Battlestar Wiki:Canon: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:26, 3 January 2007

In science-fiction works, the term "canon" describes characters, events, and locales that are generated and recognized officially by the creators of the fictional universe.

For fans of the work, identifying canonical stories, characters and the like reduce the level of confusion in keeping track of storylines.

In contrast, a non-canonical work involves characters, events and locales that match one or more criteria:

Are officially-licensed works, such as novels or comics, which contradict aired content of the parent show
Are fan fiction, fanwanking or other unofficial works which are not sanctioned or approved by the copyright holder

Some science-fiction TV shows, like Babylon 5 or the Star Wars franchise have integrated much of its derivative novels, comics and other works as part of their canon. In contrast, the Star Trek franchise does little to differentiate the contradictions in characters, events and locales between the various spin-off series, novels, motion pictures, and other works, leaving it up to fans to decide for themselves the "authenticity" of a work.

What's Canonical in Battlestar Galactica?

The Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad project article details sources that are considered official information for the Original Series and Re-imagined Series.

Generally, content from any aired episodes (including the Battlestar Galactica 2003 Miniseries) from the Original Series and Re-imagined Series, interviews and podcasts from cast and crew, and publicity information from the Sci-Fi Channel website can be considered canonical unless otherwise retconned or retracted by the official sources.

On Battlestar Wiki, we include non-canonical, officially-licensed characters, situations, events from novels, comics and the like for both Battlestar Galactica series as independent articles marked as separate continuity works.

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-'''Canon''' describes those people and events that are an official part of a fictional universe.
+In science-fiction works, the term '''"canon"''' describes characters, events, and locales that are generated and recognized officially by the creators of the fictional universe.
-The term is used to distinguish those "facts" about and within a fictional universe that are accepted against those that are hypothesised by fans and/or the result of novels and other [[spin-offs]] that may not be recognised by the original creators. For example, there have been a great many novels written about ''Star Trek'' portraying various adventures of the characters. These novels are [[non-canonical]], and their events did not "actually occur" within the Star Trek universe.
+For fans of the work, identifying canonical stories, characters and the like reduce the level of confusion in keeping track of storylines.
-==What's Canonical in Battlestar Galactica?==
+In contrast, a non-canonical work involves characters, events and locales that match one or more criteria:
-'''The [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad]] project''' article details sources that are considered official information for the Original and Re-imagined Series. Visit that article for preferred official resources. Generally, content from any ''aired'' episodes (including the [[Miniseries|re-imagined Battlestar Galactica Miniseries]]) from the Original Series and Re-imagined Series, interviews and podcasts from cast and crew, and publicity information from the Sci-Fi Channel website can be considered canonical unless otherwise [[Continuity errors (RDM)|retconned]] or retracted by the official sources.
+*Are officially-licensed works, such as novels or comics, which contradict aired content of the parent show
+*Are [[fan fiction]], [[BW:FANW|fanwanking]] or other unofficial works which are not sanctioned or approved by the copyright holder
+Some science-fiction TV shows, like ''[[w:Babylon 5|Babylon 5]]'' or the ''[[w:Star Wars|Star Wars]]'' franchise have integrated much of its derivative novels, comics and other works as part of their canon. In contrast, the ''[[w:Star Trek|Star Trek]]'' franchise does little to differentiate the contradictions in characters, events and locales between the various [[spin-offs|spin-off]] series, novels, motion pictures, and other works, leaving it up to fans to decide for themselves the "authenticity" of a work.
+==What's Canonical in ''Battlestar Galactica?''==
+'''The [[Battlestar Wiki:Citation Jihad]] project''' article details sources that are considered official information for the [[Original Series]] and [[Re-imagined Series]].
+Generally, content from any ''aired'' episodes (including the [[Miniseries|''Battlestar Galactica'' 2003 Miniseries]]) from the Original Series and Re-imagined Series, interviews and podcasts from cast and crew, and publicity information from the Sci-Fi Channel website can be considered canonical unless otherwise [[Continuity errors (RDM)|retconned]] or retracted by the official sources.
+On Battlestar Wiki, we include non-canonical, officially-licensed characters, situations, events from novels, comics and the like for both ''Battlestar Galactica'' series as independent articles marked as ''[[BW:SEP|separate continuity]]'' works.
 [[Category:A to Z]]
+[[Category:Terminology]]
 [[Category:Hollywood Buzzwords]]