Is TAS considered canon, and a close "cousin" to TOS?

[I am not Spock]

Someone asked if Arex and M'Ress would be in the movie. GR doubted it would be possible, at that time, to do a believable, live-action Arex but... that he'd tried to cajole Majel Barrett into taking two roles in the movie: as Dr Chapel and M'Ress! Majel was steadfast in her refusal to consider trying to act under the required prosthetics.

Certainly, at that point, GR had no major problems with integrating TAS into future ST.

Wow, I'd love to see someone attempt to do Arex and M'Ress in a live action Trek production! Abrams, are you listening?

 

[Galileo7]

TAS may as well be canon. It was written by the creative team of TOS, and included the cast. So many references to TAS have popped up in all series, and even the new film.

This.

As long as Paramount can still make money off of it... its' canon.

An interesting topic would be which parts of TAS wouldn't you want to be considered "canon."

It's all canon. Especially the 50 foot tall Spock.

Absolutely TAS is canon. TOS began the five year mission and TAS ended the mission that ended in 2270 according to VOY "Q2".

 

[Captain Robert April]

Someone asked if Arex and M'Ress would be in the movie. GR doubted it would be possible, at that time, to do a believable, live-action Arex but... that he'd tried to cajole Majel Barrett into taking two roles in the movie: as Dr Chapel and M'Ress! Majel was steadfast in her refusal to consider trying to act under the required prosthetics.

Certainly, at that point, GR had no major problems with integrating TAS into future ST.

Wow, I'd love to see someone attempt to do Arex and M'Ress in a live action Trek production! Abrams, are you listening?

The Phase II bunch is going to have Arex in an upcoming episode, so there ya go...

 

[Galileo7]

Someone asked if Arex and M'Ress would be in the movie. GR doubted it would be possible, at that time, to do a believable, live-action Arex but... that he'd tried to cajole Majel Barrett into taking two roles in the movie: as Dr Chapel and M'Ress! Majel was steadfast in her refusal to consider trying to act under the required prosthetics.

Certainly, at that point, GR had no major problems with integrating TAS into future ST.

Wow, I'd love to see someone attempt to do Arex and M'Ress in a live action Trek production! Abrams, are you listening?

The Phase II bunch is going to have Arex in an upcoming episode, so there ya go...

With CG, Arex lives.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Y'know, I could really use a copy of that memo, for inclusion into the TAS section of the Concordance.

Would it only be the licensees that got it, or might some of the staff have gotten it as well? Just trying to narrow down the list of who to pester...

 

[Galileo7]

Y'know, I could really use a copy of that memo, for inclusion into the TAS section of the Concordance.

Would it only be the licensees that got it, or might some of the staff have gotten it as well? Just trying to narrow down the list of who to pester...

I agree that is an extremely important memo regarding canon.

 

[froot]

There are novelizations for all the TAS episodes. If TAS isn't canon, and Trek novels aren't canon, are the TAS novels extremely non-canonical? Or are they so non-canonical that they loop back around and become canon?

I find Alan Dean Foster's adaptations of the TAS episodes for the most part more convincing than the actual episodes. He fleshes things out so the stories don't seem so abbreviated and edited. And in prose it's easy to imagine the stories unfolding in TOS' live-action "reality."

I enjoy them as well - novelizations of Trek episodes in general tend do the "fleshing out" that simply can't happen on TV. My father is a first-generation Trekkie (something he happily passed on to me ), and he has oodles of 70s-era novels, including all the TAS ones. I read them long, long before TAS showed up on DVD

If they do a CG Arex in the Abramsverse someday, I hope they don't turn him into a Jar-Jar. I feel like something like that could happen if they're not careful. I heart Arex and wouldn't want him to become reviled! That's pretty wild that Majel was tapped to be a potential M'Ress!

