SOURCES

STAR WARS SOURCES

STAR TREK SOURCES

STAR WARS SOURCES

We all know that STAR TREK and STAR WARS is fiction, of course. But this is an entertaining "what-if?" kind of discussion that uses real life referents and treats the movies and TV shows as either "documentaries", or something recorded for our perusal from a "god's eye view."

This is no different than speculating what would have happened if a nuclear aircraft carrier were transported back to the battle of Midway in WW2, or what would have happened if Napoleon won at Waterloo? The only caveat is that Star Wars and Star Trek are fiction. But hey, everyone needs a hobby...

The acceptable sources that define the worlds of STAR TREK and STAR WARS have been laid out by Paramount and Lucasfilm respectively. For STAR WARS, the continuity policy of Lucasfilm was first stated in the first issue of the Lucasfilm magazine, the Star Wars Insider:

"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."

This policy has been further refined and fleshed out over the years. 1 The STAR WARS website also details the role of canon, Expanded Universe, or "EU" sources, and how they fit into overall STAR WARS continuity.

As of 2000, Lucas Licensing has appointed Leland Chee to create a continuity tracking database referred to as the "Holocron". As with every other aspect having to do with the overall story of Star Wars, the Holocron follows the canon policy that has beeen in effect for years. Here are a few quotes from Chee taken from the link above, and an informative article about Chee's position found here:

The database does indeed have a canon field. Anything in the films and from George Lucas (including unpublished internal notes that we might receive from him or from the film production department) is considered "G" canon. Next we have what we call continuity "C" canon which is pretty much everything else. There is secondary "S" continuity canon which we use for some older published materials and things that may or may not fit just right. But, if it is referenced in something else it becomes "C". Similarly, any "C" canon item that makes it into the films can become "G" canon. Lastly there is non-continuity "N" which we rarely use except in the case of a blatant contradiction or for things that have been cut.

I will not go into specifics as to what is considered "S" canon or what items that are seemingly "C" canon are actually "G" canon.

...continuity "C" canon which is pretty much everything else. " By everything else I mean EVERYthing else. Novels, comics, junior novels, videogames, trading card games, roleplaying games, toys, websites, television. As I've mentioned earlier, any contradictions that arise are dealt on a case-by-case.

This has been our general approach to continuity since we began using the Holocron database to track it. In a nutshell, anything created by the author would be C-level. Anything in the the novels created by George Lucas (whether it comes from unpublished early script versions, unpublished author interviews with George, or George's revisions to the novelization manuscript) would be G-level unless contradicted by the films.

It gets a little more complicated when something is seen on-screen but not named. So the "shuura fruit" mentioned in the AOTC novel would be G because you see it in the film, although the author came up with the name.

Everything is looked at on a case-by-case basis. Among the factors we consider: In how many sources does this particular fact appear? Which source has the largest audience? Which explanation is the coolest? Have we been told by George Lucas to avoid this topic? If, after weighing all those variables, the answer isn't yet clear, the issue is presented to an internal group that makes the final determination as to which source is "correct."

Though I don't discuss specific continuity issues in this thread, I do want to the address the fact that in the Holocron, we track continuity by Holocron entry and not by source. What that means is, a particular source would never be discounted in its entirety, only those elements of that source that are contradictory. Hence, while there may be individual elements of say the Marvel Comics or the Holiday Special that are considered non-continuity, all the other parts can still be valid.

Recently, a new reference has been added to the acceptable canon. The Dorling Kindersley Star Wars books; the Visual Dictionaries, Incredible Cross-Sections, and Inside The Worlds Of books are now considered canon by Lucasfilm.

This was stated 2 in Star Wars Insider #68, and also confirmed on the Star Wars website:

Q: Do you use any of the Star Wars books and guides when working on your designs? Do you look at the "Expanded Universe" at all?

A: As designers we look at all kinds of stuff for inspiration and we have a crack research staff to help us with that. The Star Wars books serve as a starting point and guide for certain types of questions that arise in respect to certain cultures or technologies that have already been established in the movies. The Star Wars Chronicles book is our bible, the Incredible Cross-Section books provide a great starting point when we're adding to existing locations. We usually don't refer to the Expanded Universe materials specifically unless our research team finds something that directly corresponds to our assignment.

Note in the above quote that the "Cross Sections" books are seperate from the Expanded Universe. You won't find something like "The Crystal Star" being used on the set, yet the DK books have, and have also been used during production at ILM as reference.

ALL other materials have the status "Expanded Universe", an official reference to the Star Wars novels, roleplaying games, cardgames, PC and console games, comics, etc. As explained above by Chee, Expanded Universe materials that contradict the accepted G-level canon on some particular detail, are not accepted as fact in the overall continuity, ON THAT POINT.

For instance, the Star Wars novelization says Chewbacca has yellow eyes, (his eyes are blue) and Luke's X-wing at the Battle of Yavin was "Blue 5" instead of "Red 5". The novelization was published a year before STAR WARS came out, and was based on the third draft of the screenplay. Many changes3 , including a fourth draft happened between the novelization's publication and the opening of the movie. This doesn't mean we toss the whole novelization into the trash compactor. We just ignore the points that the ultimate canon- the movies, override.

Sometimes the Expanded Universe is clearly wrong when representing something from the Star Wars universe that has been properly established in the canon. Among these are the incorrect sizes of the the length of Vader's ship the Executor, and the number of engines it has, the incorrect height of an AT-AT, the deck plans of the Millennium Falcon and the Blockade Runner. Numerous technical specs, such as the armaments of the Blockade Runner, when simple examination of the model photos from various books such as the "Star Wars Chronicles", or even just freeze-framing the videos will reveal most of these.

