Star Trek canon
The Star Trek canon is the set of all canonical material in the Star Trek universe. The official Star Trek website defines canon as comprising ', ', ', ', ', ', ', ', ', and ' as well as the films in the franchise.
Television series
As a rule, all Star Trek television series that aired are considered part of the canon.This policy does not make clear which version of the series is the canonical one. For example, the released in 2006 present several visual differences from the episodes originally aired.
Roddenberry's impact
was something of a revisionist when it came to canonicity. People who worked with Roddenberry remember that he used to handle canonicity not on a series-by-series basis nor an episode-by-episode basis, but point by point. If he changed his mind on something, or if a fact in one episode contradicted what he considered to be a more important fact in another episode, he had no problem declaring that specific point not canonical.Additionally, David Gerrold, in an interview about , commented on Roddenberry's and how it originally affected the Star Treks canon:
From non-canon to canon
Occasionally, writers will draw from non-canonical works in creating new canon. Such is the case of the first names for Hikaru Sulu and Nyota Uhura, which were first used in the novel The Entropy Effect and the reference book Star Trek II Biographies, respectively. Several concepts that first appeared in the Animated Series, which was canon when it was made, then considered non-canon for a couple of decades before being made canon again, have also been used in other Star Trek productions, such as Kirk's middle name, first used in the episode "Bem |Bem" before it was used in . The animated episode "Yesteryear |Yesteryear" first introduced The Forge and the city of ShiKahr, which were later included in the Enterprise three-part story that started with "The Forge |The Forge".Unreadable text
One final issue comes from text that appears on props such as computer displays, but is not legible during the episode, except in modern HDTV broadcasts. The transcript of the text can often be obtained through behind-the-scenes pictures and interviews. This leads to the question of whether material that is in the episodes but cannot be seen clearly should be considered canon. Often, this material tends to be inside jokes inserted by the production staff. Other kinds of information, such as the biographical information seen on a computer display in "In a Mirror, Darkly", has been stated to not be "hard canon".Films
All Star Trek films produced are also considered canonical. While not explicitly stated, the most complete released version of the films, including scenes missing from the theatrical version of a film but included in home releases or director's cuts, appear to be canonical. One scene, deleted from ', revealed Peter Preston as the nephew of Scotty. Peter Preston is included in the canon database at StarTrek.com.Adding confusion to the issue is the fact that Roddenberry is quoted as saying he disliked the films, and "didn't much consider them canon". There exists no definitive list of which films in particular Roddenberry disliked, or what elements in them he did not consider canonical. For example, the reference book Star Trek Chronology states that Roddenberry considered elements of ' and to be apocryphal, but it does not specify which particular elements in the films Roddenberry objected to.
The canonicity of extra features found on home DVD releases, such as deleted scenes, has never been explicitly addressed.
"Reboot" films (''Kelvin'' Timeline)
Star Trek, Into Darkness and Beyond occur in a separate timeline from the rest of the series. In June 2016, for the computer game Star Trek Online, CBS has named this universe, from the Star Trek films produced by J.J. Abrams, the Kelvin Timeline, named after the USS Kelvin which was attacked and destroyed by the future Romulan vessel, the Narada, in the opening scene of Star Trek. Former names for this universe have included the alternate timeline and the reboot series.Publications
Original tie-in novels
Many of the original novels published by Pocket Books are not considered part of the canon. This was a guideline set early on by Gene Roddenberry, and repeated many times by people who worked with him.And as long as Gene Roddenberry is involved in it, he is the final word on what is Star Trek. So, for us here – Ron Moore, Jeri Taylor, everybody who works on the show – Gene is the authority. And when he says that the books, and the games, and the comics and everything else, are not gospel, but are only additional Star Trek based on his Star Trek but not part of the actual Star Trek universe that he created... they're just, you know, kinda fun to keep you occupied between episodes and between movies, whatever... but he does not want that to be considered to be sources of information for writers, working on this show, he doesn't want it to be considered part of the canon by anybody working on any other projects.— Richard Arnold, 1991
However, even this rule is not without rare exceptions. Two Voyager novels written by Jeri Taylor, Mosaic and Pathways, were written early on in Voyagers run and detailed the background of the series' main characters. These were meant to be canon, and to be used as references by the series' writers when fleshing out the characters. These two novels are sometimes named as exceptions to the "no book is canon" rule. However, as some of the background information mentioned in those books was never referenced in an episode of Voyager, or was contradicted in episodes written after they were published, their status as canon is still open to debate.
Novelizations
The novelizations of episodes and movies are not considered canon. This is a tradition that also goes back to Roddenberry himself. His novelization of includes many tangents and new information. It reveals, for instance, that the woman who dies in the transporter accident was Kirk's former spouse. While this novel filled in many gaps left in the movie, Roddenberry is quoted as saying it should not be considered canon.Other publications
and Star Trek magazines are generally not considered part of the canon. Regarding IDW Publishing's comic book tie-ins to the 2009 film and its sequel, screenwriter Roberto Orci felt that the background information conveyed in those books could be considered canonically accurate. Using rules similar to the ones that governed Star Wars canon at the time, he acknowledged that the extended universe material he oversees could remain part of the accepted canon unless contradicted by future films or television series.Other material
Nothing that takes place in Star Trek games, the attraction, Star Trek fan productions or Trekdom is considered part of the canon.Roddenberry-approved material
Based on the amount of creative control Roddenberry exerted over the first seasons of Star Trek, some people argue that only Roddenberry-approved material should be considered canonical. Such an approach would eliminate from the canon anything Roddenberry disliked, as well as everything made after his death, including six movies and three television series.However, Roddenberry himself preemptively rebuked such an attitude. He had hoped that Star Trek would go on after his death. As Star Trek was constantly improved by each following generation, he expected people to look back upon its humble beginnings as just that, the simple beginnings of something much bigger and better. Roddenberry clearly never intended Star Trek to be limited to his work, but to include all the hopefully superior work of future generations.