Star Trek canon

Generally, all live-action Star Trek television series and films have been considered part of the canon, With the relaunch of StarTrek.com in 2010, The Animated Series was added to the list of canonical shows included in the database, thus officially confirming the show's new status as part of the Star Trek canon. Gene Roddenberry was something of a revisionist when it came to the canon. People who worked with Roddenberry have remembered that he used to handle canonicity on a point-by-point basis rather than series-by-series or episode-by-episode. 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 fact not canonical. No definitive list exists 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 Star Trek V and Star Trek VI to be apocryphal, but it does not specify to which particular elements in the films Roddenberry objected. ==Other licensed works==

In general, Star Trek novels are not considered part of the canon. There are also conflicting messages concerning "non-fiction" reference books such as The Star Trek Encyclopedia, Star Trek Chronology, Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual. Unlike the novels and novelizations, these reference manuals have never been explicitly named as non-canonical, and the fact that they were officially sanctioned by Paramount and given to episode writers as guides serves to give them an aura of credibility. Roddenberry himself considered it part of the "background" of Star Trek. Similarly, Michael Okuda and Rick Sternbach, artists and technical consultants since Star Trek: The Next Generation and the authors of several of these reference books, considered their work "pretty official". However, they stop short of naming the books canonical, leaving the debate open. Star Trek writer and co-producer Ronald D. Moore dismissed such material, saying that, although the writing staff would often consult reference materials, they did not consider them canonical, reserving that title for the episodes and films. However, in a series of posts to the official Star Trek website's forums, Viacom Senior Director Harry Lang established his opinion that the reference books are canonical, saying "Only the reference books (tech manual, encyclopedia, etc ...) and two books by Jeri Taylor are considered canon outside the tv show and movies." The novelizations of episodes and movies are not considered canonical. This is a tradition that also goes back to Roddenberry himself. His novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture 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, it has been said that Roddenberry himself thought it should not be considered canonical: Star Trek comic books and magazines are generally not considered part of the canon. Nothing that takes place in Star Trek games, the Star Trek: The Experience attraction, or any other licensed material is considered canonical, nor are any unlicensed works such as Star Trek fan productions. ==See also==