Thankfully, many of these mistakes have now been corrected, thanks to the DK reference books. Then there are times when the Expanded Universe contradicts itself. Early on, before 1987, continuity in the EU wasn't as tightly controlled as it is now. An excellent article about this can be found at the Star Wars Literature Compendium

Attack of the Lucasfilm Canon Policy

Some have a vested interest in desperately trying to re-interpret any quotes they find by Lucas or anyone connected with Lucasfilm in order to invalidate the Expanded Universe from the "actual" story of Star Wars. This agenda is vigorously persued by some of the most idiotic VS Trekkies. We'll tackle these below.

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

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!

In summary, Mr Harper's statement does not in any way support the contention that the Expanded Universe lacks the status of being accurate, valid, and correct; in fact, it stands in direct contradiction to this contention, as Mr Harper considers the "facts" (such as it were) established by the "novels, comics, et cetera" to be on the same level as those established by the films - and for that reason, he lists the two categories together.

According to Sue Rostoni, of Lucas Licensing, in Star Wars Gamer #6:

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.

It is interesting to note here that canon is defined to include those books which Lucas Licensing considers to be "factual" in Star Wars, insofar as it accurately reflects the films and screenplays of Mr. Lucas. This is important, in that it demonstrates that it is the stated policy of Lucas Licensing that items are considered to be part of the official continuous and unified history of Star Wars as long as they are not overruled by the films themselves.

That is to say, it is the state policy of Lucas Licensing that Star Wars literature is true, valid, accurate and correct insofar as it is not contradicted - or, more properly, does not contradict - the films themselves.

Mr Cerasi's statement1 on the STAR WARS website is to the effect that it is the official policy of Lucasfilm, Ltd, that the films themselves constitute absolute canon, or completely correct representations of the "facts" of the Star Wars story. In addition to the films themselves are other material (designated "Expanded Universe" by Mr Cerasi), which are considered to be in continuity with the films, though of lesser "correctness" with regard to "facts" than the films themselves.

Because Mr Cerasi consistently uses the term "continuity", it is clear that this is a specific use of the word, and not a vague generality. The term "continuity" is defined by the 1984 edition of the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary as "the state or quality of being continuous". "Continuous" is therein defined as "extended or prolonged without break; uninterrupted."

In effect, Mr Cerasi has stated, then, that the Expanded Universe constitutes a continuous, uninterrupted part of the Star Wars saga. It is fully in union with the films themselves, and is without break from them; to relegate it to the status of inadmissible evidence due to non-canon status is to violate the stated policy of LucasBooks, and thence, of Lucasfilm Ltd, and implicitly of Mr Lucas himself.

According to George Lucas, in the introduction to the 1994 printing of Splinter of the Mind's Eye:

After Star Wars was released, it became apparent that my story - however many films it took to tell - was only one of thousands that could be told about the characters who inhabit its galaxy. But these were not stories I was destined to tell. Instead they would spring from the imagination of other writers, inspired by the glimpse of a galaxy that Star Wars provided. Today it is an amazing, if unexpected, legacy of Star Wars that so many gifted writers are contributing new stories to the Saga.

Mr. Lucas's statement here is interesting in that it reveals that he considers the stories of the Expanded Universe to be equal parts of the Star Wars saga with his own part, the films themselves. This establishes that it is the opinion of the creator of the franchise that the Expanded Universe constitutes a valid part of the "factual" history of the saga.

These statements by persons in positions of authority with regard to the official "facts" of the Star Wars saga are consistent in upholding that the Expanded Universe is a valid part of the saga, and fail in any way to support the contention that the Expanded Universe lacks the status of being accurate, valid and correct except when in direct conflict with the films themselves. Until and unless an item within the Expanded Universe conflicts with the films, it is canonical; when a conflict occurs, the films' evidence supersedes that of the Expanded Universe item.

Any attempt to claim otherwise - viz., to claim that the Expanded Universe is neither canonical nor accurate, valid and correct, and therefor inadmissible as evidence - is not only contradictory of the stated policies of LucasBooks, Lucas Licensing, Lucasfilm, Ltd, and Mr. Lucas, but is also wilfully misinterpretative of the various statements regarding canon and continuity.

Any attempt to argue that the rules of evidence for Star Trek have any implication on the rules of evidence for Star Wars is a red herring; the rules of evidence for Star Trek are irrelevant to the rules of evidence for Star Wars.

There are however, those deperate VS Trekkies who will still pull quotes, or FRAGMENTS of quotes, over a barbed field of semantics so dense you'll go cross-eyed trying to read their multi-page, dishonest, hyper-interpretations of them. One of the most recent quotes to cause a stir is Mr. Lucas' July 2002 interview in Cinescape magazine:

"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"

Some VS Trekkies and some Star Wars purists say George Lucas is telling us that the EU is a "parallel universe" and is pretty much fan fiction that has no standing in the "actual" Star Wars world. While the majority of Star Wars fans point to the second part of the quote, which says the EU "intrudes" between the movies, and is perfectly acceptabe, so long as it doesn't contradict the canon. Unfortunately for the VS Trekkies, the latter stance agrees with just about every single quote on the subject of Canon and the Expanded Universe.

The rest of us already know that the Expanded Universe is not G-level canon, but is part of the overall continuity. Those who hell-bent on getting the EU invalidated for their own reasons use the "parallel universe" quote out of context. However, George Lucas DID say: "They don't intrude on my world, which is a select period of time, [but] they DO intrude in between the movies." Mr. Lucas makes it clear that the EU DOES in fact, "intrude" into his continuity.

If George Lucas considers the EU to be a parallel universe, then why would he say that it intrudes on the real universe, in between the movies? Granted, one assumption is made in phrasing that question... that assumption being that the universe in which the movies reside is the "real" universe of Star Wars.

