Why Does Star Wars: The Clone Wars Mess Up the Jedi High Council Timeline?
Why Does Star Wars: The Clone Wars Mess Up the Jedi High Council Timeline?
With the immense popularity of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, this animated television series and the 2008 film directed by Dave Filoni represent a significant milestone in the Legends Expanded Universe. Created by George Lucas, the series has a higher canonical ranking compared to other media projects such as comics, novels, and computer games. It often serves as a bridge to the Revenge of the Sith trilogy.
The Canonical Ranking and Conflicts
The Clone Wars multimedia project, including the multimedia projects such as Star Wars: Republic and the earlier animation series directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, had more established facts and timelines. However, Star Wars: The Clone Wars introduced some stories and ideas that contradicted this existing timeline, leading to criticism from both fans and creators. One notable example is Karen Traviss, a creative writer, who was upset about the pacifist Mandalorian faction in the series. She was more critical of the Jedi order, which itself had its own timeline contradictions in the series.
A significant contradiction came in the form of Clone Wars: The Lost Missions, where Finis Valorum, who was previously shown to be dead in earlier Republic comics, was depicted as alive. This stark contradiction highlights the complex nature of the canonical system.
The Hierarchical Canonical System
Prior to the 2014 Canon reboot, Lucasfilm had a hierarchical canonical system which included:
George Lucas Canon (G-Canon): The six original Star Wars films by George Lucas. Television Canon (T-Canon): This included TV shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the 2008 animated film. Continuity Canon (C-Canon): This included all recent and many older Star Wars books, comics, games, cartoons, non-theatrical films, and reference books. Secondary Canon (S-Canon): Most of the older works including the earliest Marvel Star Wars comics, Jedi Prince, the Star Wars Holiday Special, Star Wars Droids, Star Wars Ewoks, and the 1980s Ewok films. Detours Canon (D-Canon): Canceled series such as Star Wars: Detours. Non-Canon (N-Canon): Stories such as Star Wars: Infinities.This system was designed to give George Lucas creative control over the Star Wars universe, signaling to other writers and creators that their works held less canonical status. This complex system aimed to minimize contradictions and streamline narrative coherence.
Lucasfilm's Canon Reboot and Minimizing Contradictions
With the 2014 Canon reboot, Lucasfilm under Kathleen Kennedy reclassified the Expanded Universe as Legends or non-Canon works. This reclassification affirmed George Lucas’ creative control over the Star Wars universe.
To ensure minimal contradictions, Lucasfilm established a Story Group to oversee all new literature and media. This process aimed to maintain narrative consistency and coherence within the Star Wars universe. Despite these efforts, contradictions still occasionally arise, showcasing the inherent complexity of managing such a vast and rich fictional world.
Conclusion
In summary, the contradictions between Star Wars: The Clone Wars and earlier works demonstrate the evolving nature of the canonical system. George Lucas asserted his creative control through this system, and the 2014 Canon reboot reaffirmed this while guiding new works towards minimizing conflicting narratives.