The funniest thing about all of this hooplah about the Canon changes is that it's working just the way it used to.

This is how it used to be:
EU was Canon as long as George Lucas didn't change it in one of his projects (the movies and TV shows), or it was changed by someone else writing a new book.
This is how it is now:
EU is "legends" as long as Disney doesn't change (or confirm) it in one of their projects (including movies, tv-shows and books).

So what's the difference?

Heck, even Lucas himself said that the EU was "just fanfiction" and he didn't read any of "that stuff".

Did anyone actually count the EU stuff as rock-solid Canon? Did anyone actually expect Lucas to honor the EU stuff and not contradict it in the movies and tv-shows?
If they did, they were in for a rude awakening.

Canon is important because it acts as a common language and common reference so fans can communicate efficiently and without confusion.

If I say "lightsaber," you know I'm referring to a weapon with an energy blade that's mean as h*ll.

If I say "Jar Jar," you know I'm referring to an insufferable supporting character.

If I say "Midichlorians" ... never mind, we don't talk about that.

Because of canon, I don't have to explain the differences between a land speeder and sandcrawler

Canon is a the lexicon we speak from and the encyclopedia that provides information and context about a setting that doesn't exist, but that we all are passionate about.

If we didn't have canon, we could still discuss the setting and the universe, but holy f*** would it be a lot harder.

So yeah, canon's important.

Boba Fett or Admiral Thrawn, which is the most over-rated Star Wars character ever?

As LethalDose says, canon as a base language is important. To clarify, when I say I mostly chuck it, I don't mean basic terminology, I mean for an RPG setting, in an oppressive empire that likely controls the flow of information, I tell my players they can't be sure everything happened as it did in the movies. They don't know, because their characters don't know.

Boba Fett or Admiral Thrawn, which is the most over-rated Star Wars character ever?

Out of those two I'd have to say Fett, hands down. Thrawn barely gets a mention in comparison and is relatively contained. Generally speaking, I'd toss Han Solo in there. I love the guy, but, he gets hyped up way more which sort of drowns his core appeal in being just "a guy".

I have a hard time understanding why it`s so **** important to people to know everything about every little detail about the Galaxy, it`s ficyion

Nothing alienates a group of fans more than by telling them "it's just fiction."

Yes, we are aware that Star Wars is all made up. It's just as apparent to us as it is to you. But that doesn't change how important or special it is to us. It's something we're very interested in, and something we care deeply about. To have others tell us what is and is not true about it bothers us. When you spend as much time in this galaxy as we have, knowing what's there and what's not matters.

What?!

It's FICTION!?

You're telling me that this isn't actually a historical document of the heroic struggles of a small resistance group in a galaxy far far away?

YOU'VE RUINED MY CHILDHOOD!

What ..... you thought this was real .... like Galaxy Quest?

Can you prove that it didn't actually happen a long time ago in another galaxy far, far away?

Perhaps G.L.'s father, years after having returned from WW2, revealed to him the strange cube he had found hidden in the depths of a Nazi castle under an ancient Bushido temple. With the cube were half-translated notes revealing the cube had been passed down through eons after coming to Earth in the hands of an alien refugee with mystical powers. George was able to slowly translate more of the notes allowing him to open the holocron which was full of stories from a galaxy far, far away. Since, capitalist George has pumped it for all the money it's worth.

ETA: Except, when he opened the holocron he inadvertently sent out a signal. When archaelogists of the 7th Order, searching through the world ruins of Coruscant, stumble upon an ancient Jedi library, expect the signal to be followed. George may be happy he sold the holocron, now hidden in the secret research chambers below Disney World. Imagine vacationers running in fear as a Syth Star Dreadnought arrives above Cinderella Castle. http://pre01.deviantart.net/fbb0/th/pre/i/2012/018/9/3/post_apocalyptic_disneyland_by_tarrzan-d4be4qf.jpg

Perhaps G.L.'s father, years after having returned from WW2, revealed to him the strange cube he had found hidden in the depths of a Nazi castle. With the cube were half-translated notes revealing the cube had been passed down through eons after coming to Earth in the hands of an alien refugee. George was able to slowly translate more of the notes allowing him to open the holocron which was full of stories from a galaxy far, far away. Since, capitalist George has pumped it for all the money it's worth.

I'll say this speaking for myself, I grew up without the prequels and a few of the books in the EU. I didn't know, for example, what the clone wars were for sure. My friends and I had our theories, but nothing official. After I put the novels down and decided they weren't for me, the prequels dropped and I have to say... canon is not important to me. I prefer Star Wars to feel like something fresh and new that surprises you. IMO too much of the lore outside of the original three movies doesn't feel this way.

