Spoilers Would you consider the things that Matalas wanted to happen as canon?

[Avro Arrow]

The audio logs put out by CBS in connection to the show unequivocally say he was. additionally Terry Matalas made it clear that Worf was Captain of the Enterprise. This isn’t a “I would like to see” or “If I could” moment. This is hard and fast.

Sorry, but it is anything but "hard and fast". As others have ably pointed out in the thread, "canon" is only what's on-screen. The musings of the showrunner and the release of supplemental material on social media don't cut it.

This is, basically, Matalas's "headcanon". You are free to like it, and are also free to accept it as your own "headcanon" too. (As a fan of the novels, I certainly accept it as part of mine.) But as far as "canon" goes, it doesn't become such until some future show/movie references it on-screen.

Note that saying it isn't canon doesn't mean it never could have happened; it simply means it's not established yet, and future writers can go in any direction they please.

 

[dswynne1]

The audio logs put out by CBS in connection to the show unequivocally say he was. additionally Terry Matalas made it clear that Worf was Captain of the Enterprise. This isn’t a “I would like to see” or “If I could” moment. This is hard and fast.

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Picard_Logs

Again, promotional material is not necessarily CANON. Why? For years, the canonical nature of THE ANIMATED SERIES was up for debate, until it was decided that it was. Heck, there is a debate on whether or not LOWER DECKS and PRODIGY is canon, and how. Comics and book tie-ins are low on the hierarchy. And besides, what makes you think that a future showrunner won't come along to contravene whatever Metalas has established?

Hence, that is why we all shouldn't get so hung up on canon, outside of a filmed live action series or movie.

 

[Racefuel]

Because in the absense of new content the community invariably turns inward and finds new things to argue about

 

[The Wormhole]

I was pointing out an absurd example to demonstrate an equally absurd point that unless we explicitly see it directly and entirely on screen..that it didn't happen.

But how far do you take that? Are you going to start saying people are not canonically changing their clothes unless you actually see them stripping and putting a new outfit on onscreen?

 

[Racefuel]

There's no way I can go forward and try to express my thoughts on it that aren't repetitive or start to trend towards commentary on the people who hold the differing view.

I've slipped into that too much because of the heated debates and reactions to trolls and I don't want to do it again.

I've said my view, and I don't want to try to force it on anyone else, nor would I be able to

 

[Enterprise is Great]

How is there a debate about Lower Decks and Prodigy being canon? They have been declared canon by TPTB.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

This franchise is so much more enjoyable if you don't worry about canon at all. We all hold a different Star Trek Universe in our minds. Head canon trumps canon. They are all just stories.

 

[Gepard]

This franchise is so much more enjoyable if you don't worry about canon at all. We all hold a different Star Trek Universe in our minds. Head canon trumps canon. They are all just stories.

I despise the term "head canon" (it's just a pretentious term for "imagination") but otherwise agree wholeheartedly.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I despise the term "head canon" (it's just a pretentious term for "imagination") but otherwise agree wholeheartedly.

Imagination trumps canon works even better. Thank you.

 

[locborg]

This franchise is so much more enjoyable if you don't worry about canon at all. We all hold a different Star Trek Universe in our minds. Head canon trumps canon. They are all just stories.

I would basically agree with you but the complete disregard of canon would eventually lead to a declaration of invalidity towards the franchise’s fundamental structure. If nothing about past events is important for future iterations of the franchise, you could turn the 5 year mission of the TOS Enterprise into a fever dream of a 13th century merchant. From one second to the other, Star Trek wouldn’t be a science fiction franchise anymore but a GoT rip off without dragons…

That’s why the studio actually cares about important canonical events in franchise’s history. You just don’t retcon the Guardian of Forever or the events of Wolf 359. There are canon exports watching over every new show.
If everyone would stop caring about a coherent sequence of events, the franchise would negate one of it’s biggest benefits: Long lasting cultural importance…

 

[Bad Thoughts]

How is there a debate about Lower Decks and Prodigy being canon? They have been declared canon by TPTB.

Among other things, some viewers don't accept that there are almost as many contrivances portraying a story in a live actions drama as there in an animated comedy. Both distort reality, but in different ways.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

This franchise is so much more enjoyable if you don't worry about canon at all. We all hold a different Star Trek Universe in our minds. Head canon trumps canon. They are all just stories.

