Head Canon

[137th Gebirg]

There's also the vague canonical stats of the Animated Series, disowned by Roddenberry yet still somewhat supported by the studio and arguably quite popular amongst the fanbase. I personally consider it canon despite Roddenberry's pissing contest with DC Fontana (or was it Bjo Trimble? Can't remember). The multiple references to aspects of TAS in Enterprise only reinforced it, IMO. Had they gone on to a 5th season, we might have even seen the return of the Kzin, which I think would have been positively spectacular.

I also consider the on-screen usage of Franz Joseph work to be a part of the canon, again, despite Roddenberry's issues with the same.

 

[Kemaiku]

I think TAS exists in some puesdo-canon state where they can pick it clean of anything they want to use and still deny the rest of it exists if it doesn't appear anywhere.

 

[Dukhat]

Isn't "Threshold" the only episode to have been offically 'disowned' as canon by TPTB?

Which means everyone considers it non-canon, but some can still accept it's continuity if they want to.

"TPTB" are the ones who actually own the episode. That would be CBS. And to my knowledge, CBS has never made a statement that Threshold is no longer canon.

There's also the vague canonical stats of the Animated Series, disowned by Roddenberry yet still somewhat supported by the studio and arguably quite popular amongst the fanbase. I personally consider it canon despite Roddenberry's pissing contest with DC Fontana (or was it Bjo Trimble? Can't remember). The multiple references to aspects of TAS in Enterprise only reinforced it, IMO. Had they gone on to a 5th season, we might have even seen the return of the Kzin, which I think would have been positively spectacular.

Here's the thing about TAS: It was shown on screen. It is currently being sold in stores. Gene Roddenberry doesn't own it, CBS does. And according to the rules of Star Trek canonicity, it is canon. However, in the past, CBS (and Paramount at the time) wavered on whether they considered it canon or not despite its being shown on screen (which is their right as the owners of it and the ones in charge of determining what's canon and what isn't.) While certain miniscule aspects of it were used in other Trek productions, there still has been no clear answer to whether TAS in its entirely is considered canon by TPTB.

I also consider the on-screen usage of Franz Joseph work to be a part of the canon, again, despite Roddenberry's issues with the same.

I also consider the on-screen usage of Franz Joseph work to be a part of the canon, since it was shown on screen. However, it doesn't automatically make FJ's entire work canon. I saw a diagram of a ship with a saucer and one nacelle on a viewscreen in TWOK, but that doesn't mean that the ship itself actually exists or that it's a Hermes class scout, since that information was not on screen, only in FJ's book.

 

[Albertese]

....

Canon is the official body of work, not the personal acceptance of that work.

....

This isn't necessarily the case. After all, one of the uses of "canon" is to describe the textual body of biblical scripture. And that was decided entirely on the basis of acceptance. Why include the Synoptic Gospels and John and dismiss all the Gnostic Gospels? Why include The Acts of The Apostles and dismiss The Acts of Peter or any of the other numerous Acts? Why should First and Second Maccabees be considered apocryphal? It fills is a big gap in the time line and is a great read. Establishing the Christian canon took place centuries after most of the books were written and circulated. Based on acceptance, not existence.

Having said that, I do have an answer to OP... and in the spirit of his question.

My personal headcanon is kinda fuzzy, I suppose. TOS fits in in two separate streams. One stream includes TOS, TAS, movies 1 through 6, the FJ Star Fleet Technical Manual and the Ships of the Star Fleet books and a bunch of material cherry-picked from the FASA role playing game materials.

The second stream consists of TOS and the officially sanctioned canon up to and including Voyager, but stopping there.

I suppose there are really four streams, the third starting with First Contact of which I consider Enterprise to be the sequel of, and then the nuTrek films are their own slightly awesome, slightly silly thing.

Though I spend most of energies daydreaming about that top stream, there.

I would add, though, that I recently read the fake-history book Federation: the First 150 Years and that did a pretty good job tying Enterprise to TOS. So I dunno. I guess my headcanon is always in a state of flux.

--Alex

 

[Cromwell]

I do have an answer to OP... and in the spirit of his question.

