The Intergalactic Highway

http://www.genomestudios.com/thoughtcri ... _Glass.htm




Warning: I'm gonna take a cue from Outtsyder's review of the Beast Wars mini-series comic and post spoiler space, heh. There may be some spoilers ahead so click on the link to read the story before you read the post. If you've already read the comic, then just scroll on down.



























I think everyone here knows more or less about Dark Glass and how it was the lost script to an unproduced episode. I don't know how many people here know about Genome Studio's fan-interpretation of Dark Glass so I'm posting it for all to see. Anyways, do you consider this fan-made comic of Dark Glass to be canonical with the show or merely fanfiction material?

Personally, I found the comic to be as enjoyable of an interpretation as any. The drama was well-thought out showing the loss that both Rattrap and Depth Charge felt. There were also some funny moments between Cheetor and Silverbolt arguing over Blackarachnia. For example:

Cheetor: "How many times can I explain this? I'm NOT interested in her like that!"
Silverbolt: "Like what?"
Cheetor: "Y'know, like THAT!"
Silverbolt: "But you were once!"
Cheetor: "I was a kid!"
Silverbolt: "It was three WEEKS ago!"

That part had me laughing. As much as I liked it, the comic also had its flaws. Some of the dialogue was not as good as the others. Also, there was one spot between DC and Rattrap where the grammar was just atrocious. I also found it inconsistent how Dinobot put DC in stasis lock so easily but yet, Rhinox's machine guns managed to knock Dinobot out despite the TMII armor(whereas Rhinox's guns didn't even hurt Rampage as seen in Agenda Pt III). *sigh* But then again, I have to remind myself that this IS set in Season 3 where inconsistencies like this run WILD.

The love triangle also got resolved. It wasn't completely satisfying but it wasn't horrible either. It just felt kinda... "meh" for me.

Overall, it was a pretty good story despite its flaws. I'd give it four stars out of five. There were some parts that I felt could have been done slightly better but I still consider the story far more canon than I do Go With the Flow. Would you guys consider this story canon? It does a pretty good job of squeezing itself into Beast Wars' timeline without really contradicting any previous storylines.

Oh, yeah; I remember reading this years ago. I hadn't thought about looking for it again for years; thanks for finding the link, E-Blue.

One thing to remember, though, is the term "canon" actually means "official". So by that definition, even though "Dark Glass" was never produced and this fan-comic interpretation gives the story idea some exposure, it can't be considered "canon" unless it's actually recognized by the people who actually did create and produce the show. However, it IS a good fan fiction that can fit into the canon story. That's pretty astounding, considering that BW had such a linear storyline with VERY few gaps after Season 1 that would allow for any filling-in-the-blanks, or risking going "alt-verse" or whatever it is you call it.

The same principle applies to a story script I've written (it needs some re-tooling) so that it would fit between "Crossing The Rubicon" and "Master Blaster". Sapphire's read my early draft, but I won't make it public or submit it yet until I feel I've gotten the bugs worked out. But in this story, I was able to include some elements and fragments that bridged some gaps in the middle-to-later part of Season 3, try to flesh out some other parts from the series, and actually make it feel like it could be a real BW episode. However, no matter how many people may think the story will be great, or even if it ends up winning a BW Fanfic award for next year, it can't be called "canon", because it isn't.

Outtsyder

Personally, I've always felt that the term canon has always been a relative definition. The word's become so convoluted and multi-layered that it's hard to pin down exactly what's canon or not. Whether or not something's canon can change over time for any number of reasons as it's such an open-ended concept that's subject to revisionism and ret-cons.

For me, canon is whatever the heck you want it to be. You, as the fan get to pick the stories you like the most and if you happen not to like a certain story from your fandom, then it doesn't have to be canon. To hell with what anyone else has to say. I've never been a huge fan of Beast Machines so I simply don't accept it as part of the Beast Wars universe I've grown to love. Heck, there are even certain parts of Season 3 that I find too absurd to actually be worthy of the Beast Wars legacy.