Canon is more a declaration rather than an actual reflection of internal consistency.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

What I find far more annoying than headcanon ideas being put forwards is how PIC as a whole left so many questions up in the air that people have no other CHOICE than to turn to Matalas' (and, with the previous seasons, Chabon's and Goldsman's, I remember Chabon doing entire Instagram Q&As just to answer simple questions such as "why has no one mentioned Lal", etc) comments if they want to get some answers. It would have been helpful if some of these answers had been addressed on screen, not in post-episode interviews with actors/showrunners/writers/etc. I've seen quite a few people sarcastically asking "okay which interview with Matalas do I have to read NOW to get the answer to this one?"... and I don't think this is a good look for the show as a whole. Don't get me wrong, I think it's nice to have some mysteries and leave some things open, but it quickly gets tiresome if it's a whole PILE of lingering questions that went unanswered.

Either way tho, what counts is what has always counted: Canon is what is on screen. Anything else qualifies for nice headcanon thoughts, no matter who it comes from, random fans or showrunners.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

how PIC as a whole left so many questions up in the air that people have no other CHOICE than to turn to Matalas

I'm not sure that Matalas needs to answer these questions so much as he has decided to engage with fans and critics on an unprecedented level of access. In the past, showrunners would have been more dismissive.

 

[Alexander Corrino]

Matalas is the "I am a fanboy and I will let EVERYONE know" type of showrunner. They literally allowed him to turn his TNG reunion fan fic into canon. It's no wonder he's all over the place now. It's true, he doesn't NEED to answer the questions, but he sure WANTS to. He's doing what any Trek fan fic writer fanboy would do when questioned about plot holes etc - he's rushing to defend his "totally awesome work", on all frequencies.

 

[Deks]

If there is any content that Matalas wanted to make canon, but couldn't during the show runtime, then its not considered canon.
The said content CAN be mentioned in passing by another Trek show though in dialogue... if its deemed worthy of mentioning.

The only show that could probably address this is any direct sequel to Picard S3 (if it happens).
I don't think another series would be dealing with 'minutia' of Ro Laren and Jack and Wesley meeting, because the information would be largely irrelevant.

Unless Ro Laren did something important, then her surviving could have been inserted into the dialogue (and I posited already that she might have found a way to beam herself back to the Intrepid covertly - however, if she had survived, this may have been hinted in S3 of Picard, but alas, it wasn't)... but Jack and Wesley meeting? I don't think this would be significant to anyone except those characters.
So, I could conceivably see this happening only if Wesley himself shows up as the Traveller in another Trek series and mentions meeting his brother in passing.

 

[Sci]

What I find far more annoying than headcanon ideas being put forwards is how PIC as a whole left so many questions up in the air that people have no other CHOICE than to turn to Matalas' (and, with the previous seasons, Chabon's and Goldsman's, I remember Chabon doing entire Instagram Q&As just to answer simple questions such as "why has no one mentioned Lal", etc) comments if they want to get some answers.

Except most of these questions are matters of obscure trivia of interest primarily to a minority of fans fixated on minutiae, not issues that actually matter to the story being told or the majority of the audience.

For instance, Lal. "The Offspring" is a wonderful episode of TNG, but Lal's story was complete: She was activated, she developed, and then she died. She was not created using the process by which the Coppelius Androids were created, nobody attempted to copy her, and her story -- which ended 33 years before PIC S1 was set -- was not relevant to the story of PIC S1. It's a trivia point for ST fans to note that Data became Lal's father decades before the Coppelius Androids were created, but it's not actually a question that needed answering.

 

[Racefuel]

And on that note, it also doesn't make the writers back writers, or hacks, or anything else because they didn't address every obscure possibility. Lal was mentioned by Alton Soongs hologram recording which is the most *she ever had* during the TNG run except for the episode she was in and in "Inheretence" in Season 7.

 

[fireproof78]

Long lasting cultural importance…

One has nothing to do with the other. Canon contradictory. Always has been; always will be.

 

[locborg]

One has nothing to do with the other. Canon contradictory. Always has been; always will be.

Yes, in moderation with a consciousness for advancing in storytelling, while at the same time protecting the legacy.

The better the artistic execution, the more „canon violation“ i can accept. Violating canon with a lazy screenplay would be the worst of both worlds…