User blog:IEmbargo/iEmbargo's Canonicity Rules - Part 3

Now, multi-series franchises are more complex. For instance, when I speak about Doctor Who, I mean Doctor Who only - without any of K-9 and Company, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, etc. being involved. When I want to include these spin-offs, I say that they are in "The Doctor Who Universe." This allows for me to distinguish between them for typical conversations with the widest variety of fans. Someone who does not know diddly squat about the Prime Computer ads should not have their fandom of the Doctor Who series questioned. Similarly, if Doctor Who had a romance-based spin-off, I would not be interested, but that does not diminish my knowledge and understanding of Doctor Who the television series itself. That's also why I don't include the old annuals, comics, novels, etc.

In iCarly, therefore, we have the show iCarly itself and the universe that includes iCarly, Victorious, and Sam & Cat. So canonicity in Sam & Cat does not direct the series continuity of iCarly, but it does affect the universe continuity of iCarly. I consider material from spin-offs to be "essentially canonical" by the examples above. For full canonicity, it must include any eponymous characters (so, Carly), must explicitly be referred to as iCarly with the official media materials, and contain more than 50% of the main characters (so Carly plus at least two of Sam, Freddie, Gibby, and Spencer). Similarly, for Victorious, I require Tori plus at least three of Trina, Jade, Cat, Andre, Beck, and Robbie for potential full canonicity.

Note what this implies: actions within any of iCarly, Victorious, and Sam & Cat affect the canon of the universe, but need not directly affect the canonicity of the other series within the universe. This is because someone need not be a fan of the other series to discuss a specific one. I figure more passionate fans should be able to keep to stronger restrictions than less interested ones.