The Star Trel Cartoon. Do you consider it canon?

[ktanner3]

Seeing that some people like to bring this up, is the animated series canon in your opinion? Here is what the official Star Trek message board says..

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/help/faqs/faq/676.html

07.10.2003
How do the Star Trek novels and comic books fit into the Star Trek universe? What is considered Star Trek "canon"?


As a rule of thumb, the events that take place within the live-action episodes and movies are canon, or official Star Trek facts. Story lines, characters, events, stardates, etc. that take place within the fictional novels, video games, the Animated Series, and the various comic lines have traditionally not been considered part of the canon. But canon is not something set in stone; even events in some of the movies have been called into question as to whether they should be considered canon! Ultimately, the fans, the writers and the producers may all differ on what is considered canon and the very idea of what is canon has become more fluid, especially as there isn't a single voice or arbiter to decide. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was accustomed to making statements about canon, but even he was known to change his mind. In the publishing world, there used to be two exceptions to the novel rule: the Jeri Taylor- penned books "Mosaic" and "Pathways." Many of the events in these two novels feature background details of the main Star Trek: Voyager characters and were to be considered as references by writers on the show. Now that the show is over, some of those events may never be incorporated into a live action format, so the question of whether details from these novels remain canon is open to interpretation.
With regard to the Animated Series, there are a few details from the episode "Yesteryear," written by D.C. Fontana, that reveal biographical background on Spock and planet Vulcan. Details from this episode have been successfully incorporated into the canon ofStar Trek (such as in "The Forge")and now that the Animated Series is out on DVD, we hope that even more can make its way in!

So I take that to mean "No, it's not canon, but some writers have used elemants from it here and there". Your thoughts.

 

[ToddPence]

TAS has a better claim to canonicity than any of the subsequent motion pictures or any of the spinoff series.

 

[Michael]

1. Yes, of course it is.
2. Who cares? It's good Trek. So why bother?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Elements from TAS have been finding their way into other Trek shows for awhile now. That alone makes it canon.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I don't think it's canon. Parts of it have definitely been used by the shows (but that's still true with books and even an RPG, doesn't make them canon). There are definitely contradictions with other Trek (and even with in itself), but that's nothing unusual. Personally, I could probably rationalize it to fit with everything else, so I would love for Paramount to make it canon (which they haven't).

 

[Danoz]

I have never seen the animated series.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

1. Yes, of course it is.
2. Who cares? It's good Trek. So why bother?

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[EnsignRicky]

If Enterprise is, TAS sure as hell should be. In any event, I consider it to be canon.

 

[SeerSGB]

What EnsignRicky and NCC-1701. Besides I don't really buy into that whole "canon, not canon" BS anymore. If they put it out, slap the name 'Trek on it then, as far as I'm concerned, it's "canon".

 

[Pegaritaville]

Yeah. Like most other series, there are some episodes that I'd rather ignore, but I'll take the bad with the good and consider all of TAS canon. Can't say I care about what's canon or not anymore, though.

 

[THE_FETT]

No, I don't consider this series as canon. In fact, I only consider the first fifteen minutes of Balance of Terror to be actual canon. That's it. That's the only thing I consider canon. Fifteen minutes. And, I gotta tell you, the last five minutes of that, is on shaky ground.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

The Star Trel Cartoon?

What is that all about?

 

[blakbyrd]

Yes.

 

[EJA]

I voted yes, but I only consider certain episodes of TAS to be canon, not neccesarily the entire series.

 

[USS KG5]

1. Yes, of course it is.
2. Who cares? It's good Trek. So why bother?

Took the words right out of my mouth.

I agree with both of you, but that means this is not the thread for me!

A lot of people don't think Enterprise is canon - so does that mean phase cannons aren't canon?

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

ENT is canon. But a lot of people ignore it from their personal continuities - as do I.

TAS is canon, but some people don't aknwoledge it because its animated. If it were live-action, there'd be no question about it.

 

[SFRabid]

I find all the series much more enjoyable when you stop worrying about canon.

 

[SeerSGB]

I find all the series much more enjoyable when you stop worrying about canon.

Yeppers. The way I look at it these days is so long as each series/project is internally consistent within its own framework (re: storytelling universe), then how it docks up within the larger construct of the franchise is irrelevant.

There is a difference between a episodic franchise like 'Trek-- where there is no, to very little, forethought to a larger serialized story with a beginning, middle, and end-- and a series with a clear interconnected and interdependent storyline.

 

[JM1776]

It's not a matter for debate. While a fan may put whatever he or she prefers into their purse*-onal continuity, TAS is, according to those with the authority to make it so, not canon.

* – I allow myself one horrendous pun every April 1st.

 

[SeerSGB]

It's not a matter for debate. While a fan may put whatever he or she prefers into their purse*-onal continuity, TAS is, according to those with the authority to make it so, not canon.

* – I allow myself one horrendous pun every April 1st.

Well you hve to ask yourself this: Do they really have the authority? They can't stop us (the fans) from considering something canon or not. All they can do is mandate what the writers can and can not do on any given project at the time. They can control what the fanbase thinks.