Comments on: D.C. Fontana On TAS Canon (and Sybok)

By: Trojan

Trojan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 01:04:29 +0000

I think that Star Trek The Animated Series should be canon.

Anyways Star Trek The Next Generation The Rascals is based on
Star Trek The Animated Series The Counter-Clock Incident.

To my knowlege this is the only time that a star trek live action has based on Star Trek The Animated Series episode.

Star Trek The Next Generation Rascals episode summary internet address is listed below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rascals_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

Star Trek The Animated Series The Counter-Clock Incident
episode summary internet address is listed below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Counter-Clock_Incident

By: BEN

BEN — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 07:06:16 +0000

M’Ress, didn’t she retire and become a dancer, showing up in Star Trek V? And the Navigator had his species show up in Voyager. And when it comes to good and bad episodes of Star Trek, I love alternate dimensions, but one episode that made that more boring than that PBS painter guy with a fro was The Alternative Factor. The Trouble with Tribbles gets so overplayed I usually skip it as well. One episode I didn’t see until just a year or 2 ago was the Gamesters of Triskelion. They kept not airing it when it’s slot came around for years. I wanted to see it bad. I really like City at the Edge of Forever and I Mudd. That really used to bewilder me when I was about 1 and 2, how they killed Scotty with a whistle.

By: BEN

BEN — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 06:15:32 +0000

First I have to say Gene was great in keeping on track to get it all going, but he kept wanting to steer it in a way that wasn’t as entertaining to watch. Star Trek suffered from some of the ways they would slip some political controversy in secretly and angered network people who held grudges and set out to kill it. Gene should definately get props for having confidence in Star Trek when it would have failed otherwise. He did keep wanting to make it a certain way that annoyed some fans. The recurring environment he kept making with the “Number One” and the tension on the bridge of people who were constantly not really liking eachother, and one piece boring bland uniforms. It always worked better when the crew could relax some and you could tell when they were getting along. Oh, and Canon, well that’s whatever is least contradictory to TOS. I count any books, unused scripts, movies, animated, fan products as long as they’re faithful to the storyline.

By: Xenia

Xenia — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:27:09 +0000

I’d sooner say TAS is canon than VOY, ENT, Insurrection and Nemesis.

But anyways. Paramount can say what it wants, but *I* am the (an) end user. Much like someone who buys a car can make a hotrod out of it if they want, or buy a computer, remove windows and install linux… I’ve bought the Trek material that interests me (DVDs, books, whatever), and I – like every other fan – is free to interpreted as we each see fit. So my Trek world is TOS, TNG, DS9, the movies up to and including First Contact, and the Rihannsu series of novels. It works for me, I draw enjoyment from it. THAT is all that matters. Many may disagree with me on DS9 say, or Rihannsu… BUT we still have TOS, TNG whatever in common… which brings people together amicably.

And, Paramount’s moneymaking desires aside, it is *that* – bringing people together in amity – that is the point of the whole Trek theme.

By: X

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 08:14:02 +0000

I truely think that Star trek TAS should be considered canon. In retrospect they only did three seasons of TOS then canceled the show. TAS had two seasons thus to me, combining the two gives us the full five year mission of TOS. And on top of that the cat girl M’Ress; Her species was brought into Star Trek 5 so that helps to solidify TAS as canon somewhat.

By: Crazy Guy

Crazy Guy — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:19:19 +0000

Personally, I don’t see what the big deal regarding ‘canon’ is. I mean, I can understand pointing at a Trek spoof or parody (or even a comedy set in the actual Trek universe), and saying, “Okay, THAT’S not canon,” while pointing at something that takes the source material seriously and saying “That over there IS canon.”

I believe that anyone who writes a good story for a franchise, be it Star Trek, Star Wars, Terminator, Babylon 5, whatever…I believe that if they write a story for that franchise and it’s an officially licensed work, then that story and what takes place in it should be considered canon. Spoofs, parodies and the like, however, while fun to read, shouldn’t be considered canon.

Again, it’s just what I think. Tell me what you think.

By: bob

bob — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 15:45:38 +0000

I love Star Trek, but we have to remember-

It’s fiction, it is not real.

We all share some reality- we all share some fiction.

If Gene Roddenberry were still here what he says would be it.

Since he is not, and Star Trek goes on, to say what is absolutely
canon and what is not is meaningless.

Just enjoy.

By: unstable awdo

unstable awdo — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:34:57 +0000

#13
i don’t understand. A true fan must accept the good and the bad, but TAS is not good enough… (or maybe not bad enough for that matter?)

I once pay a lot of attention to “canon”, “official” things. I don’t care anymore. I understand that things would get out of hand if novels and comics were accpted as canon. But if Ms. Block calls it a “very important tool”, i feel compelled to ask “ok, but a tool for WHAT?”. I simply can’t guess.

So everything on screen is canon, be it stupid (brainless Spock controlled by a five-key pad), impossible (a enterprise replica built on an overpopulated planet) or just ridiculous (hippiiiiiiiiiiiiiies in spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace…). And if at some point there’s inconsistencies (Perrin being the second wife of Sarek and a vulcan princess his first, so i guess Amanda was his first and a half…), well, that’s OK : both assertions are on screen, both are canon.

I suppose, too, that since the Defiant insignia in ENT seems to be considered “more canon” than the one seen in TOS by many, the remastered version of The Tholian Web will take care of that… (hell, a “fan” even wrote that she hoped the dedication plaque would be remastered, too!!!)

So it comes to this : all that “canon” thing hurts my head. If Paramount needs it for whatever reason, well, let’em go with it. But i don’t care anymore. Is the story good? that’s what i ask myself.

40
You’re right : STV is a poor story but an excellent dream! And the hints you gave do make sense… Thank you.

may everyone live long and prosper.

By: JamesRKirk

JamesRKirk — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:13:58 +0000

While it’s entertaining to argue about this it’s not that important. The best three Star Trek movies were written or co-written by Nicholas Meyer, who when he made the very best Trek movie had seen maybe three episodes of the original series.

Meyer’s comments in the youtube video posted here are excellent, especially the one about what makes a movie work. If you have strong characters and a solid plot almost nothing else matters, it will work. Even if Khan never met Chekov and the torpedo bay is full of metal grates that look like they belong in a world war two submarine and Kirk’s son has a goofy sweater.

By: chud

chud — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:13:44 +0000

Don’t you all realize that the only Star Trek canon was “The Doomsday Machine”? None of the other episodes of any of the shows actually happened.