I'll admit, I love canon debates and their associated madness. But, this kind of stuff doesn't really get to me because I just look at stories set in well-established universes less seriously. When it comes to Mario, Sonic, even Star Wars, I tend to see only set pieces. Their universes have certain rules that must be played by, and it's up to whoever is holding the pen to come up with an interesting way to break those rules and tie it back in to the original plot. As far as I was concerned, every new Star Wars media became ascended fandom a long, long time ago.
The Big Picture: Continuity Wars
- Thread starter MovieBob
- Start date
I think I remember one writer actually quit because their depiction of their favorite race (which they'd built into 'better than jedi' mary sues) was overridden when the toon showed them as villainous mercenaries. (I think irony was enjoyed by the fanbase as said author was reputedly infamous for trampling all over everyone else's established continuity if it served their stories).Falseprophet said:
anyways, I thought the official standpoint was that the EU was canon unless the movies/tv series said otherwise, so totally not surprised at all that they are ignoring it (and again, makes aforementioned authors tantrum all the more childish).
Soviet Heavy said:
I'm going to address both of you at once, because the response is the same.Arqus_Zed said:
Lighten up! He was taking a crack at the fact that nerds tend to obsess over ultimately frivolous entertainment endeavours (the message of the video, if you were listening) by going humourously overboard on his analysis of the Mario continuity - a series of games that don't really have a continuity, being entirely frivolous entertainment endeavours. The fact that I have to explain the joke to you kind of destroys its humour, but really, it was very obvious he was joking, and the fact that you two both seem to think he had a serious beef with the Mario continuity frankly amazes me.
He's basically saying "Continuity bugs me as much as it does you, but it's actually way more fun if we just sit tight and enjoy it." And you guys are just going "Rah rah, not enough Star Wars, too much Mario, I'm a very serious person who is inexplicably grumpy about the videos produced by a film critic I clearly don't like very much to start with."
Coming up with a plot for a film is not the time/money-consuming part. There are thousands of writers in Hollywood churning out screenplays to pick from. Polishing up a rough screenplay into something good enough to film takes a little more time, and is the reason why many Hollywood film scripts are first written by a complete unknown (who'll get paid comparatively little), but then rewritten by the likes of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio.ShadowKatt said:
The entire writing process (including re-writes ad-nauseam) is still the tiniest fraction of the investment needed to make a film. Even if some of the expanded universe was already in screenplay form, it's a negligible cost to Disney to just start from scratch (which gives them far more freedom).
so the moral of this video is...
that Nintendo needs to release a "mushroom kingdom historia" much like they did with zelda explaining the triple-split time line within the mario games? Obviously Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island can't be in the same timeline due to massive geographical changes that just aren't possible within the 30-40 years that mario has been away. Also there has to be a third timeline where Bowser is only a jerk but still a close friend since they keep inviting him and some of his goonies to football/basketball/volleyball/tennis/go-karting all the time.
It would also explain why some power ups appear where others don't which means we can safely put all the tanooki suit games in the same timeline (on a related sidenote: fuck that suit I want my super cape back >:C, yes I know they're essentially the same)
oh boy.... I kinda want that book to happen :/
that Nintendo needs to release a "mushroom kingdom historia" much like they did with zelda explaining the triple-split time line within the mario games? Obviously Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island can't be in the same timeline due to massive geographical changes that just aren't possible within the 30-40 years that mario has been away. Also there has to be a third timeline where Bowser is only a jerk but still a close friend since they keep inviting him and some of his goonies to football/basketball/volleyball/tennis/go-karting all the time.
It would also explain why some power ups appear where others don't which means we can safely put all the tanooki suit games in the same timeline (on a related sidenote: fuck that suit I want my super cape back >:C, yes I know they're essentially the same)
oh boy.... I kinda want that book to happen :/
I was mainly hoping they would adapt the Kyle Katarn story aka. Dark Forces II, Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy.Gizmo1990 said:
It's the least clusterfucky content of the Expanded universe and fit in quite well with what came before in the films.