George Lucas defined his "world" as a select period of time of the real Star Wars universe. He then goes on to point out that the other world, the EU (note: more than one "world" can exist in a universe at once, you know) exists in parallel to his world, and that its influence is felt between the influence of the movies (note that "parallel", defined, refer to objects that are analogous and identical, travelling in the same direction, offset slightly or severely).

In other words: If Mr. Lucas believes that the EU is a separate entity from the "real" Star Wars universe, there is NO REASON WHATSOEVER for him to say that it "intrudes in between the movies". Clearly, George Lucas is saying he sets aside the realm of cinema only for himself to delve into to tell Star Wars stories. No one but he can make a Star Wars film.

This is even solidified by the preceding paragraph to the above quote, which makes it all quite clear:

And while rumors persist that an outline for a third trilogy exists (a joke Mr. Lucas made in passing to Rolling Stone, which then printed it as a fact), the director insists that the only continuation to the saga will be in the form of licensed properties."

Several more recent quotes completely solidify the correct notion that the EU is part of the overall continuity. The most recent is this one:

"Ultimately, I'm going to probably move it into television and let other people take it. I'm sort of preserving the feature film part for what has happened and never go there again, but I can go off into various offshoots and things. You know, I've got offshoot novels, I've got offshoot comics. So it's very easy to say, "Well, OK, that's that genre, and I'll find a really talented person to take it and create it." Just like the comic books and the novels are somebody else's way of doing it. I don't mind that. Some of it might turn out to be pretty good. If I get the right people involved, it could be interesting."

Mr. Lucas states above that he will move STAR WARS into television, no qualifier. He's "preserving the feature film part for what has happened and never go there again," meaning only HE can tell the story of the Skywalker family set in the period of the movies; no one else. Again, the offshoots from the movies refer to the Expanded Universe materials. No mention of a "parallel universe", no seperate and apart from the "real" story, nothing. And to further solidify the point, Mr. Lucas states that "he doesn't mind" the comics and novels.

STAR WARS INSIDER #45. pg. 21:

Do you have a map of the Star Wars universe in your head-where every creature comes from, what they eat, their society back home?

"I think somewhere in the dark recesses of my company there is something like that, but I've never seen it. I don't really know. Even though I live this and I know the worlds very well, and I know what everything is, half the time I'm in the fortunate position of being able to just make it up. So if somebody asks me a question, I know what the consistencies are, I know what's consistent with a particular environment and what isn't. Part of the job of the director is to sort of keep everything in line, and I can do that in the movies-but I can't do it on the whole Star Wars universe.."

There's a great many instances of EU characters, vehicles, and ideas finding their way (some might say intruding?) into the canon movies. Some of these include:

The Outrider leaving Mos Eisley in the "A New Hope: Special Edition"
The 'Lucky Despot Saloon' from the novel, "Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina" appears in the "A New Hope: Special Edition"
Arica (Mara Jade) from the Thrawn trilogy is heard in the Return Of The Jedi Radio Drama
Coruscant named for the Imperial homeworld in place of Had Abaddon from the Thrawn trilogy as shown in The Phantom Menace, and Attack Of The Clones.
Jedi Master Luminara Unduli from "The Approaching Storm" seen in Attack Of The Clones.
Jedi Padawan Barriss Offee from "The Approaching Storm" seen in Attack Of The Clones.
Sith double-bladed lightsaber first seen in the Tales of the Jedi Dark Horse comics

The Twi'lek Jedi, Aayla Secura who appeared in the Dark Horse comics, was personally picked by George Lucas for inclusion in Attack Of The Clones. You can read the whole story here: From EU to Episode II: Aayla Secura Excerpts:

June 18, 2002

With Aayla Secura, the process had an interesting twist. She was already an existing heroine, with a built-in audience of comic book readers who understood her origins before she ever made it onto the screen. After seeing artist Jon Foster's original cover art for issue #33 of the ongoing Star Wars series, Writer/Director George Lucas saw star potential. Aayla Secura, a blue-skinned Padawan, embodied Jedi strength and Twi'lek femininity in an eye-catching combination of beauty and power. It was the perfect ingredient for the action sequence recipe Lucas and Industrial Light & Magic were constructing, layer-by-layer.

Though her work was primarily behind-the-scenes, her role as Aayla was actually not the first blue Twi'lek Allen performed. "I had been a Twi'lek for the Episode I DVD," she says. In a modification to The Phantom Menace for the DVD release, Senator Orn Free Taa's formerly human-filled Senate pod was instead populated with Twi'leks. "George [Lucas] decided, last minute, to replace that shot. So, I was actually a blue Twi'lek probably two months after I started at ILM."

When word came down that Lucas wanted Aayla Secura in the arena, it fell to Costume Supervisor Gillian Libbert to determine how best to turn a character of pencil and ink into flesh and blood. "This is a comic book character, which doesn't have a realistic proportion to the human body," says Libbert. "That was our first challange." The Aayla Secura character, as illustrated by artist Jan Duursema, is more dynamically heroic than a typical human extra. Libbert had to determine how much, if any, of that cut, muscular form to emulate in the costume. "Getting the character to look like what George wanted was our primary goal" says Libbert. "He answered a few questions we had related to the character's body image, but it ended up that he wanted the costume to look like the comic book character and the body to be human-like."

"George liked the overall look. We had to change the headdress a couple of times because he wanted a different style. He was very specific in what he wanted, down to the detailing on leather pieces and the way the leather trim was wrapped around the tentacles or lekku. " explains Libbert.

