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

[Christopher]

I wouldn't call it part of the title, just part of the supertitle on the box art.

 

[Expo67]

As David Gerrold said on the DVD set commentary, it has the original actors, some of the original writers, and Gene Roddenberry's name on it.

Therefore, it is canon, and it is the fourth season that the fans wanted.

Nuff' said.

 

[Captain Robert April]

You'd think that'd settle things, doncha think?

 

[Christopher]

Canon isn't about what people say, it's about what people use. Specifically, something is canonical if the producers of new canon choose to remain consistent with it. And as I pointed out way back at the start of this thread, there have been many allusions to elements of TAS in various Trek productions over the past two decades. The only people who have been laboring under the misconception that Roddenberry's memo "decanonizing" TAS remained binding after his death are the fans. The people actually making new Trek haven't felt constrained by it for nearly a whole generation, and yet the fans are still making all this fuss over a complete non-issue.

 

[Captain Robert April]

So, for the purposes of answering the question in the title of this fair thread, there was a time when TAS was, for all intents and purposes, not a part of the official canon, primarily for legal reasons, even though GR was probably loathe to admit that he couldn't use a portion of his own creation, thus the "sour grapes" memo and statements to Richard Arnold and Susan Sackett. In typical Roddenberry style, though, he always made an effort to tell folks what they wanted to hear, so to Dorothy Fontana, David Gerrold, Bjo Trimble, et al, who had something to do with TAS (or a major reference work with TAS all over it), he never gave any indication that TAS was in any way taboo.

Once the legal issues were resolved (sadly, not until Roddenberry had passed), it was back in the official canon, and the references to TAS started flowing into DS9, and were flying pretty fast and furious in ENT.

So, yes, Virginia, TAS is canon.