cannon policy quote?

[FBHthelizardmage]

Can some provide me the quote of the lucas film cannon policy where it says what's cannon and how that relates to official?

I need it for a debate.

[Warspite]

Check out Mike's debate with RSA, he brings that up.

[Darth Servo]

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Misc/Canon.html

http://h4h.com/louis/sources.html

From the preface to the SW Encyclopedia:
"Which brings us to the often-asked question: Just what is Star Wars canon, and what is not? The one sure answer: the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition- the three films themselves ... in a close second we have the authorized adaptations of the films: the novels, radio dramas, and comics. After that, almost everything falls into a category of "quasi-canon"."

From SW insider magazine:
"Gospel, or canon as we refer to it, includes the screenplays, the films, the radio dramas and the novelisations. These works spin out of George Lucas' original stories, the rest are written by other writers. However, between us, we've read everything, and much of it is taken into account in the overall continuity. The entire catalog of published works comprises a vast history -- with many off-shoots, variations and tangents -- like any other well-developed mythology."

Lucas interview:
"There's my world, which is the movies, and there's this other world that has been created, which I say is the parallel universe - the licensing world of the books, games and comic books. They don't intrude on my world, which is a select period of time, [but] THEY DO INTRUDE IN BETWEEN THE MOVIES. I don't get too involved in the parallel universe."

[Illuminatus Primus]

Uhm...this is long but comprehensive. Personally I'd like to post this in a clean thread and have a mod sticky-it. People seem to generally except it anyway.

Here's how it works.

Taking all sources into account, including Lucas interview quotes, SW Continuity is broken up into two parts.

Movie and movie-related Sources.

EU and various Sources thereof.

Movie and movie-related Sources include the films, the film novelizations, the comic versions, and the radio dramas. Secondary film sources include movie-based sourcebooks/guides such as the Episode II Incredible Cross Sections, and Worlds of Attack of the Clones.

Of the movie-related sources, ONLY the FILMS are ABSOLUTE CANON. Nothing can contradict them. In addition to the films, George Lucas' interview comments are often additionally included in ABSOLUTE CANON, though perhaps slightly less so, as they are subject to change and have been changed throughout the years.

After ABSOLUTE movie canon, LFL's continuity fixes and statements are generally placed. Often these are devised or deemed neccessary by GL himself and exist to keep continuity in the SW universe stable. They override anything they disagree with, because they exist to override anything that would disrupt continuity.

After the films comes the comic, novel, and radio drama versions of the film. Anything in these not contradicted by the film or LFL Continuity fixes (such as Hobbie and Veers surviving in continuity whereas in the novelization of ESB they did not) is considered the highest level of the "Official" catagory of continuity, also known as Quasi-Canon or Non-Movie Canon.

Adding to those are the movie-based sourcebooks/guides. These again are high-level Official sources as long as they do not violate the canon set forth by the movies and their comic/novel/radio drama depictions.


After all of this comes the Expanded Universe. Expanded Universe sources are generally ranked by novels primarily, followed closely by comics (this is merely due to the fact that artistic license must be taken into affect when considering comics), followed by computer/console games, role-playing games, and guides.

EU novels are considered official and part of continuity where they don't violate the above continuity and don't violate science or outright violate each other. Often "interpretation" and continuity fixes repair these occasional mistakes.

EU comics follow immediately thereafter and only difference from novel continuity place is the art has to be taken w/ a grain of salt due to artistic interpretation.

EU official role-playing game, computer and console game storylines take place after this. The "official" storyline for each of these is often referenced in seperate source, and sometimes for sake of gameplay and game mechanics they slighly depart from the progress of the actual game. Generally the officially referenced story points are considered up there with EU comics and novels.

EU Role-playing Sourcebook and Essential Guides, etc. These are taken unless they violate above continuity or are outdated or inconsistent. Also, RPG Sourcebooks contain a few notable mistakes due to mis-scaling or lack of research.

Low-level EU such as certain games and certain Marvel comics. Sources which are hard to reconcile in their entirety or do not fit well into the storyline overall. These stories are considered to have happened but may have not occured exactly as the story depicted.

Absolute Canon: (also known as Pure Canon, Movie Canon)
Star Wars Movies
George Lucas' statements (some are inconsistent with his actual films and are often subject to frequent change)

Near-Canon:
LFL Continuity Fixes/Changes
Official Screenplays/Scripts
Movie Novelisations and Radio Dramas
Movie Comic Adaptations

High-level Official:
Incredible Cross Sections + Worlds of... series.
Holonetnews.net and it’s SW Insider incarnation
Visual Dictionaries
SW.com (fits here; Official site but not made by Lucas)

General EU Official:
Novels
Comics (Dark Horse and most Marvel)
Games

EU Reference Sources Official:
Essential Guides
RPG Sourcebooks

Low-level EU:
Certain Games and Certain Marvel comics, other stories which are difficult to reconcile w/out fixes. (Definitely includes lamentable examples of EU literature, such as the Glove of Darth Vader series, which exists in continuity only as a vague version of the overall points of that storyline).