My personal headcanon is kinda fuzzy, I suppose. TOS fits in in two separate streams. One stream includes TOS, TAS, movies 1 through 6, the FJ Star Fleet Technical Manual and the Ships of the Star Fleet books and a bunch of material cherry-picked from the FASA role playing game materials.

Ooh, I hadn't thought of the Technical Manuals. That's a good addition.

The second stream consists of TOS and the officially sanctioned canon up to and including Voyager, but stopping there.

Does this stream include the films?

I suppose there are really four streams, the third starting with First Contact of which I consider Enterprise to be the sequel of, and then the nuTrek films are their own slightly awesome, slightly silly thing.

I've heard of this idea a few times before. Is there any comprehensive description of the "First Contact" to "Enterprise" theory, I could find somewhere?

I guess my headcanon is always in a state of flux.

As is mine, to a certain degree. "Nemesis" is always out, though.

 

[Vger23]

I quote Picard from Samaritan Snare:"Wishing for something does not make it so."

I accept all televised or theatrically-released Star Trek products as "official." My personal take on whether they deserve to be part of the universe or not is irrelevant (and frankly, kind of arrogant). If I don't like it, I don't need to waste time on it. But, that doesn't mean it's okay to pretend it didn't happen.

If I needed to think that way about the show to make me happy...I'd need to seriously start considering another hobby.

 

[Chronos]

I wish that Trip had not been needlessly killed off in These Are The Voyages, a cobbled together mess of a final episode for a show that deserved better. Unfortunately, it did happen, and I accept it, though I will never be happy about it.

I haven't gotten to the books yet, but apparently there's a book where we learn that Trip

Spoiler: spoiler

staged his own death and joined Section 31

and that's the version I'd like to believe.

Trip is my second favorite engineer, after Scotty, and was one of the better developed characters on Enterprise.

Trip's bare chest got more character development than Hoshi, Mayweather, Phlox, and Reed combined. I mean, I like Trip, but him, T'Pol, and Archer aren't the only characters.

I would have liked to see more of the rest of the crew, but instead we got an abrupt ending to the series. An ending which actually put ENT in a subservient role to TNG, despite it being an ENT's swan song.

And I definitely agree that Scotty was the best engineer. He provided much needed comic relief. It's unfortunate that he didn't get many lines during the series. At least he was given a bit more attention during the movies. "Hello computer" is my favorite line from IV.

 

[Enterprise1701]

My personal canon is largely based around the modern novel continuity that began in 2001 with the Deep Space Nine relaunch and also includes various novels and cm. As the modern novels are in line with the official canon, including the Abramsverse, I more or less accept the official canon, bar a few lines of dialogue or episodes that are plainly irreconciliable, such as TOS - "The Alternative Factor" or VOY - "Threshold". But the great thing about the novelverse is that many novels reconcile inconsistencies in canon!

 

[Albertese]

The second stream consists of TOS and the officially sanctioned canon up to and including Voyager, but stopping there.

Does this stream include the films?

Of course! Though I am happy to dismiss Insurrection and Nemesis, both of which are terrible movies. As is Generations, really, but the E-D has to go away somehow to make room for the E-E to show up in First Contact, which isn't a great movie in terms of continuity or what it did to the franchise, but at least it's watchable and fun).

I suppose there are really four streams, the third starting with First Contact of which I consider Enterprise to be the sequel of, and then the nuTrek films are their own slightly awesome, slightly silly thing.

I've heard of this idea a few times before. Is there any comprehensive description of the "First Contact" to "Enterprise" theory, I could find somewhere?

I don't know about some sort of central source which establishes this but I have my reasons. For one thing, whenever they rattle off Enterprises no one ever mentions the NX-01 in any of the other shows. Some would argue that it wasn't a Federation starship, so it wouldn't be included... yet it seems to me that there is a strong continuity from "Earth Starfleet" to "Federation Starfleet," so that distinction seems pretty artificial to me. Another clue is in the Voyager episode "Hope and Fear" where the crew encounters a cutting edge Federation starship sent to rescue them This starship is the Dauntless NX-01-A. As it turns out (spoiler alert) the ship was a fake presented by an alien with his own objectives. HOWEVER, the crew is in no way flustered by the idea of a starship named Dauntless labeled as NX-01-A. Now, we know from the Enterprise letter suffixes, they make it possible for a new ship to honor the memory of an older one by recycling both its name and number. By this logic, we would have to assume the NX-01 would have to be (at least in the memories of the Voyager personnel) Dauntless.

