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Canon contradictions - what does it take?

Posted: 2005-12-06 02:38am
by Eframepilot
Okay. In the novelization of Episode III, General Grievous attacks Obi-Wan with, "twelve strikes per second (later increased to twenty) came from a different angle with different speed and intensity, an unpredictably broken rhythm of slashes, chops and stabs of which every single one could take Obi-Wan's life," and Obi-Wan manages to destroy his lightsabers. In the actual movie, Grievous's attacks, while very fast, come in a fairly predictable buzzsaw fashion. (It's been a few months since I last saw Ep. III; if I am wrong and the novel does accurately describe Grievous's attacks, please assume for the purpose of the argument that some difference exists.) My question is, doesn't the movie portrayal override the book portrayal of Grievous's abilities, and if not, why? We are shown the exact same sequence of plot, and Grievous has no excuse for not fighting to the maximum of his abilities. It is impossible (excepting some convoluted scenario involving repetition, much like Han and Leia's two marriages or Boba Fett's multiple escapes from the Sarlacc) for both sequences to have taken place. Certainly there are other places where the novelizations are overridden by the movies: Luke's X-wing group is Red instead of Blue, Yoda is green instead of blue, and of course Owen Lars is not Obi-Wan's brother. How can the novel portrayal of Grievous's attack be valid when a different portrayal is shown in the movie?

Re: Canon contradictions - what does it take?

Posted: 2005-12-06 03:29am
by Winston Blake
Eframepilot wrote:Okay. In the novelization of Episode III, General Grievous attacks Obi-Wan with, "twelve strikes per second (later increased to twenty) came from a different angle with different speed and intensity, an unpredictably broken rhythm of slashes, chops and stabs of which every single one could take Obi-Wan's life," and Obi-Wan manages to destroy his lightsabers. In the actual movie, Grievous's attacks, while very fast, come in a fairly predictable buzzsaw fashion. (It's been a few months since I last saw Ep. III; if I am wrong and the novel does accurately describe Grievous's attacks, please assume for the purpose of the argument that some difference exists.) My question is, doesn't the movie portrayal override the book portrayal of Grievous's abilities, and if not, why? We are shown the exact same sequence of plot, and Grievous has no excuse for not fighting to the maximum of his abilities. It is impossible (excepting some convoluted scenario involving repetition, much like Han and Leia's two marriages or Boba Fett's multiple escapes from the Sarlacc) for both sequences to have taken place. Certainly there are other places where the novelizations are overridden by the movies: Luke's X-wing group is Red instead of Blue, Yoda is green instead of blue, and of course Owen Lars is not Obi-Wan's brother. How can the novel portrayal of Grievous's attack be valid when a different portrayal is shown in the movie?
Who's saying the novel portrayal must be valid? Sorry if i'm completely missing some kind of controversy, but to me it's pretty clear cut- yes, the movie is higher canon, hence the novel description is overridden.

Re: Canon contradictions - what does it take?

Posted: 2005-12-06 06:44am
by NecronLord
Eframepilot wrote:My question is, doesn't the movie portrayal override the book portrayal of Grievous's abilities, and if not, why?
Yes. Though the description of how many CC attacks per second are needed to overwhelm Obi-Wan (20) isn't.
and of course Owen Lars is not Obi-Wan's brother.
Well, he could be, but it's monstrously unlikely. We don't know where they got Obi-Wan from, AFAIK.