Archive
Does Canon Matter? Part 8 – The Works of Douglas Adams
Believe it or not, I’m finally wrapping up my series on canon!
In this last entry, I talk about my favorite author, Douglas Adams and discuss the continuity between various versions of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I also discuss the Dirk Gently series, the computer games Adams worked on and his nonfiction work. I ramble a bit about the work others have done to adapt or continue Adams’ stories as well. And I wrap things up by trying to directly address the question I’ve been asking for a ridiculously long time, now: Does Canon Matter?
This was a good topic to end on, because I could have gone on forever, and there’s plenty I didn’t get to (for example, I ended up not saying anything about the Hitchhiker’s comic book adaptation or the Last Chance to See TV series Stephen Fry worked on). There’s an ocean of material out there if you go looking for it, so I encourage folks to check it all out. 🙂
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Does Canon Matter? Part 7 – Terry Pratchett’s Discworld
We’ve made it to Discworld! In this episode, I talk about the canon of Terry Pratchett’s fantasy-comedy series. I also wander off into another rant about the use and meaning of the word “multiverse.” This series has a huge number of books in it – they’re all in continuity with each other, and yet you can pick up virtually any one of them to start with and not be too terribly confused by it. How does Pratchett do it?! I’m still figuring that out.
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Does Canon Matter? Part 6 – H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos
I have returned to continue rambling about canon! In this episode I talk about the Cthulhu Mythos and stumle over several nigh-unpronounceable names for entities whose merest concepts could drive an ordinary human mad. I also discuss how the nature of the Mythos makes it extremely difficult – perhaps even impossible – to nail down exactly what counts and what doesn’t.
NOTE: As it turns out, the publishing company Arkham House might not be quite as dead as I may have made it sound in this episode. The Wikipedia article on them seems to indicate they’ve had recent financial trouble, but have been working to combat that. Nevertheless, as far as I can tell it appears as though folks are currently able to publish Mythos-related materials right and left without necessarily being challenged. I would still advise authors to research the status of anything they plan to make use of as best they can before they do so.
Here are a couple of links with further writings about the confusion surrounding the copyright situation:
The H.P. Lovecraft Wiki
Chris J. Karr
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Does Canon Matter? Part 4 – Star Trek & DC
I misguidedly attempted to wrap up my canon series only to realize I had much more to say than I’d initially reckoned.
Ahaha.
So, here’s the next part, wherein I tackle two franchises: Star Trek and DC. I also tangent for a bit at the beginning into the recent Darkwing Duck controversy. I also make a terrible pun about an obscure DC character I happen to like, bring up my distaste for there being so much segmented metal in science fiction nowadays and get a tad defensive about the fact that I don’t hate all of the movies I’m supposed to hate.
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Interview: KT Bryski – Six Stories, Told at Night
The delightful writer and podcaster KT Bryski and I chatted about her recent release, Six Stories, Told at Night. The audio drama folds traditional French-Canadian folktales into a series of stories about the relationship between two young friends. Those stories are in turn folded into a third overall narrative. It’s excellent stuff and you can hear it FOR FREE! I highly recommend it.
We were attacked a few times by the Skype Demons during the interview and while I’ve done my best to edit around them, there are a couple of points where our voices may warp a bit, so I apologize if the audio quality gets a bit wonky at times.
Six Stories, Told at Night is written, directed and produced by KT Bryski, and performed by Blythe Haynes, who works with KT at Black Creek Pioneer Village. The song “Lovely, Dark and Deep” (which you can also hear some of at the beginning and end of this episode) was composed by Alex White, and the vocals were performed by Ellen McAteer. The cover art for the podcast (pictured in this blog post) was designed by the inimitable Starla Huchton (whom I once interviewed for this very podcast!). Six Stories, Told at Night is funded by the Ontario Arts Council.
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Music by Alex White
Does Canon Matter? Part 3 – The Marvel Cinematic Universe
Here we have the third part of my ridiculously long ramble about canon in popular media, this time focusing on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I chat at length about some of the differences between the movies and the TV shows, the comics and all manner of other things as we continue to explore the question of whether or not any of those differences matter.