These were posted on the official STAR WARS website, under the "Set Diaries" which chronicled the production of Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith

Episode 3 Set Diary 8-11-2003

"So how did Anakin get that scar, George?" asks John Knoll

"I don't know. Ask Howard," says George, referring to President of Lucas Licensing Howard Roffman. "That's one of those things that happens in the novels between the movies. I just put it there. He has to explain how it got there. I think Anakin got it slipping in the bathtub, but of course, he's not going to tell anybody that."

Direct from George Lucas' mouth: An Expanded Universe book would detail how Anakin acquires one of his (canon) scars. And it was directly approved by George Lucas. The Star Wars comic, Republic 71, answers this question. Dark Jedi apprentice Asajj Ventress gave Anakin his facial scaron Coruscant, in the area known as the Works.

Another interesting tidbit from the Hyperspace Set Diary on 9-4-03

Over the last couple of days, I've been chatting plot points with Jonathan Rinzler, visiting Senior Editor from LucasBooks. More than most of the crew, we tend to think about the ramifications of the Episode III plot, and how it sends ripples throughout the fictional galaxy. As the editor of the future Visual Dictionary and other sourcebooks to be spun out of Episode III, he needs to keep in mind the big picture. Keeping abreast of Expanded Universe developments is also part of my job.

This conversation reminds me of the inevitable Expanded Universe / movie canon debates that always pop up online. I've always considered such arguments a waste of time for the most part (it's all fictional, after all), but I do respect that the stability of the universe's continuity does mean a great deal to many fans. With that in mind, here's a heads up for future debaters.

For Expanded Universe-is-canon proponents, the inclusion of a character, vehicle designs and other concept art created or expanded in literature will add fuel to their arguments. For those movie purists who like to counter with pointing out (apparent) contradictions, there's at least two lines of dialogue -- one dealing with the Jedi Council, the other with the Republic -- that will require some creative interpretation to make the universe one big happy place again.

The Dorling Kindersley Books

The now famous Star Wars Insider #68 has been a watershed of information for those that are interested in the proper canon policy of Lucasfilm, and its also been an effective weapon against those that would willfully misinterpret the canon and EU statements for their own deluded parody of these guidelines. Now we have a fifth category of canon: the DK Star Wars library, which includes the "Incredible Cross Sections, the Visual Dictionaries, and the "Inside The Worlds Of" books.

This is confirmed by Star Wars Insider #68, in the preface of David West Reynold's article "VISION QUEST- The origins of the Star Wars Incredible Cross-Sections" on page 36:

The first two Incredible Cross Sections books were conceived to explore bold new territory in the Star Wars Universe, taking a rare look inside more vehicles and vessels than we have ever seen before, and doing it in unprecidented detail. These books would represent the most thorough research ever done on these vehicles and would receive Lucasfilm's formal imprimatur as canon. These volumes would henceforth be sent out to licencees as reference guides and would even become useful manuals at Industrial Light & Magic, where some of the artwork influenced details in Episodes I and II

This is added to by the sidebar "THE DK STAR WARS LIBRARY" to the article, on page 43:

Long after the original Incredible Cross-Sections book revolutionized Star Wars "nonfiction", Dorling Kindersley continues to publish amazing resources revealing the secrets of vehicles, equipment, and locations. The latest offering is Inside The Worlds of Star Wars Attack Of The Clones: The Complete Guide to the Incredible Locations from Episode II. Illustrated by the veteran team of Richard Chasemore and Hans Jenssen, this was written by series editor Simon Beecroft, in consultation with Dr. Curtis Saxton.

While this book deals with locations rather than vehicles, the challenge remains the same, in Beecroft's words: "to accurately rationalize what's seen in the film and then extend the universe that little further." Many locations in the Star Wars galaxy are nothing if not big. Fortunately, the artists were prepared for the challenge. "One thing they've learned: never to underestimate the scale of the task," says Beecroft. "Richard and Hans put in hundreds and hundreds of hours doing a vehicles book. For a locations book, they must double that, at least. Some of these artworks are just enormous: look at the Geonosian Droid Factory or the Outlander Club."

Beecroft is emphatic about the crucial role of Dr. Saxton's participation. "He worked with me all the way, holding down a day job and then exchanging e-mails with me all night. His academic background, general breadth of knowledge, and understanding of Star Wars lore underpins everything in the book. His work in rationalizing the Geonosis battle map, in particular, must be mentioned. With Dr. Saxton working with us, we can be sure that there is a real scientific basis to all our explanations." Curtis Saxton, who wrote the Attack of ther Clones Incredible Cross-Sections book, has a PhD. in theoretical astrophysics along with a deep knowledge of, and a love for, the Star Wars saga.

Note that the DK library is referred to as Star Wars "non fiction". The article is supported by comments made on starwars.com.2 And again, a shot from the webcam on the set of Episode 3 offers even more confirmation, showing one of the DK books being used by Richard Mueck, a Creature Shop artist for Episode 3, for reference during production. Hyperspace members can find the image on the webcam page on June 25 , 09:36:40

Yet another quote from Dr. David West-Reynolds' "Vision Quest", Star Wars Insider #68 article further solidifies the DK books into the canon:

, pg.43:

As Richard [Chasemore] and Hans [Jenssen] got into the Star Wars universe, they became more comfortable creating new elements. Richard produced the cross-section of Slave I almost entirely on his own, for example. By the time of the Episode I book, I was contributing mainly conceptual guidance and occasional details on ship layouts. It’s a testament to the Star Wars sensibility that Hans and Richard developed that their work eventually was referenced by the Production Art Department and ILM. During the Episode II Cross-Sections book project, Richard asked concept design supervisor Doug Chiang about the weapon systems on Episode II's Slave I. Doug told him, "You should know, you put them there." ILM had followed Richard's illustration in creating the digital Slave I.

