What's in YOUR 'head canon'?

[The Old Mixer]

Possibly both, now that you mention it.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

TOS and the TOS movies exist in a completely separate timeline from the TNG era and the two aren't actually relate, despite many similarities.

Every space battle you have ever seen is "distorted" for viewing purposes, with the outline of each ship being "magnified" so you can tell which ship is which. In the "real" view, it would look like one oddly-shaped star maneuvering around and firing at another oddly-shaped star (or if you were doing a closeup of one ship, the thing attacking it would be a point of light in the distance).

Also: in the TNG era, phaser beams are only visible when they actually hit something; the red glow you see isn't the beam, but a kind of feedback from the target to the emitter (like a lightning bolt hitting the ground). Those phaser arrays actually fire DOZENS of different beams but you only ever see the one that makes contact.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I was hoping to see a few more time-line driven responses in this thread but some of the replies have been utterly fascinating- in a cool way. Some of the otherwise minor details people rationalize out or mentally fill in is pretty interesting.

 

[C.E. Evans]

Okay, mine:

• The original Constitution-class design came from a time in which Starfleet was using standardized hull components for its ships, resulting in fairly modular-looking designs.
• Phase pistols and phase cannons were simply later known as "phasers," but it took almost a century for them to replace lasers as standard-issue weapons. "Photon torpedo" is merely a slightly shortened way of saying "photonic torpedo."
• The Enterprise-A didn't really reach the center of the Galaxy in Star Trek V, but she did pass though a massive energy field (the Great Barrier) that was in that direction.
• Warp factors are dependent on local stellar conditions and their actual velocities can vary wildly throughout the Galaxy (i.e., warp 4 here could be hundreds of times faster than warp 9 there).
• Janeway's line about it taking 70 years for the Voyager to cross the Delta Quadrant at maximum warp took into account regular pit stops and coffee breaks.
• Deep Space Nine was designated such because it was the ninth starbase established in non-Federation space, but it will maintain that designation even if that region ultimately becomes Federation space.
• The Enterprise-B was decommissioned after 50 years of service, making her the longest-serving Starship Enterprise to date.
• The reason why there was no Enterprise between NX-01 and NCC-1701 was political.

 

[Nyotarules]

Ok here goes

ENT
TATV is a poorly written, section 31, conspiracy holonovel as per the book 'The good that men do'
Trip and T'Pol lived happily ever after together
Lorian and E2 made it through the Delphic expanse alive and well, after the Romulan war due to a temporal flux
Travis had a better career

TOS
Spock went into full Vulcan mode due to the events in the novel 'Vulcan's Glory'
Kirk's full name is James Tiberius Roddenbery Kirk to explain the 'R'
The famous seven spent decades following Kirk as Captain due to over manning on other ships
Spock discoved a cure for Ponn Farr since he never had the same experience more than twice
Saavik had Spock's baby

TNG
Currency still exists
Starfleet is as military as the Royal Navy
Riker accepts a promotion

DS9
Odo becomes Dominion Emperor

VOY
Still 'Lost in space'

ST2009
Kelvin timeline is a totally different universe from the beginning of time
There are more than 10,000 Vulcans left in the galaxy
Kirk's rapid promotion is a publicity stunt, Affirmatve action for blonde Terran males due to low representation in the fleet
Khan was really a confused Joaquin

 

[Annorax849]

Okay, mine:

• The Enterprise-B was decommissioned after 50 years of service, making her the longest-serving Starship Enterprise to date.

So did it serve simultaneously with the Enterprise-C or did the C only last a year?

There are more than 10,000 Vulcans left in the galaxy

I think the movie's writers said the same thing when the question was brought up, the 10,000 was just Vulcans from Vulcan.

 

[C.E. Evans]

So did it serve simultaneously with the Enterprise-C or did the C only last a year?

In my version of things, the Enterprise-C was launched just months after the Enterprise-B was decommissioned and was around for barely a year. But her actions at Narendra III had a lasting impact for decades...

 

[MAGolding]

-Two years in Starfleet Academy in the accelerated Vulcan course & one year in required cadet cruises. Graduates at age 19.
-Serves three years as assistant science officer aboard a space cutter.
-Promoted to Lt. (jg) and assigned as third officer and science officer aboard the Artemis - long-range cruises. Serves two years.
-Assigned to the USS Enterprise as second officer and science officer under Captain Christopher Pike (This puts him there basically just in time for "The Cage").

I find that much more plausible than The Star Trek Chronology's assumption that he started serving on the Enterprise while still a cadet.