Fan reactions can also determine whether or not something becomes canon(believe it or not). With the Goliath Chronicles(Season 3 of Gargoyles), the series was so widely hated and maligned that most fans didn't consider it canon at all despite the fact that it was "official." Now, Greg Weisman(the creator of the show) has finally decided that the Goliath Chronicles is not canon and is currently working on a Gargoyles comic book that will erase the Goliath Chronicles completely out of continuity and go in the direction that the fans and Greg Weisman himself finds favorable. It's same with the Rurouni Kenshin series. After a certain point, the anime started going in a completely different direction than the manga. Most people didn't like the storylines the anime had to offer. Even today, the anime(post-Kyoto Arc) is not considered canon despite the fact that the anime is said to be an official interpretation of the series.

As for the Dark Glass fan-interpretation, some of the details can be considered sketchy, true. But the one thing we have to remember that what IS official is the fact that Rattrap did in fact insert the original Dinobot's memories within the TMII. Aside from a passing resemblance, he's had no connections to the original Dinobot whatsoever(especially considering that his spark came from Rampage of all people). If you want to consider Nemesis Part II canon(which I don't), then Dinobot's actions in there will only make more sense 'cause I seriously doubt the spark of the original magically floated out from the Matrix to possess him.

For me...
Rattrap inserting DB's memories into TMII DB = canon, without a doubt
Everything else in the fan interpretation = Ehh, maybe it's canon... or fanon... or whatever, you decide

All things aside, I guess I consider the comic to be like an expanded universe kinda thing(or maybe fanon). It may not be completely official but it does contain one un-used element from the show given credence by the writers and producers to count as somewhat legitimate. After all, George Lucas himself doesn't write any books for the Star Wars Expanded Universe(he also said it himself that he considers the EU to be in a separate universe from his movies) but yet, they're still considered secondary canon.

Heh...I hope I don't wind up getting this moved to the rant section.

Anyway, I heard about Dark Glass from Outtie a long time ago. Never knew there was a comic for it. Thanks for the link.

The story is pretty interesting, but like Outtsyder said, I wouldn't call it canon. It's a script that was never used in the BW cartoon - and since it is not used, it's not canon. Of course, not being canon doesn't mean you can't incorporate it into your fics.

Which brings me to the rant about the definition of "canon." See, I don't believe that "canon is relative." Why? Because that little phrase causes a LOT of flamewars. People generally see canon as Serious Business. Sure, they may say "canon is relative" - but then they'll think some canons are more relative than others. They'll start bending over backwards, thinking they need to "prove" their pairings/interpretations are what REALLY happened - and that rival pairings/interpretations are "wrong." After awhile it just degenerates into "OMG, MY CANON IS RITE, ADN YUORS IZ STUPID ADN WRONG!!!1"

I think canon is what the mega-corporations/original authors are churning out. In the case of Beast Wars, it's what shows up in the CGI cartoons, comics, and tech specs. There's different kinds of canons, of course - what happens in the cartoon universe is different in the comic universe. But as long as it has Hasbro's official seal on it, it's canon.

Canon also cannot be disputed. There is no doubt that the Primal and his team are the good guys and Megatron and his team are the bad guys. There is no doubt that it is tied to G1. There is no doubt that Cheetor is young and inexperienced, Rhinox is smart, Rattrap is sarcastic, Silverbolt is squeaky clean, Megatron takes baths with a rubber duck, and Waspinator gets blown up a lot. All that is canon.

Canon is also there whether people like it or not. Don't like Beast Machines? Too bad, it's there. Don't like TF:TM and G1 Season 3? Too bad, it's there. Don't like any of the Japanese series? Well...they're there, but they don't really affect anything, so it's not like anyone had to worry. Of course, that does NOT mean that you HAVE TO like it. (A lot of people tend to go into raving anti-fan mode when somebody else brings up a story arc they don't like, thinking that if anyone considers it canon, then they'll be forced to like it. Or that they'll violently implode, one of those.) If somebody doesn't like a part of the canon, they don't have to watch it/write about it. Fic writers can just make an alternate universe (AU) that goes around it. Hey, free country. But outright denying something is canon when it clearly has Hasbro's seal of approval on it is well...denial. Of course, there is that exception with Gargoyles where the authors tore the seal of approval off something. But Hasbro's never done that so far, so we can't celebrate yet.