And still another set diary entry describes the influence of the DK books on the production of Episode 3:

Episode 3 Set Diary 9-8-2003

In the background stand Senator Po Nudo and his aide in returning costumes from Episode II. I'll never look at the Aqualish quite the same since I've found out that Nick Gillard has taken to calling them "beavers," inspired by their prolific dental appendages. Also in the background are Passel Argente and his aide, Denaria Kee, although they have new costumes. I'm surprised to see Denaria identified as such on the call sheet, since that name was established in the Episode II Visual Dictionary and not by Production. During Production, the aide had the jokey name of Twink Kee.

Note here that a Canon movie character was named from a lower-canon source, the Episode II Visual Dictionary.

Of course, those that have a vested interest in desperately trying to re-interpret said quotes to fit their own ends will do such things as writing 100,000 word webpages attempting to debunk this and the EU's stance in relation to canon. I've countered such foolishness with the fact that Steve Sansweet was on staff at the Star Wars Insider at the time of issue #68's publication, and his title on the magazine was "Lucasfilm Editor". His official title on starwars.com is Lucasfilm Liason It doesn't get any more official than that, folks.

Some idiots maintain that the Star Wars Insider can't dictate canon policy, there's no proof that Sansweet is there to ensure policy, and Sansweet is nothing more than a "collector Guru"(ignoring the evidence on sw.com) But even if the weight of the above evidence isn't enough for the Black Knight, here is, yet again, another nail in the coffin from the Star Wars Insider contents page:

--Material published within here does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Paizo Publishing LLC, (the publisher of the Star Wars Insider at the time) it's employees, or its editorial staff who are not responsible for the opinions expressed herein.

In addition, the title "Lucasfilm editor" has changed over the years. In SWI54, the title was "Editor for Lucasfilm," and in SWI39, it was "Consulting Editor for Lucasfilm."

Steve Sansweet's position in SWI:68 is most assuredly one that involves actually editing articles. In SWI:54, Steve Sansweet was listed under "Contributors." And in SWI:39, he was a "Senior Writer." This means his position at SWI has changed several times, and that he was an editor as of issue 68. This completely smashes any claims that he is only some kind of "collector guru" for issue 68, as one of his previous non-editorial titles would easily qualify that position. His title changes mean his responsibilities have changed throughout the issues, and that his title of "Lucasfilm editor" in SWI68 means he does actual editing.

Another integral person involved with the DK books that have been attacked unnecessarily by VS Trekkies and some Star Wars "fans" with an agenda, is Dr. Curtis Saxton, author of the "Attack Of The Clones- Incredible Cross-Sections" and consultant on "Inside The Worlds of Attack Of The Clones". Most of the VS Trekkies scream about at the numbers given for turbolaser power of the Acclimators (200 GT) saying "Saxton pulled the numbers out of his ass! We didn't SEE the Acclimators fire in the movies!"

In actual fact, Curtis Saxton's numbers do have canon backing. The weapon yields, shield capacities and reactor powers are balanced to simultaneously agree with canonical statements from General Dodonna, Han Solo, the official Base Delta Zero operation capabilities, the power implied by the linear acceleration of Star Destroyers in the movies (especially the trap in ROTJ and the Millennium Falcon chase in ANH). This is further proven by the potency / size relationship of SW power generation devices that fit a simple relationship between the Death Star and everyday technologies. And, it works with feasible densities of antimatter or hypermatter fuel in the internal tanks of previously dissected ships.

Many of the anti-AOTC:ICS/anti-Saxton dimwits have tried to convince themselves that the book is not fully supported by Lucasfilm. Of course, once again, the facts quash this silly notion. I asked Dr. Saxton to comment on this whole mess, but he told me that any comments about the AOTC:ICS that he makes on the record must be approved by Lucasfilm.

However, Dr. Saxton's interview at TheForce.Net is chock full of interesting details, andis official:

"People might wonder about whether or not interviews are official. Every word I wrote in the interview had to be approved by Lucy Wilson before TFN could post anything." ---Dr. Curtis Saxton

From Dr. Curtis Saxton's interview:

However on my first day at Skywalker Ranch with the DK team, Lucy Wilson gave me one more implicit guideline. She asked me to consider what distinctive difference a physics PhD could make to a Star Wars book, and she advised me to exploit that distinction.

Indicates Dr. Saxton was hand-picked specifically to flesh out the capabilities of the ships and vehicles in AOTC, directly from Lucasfilm.

We took about two weeks at or near Skywalker Ranch to invent and establish the basic features, history and physics. Then there was about seven months of high-bandwidth e-mail collaboration with the artists, while LF editors acted as a two-way connection to the movie's ongoing development. Partly in parallel, we took about two months for text revisions: (1) in order to squeeze everything onto the printed page; (2) to meet LF's requests for altered emphasis; and (3) to proofread the entire manuscript again. I suppose I spent a couple of hours after my day-job on most days, plus my weekends.

Indicates the DK team were working in concert with the production staff of AOTC.

Richard and Hans developed good relations with their peers in the Art Department and the Ranch. I recall that this was important when DK was granted the initiative to develop the AT-TE walker, which at that stage existed as only two concept pictures, and was not due for modeling or filming until months after our deadline.

The DK team were charged by Lucasfilm to develop the AT-TE walker (shown in the preliminary art by Ryan Church.)

Q: Was George Lucas involved?

Ultimately everything in the Star Wars literature is inspired by or deduced from the work of George Lucas. Hans, Richard and I had no direct contact with him. However the important people at LF Licensing meet with Lucas frequently and they were able to obtain answers to questions raised during the development of our book. For example, I understand that the planet Rothana was named in an intervention by George Lucas.

