I absolutely love "The Cage" but I would think that only the segments of it that went on to be incorporated into "The Menagerie" (TOS) two-parter are strictly canon...and even those we have to remember were all an illusion within an illusion (some even an
illusion within an illusion within an illusion). They were
represented to us as accurate, of course, but I think at the end of the day that's rather a bit more nebulous than the initial dialogue to this effect might suggest, given the ultimate reveal that far more was being
misrepresented to us than we realized...
Anyway, the original unbroadcasted artifact remains one of my favorite pieces of
Star Trek ever, despite some of Pike's retrograde attitudes. He's obviously meant as a flawed character, and I don't mind
that just in and of itself, but stuff like the "I can't get used to a woman on the bridge" bit just plays as
extremely dated and unflattering, and I think they must have realized it
even back then, because they cut it all out of "The Menagerie" along with some other bits. (Of course, there are at least a few equally cringeworthy moments to be found elsewhere in TOS, and even in TNG and beyond, for that matter.)
The trim I most miss from the two-parter, just because I find it hilarious, is when the geologist suggests to Spock's dismay that they might be beaming down into an illusory cavern—a possibility he clearly had not thereto considered himself—and then Spock saunters a mere few feet into the transporter room and presents that poor guy's insight to Number One as if he'd just come up with it on his own!
As to this thread's main topic, since it keeps coming back, here's some thoughts I've posted elsewhere but not here:
My understanding is that "Prime" means the main, ongoing, current "home base" continuity, that which isn't considered to be an alternate timeline or parallel reality like the Mirror Universe or Kelvin Timeline. It doesn't mean no changes, no updates, no retcons, no redesigns, no recastings, no reevaluations of authorial intent, no errors, no contradictions...and it doesn't mean that any of those things are required to be explained, though they can and may be, whether explicitly or implicitly, within the narrative or behind the scenes.
Note that something can be canonical but not Prime (again, see MU and KT), or Prime but not canonical (see many comics, novels, games, etc.), and can even go from being considered either or both to being considered
neither and then back again (see TAS). If a future canonical production decides to regard itself as Prime and DSC as a parallel universe or fever dream, then that is how it shall be...until the next fellow comes along, at which point it may all be reshuffled again.
But I don't believe there is any wholesale, whole cloth "reboot" going on here with respect to continuity, visual or otherwise, such as it be. As has been the case
from the first pilot onward, they simply consider themselves free to add, remove, tweak, refine, or otherwise alter whatever elements they so desire as they go along, on a rolling basis, which is more or less
inevitable in any fictional continuity that runs long enough and changes custodianship enough times. In this, they
may give consideration to the intent of previous custodians, but they
won't consider themselves inviolably bound by it except where they
want and
choose to be, and even less so (
i.e., not at all) by the assumptions and expectations of fandom. And why should they?
None of this is qualitatively different from how serial fiction has
always worked.
This show is an in-continuity prequel to TOS and what followed, both informed by and informing what is depicted therein. One can certainly say it functions as a sort of "reboot" in the sense that it provides a relaunch of and reintroduction to the Prime continuity following the still-ongoing-in-parallel diversion of the
Kelvin films. It
is a kind of restart, a new beginning and jumping-on/off point, with a new vision and interpretation of things. But no more so than TMP or TNG or ENT or the framing story of ST'09 in turn were. Not in principle, and not in practice.
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MMoM
