Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Pre-release) (Spoilers)

[Jaitea]

It has been clearly defined,....easy search,......google Star Wars Canon......top result Wikipedia

[h=2]Disney acquisition, canon revision and Star Wars Legends[edit][/h]On October 30, 2012, Lucasfilm was sold to The Walt Disney Company for $4.05 billion. After the acquisition, Disney and Lucasfilm established Lucasfilm Story Group, a committee whose job is to keep track of and define the "canon" in an effort to unify the films, comics, and other media with the existing canon.[12][13]
On April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm and Disney revised the franchise's canon. They announced that the existing six films and The Clone Wars television series are the "immovable objects" of Star Wars storytelling. Previously published material has been relabeled under a "Legends" label, and future content will present a different vision of people, places and events after Return of the Jedi. They also announced that all future Star Wars stories will be connected and on equal canon level as the films, with guidance coming from the Star Wars story group. Additionally, it was announced that the films of the sequel trilogy will not follow the same story as that of the Expanded Universe works taking place after the events of Return of the Jedi.[14] The first official canon novel in the revised continuity was Star Wars: A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller, which is a prequel novel to Star Wars Rebels. It was released September 2, 2014.[15]

J

 

[MasterEdi]

This helps...

 

[MasterEdi]

Along with this...

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Well, fudge all that! "Canon" changes all the time; here one day, gone the next. I'll stick with 1-6 as anything of interest and I'll hold onto my own truths instead of what a group of corporates decide, thank you very much.

 

[Bryancd]

Well, fudge all that! "Canon" changes all the time; here one day, gone the next. I'll stick with 1-6 as anything of interest and I'll hold onto my own truths instead of what a group of corporates decide, thank you very much.

Also entirely irrelevant.

 

[astroboy]

I do love the idea of "canon" but my worry is that (much like the comic book industry) now that there are SO MANY star wars stories being produced, they're gonna have to hit the reset button ten years down the road.

I am certainly not comfortable with that.

 

[Bryancd]

I do love the idea of "canon" but my worry is that (much like the comic book industry) now that there are SO MANY star wars stories being produced, they're gonna have to hit the reset button ten years down the road.

I am certainly not comfortable with that.

I doubt it. This is the first time Star Wars has made an effort to have a continuity and I think they are committed to keeping it.

 

[Riceball]

I do love the idea of "canon" but my worry is that (much like the comic book industry) now that there are SO MANY star wars stories being produced, they're gonna have to hit the reset button ten years down the road.

I am certainly not comfortable with that.

That's probably why they formed the Story Group, to help ensure consistency within the Star Wars universe with all of the ancillary materials that will be produced. Hopefully, they'll keep the pace of comics and books at a reasonable pace to keep things from going too far too fast. But with 3 new movies set in the main timeline coming out along with the stand alone movies, I imagine that most of the future material due out will be set in between everything, sort of like how Rebels is set before ANH and Clone Wars was between Ep. II & III.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

^ That is exactly why they formed the Story Group back in '08. And one of the big frustrations said Group ran into was all the places where the EU contradicted itself and -- after the Prequels -- George's canon. George's retirement was a great opportunity for them. He had always maintained the right to use or overwrite anything in the EU (because he didn't really feel like keeping up with everything published, or even reading memos on it). So the EU could never be on the same level as the films with him around, and it wasn't. Lucasfilm always treated the EU as, essentially, "potential canon", and that's what it is still.

With George -- and his ex post facto veto -- gone from the equation, they saw the chance to elevate the EU to the same level as the films and TV series... but all those contradictions remained. So rather than pick and choose the stuff that worked (and having to deal with the inevitable deluge of outraged correspondence at this being canonized and not that) they just drew a line after which everything published/produced is as canon as the films/TV series, and before which is still the same pool of "potential canon" it always was. Just that now, with George gone, the fans are running the show -- people who know the EU from long acquaintence. And elements from the EU are far more likely to make it into canon now, under them, than ever under George.

--Jonah

 

[harrisonp]

I'm bad because I know there are fans of the comics/novels, and the artists and writers deserve any attention they garner for their work, but if it doesn't move then for me it doesn't matter to the overall canon. The numbered/mainline films will always supersede anything in print IMO, and the animated works are supplementary but maybe not entirely crucial.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

harrisonp, you're not alone. Everyone has some part of the canon they prefer over others. There are many parts of the Prequels and Clone Wars I wish weren't canon, and I do my best to ignore... but they're still canon and will dictate what can and can't be done going forward.

--Jonah

 

[LrdSatyr8]

^ That is exactly why they formed the Story Group back in '08. And one of the big frustrations said Group ran into was all the places where the EU contradicted itself and -- after the Prequels -- George's canon. George's retirement was a great opportunity for them. He had always maintained the right to use or overwrite anything in the EU (because he didn't really feel like keeping up with everything published, or even reading memos on it). So the EU could never be on the same level as the films with him around, and it wasn't. Lucasfilm always treated the EU as, essentially, "potential canon", and that's what it is still.

