Watch: Why (Insert Star Trek Series) Is/Isn’t Canon by Certifiably Ingame

Star Trek canon is messy and no one should try to understand it.

Star Trek stands as both a “how to go guide” and “what not to do guide” when it comes to expanded universe properties. It’s been around since the 60s and has had 12 series (counting Short Treks) and 13 movies. It’s explored every avenue possible, including time travel and parallel universes.

This is where things get messy and where the YouTube channel Certifiably Ingame tries to break down what is canon and not canon in a universe that rewrites history so much that it’s nearly impossible to make sense of anything.

He tries his best to short out what is and isn’t still part of the canon timeline but frankly, it’s nearly impossible to do when so many writers and showrunners just did their own thing and didn’t worry about the greater narrative.

Star Trek canon is far too complicated

Anyone who says it isn’t is simply trying to excuse it. As the video explores, Benjamin Sisko was both a historical figure and not. Miles O’Brien and Julian Bashir were both in the space station bar-brawl, and not. It poises the question of time changed these events or if these events were always supposed to happen that way.

Then we have the Kelvin timeline which is technically both a sequel series to the original film franchise and not. People often forget that the Spock from TOS, the movies, and even that cameo in the Next Generation was the same Spock that appeared in 2009’s Star Trek film.

This is why doing things like prequels and reboots often fail, as it either disregards the current timeline or changes it so much that it makes it unimportant.

This is a big issue with the Halloween horror film franchise, as they’ve tried to retcon the series so much that there are at least three timelines.

Storytelling isn’t that hard.

Star Trek has survived in spite of some shotty decision-making over the last 12+ years, and hopefully, it can survive another 60, but to do so, the timeline needs to be officially confirmed somehow.

We need to know what is and isn’t canon. Otherwise, we’re going to keep banging our heads against the wall trying to figure out if things like the Xindi attack changed the future or if the Next Generation era of Star Trek shows always knew about it.

The joys of 60+ years of continuous storytelling.