# Major TV/Movies series where canon doesn't matter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978 "2009-08-19T18:27:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/1 "2009-08-19T18:27:28Z")
I’m not talking about a series that doesn’t try to have continuity like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but a wildly popular, successful series that has devoted followers and with an established canon. For example, heaven forbid messing with the canon in Star Trek or Star Wars. Fans jump through mental hurdles to keep that canon consistant (e.g. there is an explanation of why Kirk’s middle initial was R. on the tombstone in the second pilot). But for me, the canon violations in the Terminator series don’t bother me. I guess I see the movies as taking place in parallel universes where the same event (Sarah Connor preventing Judgement Day) lead to slightly different futures. Arthur C. Clarke used a similar explanation for his 2001 series. So what major TV or movie series have canon violation that make you say, “meh.”? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/2 "2009-08-19T19:29:47Z")
I’ve always been amused by people who get upset by canon violations in _The Simpsons_, particularly those involving the location of Springfield. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/3 "2009-08-19T19:35:08Z")
South Park. Kenny’s died and come back hundreds of times, so right there, I think that tells you everything you need to know. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/4 "2009-08-19T19:35:36Z")
Actually, they pretty successfully reset the Trek canon, so violations don’t really matter at all any more. I think it’s great. ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/5 "2009-08-19T19:48:22Z")
_Red Dwarf_ played a little fast and loose with canon. Canon wasn’t a high priority with the writers and so they sent the series into some fun, uncharted territory. They also had multiple/parallel universes, often meeting characters from them. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/6 "2009-08-19T19:59:04Z")
ScoobyDoo: _Ryberius?_ ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/7 "2009-08-19T20:11:48Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I’ve always been amused by people who get upset by canon violations in _The Simpsons_, particularly those involving the location of Springfield. I read an interview with one of the animators who said that the entire production staff deliberately throws in inconsistencies, just to screw with the Comic Book Guys out there who demand every show be perfectly consistent with “the canon.” The one example he recited is the layout of the Simpsons house, which they arbitrarily rearrange from one episode to the next (the door beneath the staircase for instance sometimes leads to a closet, sometimes it leads to stairs to the basement.) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/8 "2009-08-19T20:26:15Z")
Series’ where time travel, dimensional fiddling, or even heavy interference by the supernatural get a little leeway, in my book. As it’s easier to reconsile problems as being from changes to the timeline or damage to the universe itself. I think Discworld has used something like that, on occasion, to explain away problems—time had been “shattered” at some point, and basically “stitched back together,” but not all the pieces were there, or fit together anymore. The comedic nature of the series helps, too, 'natch. If it was epic high drama, it might need a lot more attention paid to work as an explaination. Willful [dis continuity](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DisContinuity) helps in a pinch, too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/9 "2009-08-19T20:44:36Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > So what major TV or movie series have canon violation that make you say, “meh.”? _Superman II_ and it’s [ass-pull](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AssPull) superpowers pissed me off at the time. I was 11. Now I’m pretty meh about it. ---
**Author:** ![Rin\_Twisted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Rin\_Twisted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rin_Twisted)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/10 "2009-08-19T21:25:26Z")
Gah! Any time someone posts a link to tvtropes, I’m over there for an hour longer than I intended to be. 🙂 What about _Doctor Who_? I’m not really part of the established community of fans, so for all I know there are wild internet fights about this. But it seems to me the show has the ultimate excuse for not having canon matter- if something seems out of place, it’s because it was a different Doctor, or a different timeline. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/11 "2009-08-19T21:34:27Z")
> [@Rin\_Twisted](#): > > Gah! Any time someone posts a link to tvtropes, I’m over there for an hour longer than I intended to be. 🙂 [Happy to help.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/12 "2009-08-19T22:45:30Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Actually, they pretty successfully reset the Trek canon, so violations don’t really matter at all any more. I think it’s great. Nope. ST XI is an alternate universe and has no bearing on the main continuity. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/13 "2009-08-19T22:51:23Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Actually, they pretty successfully reset the Trek canon, so violations don’t really matter at all any more. I think it’s great. > [@Aesiron](#): > > Nope. ST XI is an alternate universe and has no bearing on the main continuity. I think that two different ways of saying the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/14 "2009-08-19T22:58:55Z")
I think Xena: Warrior Princess probably counts. > [@Rin\_Twisted](#): > > Gah! Any time someone posts a link to tvtropes, I’m over there for an hour longer than I intended to be. 🙂 Me too. Total time-sink website, but a sort-of educational one. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/15 "2009-08-19T23:04:45Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I think that two different ways of saying the same thing. Perhaps. A reboot implies invalidation of previous continuity to me, though. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/16 "2009-08-19T23:39:25Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > A reboot implies invalidation of previous continuity to me, though. Concur. When I think “reboot” I think of the new _Battlestar Galactica_ or, hell, the _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ TV series (which, technically, was a sequel to the original script of the movie, just not the movie as it was filmed). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/17 "2009-08-20T00:30:13Z")
Of course, you can always deal with canon violations the way they did in _Frasier._ > [@](#): > > Sam Malone: [about Niles] This is strange. I gotta tell you, I didn’t know he had a brother. > > And > > Martin: [about Frasier] Hey, Sam, what’d he tell you about me, the father, the old cop? > Sam Malone: Well, uh, he told me you were dead. > Martin: [surprised] Dead? > Frasier: Well, we had an argument one day. He called me a stuffed shirt and hung up on me. I was mad. > Sam Malone: [to Martin] You were a cop? > [to Frasier] > Sam Malone: You told me he was a research scientist. > [Martin reacts] > Frasier: [to Martin] You were dead! What did it matter? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/18 "2009-08-20T07:59:30Z")
> [@Rin\_Twisted](#): > > What about _Doctor Who_? I’m not really part of the established community of fans, so for all I know there are wild internet fights about this. But it seems to me the show has the ultimate excuse for not having canon matter- if something seems out of place, it’s because it was a different Doctor, or a different timeline. That’s right. _Doctor Who_ officially has no canon – and for a franchise that’s existed across multiple media, written by various hands, and is now older than most of the fans, and indeed, writers, that makes perfect sense. It doesn’t prevent endless debate among the fans, though, for whom the idea of canon is so ingrained that they’ve invented the oxymoronic “personal canon” to squabble over. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/19 "2009-08-20T09:14:07Z")
I’d say that the \*Law & Order \*canon is pretty loose - especially if you take the “repeat offenders” (actors who keep on returning in different roles) into consideration. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978/20 "2009-08-20T09:28:34Z")
Boston Legal recycled plots from The Practice and recycled several actors. There was also a mixing of actors who played on other DEK shows, some reappearing in their previous roles (Betty White, Chi McBride) and some not (Jeri Ryan, Graham Currie). Boston Legal originated in season 8 of The Practice and there’s quite a significant difference between Alan as we see him in TP season 8 versus BL season 1. And the same for Denny. And the same for Crane, Poole and Schmidt which was a totally different office between the two shows. It can be explained away (renovation) but it seems obvious that the production staff of BL didn’t feel like rewatching season 8 of TP so they just made it up as they went along. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/major-tv-movies-series-where-canon-doesnt-matter/506978.md?page=2)