Gaffer Tape said:Johnboy3434 said:Vaderisnothayden said:No way. The films shouldn't have to kow tow to the EU. The EU is by very nature non-canonical, no matter what certain Lucasfilm employees think, and Lucas is thoroughly justified in ignoring it or going counter to it. The only question is whether he should be allowing his employees to officially call it canon if he's not going to treat it as that in his work. I think he shouldn't. I think it's a con to call the stuff canon when it's clearly not treated as canon. I think it's called canon just to to aid sales and wouldn't be called canon if not for that. The EU needs to be soundly put in its place. They should do the honest and appropriate thing and declare it all non-canon.
That's not your call to make. Whatever their reasons for saying it's canon, the point is that they say it, and so it is. The company that owns the right to a franchise can define its canon however it wants, so the EU is not "by very nature" non-canonical. If GL disagreed so vehemently with the presence of EU in Star Wars canon, he would fire the entire team of individuals whose sole job is to maintain a massive database on what constitutes canon, and who keep threads in the official message boards open for questions from readers. High-visibility jobs like that wouldn't last long if they were as unnecessary as you think.
I've noticed from your previous posts that you seem to think you have much more authority in these matters than you actually do. First, you insist that the OOT is the canon version simply because you think GL has lost sight of some nebulous concept of what SW "is" (which smacks of the same self-styled elitist definition as the phrase "true fan"), despite having no involvement in the production of the films of even an affiliation with the companies that made them. Now, you use the fact that Lucas Licensing is a business to off-handedly dismiss any official statements on the definition of canon. There's no logical follow-through to these statements at all. Simply put, you know less about what Star Wars "is" than Lucas and company ever will, because they DECIDE what it "is".
OOT purists, if you ever wondered why people have a tendency to look down on you, you need only look at people like Vaderisnothayden.
Nope. Gotta agree with Vaderisnothayden on this one. Nearly all of us here consider the OOT to be Star Wars canon over the '04 editions, myself included. That's why most of us are here.
And while I've been a fan of EU and oftentimes consider some parts canonical, and it's obvious that Lucas the company considers it, it's even more obvious that Lucas the man does not. He's made several statements saying he ignores EU works and has no idea what happens in them. Even that wouldn't be so damning except for the fact that the prequels outright contradict elements of EU that the company considers to be canon.
Granted, we get our jollies off on holding opposing views from Lucas, but it's extremely funny that the company is pulled in two different directions. I agree with Vaderisnothayden that the books are given such high status solely to boost sales. I whole-heartedly believe that. It's a little bit contradictory for Vaderisnothayden to follow Lucas's opinion on this when he doesn't in any other situation, but I certainly believe the fact that George shits on EU validates Vaderisnothayden's opinion.
Great post. As for me being contradictory, I'm not really. I don't depend on Lucas's view for my own. My own view of what's canon is based on my own examination of the various works and thinking on the subject. Lucas's view is merely relevant when talking about his work or when talking about what is the view of the recognized (by some) "authority". However that fact that Lucas's view on this agrees with my own on this is not accidental. Works like the expanded universe works are naturally the sort of thing that's non-canonical. It's instinctive and natural to see them as non-canonical.
I agree it's funy to see the company pulled in two different directions. Their own boss undermines their "canon" with his statements. I wonder if it drives them up the wall.