Starlog 3. Stardate 2/4/2020
The Question: In your opinion, what are the benefits of adhering to canon? What creative potential exists in jumping off from it? Where has Star Trek (or other similar franchises) done it well or poorly?
It seems that continuity is one of the biggest benefits from adhering to canon. For a universe so broad at this point, it's also genuinely pretty impressive that, for the most part, you sort of get an understanding of what to expect from that universe. That way, when new shows and movies pop up, it's both coming back to this amazing world but also looking forward to new adventures. I remember it being fun when I started watching Next Gen, when there was an episode called "The Naked Now" that had a similar plot to one of the ST:TOS episodes, "The Naked Time," in which some substance, passed through the skin, made people act erratically and out of character. In that episode, it gave audiences the opportunity to get a better understanding of these new characters by exploring their "crazy," anti-thesis sides. It was also really fun in the end of the episode when a character was like "I looked into the history, and this has happened before on another Enterprise." It gave a dash of nostalgia and recognition to the canon that audiences might already know and care about, while using that canon to create something new and interesting.
There are, of course, ways that both using and jumping off from canon are hotly debated in various fandoms. As someone who has spent a lot of time invested in Doctor Who, though, I am used to kind of rolling with whatever weird extra-canon elements that just suddenly become plot points, or "rules" that are routinely broken. In some ways it feels like the writers are maybe being a little unimaginative so they don't have to get around it, but alternatively these "plot holes" could open up the way for new fun and interesting stories in the future.
I feel as though there is a "spirit" to most universes like Star Trek, and while I do know that that is extremely vague and subjective, as much as possible the main thing that is important in new adventures within a franchise is that they maintain that same sort of spirit. Sometimes that means sidestepping the canon, and sometimes it means using the previously used parameters to your advantage.
The Question: In your opinion, what are the benefits of adhering to canon? What creative potential exists in jumping off from it? Where has Star Trek (or other similar franchises) done it well or poorly?
It seems that continuity is one of the biggest benefits from adhering to canon. For a universe so broad at this point, it's also genuinely pretty impressive that, for the most part, you sort of get an understanding of what to expect from that universe. That way, when new shows and movies pop up, it's both coming back to this amazing world but also looking forward to new adventures. I remember it being fun when I started watching Next Gen, when there was an episode called "The Naked Now" that had a similar plot to one of the ST:TOS episodes, "The Naked Time," in which some substance, passed through the skin, made people act erratically and out of character. In that episode, it gave audiences the opportunity to get a better understanding of these new characters by exploring their "crazy," anti-thesis sides. It was also really fun in the end of the episode when a character was like "I looked into the history, and this has happened before on another Enterprise." It gave a dash of nostalgia and recognition to the canon that audiences might already know and care about, while using that canon to create something new and interesting.
There are, of course, ways that both using and jumping off from canon are hotly debated in various fandoms. As someone who has spent a lot of time invested in Doctor Who, though, I am used to kind of rolling with whatever weird extra-canon elements that just suddenly become plot points, or "rules" that are routinely broken. In some ways it feels like the writers are maybe being a little unimaginative so they don't have to get around it, but alternatively these "plot holes" could open up the way for new fun and interesting stories in the future.
I feel as though there is a "spirit" to most universes like Star Trek, and while I do know that that is extremely vague and subjective, as much as possible the main thing that is important in new adventures within a franchise is that they maintain that same sort of spirit. Sometimes that means sidestepping the canon, and sometimes it means using the previously used parameters to your advantage.
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