Lit/fanon inventions that became canon

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

To be added to this thread if it becomes a long enough list.

Index of Reference Threads

The Trek Literature Forum Index of Reference Threads Cast the Characters of Trek Literature Apr 10, 2006 a thread for suggestions of performers who could portray characters from Trek literature Charting the Novel-verse May 26, 2010 a list of all books that are consistent with the Pocket...

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The Betazoid emblem:

Betazoid

The Betazoids, or Betazeds, were a telepathic humanoid civilization originating from the Federation planet Betazed in the Alpha Quadrant. Externally, Betazoids were physically indistinguishable from Humans in every aspect but one: the irises of their eyes were completely black. They could...

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per note #2 here (and the page it cites):

Betazoid Loyalties award

The Betazoid Loyalties award was an award bestowed by the Betazoids on behalf of Betazed. In 2350, Captain Jean-Luc Picard received this award for his work in assisting developing worlds. This award was stored in Picard's section of the quantum archive at the Starfleet Archive Museum. (PIC...

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[F. King Daniel]

First and full names of characters. Hikaru Sulu, Nyota Uhura and Una (and although Una in modern novels and SNW was named for @Una McCormack , there is also an ancient fanzine called The Weight by Leslie Fish from the 70's giving her that name in a tiny aside. The name of Vulcan's moon has it's roots in ancient fanfic, and was on a screen display in SNW.

If we count technical publications, plenty of stuff has made it into canon, from Lora's Johnson's idea of how shields working turning up on Into Darkness display screens to the co-ordinates of Talos IV coming from the old FASA The Federation booklet.

 

[Tuskin38]

Don't forget the Vulcan word Ni'var, that came from a fan publication.

It first showed up in canon as the name of a Vulcan ship in Enterprise, and then as the new name of Vulcan in the DSC's 32nd Century.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Paging @ryan123450 and @Extrocomp

@F. King Daniel it's an obvious name, though I wonder what other names could have hypothetically been suggested with the same intent - Sola, Lona.

 

[Christopher]

@F. King Daniel it's an obvious name, though I wonder what other names could have hypothetically been suggested with the same intent - Sola, Lona.

Mona, or Monica. Ichiko, from Japanese. Hana, from Korean. Eka, from Indonesian.

Although there's no reason why a first officer addressed per tradition as "Number One" should actually have a given name derived from the number 1. Will Riker didn't. (William/Wilhelm means "helmet of will/desire," which is rather fitting. "Thomas" actually means "twin," which proved to be prophetic. "Riker" is a Dutch variant of "Richard," which means "brave ruler." So Riker's name hits on all cylinders.)


Discovery canonized two bits of terminology I introduced in the novels -- "cosmozoan" for a spacegoing life form (which I did not invent but was the first to use in a Trek context) and "contact specialist" as a Starfleet job title.

 

[David Mack]

I named the character Keyla Detmer on Discovery, and I persuaded the Hageman Brothers to make their Prodigy character Rok Tahk a Brikar. Prodigy also canonized my invented composite chimerium, first introduced in the SCE eBooks, #7/#8 Invincible, Parts 1 & 2, written with Keith R.A. DeCandido.

 

[Christopher]

A planet named Endicor was mentioned in both Peter David's DC Star Trek comics and the TNG episode "Time Squared" a year later, but it was a passing reference to an unseen planet in both cases, so it would be kind of bizarre if it were an intentional reference, though it's also weird if it's a coincidence.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Don't forget the Vulcan word Ni'var, that came from a fan publication.

Indeed. It was the title of a fanfic short story that ascended to licensed in the first of Bantam's Star Trek the New Voyages anthologies (I think it was the lead opus), in which a scientist who developed a practical application for the effect of "alfarcite ore" (sp?) on transporters (as seen in "The Enemy Within"), to split sentient hybrids into twins of the original two species (after first testing it on his own son, a hybrid Fornaxian/Andorian, if I remember right, in order to save his life, he did so on an unconsenting Spock).

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Although there's no reason why a first officer addressed per tradition as "Number One" should actually have a given name derived from the number 1.

True. Just for fun, though.

So Star Trek '09 would be the Ni'var-ending story? (I'll see myself out.)

 

[JD]

Lower Decks used the Relaunch novels' Andorian naming system for Mariner's Andorian girlfriend Jennifer Sh'Reyan.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jennifer_Sh'reyan

 

[Extrocomp]

Lower Decks used the Relaunch novels' Andorian naming system for Mariner's Andorian girlfriend Jennifer Sh'Reyan.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jennifer_Sh'reyan

That one could be a coincidence. Lots of Andorian names start with Sh and lots of alien names have apostrophes.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

And it never did establish whether Andorians are triploid with a genetically neuter gender that carries the offspring (as postulated in the First Splinter novels), or tetraploid, with all four genders genetically involved, or are diploid like most sentient species, and merely marry in groups of four.

So Andorian sex is still up in the air. And not in the sense of how bees do it.

 

[Extrocomp]

Just remembered we had a thread on this topic back in 2021.

Books Whose Information Became Canon

 

[Tuskin38]

While not legible on screen, Prime Georgiou's quarters has a certificate from the Laikan Military Acadamy on Andoria. Laikan is the capital city of the planet in the novels, not sure where it was first named.

Image originally came from Ted Sullivan's twitter, which has since been deleted.

Star Trek Prodigy made Phoebe Janeway's name from Moasic canon, Janeway's sister had been referenced in Voyager a few times, but never by name.

a Starbase inspired by Vanguard/Watchtower-Class was used in TOS Remastered. It was scaled down so it wouldn't dwarf the Enterprise.

 

[Christopher]

a Starbase inspired by Vanguard/Watchtower-Class was used in TOS Remastered. It was scaled down so it wouldn't dwarf the Enterprise.

Oh, and Sean Tourangeau's Titan design from the novels was canonized in Lower Decks.

 

[Enterprise1701]

What a pity so many moderators on this site loathe the notion of thread necro-ing so much.

Just remembered we had a thread on this topic back in 2021.

Books Whose Information Became Canon

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I didn't remember that thread, I just checked the Index of reference threads list and didn't see it there.

 

[Tuskin38]

Oh, and Sean Tourangeau's Titan design from the novels was canonized in Lower Decks.

Plus all those Star Trek Online designs in Pic S2 and 3

The Titan’s ready room in Lower Decks has the Loknar Class from FASA

 

[Nerys Myk]

What a pity so many moderators on this site loathe the notion of thread necro-ing so much.

It's not personal, its in the rules.

 

[Enterprise1701]

It's not personal, its in the rules.

And your point is?