Interesting poll regarding TAS

Over on startrek.com, they've put up what I consider a very, very interesting poll: Should the Animated Series be considered canon? I've made my vote already, and I think that you should make yours, too.

I'm for it, by the way, even if it does mean Kzinti in Star Trek. Anyone else care to discuss?

Ive always covered the Kzinti with the Tzenkethi I figure they had a patriarch, were prone to coups, and seemed to be a hostile territorial bunch. Seemed like DS9 was providing a cover story on purpose.

There was some oddities in TAS, but if you look at it some of the stories weren't that far off from TOS. They just had bigger SFX.
I have also included the Kizinti (and the Slavers) into my game.

I'd be inclined to accept some of the animated episodes as cannon, but there are others that I'd rather see left out. Then again, if I had a say, Spock's Brain wouldn't be cannon, either.

I think the single best arguement against canonizing all of TAS is the lack of avaliablilty: Paramount does not own the rights, AFAIK it is not out on VHS or DVD and hasn't aired in decades, which all comes down to the fact that I, the fan, cannot get a copy and view it for myself, and that Paramount is powerless to do anything about that.

Another problem with the Kzinti in Trek is there is a substantial morass as to who, exactly, owns the rights to the Kzinti (and which rights they own).
See, when Larry Niven wrote an episode for TAS, nobody was overly worried that he used a race he also used in an ongoing series of novels, because the possabilities of derivative products were pretty remote. This is roughly the same era where Paramount gave Franz Josef overly-broad rights for his book, and that led to the whole Star Fleet Battles license. Nobody thought anybody would ever want to make Kzinti action figures or anything, so no clear statements of who retained what rights were ever made.

Last I heard, there was a company that bought the rights to make computer games based on Larry Niven's books (which, of course, includes rights to the Kzinti as he used them in his books). This company was suing Chaosium over their Ringworld RPG which (they felt) violated their license by being a game based upon Larry Niven's novels.

So, you can see why Paramount would want to avoid this sinkhole: any attempt to include TAS into canon (and thus into licensed RPGs and other products) would require a license from Filmation (owners of TAS), and also from Larry Niven most likely (to cover the Kzinti), but Larry has already sold some of his rights so you will need licenses from Chaosium and others that say that, so long as you confine yourself to the Kzinti as they appeared on TAS and do not include details from the books, they do not feel infringed.
Then when you want to do the RPG book on the Kzinti, you really need to get permission from Chaosium (who may well prefer to do it themselves). Assuming they won in that suit; if they didn't, you need permission from some company that makes computer games.

Paramount prefers to restrict canon to the point where Paramount can serve as your "one-stop-shop" for all licensing issues, and I can hardly blame them.


Now, as for personal versions of canon, ... well, I already take TOS "with a grain of salt", so why not throw in TAS too. :)
My usual statement is that I regard TOS as a Turner-produced "fact-based" drama: some aspects have been changed from "the truth", some may have been made up, but most of it is true.
For instance, the "producers" thought a mostly human audience would have trouble identifying with Klingons, so they used CGI to "smooth" the heads into a more human appearance.

Also, I like to use a quote from Captain Jellico in one of the New Frontier books (I belive it was the first one, and I think he was an Admiral by then, but ... ) to the effect that the prevailing theory at Starfleet Command is that Kirk was falsifying his logs trying to get a rise out of people; that Kirk was basicly not mature enough for command, and liked to play pranks.
I paraphrase: "I mean, come on! His ship was eaten by a giant space amoeba? Aliens stole his First Officer's brain!?"

But, that's personal, and YMMV.

I think the reason why TAS isn't considered cannon has little to do with who owns the rights, but more to do the fact that a lot of the stories go a bit overboard. Yes, this was the time of the Technical Manual, and TAS was sort of similar. Generally it was a way for Paramount to try and make some more money off of what was conisiered to be a dead show. Roddenberry said that if he knew that he was going to be making more Star Trek after TAS he would have reigned in some of the stories.

TAS was produced as a Saturday Morning kiddie show, and it shows. I'm just glad that they didn't allow the network to make TAS the way they wanted to (think "Superfriends in Space" with several children and a fuzzy alien pet numbered amoung the crew).



As far as the Jellico/TOS with a grain of salt view. Well, that can hold true for all the Trek series and pretty much all of the logs of any of the COs (Starfleet only accepts ONE applicant per year?, some sort of alien baby thought your starship was it's mother? The locals think your some sort of emissay from thier gods? Somewhow you and your ship managed to produce a new shuttlecraft each week, avoid being assimilated while in the heart of Borg space, and take time out to investate new planets, and make the 70,000 light-year trip back home, in under 7 years).


Then again, it sort of explains why, in a Federation with only a handlful of beings considered metall ill, they all appear to be command rank officers in Starfleet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spyone

I think the single best arguement against canonizing all of TAS is the lack of avaliablilty: Paramount does not own the rights, AFAIK it is not out on VHS or DVD and hasn't aired in decades, which all comes down to the fact that I, the fan, cannot get a copy and view it for myself, and that Paramount is powerless to do anything about that.

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Actually, you might find this article of interest concerning availability.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tonyg

I'd be inclined to accept some of the animated episodes as cannon, but there are others that I'd rather see left out. Then again, if I had a say, Spock's Brain wouldn't be cannon, either.

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That's how I look at it, too. As far as I'm concerned, I accept things on a case by case basis as canon or not.