I too subscribed to the theory that the expanded Star Wars universe would be left out in the cold, because Lucas has pretty much come out and said that it's all non-canon anyway, since it contradicts the stories he was trying to tell in the prequel trilogy. Like or hate the idea behind the new Disney-produced films, the idea of a cohesive Star Wars canon went out the window when Lucas began telling the prequel trilogy some fourteen years ago.
Besides, a fresh start is really what Star Wars needs. I would personally like the new films to be as far removed from the original trilogy as possible.
Besides, a fresh start is really what Star Wars needs. I would personally like the new films to be as far removed from the original trilogy as possible.
I always enjoy how people are so quick to disregard the EU, but I often find that they always add an addendum to say "except KOTOR".
A big problem for me, among many, is the expanded Star Wars universe made better sense (to me) of Anakins conundrum. His grandson succumbs to a similar problem in the way I told a buddy it should have un-folded. Backing up: a number of conservatives said, if Hitler couldn't murder his son, that wouldn't suddenly make him a good person. Darth Vader could only be redeemable if he only turned to the dark side if, in a moment of claravoyance, understood it was the only way to defeat the emperor. That ultimately is something Anakin's own grandson does. I'm sorry that will never make it into the movies.
As for Star Trek, historically, Spock, et al. would go into the past to fix it if someone traveled backward and broke time. It feels like the current guys are happy to be part of a "fake" continiuty. Someone from 75 years in the future should come back to the "present", fix things, and make the current cast, as we know them, disappear.
It causes a kind of cognitive disonence that can ruin things for us.
As for Star Trek, historically, Spock, et al. would go into the past to fix it if someone traveled backward and broke time. It feels like the current guys are happy to be part of a "fake" continiuty. Someone from 75 years in the future should come back to the "present", fix things, and make the current cast, as we know them, disappear.
It causes a kind of cognitive disonence that can ruin things for us.
I've always felt trying to impart any kind of solid continuity to Mario's world is an exercise in futility- nearly impossible, and a waste of time even if it was done. There's just too many conflicting ideas and different 'universes' and all that sort of stuff, and at the end of the day, it isn't going to make my enjoyment of Mario games any richer. Mario has never really been about the story- it doesn't matter why Bowser is trying to rule the universe one day and will enter kart races with his nemesis the next day. All the story has to do is give me a reason to run across the world, or to collect as many stars as I can. Also, it's also possible that Shy Guys, Bob-ombs etc. were in Mario's dream because he'd seen them before while he was awake. That, or Christina Hendricks is some kind of dream-hopping demigod in the real world.
As long as the new movies don't piss on the Dark Horse comics (not likely since they came almost immediately after the original trilogy, so the actors' age won't allow it), the Thrawn trilogy (not likely either; same reason), the New Jedi Order series (has a definite possibility of being screwed over), or the Fate of the Jedi series (another almost definite) then I'll be happy. If they do... well, there's a reason something called <a HREF=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FanonDiscontinuity>Fanon Discontinuity exists. God knows I've had to use it more than once on this bloody franchise.
Also, I've been waiting for MovieBob to make a Super Mario Bros. vid since this series started. It's obvious he want to do one now too, so just do one already man!
Also, I've been waiting for MovieBob to make a Super Mario Bros. vid since this series started. It's obvious he want to do one now too, so just do one already man!
Except you always get these people shouting "oh the EU sucks so much!" and then put KOTOR aside. So in essence, in their minds, everything sucks except for what they like, regardless of if they've read it or not.Do4600 said:
Also, somewhat ironically, Cloned Palpatine and the Dark Empire was some of the EU that George Lucas actually likes. When it was first published, he gave copies away to his staff for Christmas he liked it so much.Do4600 said:
As a die-hard Star Wars fan who has read a lot of the expanded universe material, it doesn't actually bother me that there will very likely be two separate continuities. I was already accepting of this fact like you Bob when the annoucenment came and figured sure they could throw in some of the characters from the books and it could work but I won't be disappointed if they don't. First and foremost I just want them to make a great Star Wars film, that's really all I care about. I guess I'm more laid back when it comes to continuity (at least continuity between books and film/tv, the internal logic of the films/TV should be consistent) so bring on the alternative universe if it means we get good original stories set after Return of the Jedi starring Luke, Leia and Han in at least some capacity, as that's what I've wanted the most.
