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Star Wars canon

Rÿcher

Fleet Captain
the fans do take a much different approach to canon/non-canon in the Star Wars universe, don't they? I mean, how did everyone know the cute and cuddly creatures in the forests of the moon of Endor were called Ewoks? It was never mentioned in the film.

With Star Trek, if something isn't mentioned on-screen or read on-screen, it isn't canon.

I think that's why I don't know anyone's name or what their species is called in the Star Wars universe. They've never been mentioned in the movies and I can just about recite them verbatim.
 
It's not just the fans. Very early on a decision was made to keep the Star Wars tie-in material storyline-consistent, rather than telling fifty different stories in as many books and comics.

As a result, Star Wars is the closest thing we have to a single, monolithic tale composed of numerous mediums and told by even more authors. It's singularly remarkable, really. A few things diverge out of necessity---some of the games, early comics from before the unifying decision was made, Infinities, etc. But really very little on the whole.

Of course, some of it's a bit lame. Inevitable in this sort of situation. But a remarkable amount is good, solid storytelling.

As I see it, the Star Wars movies are like Star Trek TOS. A good place to start, but so very far from the entirety of the tale.

Before long someone will post the "rules" for Star Wars canon----it's this whole thing with lots of G's and C's and whatnot. But the simple version is, if there's a continuity glitch you can explain, do so; if you can't and one of the conflicting stories is really lame, drop it; otherwise, everything's in.
 
I think that's why I don't know anyone's name or what their species is called in the Star Wars universe. They've never been mentioned in the movies and I can just about recite them verbatim.

For me knowing all the names and species has more to do with the toys I grew up with as a kid than with all the later tie-in stuff.
 
I only accept the version of Star Wars canon where I turn to the dark side and Bastila becomes my evil apprentice/sex buddy. :devil:

Seriously, though, I find it a lot harder to follow Star Wars canon since it all takes place in such diverse media - comics, books, video games, films, cartoons etc.
 
anything i've read, played or seen is canon. anything mentioned in something i've read, seen or played is canon.

therefore Legacy and all that new Empire stuff doesn't count cuz i've never read it.

:bolian:
 
the fans do take a much different approach to canon/non-canon in the Star Wars universe, don't they?

Yes, but they often get it wrong. A lot of people have complained about how the Star Trek novels must suck because they aren't canon, whereas the Star Wars novels are great because they are canon. Except that Star Wars novels aren't canon. They're just usually consistent with each other, and someone came up with a name for that consistency (Expanded Universe).

From that wookieepedia canon entry linked to above:
In July 2001, Lucas gave his opinion on the matter of what is canon in Star Wars during an interview with Cinescape magazine:

"There are two worlds here," explained Lucas. "There's my world, which is the movies, and there's this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe—the licensing world of the books, games and comic books. They don't intrude on my world, which is a select period of time, [but] they do intrude in between the movies. I don't get too involved in the parallel universe."

Further, in an August 2005 interview in Starlog magazine:

STARLOG: "The Star Wars Universe is so large and diverse. Do you ever find yourself confused by the subsidiary material that's in the novels, comics, and other offshoots?" LUCAS: "I don't read that stuff. I haven't read any of the novels. I don't know anything about that world. That's a different world than my world. But I do try to keep it consistent. The way I do it now is they have a Star Wars Encyclopedia. So if I come up with a name or something else, I look it up and see if it has already been used. When I said [other people] could make their own Star Wars stories, we decided that, like Star Trek, we would have two universes: My universe and then this other one. They try to make their universe as consistent with mine as possible, but obviously they get enthusiastic and want to go off in other directions."
So only the movies are canon. George Lucas says so. (Which versions of the six movies, I'm not sure of.) And yet Star Wars fans are always going on about how everything is canon.
 
Star Wars Canon:

WOOKIEPEDIA:
G-canon is George Lucas Canon; the six Episodes and anything directly provided to Lucas Licensing by Lucas (including unpublished production notes from him or his production department that are never seen by the public). Elements originating with Lucas in the movie novelizations, reference books, and other sources are also G-canon, though anything created by the authors of those sources is C-canon. When the matter of changes between movie versions arises, the most recently released editions are deemed superior to older ones, as they correct mistakes, improve consistency between the two trilogies, and express Lucas's current vision of the Star Wars universe most closely.

T-canon, or Television Canon, refers to the canon level comprising the feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the two television shows Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the Star Wars live-action TV series. Its precedence over C-Level canon was confirmed by Chee.

C-canon is Continuity Canon, consisting of all recent works (and many older works) released under the name of Star Wars: books, comics, games, cartoons, non-theatrical films, and more. Games are a special case, as generally only the stories are C-canon, while things like stats and gameplay may not be; they also offer non-canonical options to the player, such as choosing female gender for a canonically male character. C-canon elements have been known to appear in the movies, thus making them G-canon; examples include the name "Coruscant," swoop bikes, Quinlan Vos, Aayla Secura, YT-2400 freighters and Action VI transports.

S-canon is Secondary Canon; the materials are available to be used or ignored as needed by current authors. This includes mostly older works, such as much of the Marvel Star Wars comics, that predate a consistent effort to maintain continuity; it also contains certain elements of a few otherwise N-canon stories, and other things that "may not fit just right." Many formerly S-canon elements have been elevated to C-canon through their inclusion in more recent works by continuity-minded authors, while many other older works (such as The Han Solo Adventures) were accounted for in continuity from the start despite their age, and thus were always C-canon.

N-canon is Non-Canon. What-if stories (such as stories published under the Infinities label) and anything else directly and irreconcilably contradicted by higher canon ends up here. N-canon is the only level that is not considered canon by Lucasfilm. Information cut from canon, deleted scenes, or from canceled Star Wars works falls into this category as well, unless another canonical work references it and it is declared canon.
 
The word "canon", in this case, simply refers to what must be adhered to by new creations. In that sense the novels are canonical in that future novels must account for older ones.

While the above "scale" is a logical way to sort things out, I refuse to use those terms because getting that specific feels a bit silly to me. It's obvious what needs to be accounted for and what doesn't, really.
 
Speaking of canon, the new Clone Wars movie just invalidated the entirety of AC Crispin's Origin of Han Solo Trilogy. :( It shows Jabba as the unified leader of the Hutts 20 years before ANH, whereas in the books it shows the story of how Jabba comes to power just months/weeks before ANH. Oh well.
 
Oh, really? That's annoying.

I'm sure another tale will come along to reconcile the problem somehow. And probably make the whole thing 200% cooler in the process. That seems to be the normal pattern...
 
Speaking of canon, the new Clone Wars movie just invalidated the entirety of AC Crispin's Origin of Han Solo Trilogy. :( It shows Jabba as the unified leader of the Hutts 20 years before ANH, whereas in the books it shows the story of how Jabba comes to power just months/weeks before ANH. Oh well.

The movie does not say any such thing. Jabba and his clan do have the power to affect ship movements in the Outer Rim, but that's not the same as being the leader of all Hutts. It's also possible that Desilijic was more dominant in the Clone Wars era than during the Dark Times. The movie adds a lot of new elements to Jabba and the Hutts, but there's nothing that's absolutely irreconcilable to those novels.
 
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