More annoyed by people confusing canon with continuity than anything else.
How much does canon violation annoy you?
- Thread starter TheLobes
- Start date
Most of the time, a canon violation is a continuity violation.
Not really. For starters there's really no such thing as a canon violation to begin with unless you're talking about a work that goes against what is declared official by the license holder. And in that regard, things that don't fit with each other continuity-wise are still regarded as canon.
Yes, and the Kazon and Vidiians also had been in the Delta Quadrant for a long time so it made sense they were spread around too.
Seven's parents were apparently out in space investigating the Borg 15 years before the events of "Q Who." That one gives me a big.
If you accept the events of Regeneration, then some incomplete information regarding the Borg probably made it to the public.
For the sake of argument, let's accept Regeneration and even rumours from the El Aurians in Generations. Dark Frontier makes it seem as though too much is still known about the Borg. Child Seven of Nine is seen playing with a toy Borg cube. How do they know what a Borg ship looks like? Regeneration only showed a Borgified Earth ship, and even if the El Aurians described Borg ships, I don't see how a human is going to replicate an exact replica of a Borg ship down to the surface details without ever seeing one? Seven's dad says he has permission from the Federation's science division, and that Starfleet expressed security concerns. So high-level people from Starfleet and the Federation are aware of the Borg, but Picard knew nothing of them.
Given time appropriate explanations and rationalizations can be divised and No-Prizes issued, but Borg continuity is very sloppy, and Dark Frontier sure as hell didn't help matters.
Given time appropriate explanations and rationalizations can be divised and No-Prizes issued, but Borg continuity is very sloppy, and Dark Frontier sure as hell didn't help matters.
How is the no visual communication thing silly?
More like "inconvenient," in that it's kind of silly to hobble the entire franchise because of a couple of lines of dialogue in one old episode.
Seven's parents were apparently out in space investigating the Borg 15 years before the events of "Q Who." That one gives me a big
Why? Q implied the Borg was something Picard should have been aware of already. I always took it that the Q wanted to wake up the Federation to the threat of the Borg, which the Federation had buried information without most civilians and starfleet officers knowing it.
All the Q Who told us was that Picard and his crew knew nothing of the Borg. There was nothing to indicate that nobody in all of the Federation knew about the Borg.
Yes. Inconvenient. A throwaway line that makes the Romulan war story difficult to tell satisfactorily without infringing on Balance of Terror.
I don't know. You could argue that that particular plot point has outlived its usefulness and is now more trouble than it's worth. At the time, it's only real purpose was to justify the big twist that (gasp!) the Romulans looked like Spock, which is old news now.
It's not intrinsic to the way the Romulans have been portrayed since. Was it even mentioned in "The Enterprise Incident" or any subsequent Romulan episodes on TNG, DS9, etcetera?
Should future Romulan war stories be stuck with audio-only scenes forever just because some screenwriter back in the sixties wanted to justify that subplot with Lt. Stiles? It was a convenient contrivance, nothing more.
There may come a time when you have to weigh the pros and cons of various bits and pieces of continuity to see if they still make sense or not.
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Seven's parents were apparently out in space investigating the Borg 15 years before the events of "Q Who." That one gives me a big
Why? Q implied the Borg was something Picard should have been aware of already.
No, not really. At least that's not the impression I got. In Q Who Q basically gets tired of Picard's arrogant attitude, so to put Picard in his place, Q pits the Enterprise against an enemy powerful enough to destroy them. That's it, no hidden agenda to make the Federation aware of the Borg, nothing of the sort. Just teaching a crew of arrogant and complacent SOBs that they're not invincible.
But it was already mentioned in that episode that what happened at J-25 was what happened at the Neutral Zone. That the Borg had already been to Fed space (close to Earth, at that!).
Annika's parents weren't looking for the Borg specifically, they were just looking for "The Unknown" and unfortunately found the Borg.
Annika's parents weren't looking for the Borg specifically, they were just looking for "The Unknown" and unfortunately found the Borg.
^^They mention the Borg by name in Dark Frontier when they're leaving Federation space.
To answer the original question, most "canon" violations don't bother me much for any number of reasons.
1. Often, what some consider a "canon violation" is merely something left unexplained. EX. Archer meets the Ferengi, but Picard meets them in Next Gen for the first time. There are any number of reasons why the same race may be "discovered" twice over the span of 200 years. After all Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas long after the Vikings potentially discovered the americas and "native" americans discovered the americas. It was only the technological and economic position of Europe which made Columbus' "discovery" unique (not to mention the Eurocentric history of the americas).
2. Many canon violations can be explained away. Granted, this isn't necessary, but it can be fun to try to explain why Annika's family was chasing the Borg long before the federation knew they existed. (My concept is that Annika's family was the equivalent of UFO hunters: firm in their own belief but scorned by any main stream scientist).
3. Often, perceived canon violations are based on what a character says. Ex. Picard states, "the alien is 100 miles away," but Riker states, "the alien is 100 km away." The difference in distance is fairly large, but since people are known to generalize and exaggerate (sp?) with relative frequency, I tend to dismiss a lot of what comes out of a character's mouth as potentially an "unreliable narrator."
4. Probably most important for myself, is the credo of MST3K. Since writers make mistakes, "if you wonder how they eat and sleep and other science facts/you should think to yourself this is just a show, I should really just relax!
1. Often, what some consider a "canon violation" is merely something left unexplained. EX. Archer meets the Ferengi, but Picard meets them in Next Gen for the first time. There are any number of reasons why the same race may be "discovered" twice over the span of 200 years. After all Christopher Columbus "discovered" the Americas long after the Vikings potentially discovered the americas and "native" americans discovered the americas. It was only the technological and economic position of Europe which made Columbus' "discovery" unique (not to mention the Eurocentric history of the americas).
2. Many canon violations can be explained away. Granted, this isn't necessary, but it can be fun to try to explain why Annika's family was chasing the Borg long before the federation knew they existed. (My concept is that Annika's family was the equivalent of UFO hunters: firm in their own belief but scorned by any main stream scientist).
3. Often, perceived canon violations are based on what a character says. Ex. Picard states, "the alien is 100 miles away," but Riker states, "the alien is 100 km away." The difference in distance is fairly large, but since people are known to generalize and exaggerate (sp?) with relative frequency, I tend to dismiss a lot of what comes out of a character's mouth as potentially an "unreliable narrator."
4. Probably most important for myself, is the credo of MST3K. Since writers make mistakes, "if you wonder how they eat and sleep and other science facts/you should think to yourself this is just a show, I should really just relax!
antiquityscion
Commander
It's a stretch, but you are technically correct!
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