any one who asks this should automatically get banned.
NO! THEY'RE NOT CANON AND THEY NEVER WILL BE!
(books fan)
NO! THEY'RE NOT CANON AND THEY NEVER WILL BE!
(books fan)
Could books Ever become Canon?
- Thread starter dispatcher812
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There are no legal hurdles. Licensed tie-in authors and artists sign over all rights in their contract. CBS and Paramount can adapt every ST novel and comic into episodes and movies and there is no need to compensate the creators further. Morally, they might involve the author in the adaptation, and compensate them that way, but they don't have to. (Diane Duane essentially rewrote her TOS novel, "The Wounded Sky", to come up with TNG's "Where No One Has Gone Before", but it was her choice to pitch it.)
The writers who are owed residuals are the writers of episodes. If their original characters reappear onscreen (eg T'Pau in three episodes of ENT), they get an extra royalty each time. But if they turn up in a licensed tie-in, they don't get paid for that use.
I don't believe so. FASA was a fully licensed tie-in, and the artists were owed no extra royalty for re-use. The tricky one was the ST material by Franz Joseph ("ST Starfleet Technical Manual" and "ST USS Enterprise Blueprints"), because his contract with Roddenberry and Paramount specified that he, himself, could license out his original designs, which he did - to the semi-licensed "Star Fleet Battles", over which Paramount had no veto.
Many FASA ship designs were re-used by DC Comics TOS Series I. No money went back to FASA though, AFAIK. Paramount simply had no interest in them, usually preferring to design their own. (However, scans of Joseph's deck plans were featured, as an Easter egg, in TMP, ST II and ST III.) The newly negotiated licensing contracts of 1989 specifically precluded cross-pollination of ideas, ships, events and characters between licensees.
Gene Roddenberry did not like it when licensed tie-ins presumed "to inform the direction of the parent series" (paraphrasing).
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Right. Canon is a term that refers to the original body of work upon which future works are based and with which future bodies of work must be consistent. Though it's important to note that the owners of Star Trek could, if they wanted to, decanonize an episode and canonize a novel. But that's unlikely.
Incorrect. CBS and Paramount retain the copyrights and ownership of everything that occurs in the novels. They could, if they wanted to, adapt a novel for the screen without having to pay the author of that novel a dime or getting his/her permission.
This is wrong on multiple levels.
1. The books are written by professional writers. Many of them consider themselves fans as well, yes, but this is what they do for a living. They get paid. They're professionals, working with professional editors and a large commercial publishing enterprise.
2. Saying that fanfic would have to be included as canon is a hell of a leap. The novels are approved by CBS Licensing (formerly Paramount). They are officially sanctioned. Fanfic isn't.
3. This discussion is happening in General Trek Discussion instead of TrekLit. That's wrong in a different way.
I just want to back this point up: not only are the novels written by professional writers, but the whole revision and editing process is a lot more formalized and thorough than most fan fictions as well. Ideas have to be ok'd to make it in, something that isn't required in fan fiction.
Yep, and it works both ways, too: just because something is on screen itself doesn't automatically make it canon, either, or else, by the leap of logic discussed earlier, tons of fan videos and productions on YouTube would cause everyone head aches because of canonicity. The key words here are "officially sanctioned."
First, sorry about not putting this in LIT, a mistake on my part.
I can understand some peoples reservations about adding books to canon. But, if there are some episodes that could (or are ) not considered canon, then could the same be true in reverse for books? There are many parts of books that I would like to see made canon. It would just be up to what CBS wants.
I can understand some peoples reservations about adding books to canon. But, if there are some episodes that could (or are ) not considered canon, then could the same be true in reverse for books? There are many parts of books that I would like to see made canon. It would just be up to what CBS wants.
I would not have put this in Lit either...
And given how unforgiving fans are for mistakes in the series and movies... then it would be even more befuddled if books were canon.
If books were canon, Taran'atar would be canon and my universe would be a better place. But they're not, and never will be. And since CBS is presiding over the books, I assume they don't want it either.
Oh wait!! If the books were canon, it'd mean Taran'atar was in a loose coverall... no no, that won't do!!
And given how unforgiving fans are for mistakes in the series and movies... then it would be even more befuddled if books were canon.
If books were canon, Taran'atar would be canon and my universe would be a better place. But they're not, and never will be. And since CBS is presiding over the books, I assume they don't want it either.
Oh wait!! If the books were canon, it'd mean Taran'atar was in a loose coverall... no no, that won't do!!
I know there is some debate going on right know in a previous thread about whether or not books are canon. Could it be possiable that since CBS now owns the rights to Trek and the recent books are also puplished by CBS, that they could be considered canon?
No.
Never.
Not. Ever.
Thanks for playing, tho.
If, as according to that Orci fellow in the News, that multiple timelines and multiple realities are all canon, then that's the ultimate get out clause, you can have your cake, and everyone else's cake too, and gorge yourself.
So it's all canon, every word of it, including the K/S slash-fic.
Especially the K/S slash-fic.
