06-19-2005, 07:14 AM
It's a method certain major companies have used to satisfy their fanbases with a lower-cost "fix" than television shows, movies, or comic books.
My brother, currently in the Navy, can't stand to read books, but he did read a series of X-Men books back in middle school -- the only works of fiction he ever read outside of school assignments as far as I know. I tried to read them, but it was horrible. I suppose I just prefer to associate with the X-Men in a visual medium.
On the other hand, I love my Expanded Universe novels, and am only looking to sell them because I need money, and won't need them after I ship out. I'm not proficient enough to take a stab at writing any serious Star Wars fanfic (I know, I've tried, and it still looks like crap), and some of the authors did a pretty poor job with the canon (like Kevin J. Anderson). Still, I have like 20 of the books left, and a few that I'd rather not sell (my original trilogy books and a trivia book I got in middle school).
I think it would be nice if anime companies would do something like that, but it would be a lot of work to support that kind of initiative if they were to try and verify it compared to canon -- which is part of why George Lucas only set out a few guidelines, and then said if it doesn't contradict the movies, radio shows, or movie novelizations, then it is officially accepted as canonical. It might be fun to see something similar done with some series (I can think of a few that could benefit, like Pokemon and Digimon) with guidelines like...
Digimon EU Guidelines:
(1) It cannot be an explicitly pornographic story.
-- Really, this one is common sense, since we're talking about a children's series. The EU stories, then, might be aimed at a somewhat older demographic, but should still be generally kid-friendly. Also, because of the characters ages, sex should be avoided, but could be done in a tasteful manner, as long as it stays a small part of the story.
(2) It cannot involve any known set of children/partners during the course of their adventures, without permission. This may, or may not, include the original Chosen from Adventure.
-- Simple way to avoid messing up the Canon sources wth the Officially recognized stories. Similar to the way Lucas didn't let authors write about Luke and Leia's mother without permission because, after all, he wanted to tell her story. The problem, to me, is whether this would allow for concurrent groups of heroes, like my Digimon Gaiden series relies on.
Any other ideas for EU guidelines? Those are the biggest ones I can think of off the top of my head... But yeah, fanfic has been published for quite some time, but most of the published stuff has been given the nod by the copyright holders, and has restrictions on what can be published, which is why you're not likely to find any Kirk/Spock novels in your local bookstore.
My brother, currently in the Navy, can't stand to read books, but he did read a series of X-Men books back in middle school -- the only works of fiction he ever read outside of school assignments as far as I know. I tried to read them, but it was horrible. I suppose I just prefer to associate with the X-Men in a visual medium.
On the other hand, I love my Expanded Universe novels, and am only looking to sell them because I need money, and won't need them after I ship out. I'm not proficient enough to take a stab at writing any serious Star Wars fanfic (I know, I've tried, and it still looks like crap), and some of the authors did a pretty poor job with the canon (like Kevin J. Anderson). Still, I have like 20 of the books left, and a few that I'd rather not sell (my original trilogy books and a trivia book I got in middle school).
I think it would be nice if anime companies would do something like that, but it would be a lot of work to support that kind of initiative if they were to try and verify it compared to canon -- which is part of why George Lucas only set out a few guidelines, and then said if it doesn't contradict the movies, radio shows, or movie novelizations, then it is officially accepted as canonical. It might be fun to see something similar done with some series (I can think of a few that could benefit, like Pokemon and Digimon) with guidelines like...
Digimon EU Guidelines:
(1) It cannot be an explicitly pornographic story.
-- Really, this one is common sense, since we're talking about a children's series. The EU stories, then, might be aimed at a somewhat older demographic, but should still be generally kid-friendly. Also, because of the characters ages, sex should be avoided, but could be done in a tasteful manner, as long as it stays a small part of the story.
(2) It cannot involve any known set of children/partners during the course of their adventures, without permission. This may, or may not, include the original Chosen from Adventure.
-- Simple way to avoid messing up the Canon sources wth the Officially recognized stories. Similar to the way Lucas didn't let authors write about Luke and Leia's mother without permission because, after all, he wanted to tell her story. The problem, to me, is whether this would allow for concurrent groups of heroes, like my Digimon Gaiden series relies on.
Any other ideas for EU guidelines? Those are the biggest ones I can think of off the top of my head... But yeah, fanfic has been published for quite some time, but most of the published stuff has been given the nod by the copyright holders, and has restrictions on what can be published, which is why you're not likely to find any Kirk/Spock novels in your local bookstore.