Head canon is an oxymoron.
Spoilers Lower Decks General Discussion Thread
- Thread starter mdtauk
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Head canon is an oxymoron.
Head canon is just fanfic that isn't written down.
I have all kinds of useless Star Trek stuff crammed in my head.
There are things I consider to be part of the lore unofficially, but never use them in casual conversation, or if I do I specifically state they're non-canon ideas.
Things from books, comics and games, until they're contradicted by the show. I don't include any fan fiction.
Things from books, comics and games, until they're contradicted by the show. I don't include any fan fiction.
I include what I like, regardless of source or whether it contradicts something else. The miracles of the Multiverse.
It would be a total mess without any coherence though
It is a total mess anyways.
I always find it funny how many people claim to be "canon purists" and TOS fans at the same time.
There's no way that what happened in TOS - particularly the first half of the first season - really works totally in continuity with what came later without extensive use of "headcannon."
There's no way that what happened in TOS - particularly the first half of the first season - really works totally in continuity with what came later without extensive use of "headcannon."
One word... "Vulcanians". 
Which is why I have no issue with later stuff fitting in with older stuff. It's all quite loose.
Like me. I have ducks-they are not in a row but they're all in the same pond which is something.
Examples where it is and where it is not...?
Warp speeds, traversable distances, stardates, the 'uniqueness' of AI, what Klingons look like, what Trill look like, whether Trill can be transported or not, when cloaking devices were invented, the 'uniqueness' of Q, when the prime directive really does or doesn't apply, whether there actually is or isn't money and what exactly that means, etc, etc, etc...
The list could probably go on for pages.
What sorts of things are you referring to?
The only thing I can think of is the notion that women can't serve as captains according to Turnabout Intruder, but we know even in TOS's time that women can serve as first officers (as in Number One from The Cage and Enterprise had a female Starfleet captain.
One can either decanonize Turnabout Intruder or accept that Starfleet at some point reverted to sexism that explicitly put a glass ceiling for women or think that Janice Lester's madness is why she thinks that there is a barrier preventing women from being captains when there isn't (although Kirk seems to confirm this).
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One word... "Vulcanians".
Someone can refer to someone from London as British, a Brit, Englishman/woman, limey, Londoner, among basic terms in English. It is not ground-breaking that some might call people from the planet Vulcan Vulcans, Vulcanians, or pointy-eared bastards.
Off the top of my head, TOS early installment weirdness includes:
- References to Lithium, rather than Dilithum
- James R. Kirk
- In one of the early episodes Spock only referenced a "distant ancestor" as being human. This was later headcannoned as being him lying
- In two early episodes, Spock references his father in the past tense, implying he's dead
- The reference to Vulcan being conquered in Conscience of the King
- Early references to the Enterprise as "Earth vessel" and the like - because the Federation didn't even exist until Gene Coon came up with it.
- I believe they screwed up the date in The Squire of Gothos - in part because it wasn't until the movies they canonically decided TOS was in the 23rd century.
Normally I would agree, but since the term hasn't appeared since (I think) TOS Season 1 in over a half-century and hundreds of hours of subsequent canonical footage, I think it's safe to say that "Vulcanians", along with "James R. Kirk" and the other oddities that @eschaton mentioned above were included in the early growing pains of a new kind of show that nobody had ever tried before and generally considered scrapped and forgotten by the show-runners.
What about self referential because Spock is the one saying Vulcanian.
I thought Kirk said it once too. It's been so long, I honestly can't remember exactly.
I'm still trying to forget nearly everything about Voyager. 
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