In my game Vadar has OCD. That was how he created force choke since he was compulsive about it

Life would be much happier not caring about Canon.

When JJ Abrams created Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness I really enjoyed the movies. Dare I say I liked them more than all the Star Trek series and spinoffs. Yet I found myself annoyed that he'd basically wiped out Star Trek, as anyone who had never seen it before, but were introduced through the films, would start questioning the series.

No Spock's mother is dead, I saw it in the movie.

There is no Vulcan, it got destroyed in the same movie.

How did Khan get onto Seti Alpha five/six? Wasn't he a popsicle?

It sounds silly, but there are people like that.

I'll be the first to admit I like timelines. I like to know beginning, middle and end. My Star Wars has always been the movies. I've not had experience of the books, comic books or computer games. In fact, the only EU I saw was two Ewok movies when I was a boy.

Curious about what happened after Endor, I went to Wookieepedia and read about the New Republic, Chiss, Yuzzong Vong (glad that one is gone) and how the Galactic Civil War ended in 19 ABY. Seeing what occurred in the thirty years after Endor gave me some indication of what to expect.

Then.....

It all went bye bye

At least "officially"

Having already started creating background for planets and characters, based on what I read, I became a little.....

But when sanity returned I was actually happy that all that endless tide of information and cross referencing and link to there, for more information click here is now gone. But as someone who wants "Canon" Star Wars in his campaign I'd like to know what happens between Endor and Force Awakens.

So I'll be getting Shattered Empire. But that's all. Rest I'll read on Wookieepedia under Canon.

So to answer your question. I love sci-fi, especially Star Wars, and don't much care about Canon as long as it's still rocking awesome (JJ Star Trek for example). But I do care about Canon when it comes to my own Star Wars story and characters and how they interact with, or respond to the events in the grand galaxy spanning scope of things.

I love scifi in general as well but hate Into Darkness and consider it the worst Trek movie ever. 2009 wasn't nearly as bad but I would put it in the lower-middle range of the franchises films.

You mean to say you don't enjoy the Yuuzhan Vong and Darth Krayt?

Weirdly enough, although I hate the Vong and the whole Vong storyline with a passion, I really like Darth Krayt and the whole Legacy storyline. It feels very Star Wars in a way the Vong storyline didn't, and yet at the same time very different from the existing Canon. If there is one thing (beyond the Old Republic stuff) that I hope stays part of the Canon/lore, it's the Legacy storyline (comics, not novels).

And yes, I do realise that Darth Krayt and the whole Legacy comics storyline requires Vong, but they don't seem nearly as bad when portrayed as a long defeated and almost forgotten enemy...

Agreed, Legacy was much better than I expected...I kept avoiding it, but in a moment of "weakness" gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised. Vong, however, and really the whole of the post E6 stuff...no words can describe how badly it sucks.

See, that's the problem with people going "why did they kill off the EU, there was so much great stuff in there!"...

Lots of people loved the Vong... Lots of people hated the Vong...

Canon is importantly to us Star Wars nerds because of the countless fights that start up about the universe in which it exists.
Having that definition of what IS and what IS NOT accepted as truth (in-so-far as Fiction allows for truth) provides us a solid position to work from.
It leeches into our gameplay because it gives us a solid skeleton. There are no questions about what belongs on this skeleton, now that we have had the Disney canon wipe.
With said skeleton agreed upon by the fanbase as a whole as being truth (again, fictional), we, as GMs and players, can then begin to flesh it out.

The EU that has been obliterated is no longer part of the skeleton, but can now by used to create muscle and sinew. It is flavor, not the entree, and by treating it as such, we are free to pick and choose which flavors we add to the plate.

It is very important, especially when you sit down at a table and decide on the sort of campaign you want to run, the characters you will accept at the table, and the backstory of your characters.
If we did not hold canon as being important, it would be like sitting down to a game of D&D with a player who created his own custom class, claims to have been playing it for several years, and demands you allow him to play that exact character at your table. There is no telling what he's going to pull out next.

Canon let's everyone start from zero, without actually having to invent a whole new world themselves.

Yeah Legacy by far is my favorite SW comic series and my favorite non-interactive EU material that came out after TFU and before the split between Legends and Canon. The ST setting up a variation of its plot would be incredible IMO. And really I believe that they could do a plot similar to Kryat's pretty easily without the Vong.

