Weyland Corporation and Weyland Industries

[TheBATMAN]

Exactly - otherwise you end up with the likes of the star wars expanded universe. And rather than sorting through all that its much easier and nore convenient to say the canon doesn't exist. It's lazy. Likewise most of his other examples, all of which are from comic properties.

[Xenomrph]

(and why it doesn't matter)

Well, it kinda does to a degree, because otherwise your series is just a mess of contradictions.

That's the thing, the contradictions don't really matter either. The article talks about that at length.

There's a ton of series (comics, movies, video games, doesn't matter) that have a ton of contradictions, but that hasn't stopped people from enjoying them. To name a notable example, the Mad Max series' timeline and characters don't make sense if you stop and try to piece the movies together, and George Miller has straight up said that focusing on the continuity of the series largely misses the point.

Exactly - otherwise you end up with the likes of the star wars expanded universe. And rather than sorting through all that its much easier and nore convenient to say the canon doesn't exist. It's lazy. Likewise most of his other examples, all of which are from comic properties.

I'm not sure you understood the article I linked.

Fans caring about "official canon" benefits neither the fans nor the franchise they allegedly care about.

The Star Wars EU was (mostly) coherent for the better part of 30 years, with very minor, isolated contradictions. But Disney (correctly) recognized that staying faithful to some kind of strict continuity was at odds with good storytelling in the form of new movies, and (correctly) purged it all because... wait for it... strict continuity doesn't matter.

[TheBATMAN]

wait for it... strict continuity doesn't matter.

Of course because why would we want something that makes sense with a coherent narrative... What bastards we are.

[Xenomrph]

wait for it... strict continuity doesn't matter.

Of course because why would we want something that makes sense with a coherent narrative... What bastards we are.

In that case, why did Disney hit the reset button on the EU? Why did Fox (kinda) do the same with the Alien/Predator EU?

There's nothing wrong with liking continuity, I'm a fan of it too. But acting like it's the be-all end-all metric by which things are judged isn't the only way to look at things.

[RakaiThwei]

Sometimes having more than one continuity is a good thing. Usually is, and franchises are successful for it-- look at Godzilla and TMNT. But who am I to vouche for that? I'm nobody compared to the vast majority who don't want to have choices in choosing which continuity is worth following. 

[SM]

*vouch

[RakaiThwei]

SM... Why? It was an honest mistake?

[SM]

It was an honest correction. 

[HuDaFuK]

That's the thing, the contradictions don't really matter either. The article talks about that at length.

They do to me. Having a sequel flagrantly disregard something established in a previous entry would negatively affect my enjoyment of it.

To name a notable example, the Mad Max series' timeline and characters don't make sense if you stop and try to piece the movies together, and George Miller has straight up said that focusing on the continuity of the series largely misses the point.

The first three form a perfectly logical series. The fourth, as I understood it, was a reboot. So there's no contradictions there.

[Xenomrph]

That's the thing, the contradictions don't really matter either. The article talks about that at length.

They do to me. Having a sequel flagrantly disregard something established in a previous entry would negatively affect my enjoyment of it.

I can appreciate that. I was a little miffed when Star Wars (and AvP) hit the reset button on their respective EUs, and I wasn't thrilled by the prospect of Blomkamp's Alien movie tossing 'Alien3' in the trash, but I absolutely understand why decisions like that get made, and I feel the focus in fiction should always be on storytelling over rigid continuity.

It's an arbitrary and personal threshold, but I'm personally willing to ignore or creatively reinterpret small details to allow for a bigger picture to persist (case in point, the alleged contradictions between Newt's Tale and River of Pain, or between Alien Resurrection and a lot of the old EU). There's certainly a time and place for continuity, but slavish adherence to strict continuity at the expense of good/interesting storytelling is a mistake in my opinion.

The first three [Mad Max movies] form a perfectly logical series. The fourth, as I understood it, was a reboot. So there's no contradictions there.

It's a bit more complicated than that - the timeline (and especially Max's age) stops making sense when you really think about it. The first movie takes place before the collapse of society, but by the third movie you have full grown children who have no recollection of the old world and Max hasn't appreciably aged. It's impossible to pin down where in the timeline 'Fury Road' even takes place, but it's definitely meant to be within the same "world" as the first three movies (Max's car and gear are the same, among other references to the events of the prior movies). You've also got repeat actors returning to play completely new roles.
According to George Miller, this was intentional - there isn't meant to be "continuity" within the Mad Max series for the same reason there isn't continuity in Greek and Roman mythology. Max is a mythic character that people in the wasteland tell stories about - the "Max" in the movies might not necessarily be the same person, or even exist at all; what's important is the individual stories themselves, not how they relate to one another. "Max" is a placeholder for an archetype, in the same way "Hercules" is.

To prove I'm not talking out of my ass on this (), here's interviews with George Miller where he talks about continuity in the Mad Max movies:

http://www.indiewire.com/2016/02/listen-george-miller-talks-mad-max-continuity-practical-effects-and-more-in-1-hour-of-fury-road-interviews-272466/

http://www.fandango.com/movie-news/interview-director-george-miller-answers-all-your-big-mad-max-fury-road-questions-749278

http://www.slashfilm.com/is-fury-road-a-sequel/

And here's an article about the same idea: http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/05/13/myth-vs.-continuity-in-the-mad-max-series

[SM]

The first three form a perfectly logical series. The fourth, as I understood it, was a reboot. So there's no contradictions there.

What happens in Mad Max and how Miller chooses to tell his story, has zero influence on how Alien is told anyway.

[HuDaFuK]

I never said it did?

[SM]

Yeah I know.  I was  just being a bit baffled at Xenomrph trying to say 'Well continuity doesn't matter in X, so why should it in Y'.

[TheBATMAN]

I think were all a bit baffled by xenomorph in general when it comes to this particular topic.

[Xenomrph]

Yeah I know.  I was  just being a bit baffled at Xenomrph trying to say 'Well continuity doesn't matter in X, so why should it in Y'.

I'm arguing against TheBATMAN's claim that continuity is the be-all end-all when it comes to "canon" for every franchise ever by providing a specific example where the creator says "strict continuity doesn't matter". It's a practical example following off the article I linked that he didn't understand.

I think were all a bit baffled by xenomorph in general when it comes to this particular topic.

We already know you don't understand the point I've been making, because you're unable to see any viewpoint but your own.

Again:

wait for it... strict continuity doesn't matter.

Of course because why would we want something that makes sense with a coherent narrative... What bastards we are.

In that case, why did Disney hit the reset button on the EU? Why did Fox (kinda) do the same with the Alien/Predator EU?

There's nothing wrong with liking continuity, I'm a fan of it too. But acting like it's the be-all end-all metric by which things are judged isn't the only way to look at things.

Because canon and continuity aren't necessarily synonyms. You're welcome to the opinion that they are, but acting like it's an irrefutable fact is demonstrably false.