Now what about those things that were open-ended? Transformers has plently of plot holes where no one knows what really happened, and Hasbro's never given the official word on anything. The best example I can think of right now is from G1 (I can't think of a good BW one right now) - which Decepticon got what upgrade from Unicron. There's no doubt that Megatron turned into Galvatron...but they other guys? Uh... They were all discolored at the time, so nobody can really tell who is who. Furthermore, everybody looks the same. In that case, there really is no canon - it's all interpretation. You can say that that Character A became Cyclonus and Character B became Scourge - or vice versa. There's even folks who say that they were all extras, not official characters. That's perfectly okay, because there's no official word on it (though it looks like there's an exception for the Dreamwave universe. Apparently, Cyclonus and Scourge are mass produced).

Now what I think IS relative is "ficverses" - or "fic universes," whatever. These would be everybody's individual interpretations of canon along with personal quirks. This is where incorporating Dark Glass into fics would come in. This is also where people can make AUs to go around something, or address something that was never answered (like Outtie's script). You can also add stuff like Megatron's duckie is named Disco Duck. Everything's okay, since it's all interpretation and/or extra stuff you made up (of course, there's a problem with writing it out correctly so that readers understand a ficverse...but that's something else entirely). And because it is simply your interpretation/ficverse, people (well, most people) won't treat it as Serious Business. Chances are, if you say, "I think that Characters A and B getting together is canon," the other person might freak out and say something like "EWWW! THAT PAIRING IS ICKY!" or "NO! CHARACTERS A AND C GET TOGETHER, YOU TARD!" If you explain that it's just your interpretation/ficverse, then there probably won't be as much wank (unless you're talking to a rabid shipper).

Of course, there's also the problem with fanon. For those of you that don't know, fanon is "fan created canon." It can be either an interpretation that is very popular, or what fans generally agree on what happened even if it hasn't. A good example is Rampage being related to Starscream, because they both have "immortal" sparks. Are they? Well, nothing is said about that in the series, so there's no proof that they are or are not. I've never bought it myself, but plenty of people out there seem to like it. Fanon should NOT be confused with canon, however. That doesn't mean you can't use it in your own fics, but don't get confused.

I don't think "Dark Glass" is quite fanon yet, but I wouldn't say it's canon. But, there's no reason not to use it in fics. It's pretty interesting.

*whew* I think this post qualifies as "filibuster."

The topic was about the "Dark Glass" comic and people's thoughts on it, so the canon chat is partly relevent, but I feel it's in danger of becoming a rant as to the definition of canon. If anyone wants to continue the canon definition debate, then feel free to start that up in the rant section. For the remainder of this thread, however, people's opinions on the "Dark Glass" comic are welcome.

I thought I might like to point out, there's another flaw in the comic; Dinobot did kill at least his clone! He wasn't much of a softie, especially before BW. Who knows what he did on Cybertron?

Huh, where in the comic did it portray the original Dinobot as a softie? Was it the part where X and Dinobot were having a struggle for control of TMII Dinobot's mind?

(BTW, I moved the canon discussion to the rant section)

Do I consider it cannon? Some parts of it, yes. Other parts, are "maybes."

Obviously, it can't ALL be canon. I consider some basic plot things to be canon.

I think Depth Charge's reactions in helping Rattrap are a bit off.

In my opinion, if it were produced as an "official" episode, many things would have been different.

My own interpretation of "Dark Glass" would be different. Same basic plot points would remain the same, but I would probably change a lot of things.

I'm I the only one who hasn't heard of it?

EverBlue wrote:Huh, where in the comic did it portray the original Dinobot as a softie? Was it the part where X and Dinobot were having a struggle for control of TMII Dinobot's mind?

(BTW, I moved the canon discussion to the rant section)

Yup that's it.