All he needed was something to turn worlds against the Jedi and the government they served plus spark a war between the GA and the Empire. As long as there are two major powers in the known galaxy the basics can be adapted. The Vong were just the means he used to get the crisis he needed.

Yeah Legacy by far is my favorite SW comic series and my favorite non-interactive EU material that came out after TFU and before the split between Legends and Canon. The ST setting up a variation of its plot would be incredible IMO. And really I believe that they could do a plot similar to Kryat's pretty easily without the Vong.

All he needed was something to turn worlds against the Jedi and the government they served plus spark a war between the GA and the Empire. As long as there are two major powers in the known galaxy the basics can be adapted. The Vong were just the means he used to get the crisis he needed.

Ditto. I'm at least passingly familiar with most of the EU (Old Republic, Thrawn Trilogy, Legacy of the Force, Vong Invasion, Dark Empire) and even the previously quasi-official EU (Splinter of the Minds Eye, Shadows of the Empire, Force Unleashed), and other than the Old Republic comics and video games, the only bits of the EU I really enjoyed were the Dark Times, Legacy and Dawn of the Jedi comics. And I don't even like comics normally... the Dark Horse guys just really got what it took to make something "Star Wars" in my opinion.

Legacy was one of my favorite EU ventures. To be honest most of my favorite EU stuff was done by Dark Horse Comics. I like the concept of the Vong and them as a threat but I hated their execution. Thus if I were ever to do a Legacy era game (and I've written a general outline for one) I would rewrite it so the Vong attack never occurred when it did and instead would implement it as a potential threat in the Legacy era that the PC's have to deal with.

Having (and respecting) cannon is a way to borrow an already created universe that has an entire shared lexicon of knowledge already known by both the players and the GM. It's entirely different for the players to be introduced to a blue-skinned gentelman in a white uniform who appears to be in command of a fleet of several capital ships and another to say, "You see Admiral Thrawn walk into the room."

The first could be anyone and the PCs might not take him too seriously if they've been pants'ing the Empire up and down the Corellia Run, but the second, the players already understand that this is a major NPC who should be respected and is a massive challenge.

I love scifi in general as well but hate Into Darkness and consider it the worst Trek movie ever. 2009 wasn't nearly as bad but I would put it in the lower-middle range of the franchises films.

Lets hope the new one will be a bit more cerebral and less frat boy now that JJ is out of the director's chair. I liked the 2009 but found the main characters to be too unprofessional to be the bridge crew on a starship. ITD was just a bad film.

I love scifi in general as well but hate Into Darkness and consider it the worst Trek movie ever. 2009 wasn't nearly as bad but I would put it in the lower-middle range of the franchises films.

Lets hope the new one will be a bit more cerebral and less frat boy now that JJ is out of the director's chair. I liked the 2009 but found the main characters to be too unprofessional to be the bridge crew on a starship. ITD was just a bad film.

Apparantly Simon Pegg was ordered to rewrite the third Star Trek movie because it was too "brainy" or something... so expect a dumbed-down movie.

OTOH, I've always found the original cast to be too unprofessional to be the bridge crew of a starship... TNG, not so much, but definately the originals.

Why is CANON so **** important to Star Wars fans?....*

Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra.

*And why isn't punctuation so **** important?

Why is CANON so **** important to Star Wars fans?....*

Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra.

*And why isn't punctuation so **** important?

I raise you a buddy's opus:

I want to be clear that I am not accusing any contributors to this thread of what I am about to bring up.

I have noticed that with any fandom, a pecking order can form among certain types of members. These members tend toward a certain level of self-loathing that compels them to justify their fandom of (in this case) "Star Wars".

Now, there are a few ways to this but pertinent to this thread are the "Knowledge Nazis". The goal is to be the "better fan" and there are, generally, two main types:

One is the truer "Star Wars" fan by devouring each and every scrap of lore. By knowing which is and isn't canon, they inflate their value among their social circle and probably imagine that they are, practically, a step away from being a Lucasfilm spokesperson at whatever geek den they frequent.
The other is the truer "Star Wars" fan by dismissing anything not filmed as little more than "high-end fan fiction". This type tends to inflate their social standing by going on and on about the philosophy of "Star Wars" (sometimes as a smoke screen for not knowing some bit of trivia) and will mention "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" or "Hidden Fortress" as if they are one of the few who know of these influences.

Canon to fans is more or less beauty in the eye of the beholder. Canon to a studio wanting to spin up development of a media delivery juggernaut spanning books, games, movies, and TV, it is a critical framework for providing a coherent experience to fans and allowing new fans to sink their teeth into a product not overwhelmed by what came before.