The Big Picture: Continuity Wars

[Falseprophet]

I thought the Clone Wars cartoon was writing over a lot of EU canon anyway. And it's not like this is the first time this has happened. The prequels undid a lot of EU material that existed up to that point.

If you read through the extensive discussion of canon on Wookiepedia [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Canon], it's clear that through the whole history of the franchise, whatever happened in the live-action films is canon, and any other media is generally accepted as canon until Lucasfilm decides it isn't.

Lucasfilm has the right to mine whatever ideas they like from EU canon, and they probably will use a couple. But adopt that byzantine web wholesale? Not likely.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I can understand and accept Disney taking the extended universe and taking a massive "non-canon" stamp to it: there's just way too much baggage to have to deal with and there's no way in Hell you're going to appease everybody if you try making it all work. That being said though, I really don't want Knights of the Old Republic and the Darth Bane book trilogy to be non-canon. KotOR I can understand but Darth Bane has a tangible link to Darth Sidious by virtue of instituting The Rule of Two.

Wow...
Bob really geeked out over the Mario Canon...
Can't tell if thats kinda sad
¬_>¬
Or kinda freaking cute...

Welcome to The Escapist! Don't mind Uncle Bob...he gets really passionate about Super Mario Bros.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

Great video!

And... having seen your divergence into the continuity of Super Mario... can we have an episode on that? That was actually really interesting. A whole episode on your take on the Mushroom Kingdom and related items would be really, really interesting to watch.

So consider this one request for a Super Mario Brothers focused episode.

 

[Matthewmagic]

Wait... Mario has a story? I mean I know I never played far enough into a game too get too a cut scene before just going "Well, I'm bored" and turning it off." You can not convince me there is a coherent story in there somewhere.

 

[Hitchmeister]

I'm sorry, Bob. I'm not interested in buying your Mario fan-fic.

 

[Matthewmagic]

To that effect I know the feel. I watched the doctor who (1996) movie yesterday. I have not accepted it as cannon dispite the fact that the reboot has. The doctor is not half human, despite all the things you can claim to make that make sense I refuse to believe it. There was no 8th doctor. The 7nth doctor regenerated in the time war, then regenerated again during the same war they just used paul McGann too keep so they could show 10 doctors in the eleventh hour. I refuse to believe other wise. No!!! *gasp, and begins panting*

*curls up in the corner and begins crying* why did they have too make him half human in a shitty tv movie where he could have just as easily been a timelord and it would have made just as much sense. I.E. None.

I can't even look at the reboot the same way anymore...

 

[Diane Miller]

I dearly love how you undercut your own (perfectly valid) arguments with that last 20 seconds - and I'm not being snarky. Not only was it hilarious, but it mirrors how most such discussions go. "Oh, you're just a Star Wars geek. None of that stuff is real and nobody cares. What? No, JANEWAY was the best captain EVER..." and so on.

Well done.

 

[uchytjes]

We need an episode about Mario's continuity ASAP. It will be glorious.

Also: Disney could VERY easily shoot itself in the foot and/or retcon stuff (un)intentionally with these backstory films.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

Huh...I actually agree with the brothers being from Brooklyn as well, Bob. Of course...I also think it was actually A Mario and not THE Mario who actually rescued Daisy in the events of Super Mario Land. How else would you explain why Daisy and the green guy seem to be a pairing? (Think about THAT one for a moment...)

Still...the point that we shouldn't be all that worried about canon makes sense. As a fanfiction writer, one of the tenets I stick to is the idea that fanfiction is NEVER canon...even if it keeps characters, settings, etc. well within how they are within the core series made by the guys who actually own the IP. Might help in regards to the upcoming Star Wars trilogy if we disregard the extended universe until we see what Abrams comes up with. Who knows? The story might actually be good as long as we aren't blinded by the lensflare.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Ha, the whole part dugging deep into Mario contiunity make me want to see a John Carter/ Warlord of Mars version of Mario fanart!
So you're saying if the new Star Wars is good, we gonna get new Star Wars material (the part when you show the Avengers film and we got the new 52)?

