A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away......a Debate Was Born
A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away... ...A Debate Was Born
A Treatise on the Canonicity of the EU
A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...
Or May 25, 1977 to be precise, Star Wars was first brought to the silver screen, entrancing millions of viewers worldwide. The newly created hordes of fans demanded more and more Star Wars content. This lead to the creation of arguably the largest fictional universe to this day (certainly the largest grossing franchise), The Star Wars 'Expanded Universe”
And what exactly is the “Expanded Universe?” Well the “Expanded Universe,” or EU for short, is defined as, “All of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas.” This includes every officially licensed book, comic book, video game, spin-off film, television series, toy, and other media.
But something that most “casual” fans don't realize is that there has been a heated debate taking place since its inception, and that is the canonicity of the EU. Now, what I mean by canon is “Those sources which are generally considered authoritative regarding a given fictional universe” (canonicity is the adjective form of canon, so when I say canonicity, I mean canon, and vis versa). So canon, in this case, is the official version of events. “Hardcore” fans have always argued over various aspects of EU canon, (For example, did Boba Fett actually die when he “fell” into the sarlacc, and is he really a clone?) but the discussion has recently flared into a large conflict when two well known, and loved, storylines clashed irreconcilably. But before I describe that, let me first explain a little bit about the processes and rules that are used to decide what is canon.
Foremost, there is a team at Lucas Arts, George Lucas's company, whose sole job is to ensure and regulate consistency between the movies and the EU. To this end they
A Treatise on the Canonicity of the EU
A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...
Or May 25, 1977 to be precise, Star Wars was first brought to the silver screen, entrancing millions of viewers worldwide. The newly created hordes of fans demanded more and more Star Wars content. This lead to the creation of arguably the largest fictional universe to this day (certainly the largest grossing franchise), The Star Wars 'Expanded Universe”
And what exactly is the “Expanded Universe?” Well the “Expanded Universe,” or EU for short, is defined as, “All of the officially licensed, fictional background of the Star Wars universe, outside of the six feature films produced by George Lucas.” This includes every officially licensed book, comic book, video game, spin-off film, television series, toy, and other media.
But something that most “casual” fans don't realize is that there has been a heated debate taking place since its inception, and that is the canonicity of the EU. Now, what I mean by canon is “Those sources which are generally considered authoritative regarding a given fictional universe” (canonicity is the adjective form of canon, so when I say canonicity, I mean canon, and vis versa). So canon, in this case, is the official version of events. “Hardcore” fans have always argued over various aspects of EU canon, (For example, did Boba Fett actually die when he “fell” into the sarlacc, and is he really a clone?) but the discussion has recently flared into a large conflict when two well known, and loved, storylines clashed irreconcilably. But before I describe that, let me first explain a little bit about the processes and rules that are used to decide what is canon.
Foremost, there is a team at Lucas Arts, George Lucas's company, whose sole job is to ensure and regulate consistency between the movies and the EU. To this end they