I am unfamiliar with the Canon
May. 21st, 2009 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebitterguyThat's my problem, you see. I'm unfamiliar with the canon.
I don't know about the back history of this thing, whether this thing is Tolkien's Middle Earth, Fleming's James Bond, or Doyle's Holmes. So if I see a media iteration, I'll assume that's it. Even if I know there's gaping bloody holes in it, I'm fine as long as that's behind the scenes (or at least out of my eyesight).*
I'm usually not familiar with the genre (any genre), even if I love it. No, seriously, I'm a huge fan of Godzilla and other Kaiju, but the US Remake makes up an unacceptable percentage of my viewing history. Most of my knowledge comes from a magazine article that included an illustration of Big G done by John Severin (IIRC). I love the concept of giant monsters, and remember enough that I know that any Godzilla movie with a baby Godzilla is likely to suck. But I don't know the canon.
I'm married to a Trekkie, but my exposure was mostly through CKWS' Saturday afternoon broadcasts which, and I am serious, seemed to consist almost entirely of reruns of Devil in the Dark**. I read a scattering of the novels (which tended to be about the quality of... Well, Star Trek novels). My first consistent exposure to the franchise was TNG, which I still recognized as being off.
Dr. Who? Look, that just scares me. The Canon on that sucker consists of 40 years of TV, much of it only preserved by monastic scribes while society fell around them.
Marvel Comics of the '80s? Sure, I am familiar with that Canon. Champions? I'm familiar with that Canon, mostly by luck. D&D? Canonical by assimilation. Star Wars? Religiously, up until Zahn's atrocious trilogy, which was easy enough (he said sardonically, drinking a hot chocolate while his lightsaber opened with a snap hiss). But then I schismed.
But mostly? I'm not familiar with the Canon.
That's freeing. I can look at something and not go "But that isn't right". I can judge things on their own merits, as much as I'm able to. Experiencing without the depth of history is a valid experience, just as much as approaching it with a bibliographic knowledge of which side of the aluminum foil was used for the Cybermen costume in which specific episode.
So I don't mind that I am unfamiliar with the canon.
* I suspect this is the same reason people can enjoy the LXG film.
** To this day I cannot recall having seen City on the Edge of Forever in full. Or Amok Time. I'm pretty sure I saw the Gangster one. And the Nazi one. And the Jesus one. And the one with the rabbit and Kirk getting beat up by a drunken Irishman.
I don't know about the back history of this thing, whether this thing is Tolkien's Middle Earth, Fleming's James Bond, or Doyle's Holmes. So if I see a media iteration, I'll assume that's it. Even if I know there's gaping bloody holes in it, I'm fine as long as that's behind the scenes (or at least out of my eyesight).*
I'm usually not familiar with the genre (any genre), even if I love it. No, seriously, I'm a huge fan of Godzilla and other Kaiju, but the US Remake makes up an unacceptable percentage of my viewing history. Most of my knowledge comes from a magazine article that included an illustration of Big G done by John Severin (IIRC). I love the concept of giant monsters, and remember enough that I know that any Godzilla movie with a baby Godzilla is likely to suck. But I don't know the canon.
I'm married to a Trekkie, but my exposure was mostly through CKWS' Saturday afternoon broadcasts which, and I am serious, seemed to consist almost entirely of reruns of Devil in the Dark**. I read a scattering of the novels (which tended to be about the quality of... Well, Star Trek novels). My first consistent exposure to the franchise was TNG, which I still recognized as being off.
Dr. Who? Look, that just scares me. The Canon on that sucker consists of 40 years of TV, much of it only preserved by monastic scribes while society fell around them.
Marvel Comics of the '80s? Sure, I am familiar with that Canon. Champions? I'm familiar with that Canon, mostly by luck. D&D? Canonical by assimilation. Star Wars? Religiously, up until Zahn's atrocious trilogy, which was easy enough (he said sardonically, drinking a hot chocolate while his lightsaber opened with a snap hiss). But then I schismed.
But mostly? I'm not familiar with the Canon.
That's freeing. I can look at something and not go "But that isn't right". I can judge things on their own merits, as much as I'm able to. Experiencing without the depth of history is a valid experience, just as much as approaching it with a bibliographic knowledge of which side of the aluminum foil was used for the Cybermen costume in which specific episode.
So I don't mind that I am unfamiliar with the canon.
* I suspect this is the same reason people can enjoy the LXG film.
** To this day I cannot recall having seen City on the Edge of Forever in full. Or Amok Time. I'm pretty sure I saw the Gangster one. And the Nazi one. And the Jesus one. And the one with the rabbit and Kirk getting beat up by a drunken Irishman.
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