Are Tie-Ins and Expanded Universes Taboo For Most Fans?

The expanded universe isn’t really as accepted as the original medium for most people, but fans who want more stories about their favourite characters; they take them just fine when, and only when, they like them.

Maybe some people just feel ashamed because buy them it’s a guilty pleasure, it’s like if you can’t let go something even after it’s truly over, and keep coming back to them.

In my case, I loved Charmed TV series, now I’m hooked into the comic books.

Actually, Lucas is one of the few who considers darn near every tie-in ever made to be *in* canon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_wars_canon

He was popular from the movies but then all these novels ran with it and it ruined the character for me.  He became too cool for the franchise in the EU.  He was the smartest most fearsome warrior who ever lived, never mind he was killed by a blind guy with a stick.  Oh yea and he could never be killed he has been resurected more times than your average super hero.  Luke could carve him into pieces with his lightsaber and Han could blast the pieces until nothing was left and he would still come back to life.  Its frankly kind of embarasing how obsessed some Star Wars fans are with the guy.

Two things for me on why I usually avoid tie-ins:  #1 Expanded universe tie-ins are rarely under the purview of the creators of the original.  While the quality can vary, just like in the original, the vision is usually quite different and varied, too much for me since I’m often already dealing with variation in the original given the different writers and directors involved.

#2 Canon.  Some people don’t care.  I do.  It is OK for a great story to be character masturbation as long as its done right – Yesterday’s Enterprise is a perfect example of ta story with no consequence that still has a powerful story – but in the original movie, TV show, etc. I know there are almost always consequences to each action and there is a possibility, however small, that there will be lasting change caused by an action.  This is especially true nowadays with the commitment to overarching story-telling in TV shows and movie sequels.  In the tie-ins tho, I know at the end of the story the status quo will be maintained.  The exceptions of course are the truly tangential tie-ins – I’m thinking of Star Trek: New Frontier which uses wholly unique characters - but even they have severe limitations based on the original.

I’m not saying a tie-in can’t be enjoyed.  I watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars because I like good animation.  It also happens to be a series that I find has a (somewhat) interesting over-arching story. However, I go in accepting that every character that appears in Episode 3 will absolutely definitely not be overly affected by anything that goes on in this series.  I must also say that after 3 seasons I’m getting bored with the endless skirmishes that never seem to go anywhere.  There are no real stakes in the story so nothing of value is at risk.  It’s taken 50 episodes to get to where we are – which is pretty much where we started – but this series has reached the same conclusion as every other tie-in: no consequences.

Now if ST:TCW was to suddenly invoke a timeline split, well then THAT would be very interesting.  Until then, meh.

That’s all canon in my head ;)

It’s kind of pointless to read Star Trek novels considering that they are not considered canon.  They’re just glorified fan fiction.  I’d rather be reading something that actually matters to the evolution of the characters.

It’s kind of pointless to read Star Trek novels considering that they are not considered canon.  They’re just glorified fan fiction.  I’d rather be reading something that actually matters to the evolution of the characters.

It’s kind of pointless to read Star Trek novels considering that they are not considered canon.  They’re just glorified fan fiction.  I’d rather be reading something that actually matters to the evolution of the characters.

It’s kind of pointless to read Star Trek novels considering that they are not considered canon.  They’re just glorified fan fiction.  I’d rather be reading something that actually matters to the evolution of the characters.

It’s kind of pointless to read Star Trek novels considering that they are not considered canon.  They’re just glorified fan fiction.  I’d rather be reading something that actually matters to the evolution of the characters.

It’s kind of pointless to read Star Trek novels considering that they are not considered canon.  They’re just glorified fan fiction.  I’d rather be reading something that actually matters to the evolution of the characters.

I realize many people can’t enjoy stories that are outside the canon because they feel they aren’t “real” Star Trek (or Dr. Who, or James Bond, or what have you) stories, but guess what, people – they’re **all** imaginary stories.  Enjoy.

I like expanded universes. I’m into games like Mass Effect, Dead Space, Halo, and Army of Two, and I’ll gladly take anything I can get my hands on to expand my knowledge of those games. And I enjoy seeing how the characters are handled in different mediums. The way I see it is if you like something, why not have more of it?