The big problem with Spock's biography is that "The Cage" was thirteen years before "Menagerie" which was about a year or so before "Journey to Babel" where Spock's mother shows up and is apparently under sixty. So sixty minus fourteen is about forty six. Forty six minus about twenty five or thirty years in order for Spock to be senior enough to be third in command in "The Cage" gives sixteen to twenty one when Spock is born.

And Amanda was supposedly a school teacher, presumably before Spock was born. Perhaps Amanda was a teenage school teacher like Laura Ingalls Wilder or briefly George Armstrong Custer. I can just see the tabloid headlines now" "Alien ambassador elopes with teenage school teacher".

Joining Starfleet caused Sarek to stop speaking with Spock for eighteen years before "Journey to Babel". If that was from Spock entering Starfleet Academy his rise would have been meteoric. Even if Sarek stopped speaking to Spock for eighteen years when Spock graduated and was commissioned that leaves only about four years to become the third in command of Pike's Enterprise - about one year fewer than in Vulcan's Glory.

Clearly nobody was expecting to write a story about Spock's parents when making "Menagerie" thirteen years after "The Cage".

So I suspect that Spock did not enter Starfleet Academy aged about 17 to 22 as is the rule in contemporary US service academies, but entered in a hypothetical program for precocious geniuses such as Peter Preston, (both) Chekov(s), etc., may have entered, and that Wesley Crusher and his rivals may be been competing for in "Coming of Age".

 

[MAGolding]

Yeah, more likely. Unless the Vulcans have a figurehead monarchy that is not as popular as Britain's?

"A monarchy?" Why should there be only one monarchy per planet? Is that logical? You may say that it is logical to have only one sovereign and independent government on a planet, but what does that matter? Do you think that every king has to be the monarch of a sovereign and independent government?

Throughout history, most kings have been more or less subordinate to higher governments, such as higher kings, or republics, or whatever. Even today, most of the functioning kingdoms on Earth are not independent sovereign states but smaller parts of larger monarchies or republics.

Back in the 19 century and early 20th century, when a European realm declared independence, the ruler or lord of it usually took the title of king. Thus the idea of being a king and the idea of being ruler of an independent and sovereign realm became associated in European culture. Even even then, from 1971 to 1918, there were four kingdoms in the German Empire.

 

[Stargate38]

My head-canon is much bigger than you would think it is, and includes events of other Sci-Fi franshises, as well as the Real World. In fact it's so big that I can't post it on this site. I posted it at https://sites.google.com/site/mynumbersandfactors/my-star-trek-head-canon. I'll be continually updating it when I have free time.

 

[malchya]

Oh, boy; this is good stuff. First, a caveat: I have always assumed that the filmed medium we view as Star Trek, in whatever incarnation, is filmed for entertainment purposes. What we see and hear is the artistic interpretation of the film makers and may or may not accurately represent the true nature of the incident being interpreted. For example and comparison, Henry V with Kenneth Brannagh is an excellent film on many levels and tried very, very hard to convey the atmosphere of the period leading up to and immediately following the battle of Agincourt. This does not, however, mean that the weapons, clothing and armor depicted in the film exactly replicate the weapons, clothing and armor used by King Henry and his men on that distant, bloody field. Henry V was filmed for entertainment, not as an exact simulation of the incident it explores.

My Head Canon includes much of the material from the old FASA role playing game. I was never a fan of Enterprise or Voyager, so they don't belong. TNG has it's good and it's bad moments, so I pick and choose. The TOS series and movies are, for the most part, canon; though Save the Whales is right out.

I imagine that the ships' exteriors are fairly accurate to "reality," though anyone who has ever watched a movie depicting a naval battle (yes, Midway, I'm looking at you) know that Hollywood just don't care about getting the ships right. The interiors are sets that convey something of the feel of shipboard life, but aren't accurate. For example, I have never, ever thought that engineering was that claustrophobic or spotless...

John M. Ford's Klingons are the real Klingons.

How Much for Just the Planet is canon....and should be made into the first Star Trek musical....

JJ? Who's that again?

 

[Annorax849]

Since they're the flagships, every Enterprise after A is stronger than other ships of the class (and even A is as strong as refitted Constitutions). I used to think they had a bigger crew as well, but recently I heard Picard mention the Yamato also had over 1000 people.

The smaller Bird of Prey is the most common military ship in known space (besides Shuttle type ships)

 

[ScottJ85]

My approach to headcanon has always been pretty simple - if I enjoy it, it's canon. If I don't enjoy it, it's not canon unless it's needed to make sense of something else. Star Trek has always played fast and loose with its own continuity and overthinking it seems to be against the spirit of it all.

