DBE Blogs: Shrek Canon Explanation

Howdy! Morta Dreemurr here, owner of DBE Blogs. This blog has a very clear purpose: to explain the canon of the Shrek universe in detail. It’s something I’ve talked about a lot, not only because I’m a fan of the franchise and have researched it since I first joined this community, but also because I’ve contributed to many blogs on this verse, such as ‘Puss In Boots VS Mao Mao’ by Point Five Predictions, and more recently, I was the lead researcher on Shrek for our most recent blog, Donkey VS Tow Mater (go and read it!). In that post, I shared my view on the Shrek canon at the time, but after analysing it thoroughly and re-examining many aspects (including the Puss show for a future blog), I’ve changed my mind slightly. Here I want to correct my mistakes and explain better why I consider the show, The Adventures of Puss In Boots, to be canon and something that can be used without any issues.

The Non-Canon Adventures Of Puss In Boots!?

The biggest argument against this show being canon is the major contradictions it has with the movie canon, such as the fact that Puss literally does not have extra lives, which would make the plot of the last movie, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, impossible. This is completely true: cats do not have extra lives in the show, and Puss dying only once was enough to prevent him from reviving without the help of Dulcinea’s love. However, to be completely fair, there have already been plenty of contradictions within the Shrek franchise itself, and DreamWorks simply does not seem to care much about maintaining strict continuity. It was stated that The Ghost of Lord Farquaad is canon, which makes little sense because it depicts Shrek and Fiona’s honeymoon as being completely different from the one shown in Shrek 2. Then, in Scared Shrekless, Donkey mentions that ghosts do not exist when Shrek jokes about Lord Farquaad’s ghost, which is a huge contradiction with a piece of media that is supposedly fully canon. Hell, we do not even have to go that far. In the very first Puss in Boots movie, Puss literally says, “No, that's a rumor started by dogs!” when Jill asks whether cats have extra lives. Later, his lives are only mentioned during a scene in which people are listing false myths about Puss, and they even give the wrong number of lives. It is clear that DreamWorks does not really care about preserving Shrek’s continuity, since it contradicts itself in many different ways on many occasions. Because of that, this show being canon does not actually affect anything.

Building on that, in an interview, the show’s creator stated that the Puss in Boots series takes place before the Shrek movies, back when Puss was still inexperienced and not yet as skilled at everything. He even explained that they avoided using fairy-tale characters because they had already appeared in Shrek, and it would not make sense for them to appear in a prequel before meeting Puss. This is a very clear attempt to maintain continuity with the placement of the show in the timeline, but it also confirms that the series was specifically designed to be a prequel that takes place before the Shrek films within the same universe. Because of that, there is a solid basis for considering it canon.

Another argument against the show being canon is that none of the directors or writers from the movies were involved with the series at all. Again, this is true, but something I failed to consider when writing that blog is that this has been the case since the movies themselves. Shrek was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, Shrek 2 by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury, and Conrad Vernon, while Shrek the Third was directed by Chris Miller and Raman Hui, a completely different directing team that had not worked on either of the previous two films. Then Shrek Forever After was directed by Mike Mitchell, who once again had not contributed to any of the earlier movies. The same thing happened with the writers: every film received an entirely new writing team, and in some cases none of the writers had worked on the previous movie. This does not disprove the canonicity of the films, but it does help explain the many contradictions that exist between them, and the Puss in Boots series fits perfectly into that pattern.

Finally, the last argument was that the co-director of Kung Fu Panda 4 said that DreamWorks shows are not canon, and she also worked on the Puss in Boots series. First of all, she only contributed to the show’s art department, not its writing or direction. Second, there are very obvious issues with this statement beyond the fact that she lacks the authority to make such a declaration. This statement does not disprove the canonicity of all DreamWorks shows whatsoever. There are shows that are explicitly canon and whose creators have said so, such as the HTTYD show, or even the Puss in Boots show creator himself stating that the show takes place before the films. Someone who neither created nor directed those shows clearly cannot override those statements. Most likely, this comment was referring specifically to the Kung Fu Panda television series that were effectively decanonized after the release of the latest movie, or it was simply her personal interpretation that DreamWorks shows are not canon rather than an official statement that should be taken seriously. Even if it were taken seriously, it would not necessarily apply to shows outside the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

My conclusion is that this show is perfectly valid for scaling characters to many of its feats (provided those feats are applicable to Puss), since it clearly has a fixed place within the continuity, actively attempts to maintain consistency with the films, and exists within a franchise where contradictions are commonplace. The fact that the movie directors and writers did not work on the show means very little, since every Shrek movie (and even the Puss in Boots films themselves) brought in new writers and directors who had not worked on the previous installment. Ultimately, there is no compelling reason to exclude this show from the Shrek canon. So Shrek fans can rest easy: MFTL Puss is still real.

Other media

The Puss in Boots show is definitely the most complicated thing to debate when it comes to Shrek canon, because everything else is pretty simple. All of the Shrek and Puss in Boots shorts and specials are completely canon despite contradictions like those found in The Ghost of Lord Farquaad, because this has been officially stated. Now, there are some pieces of media that have never been explicitly confirmed as canon, but they are not entirely incompatible either, such as the comics. In fact, many of them adapt stories that have already happened, like The Ghost of Lord Farquaad, while also adding new stories that do not necessarily contradict anything at all, especially considering that contradictions are a common occurrence in the Shrek franchise. The same applies to the video games: they are official releases, and many of them adapt stories from both the Shrek and Puss in Boots films while adding new content that is not contradictory to the movies. Then we have the commercials... Personally, I do not like using them, but technically there is nothing inherently wrong with doing so. Of course, whether you want to use supplementary and secondary canon material such as games or commercials is ultimately up to you. However, if we follow Death Battle’s standards, all content is usable unless it represents a different version of the characters, massively contradicts the canon, or is explicitly non-canon and very little actually meets those criteria.

The Donkey VS Mater blog took a composite approach in order to make the matchup much more entertaining, and it did not significantly affect the debate. That said, there are obviously some things that should not be used at all, such as DreamWorks Universe of Legends, a massive crossover featuring nearly every major DreamWorks character fighting together to save the DreamWorks universe. That description alone should make the issue clear. Naturally, crossover titles such as the two DreamWorks kart racing games should generally not be used either unless you are specifically using a composite version of the characters. Aside from those, however, the rest of the games are perfectly acceptable.

Finally, many people have asked why other feats from the Puss in Boots show were not discussed. The answer is simple: nobody wanted that blog to turn into a blog entirely about Puss. We only covered the most important feats that would actually affect the verdict, and I intentionally saved a huge amount of content for a future Puss in Boots blog that I plan to make before too long. So stay tuned! Thanks for reading this thing I wrote at 3:00 in the morning because I was bored