Of Fandoms and Wanking and Canon
I'd like someone to explain to me why the interpretation of a fan published in book form is considered non-canon while the interpretation of Paul Gross made public in media form broadcasted on a completely different TV station, in a different country no less, is considered canon. No, seriously, think about it. Star Wars, Star Trek, and many other forms of visual media have officially published books, written by authors not involved with the direct production of the show or are tangentially involved but whose ideas were not incorporated into the show, and these books are unanimously agreed as non-canonical. Yet, Paul Gross produces a follow up series to due South, which was not broadcasted on the original station (CBS) or even in the original country for that matter, and the original writer/producer (Paul Haggis) is no longer in anyway affiliated with the show and somehow we're supposed to accept that this is canon?
Why the hell should we? Why the hell can't we consider PG's version of dS as just another large and expensive fan-media? We're talking about an authorial change that happened away from the original author's supervision and was produced under a completely different production company altogether. There is nothing about the creation of PG's dS that was anywhere near similar to the creation of PH's dS other than the existence of a few familiar characters. How the hell does that make something canon? If the existence of the original cast is all that is necessary for the criteria of canon, then, by jolly, there'll be a freaking lot of canon floating around on the internet.
At least in the second season, even though PH wasn't writing a lot of the episodes, he was still executive producer, he was still somehow involved in the production of the show. But PG's dS doesn't even have that much. It's little more than a glorified fanfic. You can like PG's version as much as you like, but it doesn't change the fact that the second half of dS is completely removed from the first half in terms of authors and production so why is everyone so surprised when people don't consider the second half canon?
After all, do you accept Disney's Beauty and the Beast as canonical? Do you accept Troy (the movie) as a the canon for the Illiad? Do you accept the movie version of Lord of the Rings as part of Tolkien's LotR canon?
We're not denying existence of PG's dS, what we're denying is its canonical status in terms of PH's dS.
Edit:
Also, stop telling me to get over it. Which part of "Due South fan" is not making sense? Fan, short for fanatic, meaning "insane person". Why the hell would I have a journal dedicated to dS fannish babbling if I got over it?
Why the hell should we? Why the hell can't we consider PG's version of dS as just another large and expensive fan-media? We're talking about an authorial change that happened away from the original author's supervision and was produced under a completely different production company altogether. There is nothing about the creation of PG's dS that was anywhere near similar to the creation of PH's dS other than the existence of a few familiar characters. How the hell does that make something canon? If the existence of the original cast is all that is necessary for the criteria of canon, then, by jolly, there'll be a freaking lot of canon floating around on the internet.
At least in the second season, even though PH wasn't writing a lot of the episodes, he was still executive producer, he was still somehow involved in the production of the show. But PG's dS doesn't even have that much. It's little more than a glorified fanfic. You can like PG's version as much as you like, but it doesn't change the fact that the second half of dS is completely removed from the first half in terms of authors and production so why is everyone so surprised when people don't consider the second half canon?
After all, do you accept Disney's Beauty and the Beast as canonical? Do you accept Troy (the movie) as a the canon for the Illiad? Do you accept the movie version of Lord of the Rings as part of Tolkien's LotR canon?
We're not denying existence of PG's dS, what we're denying is its canonical status in terms of PH's dS.
Edit:
Also, stop telling me to get over it. Which part of "Due South fan" is not making sense? Fan, short for fanatic, meaning "insane person". Why the hell would I have a journal dedicated to dS fannish babbling if I got over it?