'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

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MattG
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'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

Post by MattG »

This is an interesting development. Moving forward, there will be no more division between movie and EU canon.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/01/07/ ... rent-canon
George Lucas said that the Star Wars universe exists, essentially, in two versions. There’s his one, and then there’s the one everybody else can play with.

In effect, this meant that anybody writing Star Wars outside of the six main movies (to date) was expected to adhere to one another’s work and create story lines that were consistent with one another.

And then, whenever Lucas himself went on to create a new “core” story for the Saga, he had permission to overwrite or ignore anything from that “Expanded Universe.”

But now, Lucasfilm are looking to rework the system and destroy this hierarchy.

Leland Chee is employed by the company on their Story Team and has been answering questions on Twitter about how it all works.

Here’s the thrust of what he was saying, in quotes from his feed, and folding a question into the answer:

Star Wars Canon is now determined by the Lucasfilm Story Group which [Pablo Hidalgo] and I are both a part of.

Story Group has a hand in all facets of Star Wars storytelling, including movies, TV, games, and publishing. More so than ever, the canon field will serve us internally simply for classification rather than setting hierarchy.

[Disposing of the hierarchy and having one cohesive canon is] definitely a primary goal of the Story Group.
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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

Post by thehiflyer »

Im very interested in this development too - as someone that didnt delve too deeply into the EU this makes sense to me BUT Im far more interested in the potential costuming ramifications for the 501st and how they handle that. There are a few costumes that I really want to do that fall outside of current approval - of course I could do them anyway but Id like to know for sure that Ill have a level of recognition for doing so.

http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/309164/

Here's another link that breaks down some of the canon confusion:

1. Absolute Canon (G-Canon): the movies in their most recently-released format, the scripts, the novelizations of the movies, the radio plays, and any statements by George Lucas himself.

2. Television Shows (T-canon): Star Wars: The Clone Wars and future Star Wars TV series such as Star Wars Rebels.

3. Expanded Universe (C--canon): Books, comics, and games bearing the label of Star Wars.

4. Secondary Canon (S-canon): Non-continuity stories with canon elements if they do not contradict any of the above. An example includes the MMO Star Wars: Galaxies.

5. Non-Canon (N-canon): Anything else, including "What-if" stories, crossover appearances in other media and anything else directly contradicted by higher-level canon.

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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

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It looks like all the current/existing EU material is, in fact, going to be preserved and remain available (to variable extents), under the new "Legends" banner. I think this is good, considering the direction Disney and the LFL Story group will be taking things.

This video is a bit of a tribute to the EU through the ages:

[youtube]VUm0Lo6DL-E[/youtube]
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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

Post by thehiflyer »

That's an interesting video - I'm bummed that the micro series wasn't picked up as canon AGAIN but I read comics so I'm used to reboots, retcons and continuity changes :)

To me, all of that stuff "happened" but just not recognised in the current continuity - like the previous ages of comics if I ever want to revisit it I can just pick it up and start again :)

The EU stuff that I really engaged with was the Thrawn books, the clone wars animated micro series and the knights of the old republics games - thankfully as fans we have such a wide range of content to chose from.
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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

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thehiflyer wrote:...
To me, all of that stuff "happened" but just not recognised in the current continuity - like the previous ages of comics if I ever want to revisit it I can just pick it up and start again :) ...
This is an important point, I think. We've survived EU/Canon divisions and flux many times now.

I first read, and loved, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" over and over in 1978 and 1979, then had to contort my brain cells to accept its position in the continuity when ESB came out in 1980.
Then, there's this sort of stuff that's been steam-rolled over a few times. Bring back Jaxxon! :p
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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

Post by Buzz Bumble »

MattG wrote:[
I first read, and loved, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" over and over in 1978 and 1979, then had to contort my brain cells to accept its position in the continuity when ESB came out in 1980.
People often bring that up and I know it's been a l-o-n-g time since I read that book, but I can't recall anything that is contradictory to the following movies.

The biggest contradiction with the "re-categorising" is likely to be that at some stage Chewie will no longer be dead.
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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

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Buzz Bumble wrote:...People often bring that up and I know it's been a l-o-n-g time since I read that book, but I can't recall anything that is contradictory to the following movies. ...
The degree of contradiction isn't as direct as some cases, but it is clearly an example of EU written without foreknowledge of, or consideration for, the subsequent canon storylines. The characterisations of Luke and Leia are in pretty stark contrast to the development of their personalities and skills in ESB (not to mention the awkwardness of the emphasis of the ongoing romantic tension between the siblings in SotME), and if you take Luke's facing and besting of Vader (which he does in the absence of any formal saber training) as canon, it definitely erodes the climactic confrontation of ESB.
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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

Post by Buzz Bumble »

MattG wrote:... it is clearly an example of EU written without foreknowledge of, or consideration for, the subsequent canon storylines.
The book was written from George Lucas' ideas and with his approval (reportedly it was a sequel George Lucas didn't think would be made as a movie), so any incompatibility with "canon" from the then-future movies is only in hindsight due to George Lucas later changing his storyline. The same happens with many of the other incompatibilities in the "EU".

... not to mention the awkwardness of the emphasis of the ongoing romantic tension between the siblings in SotME ...
Ahh, not that again. It's always brough up as something "wrong" in the book and The Empire Strikes Back kiss. :(

Any "awkwardness" is only in some reader's / viewer's minds because they know the now-altered future. In terms of the story, they didn't know they were siblings at that point (despite Liea's later "always knew"). There are no doubt hundreds of separated siblings in real life who met up later, many without ever knowing.


Luke's facing and besting of Vader (which he does in the absence of any formal saber training)
It could be because of not having that formal training that he beat Vader, by doing things Vader wasn't expecting and not by the "rules" - a bit like "expert" chess players who follow the "standard" official opening moves being beaten by a 10 year old who does something different. :)
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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

Post by MattG »

This is interesting, and a positive move...Del Rey are using the "Legend" brand/status as a catalyst to re-release the some of the oldest of the EU material. The Han Solo Adventures and Lando Calrissian Adventures are getting new bundled editions (with introductions, presumably explaining the "Legend"/EU concept by Pablo Hidalgo).
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Re: 'Lucasfilm Story Group' governs a single, coherent Canon

Post by oota goota »

wow that's going to be a big job! I wonder if they'll make an app....
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