With George -- and his ex post facto veto -- gone from the equation, they saw the chance to elevate the EU to the same level as the films and TV series... but all those contradictions remained. So rather than pick and choose the stuff that worked (and having to deal with the inevitable deluge of outraged correspondence at this being canonized and not that) they just drew a line after which everything published/produced is as canon as the films/TV series, and before which is still the same pool of "potential canon" it always was. Just that now, with George gone, the fans are running the show -- people who know the EU from long acquaintence. And elements from the EU are far more likely to make it into canon now, under them, than ever under George.

--Jonah

Now see... this is what I was talking about! This is exactly what I meant by CANON! George was the only one that had any say in what canon was and was not. So the movies are basically all that was canon. I never heard about the forming of the Story Group and that would make alot of sense. Now that George is out of the equation however, I still feel as if the only real canon is what was on the big screen. All the rest was just little bits and pieces that may or may not be used later. But now that Disney has taken over, there's no telling what is actually gonna end up being canon anymore. Disney changes their minds so often it's hard to tell who has any say in the matter, but I hope they keep the original core canon alone and not turn it around and inside out just to "make things interesting" (eg: Boba Fett is actually Luke's Father because he ended up jumping on Padme in a dark alley somewhere). That would be stupid I know, but with Disney's track record, it's totally possible anymore.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm bad because I know there are fans of the comics/novels, and the artists and writers deserve any attention they garner for their work, but if it doesn't move then for me it doesn't matter to the overall canon. The numbered/mainline films will always supersede anything in print IMO, and the animated works are supplementary but maybe not entirely crucial.

Totally agree with you on that one!

 

[joshvanrad]

No. Canon is canon. The end.

 

[LrdSatyr8]

No. Canon is canon. The end.

Don't need any comments from the peanut gallery thanks!

 

[joshvanrad]

Ok. Sorry for bringing facts and logic to the conversation. I'll be done.

 

[Jaitea]

My personal canon is the OT & the Rebels cartoon

George was the owner & what he told us was canon,.....was

Disney owns the franchise now,.....they're tidying up the messy room,....so what the story group at LFL decide is final,....I'm very happy that its tidied up,....it'll be interesting how everything gets interconnected, spin-offs etc,....exciting times,....positive

J

 

[Bryancd]

Don't need any comments from the peanut gallery thanks!

Don't be angry that we all seemed to be aware of the Story Group, what has been declared canon, where to find that information, ect. which you seemed so challenged by. Now you are more educated, be thankful.

 

[Inquisitor Peregrinus]

Now see... this is what I was talking about! This is exactly what I meant by CANON! George was the only one that had any say in what canon was and was not. So the movies are basically all that was canon. I never heard about the forming of the Story Group and that would make alot of sense. Now that George is out of the equation however, I still feel as if the only real canon is what was on the big screen. All the rest was just little bits and pieces that may or may not be used later. But now that Disney has taken over, there's no telling what is actually gonna end up being canon anymore. Disney changes their minds so often it's hard to tell who has any say in the matter, but I hope they keep the original core canon alone and not turn it around and inside out just to "make things interesting" (eg: Boba Fett is actually Luke's Father because he ended up jumping on Padme in a dark alley somewhere). That would be stupid I know, but with Disney's track record, it's totally possible anymore.

Disney owns the franchise now,.....they're tidying up the messy room,....so what the story group at LFL decide is final,....I'm very happy that its tidied up,....it'll be interesting how everything gets interconnected, spin-offs etc,....exciting times,....positive

Well, first of all, I'll say what I've had to say far too many times since the Lucasfilm sale... Disney isn't making Star Wars or any Star Wars decisions. Lucasfilm Limited, a wholly-owned company within the Disney umbrella is. They retain almost all of their creative control. They have come up with the new stories and characters. Disney has had an advisory position at absolute most. We know Bob Iger hooked up the folks at Lucasfilm with the folks at Sphero to make BB-8 happen as a practical reality, for instance. And we know Clone Wars got cancelled in large part because it's too violent for the Disney Channel. But they're dictating neither policy nor content.

As far as canon, that's also wholly internal to Lucasfilm, and from the Story Group. As I said, it was formed in '08 -- well before the sale, and for the most part the same people are in it. When George was still there, yes canon was restricted to the six extant films and The Clone Wars TV series. Now that he's left the company, and left Star Wars in their charge, they have sole right to determine what is canon, and they have decided that, going forward from the sale, all new content produced -- in any medium -- will also be canon. Yes, this includes the comic strips in the Rebels magazine and the short stories in the Insider magazine.

This is not a whole bunch of reversing themselves, or new people overriding old, or anything like that. Nothing has been taken out of canon. The kind of (satirical) example you give above is not the sort of thing they're doing. They can't, as that specifically contradicts canon (Boba was 11 or so when the twins were conceived, and nowhere near Coruscant, based on his activities during the Clone Wars series). I know you were being intentionally silly in your example, but that's the sort of thing I'm talking about. The Story Group has already tracked everything across the six existing films and one TV series, and they're checking everything sent across their collective desk, be it from Electronic Arts or Marvel Comics or Del Rey. They're approving ideas that work within that scaffold and dinging ones that either contradict or fall in an area reserved for future film/TV development. It's not something they're frivolous with or take lightly. And, so far, even with hit or miss writing styles and such, the stories coming out in the novels and comics and games all fit within the existing scaffold of the films and TV series nicely. No problematic things like having to retcon the bejeepers out of Boba's backstory to somehow have all the contradictory elements work with each other and the films. No Luke confronting Vader for the first time in Splinter of the Mind's Eye before he confronts Vader for the first time in The Empire Strikes Back. Et cetera.