Another important quote. George Lucas himself had a direct hand at naming a planet for the AOTC:ICS!

The AT-TE is striking to behold. When I first saw it I was immediately impatient for a model kit. It is a perfect extrapolation (interpolation?) of the mechanics and aesthetics of the walkers in the classic era. It might just as well have stepped out of TESB or Dark Empire II. And yet it is not slavish or derivative; it fits its own battlefield role with as much perfection and integrity as the AT-AT and AT-ST fit theirs. I took particular pleasure in proposing the name for this vehicle. The DK editors and I thought the walker looked so impressive that we substituted it for another subject that had been scheduled for those pages.

The DK team was responsible for NAMING the AT-TE!

Q:Were there any other gaps you had to fill in from the script?

I wouldn't call them gaps. I'd rather say we had the privilege of defining the back-story for almost everything in the book. Because DK started work so early, we preceded most other licensees. With the exception of the history of the Fetts, most of the information in the book that doesn't appear explicitly in the movie was actually developed by the DK team in consultation with the authorities at LF.

This is probably one of the most important points, and completely silences anyone that doesn't believe the DK team had Lucasfilm's blessing for everything that appears in the AOTC:ICS. And if all the above wasn't enough, this last bit proves without a shadow of a doubt that the DK team's work on the ICS was actually instrumental in the making of the canon movie!:

We introduced lots of fun stuff, including but not restricted to:

* Cameo by the young Senator Greyshade.
* Checking that the gunships would fit out the hatches in the transport ships (they didn't fit according to the first animatics we saw).
* Why and how the Trade Federation core ships were landed.
* The meaning of the "cog" logo of the Galactic Republic, and some other pre-Republic history which could not be printed: concerning the Bendu Monks who evolved into the Jedi and the Unification Wars that formed the Republic.
* Painstaking fixes to the paradoxes of the Delta-7 Aethersprite: how the droid was able to fit, and how "a fighter that size" could get into "deep space on its own."

Jumping back to the SW Insider #68 quotes that confirm the DK books' canon status for a minute, more questions regarding information "not seen" in the movies vs. what's in the ICS books are answered.

pg. 36: To guide Jenssen and Chasemore, Lucy Wilson, Lucas Licensing's director of publishing, recommended me [David West Reynolds] for the project in 1997, with the assignment of analyzing all preceding Star Wars references, resolving discrepancies, and generating new ideas to fill out the vehicles' detail like never before. Wilson wanted the books to be absolutely definitive. To do that would require access to Lucasfilm's photo library, unpublished set blueprints, filming models in the Lucasfilm Archives, and interviews with ILM artists."

Note here, that Reynolds had access to details a movie viewer wouldn't. Just as Dr. Curtis Saxton did during the making of the AOTC ICS, as detailed at here in a diary written by Simon Beecroft, DK's SW editor and the author of Inside The Worlds of AOTC, about the Skywalker Ranch visit Dr. Saxton participated in.

Friday 16th:

Against all odds, Iain has managed to arrange clearance for us to visit ILM. We jump in the car and drive to ILM, whose anonymous, low-rise buildings give away no clues as to its importance as the world's most successful special effects company. At the reception, we receive passes and are whisked along corridors lined with movie posters, through busy work areas, crowded with computers, models, drawings, props, and miscellaneous other stuff. And right out the other side. Eventually, in another nondescript building (I'm sure they were deliberately disorientating us so we could never find our way around again), we reach the payoff - the room where the Episode II vehicle models have been laid out for us like priceless jewels.

They are only a few inches tall, but are intricately made, showing all sorts of details like hatches and viewscreens which we couldn't get from anything else. The illustrators and author proceed to debate every last pen-drawn line and measure every length. For me, the important thing was that at last I found out what Curtis' green string was for: taking impromtu measurements. Ahh, of course.

This point is again brought home with Reynolds' research into the interior of the Jawa Sandcrawler: (SWI #68):

pg. 41: The sandcrawler was another exciting blank canvas for us to fill. This would take unusual measures. To get the droids' locations in this "droid prison" would require the original set blueprints.

Locating all the droids therein, however, would take unconventional research. The one thing that would have that information was the Lost Cut, the earliest film version of Star Wars. The Lost Cut shows the interior of the sandcrawler in much more detail than we see in the final cut of the film. A look at this footage, with the help of then Lucasfilm film archivist Tim Fox, made the location of every droid crystal clear, including droids we don't see in the final cut of the film. Thanks to the unique views in the Lost Cut, I was able to provide an accurate sketch for Richard with the location of every droid.

STAR TREK SOURCES

Trekkies seem to have a very big problem with Paramount's official stance on Star Trek's canon, and who could blame them? One "official" source often contradicts the other, just as various Trek episodes contradict each other! lately, Star Trek Enterprise seems hell-bent on contradicting the whole Star Trek universe!!

There are a few VS Trekkies who attempt to rewrite Trek's canon policy, using the Semantics Whore restructuring of what is clearly said to be the canon policy of Paramount toward Star Trek. Many have adopted this excuse, so they can attempt to squeeze the Star Trek Tech Manuals into the canon.

From startrek.com:

Q: How do the Star Trek novels and comic books fit into the Star Trek universe?

A: As a rule of thumb, the events that take place within the live action episodes and movies are canon, or official Star Trek facts. Story lines, characters, events, stardates, etc. that take place within the fictional novels, the Animated Adventures, and the various comic lines are not canon.

VS Trekkies try to squeeze between the cracks of this canon statement by saying the policy doesn't mention the technical manuals, only the novels and comics. However, this is also covered in the policy.

