Is Capt. Robert April Canon?
- Thread starter Vivman
- Start date
The whole canon/non-canon thing is pointless. Yes, Robert April was in an episode of Star Trek. Yes, he was the original Captain of the Enterprise. That's all there is to it.
...It's just that he was in a rather poor episode of Star Trek, so that even those who remember him fondly would like to forget about his appearance. 
But yeah, he was the first captain, no two ways about it. Whether he was that for more than two days is another matter. His backstory is paper-thin in more ways than one.
Timo Saloniemi
But yeah, he was the first captain, no two ways about it. Whether he was that for more than two days is another matter. His backstory is paper-thin in more ways than one.
Timo Saloniemi
GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
Then there's the classic photo of Gene wearing a command tunic which was credited as "Captain Robert April" as a gag amongst the production folk.
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h288/SparkleMeister/CptRobertApril.jpg
Are you certain that wasn't a Photoshop job executed by Michael Okuda for The Star Trek Encyclopedia?
TGT
The God Thing is correct. That photo first appeared in the Star Trek Chronology by Okuda. That was about 1992, IIRC.
94, i think...
(93 according to Mem Alpha)
(93 according to Mem Alpha)
I'd say he's canon. He was in the animated series, for one thing and that's canon enough for me because it's not absurd. However, all the ridiculous claims they made in that episode, for instance his wife designing most of the medical instruments used in starships currently, is not. Why is that absurd to me? Well I dunno, Phlox's instruments on Enterprise were considerably more advanced than the switches and knobs used in Constitution class starships.
The fact is, you gotta believe what you want is canon, and take the rest with a grain of salt.
The fact is, you gotta believe what you want is canon, and take the rest with a grain of salt.
The new Star Trek movie may decanonize him if they show the Enterprise launched for the first time with Pike as the Captain. And there's no Robert April character listed so far for the movie.
Except that's not canon, that's personal continuity.
We have a definition of canon, however much people want to ignore it. All live action films and TV series are canonical as they appeared on screen. Everything else, be it animated, books, comics, RPGs, etc, is not.
What you want to have as your personal view of the "universe" is entirely up to you. But it has no more baring on the canon of Trek than saying you don't accept the book of Jonah would have on the books of the accepted canonical Bible.
Okay, so the episode of the cartoon when Spock goes back and visits himself is as child is, but Robert April is not. Hmm. I'm not saying you're right or wrong, I'm just saying why believe one and not the other.
He's also given some backstory in one of the novels wherein the Enterprise goes on her maiden flight. With Kirk's pop aboard as Security Chief.
That was the definition 5 or 10 years ago. That is NOT the definition today. There is no formal Trek "canon" now, because TPTB have changed, and the new ones haven't issued any formal declaration like the one above.
So it seems pretty obvious to me that all aired Trek (including TAS) is "canon" and all the tie-ins are "non-canon", though that doesn't really mean anything to you and I because we aren't in charge of making any new-Trek. All that matters as far as we are concerned is what constitues our personal continuity.
The animated series didn't used to be canon, but it seems to be now. Elements of it have made their way into other Trek shows (such as Kor's old ship, the Klothos, being mentioned on DS9).
Wasn't it either Gene Roddenberry or Richard "Novel-smasher" Arnold that was responsible for all this TAS-not-being-canon crap?
Wasn't it either Gene Roddenberry or Richard "Novel-smasher" Arnold that was responsible for all this TAS-not-being-canon crap?
What do you mean by this? to my knowledge no episode of TAS has ever been declared part of the canon more or less than any other. Usage of elements from TAS make those elements canonical when they appear in a live action TV show/movie. Their appearance makes nothing beyond that canonical. For a hypothetical example, if TAS had done an episode in which Kirk uses the Toupétrominator, a device for measuring hair loss, and this device turns up in an episode of ENT, that device is made canonical. But the TAS episode is not. And the device is only canonical because of its appearance in ENT, it's appearance in TAS is not 'retroactively' canonical.
If Robert April has appeared in, say, Voyager, his existence and anything that was said or shown about him in his appearance on that show would be canonical. His appearance anywhere else still wouldn't be. Any more than the usage of Picard on screen makes Picard's appearance in novels, comics, etc. part of the canon.
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