Are bonus scenes canon?
- Thread starter dahj
- Start date
Only the Star Trek Canon Cannon is canon.
The rule has always been "episodes that aired." Partly that's for convenience, but partly it's for accessibility -- not all fans will even be aware of bonus content or deleted scenes, which is why My Fave Dude Martin Madden is (to my endless disappointment) still not canon. The canon is defined as the body of work released as regularly-packaged episodes known to all, and it would be best for the fans if the definition stayed that way.
It is very obviously the case that the facts revealed by this scene are going to become canon soon enough, but it isn't canon until Season 2 starts up and reveals it. For now, it's just a teaser trailer.
I know I'm a stickler, but recklessly labeling cool stuff "canon" is how you end up with the garbage fire of comic book continuity (and comic book fandom, which is somehow even angrier about everything than Star Trek's).
(Plus, obviously, I'm in the minority on this. Memory Alpha policy always wins all canon discussions, and deservedly so, so I suppose I should go make my case there rather than here.)
EDIT: BONUS ROUND: are title sequences canon? I once had a serious debate about this, since Enterprise's title sequence has a little history hiccup in it -- they show the space shuttle Enterprise in orbit, even though the real-life shuttle Enterprise never flew. I tend to think that they are, despite the complications this causes. ("One day Captain Sisko went out on a runabout and was just flying in front of the station on a beauty shot when he was startled to see the words STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE appear floating in empty space just behind him.")
It is very obviously the case that the facts revealed by this scene are going to become canon soon enough, but it isn't canon until Season 2 starts up and reveals it. For now, it's just a teaser trailer.
I know I'm a stickler, but recklessly labeling cool stuff "canon" is how you end up with the garbage fire of comic book continuity (and comic book fandom, which is somehow even angrier about everything than Star Trek's).
(Plus, obviously, I'm in the minority on this. Memory Alpha policy always wins all canon discussions, and deservedly so, so I suppose I should go make my case there rather than here.)
EDIT: BONUS ROUND: are title sequences canon? I once had a serious debate about this, since Enterprise's title sequence has a little history hiccup in it -- they show the space shuttle Enterprise in orbit, even though the real-life shuttle Enterprise never flew. I tend to think that they are, despite the complications this causes. ("One day Captain Sisko went out on a runabout and was just flying in front of the station on a beauty shot when he was startled to see the words STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE appear floating in empty space just behind him.")
It was filmed for the finale to hint at S2 but cut because they felt leaving the Enterprise on screen as the ending had more of an impact. The scene was then released later as a "bonus" scene to start with the S2 marketing campaign. There is no question at all that it is canon. If they had decided to go in another direction they would not have released it in the way that they did, if at all.
Deleted scenes on TV are also canon. The writers included them in the script but they were taken out due to time constraints. Subsequent scripts which were written prior to filming will have incorporated some of the plot elements contained in those scenes. TV is not like movies. Once episodes start filming they move through them in the production schedule. There are no rewrites and reshoots due to the response from test screenings. I am sure there are anecdotes to the contrary and sometimes very heavy plot points do get alternative treatments that are both filmed, but overall there is no reason to assume anything released is not cannon.
Deleted scenes on TV are also canon. The writers included them in the script but they were taken out due to time constraints. Subsequent scripts which were written prior to filming will have incorporated some of the plot elements contained in those scenes. TV is not like movies. Once episodes start filming they move through them in the production schedule. There are no rewrites and reshoots due to the response from test screenings. I am sure there are anecdotes to the contrary and sometimes very heavy plot points do get alternative treatments that are both filmed, but overall there is no reason to assume anything released is not cannon.
Until they're not.
Red-eared sliders are canon but unfortunately they're invasive. 
Hold on there, hold on.
There are literally dozens of delete scenes that have never been seen by the public. Some of them (like the deleted scene aboard the Botany Bay in "Space Seed") seem to have been entirely lost. Are you saying those are canon, even though nobody knows what's in them?
That can't be right.
It's not. Deleted scenes aren't canon.
