TLK6NA = Semi-Canon or Fan Fiction?

[TheLionPrince]

Neither.

In my opinion, in order for a product to be "semi-canon",the work would have to be approved or accepted by its canon source's creator(s) despite that the work was not created by them. In this case, The Lion King: Six New Adventures is not semi-canon because it was not approved or accepted by the original filmmakers going by the audio commentary, where they referred the cub at the end as "Fluffy".

And, the books aren't (profit) fanfiction, in my opinion, either. Why? Because the books weren't necessarily written by "fans". The writers of Six New Adventures were just freelance children's book writers that wrote tie-in books with other studios.

For example, Judy Katschke's (who wrote "Vulture Shock") resume at Jacketflap.com states she wrote tie-in books for movies produced by DreamWorks Animation and Columbia Pictures.

So, in my opinion, TLK:6NA is just unofficial/non-official, and exists in its own universe. Even, an article on The Lion King Wiki on what's unofficial in TLK universe states so...but it's written by fans, too.

[Khanu]

It's not really fan fiction, cause the person got paid to make the books. But wouldn't that be awesome if Disney paid you to write fanfiction? Nah, I guess the books are just semi-canon.

[KentuckyWildcat]

Given that the books were officially released with the Disney name on them and are the work of a professional writer, I can't call them fan-fiction.

As for it's place in canon, that gets a little trickier. Obviously the original movie is pure canon, and it's creators had nothing to do with the books. However, the same can pretty much be said for SP. For that reason, I look tend at SP and 6NA as alternate universes with SP being the more official of the two since Disney still acknowledges it in contrast to 6NA.

That being said, I think they are strictly separate universes that can't be reasonably combined. No offense to anyone, but all the "Zira killed/chased away Kopa" theories (that I have seen some people state as near fact like the OP mentioned) are one of my pet peeves in the fandom. They just don't logically work.

First, although Simba is overprotective of Kiara, Nala isn't. For that reason, it makes far more sense that Simba is still scarred by his own cubhood than it does to think that Kopa was lost, but only Simba was affected emotionally. Second, the timeline just doesn't add up. If we take Zira's statement at face value that Kovu was the last cub born under Scar's reign, he wouldn't be anywhere close the same age as Kiara unless she was the Simba and Nala's firstborn. If Kopa was born and then killed/chased off as a cub, Kovu would be noticeably older by the time Kiara was born and grew old enough to do any exploring on her own.

[Kitva Hyperlink]

It should be cannon. Even if it is not written by Disney, it is still considered cannon.

[TheLionPrince]

[quote="LinkCoolKitva"]It should be cannon. Even if it is not written by Disney, it is still considered cannon.[/quote]

If I comprehend this correctly, then, you mean every Lion King fanfiction ever written should be considered canon.

[Nitrol]

Alex Simmons is a main creator of TLK:6NA:
[quote]the books came out before THE LION KING 2: Simba’s Pride. All our
work was based off of the original movie.[/quote]
[quote](I was) Working with 2 other writers, I helped create the plots for all six stories.[/quote]
[quote]Kopa was my creation all the way[/quote]
[quote]My story was okaed by the publiser, whom I would imagine recived the go ahead from thei Disney counterpart. (...) I suspect the all saw it simply as a part of the book universe "inspired" by the film.[/quote]

Not a fan-fiction for sure, neither canon... so it's semi-canon.

[InsaneSeagull]

If I was about to talk about it few years ago, I would say fan fiction. But now.... probably semi-canon. Not canon, but still, it follows the original story perfectly, and most of the things make sense. It has Disney logo. Kopa does resemble his parents a lot, and could easily be their son. Yeah XD

It has nothing to do with SP, tough, so it could probably be considered Alternate Universe. Like with SW books. No one takes them as seriously as the movies, but they are definitely not FF. They have their own legitimacy and everyone appreciates it.

[Regulus]

My initial reaction is to say no, for one simple reason: I actually haven't read the stories. (What? Don't look at me like that. I'm just saying.)

But anyway, considering how flawed SP is, it's probably a lot closer to the sourc material than that.

[DGFone]

[quote="Regulus"]
But anyway, considering how flawed SP is, it's probably a lot closer to the sourc material than that.[/quote]

The thing about 6NA is that it's a bunch of stories, and while they do provide some plot (for example, the story of Mohatu, how Zazu became a majordomo, etc...), for the most part, there isn't enough new plot material to actually be flawed or contradictory of the first movie. The reason why SP is so flawed is that it has to create a whole new plot line all on its own, as the first movie was never made with sequels in mind, and therefore didn't leave any plot threads hanging upon its finish.

[Regulus]

The issue here is that it's nearly impossible for Kopa and Kiara to exist in the same storyline. I know a lot of fans try to make it work, but I can't imagine SP being like it is with Kopa's existence, dead or alive.