rumpelstiltskin, who offers Shrek one day of his old ogre life in return for a day in his past, preferably one he doesn't remember. This he does and soon to Shrek's horror, he discovers that 'Stiltskin' has taken the day he was born. From then on it's a race for Shrek to work his way through an alternate time line and share loves true kiss before he vanishes from time altogether. This is a world where he never saved Fiona from her tower, fell in love and had a family. It's a world where his friends don't know him and people have followed a different life path from the one from which we are familiar. It's a clever way of mixing things up and allowing the writers to try new things with established characters. Sufi e to say, for Shrek, things do go back to normal.

When I was five years old my world was shaken by another modern fairy tale . My parents took me to see  the latest blockbuster movie, Star Wars, and i was never the same again. In the wash up of this amazing piece of The Empire Strikes Back was released, I had immersed myself in the world of Star Wars comics. And so I was inducted into the world of the Extended Star Wars Universe,the place were the story continued after the end credits had finished. Soon there were holiday specials, novels, storybook records and radio plays. Eventually there were even spin off TV movies and cartoon series, but by the mid 1980's all had seemingly gone quiet as we waited for the promised prequels and sequels that we soon thought would never arrive. In 1991 the novel Heir the the Empire by Timothy Zahn appeared along with the comic series the Dark Empire and the Star Wars Universe seemed to be grinding to life. As with many Star Wars fans I soon threw myself into this 'Extended Universe' and lapped up the continuing adventures of Han, Chewy, Luke, Leia, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. This was a universe that was expanding in all directions and I loved it. Even when new prequels finally emerged, this extended universe was gobbled up into a carefully mapped continuity. Last I heard, even the old comic series from my childhood was being carefully worked in and discrepancies retconned or worked around. One mighty Star Wars Universe was rising triumphant, a world of it's own with history, mythology and a mighty story to tell. Though one thing was still to come to pass, the three promised sequels, that was until late last year when the announcement that all true Star Wars fans had been waiting for was trumpeted forth from the highest minaret of the Jedi Temple. Finally the promise of 1977 was coming to pass but what story would it tell and where would it fit in the overarching history of the Star Wars Universe? The was that it wouldn't.

To cut along story short, the writers of the new trilogy wanted a fresh canvas  to work with, unimpeded by the shackles of an established continuity. To this my head says fair enough, but my heart says 'Nooooooo, it's not true!', as I see loved story lines and characters disappear into non-canon obscurity. Fictional characters now become officially non-canonical, which sounds like a kind of purgatory for imaginary people. Poor bounty hunter Jodo Kast; imagine being not only fictional and dead but dead in an obsolete story line. Sounds worse than being digested over a thousand years in the stomach of the mighty Sarlach. On the bright side it, looks as if Chewie is no longer dead though sadly, Boba Fett may still be. All bets are off.

I'm not saying that I'm not excited by the release of the new trilogy, I am. It's just that I need to try and ignore all that I thought I knew and accepted about the Star Wars Universe. As the action begins to unfold and the new continuity becomes apparent, I wonder how hard it will be to see this as the new normal.  How hard will it be not to wonder 'which character did a deal with Rumpelstiltskin and changed the present?" Already my bets are on Han. At least he gets Chewie back. That one element alone should be enough to win me over, even at the cost of Jodo Kast. At least the saga continues. May the force of new continuity be with you, always.

PS
Having now seen the film, I'm pretty sure it was Han that made the deal with 'ol' Stiltskin', probably played by Warwick Davis. And yes, he lost the day he was born, and no, his son isn't any less of a darkside brat in this alternate reality. Enjoy the saga.