So in First Contact, when the Enterprise crew throws the temporal prime directive out the window and spills all the beans for Zephram Cochrane, even so far as showing them their own starship Enterprise through his own telescope, they corrupt the timeline in a big way. I can imagine that "Prime" timeline would have had similar events to what we see in Enterprise, but with differences. The first warp five ship would have been named Dauntless, a reference to humanity proceeding into the unknown undaunted by hand-wringing Vulcans. Contact with the Klingons would have happened quite a bit later. But, temporally corrupted Cochrane, influenced now by his encounter with the future astronauts on their "some kind of star trek," suggests the new ship be named Enterprise instead of Dauntless. Enterprise has different missions than it would have as Dauntless including encountering leftovers of the future robot zombies from the north pole who came along with the future astronauts. Who knows what other differences would have happened? It's a good way to explain away the many continuity differences between the Enterprise show and the four or five other shows which precede it. (Five if you count TAS... which I do.)

But YMMV, of course.

--Alex

 

[The Wormhole]

The whole thing about First Contact altering the timeline and Enterprise being part of that altered timeline is in idea which Braga started talking about in interviews towards the end of Enterprise's second season. At the time it seemed a response to all the continuity errors which had been popping up in the show, some of which Braga himself even admitted were screw-ups (like Romulans having cloaking devices), especially since this was around the time Enterprise's infamous Borg episode aired. Looking back, the altered timeline statement might also have been meant as a way of tricking fans into believing the upcoming Xindi arc could possibly have any kind of potential resolution, especially if we don't believe the future as seen in the other Treks is set in stone.

Regardless, it seems very clear that in Enterprise's fourth season the writers once again were treating the show like it was the same timeline as the other Treks.

I wish that Trip had not been needlessly killed off in These Are The Voyages, a cobbled together mess of a final episode for a show that deserved better. Unfortunately, it did happen, and I accept it, though I will never be happy about it.

I haven't gotten to the books yet, but apparently there's a book where we learn that Trip

Spoiler: spoiler

staged his own death and joined Section 31

and that's the version I'd like to believe.

Which is a good point to bring up with everyone earlier in this thread going on about "there is no head canon, only what Paramount/CBS says counts." And yet, everyone removes TATV from canon, even the officially licensed tie-in novels. What's that if it isn't officially sanctioned head canon?

 

[Dukhat]

For one thing, whenever they rattle off Enterprises no one ever mentions the NX-01 in any of the other shows. Some would argue that it wasn't a Federation starship, so it wouldn't be included... yet it seems to me that there is a strong continuity from "Earth Starfleet" to "Federation Starfleet," so that distinction seems pretty artificial to me. Another clue is in the Voyager episode "Hope and Fear" where the crew encounters a cutting edge Federation starship sent to rescue them This starship is the Dauntless NX-01-A. As it turns out (spoiler alert) the ship was a fake presented by an alien with his own objectives. HOWEVER, the crew is in no way flustered by the idea of a starship named Dauntless labeled as NX-01-A. Now, we know from the Enterprise letter suffixes, they make it possible for a new ship to honor the memory of an older one by recycling both its name and number. By this logic, we would have to assume the NX-01 would have to be (at least in the memories of the Voyager personnel) Dauntless.

The thing is though, that the Earth Starfleet and the Federation Starfleet had different registry systems.

In ES, the letter prefix in the registry denotes the ship's class, which is why the Enterprise and the Columbia are NX class starships with the registries NX-01 and NX-02 respectively.

