lol! I'd believe Yoda as Luke and Leia's father before I'd believe the AOTC/ROTS version of Anakin as the father. That Anakin didn't come off like he had the midichlorians to father anything.
That would of course also explain the 'size matters not' comment.
The Monkey King - Uproar In heaven (1965) Restoration/Preservation Project
Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979) BBC 1.66:1 & Theatrical 2.35:1 preservations
Johnboy3434 said:I can understand if there was a company-wide decree that only the movies were canon, a la Star Trek (where all published material is non-canon, with only two possible exceptions), but the official company-wide policy is that everything that can reasonably fit is canon.
Since when? I've always heard, from company officials, that there are 3 levels of canon. "True" canon is only what's in the movies. After that is what's in the radio dramas and the novels of the movies. So if something from the movies contradicts something from the radio dramas or novels of the movies, the movie overrides it. Beyond that, everything is EU, but EU all goes into non-canon. The only reason the books were written so far out in the timeline from the movies was to make sure they never intruded on any of the movie canon.
This rule is followed pretty closely and is even followed when costuming for official company functions. Pretty much any character that has only been seen in books isn't allowed at those functions. Exceptions have been made when the costume looks really good, but I've never seen one of those fighting Royal Guards anywhere outside of convention floors.
The only books that have been made Canon are Shadows of the Empire and maybe Splinter of the Mind's Eye (that one may have been pulled out of canon since it was written before ESB and ROTJ). I can't think of any other books that are considered strict canon.
Maybe that all changed after ROTS came out, but back when I was costuming for LFL events, the above was the rule. I even saw people get booted from events because they were accurate, but someone else that dressed as Vader was taller and they liked it better.
I don't know about your anecdotes (which (damn!) sound pretty harsh), but there are several levels of official canon created and maintained by LucasFilm. Some say George only considers the highest level (G-Canon, or the movies, dramas, and novels) canon. Here is the list:
G-Canon-see above
T-Canon-Clone Wars series
C-Canon-currently accepted EU books
S-Canon-non-canon works with canon elements to them (ie. Star Wars Galaxies)
N-Canon-non-canon: things that either were never canon or booted from canon later on (like the OOT... grr)
The levels exist because of the strong possibility of contradictions. If there ever is, the higher-level canon takes priority.
There is no lingerie in space…
C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.
Johnboy3434 said:I can understand if there was a company-wide decree that only the movies were canon, a la Star Trek (where all published material is non-canon, with only two possible exceptions), but the official company-wide policy is that everything that can reasonably fit is canon.
Actually, Lucasfilm says one thing and Lucas says another. Lucasfilm goes by different levels of canon, while Lucas has expressedly compared the situation to the Star Trek situation, implying the same rules apply in Star Wars. He has called the expanded universe a different universe from the movie universe and a parallel universe. So clearly as far as Lucas is concerned the expanded universe stuff usually isn't canon.
lordjedi said:
Since when? I've always heard, from company officials, that there are 3 levels of canon. "True" canon is only what's in the movies. After that is what's in the radio dramas and the novels of the movies. So if something from the movies contradicts something from the radio dramas or novels of the movies, the movie overrides it. Beyond that, everything is EU, but EU all goes into non-canon. The only reason the books were written so far out in the timeline from the movies was to make sure they never intruded on any of the movie canon.
This rule is followed pretty closely and is even followed when costuming for official company functions. Pretty much any character that has only been seen in books isn't allowed at those functions. Exceptions have been made when the costume looks really good, but I've never seen one of those fighting Royal Guards anywhere outside of convention floors.
The only books that have been made Canon are Shadows of the Empire and maybe Splinter of the Mind's Eye (that one may have been pulled out of canon since it was written before ESB and ROTJ). I can't think of any other books that are considered strict canon.
Maybe that all changed after ROTS came out, but back when I was costuming for LFL events, the above was the rule. I even saw people get booted from events because they were accurate, but someone else that dressed as Vader was taller and they liked it better.
Like Gaffer Tape says, the official company policy is G, T, C and S canon (and N, non, canon). The radio dramas and movie novelizations are in G canon with the movies. Maybe it was different once but that's the official line now. Back in 1994 they seemed to go by a rule that included only the movies, screenplays, radio dramas and movie novelizations. Shadows of the Empire and Splinter of the Mind's eye aren't supposed to be any more canon than other C canon stuff, which is standard EU level. And like I said Lucas doesn't seem to consider any of it canon. Also, Leland Chee of Lucasfilm has said there's a movie-only continuity that includes only the movies and not the EU stuff. But that was before the present The Clone Wars show came out, which I think Lucas includes in his personal Star Wars universe and thus canon.
Johnboy3434 said:Granted, GL's personal view is that Star Wars doesn't exist outside of the movies, which is why he can ignore all this stuff and get away with it, but ultimately, he's going to die a lot sooner than his company, so it's obvious which view will win out in the end.
His view has as much relevance as theirs, no matter who will outlive who, because at least to some extent he is the creator of Star Wars. And his view will count as much as theirs after he is dead. They can say stuff after he is dead, but they can't magically wave a wand that'll make their view more relevant than his. His view will always stand.
And in the end all of it (his view, their view) is nonsense, because the only real Star Wars canon is the core material that made the Star Wars legend, the old trilogy in its original form. Lucas and Lucasfilm split from that canon in the 90s when they tried to replace the original films with the special edition. Which makes all their subsequent entries into Star Wars canon noncanonical, because once you try to replace the canon with invalid material then your canon doesn't count. Plus novels and games and comics were never serious canon anyway. As much as any official view on canon ever counted, the view that counted was Lucas's, and I think it's clear he didn't consider that stuff canon. Even if he did, it's not the right sort of material to stand by the films. It's just spinoff material.
Real canon is the OOT. Canon by Lucas is the special editions, the prequels and the recent tv shows (the new Clone Wars cartoon and the live action show I think, including the Clone Wars movie) and maybe Force Unleashed. Canon by Lucasfilm is just a gimmick for selling merchandise.