19th July 2006, 12:54 PM
I certainly consider them canon. Comic books probably count too, unless they're from the expressly noncanon line (there are some, I forget the name because I haven't read Star Wars comic books...)
It is true that movie canon trumps all other forms, so when the books contradict the films the films are the correct ones, but still, the books are certainly canon too. The only possible exceptions are the short story collections (with tales for numerous different minor characters -- are those all canon? No. For instance, the one that shows Boba Fett's origins is wrong. And I'm not sure if they are all still considered canon anyway...) and the facts in other books we now know are wrong -- the dates for the Clone Wars in the first Zahn trilogy, etc.
Anyway, they continue the story and have huge amounts of character development, so as I said, there is no comparison. Sure, the first Star Wars film didn't have a lot, but ESB? No way can anything in Dead Man's Chest compare to that, character-wise... (sure, as I said the Pirates characters act realistically, but character development wise?)
Oh yeah, and it's full of those standard silly movie conventions you come to expect like 10 minuite sword fights between goodguys where no one ever hits eachother, on a rolling water wheel which just happens to end up exactly where they needed to be, and stuff like how amazingly in each battle where lots of people die all of the major characters/crew members survive when everyone else dies... :D (Oh, this isn't a major problem, most movies do it, I just always notice it...)
It is true that movie canon trumps all other forms, so when the books contradict the films the films are the correct ones, but still, the books are certainly canon too. The only possible exceptions are the short story collections (with tales for numerous different minor characters -- are those all canon? No. For instance, the one that shows Boba Fett's origins is wrong. And I'm not sure if they are all still considered canon anyway...) and the facts in other books we now know are wrong -- the dates for the Clone Wars in the first Zahn trilogy, etc.
Anyway, they continue the story and have huge amounts of character development, so as I said, there is no comparison. Sure, the first Star Wars film didn't have a lot, but ESB? No way can anything in Dead Man's Chest compare to that, character-wise... (sure, as I said the Pirates characters act realistically, but character development wise?)
Oh yeah, and it's full of those standard silly movie conventions you come to expect like 10 minuite sword fights between goodguys where no one ever hits eachother, on a rolling water wheel which just happens to end up exactly where they needed to be, and stuff like how amazingly in each battle where lots of people die all of the major characters/crew members survive when everyone else dies... :D (Oh, this isn't a major problem, most movies do it, I just always notice it...)