Star Wars: Episode VII was one of the most entertaining movies I have ever seen. I watched it three times in three separate theaters with three different groups of people, all in the week that it came out. I'm a massive Star Wars nerd.
Prior to Episode VII I had read almost every Star Wars book, played almost every game, read every comic, and watched all spin-off shows and specials. Including the train wreck that was the Holiday Special. I owned all of the compendiums, dictionaries, and guide books, and could tell you a hundred words about any given planet or species at the drop of a hat.

Then I watched Episode VII.

Back in 2014, Disney bought Lucasfilm, the company that owned all of the rights to the Star Wars movies and Expanded Universe. Their first major action with the new rights was to wipe the Expanded Universe clean, rebooting it for new writers and developers to fill the void with all-new works. The old material remained licensed, but in a way that none of the new material would be beholden to it.

In short, all of the information that I had retained was rendered useless. The Destruction of Taris, the rise of Revan, the biology of Bespin and Naboo, the genius of Grand Admiral Thrawn, all of it was gone, never to be referenced again.

I'm being dramatic, of course. All of my favorite stories still existed in all their glory. I should, by all rights, have been absolutely fine with this new development. And I was, until I watched the end credits of Episode VII roll across the screen a year later. I was exhilarated and ecstatic, but there was a lead weight in my stomach.

I had recognized none of the planets, species, or starships (not counting the old classics, of course). In that moment, I swear I felt like a parent watching their child leave home for the first time. I felt lost, adrift in an empty void that had been the universe in my mind. This wasn't helped by the fact that I had just watched Han Solo die at the hands of his son. I was crying, too.

And now, more than six months later, I've looked back on the movie and the reboot that led to it and fixed them with scrutiny. I came to the conclusion that the reboot was unnecessary.

The Star Wars Expanded Universe was one of the richest and most diverse franchises in existence, easily beating out its closest competitor, Star Trek. Now before the hardcore trekkies get up in arms, let me reassure you that I'm a fan of both, and they both have their merits.

Regardless, the reason that Disney chose to reboot the universe was to allow more content to be created under the Star Wars license. Specifically, they wanted to give creative freedom to the writers and directors of the upcoming trilogy. I read an article the other day that lauded Disney for this action and discussed the terrible consequences that could have ensued had the films used the plot already established for their time period.

Before the universe reboot, this time period (21 years after the Battle of Yavin and the destruction of the first Death Star) was the time of one of the Expanded Universe's largest collaborative efforts.

The New Jedi Order series, published between 1999 and 2003 by multiple authors, was, simply put, a spectacular achievement of storytelling. The story followed our aging heroes and their children
as a zealous alien race called the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the galaxy. With a society based on ritual sacrifice and self-mutilation, the Vong and their living weapons and starships burned their way through the recently-liberated galaxy. Rebels (now the New Republic) fought alongside Empire and Jedi alongside Sith to face this new, unexpected threat. The Solos' three kids fought alongside Luke's wife, Chewbacca was killed by a falling moon, and living planets watched from the sidelines.

The article that I read, and which actually spurred the writing of this one, claimed that the Yuuzhan Vong invasion would have been the worst possible plot for the new trilogy, citing the 'black-and-white" nature of the apparent good vs. evil struggle and perceived cliches and stereotypes. "it was just another throwaway story about an alien invasion," they said, "be glad that it wasn't in the movies."

I say that the author of that article must have never read the series, because they missed out on the most important facet of the setting:

It explained the Empire.

As far as the movies tell us, the evil Darth Sidious took over the Republic and made it into the Empire. Why? Your guess is as good as anyone else. A very black-and-white

The New Jedi Order series gave us the answer that we needed.

Sidious was aware of the threat of the Yuuzhan Vong. Everything that he did over the course of the movies and books was done to prepare the galaxy for their arrival.

Aside from the incredible writing, engaging plot, jaw-dropping battles, lifelike characters, and well-executed plot twists, the New Jedi Order series accomplished something above and beyond Lucas' original creative vision:

It actually explained Star Wars.