Skip to content
Menu
Meerkat Musings
  • Welcome to Meerkat Musings
  • Meerkat Podcasts
  • Why Meerkats?
  • Formula 1
  • Why I love…
  • What I think…
  • Sci-Fi Analysis
  • Reviews
  • Meerkat Fiction
  • Meerkat Book Reviews
  • Sites Meerkats Like
  • If Meerkats Could…
  • The Meerkat Muse
  • Site Updates
Meerkat Musings

‘Canon’ and what it means

Posted on November 3, 2017
Tweet
Follow me

img_0711

(A scene from Star Trek Discovery, the latest televised Star Trek)

img_0857

(a clip from the trailer for The Last Jedi)

In TV/movie franchise circles, there is a buzz word for what is and isn’t considered a part of the story. That word is ‘canon‘. If something is canon, it ‘counts’ toward the story and be considered a valid source of information for reference. If it’s not canon, it doesn’t count, and might end being considered as a point of interest but nothing more. That’s a rather simplistic take on a subject that, to some fans of some franchises, can become a huge, major issue.

Canon is something that the producers and writers of any given show don’t actually put a great deal of stock in. They will aim to be internally consistent with their material (because glaring contradictions can mess up the stories), but there is no ‘Bible’ that they have to stick to. The fans tend to turn this into a particularly messy topic, with arguments raging back and forth over what is and is not canon. Star Trek and Star Wars are two major cases in point.

Star Trek

According to Star Trek fan database site Memory Alpha, all on screen material (the TV shows and films) is considered canon. This gets a little more complicated with the addition of alternate timeline material (aka the Kelvin timeline, consisting of the 2009 movie, Into Darkness and Beyond). The link includes statements from some of the powers that be, who are involved in the process for deciding what is part of the official continuity, and what isn’t. Not everyone will agree with the official statements, but they represent the final authority on what is and isn’t ‘canon’, not that they even care for the term. Whilst some fans would like Star Trek Discovery treated as part of a reboot, it has been declared canon by the powers that be.

Star Wars

With Star Wars, the situation has historically been more complicated. The movies were always ‘canon’, beyond question. However, Star Wars has produced a large volume of books, comics and games, some of which tell the story of what happened prior to the movies, some of which seek to fill in the gaps, and some of which told the tales of what happened after Return of the Jedi. These stories became known as the ‘Expanded Universe’ or EU. To many fans, these represented the continuation of the saga, furthering the adventures of Luke Skywalker and co after the films had finished.

This didn’t stop an exhaustive effort by some parties to suggest that the Expanded Universe bore no relevance to the movies, existing in an entirely different timeline, and therefore inadmissible as a reference in discussion (and particularly, in Star Trek vs Star Wars debates). This effort ultimately didn’t amount to anything more than an incredibly long-winded way of saying ‘my opinion is somehow superior to yours’, and wasn’t backed up by the powers that be who oversaw these matters.

Up until the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm a few years ago, the EU was part of the continuity, but Disney, wanting to make new films without feeling bound to existing material, relegated the EU, declaring it to fit into under the heading of ‘Legends’. Disney also set about commissioning new novels to fill in the gaps between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, as well as creating the Rebels cartoon series, which filled in some of the timeline between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. In the meantime, Disney did take elements from the EU to use as they saw fit, including bringing in the character of Admiral Thrawn (a very popular character from the novels) to the Rebels show. It remains to be seen what else might make it from the Legends EU into Disney’s new continuity.

So there you have it – a brief run down of what’s what with the Trek and Wars universes.

Back to Sci-fi Analysis

Please follow and like us:
error0
fb-share-icon0
Tweet
fb-share-icon20

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

The Awakening UK

The Awakening USA

Please like and follow this meerkat!

Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Follow Me
Tweet
YouTube
Follow by Email

Meerkat Comments

  • Football Manager P19 – Blowing a Fuse – Meerkat Musings on Football Manager P20 – Moving up North
  • Football Manager P19 – Blowing a Fuse – Meerkat Musings on Football Manager P18 – Middle of the Road
  • Football Manager 21 – P20: Moving up North – Meerkat Musings on Football Manager P19 – Blowing a Fuse
  • Football Manager P17 – Tough Lessons – Meerkat Musings on Football Manager P18 – Middle of the Road
  • Football Manager P18 – Middle of the Road – Meerkat Musings on Football Manager P17 – Tough Lessons

Meerkat Tweets

Ben BerwickFollow

Ben Berwick
darth_timonBen Berwick@darth_timon·
3h

Meghan & Harry https://coalitionofthebrave.wordpress.com/2021/03/08/meghan-harry/

Reply on Twitter 1368993333205479432Retweet on Twitter 1368993333205479432Like on Twitter 1368993333205479432Twitter 1368993333205479432
Retweet on TwitterBen Berwick Retweeted
BatlethBabe🖤🖖🏼 Heather Rae 🔮⚔️(They/She)🤍@BatlethBabe·
4h

Happy #InternationalWomensDay 🖖🏼

Reply on Twitter 1368976245451612169Retweet on Twitter 1368976245451612169124Like on Twitter 1368976245451612169437Twitter 1368976245451612169
darth_timonBen Berwick@darth_timon·
4h

Right, weighing in... https://meerkatmusings.co.uk/meghan-harry/ #MeghanAndHarry #MeghanandHarryonOprah

Reply on Twitter 1368975167486107654Retweet on Twitter 1368975167486107654Like on Twitter 1368975167486107654Twitter 1368975167486107654
Retweet on TwitterBen Berwick Retweeted
JackDunc1Jack Duncan🔻@JackDunc1·
5h

This has very 1980s media against gay men energy. Let's be clear @RosieDuffield1, transphobia is not a valid 'opinion' nor is using 'opinion' a valid defence for transphobia

'Opinion' has been used by bigots throughout history to justify racism, homophobia, transphobia & sexism. https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1368915228797394946

BBC Politics@BBCPolitics

“Social media is a cess pit, and particularly awful for women in the public eye… you're not allowed an opinion some people don’t agree with”

Labour MP Rosie Duffield on the backlash after she liked a tweet accused of being transphobic

#politicslive https://bbc.in/38kY9jo

Reply on Twitter 1368971658749480962Retweet on Twitter 136897165874948096230Like on Twitter 1368971658749480962128Twitter 1368971658749480962
darth_timonBen Berwick@darth_timon·
5h

It's sad that on #InternationalWomensDay Piers Morgan acts like a prick to Meghan.

Reply on Twitter 1368971516701011972Retweet on Twitter 1368971516701011972Like on Twitter 13689715167010119723Twitter 1368971516701011972
Load More...

Meerkat Categories

  • Art
  • Books
  • Charity
  • Family
  • Fiction
  • Film
  • Food
  • Football
  • Formula 1
  • Funny
  • Games
  • History
  • Interwebs
  • Music
  • Other Stuff
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Reviews
  • Sci Fi
  • Science
  • Site News
  • Society
  • Technology
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
  • Weird
  • Work

Meerkat Podcasts

Meerkat Musings
Meerkat Musings
A man (meerkat?) called Ben discusses the world!

Podcast Subscription Menu

  • Visit Website
  • RSS Feed
Football Manager – Prem Life
by Ben Berwick

I blow a fuse and reach new heights! www.meerkatmusings.co.uk

Football Manager – Prem Life
Football Manager – Prem Life
March 7, 2021
Ben Berwick
FM21 – Going Up
February 25, 2021
Ben Berwick
Zelda 35
February 21, 2021
Ben Berwick
Football Manager 2021 Career
February 21, 2021
Ben Berwick
The latest Aldershot Action!
February 14, 2021
Ben Berwick
Rambles
January 30, 2021
Ben Berwick
Football Manager 2021 – Upwards
January 29, 2021
Ben Berwick
Absolute Power
January 23, 2021
Ben Berwick
Football Manager 2021 – The New Career P1
January 23, 2021
Ben Berwick
Favourite Day of the Week
January 17, 2021
Ben Berwick
Search Results placeholder
©2021 Meerkat Musings | WordPress Theme by Superbthemes.com