See, in retrospect... I liked not knowing what happened before the original 1975 Star Wars movie better than having it revealed in the prequel trilogy. Making it up yourselve is often more fun than someone canonizing it.
Besides, what was there to know? Jedi were good, untill one of them became evil and betrayed the others.
Same with Han. Every fan site mentions that as a youngster, he became a pilot for smugglers. One day Lando hired him and after a few years he earned the Millennium Falcon. Who needs to know more?
What goes for Star Wars, also goes for lots of other fiction. Wolverine, Cable and Deadpool were more interesting when their pasts were secrets. James Roberts' work on IDW Transformers is way better than most writing for comics, but one day I noticed he spent more time on telling the characters' pasts and canonizing Cybertronian history than on stories about the present. Not long after that, I stopped buying. I never dared to watch J. J. Abrams Star Trek prequels.
Revealing the past is great when the writer or producer who created the series somewhere along the way reveals it. But when later writers do it, it often leads to re-interpretations that were not necessary.
In the Case of Star Wars: taking 20 years to come up with a past that at points contradicts the original movies and novel you wrote makes it unlikely to belive that it was what you intended all along.
by the fans for the fans