 

[LostTimeLady]

Ok,
as a long time fan of EU books (The Truce at Bakura is in my top 5 books I re-read to death pile) I agree that some of it can, at times be silly (an ex-imperial admeral becoming leader of the GA, c'mon, really?!), at times, undermine its own mythology (are jedi telephathic or not, make up your mind EU writers!) and often just gets to complex for its own good (One day I will understand the Legacy of the Force series' plot). BUT! Sometimes it just tells really excellent stories staring characters that you can get really invested in.
Is it rediculous that I hold Han and Leia's marriage as an example of how to do it right? Actually no, because a group of writers over the years have poured their own interpritation of what Han and Leia's relationship is all about creating this wonderful narrative. That's good characterisation, even if it's got 'Star Wars' on the cover.
Will I be sad that teenage Ben Skywalker, adult Jaina Solo and Master Saba Sabatyne won't show up in the new films, yes, because I love those characters but it doesn't stop them existing!
As an aside, the Fate of the Jedi series is Star Wars at its best, it manages to strip away most of the over-complex plotting, get back to the characters and use a glaxay far, far away to explore ideas of selfishness vs. selflessness, good vs. evil, moral relativeism, farther/son relationships and everything inbetween. Sure, it's EU but I dare anyone to tell me that its not well-written and isn't fun. Afterall, Twilight is badly written and people love that story.

With any luck someone's going into this new project with an idea to explore or a story to tell other than just 'let's make another Star Wars film' because that's when things are rubbish.

What I don't want to see is disney feeling like they have to throw us a bone and just bring in a character for the sake of fan service, that would be stupid. (On a serious note, is this thing going to be live-action?)

 

[Orekoya]

Wait... Mario has a story? I mean I know I never played far enough into a game too get too a cut scene before just going "Well, I'm bored" and turning it off." You can not convince me there is a coherent story in there somewhere.

'One day the kingdom of the peaceful mushroom people was invaded by the Koopa, a tribe of turtles famous for their black magic. The quiet, peace-loving Mushroom People were turned into mere stones, bricks and even field horse-hair plants, and the Mushroom Kingdom fell into ruin.' -- Super Mario Bros Instruction Booklet

Always had a story, and frankly a very macabre one when you consider it. I mean Mario smashes bricks with his fists to collect the insides. Also horse-hair plants are actually mushrooms with long thin stems that have a white underbelly and darken on the top towards the center, usually to a dark red shade, just the fire flower.

 

[unacomn]

If VII doesn't have at least 5% Kyle Katarn in it,it stinks already.

 

[The Great JT]

Do I sense next week's topic, Bob? I hope I do!

 

[Spencer Haynes]

No, no, no Bob. You started it. Mario is Weird!!

 

[Phuctifyno]

This episode was most enjoyable. I am full of agreement... agreeance?... agreeness? ...greenhornet?

Though I couldn't help but notice that it was only prequel footage used in the B-roll... an interesting and curious choice.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I just want new stuff. New characters, stories and enemies. Not the same from the previous movies. You can have new planets and new characters and have the empire as the enemy, even new sith. But dont shoe horn cameos in it for the reason that they are loved by fans. We can have a star wars movie without chewie, han, vader and luke. We dont need, wink wink remember this happened in star wars, type connections. Make a great movie set in the huge universe star wars has......its bigger than the characters.

Its why the Alien franchise sucks. To much importance on Ripley, than on the Aliens themselves. Dump Ripley, she was only interesting the first two movies. Write a new movie with the Aliens and whole new characters and people will love it if it says true to its roots. Its why the SW prequels failed, to much cgi, boring writing and every thing focused on Vader when that story didnt need to be told over 3 movies. It failed because the characters were more important than the story, thus the story was written around the characters.

Just dont mess up Star Wars. There are thousands of years of history to use. Fans love it all and want originality, to see soemthing different. New characters. Yes we loved Han and Luke and Leia, but that because they where well written, great acting and we identify with them. You can write new characters like that.

Just for clarity, am not a major SW fan, watched movies, played games but have never read the books. Just sucks when a great franchise with so much promise and scoop for greatness gets short changed and destroyed through lack of vision or understanding of the franchise.

 

[Alex V.Sharp]

While not that big on the whole SW canon thing, I'm kind'a still hoping Kyle Katarn would make a comeback...

 

[themilo504]

Ha ha you think there?s continuity in Mario? What a nerd.
now If you excuse me I?m going to tv tropes to post a theory about how doctor who fallout and shin megami tensei are all in the same universe.

Anyway to me the Jedi knight games will always be my episode 7 8 and 9 even if the new movies are really good to me they won?t be anything more than alternate universe.

 

[Basement Cat]

If George Lucas' words are to be believed/followed, nothing outside the movies is direct canon.

This holds true even for the OT's novelizations.

Yoda is blue in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi books.

Ever notice that?