With that approach in mind, for me, the entirety of TOS, the TOS movies apart from The Final Frontier, TNG, DS9, and most of Enterprise and the animated series are canon, with the 25th Anniversary adventure games making up the fourth and fifth years of the TOS five year mission.

The Kelvin timeline is a separate thing altogether, but within that I consider the movies and the IDW comics to be canon.

 

[stardream]

I include things that we might not see on screen but are still plausible within the context of the story. There are too many to count but one example is the regenerating shuttle craft on Voyager. They were able to build the Delta Flyer from scratch so I assume they were able to build the smaller less sophisticated shuttles as well.

 

[Nyotarules]

9

Wasn't Vulcan's Glory the one where Spock has a relationship with a young Vulcan widow who is also a science officer on Pike's Enterprise?

Yeah he 'cheats' on T'Pring, after T'Pris hints she (T'Pring) is not loyal.

 

[Nyotarules]

1. Betazed remained an outside observer from the start of the Federation, since The Matriarchal clans had no desire joining an organisation dominated by Terran males with a sexist Starfleet. Things were resolved by the early 24th century.

2. Five year marriage contracts are only legal in North America, the rest of the world has their own cultural practices.

3. Only Vulcan males experience Ponn Farr

4. Vulcans can have sex anytime they choose to, (or Amanda Grayson owns a vibrator company called 'Amanda's Secret')

5. Starfleet was sued by the Galactic Association for the Advancement of Alien Peoples in the 23rd century. G.A.A.A.P won its case

6. The Picard vineyard fire was an insurance scam; Robert and his son are still alive

7. Trelane in TOS was a junior Q member

8. Federation Standard is a mixture of English, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese to reflect the language that most human speak, due to the universal translator on the TV we only hear English spoken

9. WW3 resulted in the death of billions, the population decreased from 9 billion to 3 billion and shocked humanity on the road to peace, cos that is what it took for humanity to get its shit together, plus aliens falling from the sky helped as well.

10. The TOS female uniform was designed to increase straight male recruitment

 

[Nyotarules]

During WWIII, much of Europe was devastated, including the almost total loss of France, but it was repopulated largely by people from Britain, thus explaining how the Picard family, though nominally French, are thoroughly British in their voice and character.

--Alex

Because after 200 years human accents do not change...

 

[Tracy Trek]

3. Only Vulcan males experience Ponn Farr

^This. Because in Amok Time, it was Spock who was agitated. T'Pring was as cool as a cold calculating cucumber.

My head canon on another issue is that TNG's Taurik and Voyager's Vorik were identical twins. I may have asked this before, was the real world reason another case of they were intended to be the same character like Paris/Locarno? And because of legal issues they had to change the name?

 

[JonnyQuest037]

The big problem with Spock's biography is that "The Cage" was thirteen years before "Menagerie" which was about a year or so before "Journey to Babel" where Spock's mother shows up and is apparently under sixty. So sixty minus fourteen is about forty six. Forty six minus about twenty five or thirty years in order for Spock to be senior enough to be third in command in "The Cage" gives sixteen to twenty one when Spock is born.

And Amanda was supposedly a school teacher, presumably before Spock was born. Perhaps Amanda was a teenage school teacher like Laura Ingalls Wilder or briefly George Armstrong Custer. I can just see the tabloid headlines now" "Alien ambassador elopes with teenage school teacher".

Joining Starfleet caused Sarek to stop speaking with Spock for eighteen years before "Journey to Babel". If that was from Spock entering Starfleet Academy his rise would have been meteoric. Even if Sarek stopped speaking to Spock for eighteen years when Spock graduated and was commissioned that leaves only about four years to become the third in command of Pike's Enterprise - about one year fewer than in Vulcan's Glory.

Yeah. When I was making my own TOS chronology a few years back, I found that Spock's biography was a bit tough, due to the Cage/Menagerie time gap, Spock being in Starfleet for "18 years" as per the writer's guide (a figure which stayed the same from season to season, apparently), and Jane Wyatt's age (She was still shy of 60 when she first played Spock's mother). No matter what option you choose, you pretty much have to contradict one of those things.

Even in my timeline I had to have Sarek & Amanda getting married when she was 18, and the 18-year gap was from 2246-2264. This jibed with Amanda's line at the beginning of "Journey To Babel" that Spock hasn't been home to visit in four years. I interpreted the 2264 visit as a failed attempt at reconciliation.

 

[Tracy Trek]

My head canon about Joe Carey's death and that no one thought to use nanoprobes to try to save him is this. Either Seven couldn't spare anymore after donating some to cure the alien man's radiation sickness (but Icheb was on board, couldn't he have spared some), or getting shot with an energy weapon as he started being transported combined to create an injury even the nanoprobes couldn't repair.