So it's all canon, every word of it, including the K/S slash-fic.
Especially the K/S slash-fic.
The books are merchandise. Just like a TNG board game or a Spock t-shirt.
They contradict themselves, they contradict each other and they certainly contradict the TV shows and movies.
In terms of the canon's obligation to follow what the books establish, true. In terms of the quality of their content, not true.
It's a rare novel that contradicts itself.
Depends on the book. Most of the novels published since 2000 or thereabouts take place in a shared continuity -- the DS9 Realunch, VOY Relaunch, post-NEM TNG novels, Titan, ENT Relaunch, Vanguard, Articles of the Federation, SCE, Klingon Empire/IKS Gorkon, Stargazer, and New Frontier series are all in this shared continuity, as are the miniseries Lost Era, Section 31, A Time To..., Terok Nor, and Destiny.
Some of them are set in deliberately alternate continuities from other novels, such as the Crucible trilogy or the Shatner novels.
Each novel has the OPTION of contradicting or tying in with other novels as the author chooses.
I don't know what novels you're thinking of as you write that, but every novel is required to be consistent with the TV shows and films at the time of the novel's release. The only exception to this are the Myriad Universes novels, which are deliberately set in alternate continuities with intriguing "What If...?" proposals, and the ENT Relaunch's revelation
that Trip's death was faked. And even that is not strictly speaking a contradiction of the canon, since the canon did not establish that Trip had died in 2161, but rather that people in the 24th Century believed he had died in 2161.
^All of which underlines the problem.
I'm not attacking the quality of their content, certainly not. They may be required to be consistent with the existing true canon material available at the time but that doesn't mean they are consistent with each other. There were a lot of Star Trek books written before 2000.
The TV shows struggle to maintain their own continuity, bringing hundreds of books in to it would serve to do nothing but confuse every discussion you could possibly have about the show.
I'm not attacking the quality of their content, certainly not. They may be required to be consistent with the existing true canon material available at the time but that doesn't mean they are consistent with each other. There were a lot of Star Trek books written before 2000.
The TV shows struggle to maintain their own continuity, bringing hundreds of books in to it would serve to do nothing but confuse every discussion you could possibly have about the show.
Not so rare.
The cover of the original release of "The Entropy Effect" featured TMP uniforms and Sulu with longer hair and a mustache. But the book was set within the five-year mission, and people in the text were described as wearing TOS uniforms. And there are numerous other cover art mismatches.The last quarter of "Double, Double" had the guest starship, USS Hood, inexplicably change name.
A recent appearance by Dr Christine Chapel had her described as a blond and a brunette in the same scene. (Accidental hair colour changes for Christine Vale, now of the USS Titan, led to purposeful colour changes as a character trait.)
In "New Frontier", Dr Selar's sparsely-furnished cabin had nowhere to sit, but minutes later her visitors sat on a couch.
Exactly, but not everyone realizes when they're reading older novels, so some seem deliberately to ignore certain plot points. A quick example: just before ST V came out, DC Fontana had Spock described as "the only son of Sarek" (in "Vulcan's Glory"), her personal dig at Shatner's addition of Sybok to the then still-forthcoming canon. Anyone picking up "Vulcan's Glory" after seeing ST V, and assuming it was a more recent release, would be confused.
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Yep. Imagine a new writer (or producer) on a ST series being told that their scripts must not only fit with all aired episodes and over ten movies plus eight (or more) selected novels, many of which have fallen out of print, and were only ever read by a tiny percentage of the fanbase.
Could it be possiable that since CBS now owns the rights to Trek and the recent books are also puplished by CBS, that they could be considered canon?
Only just noticed your choice of wording: ST books are still published by Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books. Not CBS.
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
From the viewpoint of the person travelling forward through time (by living his life) those events MUST be canon. Marty MUST undergo the experiences of the altered timeline in order for everything to turn out "right" in the end, because it was only by undergoing them that he gained the wisdom and maturity to avoid the "key event" (the car crash) that ruined his future.
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
At least one FASA class made it into canon (the Orion Wanderer), as it was seen on several 1st season TNG computer displays...
That's definitely a strict contradiction of canon any way ya slice it. The show made it explicitly clear what happened to him.
This is however, a very great example of why books should never be made canon. "The fans don't like what the showrunners did to a character, therefore we are gonna brush the big magical eraser over what happened on-screen to give the fans what they want instead (and sell more books that way)."
^ Actually the episode left a lot of holes and possibilities, which is precisely why a book which could put a new spin on the episode's events was even possible in the first place.
Next, the book was approved by the very same studio that produced the episode. It went through the same process as every other Trek novel that's ever been written. It was approved as an outline before the first word was written, and the manuscript also was read and approved once the authors finished writing it. It would not have been published without the studio's involvement and blessing.
Next, the book was approved by the very same studio that produced the episode. It went through the same process as every other Trek novel that's ever been written. It was approved as an outline before the first word was written, and the manuscript also was read and approved once the authors finished writing it. It would not have been published without the studio's involvement and blessing.
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