To Canon or Not To Canon... — Page 2

To me, canon is limited to what I want. As Star Wars it’s the most obvious example here, the only consistent canon for me is the OT. I enjoy the prequels, especially in edited form, more than most here, but they are “deuterocanonical” to me. When watching them, I can treat them as prequels. When watching the sequels, I can treat them as sequels and disregard the prequels. When reading the Thrawn Trilogy, I can treat them as the sequels and disregard the ST. And even when I read Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, I can disregard TESB as the sequel to SW. In other words, I can accept the Star Wars universe in various iterations without getting hung up. All of them are fictional anyway, so sometimes I just treat as canonical what makes sense in a particular situation. Only SW77 is consistent canon for me in 100% of all situations, with the other members of the OT equally canon in the second most situations.

Before I post this, it occurs to me that I should further point out that I love the radio dramas and novels in spite of their contradictions with the movie canon. I accept them internally and I’m fine with it. In fact, I love looking at them as alternative interpretations. Who would want only a single way to look at a fictional universe?

I tend to agree with Ender - it’s best to keep an open mind about how all these stories fit together. It’s a lot less stressful isn’t it?

The Halloween series just doesn’t work as a cohesive story (and the new one is going to mess things up even further!) but I enjoy watching them - so I just watch them, and enjoy them.

I find information in the new Star Wars canon informs and strengthens continuity and smooths over some dodgy plot points but even the story group reckon there’s a hierarchy of “official” canon - Films>Tv>Books etc.

In my life I’ve gone from not noticing or caring about canon because I wasn’t paying enough attention to obsessively making numbered lists and categories to make sense of certain Tv show timelines (I’m looking at you, Chris Carter and Rick Berman) to mellowing out upon realising faneditors could “fix” things to accepting the whole darn thing is a huge, flawed mess and enjoying things on a more individual level.

But then something like Better Call Saul comes along and frustrates me hugely by demonstrating a perfectly written and internally coherent canon.

Am I actually even answering the question any more? Shut up, me 😕

Better Call Saul, a show I was prepared to hate but ended up loving.

Mark’s Down On Your Syntax said:

…to obsessively making numbered lists and categories to make sense of certain Tv show timelines (I’m looking at you, Chris Carter…

Ugh, right? I don’t even know anymore which episodes/seasons of X-Files “count” for me anymore…

ChainsawAsh said:

Mark’s Down On Your Syntax said:

…to obsessively making numbered lists and categories to make sense of certain Tv show timelines (I’m looking at you, Chris Carter…

Ugh, right? I don’t even know anymore which episodes/seasons of X-Files “count” for me anymore…

As far as I’m concerned, the Syndicate was never working with aliens. They were a fully autonomous body in possession of captured/stolen extraterrestrial tech; they were never in thrall to little gray men, and there was never going to be an alien invasion of Earth. Any episode — or element within an episode — which contradicts that premise, I regard as non-canon.

And screw the entire current mytharc, too. CSM’s ash, the moon landings were real, and that Mulder/Skinner catfight never happened.

I’ve been thinking about the Evil Dead franchise lately. I’ve reached the conclusion that I hold to three different personal canons.

CANON #1 (SUPERCUT CANON)

In this canon, all three movies exist in one continuity. The Evil Dead is entirely canon, except for the part where Linda rises from her grave and Ash chops her head off. The Evil Dead II is entirely canon, except for the “recap”, the bridge scene, and the ending. As for Army of Darkness, I consider the Dark Horse comic adaptation more canon than the movie itself, though I wholeheartedly stick with the “hail to the king” ending.

Neither Ash vs. Evil Dead or any of the expanded universe stuff exists in this continuity.

CANON #2 (DELUSION CANON)

In this canon, Ash was driven insane by his experiences in The Evil Dead and subsequently committed to an asylum, where he spent the following decades imagining the events of Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness (both versions), Ash vs. Evil Dead, etc.

CANON #3 (EQUAL BUT SEPARATE CANON)

The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and both versions of Army of Darkness exist in four separate universes.

Dek Rollins said:

And in the Supercut cannon, why is Linda’s head chop not canon? Her head has to be chopped off for her post-recap scenes in EDII.

Sorry, I had a brainfart. I meant to say that the part in the first film where her decapitated body rises from the grave and humps Ash isn’t canon.

[JEDIT]

Evil Dead is perplexing.

Regarding the Cthulhu Mythos (God, I hate that name), I’m only interested in the stories Lovecraft and, to a lesser extent, his contemporaries wrote. IMO, every worthwhile story that could be written for Lovecraft’s universe had been within his lifetime; everything published thereafter is immaterial fanfiction.

I love how the Highlander franchise handles continuity. Don’t like Highlander II? Highlander III ignores Highlander II. Don’t like Highlander III? Highlander: The Series ignores Highlander III. Don’t like any of the sequels/spinoffs? Ignore them all to your heart’s content; the original film has a perfectly closed ending anyway.

Of all cherished franchises which consist mostly of shit, the Highlander franchise is the one I have the least spite towards, and it’s due to this healthy, organic, blessed discontinuity.