The one thing that's still fuzzy is what they're doing/going to do about George's "dictates": "The Light Side is the true nature of the Force. The Dark Side is a false corruption of that." (i.e., no daoist light/dark duality) "Luke never gets married." "Boba and Jango aren't Mandalorians." And things like that. Fans obviously have their own takes on those and other things he's weighed in on directly. And we don't know if the fans making the canon going foward are going to fele utterly beholden to that, or if they'll pay lip service to it while finding ways to have them be true "from a certain point of view". Like, maybe Luke has kids (*GASP!*) out of wedlock. Or maybe Jango is from Concord Dawn, as in the comics, and thus isn't considered ethnically Mandalorian, even though it's a Mandalorian-conquered planet in the Mandalore Sector. Like that. We'll have to see.

But in general I'd say your fears are unjustified by the actual facts. Even with them purging the post-ROTJ EU timeline. I actually applaud that move. The EU authors didn't give our poor heroes a break. They were dealing with galactic threats nonstop for over thirty years. But even with that, the creators of the ancillary material seem to be working to add as many elements of that EU content to the canon as they can, within reason.

--Jonah

 

[Bryancd]

Well, first of all, I'll say what I've had to say far too many times since the Lucasfilm sale... Disney isn't making Star Wars or any Star Wars decisions. Lucasfilm Limited, a wholly-owned company within the Disney umbrella is. They retain almost all of their creative control. They have come up with the new stories and characters. Disney has had an advisory position at absolute most. We know Bob Iger hooked up the folks at Lucasfilm with the folks at Sphero to make BB-8 happen as a practical reality, for instance. And we know Clone Wars got cancelled in large part because it's too violent for the Disney Channel. But they're dictating neither policy nor content.

As far as canon, that's also wholly internal to Lucasfilm, and from the Story Group. As I said, it was formed in '08 -- well before the sale, and for the most part the same people are in it. When George was still there, yes canon was restricted to the six extant films and The Clone Wars TV series. Now that he's left the company, and left Star Wars in their charge, they have sole right to determine what is canon, and they have decided that, going forward from the sale, all new content produced -- in any medium -- will also be canon. Yes, this includes the comic strips in the Rebels magazine and the short stories in the Insider magazine.

This is not a whole bunch of reversing themselves, or new people overriding old, or anything like that. Nothing has been taken out of canon. The kind of (satirical) example you give above is not the sort of thing they're doing. They can't, as that specifically contradicts canon (Boba was 11 or so when the twins were conceived, and nowhere near Coruscant, based on his activities during the Clone Wars series). I know you were being intentionally silly in your example, but that's the sort of thing I'm talking about. The Story Group has already tracked everything across the six existing films and one TV series, and they're checking everything sent across their collective desk, be it from Electronic Arts or Marvel Comics or Del Rey. They're approving ideas that work within that scaffold and dinging ones that either contradict or fall in an area reserved for future film/TV development. It's not something they're frivolous with or take lightly. And, so far, even with hit or miss writing styles and such, the stories coming out in the novels and comics and games all fit within the existing scaffold of the films and TV series nicely. No problematic things like having to retcon the bejeepers out of Boba's backstory to somehow have all the contradictory elements work with each other and the films. No Luke confronting Vader for the first time in Splinter of the Mind's Eye before he confronts Vader for the first time in The Empire Strikes Back. Et cetera.

The one thing that's still fuzzy is what they're doing/going to do about George's "dictates": "The Light Side is the true nature of the Force. The Dark Side is a false corruption of that." (i.e., no daoist light/dark duality) "Luke never gets married." "Boba and Jango aren't Mandalorians." And things like that. Fans obviously have their own takes on those and other things he's weighed in on directly. And we don't know if the fans making the canon going foward are going to fele utterly beholden to that, or if they'll pay lip service to it while finding ways to have them be true "from a certain point of view". Like, maybe Luke has kids (*GASP!*) out of wedlock. Or maybe Jango is from Concord Dawn, as in the comics, and thus isn't considered ethnically Mandalorian, even though it's a Mandalorian-conquered planet in the Mandalore Sector. Like that. We'll have to see.

But in general I'd say your fears are unjustified by the actual facts. Even with them purging the post-ROTJ EU timeline. I actually applaud that move. The EU authors didn't give our poor heroes a break. They were dealing with galactic threats nonstop for over thirty years. But even with that, the creators of the ancillary material seem to be working to add as many elements of that EU content to the canon as they can, within reason.

--Jonah

Excellent post.

 

[Reelo]