# Question for Star Trek Fans **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 21, 2004, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972 "2004-12-21T14:51:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/21 "2004-12-21T17:20:20Z")
Gene Roddenberry disagrees. It’s considered a promotional tie-in, just like the novels, games, specials, comic books, and everything else not produced specifically by Paramount and/or Desilu Studios. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/22 "2004-12-21T17:57:35Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > But how about when a ship is travelling at impulse speeds? It’s been a while since I did any serious reading about ST tech, but isn’t impulse a fraction of c? So if one is going at 1/2 impulse one is going at 0.5c? Wouldn’t relativistic effects manifest then? From [The FADD:Warp Chart](http://news.slasims.com/warp.php) Impulse power is .25 sublight. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/23 "2004-12-21T18:04:19Z")
> [@Master Control](#): > > From [The FADD:Warp Chart](http://news.slasims.com/warp.php) Impulse power is .25 sublight. OOps, make that PADD ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/24 "2004-12-21T18:15:17Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Gene Roddenberry disagrees. Yeah, well, Gene Roddenberry’s dead. It was broadcast under the auspices of Paramount, Paramount owns it and markets it (or marketed it; it’s out of print on VHS and unreleased on DVD), they don’t get to declare it non-canon. Nor, frankly, should the fans be able to declare it non-canon. There are all kinds of Trek-crap I’d declare non-canon (_cough_ST5_cough_) but there it is on the screen anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/25 "2004-12-21T18:33:12Z")
Roddenberry’s death doesn’t invalidate his edict and as creator of the series, his word on the matter – that all live-action Trek is canon – is final unless eventually turned over by Berman, which I don’t expect. Making TAS canon is too much of a headache with its inconsistancies and contradictions with modern – including movie-era – Trek. I much prefer the way it is now, where it’s being mined for its better ideas, i.e., sehlats, Vulcan’s Forge, ShiKahr, _et al_, and leaving all its more ludicrous ideas buried. Having to put up with “God” in ST:V was bad enough, I don’t want to have to give creedence to Satan, or “Lucien”, too. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/26 "2004-12-21T18:37:53Z")
_::: sigh :::_ The owners of the Star Trek franchise, Paramount, have given a definitive answer. [What is canon?](http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/help/faqs/faq/676.html) > [@](#): > > 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, the Animated Adventures, and the various comic lines are not canon. When in doubt, ask the people in charge. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/27 "2004-12-21T18:44:57Z")
The official exceptions: > [@](#): > > There are only a couple of exceptions to this rule: the Jeri Taylor penned novels “Mosaic” and “Pathways.” Many of the events in these two novels feature background details of the main Star Trek: Voyager characters. (Note: There are a few details from an episode of the Animated Adventures that have entered into the Star Trek canon. The episode “Yesteryear,” written by D.C. Fontana, features some biographical background on Spock.) I don’t see any statements from Paramount taking that back, btw. So it seems to still stand. [A good site with further discussion](http://www.st-v-sw.net/STSWstcanon.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/28 "2004-12-21T18:56:41Z")
I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were decanonized when Taylor left \*Voyager \*but I could be wrong. I’ll try to find a cite. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/29 "2004-12-21T19:28:04Z")
While these aren’t necessarily correct, they synch up with what I’ve read about the novels. > [@](#): > > According to current editors at Pocket Books, current rights holders for publishing Star Trek fiction, no novels or other printed stories are considered canon by Paramount Pictures, owners of Star Trek. This includes the Voyager novels Pathways and Mosaic (both by the series producer Jeri Taylor) which were, for a time, considered canon but stopped being so after Taylor left her position with the series. > **[Canon (fiction)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_(fiction))** > > In fiction, canon is the material accepted as officially part of the story in the fictional universe of that story. It is often contrasted with, or used as the basis for, works of fan fiction. The alternative terms mythology, timeline, universe and continuity are often used, with the first of these being used especially to refer to a richly detailed fictional canon requiring a large degree of suspension of disbelief (e.g. an entire imaginary world and history), while the latter two typically re... And a [thread](http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat.php?Board=UBB17&Number=1702839) about the books, including \*Mosaic \*and _Pathways_, at TrekBBS. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/30 "2004-12-21T20:10:37Z")
> [@](#): > > 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, the Animated Adventures, and the various comic lines are not canon. This is why the _Trek_ franchise largely sucks these days. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972/31 "2004-12-21T20:15:10Z")
It sucks because Branon Braga is a hack, not because the novels aren’t canon. As much as I love The New Frontier (which is what I assume you are referencing), making them canon would just be … goofy. They’re awesome books but they’re also irreverent and more than a little satirical, which would jive well with established canon at all. The DS9 Relaunch books, on the other hand, are some of the best Trek ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-star-trek-fans/280972.md?page=1)