Another important tool for SW Continuity analysis is:

Movies:
Visuals > Dialogue
Books:
Omniscient Narration > Dialogue
Comics:
Dialogue > Illustrations (within reason)

I decided to count SW.com last in High-level Official because it is behind on several subjects and even has an error or two. It also subscribes to several EU errors, such as the 12.8 km Executor.

I counted ICS and Worlds of... because the Visual Dictionaries sometimes subscribe to EU brain-bugs (I believe that HDS said it refered to blasters using plasma) and some of its source material is EU.

I counted Holonetnews.net and Insider incarnation next because it includes some rather clever EU tie-ins and little contradiction, mostly just tying up loose ends and even some official LFL continuity fixes, such as the Ruusan Reformation.

References:

Quasi-Canon/Canon references in the SW Encyclopedia by Steve Sansweet

Sue Rostoni (Gamer #6 - Oct/Nov. 2001)

Canon refers to an authoritative list of books that the Lucas Licensing editors consider an authentic part of the official Star Wars history. Our goal is to present a continuous and unified history of the Star Wars galaxy, insofar as that history does not conflict with, or undermine the meaning of Mr. Lucas's Star Wars saga of films and screenplays. Things that Lucas Licensing does not consider official parts of the continuous Star Wars history show an Infinities logo or are contained in Star Wars Tales. Everything else is considered canon.[/quote]

Ben Harper, of Lucasfilm, Ltd, in Star Wars Gamer #3

Good question! We have never disavowed the existence of Marvel comics. We have, whenever feasible, included important events and characters from the Marvel comics in our other products. Some of the Marvel storylines before anyone knew what would happen in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Obviously, in many places, those films contradicted what had happened in the comics. Which ones are more important? The films, of course. However, Lucasfilm recognizes the creativity and diversity within the Marvel comics, and feels that there is a place within the Star Wars universe for non-continuity events. You’ll notice that books recognized as Star Wars canon are marked with Era symbols (so you’ll know where they fall within the Star Wars timeline). The non-continuity books (at this point, the Dark Horse Star Wars Tales and Infinities: A New Hope comics) will soon be marked with a non-continuity symbol. Elements from Marvel which do not tread upon that which has been established in the films, novels, comics, et cetera, are being integrated into official Star Wars canon because we like them, they’re cool, the aliens will be fun to use in the RPG, and, well, we were just feeling a bit nostalgic. After all, it’s been over 20 years![/quote]

There's been some confusion of late regarding the 'Infinities' symbol, and Star Wars Expanded Universe continuity in general. Terms like "canon" and "continuity" tend to get thrown around casually, which doesn't help at all.

When it comes to absolute canon, the real story of Star Wars, you must turn to the films themselves - and only the films. Even novelizations are interpretations of the film, and while they are largely true to George Lucas' vision (he works quite closely with the novel authors), the method in which they are written does allow for some minor differences. The novelizations are written concurrently with the film's production, so variations in detail do creep in from time to time. Nonetheless, they should be regarded as very accurate depictions of the fictional Star Wars movies.
The further one branches away from the movies, the more interpretation and speculation come into play. LucasBooks works diligently to keep the continuing Star Wars expanded universe cohesive and uniform, but stylistically, there is always room for variation. Not all artists draw Luke Skywalker the same way. Not all writers define the character in the same fashion. The particular attributes of individual media also come into play. A comic book interpretation of an event will likely have less dialogue or different pacing than a novel version. A video game has to take an interactive approach that favors gameplay. So too must card and roleplaying games ascribe certain characteristics to characters and events in order to make them playable.

Fans of the old monthly Marvel Star Wars comic will be heartened to know that LucasBooks does indeed consider them part of continuity. Decades of retrospect haven't been kind to all the elements of the comic series, but the characters and events still hold weight and are referenced in newer material whenever possible.

In order to allow unlimited freedom of storytelling, the Infinities label has been placed on the anthology series, Star Wars Tales. This means that not only can the stories occur anywhere in the Star Wars timeline, but stories can happen outside continuity. Basically, if an event happens in Tales, it may not have necessarily happened in the rest of the expanded universe. For some stories, the distinction is largely inconsequential. For others, it's the only way they could exist (for example, there's a Darth Vader vs. Darth Maul comic coming soon).

George Lucas' "My universe, and their universe" quotes, and his support of Dark Empire, Dark Horse, the Tales of the Old Republic series, and his handpicking of Marvel to continue SW continuity in the first EU ever.