Forum:CT Archive/Themed entertainment policy

With the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge on May 31, along with the existing Hyperspace Mountain, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, and the upcoming themed hotel, it has become apparent that themed entertainment is going to be a prevalent means of telling canon stories within Star Wars. I am hereby proposing a policy to help clarify what will be and will not be considered canon information from these sources, using information given to me as part of the Galaxy's Edge opening operations team. The policy below would, if approved, exist under Canon policy/Themed entertainment and be linked to in the "See also" section of the existing Canon policy.

Policy text begins here:

Due to the growing prevalence of themed entertainment offerings as a means of telling canon stories within the Star Wars universe, Wookieepedia has approved a set of rules for determining if something that occurs or is presented within a real-world themed entertainment offering, such as a theme-park land, attraction, store, restaurant, or hotel, is meant to be canon.

Is the offering itself canon?
Themed experiences should only be considered canon if they exist within a location that the Lucasfilm Story Group has confirmed to be canon, such as Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, or tell a story that is confirmed to be canon, such as Hyperspace Mountain.

Characters
All characters that are depicted in a canon themed entertainment offering or exist as part of an official backstory are canon. Front-line Disney theme-park employees are not considered canon unless confirmed as such by another canon source.

Events and occurrences
Events that occur within themed entertainment should only be considered canon if they meet one or both of the following criteria:
 * 1) They are scripted or scheduled
 * 2) *This includes shows as well as scripted moments that cannot be avoided in attractions that allow guests to make decisions altering their situation.
 * 3) They are part of an official backstory

Events are not considered canon if they are either of the following:
 * 1) Spontaneous interactions between characters and guests or other characters
 * 2) The result of a guest's individual choices

Locations
All locations within a canon themed entertainment offering and its stories are considered canon. This includes celestial bodies, stores, restaurants, settlements, bases, and natural landmarks.

Technology and merchandise
Items are to be considered canon if they meet one or more of the following requirements:
 * 1) They are mentioned in other canon media
 * 2) They are utilized by a character within a themed offering
 * 3) They are available for purchase or are used as a prop within an offering that has been deemed canon

Real-world operational equipment, such as radios, headsets, company smartphones, trash carts, stock carts, etc., are not considered in-universe items unless canonized in a separate source. Also, a cast member calling an item by a themed word, such as referring to a radio as a comlink, does not mean that comlinks are equivalent to real-world radios. This is to be interpreted simply as trying to play off real-world necessities for the sake of immersion.

Devices used by guests to help immerse themselves in a story are only canon to an extent. For example, guests visiting Galaxy's Edge can use the Star Wars: Datapad feature on the Play Disney Parks app to interact with their surroundings. Therefore, these app features can be considered the in-universe capabilities of a datapad, but that does not mean a datapad looks like a real-world smartphone or has any features not used within the app.

How to treat information shared by front-line cast members
Front-line cast members at Galaxy's Edge have been instructed to play off different interactions with guests and to answer non-Star Wars questions using themed phrasing while pretending to be an actual citizen of Batuu. This means that cast members may refer to park entertainment outside Galaxy's Edge in themed terms. This does not make anything outside Galaxy's Edge canon. Also, if a cast member shares information about a canon subject, it does not mean that information is canon. Just as people can be mistaken about subjects in the real world, so too can citizens of Batuu be mistaken regarding their own universe. A cast member's words are only canon if they restate information already present within existing canon material or are part of the official backstories prepared for Galaxy's Edge by Walt Disney Imagineering.

If you need to verify a statement made by a cast member, please request verification here. Policy text ends here.

The verification request link will lead to a Knowledge Bank forum where editors can ask me directly for clarification on the canon status of information given to them by front-line cast members working in the theme parks. I will personally monitor this form and use official show guides to verify information. I cannot distribute or copy these show guides, but this information can be verbally told to guests, so while it would not be leaked information, the only way to verify it is from the inside. MasterFred (Whatever) 00:03, May 27, 2019 (UTC)

Support

 * 1) As proposer. MasterFred Commerce Guild.svg(Whatever) 00:03, May 27, 2019 (UTC)