Editing Star Trek: The Animated Series (section)

=== Canon issues ===
{{main|Star Trek canon}}
At the end of the first season of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', all licenses for [[Star Trek spin-off fiction|''Star Trek'' spin-off fiction]] were renegotiated, and the animated series was essentially "decanonized" by [[Gene Roddenberry]]'s office. Writers of the novels, comics and role-playing games were prohibited from using concepts from the animated series in their works.{{sfn|Ayers|2006|p=232}} Among the facts established within the animated series that were called into question by the "official canon" issue was its identification of [[Robert April]] as the first captain of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the episode "The Counter-Clock Incident".

The ''[[Timeline of Star Trek|Star Trek Chronology]]'' by production staffers [[Michael Okuda]] and [[Denise Okuda]] does not include the animated series, but does include certain events from "Yesteryear" and acknowledges Robert April as first captain of the ''Enterprise''.{{sfn|Okuda|Okuda|1996|pp=41–42}} The timeline in ''Voyages of the Imagination'' dates the events of the series to 2269–2270, assuming the events of the show represented the final part of Kirk's five-year mission, and using revised [[Alan Dean Foster]] stardates. In the updated October 1999 edition of their book: ''The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future'', Michael and Denise Okuda state that:
{{blockquote|In a related vein, this work (i.e. book) adheres to Paramount studio policy that regards the animated ''Star Trek'' series as not being part of the "official" ''Star Trek'' universe, even though we count ourselves among that series' fans. Of course, the final decision as to the "authenticity" of the animated episodes, as with all elements of the show, must clearly be the choice of each individual reader.'<ref>Michael & Denise Okuda, ''The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future'', Updated and expanded edition, October 1999, Pocket Book (a division of Simon and Schuster), p. iii</ref>}}

[[David Gerrold]], who contributed two stories to ''TAS'', stated in an interview his views on the canon issue:

{{blockquote|Arguments about "canon" are silly. I always felt that ''Star Trek Animated'' was part of ''Star Trek'' because Gene Roddenberry accepted the paycheck for it and put his name on the credits. And D. C. Fontana—and all the other writers involved—busted their butts to make it the best ''Star Trek'' they could. But this whole business of "canon" really originated with Gene's errand boy. Gene liked giving people titles instead of raises, so the errand boy got named "archivist" and apparently it went to his head. Gene handed him the responsibility of answering all fan questions, silly or otherwise, and he apparently let that go to his head.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.startrekanimated.com/tas_david_gerrold.html|title=Star Trek: The Animated Series|work=startrekanimated.com|access-date=December 5, 2007|archive-date=November 3, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071103180622/http://www.startrekanimated.com/tas_david_gerrold.html|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Writer-producer [[D. C. Fontana]] discussed the ''TAS'' Canon issue in 2007:

{{blockquote|I suppose "canon" means what Gene Roddenberry decided it was. Remember, we were making it up as we went along on the original series (and on the animated one, too). We had a research company to keep us on the straight and narrow as to science, projected science based on known science, science fiction references (we didn't want to step on anyone's exclusive ideas in movies, other TV shows, or printed work). They also helped prevent contradictions and common reference errors. So the so-called canon evolved in its own way and its own time. For whatever reason, Gene Roddenberry apparently didn't take the animated series seriously (no pun intended), although we worked very hard to do original ''STAR TREK'' stories and concepts at all times in the animated series.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://trekmovie.com/2007/07/22/dc-fontana-on-tas-canon-and-sybok/|title=D.C. Fontana On TAS Canon (and Sybok)|work=TrekMovie.com|access-date=June 28, 2008|archive-date=July 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720144014/http://trekmovie.com/2007/07/22/dc-fontana-on-tas-canon-and-sybok/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}