Something interesting to note.
For The Lord of the Rings the BOOKS are canon and the FILMS are not canon.
It’s a little interesting for me to have stumbled across this thread, as we’ve been studying (read: debating) the Literary Canon in my Lit class this last week.
The main discussion, which would apply even to this branch of canonization as it relates to SW and ST (which is way over my head) and such, is: Who is deciding what is Canon and what isn’t, and just what defines it as acceptable?
I’d be interested to know the answers as far as SW and ST, if for no other reason than to amuse my friends and break the ice at parties…
For SW and ST there are many many books written by dozens of authors. These authors while they are authorized by the parent companies that own the franchies of Trek and SW are not generally considered canon. The reason is that these authors frequently explore aspects of main characters (their young lives/ how they spend retirement) or they flesh out little side characters (Bobba Fetish).
Now the main creative forces behind the franchise (George Lucas, Mr. Roddenberry and now Rick Berman) may later go and make a film or tv episode that contradicts the book. So since those people are considered the highest authority (the pope if you will) they are considered infallible. So you can’t go “but in X-Wing 27 Wedge Antillies clearly states that his sister’s name is Fedge and that she is his only sister! So Lucas must be wrong in the film when we see that he has six sisters and not one of them was named Fedge!”
I thought that everyone considered it non-cannon because it was so godawful bad.
I once saw something interesting on TV regarding Star Trek V. Apparently, in the movie’s orginal draft the being that they find actually is God, and after they find him the forces of evil show up and there’s this huge battle. Unfortunately, the special effects and animatronic figures and other stuff for the battle would have blown the budget, so they cut it out and changed the ending to the lame-o one where being isn’t God, but just a pretender, and he’s an asshole.
I heard that Shatner referred to the four supporting actors (Doohan, Koenig, Takei and Nichols) as “The Four Stooges,” but haven’t heard him credit Larry, Curly and Moe for his directorial style (which is actually better than Nimoy’s, IMO; not his stories, but the way he handled his camera, set up his shots, etc).
Roddenberry had an assclown named Richard Arnold who supposedly spoke for him. This guy is the one who started the whole “Gene considers Trek V to be apocryphal” nonsense.
A few of the writers of the TV series have snuck in references to the animated series (Kor on a DS9 ep, T’Pol and another Vulcan on ENT).
Sir Rhosis
That’s probably because Tolkein had nothing to do with the films…
Whoever owns the rights to the medium, obviously.
I hope so as well… I’m enjoying the relaunch of the DS9 series more than most other Trek books.
I’m reading “Rising Son” right now, as a matter of fact… great book.
Um… crap. I subscribed to this thread and didn’t think to read down further after reading the newest post. So now I’m chiming in on a topic no one’s even discussing. Gah.
:smack: