The TV shows (except TAS) and the movies. These are canon, because they are the only things in the Trek universe that the writers are required to adhere to in writing future stories (even though they don't), so they're the only things that can be taken as "real" in the world of Trek.
I thought that some of the books were concidered cannon depending on who wrote them. If so, which authors write cannon material? Also, other than startrek.com, are there any websites out there with only cannon material (assuming startrek.com has only cannon material)?
Registered: Feb 2003
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Secondly, the only thing that can really be said to be absolute canon are the shows and films themselves. (Paramount has never been quite clear on whether TAS is included, but personally I see no justifiable reason for it not to be.) Ranking just below this are official published reference materials including the TNG and DS9 Technical Manuals, (which have the virtue of being compiled by Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda, who were for a long time the keepers of the technical flame within Star Trek production circles) and to a somewhat lesser extent the ST Chronology and ST Magazine/Fact Files. The important thing to remember though is that while information from these sources is often utilized and is generally adhered to by writers and producers on the shows, there is always a chance that it may be modified or re-defined by future filmed productions. (Especially where the information was based largely on conjecture in the first place.) So essentially they are considered (by most) to be "canon except where contradicted by onscreen material."
There is also stuff like production notes, series bibles, and interviews given by production staff. This type of information---that may come from official paramount sources but has never been explicitly stated onscreen or published in a reference source---is often considered to be authoritative (especially if it has been upheld by onscreen or printed sources) but may not always hold true as things progress and develop on a show. So it kind of falls in a gray area of "not really true canon, but fairly reliable."
As to novels, it is generally accepted that no novels are canon. Of course, there can get to be some debate about whether some of the background information given in sources such as Jeri Taylor's Mosaic and Pathways might be considered to fall in the above category, but that always seems to get a little too iffy for my tastes.
And there you have it, in a nutshell. For the record, My Starship List site utilizes only canonical material in its main body, (though non-canon and fandom stuff is included in the annotations) with a few possible exceptions that are clarified on the introduction page.
-MMoM
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Back to the topic: Who rendered the "Wolf 359 Mystery shp" from a few weeks back? Rev? Timo? Maso? I'm building the ship right now in 1:2500th and wanted the artist's opinion prior to posting the pics in tomorrow.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Then you, mt friend, get partial credit! I'll post in with pics this evening of the completed model. I remained pretty true to the final 2-D design with a couple of exceptions: The nacelles are a bit thicker (mabye 15%). I spaced the nacelles farther apart: I tried it the way it was originally represented and it just looked odd. The saucer is a *bit* more oval now. A couple of tiny details were added for practicalitys sake: a rear shuttlebay and forward torpedo launcher (neither of wich changes the ship's profile or silloutte. I made her the USS Rigel (so we'll finally have a ship to go with the name).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Back to the topic: Who rendered the "Wolf 359 Mystery shp" from a few weeks back? Rev? Timo? Maso? I'm building the ship right now in 1:2500th and wanted the artist's opinion prior to posting the pics in tomorrow.
posted
The other one. It looks simular, but more detailed with all views represented and the nacelles were attached to a central pylon. Wait a couple of hours more and i'll have the pics of the model up for your parusal.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
With all due respect, Jason, Reverend's pic is probably closer to what the original model was supposed to look like. However, I await to see your model as well.
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[ March 20, 2003, 09:08 PM: Message edited by: Jason Abbadon ]
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
That was nice too, but it looks too mych like a podless Springfield for what I wanted. .....although if you added the pod it would make for a Springfield refit.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Is this the ship that Okuda was going to build but never got around to doing it? What was the story behind this again? It does look a little like a podless Springfield.
Abby - I REALLY love your Rigel class. It is very spiffy!
How'd you make it? With left over kit parts? custom built kit parts? Micromachines? (was that you who did that) It is very nice.
Andrew
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
The saucer from the Rigel was once a Enterprise D saucer from a Generations toy. I had to sand off all the details, putty it smooth, draw in deflector panel lines (some scribing here too) and then add the windows, registry and lifeboats via my own custom decals. The secondary hull (if you can call it that) are scratchbuilt with styrene and the nacelles were modified from an old Playmates "innerspace" toy (an awful toy with lots of bueatiful -if inaccurate- detail: good for parts and cheap). The Rigel is about 5" long and is based on the second idea whipped up to represent the Okuda concept. Anybody got a link to that old thread or is it lost forever? THis is the final design I based the Rigel class on (top picture)
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by AndrewR: Abby - I REALLY love your Rigel class. It is very spiffy!
How'd you make it? With left over kit parts? custom built kit parts? Micromachines? (was that you who did that) It is very nice.
Andrew
If you mean the thread over at Art Asylum, then yes, that is my stuff, but no, they are not micromachines. I think the folks over at AA forums thought my 2500th models were the much smaller micromachines toys (a mix-up after posters there began requesting a "micro line" of starships in scale with each other....I think!).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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