Johnboy3434 said:You are a fan. I am a fan. We have no qualifications.
I daresay that is the ultimate qualification.
Why should those who merely make money from milking the franchise be better qualified than those who truely love it? Just something to think about. Not really the least bit interested in debating this, expecially in light of the amazing level of maturity demostrated in your reply to Xhonzi.
I also feel you are going in the wrong direction with mentioning "holy canon" as there is no singular "holy canon". Their are different levels of canon, and biblical canon has been and is much disagreement upon by those who are or have been deemed "qualified".
Canon in its simplest definition simply means a standard. When talking about the canon of a series of fictional works, we are talking about the parts that adhere to the quality and the continuity of the overall work, which parts are to be accepted as truly having taken place in this fictional universe. To me, the very idea of a canon in a work of fiction is beyond absurd.
This absurdity is even more vibrant when you consider the fact that GL and his own company completely disagree on the issue of canonicity. Considering this, what really makes one expertly "qualified" to determine exactly what events and stories, written over the course of thirty years by a vast number of different authors, did "in fact" take place in this imaginary universe?
The obvious answer to this question is 'no one other than GL', naturally. The man invented this fictional universe, that never existed. He wrote the original story of the events that take place there that never really happened. Makes sense that if he says Timothy Zahn's fan fiction never really took place in his imaginary universe, that this should be taken as the official standard. Of course smart marketing says otherwise. Why should I pay to read professionally written fan fiction, when it is nothing more than professionally written fan fiction? And GL's canon is greatly crippled by the fact he is constantly changing it with ridiculous retcons. Does a canon even really have any meaning when it is constantly changed? Of course not. There is no purpose of having a standard when it is constantly being broken by those who set it.
At the end of the day, Vaderisnohayden might as well be considered just as qualified as Lucas and his minions to decide what did and didn't not really happen in a galaxy that never existed.
Sure, Vaderisnohayden may come off rather strongly in stating that his view of canon is the "real" canon, period, full stop. But I think it is rather silly to be bothered by this. In fact, I think it is rather silly to be bothering about the reality of a non-existent universe at all.