On Deeply Examining Shallow Universes, in fanfiction and otherwise

[Amuro]

I've been thinking about this problem that seems to face all writers of tie-in stories that attempt to add depth to a universe that's was presented from a limited perspective in a sci-fi/fantasy series.

In the recent thread about Gundam 0083, I mentioned that I'm not too fond of 08th MS Team. One of the reasons that cause me to have a natural aversion to it seems to be that it moves away from what appeared to me to be a traditional sci-fi analysis of a unique situation caused by scientific developments (the whole theory of warfare with Mobile Suits is presented to us as being built on the invention of the Minovsky particle, the need to battle in space, and so on..) towards a simple attempt at what is generally promoted as "realism" and "relatability" by painting a picture of soldiers that resemble the 20th century's soldiers fighting a war that resembles a 20th century war. However, it's blatantly arguable that the original Mobile Suit Gundam was doing the exact same thing: trying to recreate the conventions of a real war in a futuristic environment to attract viewers.
And here we come to our problem.

If I were to write a Gundam tie-in, I would probably have a desire to twist the techno-economical elements of the Gundam universe into a vehicle for examining unique hypothetical situations unseen in real life (I probably wouldn't be able to do it successfully, but that's besides the point). On the other hand, in attempting to "complexly" handle a personage like Gihren, I'd be tempted to make a judgment call and say that, for the sake of "realism," Gihren should probably be presented as a man far less omnipotent and ruthlessly intelligent than he was presented as in the Mobile Suit Gundam series and the Tomino novels, as that presentation, to my subjective eyes, seems to claim that here was a leader vastly more intelligent than the history of humanity has ever seen (and thus we get into the debate of how much genius there truly was in people like Julius Caesar, Napoleon, etc).
However, by doing so, I'd be completely neglecting the possibility that perhaps the development of such unprecedented intelligence (due to emigration to space or some other reason) is one of the chief points of interest in the Gundam universe and is equally, if not more, worthy than Gundam's techno-economical aspects of being taken at face value and analyzed as one of the aforementioned "unique situations" only found in science fiction, the sort of thing was done somewhat by Frank Herbert with characters like the God Emperor Leto II in Dune.

What should a writer do? (realistically, this question only matters much when dealing with official tie-ins) How much creative license is poisoning the original purpose of the work, or does it all just contribute to an intelligent and beneficial body of interpretations of the work, thus increasing the "versatility" and value of the original work?

I mostly have seen this question publicly brought up in regards to Star Wars. Should any tie-in present the Jedi as evil? Should one, say, mention a distinct predisposition to use of the force in a particular race without going way out of the family franchise's bounds of acceptability? If a particular author has developed a detailed theory about how the various races of the galaxy share a heritage with the humans of our solar system, should he be allowed to share it? What if it involves presenting an alien being from the Star Wars universe as the founder of earth-based humanity, contradicting our science, religious teachings, and taking a drastic departure from what was implicitly stated in the Star Wars movies, perhaps reading a bit too much into the line "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.." (So we technically exist in their world as well, just at a point in the future and a great distance away.. how did humans identical to those in Star Wars come to live on earth?) Should this ground be open to exploration by tie-in writers, or is it eternally off-limits?

What are your thoughts?

[Vaikyuko]

Interesting topic. This also comes up in novels that are immensely popular like the James Bond ones; the original Ian Fleming novels were largely concerned with the Soviet Union and the USSR-controlled SMERSH organization, so is it too drastic a departure to have Bond fighting completely unrelated enemies in currently published Bond novels?

I'm also having a problem with this myself, incidentally. I tend to establish relatively contained universes with immense similarity to one another when it comes to my personal works, and if they overlap, I try to reconcile the differences and merely throw them into the same universe; tends to work most of the time. Honestly, the question you're posing isn't that hard for me to answer, though. Do I think that tie-in writers should be allowed to muck about a bit? A resounding yes. If not, then it would be monotonous, I think. On top of this, it's a tie-in - if you don't want to read/watch/whatever, you don't have to. You can just stick to the originals if you so wish, and discard the rest. It all is opinion, I suppose. As for how much creative license should be allowed, I have a general concept that "so long as it enhances the original work and does not drastically contradict it, it may be allowed after review".

Also, you have a lot of pretentious sounding words in your post that make it a bit cumbersome, I think.

[Amuro]

Also, you have a lot of pretentious sounding words in your post that make it a bit cumbersome, I think.
Heh, yeah.. one of the reasons I'm only talking about writing instead of actually writing.. :P

Did that just sound pretentious? ;)

[Vaikyuko]

A bit, yes, but not enough to cause worry. And though this is slightly off topic, you're a writer, but aren't writing anything? Lack of drive, inspiration...? Just curious.

[Amuro]

Heck no, I'm not a professional writer if that's what you're wondering, but I used to be a somewhat adamant writing hobbyist. I haven't been writing at all recently due to a mixture of lack-of-time and a simple uncertainty about my ability to write (the latter is probably key). Plus it seems that my opinions on/understanding of writing develop faster than it takes to actually write, so like a lot of people I find myself simply brooding about writing and fantasizing about eventually writing a novel. Despite my lack of writing practice, I could probably pump up a novel for NaNoWriMo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaNoWriMo) (as could anyone who can force themselves to commit to a schedule, regardless of their level of writing skill), but it would probably suck worse than normally due to being driven by thoughts of "c'mon! 10 sentences in the next minute or no lunch for a week!" rather than creative and composed musings on the given topic.

[Vaikyuko]

I getcha. I actually was supposed to churn out a novel for NaNoWriMo, but ended up bailing because I'd only written about five thousand words. Right now I only have about seven thousand, but still (XD). I have major problems with fully developing plots, you see; I tend to just sort of let my mind wander while I listen to music and see what I come up with. Once I have a minor framework, I expand on details until it becomes a massive organized creature, then I start forgetting stuff. As a result, I have to burn quickly though at least seventy pages of a novel, and then I begin moving on to other stuff for some reason or another, and never get anything done.

One of these days...*sighs* Ah, well. This has deviated a bit. XD

[CrossboneGundam]

08th MS team is as realistic and believable as an American soldier falling in love with a German officer, the two of them eloping together, and destroying a secret German weapon in the process.

That is, to say, not at all. :lol: