I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was a toddler. The official Star Wars canon has changed a hell of a lot in my years on this planet. Until 1999, the official Star Wars canon was the three movies and the EU books. After that, the prequel trilogy began in theaters, and the canon began to change a little. Then Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 and immediately de-canonized the EU material as “Legends.” This was, of course, so Disney could craft their own post-original trilogy canon.

We can also add in various comic book stories, shorts, Holiday Specials, and Lego Star Wars into the mix. Those stories are commonly not considered canon in the same way as the movies are. Honestly, if we compare Star Wars to something like The Lord of the Rings, or even the MCU, the overall canon is a bit of a mess. However, not to worry, as one of Lucasfilm’s executives has essentially told fans that the canon is whatever they want it to be. Check out the Tweets below from Lucasfilm’s Matt Martin.

So in the example earlier, the person was asking about “recanonizing” a past story since that specific story hasn’t been explored in the new canon. And I said if they like that story there’s no reason they can’t accept it as “real” in their version of Star Wars…

— Matt Martin (@missingwords) May 9, 2020

So to summarize: there is a reason that we need to internally know what is and isn’t canon so we can keep our line of official storytelling as aligned as possible but that doesn’t mean fans can’t individually pick and choose what they want to accept as true.

— Matt Martin (@missingwords) May 9, 2020

If you choose to only accept the real official canon: cool. If you like to mix and match between continuities: cool. If you like to make up your own stories: also cool.

— Matt Martin (@missingwords) May 9, 2020

Ok, so I’ve decided what my canon is. The original trilogy, Rogue One, and The Mandalorian. I’d like to pretend the rest wasn’t canon if that’s ok? Yes, I know that’s not what Martin means here. Martin is saying that there is specific canon that Lucasfilm uses when developing new projects. Probably, Lucasfilm evaluates each pitch, against what effect a project would have on the canon, and then make a decision. However, in my opinion, Disney has done a poor job of managing the canon.

RELATED: The Mandalorian Season 2 Won’t Be Delayed, But Will The Marvel Studios Disney+ Shows?

For a start, I’d like to submit the healing that was introduced as a new Jedi skill. Not only was this ability something that Rey simply instinctively knew how to do, but so did Baby Yoda. Actual Yoda couldn’t heal people; Anakin Skywalker couldn’t heal people; Mace Windu, Obi-Wan etc. But hey, it’s canon now that Jedi can heal injuries that would otherwise kill people. If only they had that skill in the Clone Wars era, right?

Lucasfilm clearly evaluated this new ability from the mind of J.J. Abrams and decide the pay-off was worth the change. Ergo, they changed the canon to suit a filmmaker, who then went on to make one of the worst Star Wars movies ever made. Not only, did Lucasfilm allow this canon change, they also clearly wanted to include it within The Mandalorian so it wasn’t so out there for Rey to use in the movie.

Power Creep

Where does it end? How long before Lucasfilm allows new creatives to have Jedi flying, or opening gateways between planets? In the original trilogy, the abilities of the Jedi and Sith were more subtle. Power creep is something that fans normally debate within the fantasy genre, but seeing as Star Wars is more fantasy than sci-fi, I think it applies. If we compare the magic system of Tolkien to that of his usually mediocre peers, we see power creep all the time. Power creep is when the author/writer invents new abilities to simply resolve a situation because it’s easy. Tolkien on the other hand, never allowed his characters to do this very often, his magic system was more subtle and used as little as possible. So where am I going with this?

In my opinion, power creep is starting to affect Star Wars in the same way it does the fantasy genre. Writers are being allowed to make Jedi and the Force do whatever they wish in order to navigate problems in the plot. So, if that’s how Lucasfilm is managing the canon, then  I choose to stick with the aforementioned movies and shows I mentioned above only. Why should care about what is Star Wars canon when Lucasfilm doesn’t seem to give a damn?

What do you think of Martin’s comments and my angry rant about Star Wars? Leave your thoughts below as always.

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SOURCE: Matt Martin (via Twitter)

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