A new animated Trek in general would be just wonderful, since animation allows for a greater scope than live action, IMO. My disappointment with TAS was that it was done in the stilted, budget, Hanna Barbera style of the '70s. Animation can be much more than that, but they did come up with some pretty wild concepts all the same

 

[Captain Robert April]

Given the Star Wars-centric viewpoint of JJ and his cronies, I think it would be almost assured that Arex would be turned into Jar Jar.

"Weesa goin' warp factor seven, Captain! That's bomba fast!"

 

[timelord1010]

Given the Star Wars-centric viewpoint of JJ and his cronies, I think it would be almost assured that Arex would be turned into Jar Jar.

"Weesa goin' warp factor seven, Captain! That's bomba fast!"

Well, it is a alternate universe, so JJ could even have the Death Star show up if George Lucas ok's it. Oops, JJ already did a Death Star lite (Nerada) story with Trek09.

 

[BillJ]

The Phase II bunch is going to have Arex in an upcoming episode, so there ya go...

But without the third arm or third leg, what's the point?

 

[Anji]

Let's put it out there for full public debate by asking the sci fi channel re-run TAS and then the fans decide by debate on the BBS. That's what we did with Enterprise.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

The Phase II bunch is going to have Arex in an upcoming episode, so there ya go...

But without the third arm or third leg, what's the point?

I dunno, I agree with you on this. I wouldn't reduce Arex to two arms under any circumstance.

 

[Christopher]

My disappointment with TAS was that it was done in the stilted, budget, Hanna Barbera style of the '70s.

Oh, I wouldn't say that. Yes, both Filmation and H-B used limited animation -- and if anything, Filmation's was even more limited -- but Filmation's shows just plain looked better. The H-B shows of the '70s often had very crude, sloppy-looking art, but Filmation's art always looked good even when it didn't move much (or when it moved the same way over and over and over).

 

[Therin of Andor]

Wow, I'd love to see someone attempt to do Arex and M'Ress in a live action Trek production!

ST IV had two Caitians - and, of course, ST V had a triple-breasted felinoid.

The Phase II bunch is going to have Arex in an upcoming episode, so there ya go...

But without the third arm or third leg, what's the point?

They didn't realise they were going to do it, and used CGI to superimpose an Arex head over already-filmed footage of their navigation human. They were concerned to also add a third arm and leg would be hokey (and tricky), IIRC.

http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/2010/04/welcome-back-arex.html


"Star Trek: Phase II" Lieutenant Arex by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

I dunno, I agree with you on this. I wouldn't reduce Arex to two arms under any circumstance.

We're just pulling your leg. An armless little joke.

 

[Christopher]

ST IV had two Caitians...

Or rather, it had two unidentified felinoid aliens that are presumed to be Caitians.

 

[froot]

My disappointment with TAS was that it was done in the stilted, budget, Hanna Barbera style of the '70s.

Oh, I wouldn't say that. Yes, both Filmation and H-B used limited animation -- and if anything, Filmation's was even more limited -- but Filmation's shows just plain looked better. The H-B shows of the '70s often had very crude, sloppy-looking art, but Filmation's art always looked good even when it didn't move much (or when it moved the same way over and over and over).

I do agree that Filmation's drawings were better overall, even if the animation itself wasn't. I just think it would be great to see an animated Trek that really went all-out on the visuals someday.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Or rather, it had two unidentified felinoid aliens that are presumed to be Caitians.

I did read an interview where one of the makeup artists said that's what he intended them to be.

 

[Christopher]

^Intended, presumed, same thing. If it's not explicitly stated onscreen, it's apocrypha.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Apocrapha, perhaps, but somewhat above the level of simple fanon.

 

[Lieut. Arex]

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd mention this here. Someone turned up a 16mm print of one of the public service announcements made during TAS run. I know a lot of folks didn't remember these and many didn't even believe they existed. Here it is on Youtube. Let's hope someone can find the one for the Girl Scouts' exercise program as well. Too bad they were discovered in time to be included on the DVD set.

What about this bit's canonical status?