Star Trek Picard - Teaser

[Amarok]

Official by whose definition?

This is something I've given some thought to over the years... who has the final say as far as canonicity goes? Like, check this out:

Canonicity of Star Trek: The Animated Series is disputed, but is generally considered canon except where it conflicts with the live-action series and movies. It was canon for 15 years after it first aired - it was only after the first season of TNG that Roddenberry officially got it de-canonized.

https://scifi.stackexchange.com/question...-not-canon

What does this mean? He "got it" de-canonized? Did he submit it to a board for approval? We treat things like this as "official" knowing full well that there is no real officiating body. We just want the Star Trek universe to be some kind of cohesive whole, but the reality is, it is formed peacemeal by whatever the show's writers think will make an interesting episode that week.

I think the biggest driver of canonicity is "fan consensus." This is especially true with things that don't have a grand poobah like Roddenberry, whose word is treated like a papal decree.

1.Gene used his creative control at the time to argue it created to many cannon conflicts with earlier stories and paramount and most of the writing staff agreed 

2. Fan consensus is not the primary driver as it often itself internally inconsistent and based on whim 

3. It's funny because roddenberry  his words were not the cannon