Star Trek: The Animated Series’ Impact on the Star Trek Canon
Gene Roddenberry approved The Animated Series as a way to continue his Star Trek universe after the original show ended. It quickly became popular in reruns, especially during after-school hours, which led NBC to air it as a Saturday morning cartoon to reach that audience. Roddenberry was excited about the possibilities of animation and chose Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana, a trusted writer, to oversee the show. Although her official title was only associate producer, Fontana ensured each episode lived up to the quality of Star Trek. She brought in writers from the original live-action series and admired contemporary science fiction authors. Fontana essentially maintained the established Star Trek lore, carefully tracking all the details created by the writers. However, when The Next Generation was being developed, Roddenberry declared The Animated Series (and much of Season 3 of The Original Series) as no longer part of official Star Trek canon.
