Post by Dante on Mar 26, 2007 10:31:52 GMT -5
The Bad Beginning: Rare Edition
A special edition of the first book containing, most notably to this essay, clue-filled Author’s Notes at the back.
Not included in the list of supplementary materials in The Beatrice Letters – most likely because it’s out of print, and special editions are a bit of a rip-off anyway.
One clue that came true was that Violet threw a stone on Briny Beach when she visited it for a second time, and this came to pass at the end of The Grim Grotto; this is unsurprising, though, given that the BBRE came out on the same day as The Slippery Slope and so Handler probably had a good idea of what he was going to do.
The clues to various elements of the backstory – regarding the arson of the Royal Gardens, a poisonous plant taken from it that Justice Strauss was investigating, and the Official Fire Department (as well as the possibility of characters named Gorgon and Quisling) were never resolved, but never contradicted.
The clues that directly relate to Book the Thirteenth are only partially supported – the island with a law against removing its fruit, for example, was clearly intended to be the island in The End, but it has no particular laws, just traditions, and nobody is ever forbidden to take fruit with them when they leave the island. Similarly, the Female Finnish Pirates were expected to appear as Violet made her way to Briny Beach for a third time, but if this happens, it happens off-screen at the end of Chapter Fourteen – but it can still happen.
Overall, the BBRE’s contributions to the canon, while often unsupported, do not contradict the canon, and so it can be counted as canonical material.
The Dismal Dinner
A short story about a Baudelaire dinner party that takes place before TBB.
Not included in the list of supplementary materials in TBL – but it was merely a movie promotion on the back of small commercial food products, and would be very hard to obtain after the promotion ended.
It would be easy to argue against the canonicity of this item because it existed to promote the movie, to promote a commercial food company, and to spread a short code associated with that company’s website. However, there’s no reason to believe the contents weren’t written by Handler, and furthermore, their only contributions to the canon are ambiguous – it implies that Count Olaf was spying on the dinner party, but he might not have been, or it may have been someone else, or it may not matter. A sugar bowl was present at the dinner party, but it may well not be the crucial sugar bowl (as the Unauthorized Autobiography indicates that there are several, and it is speculated that they can be used to pass short messages over a table).
Overall, this is a legitimate short Baudelaire story, and there is no reason to strike it from the canon as it does not contradict the canon.
13 Shocking Secrets you’ll wish you never knew about Lemony Snicket
A short booklet looking at the books in turn and providing “secrets” about Lemony Snicket.
Not included in the list of supplementary materials in TBL.
Not written from the perspective of Lemony Snicket, and with no indication that Handler himself had a hand in writing it. All information about future books could be gleaned from having read TBL or The End, which is likely where the information came from, since the latter and therefore probably the former had been finished by the time the booklet was released. All new connections about past books (hints that the taxi-driver in TRR was somebody that readers would recognise, and that Madame Lulu’s crystal ball was one that Lemony had alluded to himself breaking in a previous book) are those that could be made by fans, and indeed had.
The “Suspicious Characters” chart makers numerous nonsensical and seemingly-mistaken connections between characters – for example, several connections between the Quagmires and the teachers would make much more sense if swapped around, and although the chart marks one, the books themselves never indicate a link between Hal and Captain Widdershins. Studies have shown that there is little or no consistency in what a particular line style indicates.
Overall, since it was apparently not written by Daniel Handler and since it makes several mistakes and ultimately, makes no non-fanon contributions to the canon, I see no reason why this should be counted as canonical.
A special edition of the first book containing, most notably to this essay, clue-filled Author’s Notes at the back.
Not included in the list of supplementary materials in The Beatrice Letters – most likely because it’s out of print, and special editions are a bit of a rip-off anyway.
One clue that came true was that Violet threw a stone on Briny Beach when she visited it for a second time, and this came to pass at the end of The Grim Grotto; this is unsurprising, though, given that the BBRE came out on the same day as The Slippery Slope and so Handler probably had a good idea of what he was going to do.
The clues to various elements of the backstory – regarding the arson of the Royal Gardens, a poisonous plant taken from it that Justice Strauss was investigating, and the Official Fire Department (as well as the possibility of characters named Gorgon and Quisling) were never resolved, but never contradicted.
The clues that directly relate to Book the Thirteenth are only partially supported – the island with a law against removing its fruit, for example, was clearly intended to be the island in The End, but it has no particular laws, just traditions, and nobody is ever forbidden to take fruit with them when they leave the island. Similarly, the Female Finnish Pirates were expected to appear as Violet made her way to Briny Beach for a third time, but if this happens, it happens off-screen at the end of Chapter Fourteen – but it can still happen.
Overall, the BBRE’s contributions to the canon, while often unsupported, do not contradict the canon, and so it can be counted as canonical material.
The Dismal Dinner
A short story about a Baudelaire dinner party that takes place before TBB.
Not included in the list of supplementary materials in TBL – but it was merely a movie promotion on the back of small commercial food products, and would be very hard to obtain after the promotion ended.
It would be easy to argue against the canonicity of this item because it existed to promote the movie, to promote a commercial food company, and to spread a short code associated with that company’s website. However, there’s no reason to believe the contents weren’t written by Handler, and furthermore, their only contributions to the canon are ambiguous – it implies that Count Olaf was spying on the dinner party, but he might not have been, or it may have been someone else, or it may not matter. A sugar bowl was present at the dinner party, but it may well not be the crucial sugar bowl (as the Unauthorized Autobiography indicates that there are several, and it is speculated that they can be used to pass short messages over a table).
Overall, this is a legitimate short Baudelaire story, and there is no reason to strike it from the canon as it does not contradict the canon.
13 Shocking Secrets you’ll wish you never knew about Lemony Snicket
A short booklet looking at the books in turn and providing “secrets” about Lemony Snicket.
Not included in the list of supplementary materials in TBL.
Not written from the perspective of Lemony Snicket, and with no indication that Handler himself had a hand in writing it. All information about future books could be gleaned from having read TBL or The End, which is likely where the information came from, since the latter and therefore probably the former had been finished by the time the booklet was released. All new connections about past books (hints that the taxi-driver in TRR was somebody that readers would recognise, and that Madame Lulu’s crystal ball was one that Lemony had alluded to himself breaking in a previous book) are those that could be made by fans, and indeed had.
The “Suspicious Characters” chart makers numerous nonsensical and seemingly-mistaken connections between characters – for example, several connections between the Quagmires and the teachers would make much more sense if swapped around, and although the chart marks one, the books themselves never indicate a link between Hal and Captain Widdershins. Studies have shown that there is little or no consistency in what a particular line style indicates.
Overall, since it was apparently not written by Daniel Handler and since it makes several mistakes and ultimately, makes no non-fanon contributions to the canon, I see no reason why this should be counted as canonical.