There have been earlier versions of technical manuals, including "Mr.Scott's Guide to the Enterprise" (Shane Johnson) and the "Star Trek Starfleet Technical Manual" (Franz Joseph), but these books, although fun to read, were not written by production personnel and are not considered'canon.'

In CONTEXT, this second section above, with 'canon' in quotation marks tells us this: The old tech manuals which were not written by production personnel are useless forms of reference. Those that write new episodes of the various TV series use the NEW TMs as reference guides.

Story lines, characters, events, stardates, etc. that take place within the fictional novels, the Animated Adventures, and the various comic lines are not canon.

Paramount, John Ordover, Tim Gaskill, and whiny VS Trekkies.

John Ordover edits the Star Trek novels for Pocket Books. Mr. Ordover has stated the canon policy for STAR TREK by Paramount many times, and in every one of those times, one thing is consistent: only the live action movies and TV shows are canon. That's IT. This isn't good enough for the Semantics Whores. In their desperation over making the TMs canon, they have gone to great lengths to discredit Ordover, as "not a direct Paramount employee, so anything he says on Paramount's official policy is non-official." These fish-heads fail to acknowledge that in order for Mr. Ordover to do his JOB, he would have to know Paramount's canon policy. So what's a poor Semantics Whore to do?

Enter Tim Gaskill. Gaskill is, according to Manny I. Jnr. Patel, Supervisor of all Paramount Publishing for Viacom Licensing. According to Trekgalaxy.com , Gaskill was hired by Paramount to be senior editor of the www.startrek.com web site. Gaskill also wrote the "faq" questions and answers so extensively quoted and misinterpreted by the VS Trekkies. So, they have taken this to mean that Gaskill is somehow "over" Ordover, and is "the only way to get the official word direct from Paramount, since Gaskill is an 'actual' employee of Paramount."

Michael Griffiths, a.k.a. Lord Edam de Fromage, decided to correspond with Gaskill in an attempt to not only reaffirm the VS Trekkie interpretation of Paramount's canon policy, but to get Gaskill to state that he (Gaskill) is "above" John Ordover. The entire e-mail exchange, as posted on ASVS can be perused here.

Unfortunately for the VS Trekkies, Mr. Gaskill doesn't seem to be familiar with the facts. In his letter to Mr. Griffiths, Gaskill states that: "John Ordover doesn't work on the show and isn't employed by Paramount directly."

In actual fact, not only is John Ordover the senior editor for the Star Trek novels at Pocket Books, he is also a bona-fide Star Trek writer. Along with his writing partner David Mack , John Ordover wrote the Deep Space Nine episode "Starship Down" and the story for the Deep Space Nine episode "It's Only a Paper Moon."

Surely someone who has written and contributed to two canon aired episodes of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, and who edits Star Trek novels under the guidelines Paramount has laid out in terms of canon, would know the canon policy of Paramount, right? Surely someone who has written and contributed to two canon aired episodes of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, and who edits Star Trek novels under the guidelines Paramount has laid out in terms of canon, would know the canon policy of Paramount, and would be more of an authority, more "over" a website editor like Tim Gaskill, RIGHT?

Apparently, common sense is in short supply in most VS Trekkies. Read this exchange between C.S. Strowbridge and a VS Trekkie, "DMZ".

If you want to know a bit more about John Ordover and his responsibilities to Paramount, you can read more here.

Why Isn't The "Great Bird" Canon?

On the official Star Trek website, the faq states that the only canon is the aired episodes and TV shows, and TWO books: "Mosaic", and "Pathways" by Supervising Producer Jeri Taylor. One reason why these books are considered canon along with the aired Trek is that Taylor worked as a producer on The Next Generation and had a hand in creating Star Trek Voyager.

One has to wonder, however, if Jeri Taylor can be relegated to canon status, why hasn't Gene Roddenberry been afforded the same honor? After all, Roddenberry wrote the novelization to Star Trek: The Motion Picture! Why isn't this book canon?

One reason may be that many people believe it was ghostwritten, a claim given fuel by Roddenberry's legendary status as a horrible writer. Several key people who have worked with Roddenberry have had less than spectacular things to say about his writing prowess over the years. Harlan Ellison, noted SciFi writer who also wrote the script for the TOS episode, "City On The Edge Of Forever", had this opinion of Roddenberry's writing skill:

"That was Gene. Couldn't write for sour owl poop.."

and:

"...in truth, Roddenberry had about as much writing ability as the lowest industry hack. A fact." ---(Harlan Ellison writer of the TOS ep: "City On The Edge Of Forever", from his book of the same name.)

Personally, I've heard and read in magazines for years that Alan Dean Foster wrote the novelization of "Star Trek-The Motion Picture", based on his script for the movie originally titled "In Thy Image." (Foster ghostwrote the novelization of Star Wars for George Lucas.) I tried to actually find confirmation of this, but came up pretty much empty. The only thing I could find was a non-official statement here:

Released by Pocket Books, a novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, "by Gene Roddenberry," was actually ghost-written by Alan Dean Foster - who received no credit on the novel. Foster's novel was superior to the film in many ways.

Finally, I decided to ask the man himself. Here's the e-mail reply I received last year:

From: "Alan Dean Foster" To: "Wayne Poe"
Subject: Re: ST:TMP
Date: Monday, December 30, 2002 9:13 AM

Wayne;
Roddenberry, as far as I know. I had nothing to do with it.
Regards,
Alan F.

So, another myth quashed. As far as Foster knows, Roddenberry wrote it. But this was confirmed nowhere else, until I picked up a book called Inside Trek written by Susan Sackett. Sackett was Roddenberry's secretary/production assistant/ executive assistant/secret lay since 1974, and Production Associate for the first five seasons of TNG. She also co-wrote TNG several episodes including "Menage a Troi" and "The Game".

From her book, comes the confirmation that Roddenberry did, in fact, write the novelization:

pg.75: Gene was always an eleventh-hour writer. If there was a deadline in eight weeks, he'd save the big push for week seven, day six. The novelization of the movie was a typical project. I worked right alongside him, editing and polishing, checking for grammar, sentence structure, and redundancies (he tended to use the word "now" about six times per paragraph.)

There may be a very good reason why the TMP novelization isn't canonized. If it were, it would be canonical that the original series is an inaccurate and exaggerated portrayal of the actual events! This can be found in Admiral Kirk's Preface at the beginning of the novelization:

I have always found it amusing that my Academy class was the first group selected by Starfleet on the basis of somewhat more limited intellectual agility.* It is made doubly amusing, of course, by the fact that our five-year mission was so well documented, due to an ill-conceived notion by Starfleet that the return of the U.S.S. Enterprise merited public notice. Unfortunately, Starfleet's enthusiasm affected even those who chronicled our adventures, and we were all painted somewhat larger than life, especially myself.

Eventually, I found that I had been fictionalized into some sort of "modern Ulysses" and it has been painful to see my command decisions of those years so widely applauded, whereas the plain facts are that ninety-four of our crew met violent deaths during those years -- and many of them would still be alive if I had acted either more quickly or more wisely. Nor have I been as foolishly courageous as depicted. I have never happily invited injury; I have disliked in the extreme every duty circumstance which has required me to risk my life. But there appears to be something in the nature of depictors of popular events which leads them into the habit of exaggeration. As a result, I became determined that if I ever again found myself involved in an affair attracting public attention, I would insist that some way be found to tell the story more accurately.

As some of you will know, I did become involved in such an affair -- in fact, an event which threatened the very existence of Earth. Unfortunately, this has again brought me to the attention of those who record such happenings. Accordingly, although there may be many other ways in which this story is told or depicted, I have insisted that it also be set down in a written manuscript which would be subject to my correction and my final approval. This is that manuscript, presented to you here as an old-style printed book. While I cannot control other depictions of these events that you may see, hear, and feel, I can promise that every description, idea, and word on these pages is the exact and true story of Vejur and Earth as it was seen, heard, and felt by...

James T Kirk

______
* Editor's note: We doubt that "limited intellectual agility" will stand up in the face of the fact that Kirk commanded the U.S.S. Enterprise on its historic five-year voyage and became the first starship captain in history to bring back both his vessel and his crew relatively intact after such a mission.

It seems there's a concerted effort to take Roddenberry out of Star Trek, and everything he felt strongly about. Some people point to a nebulous quote from 1988 where Roddenberry allegedly states that Star Trek would "keep going on without any of us, and it'll just get better and better and better." The fact is, Roddenberry didn't see Star Trek as a continuing entity after he was long gone.

The above quote attributed to Roddenberry doesn't seem to hold water when two later and better documented quotes say otherwise. For instance, this one:

"I wouldn't want to do a third generation of 'Star Trek.' I'm 'Star Trek'ed out. It has satisfied many of my needs. It satisfied my needs for respecting myself... And it gives me a good feeling that it's a body of work in my life that is worth considering."
--from a conversation at La Costa, 1990

...contradicts the 1988 quote, as well as this interesting tidbit from "Inside Trek":

pg.212:

The studio had just approved a new live-action Star Trek: The Next Generation spin-off and had no wish to pursue any other incarnation of the Star Trek franchise. Thus died our animated project.

What new spin-off? Certainly not the one Gene had nixed two years before, during the third season, when Michael Piller and Rick Berman had proposed a new series to Gene. I had asked him about it immediately after his meeting with Piller, and Gene said he wasn't interested in their proposal. He told me had turned them down flat, saying he didn't want a spin-off, and that he did not care for this one. I never heard another thing mentioned about it until the week after Gene's death. That same week Margaret was told about this new series, Piller and Berman received a go on something called Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Talk about timing. I wondered if it was just a coincidence that Paramount decided to go with a new Star Trek project less than one week after Gene's death.

To my knowledge, Gene had never given his blessing to the spin-off.

It's no wonder Paramount doesn't want to recognize Roddenberry as canon! The Original series would be a non-canon "exaggerated" source, there would be no "Deep Space 9", no "Voyager", and no "Enterprise." And if we were to take Roddenberry's word as serious as we do George Lucas' for Star Wars, and his famous quote, "It isn’t Star Trek until I say it’s Star Trek.", there would be only four seasons of TNG!

Star Trek 5 and 6 woudn't be canon either. Roddenberry's reaction to Star Trek V, from "Inside Trek":

pg.152: Gene hadn't participated much in the making of this film. More than anything, it was the story that distressed him. His own script, "The God Thing," had been turned down by the studio years before, and he was still smarting from that rejection. He felt that Trek V did a much poorer job of portraying an encounter with God than his own story, that it was much less imaginative, limited in scope and depth. He had seen a few of the dailies, then threw in the towel and refused to attend anything further until there was a rough cut. He found the raw footage so depressing that he stopped attending the screenings, pleading "too busy with our TV series." I remember one of the sequences that particularly irritated him - several minutes' worth of shadowy, pounding horses' hoofs. I think, after that, he decided it was Harve Bennett's problem.

And his reaction to Star Trek 6:

pg. 202: I was told by one of the people attending that he seemed frail and disoriented, and his only comment on the film was a constant repetition of the word "no." What he meant by that can only be guessed. Before his illness, he had expressed his dissatisfaction with the script. From his reiteration of the word "no," it was apparent that he disliked the movie as well.