I also briefly wander into a tangent about Battlestar Galactica and laugh maniacally a couple of times.
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Does Canon Matter? Part 2 – Star Wars
Behold the Destroyer of the 4th Wall, She Who Breaks Reality With Her Song of Farewell!
Here’s the second part of my epically long pseudo-rant about continuity and canon in popular media.
I love Star Wars, but in this episode I talk about why I think it’s best to err on the side of caution when chatting about its canon with fellow fans. For many folks, Star Wars is a build-your-own-canon situation, and I talk about dealing with that. I also misattribute a quote by Jebediah Orne to Old Man Whateley, but neither of those are Star Wars characters, so I’ll just try to play it cool and think of it as a social experiment.
My apologies in advance to any repressed emotional trauma the picture accompanying this entry might evoke.
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Does Canon Matter? Part 1 – Doctor Who
I set out to do a quick talk about the role of canon in various fandoms and it turned into a massive lecture that I’ll have to split into multiple parts. So, here’s the first part, wherein I talk at length about the canon of Doctor Who (and quite possibly tick off some of my fellow Whovians).
NOTE: I’ve noticed I use the word “series” a lot in this episode. For the most part, I’m using the American meaning of the word (the entirety of a single show’s run), though there is one point in the middle where I try to switch to the UK meaning (when I’m talking about people being familiar with “the current series and the previous series” – by which I mean the current season and the previous season) but despite my effort to grammatically hop the pond, I clumsily fall back into the Standard `Murican definition pretty quickly after that.
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Discussion: ConCarolinas 2015
After dealing with several life-altering bits of oddity over the last few months, here finally is a discussion I recorded with some folks a while back as a post-mortem to ConCarolinas this year. Of course, as you’ll hear, there’s already a bit of time-bending in our conversation (as none of us could quite recall what day or week it was, most likely due to an unfortunate combination of alcohol and time travel), so I’m sure posting it at the end of August will make it all the more strange and confusing. Also, my microphone was acting strangely at the time of the recording, so my apologies if the audio sounds a bit wonky. Despite all this, we had an excellent conversation about the con! Here `tis.
LINKERY!
The Charlotte Geeks:
– Facebook
– Meetup
– The Geek Gala (2015 Event on Facebook!)
– Guardians of the Geekery Podcast
SCARAB:
SCARAB Gaming Convention
The SCARAB Swarm Cast
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Music by Kevin MacLeod
Discussion: The Hobbit – Book vs Movies
To kick off 2015 I decided to do something a bit different: a roundtable discussion!
There’s much to be said for Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies, but how do major Tolkien fans feel about it? I was curious to find out, so I grabbed four people steeped in Hobbit lore and held a discussion full of delicious nerd rage. We talked about the changes made for the movies, the nature of Hollywood, and the difference between dragons and wyverns, among many other topics.
This episode’s panelists were:
Richard Rohlin with Grapple Gun Publishing
Denise Lhamon of the Accessories Not Included blog
Kimi of The Golden Lasso and Happy Jack’s RPG Podcast
Jon of Crucible of Realms
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Music by Kevin MacLeod
Syndication
Jim Ryan
This is what Jim looks like uncomfortably close up.
Jim's Podcasts
http://www.crucibleofrealms.com/
http://www.rpgdebate.com/
https://cyphercast.wordpress.com/Jim's Writing for Sale!
Abduction Etiquette
Farrago on Amazon Kindle- Farrago on Smashwords
From the Dark Side on Amazon- From the Dark Side on Smashwords
- In the Bloodstream: An Anthology of Dark Fantasy and Horror
- Kaiser's Gate: Tales from the Front on Amazon Kindle
- Kaiser's Gate: Tales from the Front on DriveThruRPG
Main Street Rag – Spring 2010
Titanic Jocularity!
License
Jim - Yes, THAT Jim by Byron James Ryan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Jim - Yes, THAT Jim 