I was reading about what's canon and what's not in the world of Star Wars. I think the Star Wars Holiday Special from the late Seventies isn't canon.
How does this come about? Being in and out? Is a decision by fans?
Does such a thing exist in the worlds of Gerry Anderson? A canon?
Puzzled. Are you readers?
I'm always interested in questions of what is canon, and usually I think there's a clear answer, for instance with Dr Who, if it's by the BBC it's canon, if it's not, it's not; but of course this definition never holds, as things tend to bleed through (such as Big Finish characters being mentioned in BBC productions). AS Steven Moffat said, "It is impossible for a show about a dimension-hopping time traveller to have a canon." Same with Star Trek The Animated Series, which was apparently originally regarded as not canon, until it was released on DVD; since which, there have been references to it in canonical shows. So I think the only manageable definition of what is canon is 'whatever each individual fans wants to be canon'. Which suits me, as it means I can ignore all the silly origin nonsense they're currently writing into Dr Who...!
ReplyDeleteStar Trek Animated is an interesting example. It was in many respects the "fourth season" of The Original Series because so many of the original talents were included in it's making. Also, it is the first example of the Holodeck which went on to become such a staple gizmo in the later series.
ReplyDeleteStaying Canon takes a lot of effort, only the Marvel Cinematic Universe seems to have come close to keeping everything together.
As far as Gerry Anderson series go, the Zero-X connection is the only example!
tst
ReplyDeleteExcept perhaps in TV21 comics, where surely there were explicit connections made between different Anderson series..?
DeleteStar Wars has had a huge swathe of material culled from the franchise, especially since Disney took hold of the reigns. The problem was, after Jedi finished and before Lucas started the money machine again with the Prequel series, there were a load of books and other materials written for the 'Expanded Universe' series, which showed the fate of Boba Fett for instance, or what happened to IG-88 or Luke Skywalker. Timothy Zahn wrote a great series of novels which involved the Emperor and clones, Dark Horse had the Dark Empire series, with a bad Skywalker and Leia and Han Solo went off and had children etc. When the Prequel series arrived, a lot of plotlines had to be revived and reallocated to fit in with the new directions. Years later, when the Force Awakens arrived, a similar thing had to happen, to re-align Solo's bloodline and explain where he had been for the last 20 years. Rather than rely on the various novelisations - some of which were out of print - to give characters back story, lots of material was regarded as non-canonical and pushed to the side to make way for the big budget plotlines in the film and TV series. It makes following the series a bit easier, but die hard fans who have devoured everything over the years were upset that certain plots were cut and new directions for characters - such as the Book of Boba Fett, were different from expectations. For myself, as a long time fan, I think its a good thing, as some of the novelisations were naff and I was never a fan of the DH comics. It doesn't stop you going into the expanded universe material for a different perspective, and it now seems like a similar concept to the Marvel Multiverse, where different outcomes exist for different timestreams.
ReplyDeleteAh, the Multiverse, the ultimate solution for all problems of canonicity! What would we do without it?
ReplyDeleteand as to the SW Holiday Special, it should be largely ignored, never mind un-canonised. An appalling attempt at mass marketing and milking a nascent cash cow. Apart from the rather rubbish appearance of Boba Fett, the rest is truly abyssmal!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it.
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