In FS, the NX letter prefix stands for an experimental vessel, not its class name, and of which succeeding vessels usually carry an NCC prefix. Therefore ES could have had a ship with the registry NX-01 and FS could also have had a ship with the registry NX-01, but they were two totally different ships from two different organizations with different numbering systems and different names.

So it's entirely possibly that the Federation Starfleet had a ship called the Dauntless with the registry NX-01, and then the next ship off the line would have been NCC-02, as opposed to the ES Enterprise NX-01 which would only have had five more ships from NX-02 to NX-06, presumably before the founding of the Federation. Since the Dauntless NX-01-A was supposed to be an experimental vessel (at least to fool the Voyager crew), then no one would have connected that ship to the ES Enterprise NX-01, but rather to the FS Dauntless NX-01.

 

[martok2112]

Canon is corporate and official.
Fanon is personal choice on what one considers to be official (historically or technically).

 

[BillJ]

I quote Picard from Samaritan Snare:"Wishing for something does not make it so."

I accept all televised or theatrically-released Star Trek products as "official." My personal take on whether they deserve to be part of the universe or not is irrelevant (and frankly, kind of arrogant). If I don't like it, I don't need to waste time on it. But, that doesn't mean it's okay to pretend it didn't happen.

If I needed to think that way about the show to make me happy...I'd need to seriously start considering another hobby.

+1

 

[Sybok Was Wrong]

There is no head canon. It's not the fans' place to choose what is canon and what is not. That goes against the very MEANING of canon. That word only applies to what the official material is - meaning, whatever is onscreen. Whatever the people making it, says it is.

This is untrue. The idea of competing canonical authorities is a big part of the definition. Whose authority it is to determine canon, whether people accept that authority, also changes.

The fans can pick and choose what they accept. Disregard what they dont like.

Example: I refuse to accept the events of "Star Trek Generations" because it insults so many beloved creations by other writers/producers in the name of "drama": Killing Captain Kirk/destroying the Enterprise-D/ making Data as annoying as possible/killing off the Klingon sisters and Picards family...


its all crap to me. I dont revisit it & therefore dont acknowledge it. I do not accept Kirks death as the producers of TNG saw to portray it. The voyages of the Enterprise D lived on way after "All Good Things".

Its all silly tho. Its just a show, and who has to waste time watching the garbage stories? Concentrate on the good ones.

 

[hux]

Canon is the stuff I like and nothing else. The sooner the rest of your accept this, the sooner we can all move on

Are their any particular lines you pretend not to hear?

B'Lanna :Get the cheese to sickbay (I like to think she was referring to the show)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ As has been pointed out several times, the word you are looking for is CONTINUITY, not CANON.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Canon is corporate and official.
Fanon is personal choice on what one considers to be official (historically or technically).

The thing is that certain aspects of the Trekverse are not quite so absolute, including The fore-mentioned Franz Joseph works and TAS and their somewhat "gray area" canonical involvement, being attached to corporate/official Paramount projects on-screen.

 

[hux]

^ As has been pointed out several times, the word you are looking for is CONTINUITY, not CANON.

We should say continuity instead of canon

Is that canon?

 

[T'Girl]

... the word you are looking for is CONTINUITY, not CANON.

The words you are looking for are "personal canon," verse "CBS Television canon."

Make no mistake, one is official (big woop) and one exists on a deeply personal level.

Mine would include:

All of prime universe Trek, alternate universes (Mirror, Abrams, Borg everywhere, etc) exist happily in their own walled off separate and far less important canon.

The old FASA role playing game, I've found the rule books/source books to be rich in history, ideas and details.

TAS.

The novels of John Ford and Diane Duane.

Many of the other older Trek lit books up to and ending with the first relaunch. Post-relaunch books exist solely in their own novel-verse.

The contents of the ST: Technical Manual.

My canon would also include my own ideas concerning the Federation's economic system, the organization of Starfleet, and the Federation as a alliance (not a nation-state).

 

[Cromwell]

My canon would also include my own ideas concerning the Federation's economic system, the organization of Starfleet, and the Federation as a alliance (not a nation-state).

Have you made any previous threads/posts elaborating on those concepts (they'd make for a good read)?

If not, could you explain further, here?